When I returned to the lodging, the commander and the people of the lodging welcomed me with great joy.
They say they thought I was dead.
Listening to them, it makes sense.
Since the scene they saw just before falling asleep was thorn trees digging into the house, it's not strange to think someone died if only one person isn't visible after opening their eyes.
"I'm fine."
"It's fortunate that you're safe."
The commander who said that hesitated for a while, then carefully opened his mouth.
"What happened to the witch?"
Seeing him ask like this, he's not asking while knowing. He's just asking because I was the only one who disappeared from this place, and the witch disappeared.
I lifted Maleficent.
"This is it."
"What?"
The Royal Guards there, including the commander, look at the black and white crown in my hand with very surprised expressions.
I passed it to the commander. Honestly, this. I don't need it.
"Be careful because Maleficent can use magic."
I mean be careful using it because the tool can use magic, but it could sound like the witch is sealed inside.
In other words, it's deception.
I put this on the commander's hand.
"It would be good to keep it well."
The Royal Guard commander alternately looks at the crown on his stiff gloves and me who put it on his hand, flustered.
"Uh, yes. I understand."
I stretched. Maybe because I carried Victoria for a long time earlier, or because of the aftermath of my neck turning a full circle, it's a bit stiff.
Come to think of it, Merriwather was already dead and it was Maleficent until now, right?
I had been mistakenly thinking that the royal family sent Merriwather to use me.
Thinking about it now, surprisingly, the royal family seems to be really treating me simply as someone who helped Aurora. It means they really sent the escort knight as an escort.
Hmm. From now on, I shouldn't be certain when thinking about someone's background. If I'm not careful, I might have made a fatal mistake.
I learned one thing. I'll be careful from now on.
Anyway, looking around, quite a lot of people are injured. But there's no one with injuries serious enough to scream.
There are many people with scratches from thorn trees when they fell, but those will heal soon.
Harvesters have good physical strength, so many were working outside in the afternoon. That's why many harvesters in Brightshin died.
I need to increase harvesters.
I need a way to control the number of harvesters while maintaining my concept.
There's a high possibility that the royal family sees me as someone who helped Aurora.
It would be convenient to wear the mask of a good person.
If you distribute goodness indiscriminately, its value decreases.
"When you go back, if there are people with injuries too severe to reverse, please call me. I'll put myself in anytime."
After confirming goodwill mixing in the Royal Guards' eyes, I saw them off until they left. Then I clean up the messy lodging together.
I organize scattered fragments, tear down and break what's weakened in durability from thorn trees digging in, and memorize the structure while dismantling equipment installed to block the outside.
"I didn't know you could do this too."
While I was cleaning the lodging neatly with the managing person, the butler of this mansion approached and quietly spoke to me.
"It would be troublesome if the staying person is picky, right?"
While wiping dust from the window frame, I speak as if I could have acted like a picky person asking if they're not cleaning properly, but didn't, as if I acted only out of goodwill.
Of course, it's possible to point out.
Among the memories gained when the first world collapsed, there are many memories of people working in places like this. If the world is different, the materials change, so some specialized knowledge needs to be adapted to this world, but most things are similar.
"If you have any inconveniences, please tell us anytime. Our children need opportunities to grow too."
They're raising them very strictly.
But instead of nodding, I continued working. It's easy to build up evil, but difficult to build up goodness.
I plan to increase harvesters by pretending to be a good person from now on, so I'll manage my image.
If I change too suddenly, they might detect that I have ulterior motives, so I just need to help someone little by little.
But I wonder if the royal family knows the fact that I've been going around the slums making harvesters until now?
It's a method I used after Merriwather became my escort, but there's a high possibility Merriwather didn't explain that to the royal family.
The key will be how to smooth this part over.
For a while, I should live as I've been doing while observing the situation.
* * *
I was thinking like that.
And that night.
The royal family invited me. It's called an invitation, but in reality, it was dragging me, a related person, there...
Now I'm in a space like a reception room for formally meeting important people, not the office where I met the king last time.
In front sits King Hyperion, unable to hide a smile of joy on his face.
"Thank you so much for sealing Maleficent."
Sealing?
Ah. Yes. Right. The witch became a crown, and if they hear it can use magic, they suspect sealing. They don't think the witch was turned into an object whole.
"Keep it carefully."
I said that while hoping that someday harvesters would use it for mass slaughter. At my words, Hyperion nodded with a serious expression.
"I'll keep it under strict guard so that no dangerous incidents occur."
He's taking it as if the sealed witch might pop out if handled wrongly, but that won't actually happen. I took all the warmth, and the blackened light became dust and disappeared when it became an object.
When the talk about Maleficent ended, King Hyperion conveyed a long message of gratitude full of royal speech.
While doing so, he glances out the window.
Outside the window. The royal palace can be seen far away. Originally, tall spires should be rising, but that part is missing.
Come to think of it, when thorn trees surrounded the capital, a beam flew from the royal palace towards the witch. And after that beam returned to where it came from by the witch, no beam flew again.
It must have been smashed then.
"If there are people with irreversible injuries, please call me."
"Thank you for your concern. If needed, I'll be sure to call you."
Then, the king suddenly changed the atmosphere.
The bright and joyful atmosphere rapidly becomes heavy. He's implicitly expressing that the following conversation is serious.
So I also pretend to straighten my posture, encouraging him to say what he wants to say.
"You, you freed my daughter Aurora from the witch's curse, and even went as far as sealing that witch."
The witch Maleficent.
Looking at the memories I gained along with the warmth, she's not human. I mean she's not a human who gained the job of witch.
She wasn't human. It wasn't just words that she was the Queen of Hell. She really is a fairy-like being born in a dark place in this world.
It means she's something born on the boundary between the living and the dead.
She was born with powerful strength from birth and wielded it, living as her desires led while doing whatever she wanted.
She even became cunning as she aged.
But, the witch was too strong.
I said she fell for provocations too easily that even Hyunkeshuni wouldn't fall for, but it turns out she had no resistance to provocations because she never needed to endure provocations until now.
If we simply compare witch power or class, Maleficent is overwhelmingly stronger. The difference is really as big as between an ant and an elephant.
Maleficent rarely had to run away after being defeated by someone. At least according to her memory, there was no single entity in this world that could kill her.
If the Great Kraken had been summoned, it would be easy to understand if I say she was strong enough to have put up a quite spectacular fight.
Primordial Heavenly Lord's memory especially sparkles while pointing at the part where magic was stopped, and Great Kraken's memory sparkles saying he would win anyway, but.
She was certainly very strong. That's why she was defeated so surprisingly easily. But Hyperion doesn't know that. In front of him is something that dealt with that witch.
"Is there anything you want from this country?"
That's right. The person in front of me is the king. A creature that must constantly suspect behind. It's a job where you die stabbed from behind if you forget to be suspicious.
He's suspecting me.
It's excellent except for the fact that it's already too late.
I could create an image that I'm good by shaking my head here, but then Hyperion would suspect more.
A level of desire that humans can understand is needed.
Warmth?
That's too fatal a weakness.
So something easy to understand. No, let's change direction here.
If I get too buried in what I need, he might pick up on parts I don't know myself.
So let's change direction.
"To the south from here. I hear screams."
I pointed to Bern City. They're already fighting at a level that could be called civil war. It's full of corpses and injured, and hope has disappeared from people's expressions.
So I was about to say those who gave me are disappearing, but swallowed my words.
No. I shouldn't say this.
If I'm not careful, I might reveal that I can see the world through harvesters. To be an incomprehensible subject, I shouldn't be a completely unknown creature.
I need to be a creature already understood to hide in the shadow of truth.
"Hyperion. Why do I hear people's screams from the south?"
So I press him.
I wear the mask of a good person all the way.
That's how I take the initiative.
I'm saying this now.
I have no special intention, I'm just saving people.
Rather, aren't you the one neglecting your duties?
It's a question a good person should naturally ask.
Whether the royal family is involved or not.
In reality, I don't care either way.
The important thing is that I can avoid Hyperion's questioning. Hyperion answered my question like this:
"You really are an unknowable person. The south, you say. Alright, I understand. I'll have it checked. I hope you don't become an enemy of this country."
I neither affirmed nor denied.
Then instead of pressing further, the king moved on to the next topic.
The content was to prepare for a memorial service for the tragedy that occurred in the capital starting tomorrow.
And that was the end.
Instead of informing me of tomorrow's schedule and sending me back to my lodging, the king had me rest in a guest room in the royal palace.
I won't be able to attend classes tomorrow.