11. Humans (2)
11. Humans (2)
Mederun City is starting to feel that something is a little off.
The disappearance of numerous mercenaries can be brushed off. After all, mercenaries do anything for money, and they might have just moved to another city.
To put it bluntly, mercenaries are nothing more than tools.
Because they don't just take requests from honest people; they take them from bad people, too.
For example, if someone wants to hurt or kill someone, or needs illegal work done, mercenaries will do it as long as they get paid.
The state only hires mercenaries when there's a war or a massive monster invasion.
That's why the state doesn't really care whether mercenaries disappear or vanish.
Of course, there are exceptions. The state keeps an eye on mercenaries who held high ranks as adventurers in the past. But that's about it.
But adventurers are different.
Adventurers are strictly a state resource and a source of power.
If the Knights Order protects the city itself, adventurers protect the villages.
The Knights Order doesn't move easily. No matter how dangerous things are in the surroundings, the most important thing is protecting the city where countless people live.
The Knights Order leaving the city makes the city itself dangerous. From monsters, and from potential terrorism.
That is why adventurers are needed, because the Knights Order cannot move.
Adventurers who explore the surroundings, go on adventures, and solve the citizens' problems.
They are indispensable beings in the city.
Especially C-rank adventurers and above; they are such valuable resources that the state provides support for them.
C-rank is a realm of talent. In most cases, no matter how hard ordinary people try, they can't reach C-rank.
Even in other countries, a C-rank adventurer is welcomed anywhere.
That is what high-ranking adventurers are.
But a B-rank adventurer. And not just one, but a party of four B-rank adventurers has gone missing.
The Adventurer Guild of Mederun City has requested an A-rank party to search for this B-rank adventurer party.
To be precise, they requested multiple parties.
Because a B-rank party going missing as a group means the danger level is quite high.
==
'So that's what an Otherworld healer looks like.'
Lea was quite interested in Erina's mana, which warmly illuminated the cave.
Creatures have no concept of mana. Only physical strength.
'If you're reincarnated in another world, magic is a must.'
Lea stared intently at Erina and Yui. The two were clearly an adventurer mage and a healer.
Magic. What an attractive word.
A dilemma arose.
Should she use these two for the Human Farm, take them to Evolute to research how creatures can use mana, or learn it herself?
Humans are a resource that isn't easily obtained right now. But these resources, these adventurers, have mana? A very rare resource.
Lea knows that the city is currently moving because of the adventurers she kidnapped this time.
Because small creatures and flying creatures are currently monitoring the city.
In such a situation, acting rashly would reveal the existence of the creatures and force a full-scale war, so she planned to kidnap people quietly for the time being, build the Human Farm, and stockpile strength.
That is why the resource of adventurers is very important.
'Do I even have mana in the first place?'
Lea, thinking about the last of the three options—learning magic herself—suddenly became curious.
Whether she has mana.
Usually, if you reincarnate into another world, it's a golden rule that the reincarnated person must have mana. But for that, she doesn't feel any other power in this body of a Queen.
Only the Hive Mind.
'Come to think of it, can't I do all three?'
If she learns magic and finds she can't, or if she learns it all and finds she can't breed them anymore, she can just turn them into creatures.
'Thinking about it like this... I really think humans were born to be bred.'
Breeding them is hard, but if you succeed, there are so many benefits.
No matter how many females there are, one male can impregnate them all, they can be made to do detailed labor, they produce breast milk when pregnant, and when they die, their brains become creatures, their bodies become food.
It's just a farm that's all profit from start to finish, a loss if you don't do it.
The problem is...
It's difficult to use the Centipede Creature that controls the body when farming.
Because if a creature attaches to the brain and spinal cord, the resulting stress can cause problems with pregnancy, which is the most important part of farming.
'Let's try learning mana first.'
Lea approached the mage and healer adventurers, who had come to their senses, and held out her hand to the two.
It was an action that clearly meant to hold her hand, but the two hesitated. However, that hesitation didn't last long.
Because they didn't know what would happen if they didn't take this hand.
'It's cold. Like a corpse.'
That was the thought that crossed the two adventurers' minds as soon as they took Lea's hand. Not a single bit of human warmth could be felt, and the skin, which was too soft, felt like artificial porcelain.
As soon as the two adventurers took Lea's hand and exited the cave entrance, their footsteps stopped dead. To be precise, it would be more accurate to say they froze, even if they didn't want to.
[General]-class creatures, which possess both strength and intelligence as they are used for the prison, were all glaring at the adventurers.
The two adventurers gripped Lea's hand tightly.
They felt like if they let go of this hand, those monsters would attack them.
==
Whew.
The kids are so scared they can't calm down at all.
Even though they've come to my bedroom, they can't lift their heads and are gripping my hand tightly, refusing to let go.
I can feel quite a lot of sweat from them on my hand, showing just how scared they are.
"Everyone, it's okay now."
The adventurers lifted their heads, looked around to check if the surroundings were safe, and only then did they relax.
I had them sit on chairs.
"Wh-who on earth are you...?"
The mage adventurer said in a trembling voice.
The mage adventurer, who looked the most experienced and strongest among the adventurer party.
Perhaps because she had a mature body, a mature face, and appeared to have excellent aptitude as a mage, she regained her composure and asked for information about me.
"Hmm... I think it would be accurate to say that I am the mother and Queen of the children, that is, the creatures."
"Creatures... Queen... Are you calling those monsters creatures?"
"Yes. They are different from monsters. They are creatures."
"C-can we, l-live...?"
"That's impossible."
"Ah..."
Even now, Mederun City is moving to find the adventurers in front of me.
On top of that, let go of adventurers who have even met me and my children? That's not just stupid, that's fucking moronic.
No matter how much I was a person who bowed and scraped at work every day, I am a Queen now.
I will keep the line as a human, but I won't give up on my children to choose humans.
If I had given up on being human, I would have just cut off the limbs of the female adventurers in front of me, stuck them into the wall, used them as a breeding farm, and when they were no longer useful, I would have ripped out their brains to make them into creatures and used the remaining bodies as food for the creatures.
But I didn't do that.
"Why? Because I am human."
I inhaled deeply the smoke of the pipe tobacco made from dried human flesh, emphasizing to myself once again that I am human.
==
"You want me to teach you magic?"
The mage Yui asked back at Lea, who was smoking pipe tobacco in front of her.
"Yes. Teach me magic. Then, at the very least, I will let you live here normally, without those thoughts of pain, cruelty, and wanting to die."
"What do you mean by 'normally'...?"
Yui knew that the 'normal' Queen Lea was thinking of was different from the 'normal' she was thinking of.
"I mean I will let you live here. Not in the cave."
This place is certainly strange.
It was clearly a place with not a single human, only monsters, no, creatures.
There only seemed to be one intelligent being in front of her, but this place... she had seen a room in the kingdom once when she was invited to a kingdom party.
It was a very luxurious room, similar enough to feel like such a room.
"But magic isn't something you can learn just because you want to. You have to be born with mana."
"Born with it... but isn't that only for humans?"
"...Yes?"
"Isn't it only humans who can't manifest mana later in life?"
"Uh... in the first place, among beings that handle mana, I've never once seen a being that could acquire the ability to handle mana later in life..."
"Is that so?"
Lea held the smoke in her lungs and then exhaled.
She definitely didn't have mana. But for some reason, she felt like she knew how to obtain it.
Sseuk.
Lea looked at the adventurers.
Heumchit.
Erina and Yui, who had turned into prey in an instant, realized once again that the being in front of them was not human, but the Queen of those terrifying beings.
"Which one of you knows magic better?"
As soon as they heard those words, they realized.
That she was planning to kill one of them.