Two weeks ago, I arrived at the royal palace.
Right now, I’m living in a room in the palace.
But since that day, the king hasn’t called for me.
He doesn’t give me any explanation, but I know the reason. I’m watching through the harvesting process.
I’m thoroughly analyzing the harvesting process using experts in the hospital. Since most of the people originally in the hospital are important figures, they’re undergoing checks to confirm if they’ve fully recovered.
However, for the less important people…
For example, the orphans from the Bern City incident. They separate the harvesting process and literally tear them apart.
Since they don’t even properly anesthetize them for human experiments, thankfully, I hear everything they say. So, there’s quite a bit I know.
For instance, blue skin. They say if you peel it off, the flesh will return to its original color. Even the hair color is the same.
If you drop it, it goes back from blue to the original color, and if you reattach it and heal it, it takes on a green tint like meat getting seasoned.
In the case of cut wounds, there’s a lot of individual variability, but it seems more than half could regenerate over time.
I also heard they’ll definitely live longer than average.
But beyond that, I don’t know. Perhaps since it’s similar to torture, they’ve only experimented on the same faces every time, and that person died.
A child who was hiding their abilities manipulated metal and blew their head off. However, already critically injured, the child eventually died too.
Unfortunately, no one has kidnapped or dissected anyone since then.
For now, I’ll be satisfied with the small amounts of information I’ve gathered.
Besides that.
Two days ago, they held a press conference with someone who had made a significant contribution during the Bern City incident. Broadcast and newspaper reporters came, taking photos and videos.
The king presented each of them with a plaque of gratitude and divided prize money.
What a wonderful method!
Because the hard work of those who suffered there was brushed aside, and only a few received money. Plus, they made it easy to recognize by plastering their faces everywhere.
If someone has enough power or strength to defend themselves, that’s one thing, but for those with nothing, it becomes a target for jealousy and greed.
Of course, it would be hard to snatch the plaque from them, but you can’t guarantee what humans will do.
In other words, there will be many people wanting to snatch the prize money.
Well, they’ll resist, right? The warmth will increase. Hehe.
Let’s rewind a bit.
I attended the press conference.
I hoped I might meet Victoria there, but since I was completely isolated during the press conference, I couldn’t.
However, I knew Victoria was also heading to the Royal Academy and that she was thinking of seeing me there, so I thought I’d do the same.
For reference, in that broadcast, I made it clear that I was not an apostle of the god, while also planting the image that I’m simply someone who does as others say.
If someone asks, I just respond with yes or no.
If someone poses a question, I was instructed to respond like this.
If I received a difficult question, I just stared blankly at the highest-ranking person.
I was curious how people would interpret that.
At least, the harvesting process interpreted it this way.
A poor person trapped by the royal family.
I acted in such a way that it was working quite well, and I was glad.
I remain quietly, like a child who knows nothing.
There’s an overwhelming amount of screens to watch, so I just stay in the room I’ve been given.
The people working around me…
Their main tasks involve cleaning or changing my clothes, but considering calling them servants feels too cultured, the people look at me and whisper about how they feel uncomfortable.
Because I’m acting passively like a doll.
Yet, the king hadn’t made anyone he truly wanted to heal into the harvesting process.
Simple, easy to handle, and if left alone, a stationary object.
Thanks to that, the people working around me treat me with contempt. At first, they treated me as if I were someone important, but gradually relaxed their stance, realizing that I hardly reacted to their mutterings or curses.
But perhaps because the king is frightening, or maybe because I look like a child, they never went as far as to abuse me.
They just treated me like a cute doll.
Five people have changed in two weeks, but there were some who weren’t.
Time passed quickly.
And finally…
The king called for me.
Unlike usual, a person clad in heavy armor came to fetch me, and I was led to a place where the king was waiting.
I thought I would be invited back to a work area, but I was taken to a place I’d never been before.
Not a building in the middle of the palace, but a beautiful palace standing alone a little apart.
The soldier who brought me here stopped at the entrance of the palace and looked back at me.
Then, I alone entered inside.
Once I stepped in, I saw the king and a young man who looked just like him.
Father and son, I guess. Both look perfectly fine, but what’s the issue with the queen?
“Can this child really save her?”
“Yes. Haven’t you seen the people who were healed?”
It feels a bit stiff for a conversation between a son and his father.
Inside, there’s a prince looking at me with suspicion and a king looking at me with expectation.
As soon as I entered, the king said.
“Come with me.”
And I followed the king deeper into the building.
We went up to the second floor to a wide room. It used to be a beautiful room, but instead of decorations or tools, a giant machine is humming away.
And countless tubes protruding from that machine lead to the bed.
In the middle of the bed lies a girl who is close to a corpse, with several tubes entering her face and others piercing her chest and abdomen.
It’s more of a machine for prolonging life than one for healing.
“Make a contract with this girl.”
The king said, pointing at the girl. I glanced at the prince. But he’s half suspicious of me and half expecting.
There’s no sign of anyone disliking the idea of the girl waking up.
They must have had a good relationship.
Thinking that, I climbed up onto the bed without saying a word. The bed was so full of tubes that I accidentally stepped on one, and the prince shouted at me.
Yet the king calmed him down.
He’s growling, but with my height, it’s hard to get near without stepping on the tubes. So I just stepped over them and stood before the girl. Since my skin touched the girl’s body, I said:
“I’ll give myself to you. But afterwards, when you finish everything, I want you to give me everything you have. What do you say?”
The girl answered she wanted to live, and the contract was established.
Crack!
The girl’s whole body changed like porcelain and suddenly stopped. Then strange symbols appeared on her face and chest.
“Do you know what this is? It obstructs the contract.”
The prince, angry and coming closer to me, turned pale as he looked at where I was pointing. The king also gazed at the symbols with a horrified expression.
There must be something obstructive.
Well, in a world where they can typically resurrect someone, if a top-level princess can’t wake up, it means there’s something hindering it.
I waited deliberately, allowing them to memorize the symbols clearly and grow more desperate.
“Can’t you save Aurora with your power?”
The king asks me with a face full of despair.
The contract is already finished. But trying to push me in, it’s like there’s a thin plastic film on top of a cup that won’t let anything in.
Very thin.
“I’ll do my best.”
Yes. This made it clear that I had tried. Then I waited for them to explain something, but no one spoke.
It’s tough to get more information at this point.
So, I tore apart the obstruction and properly made it into the harvesting process.
As I entered, the light turned a dark purple.
At the same time, her whole body transformed into porcelain again, and all the tubes lodged in her body sprang out.
And as that porcelain shattered, blue skin emerged.
Tap, tap.
As the shell-like fragments of porcelain all fell, the nude girl emerged.
Of course, unlike before, her hair was now purple, and her skin was dyed blue.
Then the girl named Aurora opened her eyes.
“Uh, Dad? Mom? Brother?”
The girl sat up in a daze, looking back and forth between the king, the prince, and me.
“Um… is she my little sister or niece?”
Indeed.
That’s a logical deduction. A girl they’ve never seen before is standing in her bed in a space only family can enter.
Considering she remembered being sick and close to death, perhaps she thought a lot of time had passed while lying down.
So, logically speaking, I must be someone related to the family.
But that’s not true, so I immediately got off the bed. Aurora looked at me with a face full of questions, but I went to the king.
“I did it.”
The king slowly knelt before me.
“Thank you.”
I nodded silently. Since he’d buried everything of his daughter’s previous life in the muck, I technically shouldn’t be receiving thanks.
But warmth is more important.
“Huh? What’s going on? This isn’t my clothing! Why is my skin blue? Was I dying that close? Uh. Huh? My hair! Why is it purple? Wasn’t my hair originally platinum?”
Aurora panicked, feeling around her body. But her older brother, Solindiges, looked at her with tears of joy, while her father, Highpion, sighed, filled with mixed emotions, including relief.
Then King Highpion approached Aurora, covered her nakedness with a blanket, and hugged her.
“Welcome back.”
Aurora made an awkward expression, then replied with a voice mixed with tears.
“Yes, Dad.”
Leaving them behind, I watched from a distance. From afar, they looked like a lovely family. For reference, the queen died giving birth to Aurora.
In such cases, one would think it’s correct to hate the surviving child, but they cherished her dearly here.
However, that may also bring unhappiness. Since such a father sold me…
I thought that as I looked at the new harvesting victim from the upper class.
I predict that in this world, we might create an automatic warmth harvesting system.
