Yes.
The next day.
A man I’ve seen only once before opened the door to my room and came in.
“Are you the apostle the leader speaks of?”
Neatly arranged hair and clean attire. He doesn’t have a tonsure with the middle of his head shaved like a monk, but he has a bowl cut. His complexion looks healthy. Well, that’s because he’s one of the four people who were below during the summoning.
Is there only 1 left now?
Anyway, I greet him.
“Hello.”
“Yes, hello. My name is Andrew. You’re a bit different from what I imagined.”
Well, if it’s an apostle of god, it seems like a title given to an amazing person, so it’s not a suitable title for me.
Rather, I’m more on the side far from god. If it goes from beast to human to god, I’m on the opposite side with humans in the middle?
I can see faint disappointment on Andrew’s face.
Is it because I’m not the person he expected?
I don’t know what his intention is, but Joanna happens to be away, and he came taking advantage of the gap when no one would come.
I don’t ask questions. I let him think for himself. If he has something to ask, let him ask. Because if I ask questions, my level of knowledge is instantly exposed.
Even if I don’t, it will be exposed someday!
A person who has risen to a high position in a pseudo-religion should be able to see others well. At least considering the aspects in between, they’re not ordinary people.
So.
As I just stare at him, Andrew also stares back at me.
But I know Hieronymus has a device watching me, yet he comes in so boldly?
Does he not know?
At least Hyunkeshuni came in when Joanna was here. Judging by her carrying such a staff and calling herself a witch, there’s a high possibility that this pseudo-religion is her side job.
I’ve seen the Future Hope Church through the eyes of 4 people in total, but there wasn’t anyone carrying a staff like hers, let alone a staff itself.
The place where Witga is is estimated to be where this Future Hope Church cultivates its force group, but while there are people who use magic there, there are no long staffs.
There’s a high probability that Hyunkeshuni’s witch profession is likely to be in a different field from the Future Hope Church. For example, just using it or something like that.
Whether she was confident in her power or not, it seemed like she just came to see me because she thought of it.
But this person is different.
He’s trying to figure me out. He must have targeted a time when no one was around because he has other thoughts.
Like questions that Future Hope Church people shouldn’t hear?
“Miss Rebecca, are you satisfied with your current position?”
See? He says this. He’s trying to figure out whether I like or dislike my current position. Most people answer that they don’t like it. So I’ll do the same.
“No.”
I really don’t like it. The room is quite spacious but it’s a closed room without even a window.
But it’s not stuffy.
Rather, I’m wide open.
Everywhere is wide, vast, but very cold because it’s empty.
I want to shoot something like a Rebecca Beam and harvest warmth, but it seems like the attack function isn’t attached to me. While thinking such irrelevant thoughts, I look at Andrew.
“Oh ho, then does that mean you have complaints about Hieronymus who confined you to this place?”
Let’s see.
How should I take this? Usually, when someone says they don’t like their position, shouldn’t the next sentence be about where they want to go? Or isn’t it right to ask about a place they would like?
Did he come to sound me out about whether I have complaints or not?
There are things you can say in front of someone, and things you can’t.
Moreover, if it holds your life and death, even if you have complaints, you can’t say them.
But here, answering yes or no isn’t a good answer.
“Why would I have complaints?”
Actually, I have no intention of listening to the reason. I’m just saying this.
I’m just doing what he tells me to do. I don’t like this place, but I have no thoughts about it.
“So you mean Miss Rebecca is just doing what Hieronymus tells you to do. I see. But even if you don’t like this room, you could have asked to change to another room. He’s the leader of this Future Hope Church. He can do anything.”
Well, I know he’s the leader.
And I also know that he views the Future Hope Church itself very coldly. So if I asked, he would probably grant it, but it’s just annoying because there’s no window, but it’s fine to just stay here, so I had no thoughts.
There are four ominous devices stuck at the corners of the ceiling.
They’re for attacking in case of emergency, and if I move rooms, there would be a lot to prepare.
It’s not time yet.
This is quite a deep place. When Hieronymus took the children out, it was only after walking up quite a bit that other people started to appear.
He’ll move the room when he either loosens up or thinks he can use me better.
I know the unpleasant thing to say here. If you say something like “Is that so?”, you don’t know whether he’s actually listening to my words or just letting everything slide.
Instead, I’ll ask something else here.
“Do you want what Hieronymus calls a blessing?”
Yes. I let him know that I didn’t call it a blessing.
It was Hieronymus who decided that. I don’t know anything. I’m just doing what I’m told to do. That’s the appeal.
The way he speaks is strangely off.
Leader. Shouldn’t someone who really serves with full loyalty call him Lord Hieronymus?
No matter how I think about it, there’s no way I could be higher than Hieronymus, so it’s not that he used honorific language.
At my words, Andrew closed his mouth.
“Ahaha, Hieronymus will take care of that. If it’s awkward for you to speak directly to Hieronymus, I’ll personally convey your request to change rooms. It wouldn’t be right for the apostle of god to have any inconveniences in their stay, would it?”
Andrew deflected and refused.
Is he scared to use it on himself because it’s still an unknown power?
Even I, who use it, don’t know it well. When I was put in, the light turned black and special abilities appeared. Isla just increased her overall physical performance, but Wide uses purple flames along with increased physical abilities. Tis gained regenerative ability. However, Tis’s physical abilities don’t seem to have improved particularly.
There are differences for each person.
Since Wide did a lot of advertising, Hieronymus will probably send more people to become harvesters to me.
And one more thing.
I got a sense of roughly how much to put in. If I keep practicing like this, even if I return to the bottom later, I might be able to give myself without bursting.
So what I need to say here is one thing.
“Yes. Do what you want to do.”
I don’t know anything. I’m just an animal trapped in a cage. Whether you keep me inside and raise me, or put me behind a glass window to show, I’m satisfied as long as you give me warmth.
Yes.
So I close my eyes to the malice that briefly appeared and disappeared on Andrew’s face, or the possibility that there might be discord with Hieronymus.
I hope a fire starts.
That’s how I can get warmth.
For harvesters to operate in earnest, chaotic times are needed. Isn’t it the same with works like The Romance of the Three Kingdoms? People who would have been forgotten in peaceful times become heroes and come to the forefront of history when chaotic times arrive.
And behind that, tens, hundreds, thousands of blood flows.
That’s how harvesters steal warmth from others.
Warmth didn’t come from the opponents Isla subdued. So there’s a need to kill.
Wide showed it. Just killing makes warmth flow into me.
“Yes. I understand, Miss Rebecca. Please look forward to good news.”
Andrew, thinking he had obtained enough words he could get, greeted me and left the room.
Ah, what a shame.
I want to bury myself in that guy too.
But there’s another seed left.
The person I put myself into. Tis.
The boy who’s now realizing his ability and learning how to fight by rolling hard with the instructor. He’s focusing on learning without worrying about his body with his increased regenerative power.
A revolutionary type boy who finds strangeness in the logic governing the present and seeks the right answer.
He’ll surely make things interesting.
It’s actually interesting. Because surprisingly, Wide is defending Tis. In his eyes, it seems to look like Tis is desperately training because he wasn’t chosen.
The more that happens, the more the difference between Wide and Tis becomes apparent. It’s visible that no matter how much effort is made, the gap is widening.
And that’s abundantly filling Wide’s self-esteem.
It even amplifies. Because his peers next to him and the instructors who taught him look at him with eyes of envy.
Among those people, words like these come out.
I wish I had received the blessing too.
How admirable.
As expected of Wide.
The number of people who want to become harvesters themselves is rapidly increasing.
No, from now on, let’s not say putting myself in. Let’s make it simpler. Blessing.
I like that. When done, it sounds like receiving something good. In reality, I’m just being put into that vessel.
But that me being contained is not being separated.
To explain it easily, let’s say there’s a big basin full of water. That water is me.
Putting me into someone is not like scooping water and putting it in a cup.
It’s like turning a cup upside down and putting it in the water.
Then an air pocket forms, but oh my goodness.
When they agree to the contract, that air escapes.
It’s actually a bit different, but it’s roughly like that. The water that is me is all connected. Let’s leave how many cups can be put in as a homework for later.
Because I heard heavy footsteps from far away.
The sound suddenly stopped in front of the door. And Hieronymus, pretending to have no expression, opened the door and came in.
He looked at me with a very tense expression, then looked around, and then focused his gaze on me again.
Something special happened. But it seems he doesn’t know what happened? So I decided to do what I always do.
“Hello, Hieronymus.”