59. Daily Life (2)
59. Daily Life (2)
The Orphanage, which I had returned to after a long time, definitely had many more children than before.
Starting with Amber, thanks to the humans who were working hard for the children without knowing that this Orphanage was actually a breeding ground, and thanks to the sponsorships, the Orphanage was running perfectly fine.
"Saintess-nim!!!"
"It's the Saintess-nim!"
"Wow..."
I returned to my original form, showed the children my appearance as the Saintess, and greeted them.
In particular, the 30 children who had been here before the Orphanage grew larger sobbed when they saw me.
It seemed they had been very worried about me since I hadn't come to the Orphanage in such a long time.
I don't know if being good or bad changes the taste of the brain, but wouldn't a good human taste better?
I stroked the children's hair, told them it was okay, and hugged every single one of them.
Perhaps it was because the facilities had improved thanks to Albert's help? The children smelled fragrant.
Ah, I don't mean the smell of "tasty." There was truly a faint, fragrant scent coming from their bodies.
It seems they had received things like body wash, too.
I comforted the children to some extent and went to my room.
As soon as I arrived in my room, I immediately reverted my body back to its original state.
I should really refrain from staying in my adult form for the time being.
==
Gwen always wandered around the Colony with Stacey.
Gwen had already given up on the idea of escaping this place. That was because her body had become one that could no longer live without Lea.
It was to the point where if she couldn't consume Lea's saliva once a day, she felt like her body's functions were shutting down one by one.
Her senses would go numb one by one, and her whole body would feel pain as it craved Lea's saliva.
It wasn't that she felt pain from external factors; her brain itself inflicted the pain.
Gwen had given up now.
She had tried to endure it to escape this place with Stacey, but she gave up even on that after seeing Stacey follow Lea more than she followed her.
Stacey, who was exactly like her own childhood self.
Gwen, projecting herself onto Stacey, decided that while she herself had become a body that could no longer escape Lea, she would make sure that Stacey, at least, could escape this hell.
The problem was that Stacey was connected to Lea in some way. From the bits and pieces she heard, it seemed their consciousnesses were shared to some extent.
To find a way to separate Stacey from Lea, Gwen first decided to become Lea's Pet Human.
==
The Creature Ners.
They have the form of a spider, come in various sizes, travel in groups, and the point to be careful of is that they possess Acidic Blood.
"It really isn't just a simple Monster."
"I told you, it's a Creature, not a Monster?"
"Isn't that the same thing anyway?"
"Not at all. I'm telling you, the Status Window says it's a Creature, not a Monster!"
Viviant was explaining about the Ners to Jenny, her bodyguard and best friend.
"What's the difference between a Monster and a Creature? Doesn't it just mean they're both monsters?"
At Jenny's words, Viviant clicked on the word "Creature" in her Status Window.
"According to the Status Window, a Creature is a creation, while a Monster is a naturally occurring beast."
"So, a Monster is just a scary animal, and a Creature is a monster someone artificially created?"
"Yeah. Seems like it."
"I watched the video of Medherun City being attacked by Ners, and they looked incredibly strong. Can we win? We don't even know how many of these Ners Creatures there are. They said even that knight, Gwen, from Medherun City died to the Ners. Is it even possible with our strength?"
Jenny judged that this expedition was too dangerous.
To go to the nest where the Ners are, without even being able to confirm how many more Ners there are?
Jenny thought it was too reckless.
"It's enough. If you look at the information confirmed from the video released in Medherun City, we can handle it on our own. There were two reasons why the Knights Order struggled."
"Two?"
"First of all, the location—the city. It was a situation where they didn't know when or where they would appear while having to worry about the citizens. Furthermore, they couldn't exert enough power because they had to evacuate and protect the citizens as well. And second. This must have been the biggest problem. It was the Acidic Blood."
"Acidic Blood. It's a really tricky trait. If you aren't prepared, a fight doesn't even get established in the first place."
"Right. The concentration of the Acidic Blood is enough to melt iron weapons, and it just melts human skin, too."
"Are you planning to try and block that Acidic Blood?"
"That's right."
"No. That's impossible. Are you planning to fight while casting protective shields on all the Holy Knights right now? Are you crazy?"
"No. I'm not crazy."
Jenny shouted at Viviant's words.
"Are you in your right mind? You aren't going to subjugate a simple Monster. You're going to face a Monster that devastated a district of a city!"
"I told you, it's a Creature, not a Monster."
"Just because people treat you like a Saintess candidate now, do you think you've become something special!?"
"You know how many people I've saved so far. I am a great person. Because the Goddess recognized me and designated me as a Saintess candidate. On top of that, I even have the Status Window. The Goddess is telling me to save this world."
"Wake up...! This isn't a game world! It's a world where you really die if you die."
"I know. And I won't die. The Status Window tells me everything."
"Why are you really like this!!!"
"Are you feeling inferior to me right now because you don't have a Status Window?"
"Hey!!! Phew... Fine. Do whatever you want."
Jenny kicked her seat, stood up, and stormed out of Viviant's room.
Bang!
Jenny left, slamming the door open and then slamming it shut.
"...Was I a bit too harsh?"
Viviant, who had gotten into an argument with Jenny, her best friend who had come to this other world with her, looked at the firmly closed door and regretted what she had just said.
==
"Oh. What's this?"
I was wandering around the Colony that was being newly built under the Orphanage after stopping by, when a small Ners caught my eye.
The reason why this small Ners, which was even smaller among the Ners that were only the size of my small palm, caught my eye was one thing.
It was because it possessed Mana, however faint.
I picked up the Ners.
When I held it in my hand, the Ners seemed to be in a good mood; it stretched out all its legs to make its body touch my palm and rubbed its head against my hand.
'Cute.'
It gives me goosebumps that I'm the type of person who now thinks a Ners is cute.
But it can't be helped. Every single one of them acts cute toward me like a puppy when they see me, so I have no choice but to think they're cute.
I stroked the Ners' head with my finger and examined it in detail.
There was Mana, however faint.
Since even Dagos didn't possess Mana, I thought this Ners was a quite special one.
"Who is your mother?"
The moment I was about to move, following the answer coming through the Hive Mind.
"Kkii-ik."
The Ners that gave birth to this one came in front of me first.
"Hmm..."
As expected, it's a Ners that is no different from other Ners.
I placed my hand on the head of the mother Ners in front of me and began to examine its memories.
'Retracting what I said about it being the same as other Ners.'
This Ners was a quite elite Ners.
To be honest, except for Dagos, the Ners all look almost identical, so I can't tell them apart.
Unlike other Ners, Dagos is much larger, has jagged legs, and has a double chin, so I can definitely tell, but ordinary Ners just differ slightly in size, and there is almost no difference in appearance.
This Ners had the same appearance as the other Ners, but the work it had done until now was different.
It was the Ners that had faced the most knights and neutralized numerous Adventurers, excluding Heriis, during this Medherun City raid. In a word, it is an elite Ners.
Thanks to that, Dagos had drained the semen of the male knights who possessed Mana and handed the remaining bodies over to this Ners.
It had eaten the bodies of knights who possessed Mana to its heart's content and given birth to a Ners, resulting in the birth of a Ners that possessed Mana.
"Can you call all the children here?"
"Kki-ek!"
Before long, it called together all the Ners it had given birth to.
Approximately 200 Ners gathered.
I calmly examined the 200 Ners.
'Not all of them were born with Mana. It probably was born like a mutation.'
Except for the Ners currently in my palm, not a single one possessed Mana.
In other words, it means the probability is about one in 200.
Mana is a very important power in this world.
The power that Mana possesses is truly infinite.
It strengthens the body, shoots fire, and creates water.
Just looking at Stacey, you can see how much power one can possess just by having Mana.
Just by harboring Mana, the body becomes stronger.
Just looking at Gwen, you can see how great Mana is.
After all, humans are beings that can fight against us Creatures just because they possess Mana.
We now have a way to possess such Mana, not through the pregnancy of humans who possess Mana, but by giving birth among ourselves.
It's just that the probability is very slim, and the amount of Mana possessed is quite small.
But the fact that a method has been created is important.
'If I eat a lot of humans who possess Mana, will the probability increase as much?'