The Outer God Needs Warmth

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The morning of the Third World has dawned.

While Belle’s body was still waking up, a lot had happened.

First, the majority of the harvesters attending the Royal Academy had heard about the incident that occurred yesterday.

And when I say the majority, I mean Aurora, Kanna, and Polaris. Just those three.

Through them, I learned that the high-ranking officials of the country treat people like a goose that lays golden eggs to heal injuries and prevent dangerous incidents if left alone.

The reason I hadn’t known was that Highpion had explained it to them during a state council meeting. After all, students don’t usually attend such gatherings, right?

And because I wasn’t particularly proactive, they seemed to have judged that it posed no harm and simply instructed their children not to interfere with me.

Highpion had also nearly let his guard down around me.

I learned this from the conversation he had with Solindiges and Aurora last night.

Just as I had suspected, the accommodation in front of the Royal Academy was a place meant to protect my safety and monitor me simultaneously.

But after six months of observation, this was their conclusion.

Unless something significant happens, I don’t go outside.

Perhaps out of some obsession with Victoria, he goes to look for her if anything happens to her.

And even without making any promises, he automatically returns to the capital once his business is done.

And on the way back, if any problems arise, he displays miracles to resolve the incidents.

He has none of the intense ego that those with power usually possess.

It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking; perhaps many speculate that he lives without any thoughts at all.

No, isn’t that a bit too foolishly naive?

I mean, I wouldn’t do that…

Umm.

Yeah. I suppose I haven’t thought much about it.

I was confident that if a harvester was created, it would automatically generate warmth. And so far, that confidence has been reflected in reality.

Which means it is going well.

In any case, while he doesn’t establish any particular relationships with others, Highpion remarked that once he does, he tends to form deep connections.

But then he heard news that some fool had touched on that.

He then brought up an event from about half a year ago.

I had sealed Maleficent in a small thorny coffin.

Even if I merely possess the ability to seal like a saint from an old tale, if it were to break, the outcome would be unpredictable.

And even if it doesn’t break, if it were to go to another country, there would be no way to stop it, Highpion sighed deeply.

Honestly, listening to that made it sound like I had Highpion on a leash or something!

When have I ever been that decisive?

He spoke so seriously.

Nonetheless, that was where my topic ended. When asked by Solindiges how we should deal with this matter, he suggested that the boy just needs to be scolded, and if he apologizes to me, it should end well.

And indeed that sounds right.

And it immediately shifted to international affairs.

Pride Industry, Rocket Mobile Company, Gun and Rufu Company. The topic relating to these three companies.

First up, Rocket Mobile Company. Apparently, those who primarily dealt in selling goods cut ties with the other two.

They claimed they were just distributing without knowing much about it.

Then they changed their subsidiary’s name and pretended to return to the market unnoticed. They were not only distributing mechanical devices but were also establishing a comprehensive distribution network, and so the other countries had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

If they started to crack down one by one, they’d have to uproot even the small mom-and-pop stores in the villages.

And even without that, far too many people have already died. The key players have either been arrested and sentenced to death or sent to prison, and stories are circulating that legislation is already underway so they wouldn’t have too many rights.

Of course, this country is doing the same.

They thought that simple prohibitive laws for a specific amount would suffice, but enforcing too many restrictions would lead to the companies withering away.

I didn’t see what the problem was, but if such restrictions were too lax for foreign businesses, they’d infiltrate the market, and that seemed precarious.

When I saw the countless glowing related search terms, I thought that if they had a personality, they would’ve been criticized for not noticing that!

Anyway, while the head of Rocket Mobile Company was decapitated, the remaining branches seemed to have landed well. Perhaps the true head is still around, who knows?

Next.

Pride Industry, which produced the hardware of products.

Most of them have been acquired by state-owned enterprises.

Of course, the relevant individuals will be using blueprints in special rooms to secure essential technology. Since the industrial base itself is crucial, it will be run by the state rather than companies.

In the meantime, disputes arose among countries since only some nations benefited from this.

Why? Because Pride Industry’s factories were located in countries with cheap labor. Those without it gained nothing.

At least on the surface.

But the countries with low labor costs are mostly underdeveloped, while the ones with high costs are powerful. Thus, the powerful nations exploited the weaker ones under the pretense of suspicion regarding whether there was a link.

This country?

It’s on the exploitative side.

Lastly, regarding the software, Gun and Rufu Company.

Highpion said here was (the) most concerning issue, stating that it had gone missing.

The type of company that could turn a mechanical device into a murder machine just with a program if it wanted to.

It was uncertain from where to where their influence reached, so they’d need to catch the relevant persons to extract information, but that meant those people have all disappeared.

For now, the most significant problem was the power unit, which was in the process of being replaced, but who knows if there are other issues with the internal programs?

I thought it would end with a single program, but apparently, the running programs have built layers upon layers of history.

If there are problems in the lower layers, everything above it might break, so they have to eliminate the risk factor for sure.

The safest way would be to make it from scratch, but that isn’t as easy as it sounds.

This is just in terms of technical issues.

But what if one of those skilled workers was secretly absorbed by a certain country?

Certainly, every country would have absorbed technology while breaking down the company, but absorbing technology and absorbing the engineers behind that technology are two completely different matters.

If they create entirely new technology, it is safe, but it takes too long and will leave them behind other countries.

On the other hand, if they attempt to cut corners, the country that absorbed the engineers, or the one that secretly controls that technology, would become a threat.

It’s a dilemma.

In fact, the fact that a boy from the Count’s house foolishly probed a fearsome witch is not such a big deal.

For the time being, we would formally declare that we stopped it and build justification like scolding him, but if the boy dies suddenly in the process, I can just ignore it.

Nobody cares about the boy’s fate, which is rather amusing.

And no one seems worried about me going wild. To be honest, I don’t actually plan on going wild.

Maybe that’s why when I arrived at school in the morning, no one approached me.

It was actually Victoria who brought up yesterday’s event.

“Belle. What should I do?”

“What about?”

“I mean, you know about the boy who confessed to me yesterday, right?”

“Yeah. I heard about it.”

I gulped down the words that it seemed like she was looking for an outlet for her anger.

“That boy. He didn’t come to school today. It’s not because of me, right?”

He was in the same class.

Now that I think about it, he wasn’t here today.

“No.”

When I answered with certainty, Victoria nodded, then narrowed her eyes to scrutinize my expression.

“Is Belle hiding something?”

“I’m not! I just think it’d be great if you married soon and had kids.”

“That’s too much, Belle.”

Victoria made a disgusted expression. In this world, it’s not an odd age to start having kids.

Though that’s generally the average; nobles tend to wait until after graduation.

As education levels increase, the trend of delaying pregnancy is present here too.

Ah, but that’s not marriage.

Believe it or not, there’s already a student here who is married.

Apparently some students married right away due to agreements between families without any engagement.

Though apart from the fact that they don’t act like a couple but more like strangers, it’s fair to say someone’s already been sold.

“Ugh, Belle wouldn’t lie, so it couldn’t really be Belle… like actually rejecting him?”

“Why are you thinking so hard about this?”

“It’s just that when I think about how heartbroken he must be, I feel a little bad?”

Victoria doesn’t know what she got into after she got upset.

“Tori. Don’t you know what happened yesterday?”

At that time, Polaris approached with a bewildered expression.

“What happened?”

In response to Victoria’s question, Polaris began to share the events of yesterday in vivid detail mixed with the dialect from Polaris’ hometown. Glancing around, it seemed all the students here were already informed.

The moment those words came out, no one shifted their gaze away, although the volume of chatter decreased significantly.

“What? That happened? And he touched, up to the chest?”

Victoria looked at me with wide eyes.

“Yes.”

So I replied simply.

“Right. I see now.”

“Tori! That’s crazy! Ordinary kids are fainting!”

As Victoria muttered a quiet comment, Polaris hurriedly stopped her. “Killing intent? Is that even a thing?”

I didn’t feel any sense of danger. But looking around, I saw some students staring with creepy expressions or getting up and pointing weapons at me.

“I thought he was just a person who’d properly confessed, but turns out he’s like that….”

Victoria stood up, bowed her head to the surrounding area, sat back down, and mumbled that.

Ugh. If I’d been in that crowd, that boy would’ve definitely been dead by now.

“Wait, but Belle isn’t worried at all?”

Then Polaris asked me, looking concerned.

I nodded there too.

“Yes. Humans seek out the most primal pleasures when pressured excessively. One of those is sexual desire. He’s just weak and broke down quickly.”

Not everyone, but some who throw around sexually charged words simply lack other outlets to relieve their stress.

The boy called Rabo Pasilie expressed it not through words but through actions.

“Wow, you’re practically a saint!”

But Polaris admired me in a different light.

“Pol, I don’t think this is that kind of ordeal. Yeah.”

Victoria, who knows a bit about me, now looked at me in horror.

“Is he a toy?”

What?

I wondered if I had erased my identity while reconciling, but Victoria didn’t overlook what I really was.

“You can’t call a person a toy. Victoria.”

But I had to point out the absurdity.

Using the word toy to describe someone as broken? I mean, isn’t that a bit too much, even if you saw them as a monster?

When I protested, Victoria just said with a pitying expression.

“Uh-oh.”

“Why are you both talking about something only you know?”

Polaris grumbled from the side, and Victoria alternated her gaze between Polaris and me.

Then she pointed her finger at me.

“Have you forgotten what Belle is?”

“No matter how much she’s a girl… um. Even if she’s that….”

Polaris’s eyes widened. He looked like he was recalling something past, and once he finished recollecting, he said this.

“Just don’t kill him in a terrifying manner.”

So I replied.

“He will choose.”