The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 196: Beauty and the Beast (6)

"Polaris and I left Victoria's house."

"We're going to the place where Victoria's parents sent the letter."

"Is that over there?"

Polaris pointed to a massive body of water, rising like a mountain in the eastern part of Vern City. With the sun now risen, it looked like a gigantic hat made of water floating in the sky.

The edge of it, now gently swaying above us like a coastline, gave a sense of how enormous this "hat" truly was.

"Yes. The letter sent by Victoria's parents came from the eastern part of Vern City."

I spoke as I mentioned the address. But Polaris looked at me as if she didn’t quite understand the address.

"Can we find it with that?"

"Yes. I know how to read addresses."

When I layer the memories I’ve obtained from absorbing warmth, the geography of Vern City becomes almost perfect.

So I don’t hesitate and proceed forward.

By the way, I noticed some houses strangely glowing. Not light sources, but what seems to be souls. In other words, people are there.

Not in abandoned houses, but in places where doors and windows are boarded up.

While I walk thinking that there might be people like this, Polaris comes up to me and whispers.

"Bel, we’re being followed."

"If they don’t touch us, leave them be."

Since I can see through Polaris' vision, I noticed someone following us. Some of them were the same ones I saw inside the house earlier.

The strange thing is, they follow us from a distance.

What could these little ones want?

As I predicted that they would gain warmth if they did something, we head northeast along a well-paved road.

When I look at the followers, some of them seem to disappear as others take their place, almost as though there’s some sort of zone.

Hmm. Could this be surveillance?

For such a thing, Polaris seems quite bothered, yet they follow us recklessly.

But if we run, it seems like they would chase after us. The alleyway where someone is following us is a place easy to stumble into when trying to flee.

If we enter the alley without knowing if someone is there, we’d immediately meet them.

Ah.

Are they testing the waters?

For now, there are many harvesters positioned above in the class hierarchy of Vern City.

Right now, the city is forcibly corrupting magical energy into strange magical forms, so even the healthiest people are experiencing sluggishness.

Since there’s magical energy, it’s odd if the body doesn’t use it, right? Most of the creatures here, big or small, use magic.

So in a situation where magic is blocked, they won’t be able to exert their full strength.

Wait, is Polaris in danger?

I checked Polaris' complexion and noticed she seemed irritated, but it wasn’t because of any physical discomfort.

She felt uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like she was in pain. There were no other signs of danger.

"Polaris, maybe you should try threatening them. How about throwing a stone?"

"Ugh... That seems like a bad idea. I could use magic to chase them off, but right now, the magic feels too sticky and uncomfortable. I don’t want to use it."

But Polaris frowned and rejected the idea.

The sensation of magic is something I didn’t know, so I didn’t realize what she was talking about.

I can tell what the sensation is like based on memories, but when watching harvesters simultaneously, even using the same magic, I can’t feel the same sensation.

When I have a stomachache, I can feel that my stomach hurts.

Even the pleasure of making a child, or giving birth, I felt the pain while simultaneously viewing those experiences. If it’s an abnormal sensation, I’ve experienced pleasure from drugs that melt the brain or even the sensation of dying from being burned alive.

Since I’m not human, these experiences don’t seem to affect my personality.

If it’s just one person being watched, I wouldn’t know, but if there are too many, those sensations just feel like noise.

The suffering from completely damaged neural pathways looked like a clown who exploded on their own, which made me laugh, but that’s beside the point.

"I see. So, you mean they aren’t approaching based on our hair color?"

"Hair color?"

"Anyone who awakens their psychic ability among those who # Nоvеlight # gave me their power can use their psychic ability, even without magic."

Upon hearing what I said, Polaris looked up at the sky.

It was as if gravity was pulling upward, and the sea was swaying upside down.

The water level of the sea that covered the sky rose steadily, and even though it was morning, everything below had become strangely dark.

In other words, even in this area where magic can’t be used, there’s still influence from magic. Polaris understood how strong the harvesters’ powers were in this place.

"So, they’re just observing us like that. Ugh, this is so unpleasant... Don’t you feel uncomfortable, Bel?"

Her feelings of disgust were completely like that toward a stalker.

As for me?

Well, first of all, since there’s no one watching me from that direction, they can’t be harvesters. In other words, they’re likely potential harvesters or warmth vessels.

"Yeah. There's no reason to be upset."

They’ve come to offer warmth on their own, so why bother?

"You're too open-minded."

There’s no animal that dislikes prey coming to them on its own. In that sense, the expression "open-minded" is strange, but let’s just go with it.

I can’t say I don’t understand.

I’m also wearing a disguise, pretending to be a good person.

I’m actually happy that Polaris is mistaking me for what I want.

As we move forward, the once-straight road becomes winding, and buildings take on a more uniform appearance.

Then, the gazes we were receiving disappeared.

The road was winding, with many tightly packed three-story buildings around us, resembling chicken coops. I thought it was the right time to attack, but then they completely vanished.

"What’s this place...?"

Polaris muttered.

Along the random paths, identical buildings lined both sides.

However, most of the buildings were in ruins. It seemed like there had been a large fire, as over half of them were blackened and only skeletons of the buildings remained. The stench of rotting corpses flowed through the air, mixing with the surrounding atmosphere.

"Are Victoria’s parents really here...?"

To the north of Vern City is the river. To the west is the sea. So, if Vern City were to be blocked, it would only leave the east and south. But the south gradually rises and has been artificially blocked by cliffs, making it hard to pass through.

There is a path leading south, but if it’s occupied, there’s no way to descend the cliffs, which are tens of meters high.

The artillery fire came from the east, either shot along a line or from across the river.

In other words, the east was the battlefield.

Also, since the battle is not over, no one is attending to the corpses or rescuing the wounded.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

Wild animals and insects are swarming, and it’s a dangerous place where no one knows when an epidemic might break out.

"Let’s hurry and find Victoria. Maybe we’ll be needed."

As if predicting an outcome, Polaris looked at me and spoke directly. I nodded, acknowledging, and we began walking toward where Victoria is.

Ah, speaking of Victoria...

The Purple Twilight Association, including the harvesters in Vern City, had decided that if Victoria messes up the east, they would follow and attack both Victoria and the army that had assaulted Vern City.

The logic is flawed.

Victoria is an enemy, and so are the soldiers. But they say Victoria will take down the soldiers. If they’re calling her a royal lackey, then the soldiers would be on her side, right?

They interpret things however they want and think they’ll gain some benefit from it.

Hmm.

It’s quite normal.

We see it a lot in the stock market.

I walk carefully as we move forward. Walking in such a surrounded situation is dangerous.

The only fortunate thing is that there are so few straight roads that the buildings cover our view.

Also, despite it being noon soon, it’s as dark as evening below. The sunlight, coming straight down from above, doesn’t reach the ground anymore.

It can’t reach. There’s just too much water.

So, even though it’s noon, we can walk a bit more safely.

And as we look for Victoria, she’s entering a house and moving forward, crossing between buildings.

She hid even at Daegon’s forward base.

Even after obtaining lethal weapons, she didn’t walk around openly; she attacked secretly from behind.

It’s not surprising that she’s hiding like this in a situation like this.

In fact, since most of the attention is likely directed upward, it’s a reasonable choice.

She probably doesn’t want to forcefully push forward because of the nearby address.

If she makes a mistake, her parents could get hurt, so she’s being cautious.

But soon, Victoria stopped walking.

That’s because in front of the line drawn by the army, there were only ruined buildings. There were no more buildings to pass through.

As I waited, wondering what she would do next, Victoria’s gaze turned upward.

And then, a giant water droplet fell with a thud.

SPLASH!

From about five stories high, water fell. But since it was a droplet, or perhaps because it wasn’t compressed water, it didn’t seem to cause serious injury to the soldiers who were jumping around below.

To break through the barricade, wouldn’t she need a stronger attack?

Thud.

Thud.

Hmm?

Water droplets were falling. When I looked up, I saw water droplets falling from everywhere, not just above. Some were small like rain, while others were as large as a person.

Could it be that she’s lacking power? Is the control insufficient?

I quickly grabbed Polaris’ hand and headed quickly in the direction of Victoria. Large water droplets make a huge noise when they hit the ground.

We can run.

We still have a bit to go, but if we make a mistake, we might get swept away.

If that water pours, I don’t know about myself, but Polaris will die.

"Where are we going?"

"To Victoria!"

Polaris, with a firm expression, followed me. It seems like she understood what this meant.

The army, which had been surrounding us, was now panicking and fleeing. If the water pours, they’ll all die.

Is that what she wants?

Hmm?

Victoria smiled.

She laughed, watching the soldiers who had abandoned everything and were running away, as if everything was going according to plan.

Ah. Surely, when signs of such huge water falling appear, they’d run first. Did she chase them off with that pretense?

She’s really smart.

I confirmed that Polaris, holding my hand, was still full of energy and ran hard.

It seems like it would be better for us to use this gap to break through the barricade.

So we ran.

We ran hard.

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