Finally, the morning of the fourth day dawned.
Of course, it’s just a rhetorical expression, as sunlight doesn’t actually shine here.
Instead, Hieronymus brought three children asking for a blessing. A boy and a girl brimming with confidence, and a boy who seems quite intimidated.
They’re standing behind Hieronymus. And among them, there’s someone who’s afraid of this attempt. The intimidated boy.
That boy is scared.
There’s a possibility he was brought here forcibly.
Hmm hmm hmm. Why would he be brought forcibly? They said it’s a blessing, so wouldn’t there be many people who would volunteer? But brought forcibly?
Aha!
I understood the intention.
He wants to see how much the subject’s performance improves when I create harvesters. Now that I look at it this way, I’m curious too.
People to compare with are necessary.
“Miss Rebecca. I’ll leave it to you.”
Hieronymus stepped aside. So I reached out my hand. I’ll go with the kid most likely to run away. And someone who seems like it would be interesting if they start quarreling with each other later because of this.
The most intimidated boy.
I pointed at that boy.
“Come forward first.”
Glare.
The eyes of the boy and girl beside him turned sharp.
Hehe. This is jealousy. It’s the expression seen in the eyes of someone you’re stabbing to death. It means it’s your own expression reflected in the other person’s eyes in the memory.
There are surprisingly many people who are betrayed, take revenge, but fail miserably and fall into despair, you know?
So I approached the boy and first pushed myself a little more into Rebecca Rolfe. The body cracks as if breaking and dark purple mist flows out from there.
And that mist is me.
So I stretched myself out and touched the boy. A clear light, and comparatively small warmth. The light is big and bright but the warmth is small?
I really don’t understand the correlation.
Anyway, I push myself into the light like I did with Joanna. The temptation to take away the warmth is overwhelming, but I have to hold back here.
You have to invest to eat more later!
When the dark purple mist touches the light, the light starts turning black. There’s a subtle difference from when I received the warmth from the person given as a sacrifice last time.
This is maintaining its shape. Last time, the light shrank.
If this light follows the properties of light, out of various wavelengths of light, the rest would be cut off and only a single wavelength would come out, but I wonder if it really has the properties of light.
And the light in the center of the boy has completely turned into a faint purplish black color.
Oh?
Unlike Joanna, his body doesn’t crack and reveal blue skin, nor do his eyes change to black sclera?
He’s just trembling all over.
He’s a strange boy named Tis. He was kidnapped at a very young age and brought to the Future Hope Church. And he grew up receiving brainwashing education like other children.
But this boy had questions. About the education they’re teaching now, and about the god they talk about.
How does a body exploding lead to salvation, why do they use words saying there’s hope for the future while believing in a god who helps when you fall into despair.
He has very legitimate questions.
When he was young, he asked around here and there, but after realizing that asking only breeds animosity, he stopped asking questions.
And it seems he also realized it’s dangerous to ask such questions. And for several years until now, he hasn’t voiced those questions.
But I know he’s not completely brainwashed.
When receiving education, or when other things happened, he pretended to be enthusiastic. Ah, come to think of it, is it because he didn’t do that?
There’s one thing he didn’t do.
“I’ll give myself to you. In return, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then. How about it?”
Thump.
Hmm. His heart is beating loudly.
Thump thump.
He’s nervous.
Although a contract might sound dangerous, it’s actually not such a bad contract.
I give you power, and when you die, I’ll receive what you’ve achieved with that power. That’s about it.
If I’m helpful to you, use me as much as you want. After you die, I’ll take everything.
Receiving the warmth of the lives you kill in the process, let’s consider that dividends.
It’s not like binding with an unknown power as if making a contract with a devil, and since there’s no content about what to do in the first place, feel at ease.
Thinking like that, I waited for an answer, but he’s just trembling without saying anything.
Only his heart is beating roughly.
Thump thump.
In other words, it means there’s no problem seeing through this boy named Tis’s eyes. Even without him saying, I know that if this boy kills someone, I can obtain warmth.
“If you don’t need it, I’ll take it back.”
I’m also curious about what would happen if I completely pull myself out.
Drip. Drip. Sweat drops fall, and the boy trembles while tensing his whole body.
“I’ll make the contract. Apostle.”
Apostle?
Hieronymus did say something like that. Since I denied being the god called Cruxshibal, he said he’d introduce me as that god’s apostle.
But I’m not an apostle. Let’s make the contract clear.
“Call me Rebecca. Human.”
I still want to hide the information that I can know memories if I lick the light. Therefore, it’s strange that I know this boy’s name. Originally, when introducing them, they were introduced as children wanting to receive the god’s power.
“I’ll make the contract. Miss Rebecca.”
“Good.”
But the dramatic result I expected didn’t appear. His hair, which was close to brown blonde, just turned purple.
I hear sounds of admiration from behind.
The two children are looking at Tis with eyes of envy, expectation, and jealousy. Joanna is standing a bit far away, and Hieronymus is watching the harvester production scene with sharp eyes.
Well then, who should we do next?
I’m curious about what would happen if those with my power fought each other, so let’s go in a direction that can increase jealousy.
I pointed to the girl child for the next turn. In other words, the boy child is last. Isn’t the same gender more stimulating?
Hehe.
“Come.”
“Yes!”
The girl child came to me with light steps. The crack already in my body. Of course, even though I say crack, it’s not like the skin is actually splitting and bones are showing.
There, a darkness that doesn’t show the inside is visible. Not black darkness, but darkness like the night sky directly moved inside, like when games show “power of the void!”
The dark purple mist flowed out from there and touched the girl child.
This one has both a big light and a lot of warmth.
Wow, this would be really warm. Should I snatch the warmth? I said there could be failures, so should I go “oops” and take away the warmth once? I shouldn’t, right?
Lies become easier after you tell one, which is not good.
To deceive others for a long time, it’s best to only tell the truth.
Therefore, I turn the light black, holding back the warmth I really want to take.
This girl’s name is Isla.
She was also kidnapped at a very young age. But because she had talent in using her body, she was educated in the warrior profession.
They systematically teach children and pick out those with talent. I couldn’t tell just from Tis, but seeing Isla, I understand.
All children raised in the church receive education in moving their bodies, including physical training, under the name of basic fitness.
They don’t care if it’s boys or girls. If it’s a pseudo-religion, there are many places to use people who have learned martial arts. And they can efficiently give rewards and punishments.
When you train them, punishment doesn’t damage the tools, but rather makes them stronger. The education plan is quite thoroughly set.
As expected, Hieronymus is no ordinary person. It means he didn’t grow the pseudo-religion with just charisma alone. He knows a lot. At least, there’s a high possibility he’s someone with experience in leading a large social collective.
Then I like it. If it’s him, he can operate harvesters much better.
There’s nothing special about the girl called Isla. She just has talent, so she receives a lot of praise, and from there, she has ambition to become the highest person. That’s about it.
So when someone called Witga asked for volunteers, she immediately raised her hand.
“I’ll give myself to you. In return, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then.”
I ask at the point where I know the situation. At first I thought about doing this first, but if it explodes, the information evaporates. So I lick first and then ask.
I ask Isla, who’s looking at me with sparkling eyes.
“Do you agree?”
“Yes! Miss Rebecca!”
The answer came without hesitation. Perhaps because she saw earlier, she doesn’t call me apostle and immediately calls me Rebecca.
Crack.
Suddenly, Isla grew about a span taller. Instead of her flesh changing like pottery, breaking, and a new body coming out from inside like Joanna, her flesh reduced a bit, and she became a tall, handsome woman.
The roots of her hair turned purple, and the ends are red. I can tell that it will probably turn completely purple as time passes.
And her skin became much whiter. White enough that she might look pale from a distance. And her eyes also changed to purple.
That’s the end of the changes.
Isla, who stood up, jumped up and down, and returned to her place with a broad smile.
And I called the last remaining boy. Suddenly curious about the changed Isla, he stared at her intently before hurriedly coming to me.
I do the same action again. I make the dark purple mist contact the light and lick it to find out the memory. This one is a child of a church member. His name is Wide. He’s a Future Hope Church member by birth, and unlike the two who were kidnapped, he’s received a lot from his parents.
On the other hand, he also had to carry his parents’ wishes.
It was like that in the country where I lived when I was human too. They transferred their dreams to their children. They push them into competition and demand high grades.
Fortunately, this boy had talent. So he had excellent skills, and when the opportunity to advance further than others came, he jumped at it.
“I’ll give myself to you. In return, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then. Do you agree?”
“Yes. Miss Rebecca.”
Crack.
The contract is finished. He’s similar to Isla. He grew taller as if he suddenly aged two or three years. Perhaps because his hair is short, it turned completely purple, and his skin also changed to a pale white color.
And if there’s a difference from the first two, purple flames rose from his hands. At first, Wide was surprised and tried to put out the fire, but soon realized it wasn’t hot and stopped.
He watched the purple flame-burning hand intently, then clenched his fist tightly, and the fire disappeared. And when he opened it a moment later, the flame whooshed.
Wide, who immediately controlled the power, turned his head to me with joy. But seeing Hieronymus’s face in the trajectory, his heart sank.
Because he was looking at him with a very stiff expression.
He immediately greeted me and hurriedly returned to where the children were standing. Then Hieronymus came forward.
“Apostle of the god, thank you for bestowing your blessing upon these children. We praise this joy and give eternal glory to our god. May our future be filled with eternal hope.”
After such a closing remark-like greeting, Hieronymus led the children outside.
Wide finds it very fascinating that he can pull me out and use me, and it’s interesting that the mutations are different for each person. There will be a lot to contemplate. Both for me and for Hieronymus.
Anyway, first goal achieved. Harvester increase +3!
Now it’s time to watch the changes.