I headed east with the soldiers.
I had to walk for quite a while until the water above my head disappeared.
Victoria’s sea covered an immense area, reaching the south while she was in the east. After escaping the city from that range, it took a while to walk to the mountain that was pretty far away.
From the entrance of the mountain, perhaps due to the army passing through, the trees were all bent over and lying on the ground, and countless footprints marked the ground.
These were the traces left by the army.
Following those traces, I climbed up to the mountain’s midsection, still in the grip of the Mechanical Puppet.
As soon as I arrived at the midsection, I noticed an old building with half-peeled paint mixed with a newly built Temporary Tent. Wet soldiers, looking like drowned rats, were scattered everywhere.
The most noticeable thing was the Mechanical Puppets, slightly bigger than the one carrying me now, and massive ones about three times the size of a person.
They weren’t exoskeletons but looked like you could ride inside them and control them, similar to robots.
There were hundreds of them. It’s clear why Marquis Gaston was so confident he could quickly quell the minor commotion in Bern City.
If there were no areas where magic couldn’t be used, this would’ve been resolved already.
In a place where those Mechanical Puppets were gathered, a unique building stood out. It looked like a supply base for Mechanical Puppets with the name “Gun & Rufu” stamped on it.
I remember that being a program-related company, but if they’re providing equipment like this, do they actually handle the gear?
Or maybe it’s equipment needed to modify the internal programming of the Mechanical Puppets in this place?
I’ll find out soon enough.
A man, who looks like a commander, entered what appeared to be the command center, leaving behind soldiers and people riding the Mechanical Puppets. And perhaps because my appearance wasn’t much different from that of a harvesting machine, sharp glances often flew my way from afar.
When I meet the highest-ranking person, they’re going to shake me down with the fact that Marquis Gaston is already dead and that I attacked the royal family.
Either way, it’s deadly in the army.
That’s when it happened.
From inside, a man in fancy clothes made of magnificent fabric, not military uniform, came out with the so-called commander.
And as soon as he stepped out, he kicked my chest with full force.
Gah!
Oops. My ribs just broke.
“Soldiers, listen! Bern City has been utterly destroyed! Why? Because of this witch! This bitch organized a protest to conspire against the royal family! Basically, she’s a deceitful traitor!”
Saying that, he kicked my chest and abdomen again and again. Hmm, judging by this behavior, it seems he doesn’t want me to talk.
They seem to be treating me as a traitor, and it looks like they’re trying to frame everything that happened in Bern City as a mission to deal with the traitorous faction.
Clever.
Moreover, he stepped closer and slapped my cheek.
For an ordinary person, that’s a punch that would make them dizzy. This guy clearly knows how to throw a punch, given his calluses.
“Look! This dirty color and face! The face of the witch who slaughtered your fellow citizens! You pushed Bern City into hell!”
After saying that, he hit my jaw, giving me a concussion.
Of course, I’m not stopping my functions because of that.
But pretending to be unconscious and letting my body go limp made him come closer, grabbing my hair and pulling me up. Then he hit my belly again.
Hmm? Is he trying to wake me up?
So, I feigned waking up as he pulled my head closer to his.
“Apologize! Witch! Admit the crime of turning Bern City into hell and slaughtering countless people and beg for forgiveness! If you’ve sinned, you must repent! Speak! Look, soldiers! This witch still doesn’t realize the crimes she committed! Then we need to enlighten her directly! All troops! Assemble in front!”
With that man’s call, people started gathering one by one.
Many looked on, amused.
Once a decent crowd formed, the man holding me said to the soldiers.
“Each of you, tell this witch the sins she committed!”
In other words, it was a demand for revenge.
One soldier stepped forward, saying that his lover from Bern City was caught up in the protests and died, and that his family also perished during the fighting while cursing me.
Then one by one, they poured out grievances about comrades lost while fighting the protesters, relatives who vanished from Bern City. They were spilling their unjust feelings onto me.
Nice skills.
Is this gaslighting in a gaslamp fantasy?
To put it simply, they’ve created an easily understandable target for resentment, only to smash it to unify the group.
First, they’re applying collective pressure on me, branding me as a sinner. If I were to submit to that pressure and say “Yes,” the man holding me would complete his plan.
The truth doesn’t matter here.
Those who criticize me think perceivably and everyone around also believes I’m in the wrong.
This chain reaction occurs, and I become the witch. The madness of the crowd easily shatters individual selves. Judgment gets dulled, and people start following what others do. This is, in a true sense, witch-hunting.
Selecting a victim and getting twisted out of shape in their sorrows is a source of entertainment. Looking back at faded memories, this happens regardless of the era. For example, there’s the inquisitor known as Cyber Lycar.
Dividing us from them, declaring you as evil and us as justice. So we eliminate evil to establish justice. And that process is consumed as entertainment.
In short, this guy pummeling me is an exhilarating scene of tough love education. Beating the sinners that ruined the city.
Who wouldn’t enjoy that? Rather, if you weren’t having a blast, you might end up experiencing what I’m going through right now. Everyone zealously raises their voices in condemnation of me.
And even if it’s later revealed that I’m innocent, it’s easy to brush it off.
Or not.
You all participated, so you’re also guilty, right?
The funniest part is realizing this is the better option. At least if you act justly, you feel good, and if you do evil, that feels bad, suggesting there’s at least a semblance of sociality.
If that breaks down to the point where doing bad becomes seen as foolishness, then we’re truly heading into the abyss.
Anyway.
The pressure to conform is magnificent.
It’s a cruel trick that’s hard for someone to withstand.
Yes, for any person, that is.
Right now, my body is a mess of bruises. My eyes are bloodshot, and I’ve lost nearly all my teeth. There’s not a single part of me unhurt.
The soldiers around me jeer at me, and the man is persistently tormenting me to wring a response out of my mouth.
Just one little girl.
Thinking they can trample me down, call me a sinner, and then act like they don’t know what happens next.
Hehehe.
I’m already connected.
Of course, if you take away my warmth, I would become a monster. Who knows what I’d do in that state? I might expose my truly fatal weakness.
Knowing just how dreadful it is to take away warmth can be enlightening.
Yes. So, I won’t go that route.
Instead, I’ll do this.
“Contact the royal family.”
Even though my teeth are nearly gone and I sound like a crooked goblin, my meaning is perfectly clear, right?
The man got so furious he slapped my cheek with all his might.
With a crack, my jaw shattered, and my face was caved in.
But it felt as if cold water was poured over me, and the surroundings fell silent.
No, it looks like my eardrum just burst.
Of my senses, the only one still alive is touch. I can faintly feel the vibrations in the air.
There’s probably chaos filled with shouting and screaming.
My words won’t cause any stir. The madness of the crowd can easily drown that out. But doubt had dug in.
I planted a seed.
Dragged away somewhere, the dimly visible floor was packed dirt. The cold Mechanical Puppet’s grip relented, leaving me floating before I was dropped to the cold ground.
Based on the touch alone, this feels like a haystack.
Given it’s so dark around, it must be inside a tent?
Belle’s body isn’t quite in life-threatening condition. In other words, it means I can return to normal at any time.
This state can be recovered at any moment; however, I choose to remain still in this condition on purpose.
If I try to regenerate now, I’d just get swept back into the madness. I need a bit more time.
During that time, I watched Polaris and Victoria meet.
It’s quite intriguing.
Polaris, who got my address, was confirming it and then stood at a checkpoint that knocked down all obstacles.
She kept circling around a few times, only to realize that Victoria’s house once stood right in the middle of that checkpoint.
Seeing Polaris squatting in shock, Victoria approached.
Having checked the numbers herself as well, Victoria knew why Polaris was sitting there.
The drizzling sea had completely stopped.
Polaris looked at Victoria with a chilling expression.
Victoria walked forward without saying a word. Polaris, fixated on Victoria’s face, hurriedly rose to inform her that I had been captured.
Victoria looked at Polaris with a very strange expression.
She seemed to question how I was alive when I was just a dismembered hand.
Huh? No, didn’t Victoria witness my regeneration several times before?
No, right.
It would be weird to think I could regenerate with just a remaining limb, but if my head and body were intact, it wouldn’t be so strange.
But why is the conversation shifting to Polaris having a hallucination? No, why is Polaris’s gaze trembling if she thinks it’s strange?
Wasn’t it odd that she could have quickly fled if I weren’t there earlier?
Polaris, looking pale, stammered, suggesting they check around to escape if no one is found here, then let’s go back.
Excuse me? What about me?
No, it’s fine if they don’t come, but I’m not dead, you know?
With murderous intent, Victoria seemed likely to ignore Polaris’s words, but surprising me, she cleared away the debris at the bottom.
So they silently agreed on leaving if nothing was found.
Even if Morris and Beatrice had died inside, their corpses must have already been disposed of.
But neither was in a logical state to think like that. Neither of them.
The two rummaged through the debris to confirm there were no bodies below and both froze in place with lost expressions.
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