The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 222: Song of the Betrayed (2)

As the people gathered around, the Harvester stood up with a confused expression.

Victoria was glaring at me as though she could see right through me, but what could I do? I wasn't about to miss an opportunity to create another Harvester when the chance arose.

That's how I've always been.

No matter the situation, always make it look like you're saving people.

Of course, once they become Harvesters, I don't care. Unless it's another situation where all the Harvesters are wiped out, I have no intention of intervening.

"What do you want us to do?"

The Harvester in front asked, looking at me. Originally, he had a proper job, but due to the rising cost of living, the shop he worked at went under, and he lost his job.

He had a family of five to feed, and there was no particular reason for him to raid the automaton knight school.

At least at that point, he believed that the ones responsible for his misfortune were the people at the automaton knight school. And vaguely, he thought he would get some kind of reward once they all died.

In the end, they got caught up in a group, and vaguely believed they were doing the right thing.

Most of the Harvesters in front of me are like that. Some, like the girl who killed people with a weapon, believed they would be rewarded if they eliminated the bad people. There are also old men holding clubs, thinking they would be given a reward for handling the bad guys.

There are no evil people filled with malice here.

These people believed they were doing the right thing. They didn't know what was truth and what was a lie. They just followed others, listening to vague words from someone they didn't even know.

And they failed.

That’s all. From start to finish, it was a failure, and at the end, they became Harvesters.

The end of a tragic choice.

That's their fate. Instead of expressing that, I simply said this to those who had already failed completely.

"Do what you want. I'm not here to restrict you. I don't expect anything in return for what I give."

Now, will a few of them try to attack Victoria and die? Or maybe someone who gained special abilities to fight Victoria will emerge.

"Hey, uh, what are we going to do?"

"What about you?"

"I don't know. Should we just keep doing what we were doing?"

"I, I've gotten younger, right?"

"Yeah, you're that old man from earlier?"

They whispered with confused expressions on their faces, standing on the ice. Ah. The ice is slowly sinking beneath the ground.

Victoria seems ready to reuse the space.

Thinking she might spare them from complete annihilation, I looked at them standing there with foolish expressions.

"Stop. Let’s stop."

Huh? Isn't Victoria, the one who drove you to the brink of death, right in front of you?

"What are we doing? Nothing good will come from raiding the school."

Did they realize something?

"If I end up like this, I'll get a job, right?"

Did you forget the Harvesters that were among your group earlier? They were Harvesters from the start, so they know about this work.

In other words, becoming a Harvester doesn't make anything better.

Ignoring my gaze, they bowed their heads, as if they couldn’t face the sky, and ran away from this place as if they were guilty of something.

Huh?

Well... I guess it’s fine since they ran away.

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If it spreads, I'm okay with it.

I turned around.

Victoria was glaring at me with cold eyes.

She is the enemy of my mentor and my friend's enemy. To revive that and release them.

A normal person would suggest cutting off all ties right away.

Surprisingly, even if Victoria massacred them, it wouldn't be a crime. Why? Of course, because the law is important to keep society running.

They are obstacles to society functioning, and Victoria is the one who is returning it to the right path.

Why would that be a crime? Killing people is a crime?

No, it’s not. The law against people killing each other was made so that workers don’t kill each other to reduce their numbers.

Why is it that if someone in power kills someone, it just gets brushed aside?

Why is it that if a rich person kills someone, nothing happens?

It’s because it doesn’t harm the functioning of society. The law works fairly, but the classes that work it out more fairly are separate.

Since it’s not a crime anyway, Victoria would have been better off getting revenge as her emotions ran wild.

Instead of avenging herself, she ran away, and this is the result.

"Bel. Are you saving anyone? You already know the answer."

Victoria cursed them, and then threw those words at me.

"Did you have to save them?"

She repeated the question she asked earlier.

No, strictly speaking, it’s not a question. She knows what the answer will be, but she can’t bear not saying it.

I responded again.

"I did what I wanted to do."

Ah, I shouldn’t have said that.

Now, it might sound like I’m telling her not to bind me.

But it’s fine with me. After all, even if I become a Harvester, I don’t lose warmth at that moment.

The Harvester directly and indirectly absorbs the warmth of the living creatures it kills, and when the Harvester dies, it takes the warmth of that Harvester.

There’s no way to measure that.

Victoria raised her hand and covered her face. Then she lowered her head.

Is she crying?

No. There were no tears from Victoria's eyes. There were no sobs coming from her throat. She just pretended to cry, standing there, and then took a step forward.

She seemed like she was coming toward me, but she didn’t look at me and walked straight ahead.

That direction led to the Automaton Knight School.

What choice would she make?

I was about to head back to my quarters, but my feet instinctively followed Victoria.

Hmm.

Well, I guess it’s out of curiosity.

I might not see her face again later.

I followed her, stepping in the same direction.

Black smoke was rising, and the people who had killed the residents inside the burning school were laughing and chattering.

Victoria returned to that hellish place.

Would warmth fill up now?

Victoria steadied her breathing and entered the place where the wall used to be.

I thought she would enter confidently from the front, but she hid in a shadowy place filled with wood and debris. Then, swoosh.

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

The person closest to her coughed violently and suddenly collapsed. Judging by the lack of warmth, they weren’t dead.

Ah-choo!

After someone sneezed loudly, they coughed again and collapsed.

At first, when one or two people fell, no one noticed. It was too noisy. But when it passed ten, the noise in the festival atmosphere suddenly quieted down, like someone threw cold water on it.

Maybe they blocked their throat with water to knock them out, but what is this?

Confused, I watched as the people's gazes slowly shifted to fear. They turned their heads around, and then saw me.

But they quickly moved on.

Huh?

I thought they would point me out since I was near the school, but they just passed by?

It seemed like Victoria was trying to drag me into something, but I don’t think that was her intention.

As time passed, more people started to collapse from coughing. When someone whispered about a disease, fear suddenly ballooned up like a balloon.

In that situation, when someone coughed, the area around them quickly emptied.

The person who coughed looked pale and reached out toward the others.

"Save me, keck!"

They collapsed pitifully. Then, as if they were infected by that sneeze, the next person coughed.

"Is someone cursing us?"

"Magic? Wait, is there magic?"

"No, there's no flow of magic. This isn’t magic!"

"Then what the hell is it?"

"I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it. Could it be a disease?"

"A disease? A disease? Where in the world does a disease spread this quickly?"

"It’s the plague."

"The plague? Why would something like that happen all of a sudden?"

"I, I’m getting out of here!"

One person hurriedly fled the scene. People become brave when they can face an opponent they can fight, but the plague is not something they can fight.

The chaos spread uncontrollably. They screamed and ran away.

Ironically, the rumor-like plague began to spread. The rioters, who had come to search, saw the people collapsing from coughing, and they quickly panicked and fled.

Ordinary people and even Harvesters ignored the truth and fled.

The Harvesters who were no longer there heard the rumors and fled to their homes, not even bothering to confirm if it was true.

Only about thirty people fainted from difficulty breathing, but more than ten thousand rioters fled in an instant.

Could it be?

Did Victoria design this?

Did she make them flee with such a small trick?

It didn’t take long before the school was empty.

The place was left vacant after the people fled.

Victoria came out of her hiding place.

Then she sighed deeply and waved her hand.

The torn bodies flew toward her. She pieced them together one by one and laid them on the ground.

While walking around the school, Victoria collected the bodies.

Occasionally, some rioters who were still left behind were knocked out by the sound of air escaping, and they collapsed after spilling water.

They didn’t need water now. They had extracted bodily fluids with their lungs, right?

Judging by the lack of warmth, they weren’t dead.

No one had died.

Me?

I approached the spot where the bodies were, pretending to check them. If there was any remaining warmth, I absorbed it.

Hehe.

"You... what are you doing here?"

The first person who had fainted woke up. They looked at me with trembling eyes. They weren't a Harvester, just an ordinary person.

"I'm absorbing the warmth of the dead."

I didn't lie, so I told the truth.

When I said that, the person immediately knelt down.

"Please, save me! Please! I didn’t do anything wrong!"

Even though he didn’t believe what he was saying himself...

But I didn’t care as I approached the bodies that Victoria had carefully pieced together. I touched the chest.

Hmm. It’s completely empty. They must have been killed around the same time, so why is there a difference?

While discovering something about the properties of light and warmth that I didn’t know, I rummaged through the bodies and collected warmth. If there was even a little light left, there was warmth.

It’s possible to have light and no warmth, but not warmth without light.

If light is the soul, could it be something the soul holds? Something like spiritual energy?

While pondering, I followed the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} traces Victoria left and searched through the bodies.

Hmm. A real hyena, aren’t I?

I hope no terrible rumors spread.

Thinking that, I continued harvesting warmth.