NOVEL NEXT Chapter 167
Victoria made a new friend!
It’s Polaris, the one we met last time. A good person, they came to help when Victoria felt isolated. Thanks to that, I had the chance to hear what Victoria was thinking.
But I’m not really planning to actively solve anything.
Rather, I’ll just go along with Merryweather’s rhythm and keep an eye on what this person wants to do.
I tried to slowly blend in for several years, but people grow up fast and disappear just as quickly. Even the faded memories came to an end like that.
Truly, without knowing anything, I found myself awakening in the cold.
That was when my human days ended. People just die suddenly, you know.
So, the time to meet Victoria is short!
Now, how do I shake off this surveillance?
As long as the King is giving orders, even if this person changes, someone else will come. And I have a feeling it’ll be someone even harder for me to figure out.
If this person was inexperienced, then sure, it makes sense that they got caught by me.
Still, I might have a chance to ask for a guard to be lifted. Through a prince or the king, I’ll ask to loosen my constraints because it’s frustrating.
But for that, I have to complete my early-stage goals.
I know what the royal family’s biggest priority is right now.
Aurora’s safety!
Aurora, who is diligently rehabilitating to return to daily life in the palace, is aiming to come to the Royal Academy next year.
Given the age difference between Solindiges Prince and Aurora Princess, they’ll get to meet at least once next year.
In other words, for a whole year, the prince and the princess will be at the Royal Academy, so wouldn’t it be dangerous if a terror attack occurs?
Come to think of it, not all royals are dying. The first princess is currently studying abroad, so even if something happens, there would still be some survivors.
No, that’s not important. The crucial goal of the royal family is to ensure Aurora Princess’s safety.
And the one causing the trouble is an unnamed witch.
The witch cursed Aurora, trapping her in an eternal sleep from which she can’t awaken.
I know that much.
That’s all I know!
No one dares to speak of the witch in front of Aurora, so I can’t learn the exact name.
And Solindiges is planning to use me as bait to catch the witch.
The conditions are rife for that. After all, they’ve been praising me as the one who healed Aurora through newspapers and broadcasts.
With a special psychic ability, it’s a bit odd, but Aurora woke up safely. So, even if they leave her cursed, wouldn’t the witch show up if she finds out the princess is awake?
I suspect that if the witch takes the bait, the royal family assigned me guards.
So that’s it.
The guardians need to be able to catch the witch!
To do that, the witch has to take the bait.
And that bait is none other than me!
So far, my routes have been too straightforward: the Royal Academy and the accommodation right outside the main gate. Essentially, there are just those two.
If I were an attacker, I’d want to scout around different places. I’d strike from a location that isn’t safe!
Coincidentally, I’ve already concocted an excuse for this situation.
Once, I was called by the royal family for visiting the Brightshin slums.
I mentioned that I was summoned there by someone, hoping to save it for a later use; now, it’s quite suitable as an excuse!
Oh, and I also have a reason to back that up.
The relationship with Victoria!
Special events are easy to understand.
Even if I don’t explain, they’ll visualize what’s happening. When something occurs, if there’s a special event before and after, it’s human nature to want to connect those dots.
Even if there’s no causal relationship at all!
Right now, it’s during class.
Once class ends, I should go out and wander around.
No particular destination in mind; at least until it’s time for dinner, I’ll roam the capital, checking out places I haven’t hit as a harvesting period.
I’ll be wandering about carelessly, making it easier for that witch to strike!
With Merryweather as only one guard, I can assume this person has some capability to deal with the witch when she shows up.
And what if Merryweather gets seriously hurt? If their life is in danger?
I might be able to catch some intel using this harvesting period!
How many of those will actually come to pass?
*
Once class was over, I headed straight outside.
I locked eyes with a concerned Victoria, but I just greeted her with my eyes and slipped out of the Royal Academy.
“Hey? Where are you going? Aren’t you heading back to the accommodation?”
Since I wasn’t taking my usual route and walking down the road, Merryweather curiously asked me.
I stared vacantly and replied, “Someone might be calling for me.”
It’s neither a truth nor a lie. I’m just walking aimlessly. Of course, if I just wander, I might raise suspicion, so I’ll meander around and head toward a poor person’s house that the harvesting period knows about.
That day, not every poor person in Brightshin invited me in.
It was the day Victoria and I parted ways.
Like a person lost in an alley where sunlight barely reached, many missed their opportunities.
“Oh really? Then I’ll have to follow you.”
This is a bit unexpected. I thought as a guard, they’d insist on staying in a safer place, but they’ve just granted permission to proceed.
Perhaps they’re bored of escorting me. They can’t gain much information, and it’s been quite a while since they’ve relied solely on themselves, right?
They might be looking for other methods since they haven’t seen any achievements.
If I don’t need to convince them, that’s fine by me!
But this person’s busy, too.
Handling me as well as preparing for a witch’s attack? They must be quite competent!
That means they likely hold a high position and possess a wealth of information.
If anything happens, I’ll use the guard as a shield! If they get injured and their life slips away, they’ll grab me!
And they wouldn’t even know it’s a rotten lifeline.
Thud, thud.
After strolling down the road for a while, I thought about it.
When wandering like this, being small is somewhat regrettable. I’m only half the size of an ordinary adult. Even in simple calculations, my stride is halved!
When I used Choseol’s body, I was bigger than the typical guy, and I could cover a greater distance in the same time.
But I have no intention of running. That’s the concept here.
I hear something somewhere, but it’s too quiet to know if this is the right place.
It’s a perfect reason to walk around! Actually, even without saying so, I do hear sounds. I’ll be mumbling and responding, you see.
Inwardly I’d say, “The harvesting period heard that sound directly!”
Thud, thud.
From here, it’s a road the harvesting period hasn’t traveled before. After veering from a large road to a medium-sized one and walking for a while.
However, this is an area where upper-class people live. The poor residing in Brightshin would never have a chance to come here.
If I want to fill out the capital’s map, I should have walked around here beforehand.
It reminds me of when I was filling out the map of the underground temple in the first world. Back then, I quickly finished it by obtaining the harvesting period’s memories.
“Is there anyone out there seeking help in a place like this?”
“I hear a sound.”
Have I been too obvious as I roamed? Merryweather asked with suspicion, so I responded with a mumble.
The concept is important!
I head from the road into an alley but hit a dead-end. I turn around and exit. The sound points out that my actual destination is straight ahead.
It’s a place where a woman, who became a harvesting period, is raising a child born before she became one. The child is suffering from severe malnutrition.
The mother became healthy again after becoming a harvesting period and is trying to feed her child various things, but if all they eat is pale oatmeal, they won’t get the nutrients they need.
By the way, she has a job that involves selling her body, and her husband was a thug. She married in a wild animal-like manner and is living an unfortunate life.
Additionally, her husband, true to his thug nature, died not long ago. Deaths in jobs that exert power are common in this world. It’s just a matter of taking on someone stronger than yourself and ending up as ground meat.
The corpse is casually tossed out with the food waste the next day.
The gap between the rich and poor exists in any world, and this one is no exception!
If we lived in a world with only purely good people, it’s impossible for anything to advance this far. Desire drives people forward!
That’s one reason I can’t give up on this world.
In a world too wicked, they’d kill each other mercilessly until only a hellish realm remains, leading to everyone’s demise!
In a world too virtuous, they wouldn’t escape primitivism. They’d be busy wandering around, taking responsibility for the injured, mourning the dead, and continuing life anew.
Without desire, there’s no way to move forward!
A world with advanced technology is great. At least, as far as I know, there’s no utopia, nor is there a completely destructive, mad, and selfish world!
You might have people with electrodes drilled into their heads, waxing poetic in human form while plants grow like machinery, and you might have a happy world where everyone lives in joy!
By the way, they’re in the same world!
Those who awaken from dreams endlessly lament and wish to return to their dream worlds. And that’s how they reached me.
Yet, the problem? When my harvesting period comes, all wounds heal! The terminals implanted in my body would be removed; instead of going back, the very machinery that checks biological signals would be ripped off and treated like a dead hunk of flesh!
In the final moment before I’m torn apart, it felt pretty stupid for my reproductive organs to be shredded alive while trying to produce offspring!
Thinking back to that distant world, I continue walking, aimlessly wandering toward my destination.
And on that day.
In an old house bathed in sunset, a child who should have long stopped walking but can’t, became a harvesting period.
Unfortunately.