The day after I started staying with the Bete family.
When I woke up in the morning, tidied up inside and came out, Beatrice was sleeping with her head on the table.
It's still dawn, with the air outside a deep blue.
There's a high stack of what appears to be completed documents on the right, and only a few sheets remaining on the left.
I approached Beatrice.
"Wake up. You need to finish your work."
"You're saying some harsh things."
Beatrice spoke with a voice stuck to the floor. She's awake.
Judging by her voice, it doesn't seem like she woke up from my voice. Did she wake up when I came down?
"You're almost done, aren't you?"
"Yes. Almost done."
Beatrice got up from her seat. Seeing no signs of being half-asleep, she must have been sleeping lightly.
Or she couldn't sleep well because of me.
Stretching, Beatrice walks to the kitchen, leaving me behind. Then she opens something similar to a refrigerator and examines the inside.
The difference from a refrigerator is that there's no freezer.
Based on what Victoria knows, just refrigerating can maintain freshness at the level of freezing.
The problem is that it's completely empty inside. Beatrice eventually closes the door and puts water in a kettle to boil.
Meanwhile, her gaze sweeps around several times, and after landing on the gun near the table, her eyes turn there a couple more times, which can be considered cute.
Anyone would be wary if a guest of unknown identity was inside.
It's interesting that there's tea in any world. Of course, some places steep leaves, some steep stems. Some even steep things like beans.
This world has coffee too. Victoria doesn't like it because it tastes sour when added, so I don't know much about it.
Beatrice made that.
"Here, drink."
"Thank you."
Let's consider it cute that she naturally picks up the gun while giving me a cup and putting her own cup down on the table.
Beatrice sat on the edge of the table.
It seemed like she had something to say, so I waited, and after a long time had passed after drinking coffee, she opened her mouth. She must not have been fully awake yet.
"Why did you come to my daughter?"
In other words, she's in her right mind now.
"Victoria Bete. She was just unlucky. She was kidnapped by chance, injected with a serum that turns her into a monster, and when she woke up, she happened to succeed in resisting. She struggled without knowing it was already over."
Even though she killed many Sahaggin, it meant that an equally strong companion was born, so they didn't care about the deaths of other companions.
"If she hadn't met me, she would have died with the monsters there or become completely one of their species."
Victoria hid a tiny bit of the story she experienced. Since everything worked out anyway, she talked about it as if she had a slightly dangerous adventure.
"But she was really unfortunate. She met me and didn't die, gaining the ability to survive. As a result, she eventually survived."
Beatrice tapped her cup a few times with her finger, then asked me with a strange expression.
"Why do you call that unfortunate?"
So I answer like this:
"I don't lie."
It means I won't answer.
Beatrice aimed the small revolver in her hand at me, staring straight at me with narrowed pupils from within the shadows of this still dark place.
"If anything happens to my daughter, you'll never die easily."
I thought about sneering "if you can kill me," but it didn't seem like it would be any threat to her, so I decided to torment her in a different way.
"If you're going to say such things, fill that storage when your child comes back. I saw it was empty, isn't there a store that opens early in the morning far from here?"
Beatrice flinched as if I had poked a sore spot and carefully lowered the gun.
"No, I didn't know this work would end so late, and I originally planned to finish everything yesterday evening."
She makes excuses while avoiding my gaze. Of course, I know she spent quite a lot of time listening to Victoria's story yesterday.
Common sense says I should let it go, but to divert attention from my dangerousness, I keep pressing.
"Feed your child. Isn't that why you work?"
She bows her head deeply, seeming to have something on her mind. I pour all the sour liquid in the teacup into my mouth and point at the remaining papers with my finger.
"How comfortable will the child feel when she wakes up in the morning and sees her mother working all night? Finish quickly."
Beatrice nodded with a sullen expression and came down from the table to sit obediently in her seat.
Then she checks the documents while tapping something that looks like a calculator. These are documents I wouldn't understand even if I looked at them.
So I left Beatrice working hard and tried to match Victoria's memories with this area.
Not much has changed. If you move your steps to the living room, there's a video receiver inside the wardrobe.
It's too classic in appearance to call it a TV. I thought about opening and turning it on for a moment, but decided to leave it alone since there's someone working.
I should have Victoria turn it on later when there's time.
I just sat on the sofa in the middle of the living room. Outside, the sun is gradually brightening, dawn is passing, and morning is coming.
There was a time like this before, what did I do then?
Ah. There was nothing but worrying about what to prepare for breakfast with Soo-oh. Other than that, there's only watching from a harvester's perspective.
Maybe because this is an era where group power is stronger than individual power, those five people.
They don't wield their desires.
The man I first made a harvester. Reason Brutal. This man led the other four and got off at the next port after where we disembarked.
This person was originally a construction worker who was planning to return home after getting injured in an accident, but now he leads, saying he won't waste this opportunity that has come.
For now, the world might look good. They might even be able to do good deeds for others at that time.
But all five are people who can easily trample on others. Even if they work diligently, how long will it last?
While there's someone who left home aimlessly because they didn't want to do even day labor, there's also someone who lost their place to return to because the village they were living in was crushed by monsters.
There's also someone who ran away aimlessly because their house was in big debt, and someone who lives by pickpocketing.
Since both body and mind have improved, they'll soon think it's a shame to live like this.
The five who united suddenly created a strange organization called the Purple Twilight Association as if they had suddenly developed chuunibyou, but.
Yes.
I'm looking forward to seeing when they'll break up and go their separate ways, or if they'll degenerate into a violent group and extort people.
If that happens, they'll inevitably end up killing someone while fighting. The problem is that murder is a strict crime in this world.
Of course, it's a common occurrence on the outskirts of the city, but at least inside the city it is.
I wonder if they'll live long and give a lot of warmth, or if they'll give a flash of warmth and disappear.
If the opportunity arises, it might be fun to go and increase the harvesters.
While making plans for things to do in the future, I waited for Victoria.
And the sun came up completely, making the day hot.
Eventually, Beatrice approached me, who was sitting still.
"The child doesn't seem to be thinking of waking up, want to go grocery shopping together?"
"Sure."
I nodded and stood up from my seat.
Then, suddenly looking down at my outfit, I realized there was one problem and asked Beatrice.
"Clothes. Is this okay?"
Last evening.
It's the thin pink clothes Victoria put on me, saying they were pajamas. Thinking no one would go out wearing this, I asked Beatrice, and she looked me up and down, told me to wait, and left.
And a little while later.
She came back lightly carrying a large box and put it down in front of me.
It's a box with Victoria's name written on it.
In other words, it's a box containing her childhood outfits.
"There are plenty of clothes."
"I guess I can wear something appropriate and go."
Most of them are clothes Victoria remembers wearing. Since I have no resistance to wearing clothes others have worn, I picked up an appropriate outfit.
"Let's try on a few outfits first."
That's when Beatrice said that, and I nodded, thinking it would be against manners to wear them carelessly.
I shouldn't have done that.
I had to change clothes until well past lunchtime, when Victoria came down yawning and saying she was hungry.
Aren't you forgetting that I'm a monster right now?
"Mom, what are you doing?"
"You're up? I'm picking out clothes for Belle right now."
"Aren't those my clothes, Mom?"
"Is there a problem?"
Ah, come to think of it, I forgot that the one giving the clothes might not like it.
If there's a problem, I'll twist the clothes I was wearing. After trying on dozens of outfits, I've grasped the general style of the clothes.
They might be a bit old-fashioned for the current time, but it should be fine since I'm an outsider anyway.
"Why didn't you call me for such a fun thing, Mom!"
"Who told you to wake up late?"
"Hehe, it's vacation, so give me a break. So what clothes did you try on her?"
Victoria naturally approached Beatrice and picked up a few outfits.
"Ah, this is one I liked but couldn't wear because my chest got too big. Let's have her try this on, Mom."
"You couldn't wear it properly because it ruined your appearance... That's right. Belle should be able to wear it well."
A little more, and I think I'll become a dress-up doll in this place.
Personality-wise, I'm closer to a man in the order of a monster obsessed with warmth, then the man in faded memories, and then a consciousness imitating humans.
So I thought I would continue to feel uncomfortable, but looking at myself from Victoria's perspective, there's no such feeling.
In the end, I changed clothes until the middle of noon and dinner time.