Hieronymus and Joanna returned.
Judging from Hyunkeshuni’s confident attitude and Hieronymus’s response, they must have agreed in advance about Hyunkeshuni taking care of me.
Hmm?
You can call it surveillance. I’ve been under surveillance from the beginning anyway, and I’m not doing anything that could be picked on by others.
Considering her profession as a witch, is she trying to research me?
If so, I have no intention of being quietly researched.
Because in such cases, if I let my guard down and get sealed or something, I won’t be able to get warmth.
I don’t know yet whether sealing actually exists, but in a world with magic, the possibility of it not existing is rather low.
Isn’t it something everyone does to put a lid on something difficult to face and throw it into the future?
Of course, it’s natural that most of the results are not good.
Anyway, Hieronymus told me.
He said he prepared warmth.
Wow! Finally!
I’m so excited!
He said more in between, but that’s not important so it doesn’t matter!
Hieronymus said he would come to get me after lunch, and called Hyunkeshuni and left together.
And Joanna and I remained in place.
It’s daily life again.
Since I’ve come to a new nest, I got up from my seat and looked around the room. It’s smaller than the room I was in before, but there are many windows so the sense of openness is much greater.
What’s interesting is that there are clean glass windows.
If I remember correctly, wasn’t glass something that came much later? No, thinking of stained glass, was it there from the Middle Ages?
I’m not sure.
At least I can see that this world has developed in its own way.
Of course, I know part of this world through the memories of the people I’ve licked so far, but I don’t know in detail.
Looking only at the visible parts, scenery from between the medieval and modern periods is divided into pieces. Between those sceneries, tools made with magic form the infrastructure.
Magic is quite a common technology. It was frequently seen in the house where Rebecca Rolfe lived, and in Joanna’s childhood and when she had just gotten married, magic items could be seen often.
Of course, when she became poor, she could hardly see them anymore.
At best, the lights illuminating the streets were the only items made using magic technology.
While I was estimating this world’s technological level looking at the glass windows, Joanna approached and opened the window wide.
Ah, did she think I was looking because I didn’t know how to open the window? I looked outside since the window was opened.
It’s mostly wilderness. There are sparse grasslands, but most of it is full of rocks and sand. The trees also look like plants that have evolved into cactus-like forms.
It certainly seems like an area not suitable for someone to live in.
In other words, it’s an area difficult for people to approach. It’s an appropriate environment for a large pseudo-religion to curl up in.
Originally, religious groups tend to go into such remote places.
It’s difficult to come in, and also difficult to go out.
It’s a perfect place for a pseudo-religious group to flourish.
Even if someone tries to escape, most of the villages around here belong to the Future Hope Church, so there are only enemies.
And such groups obsessively catch apostates and publicly execute them. That’s how they can bind people with fear.
In other words, in case of emergency, escaping from this pseudo-religion seems like it would be quite a grueling task.
Or I should make it so there’s no need to escape from this pseudo-religion.
I slowly followed Joanna’s actions in reverse order and closed the window. Then I sat on my bed.
There’s no particularly ominous energy here.
No, strictly speaking, it’s not inside this room, but outside the room. It’s less ominous than the four in the underground, but the number is about five times more.
They must be quite afraid of me?
I wish they would let their guard down a bit more.
I’m wearing the disguise of a young girl right now. No, her chest is quite large to be called a child, but she might look like a child because she’s short.
Isn’t a girl child someone you should let your guard down around?
Thinking like that, I’m resting in the room just like when I was underground, and Joanna starts working like she did underground.
She cleans around, and when it’s time, she goes out to prepare food. The difference from underground is that Joanna’s travel time is very short.
There’s a dining hall nearby.
As the Future Hope Church has many believers, there’s a large cooking area.
But Joanna doesn’t go there. There are several cooking areas in this building. A dedicated cooking area using fresh and precious ingredients, not cheap ingredients that only consider quantity.
There’s a separate place for high-ranking people wearing the disguise of religion. Honestly, it’s very ridiculous.
I eat the meal Joanna brings, return the dishes to Joanna, and she takes them back, washes and dries them, and puts them away.
But while Joanna is still in the dining hall.
Hieronymus came to visit.
“I’ve prepared a place for you to bestow blessings. Let’s go together.”
Finally, I can get warmth!
I happily followed Hieronymus.
But doesn’t Hieronymus care that Joanna isn’t here?
Is he not interested because she’s just one of the believers?
It’s a shame. If Hieronymus thought she was important, he would keep her close, and then I could see a lot more, right? Whether enemy or subordinate, I could see how they respond.
I shouldn’t ask for what’s not there.
I follow him as we walk.
He took me underground, not outside.
After walking for a while, I realized where we were going.
The altar.
The place where I was first summoned.
I arrived there.
When I opened the door to the place with the altar, inside was already full of believers. It’s even more packed than when I was summoned. It means more people came than that time.
I don’t know what he’s planning to do, but I obediently followed.
I climb the stairs on one side of the stepped pyramid with Hieronymus.
When we reach the stone chair on top of the altar, Hieronymus seats me there and, like a pseudo-religious leader, begins preaching.
The rhetoric is quite long, but summarized briefly, it’s simple.
You are unhappy.
But God picked you up.
If you believe, happiness will come.
The more you pray, the greater the happiness.
In the end, there’s an underlying desire for someone to save them.
In addition, he introduces me as an apostle of the god they believe in, and says he will show that miracle now.
He explains that if they offer sacrifices, blessings will be given.
Hmm, as expected, he really thinks he needs to give me warmth to receive blessings.
So that’s why it took so long.
It’s my fault for not speaking up.
But I don’t intend to correct it.
Because I won’t answer unless asked.
And if later he asks if sacrifices were really necessary, I’ll answer that he never asked.
There’s a hint.
When I gave a blessing to Joanna, I didn’t receive a sacrifice.
So it’s Hieronymus’s fault for not asking.
I sat on the stone chair as Hieronymus said and waited. Whose warmth will I take and give a blessing in return?
Hieronymus, who finished preaching, summoned two people.
A pair of man and woman.
No.
No, it’s not.
In the arms of the two people walking up, there’s a baby each.
According to Hieronymus’s explanation, they are a couple and their children. The children are twins.
Hieronymus tells the pair of man and woman who came up in a respectful voice that they have been chosen. He says that now they need to offer a sacrifice to receive a blessing.
They happily, without a hint of doubt, held out the babies in their arms to me.
Looking at the light, it’s shining moderately. But the warmth is less compared to the light. Rather, the couple in front has slightly smaller lights than the babies but much more warmth.
Looking at their appearance, they’re really newborn babies.
Red babies who can’t even open their eyes properly.
The old memory of a man shouts. Are you really going to take away that baby’s warmth?
It’s shouting if I really want to fall below human.
No, well.
It’s not like I particularly want to get a baby’s warmth? Rather, I want to have the parents who have much more warmth.
But that’s not what Hieronymus wants, right?
Hmm.
Then shall I at least leave one scar? I sat on the stone chair and pointed at the babies.
“The warmth is too little. I want more warmth.”
And I stood up.
“But because Hieronymus wants it, I’ll take the warmth.”
Yes. Everything that happens from now on is what you wanted. You made the whole system of offering babies as sacrifices and giving blessings.
I pushed myself a little more into Rebecca Rolfe’s body.
Still, deep cracks form on the skin, and dark purple mist flows out from between them.
I got up from the stone chair and approached the place where the four were gathered. And looking at the parents, I asked.
“I’ll give myself to you. In return, when you finish everything later, I’ll take everything you have then. Do you understand?”
As I said my usual lines, the two people answered loudly “Yes” with faces overcome with happiness.
I first looked at the babies to get warmth. Mist flowed out of my body and slowly advanced to touch the babies.
Two faint warmths.
The babies’ skin slowly turns blue. With a cracking sound, their bodies twist and their faces change. Their eye sockets protrude and their eyes multiply. Sharp horns and spikes sprout all over their bodies, and as their skin splits, muscles bulge out.
The two that were babies scream.
Meanwhile, the dark purple smoke passes over the babies and touches the pair of parents. I pushed myself into them.
The two’s skin turned white. Their eyes and hair both turned purple. The man grew a bit taller and bigger, and the woman’s face became more beautiful and her body changed to a much more ideal shape.
The changes finished almost simultaneously on both sides.
Now the two monsters that have become beasts rush towards their parents. But the man chopped the monster rushing at him in half with the edge of his hand, and the woman pierced and killed the monster by extending tentacles from her arms.
And then they look at their own bodies here and there as if fascinated by what they’ve done.
Both of them knelt before me, smiling from ear to ear. They were originally ordinary people. The man went bankrupt after being scammed by a close friend, and the woman was ostracized by a women’s group in the village due to bad luck.
So they ran away and joined the Future Hope Church.
The two met inside and nurtured their love. But that doesn’t mean their broken hearts returned to normal. Rather, they thought the Future Hope Church gave them happiness and became actively fanatical.
This is the result.
They got a blessing and became happy. Even if they sacrifice their own babies, it’s nothing compared to the Future Hope Church.
Standing in front of those two, Hieronymus shouted.
“This is the blessing of our god!”
The enthusiasm of the pseudo-religious followers filled the altar.
In the grayish memory, a man reproaches, but well.
Is that more important than pursuing warmth?
I want warmth.
I’ll do anything for warmth.
Anything.