The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 182: Deep Under The Sea (7)

Yeah.

It's hard.

No, seriously, they’ve made a road on a sheer cliff at a weird angle, and without a special magic key, you have to wind your way up the mountain, fighting all kinds of monsters before you can finally reach the top.

I know the special magic, but for me, who can’t use magic, that’s like a pie in the sky.

Well, there’s a reasonable reason for it, like in a game.

First, Maleficent.

She has no friends.

Her personality is set to be bad from birth, so she’s naturally evil. Her entire race is made that way.

On top of that, she never had the chance to learn social skills because she was never scolded or shaped by anyone, so she stayed sharp and unchanged.

But that’s not loneliness of the weak, it’s the arrogance of the strong, so she’s the complete opposite of me.

Me?

A monster who has nothing left but to surrender to torture and make life easier? Surprisingly, I still have my intellect, so I’ve learned that mindless action leads to a dead end, and now I desperately cling to patience.

If eating is the act of acquiring what is needed to live, then warmth is like a meal.

If we assume that, then I’m eating a disciplined meal, like a Buddhist monk’s set meal.

I’m healthy, but sometimes, I want to taste something like a hamburger or a pizza wrapped up in violence, something full of calories.

That’s why I sneakily make Harvesters.

Anyway.

This place is like a monster’s lair, where sometimes, once in a few years, a flood of monsters arrives, and the monsters set boundaries to live within their own territory.

Also, Maleficent has no friends.

The people who come by are basically enemies, so the plan is to lure them into the monster’s nest, weaken them, and then fight them in the end.

There’s no reason to care for others, so there’s no convenient shortcut, no easy paths that lead to others—only herself and others.

Just two.

What I’m saying is, if I don’t break through the night, I might not get in, so I experimented by slightly cracking reality using Maleficent’s memories. I found that even without magic, I could insert that and open the reality itself, and it worked.

The most interesting thing was that in the magical realm, no cracks appeared.

Maleficent’s security magic wasn’t simple, but it didn’t require more force than the feeling of turning stones into gold on the ground.

I’m glad that I don’t have to worry about the world collapsing from something like this.

Maybe I could have easily broken the Blackthorn Bush magic too, I thought, as I climbed up the steep, slanted cliff.

Maleficent could fly, so she didn’t care for travelers on foot, making it incredibly difficult.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

So, I entered Maleficent’s castle.

It used to be an abandoned old castle, but she had remodeled it into a place of her own. It was physically impossible for one person to manage a nest of such size alone.

But Maleficent could use magic, and she used that to manage the castle by herself.

So, now that Maleficent is gone...

Whooosh.

The dilapidated stone fragments are loosely stuck together, wobbling as cold winds pass through them, making a sound.

It’s on the verge of collapsing.

The only good thing is that, since I have Maleficent’s memories, I don’t need to search for anything inside.

I ignored the gold and treasures inside the castle. What I valued were the magical items and special tools Maleficent possessed. I focused on gathering the highest-value items.

The criteria for value?

Whether they were deeply soaked in malice.

And lastly, to torment Maleficent, I grabbed her diary. It’s not a diary she wrote every day, but one where years passed between entries.

It’s a diary of her inner thoughts.

If this becomes a relic, it would surely make me cry.

In the faded memories, I’m embarrassing myself by restoring even the graffiti of someone named Anne, which she must have erased, right?

I believe it will have a similar effect, so I grabbed the diary.

Then, I suddenly noticed the open birdcage near the desk. The floor of the cage had a dried-up bird’s bones.

She had no friends, but she had minions.

Maybe they were even her friends.

Since I couldn’t find warmth inside, I lost interest and immediately left the castle.

Soon, the castle will collapse.

Inside the castle, it creaks so badly that it’s close to collapse. Rather than reinforcing it, it would be safer to tear it down and rebuild.

I gathered my things and carefully descended the cliff.

My clothes are torn to pieces. It’s not the right outfit for a place like this. It’s more like something a girl would wear on a picnic.

But since I don’t have outdoor gear, I wore this instead.

I practically rolled down the steep cliff, and after a while, I reached the ground.

Hmm.

I have more baggage than I thought.

A girl, covered in dirt and dust, carrying strange things.

That’s the way I look now.

I crossed the monster’s territory that Maleficent had marked, then ran back the way I came.

The load is heavy, but this body doesn’t break from it.

I arrived at my lodging.

Surprisingly, no one pointed out my condition while I was running from the outskirts of the capital. When I got back to the lodging, the people inside screamed, probably because my clothes were in such a sorry state.

After forcing the maids to change me out of my tattered clothes, I called the butler.

"Master Bel, what’s the matter?"

"Can I meet the king about something related to Maleficent?"

Surprisingly, the butler didn’t ask for any further explanation but instead replied, "Please wait a moment."

I thought he would at least ask why, but he gave me a puzzled look and didn’t voice it.

That night.

I got into the carriage, carrying the items I had looted from Maleficent’s home.

Unlike before, it wasn’t the royal castle; I went to a building slightly further out. And there, as usual, King Hipion was waiting for me.

"You wanted to meet me regarding the witch?"

"Yes, that’s right."

I arrived carrying a full load. The surprising part was that no one questioned my baggage. If they were supposed to be guarding me, I thought they would have checked what I was carrying, but I passed through without a hitch.

Isn’t that too trusting?

What if I were trying to assassinate the king?

Thinking about the royal security, I placed the things I had brought one by one on the table in front of a familiar man.

"What are these?"

I hesitated to explain, but then I gave an answer that would immediately tell everything.

"This is Maleficent’s diary."

When I pointed to the book, the king stiffened. He looked down at the item with a wary expression.

"Where on earth did you get something like this?"

"I found out where Maleficent spent her last moments."

As far as I know, besides Victoria, no one knows what I said in Maleficent’s final moments.

I never mentioned where she was hiding. But it’s not a lie; I knew because I gained her memories.

"And I brought back dangerous items from there."

I really did bring back only the dangerous items. Tools of magic for killing, cursing, and destroying.

Of course, I’m not planning to teach anyone how to use them.

It would be strange if I did, right?

"Can you show me the location?"

"Yes."

At King Hipion’s question, I told him where Maleficent’s stronghold was.

And, while I was at it, I added:

"I left metals like gold and silver behind because they’re heavy, but if you need them, you can take them. But the castle is deteriorating, so I wouldn’t recommend going there, as it could collapse at any moment."

If I tell him there’s treasure and put a time limit on it, he’ll go looking for it.

The best way to incite desire is to forbid something, not to ask for it. If it’s a danger that he deems acceptable, it’s easier that way.

"You went to such a dangerous area?"

"I’m not a human. And it’s Maleficent’s stuff, right?"

Just stating the facts.

But to the one listening, it could be interpreted that I went to handle dangerous items.

I left the gold and treasures behind and spread out the dangerous items. I also brought a detailed guide to Maleficent.

No matter how you look at it, I seem like a good person, right?

And I will keep acting that way.

I’ll impulsively make more Harvesters, but other than that, I won’t do anything. I’ll quietly wait while sometimes pretending to be a good person.

Vern City is engulfed in flames, and in the Brightshin slums, more people are inventing technical gadgets.

This is like a bribe.

I’m being good, so I hope ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) things go well.

"You’re giving so much, but there’s nothing I can do."

At that moment, King Hipion made a bitter expression and said that. Then he moved closer to the table and tried to touch the items.

So, I told him it would be best not to touch them recklessly because they were dangerous.

Of course, magical tools don’t just work by grabbing and swinging them around. But by saying that, he’ll probably think I don’t know the details about them.

But if I give too much, he might suspect something. So, here, I’ll slightly disguise my goodwill and throw some fire into Vern City.

"The screams from the south haven’t stopped."

That means I know something horrible is happening. Whether it’s something the king has done or not, he needs to deliver results.

And that will lead to the worst outcome.

Because the Purple Twilight Association has completely lost trust in the kingdom. Will anyone believe the king’s efforts to suppress it now?

Even if things somehow work out, the really important problems are still hidden beneath the surface.

The fundamental flaws in the wind-up mechanisms.

Vern City, with its many wind-up devices, is probably the first city to surpass the critical point. If we don’t fix this, accidents will happen again.

And what’s the next city with the most wind-up devices?

Yes.

The capital.

The capital has ticking time bombs in the form of slowly turning clocks.

Can this be dealt with? Or should we just wait for it to explode?

Either way is fine.

I think this as I guide the situation toward a quicker resolution.

Now, how will things unfold?