I made contracts with two more patients in critical condition at the infirmary and came out.
That’s when disaster struck.
Gu Milmil said she understood why I was called a Heavenly Lady, and asked if I was an immortal.
It was an extremely harsh thing to say. So I firmly denied it.
Just a simple monster, I said.
But maybe I spoke too strongly, because after that we parted without much further conversation.
Soo-oh is looking at me with eyes of admiration, which feels good.
But knowing this is fake, I have to keep in mind that it could all turn to hatred someday when she learns the truth.
Will I be sad when that time comes?
I don’t know.
Anyway, since light is the soul, after I take the warmth, they meet a rather horrible end.
Either crushed under the cold sea, or scattered as dust in a glass bottle.
Someday it will all come to light.
This warmth too.
But this side is a bit uncertain. Even the Great Kraken knows nothing about the resource called warmth. Rather than using souls, there was no separate category for the warmth contained in souls.
Ah, speaking of warmth, I just remembered.
Now, we need to prepare for winter.
A long, harsh winter is coming. It will continue to come in the future.
Heavenly Demon recently received a report from the Moon Emperor Hall that there are no more products coming in as before, and they won’t be able to receive anything in the future.
Because the place they were supposed to give to disappeared in the light.
The Severance Religion and Blood Vessel Secret Religion.
This wasn’t simply an event where humans offered other humans as sacrifices.
When people are sacrificed or become fish-people, they bring rewards from that side.
Large amounts of seafood and various jewels. They obtained such things.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult doesn’t have many people engaged in productive activities and doesn’t do much plundering.
You can guess why they were able to continue living quite wealthy lives without such income.
But now that’s been cut off, so they’ll keep becoming more impoverished from now on.
Timing-wise, the Murim Alliance is invading at a very bad time.
So shouldn’t we prepare for winter?
It looks like we’ll somehow be able to get through this winter at least, but we’ll have to see how it actually turns out when the time comes.
* * *
The longest night has passed, and the season when days slowly become warmer has arrived.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was more solid than I had guessed.
Originally, they received enormous amounts of goods from the fish-people, right? So I thought they would immediately collapse when that was cut off…
But that wasn’t the case.
When the Moon Emperor Hall couldn’t produce any income at all, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s revenue decreased quite a lot, but they weren’t so weak that they would immediately collapse without them.
But that’s the story during peaceful times.
If war breaks out, that will surely be difficult too.
A rumor called the Righteous-Demonic Great War is circulating in the village.
There are constant clashes at the border between the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and Murim, and large sects send their groups using those clashes as an excuse.
They say it’s for public safety, but everyone knows that such sects only maintain public safety in their own territories.
Among the righteous sects, extremely small sects or those belonging to evil sects are starting to leave this middle area altogether, and sects belonging to the Murim Alliance are moving in to replace them, just changing the signs.
Weapons are being gathered, and the number of people is increasing.
Anyone can see that something is going to happen.
As fights became more frequent, the number of meetings held by Heavenly Demon and hall master-level people also increased.
More than half of the ten hall masters say they will end up fighting the Murim Alliance at this rate.
They say they’ve already confirmed over 15 sects, even the places called the Five Great Families are keeping an eye on this place, and even people from the government army have started to appear.
The faded man’s memories are brightly highlighting the term “separation of government and Murim”, but isn’t it strange for the state not to pay attention when gangster groups are having large-scale fights?
I’m hoping I can ride that to get to the government.
Rather, that would be good.
I don’t need to be treated particularly well.
Even if I’m treated like a criminal or an object, it’s fine as long as I can ultimately gain warmth.
I just have to see this as proceeding on that kind of board.
I need to be careful.
There are transcendent beings called immortals, and they’re building a country there.
This side might have special techniques too.
Will it end with just a clash between the two, or will it become three?
Or will chaos without rules break out?
I can’t know the future.
So I’ve been preparing steadily.
I couldn’t do it every day, but as a result of consistently turning people into harvesters, there are now 26 in total.
I’ve made a wide range of people into harvesters, from those who were living as ordinary people to those properly in charge of military power in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
If they kill each other, I can gain warmth from anywhere.
I spend time pretending to know nothing while waiting for a big fight.
* * *
The season has come when water no longer freezes even in the deep night.
Meanwhile, Soo-oh has become strong enough to be praised even by Heavenly Demon.
And she’s made acquaintances besides me and Heavenly Demon.
She knows Gu Milmil, Oh Myeongseong, and surprisingly even Yin Simwon.
It’s a bit concerning that she has no peers, but I’m glad she seems to be developing social skills too.
Of course, ideologically it’s quite unstable.
Until now I had been telling her various stories in the mornings, but last winter Soo-oh said it was boring and uninteresting so I stopped.
But given the world as it is, living too morally seems to only make people unhappy.
Each era has standards appropriate to that era.
People look askance at and call those with standards that don’t match the era lunatics.
They generally had to live unhappy lives.
Only extraordinary people do that.
It’s an asceticism that ordinary people absolutely cannot do.
So while I was wondering how much to teach Soo-oh…
The fight officially began.
Yes.
The Righteous-Demonic Great War broke out.
Martial artists are a group of superhumans.
As soon as full-scale combat begins, the war situation moves at a terrifying speed.
In an instant, the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult’s outposts are smashed, and people are pushed back.
If there’s a particularly strong superhuman compared to those around them, they’re pushed back in an instant.
Conversely, if there’s a stronger superhuman on this side, they push the others back.
It’s somewhat different from a simple war.
Because it’s a space where power that can’t be simply expressed in numbers is rampaging, the front line is meaningless, and people die in an instant.
And among them, there are those who particularly shine.
None other than my harvesters.
Every single one of them pulls me out to use.
When it became certain that war would break out, Heavenly Demon gathered the harvesters and taught them how to use me in a crash course.
Only a very small number of people can put me in their swords and display swordsmanship like Heavenly Demon, and most can only thrust with spears.
However, the difference from a simple thrust is that a purple beam comes out from that thrust.
They use it like a gun.
Of course, rather than the type that sweeps away enemies from a distance, it’s closer to frontline infantry operated like spears with slightly longer reach.
They line up, move forward, and thrust to fire simultaneously.
Most martial artists die with their bodies pierced as they approach.
If there are martial artists who can deflect that and come in, those who can wield me in swords step forward.
They’re mostly clustered in one battlefield, so it’s not clearly visible what’s happening overall.
But on the first day the war started.
I gained a lot of warmth.
Hehe.
* * *
The second day after the war started.
Soo-oh finally noticed something strange.
“Choseol. Something’s weird about the forest.”
Soo-oh pointed to the forest in the north.
Soo-oh didn’t know.
There hadn’t been any big commotion inside the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult yet.
Heavenly Demon didn’t come yesterday, but that happens occasionally, so Soo-oh spent the day without knowing anything.
“What’s weird about it?”
I don’t feel anything.
So I asked Soo-oh if she really felt something, or if it was closer to a hunch.
Soo-oh narrowed her eyes and looked around the forest.
Then she looked at me and pointed to the middle of the forest.
“The forest is too quiet. It’s like it’s asleep, there’s no sound at all.”
Ah, that?
Come to think of it, the bird sounds that were like background noise are gone.
I don’t know if the animals really fell silent knowing something was happening, or if there are actually people who have entered the forest.
The only harvesters in this area are Heavenly Demon and Oh Myeongseong.
And both of them are discussing with the hall masters what to do.
But the fact that they’re not discussing how to fight, but whether to negotiate or not, makes me sigh a little.
I thought the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult would kill people without question saying it’s for their god.
Heavenly Demon has become much gentler since becoming a woman, no. Precisely, since her mind became female.
Rather, Oh Myeongseong is arguing more aggressively to attack.
He says they persistently attacked aiming for this purple hair, so they will never negotiate.
But there’s someone who denies those words.
None other than the Earth Management Hall Master.
A person who not only plays the role of hall master, but also the role of an elder in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. He rather pointed at Oh Myeongseong and said to hand him over.
Saying the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult is suddenly being attacked because of this person, he suggests handing over Oh Myeongseong first, regrouping, and then looking to the future.
The old man’s face saying this is full of annoyance.
I can infer from his expression.
That future is after he dies.
The unique sentiment of an old man with nothing left to leave behind, thinking he just needs to get through this.
But the position of the person saying this is, in a way, one of the highest in the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
So no one can easily step forward to refute his words.
And among the causes of that silence, there’s not only an inability to oppose what the Earth Management Hall Master said, but also hatred towards Oh Myeongseong.
He suddenly appeared and took the position of Right Light Officer, which is practically the next Heavenly Demon position.
It’s an easy position to be jealous of.
Perhaps because of that, surprisingly, the balance of opinions tilted towards handing over Oh Myeongseong and negotiating.
Hall masters who don’t even know why the Murim Alliance is attacking, thinking to use this opportunity to get rid of what they dislike.
No, perhaps for the hall masters, this Righteous-Demonic Great War is someone else’s business.
Because except for the Moon Emperor Hall Master, they’re not harvesters.
The war continues with the command in confusion.
I turned my gaze to Soo-oh who was still checking the forest and said this:
“Soo-oh. Big things are going to happen from now on.”
I thought it would be a war that would end easily if Heavenly Demon and Oh Myeongseong combined forces and swept through, but like this, even the outcome is uncertain.
Therefore.
I think it’s time to tell the truth.