The Outer God Needs Warmth

Nothing happened to those in the capital.

It seems there are no movements to suppress the Harvesting Period itself.

Thinking about Bern City, it wouldn’t be strange if there was some kind of action.

Right now, the anger of the protestors in Bern City is turning into despair. Originally, a fight begins with anger, but if it drags on, people become exhausted.

Once emotions settle down, you start to see things that you couldn’t due to the intensity of those feelings.

Maybe that’s why the people who protested in Bern City are divided, with some saying the Purple Twilight Society should surrender, while others claim that surrendering like this will lead to death anyway.

Divisions are a bad sign.

Of course, I hope to gain a lot of warmth through this process, no matter how it turns out!

More importantly, I need to mention that the witch Maleficent attacked me. So when I get to meet the king, I’ll have to scratch at the fact that there was an attack, and why they didn’t protect me.

Once I tell the guards I was attacked, the king will find out too.

Thinking like this, I waited for the Royal Academy to wrap up. After all, it’s not a good topic to discuss inside the academy.

In the meantime, there was nothing special happening in the classroom.

Actually, there was one thing.

Towards the end of the class, the teacher told us to prepare for midterms. Most of the students were in a tizzy. But that’s not really something I need to worry about.

It was a bit funny to see Victoria’s expression turn pale. After all, the amount of studying she has to do is double that of an average person, isn’t it?

Cheering her on inwardly, I finished my afternoon classes and stepped outside. Then, I went to the Main Gate and called out to Merryweather.

“Merryweather.”

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“A witch attacked me.”

Upon hearing this, Merryweather was incredibly shocked. I guess it’s because being a guard, he didn’t recognize it at all?

“So?”

Huh? So what? Oh, do you think I can handle it all because I have special powers?

It wouldn’t be strange for someone to think so, but it’s better to let them solve it if they can.

Being able to deal with a witch means you’re stronger than the witch, right?

And there’s also a chance I can’t deal with her. If she doesn’t sign a contract and doesn’t attack me, I can’t reach her anyway.

Plus, it’s not like just stealing warmth is going to kill her…

There’s a possibility that a witch deprived of warmth could turn into a monster as terrible as me, so I plan to approach this part very cautiously.

Of course, I want to take lessons from the failure of the second world and be bolder.

Thinking of the beast that laughed at me in that world and took its own life makes it hard to take warmth from a witch.

“You’re a guard now, right? Aren’t you going to report this to the king?”

“Report to the king, huh…?”

Merryweather is looking at me suspiciously. I guess they find it suspicious that I suddenly said a witch attacked.

They seem to be on guard like they’re facing a terrifying monster.

When I got hit on the head yesterday, I probably should have regenerated quickly so the wound wasn’t visible. Since entering the body of a living person was duller than pain, this got prioritized. Looking back, it was a pretty horrific scene.

Hmm.

“First, why don’t you tell me what you know?”

Merryweather said that.

Oh right. It’d be odd to just say a witch attacked without giving a proper report.

“I was assaulted by a nightmarish illusion yesterday.”

When passing through a black space, I heard a conversation between two witches from behind. I didn’t catch everything, but halfway through, they mentioned losing control somewhere.

If you say you lost the reins of magic, it sounds trivial, but considering what happened to me, it’s quite significant.

I didn’t even realize I was enchanted from that morning until the afternoon.

It’s very powerful magic.

“Wasn’t it just a nightmare?”

Ah, that’s the thing. My physical body may sleep, but my consciousness is always awake. Should I mention this?

I’m anxious about revealing so much about myself, but to convince the king I was attacked, I need to give a reason. Just twist the words a bit.

It’s not that I don’t do it because I can, but because I can’t do it.

“I can’t sleep.”

“What? You can’t sleep? But you’ve been sleeping just fine until now!”

“My body may fall asleep, but my consciousness is always awake. From my perspective, there’s no point where my consciousness is cut off.”

And in the meantime, I spend time observing other Harvesting Periods, so my sleep hours vanish quickly.

“So, you know everything that happened while you were supposed to be sleeping?”

“No. Didn’t I just say? My body is sleeping. If I don’t see it with my eyes, I can’t see it directly.”

I can recognize sounds or smells, but I kept that part hidden.

“Okay, I got it. But what do you think about the witch?”

“What do you mean by what I think?”

“She attacked you, right? Don’t you hate her or anything?”

That’s a strange question. Since I knew I was going to be attacked, is there really any emotional consideration to have?

“A witch is a witch. And her name is Maleficent. Do you know it?”

At my words, Merryweather made a ridiculously strange face. They looked angry yet filled with suspicion. What’s so odd about what I said?

I explained everything properly.

“I know. It’s a name I’m familiar with.”

“She doesn’t seem like a famous witch, though.”

No one in the Harvesting Period knew about the witch. Maybe it was acceptable for the poor, but even Victoria, who’s somewhat middle class, and Kanna, who’s high class among high classes, didn’t know.

Even Aurora was unaware of the witch’s existence.

Suddenly, Merryweather’s mood drastically soured.

“So, once you announce that the witch attacked, what do you plan to do? Catch the witch?”

Merryweather, who looked like they were holding back a boiling rage, asked me.

As expected of the royal intelligence department, Merryweather is really a capable woman, trying to dig up information on me until the end. But I shook my head.

“Why would I catch a witch?”

With powerful regeneration abilities and the ability to convert others into Harvesters, I’ve only shown the people these two skills. Using this to catch a witch is tough.

In reality, unless the witch attacks me, I can’t capture her.

Of course, it’s not completely impossible. If I just destroy this world, I might get warmth. But that won’t happen, so it’s right to say it won’t.

“Okay. I got it.”

With her head down, Merryweather said that and turned away. Now, the royal family probably knows I won’t assist them beyond being bait.

But can the people in the royal family catch a witch?

Watching Merryweather head to the Royal Castle, I returned to my accommodation.

Now, Merryweather will be busy not only keeping an eye on me but also catching the witch.

*

That evening.

A group of people appeared before Victoria as she returned to the dormitory in the Royal Academy from the Clockwork School.

They were brandishing spiked clubs and heavy tools, threatening her.

They demand blessings for themselves.

Shouting that while everyone else gets blessings, why are they treated like this?

And over-exaggeratingly shouting they know blessings are given for free, so they should be blessed too.

Victoria shouted loudly that she wouldn’t give blessings to people like them. As she said this, her eyes quickly scanned around for help.

But not only the people standing there with weapons, but also those surrounding them were all staring greedily at Victoria.

It wasn’t an impulsive attack from a few people.

They had thoroughly planned an operation to make sure she couldn’t escape.

Then Victoria says she doesn’t have such abilities. She tells them to look for someone else because they mistook her for someone else.
Yet the people there seemed to already know.

They scoffed at Victoria’s words and opened their mouths.

They knew that the one who gives blessings is a small child, and that person hardly comes out, so they planned to capture the person who has been nearby as a hostage.

“I see. You’ve been going out often lately, haven’t you?”

They maybe hadn’t noticed since she had been taking the less-traveled roads, but coincidentally they chose Victoria.

Though there was no grudge, the candidates for Harvesters rushed at her to become hostages.

However, their weapons did not touch Victoria.

It was because transparent droplets formed a sphere that blocked those weapons. And when Victoria waved her hand, the person who had rushed at her flew in the opposite direction.

People swept away by the currents created by the water drawn from all sides flew around erratically.

Among them, some even shot flames or lightning, but none of those could pierce the water surrounding Victoria.

The person who shot lightning actually collapsed due to being electrocuted by the water.

Sitting on the bed and watching Victoria’s spectacular battles, someone knocked on the door I was in.

When I stepped outside, several armed soldiers were waiting.

Merryweather must have contacted the royal family and reinforcements arrived.

Seeing me, a person who seemed to be the commander among the soldiers approached. The man, introducing himself as belonging to the Royal Guard, asked me this.

“Lady Bell, up until now, you have been guarded by Merryweather Alquet, correct?”

Huh? I thought they would probably send me somewhere as bait to protect me from the witch’s touch or to catch her, but he says something strange.

“Yes. Is something wrong with Merryweather?”

To my question, he said this.

“Merryweather Alquet has been found dead.”

Huh? Just within these few hours? It seems the witch was really aiming for her. But it’s a legitimate tactic; blocking reinforcements is basic strategy. If she had just stayed alive, I could have made her a Harvester, what a pity.

“We only found part of her body, but autopsy results suggest she was killed at least 20 days ago.”

However, the commander told me a very strange story. They said Merryweather Alquet was killed three weeks ago.

“Then, who has been guarding me until now?”

“Someone has taken her place and deceived people. And there is only one possible subject.”

The commander spoke with restrained anger.

“It’s the witch. The witch has been hiding.”

“Maleficent?”

“You know that ominous name too, Lady Bell? Yes, that’s right. On the day of Princess Aurora’s birthday, she came uninvited and cursed on her own accord, a powerful witch.”

So, does this mean the person I thought was part of the royal intelligence department was a witch all along?

Now that I think about it, calling Merryweather by a shortened version of Maleficent is a bit strange. Maybe because of the slight poetic twist, but if it’s an abbreviation for Maleficent, it makes sense.

I can also easily understand her reaction when talking about the witch.

I was completely deceived.

I really don’t have a sharp mind. If I did, I’d have figured out her identity in an instant.

“Well then, now—”

Just as I was about to ask what we would do next.

Boom!

A sound of something collapsing echoed from everywhere. The commander rushed to the window. The soldiers who had come with him also looked through the window towards the direction of the sound.

Meanwhile, I see through the eyes of a Harvester the happenings in the capital.

The Geomeun Gashinamu wraps around the capital, growing around the Royal Castle. Like a tsunami, it tears apart anyone trying to stop its path.

And after a while of shaking as if the world was quaking, the Gashinamoo came to a stop.

Numerous Harvesters were torn apart on the streets, and the ones who remained fell asleep immediately when stabbed by the thorn bush.

The massive trunk of the thorn bush stopped moving, but the branches continued to stretch out slowly, invading the buildings.

Looking at the sight gathered through the Harvesters’ view, this thorn bush is encapsulating the whole capital.

Maleficent is quite the formidable witch.

---