The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 162: Don’t cry. Don’t cry (2)

A Saturday morning, just for the day.

I was resting at the inn when someone who worked as a butler came to tell me that the guard had arrived and asked me to come down to the reception room on the first floor.

When I went there, a girl with black hair, who was rare to see here, was sitting. I went and sat across from her.

"Hello." "Hi! So, you're Bell? The one to be guarded?"

She's quite lively. She seems younger than expected for a guard, but if she’s supposed to attend the Royal Academy with me, it's probably not that strange.

"I heard someone like you was coming. Are you starting to guard me today?" "Yeah. That's right."

She said that while handing me a piece of paper. I took it and read it—it was an order from the king to provide me with protection.

The term was for this year. And the name was...

"Merryweather Olket?" "Uh-huh, but I’d prefer you call me Marly instead of that stiff name."

I nodded at Merryweather’s words. I had expected someone more rigid due to her role as a guard, but she didn’t seem like that.

The northern people Kanna knows, even though they have the title of knights, would be better described as barbarian warriors, and the knights Aurora knows always patrol the castle with a stern expression.

"Will you keep following me around?" "The scope of my duties is on the next page!"

Turning the page, I saw that indeed, her duties were written there. She’s supposed to be with me almost all day.

Being a guard... seems unexpectedly harsh. There are no days off. There’s even no shift change; it’s all Merryweather.

Maybe the royal family isn’t trying to control me but prioritizing catching the witch.

I can only cure once with the harvest season. If the witch curses me again, it would be hard to handle, so instead of doing something to me, they might just be focusing on catching the witch first.

There’s a possibility she’s not even a knight. Someone said a guard would come, but no one mentioned who exactly.

"Yes. I’ve confirmed."

When I answered, Merryweather stared at me. Wondering if something was wrong, I waited for her next words, and eventually, she spoke.

"Is that all? You’re not very cute, huh. Well, if that’s who you are, I guess I’ll have to do my best! Looking forward to working with you, Bell."

Merryweather smiled like that.

But as she said that, there was a faint hint of hostility in her expression. Her acting was excellent, but I could sense her emotions.

I suppose she was warned by the king to be careful since I'm a monster.

However, I don’t plan on doing anything overtly bad, so it’s fine.

I’ve already done everything I can. People can’t stay on guard for long. Being cautious is tiring, boring, and annoying, isn’t it?

"Yes. Looking forward to it, Merryweather." "You were supposed to call me Marly."

Today, I now have a guard assigned to me.

The next day. It became the weekday.

As usual, I woke up in the morning, washed up, changed clothes, ate breakfast, and went to school. The difference this time was that Merryweather followed me to school.

Merryweather wore clothes similar to mine, but since she was taller than me, the atmosphere felt different.

The problem must be that I look too young.

I’m not sure how old I really am, but walking to school together makes us look like students. Is she entering as a student too?

Wouldn’t transferring be too noticeable?

Thinking about that, I entered the classroom. When I sat down, Merryweather sat beside me.

It’s strange.

Even though there’s a new student sitting here, no one seems to care about her.

On the first day when Victoria and I arrived, no one spoke to us, but we could feel their gazes. But this time, there’s a strange lack of attention.

No one is looking at Merryweather, who comfortably sits beside me. According to Kanna’s memory, this would normally be enough to make people frown.

At that moment, Victoria came into the classroom.

"Hey, Bell. Uh, sorry, what was your name again?"

She then sat beside me and, as if she vaguely knew me but couldn’t remember my name, asked Merryweather for her name.

"I’m Marly. You’re Victoria, right?" "Yeah. Right, why did I forget? You can call me Tory."

Victoria accepted that without suspicion and nodded. Looks like she might have some memory-altering abilities.

Could she be part of the intelligence department instead of a knight?

Aurora doesn’t know much, and Kanna knows about such a department but has never seen it in action. Maybe this person is from that side.

If someone can blend in everywhere and make you feel like you know them, it would be convenient for working in intelligence.

I thought magic had only developed in the field of engineering, but this kind of technique is advanced as well.

Without needing to check Daegon’s memories, there are already traces of this type of skill in Yasra’s memory. Since it's a human skill, it’s probably not too unusual.

"Are you two close?" "Yeah. Really close."

The two of them continued talking with me in the middle.

"When I saw you at home, you were just sitting there doing nothing. Isn’t it boring?"

That was about the afternoon and evening yesterday. Although we didn’t really talk, they had been staring at me with strange expressions as I sat still.

"Really? When we were at my house, that wasn’t the case. I did the cleaning, cooked, and was closer to Mom than to Bell. She even came to wake me up early every morning. Ugh. It’s vacation, so she should leave me alone."

It seems like that was a big complaint.

Beatrice has a very quick personality, so Victoria didn’t like waking up late during vacation.

"Haha, I get it. I also love to sleep in on my days off. But Bell, you seem very different from your usual image here."

"How different?"

It’s fine that the conversation is about me, but I’d prefer it if they didn’t talk above my head like this.

"This kid... she just sat in the same position from afternoon to night yesterday, then when it was time to sleep, she went straight to bed. It was really like a doll."

Merryweather’s words made Victoria look at me with a worried expression.

"Is it hard there?"

"No. I don’t need to work, so I don’t. If I did those jobs, the people working there would be troubled."

At least I have the tact to understand that. Since it's a place where people of higher status are served, it seems they are very thorough about that.

Even though there’s no hierarchy with me, there’s a sense of pride that keeps things separate—"This is this, and that’s that." There’s no need to stir up hostility over that.

"Working with pride is a good thing. It’s something I expect from the one I made a contract with."

The pride gained like that, however, will eventually waver and fall into arrogance, and the skills will become outdated, leaving only those who are behind the times.

When that happens, they’ll start exploiting others.

It’s comfortable and easy.

Look at the apprenticeship system.

Of course, the apprenticeship system isn’t bad. Properly passing on skills and having them develop below is a good thing.

But the teacher holds the power. The learner becomes the weaker one. That’s not good. You can easily exploit them and discard them if you want.

Of course, doing it openly goes against some ethics. But there are plenty of ways to do it without being obvious.

For example, you can give just a little bit too much for the person to handle, then mentally abuse them by asking why they can’t even do this.

This is where human wisdom shines the most.

When you drive someone to suicide through that, it’s the best.

Such malice is how I can easily obtain warmth. Without dirtying my hands, I just give power and pretend I didn’t know.

"Yeah, Bell is saying these things again. You’re scary when you say stuff like this."

Victoria chuckled and pointed at me. But no, that’s slander. Me, scary here?

"Why scary? I like it too. Isn’t it good to work with pride?"

At Merryweather’s question, Victoria stared at her.

"Why?" "Uh, no. It’s definitely a pleasant thing to say. It makes me want to do whatever I want, and you totally support that. But..."

"But?"

Victoria stopped her sentence there and fell into thought. Merryweather, curious, pressed her, and I also looked at Victoria.

Victoria folded her arms, collected her thoughts, and then spoke.

"Bell will support whatever I do. Right?"

"Yes. That’s right."

She knows me well. Even if Victoria does something bad, I’ll be okay with it. Even if she uses her powers to control people, I’ll cheer for her.

"You lack discernment, Bell. In that sense, you’re not very human."

"Ah, well, that’s a little unpleasant. Honestly, that’s saying I’m indifferent."

She looks at me in disbelief.

"Indifferent? Me?"

"No, isn’t saying I’ll do whatever it takes, meaning you don’t care? That’s indifference."

"I didn’t mean it like that. It’s more like... endless breadth of affection? Strong attraction? There’s something like that."

I get it now.

Merryweather Olket. She’s not a knight. She’s probably someone from the intelligence department. While pretending to guard, she’s gathering information on me.

If this strange cognitive distortion is being directed at me as well...

She must think that I should feel no suspicion about this conversation.

Plus, with the excuse of being a guard, she can ignore it if she gets caught. Smart move, King.

She must have already known something about me, so it’s not strange that they placed someone like this.

It feels a bit too blatant, but there seems to be something special... I should pretend like I’m being taken advantage of here. Since no one asked me directly, I’m not in the wrong.

I can just say that I didn’t point it out because I thought it was part of your culture.

Hehe.

"Isn’t it indifferent? You keep using formal speech, and you’re calling Victoria ‘Tory,’ not ‘Victoria.’"

At those words, Victoria’s gaze turned to me.

"That’s what I’m annoyed about too. But if I say it..."

"It’s crazy, right?"

"I knew you’d say that."

Merryweather looks at me as if she’s serious. So I nodded.

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"That’s a cowardly way."

"My point exactly."

Victoria and Merryweather. There doesn’t seem to be a problem living together. But once this cognitive distortion technique disappears, I’m worried about what kind of friendship they’ll have.

Hmm.

I guess they’ll figure it out themselves.

Soon the teacher entered. After calling attendance, the class started. I noticed that Merryweather’s name was already on the roll sheet, so it seems like she really is part of the kingdom’s intelligence department.

I need to be careful.