The Outer God Needs Warmth

Chapter 72

"What should I do?"

I have to cook with the ingredients someone brought me.

The problem is, I don’t know how to cook this.

Wait, do I even know how to cook?

I do know how to cook, but most of the memories are from other worlds, so the standard is different. The four men living here have never cooked for themselves, so the biggest problem is not knowing what these ingredients are or what to do with them.

"Can you cook?"

Around dinner time, an old woman tossed some ingredients at a girl and asked her.

The girl shook her head. Her face and hands were swollen, as if she had some illness. It looked like the palm of a bear. Disease is common in this world.

Even if someone has special powers, it doesn’t mean that they are granted to everyone. The world where the faded man lives was like that, and even more developed worlds are the same.

But more than that...

Are they asking me to take care of this child too?

This dilapidated cottage on the verge of collapse, the food just tossed around, and the servant who is almost at her breaking point—this is the petty malice of the Heavenly Demon.

As for me, fine. But what do I do with this kid? Should I just steal its warmth?

If I turn it into a monster, it’ll be cold, but at least it won’t suffer. Or, is that not the right thing to do?

I could turn it into a Harvester, but in this situation, turning it into one would only extend its pain.

What should I really do with this child?

While I was pondering, the tiny child started trying to do something with the cooking ingredients. Her hands, swollen like a bear’s paw, couldn’t move easily, and her fingers didn’t work well.

I decided to let her do what she wanted.

Tomorrow, the Heavenly Demon might change his mind and try to strike me down.

No, kid! Don’t hold the knife like that!

I was losing my mind.

I snatched the knife from her. No, even if she looks up at me with those sad eyes, I can’t allow it.

Every memory related to the kitchen has one thing in common: first, slap their cheek hard, and then teach them not to handle knives recklessly.

I understand, but still, doing that to a child like this feels wrong.

It’s only something you do to someone who is someone’s child, right? This child will understand if I just talk to her, right? And she’ll have to learn to handle knives soon.

Whether for cooking or stabbing someone.

At least in this world, the back end is easier to live in.

No, should I rather turn her into a Harvester and make her more human?

If I fix her appearance and make her have children, I could create a lot of Harvester descendants.

Hmm.

The faded man’s memories are surprisingly quiet. Usually, they shine like a vivid highlight at moments like this.

Looking through the memories of the four Harvesters, I can see how the ingredients should be used, so I’ll cook it and make do.

But there’s no fire.

There’s no tool to light a fire in the kitchen, nor is there any fuel like firewood.

So I twisted reality a little, put water in it, and searched for a pot to heat it in. I found one that was rusted, threw it outside, and made a new one.

I also brought some dishes.

Clank.

Since I made a bit too much, the kitchen cracked. It’s a weak world.

Of course, I could read her thoughts, but I’d have to decipher the countless nerve clusters in her brain.

No, what should I do?

I can’t.

So I just watch Gabja chuckling.

Eunchun and Byeongil are sleeping, and Jeonyang is deep into his training with the Heavenly Demon Technique, practicing in the place I saw yesterday.

It’s quite funny watching the Heavenly Demon waiting outside the training room. Unlike when he threatened me, he’s sitting in a posture that’s almost feminine.

Is gender confusion a tragedy? I’m not sure.

Honestly, I don’t care about the Heavenly Demon.

What interests me more is the group of sorcerers who summoned me.

The summoning method unrelated to Yasle’s.

If I could gain memories from this side, it would be great...

To do that, I might need to increase the number of Harvesters to reach the sorcerers.

The Heavenly Demon Church reveres power.

In other words, they’d do anything to obtain power.

If they knew that Harvesters give powerful strength, there would be many volunteers. Considering the environment of the Heavenly Demon Church, it’s likely that there are sorcerers among them.

That’s why I’ve let them know I’m here.

The two men who brought the food will spread the word about me.

Because they are the kind of people who don’t need to keep quiet. They’re the ones who can talk easily to anyone.

If someone important had brought it, the Heavenly Demon would likely treat me as an important person, but luckily, I’m mostly being neglected.

I’ve also gotten a petty revenge in the process.

Heh.

That’s fine. I was anxious because they were wary of me, but this way, I can act pretty freely.

Oh, thinking about revenge, who was it that had the eye of the first snow? I broke it because I could.

Before I remade the body, it was almost like a living corpse. It had grown that way from the start. It was completely cut off from the senses, and under drugs, consciousness was trapped in a hallucinatory state, with the body’s functions at a bare minimum.

Most likely, it would have died before adulthood.

It was meant to be used before reaching adulthood.

Human sacrifice?

But after looking through the memories of the four Harvesters, there’s no culture of human sacrifice in the Heavenly Demon Church. The identity of the first snow is still unclear.

Memories only begin to take shape around the age of three, and from then on, the first snow had already been raised. But I don’t see anyone like the first snow around.

If it had a purpose, they would have made several of them, but there’s no one in the same situation when I go through the first snow’s memories.

Moreover, judging by when it was raised, it was before Jeongha ascended to the Heavenly Demon’s position.

The Heavenly Demon Church itself is similar to the demonic sect in the faded man’s memories, but hidden within is something far darker.

The sorcerer group that is almost separated from the Heavenly Demon Church.

Something that had the eye of the first snow.

And a huge structure built on karst terrain.

The relationship between the former leader and the current leader.

There are many secrets.

It means I have to work hard to create an automatic harvesting system so that I don’t fall into the same trap as the first world.

I’ll give it my all.