The Foreigner on the Periphery

"Avatar. The former deputy pope... Bishop Alext isn't waking up."

Yumtus entered the Cathedral of Resurrection to deliver the report.

Minjun narrowed his eyes, clearly finding this a headache.

He had intended to keep his distance from the order's believers going forward, but Yumtus, who had already traveled with him for so long, was an exception. Furthermore, Asiph-1, the bridge between god and man, was temporarily away. Yumtus had to report directly to his god, if only for the next matter he needed to discuss.

"And the divine beast also shows no signs of regaining consciousness."

The condition of the Dragon, Ha Eun-seong, had become widely known shortly after the god punished the Committee's forces.

Despite the arguments of a few, the Order Council refused to declare this battle a holy war. They interpreted the miracle witnessed today as closer to judgment and divine punishment.

It was true. This had not been a fight. God had simply punished the sinners, just like the apostates of old who had been turned into pillars of salt and roasted in the fire.

After the Battleship dispatched by the arrogant nonbelievers of the Committee was neutralized, the rejoicing believers had belatedly discovered those exhibiting abnormal symptoms.

Minjun looked at Ha Eun-seong's soulless body.

Although the body's original owner, the Dragon's soul, still remained, it could not take control of the flesh, just as before.

Fortunately, the order was equipped with facilities for this exact situation. It was a life-support system similar to the Coffin that Changcheon possessed. It seemed delayed returns from Elahu-Praga happened occasionally.

Since leaving their physical forms untended could result in death, both bodies were moved to a secure location with Minjun's permission.

"According to witnesses, the divine beast's soul also crossed over to Elahu-Praga with Alext."

As far as Yumtus knew, that place was a sanctuary that only priests could enter.

Even though Ha Eun-seong had entered such a place, Yumtus no longer harbored any doubts. He decided that a beast raised by god would naturally acquire divinity and earn the right to reside in the sanctuary. Religion was very convenient in this regard. Even if existing common sense was entirely refuted, interpreting an event as god's will could excuse anything.

Meanwhile, Minjun also had a hypothesis to explain this phenomenon, though it differed slightly from Yumtus's understanding.

'So, in a way, Ha Eun-seong is just like someone who has already received Baptism.'

The Dagger plunged into his spiritual body.

The soul of one stabbed by it was imprinted with a code that allowed entry into the place where their kin slept.

'The question that still remains unanswered is, who exactly stabbed him?'

Even before he regained his memories, and even now that they were fully recovered, that mystery remained unsolved.

Ha Eun-seong's existence had never been part of the plan Minjun arranged from the beginning.

'Asiph-1 also said he didn't know about it.'

His fragments had been assembled to near completion. Nevertheless, the pope had firmly asserted that none of the recovered pieces contained any memory of stabbing Ha Eun-seong.

'It wasn't the work of Blade either, who had acted as an assassin on Earth.'

Minjun's thoughts deepened.

'This is an unintended variable.'

An element that failed to integrate into Minjun's otherwise perfect plan and merely hovered on the periphery.

Nevertheless, it was clear that it was connected to him in some way.

But Minjun didn't know the exact nature of that link.

"..."

Minjun didn't like that.

*

A plain on the outskirts, far from the order's headquarters.

167 pairs of eyes were fixed on Del.

Del was just as flustered as the children whose pupils were trembling.

'...Grandma?'

In fact, the title the child had chosen was a term of respect for an older woman in the language of the Endelion. They were being polite based on their own level of knowledge.

Del reminded herself that they had grown up receiving a different education than she had.

By the standards of an era before the concept of body renewal, she could be said to have enjoyed a full natural lifespan, but by modern standards, she was still classified as a youth. There was no way those kids would know the difference.

Furthermore, Del had not yet undergone a physical transplant in the truest sense. She had briefly been trapped in a human body during her time as a prisoner, but now she had returned to her original flesh. If someone unfamiliar with Del saw her now, they would merely assume she had missed her body renewal period a long time ago, rather than correctly guessing her true age. The children, on the other hand, simply judged her based on what they saw.

By a very natural standard.

"Well, I am..."

Del easily found a way to sort out her title.

The heir to the throne of Endelion.

The children had learned the concept of a monarchy, but it seemed they had never seen what royalty looked like.

Probably because the moment they saw the royals' appearances with their own eyes, the concept of body renewal would have to be explained.

"Uh... a princess?"

"Really?"

"The princess is a grandma."

Even amid their fear, childlike murmurs spread here and there.

After finishing her introduction, Del asked them a question.

"What is the last thing you remember?"

The children exchanged anxious glances once again.

That hesitation was brief. Now that they had regained their senses among themselves in this remote place, perhaps out of a desire to rely on the adult in front of them, they honestly spilled everything.

They seemed entirely unable to imagine that their own kin were entangled in the reason they had suffered such a fate. Listening to the story that followed, it was understandable.

"When we woke up, we weren't home. We couldn't see Mom or Dad."

"It was just us. We were locked in a dark, narrow place, in weird shapes that weren't our bodies."

"Then the door suddenly opened, and it was incredibly cold. It was really, really cold. It was the first time in my life I'd ever been somewhere so cold."

"And then our bodies suddenly went back to normal, but as soon as they did, weird things flew over and stuck to us. After that, we couldn't even twitch a single tentacle. Whenever I tried to move on my own... it hurt so much."

"So we kept calling for Mom and Dad. But nobody was there."

"And then suddenly... our bodies hurt again. This time it hurt even if we didn't move. Really big needles stabbed us. There were so many of those needles."

"We cried and begged them to stop. We promised we wouldn't move, so please don't stab us. But they kept stabbing us. After that... I don't remember anything."

An undeniable fire flickered in Del's eyes. Seeing this, the children grew intimidated and stopped talking. They worried that they might have done something to anger the princess.

She barely managed to hide her emotions as she questioned herself.

'Is there any need to explain the whole truth to these children?'

The parents they were desperately looking for now were not actually their real blood relatives.

'No, can I really conclude that? Among the rearers, there might have been some planning to transfer into these children's bodies later on...'

Just thinking about it was disgusting and made her want to throw up.

Regardless, did those kids really need to know right now that the parents they emotionally depended on had actually been raising them like livestock, planning to rip their souls from their bodies on the day they were shipped out?

'No, that's too cruel. They're all too young to handle the truth.'

Del looked at the 167 pairs of eyes aimed at her. In their gazes, she saw fear mixed with a desperate plea for her help.

An adult of their kind who had appeared in this bleak, terrifying situation. The heir to the royal family.

To them, Del probably looked like a 'god' who would save them. It seemed the children couldn't even imagine that she would lie.

She made her choice.

"You were kidnapped by bad people."

The suckers attached to the children's skin curled up.

"...Kidnapped?!"

Del confirmed it.

"Yes."

Whether an interdimensional delivery aided by their rearers could be judged as kidnapping was not important.

Del explained it at a level the children could understand: that the ones aboard the ship, the Kavite and Todd, had hatched a plot and abducted them all the way here.

But that evil attempt had been crushed by those seeking 'justice', and now all the bad guys had been dragged off to prison and locked up.

"Then can we go back home?"

Del answered without a moment's hesitation. Her words held conviction and resolve.

"Yes, you will all return home. I'll take you there. I promise."

She truly meant that vow.

Under the current circumstances, there was no way for the Endelions raised for body renewal to return to the breeding grounds. Not while this unethical system remained intact. Since they had already suffered extreme stress and might have sustained damage to their brains and nervous systems, they would no longer be chosen by the adults.

Therefore, the only future left for them was disposal.

Del guessed as much. Even if the Ancient Race had won the war here, they would have planned to dispose of these kids anyway.

'I can't let that happen.'

Del repeated the thought with strong willpower.

'I'll help you live ordinary, decent lives back home. After I return our twisted society to normal.'

That vow was not limited solely to the 167 kids in front of her. Del knew how many people were being sacrificed just to extend the lifespan of a single member of the Ancient Race. The longer their flawed immortality stretched on, the more victims there would be.

"So we're going back to Mom and Dad? They must both be super worried. Since over a hundred kids suddenly vanished."

"That's right. Mom and Dad are probably crying just like we did. We have to go back quickly."

Del was speechless for a moment.

She knew that returning to their parents, at least, would be impossible. After the breeding grounds ceased functioning, would volunteers continue to care for them? Not a chance.

Even knowing that, the princess lied.

It was a kindness, meant to avoid shattering their happy expectations.

"Yes, you'll go back to your parents."

A savior's promise.

Only then did the last bit of anxiety in the corner of the children's hearts seem to melt away like snow.

"Will you follow me now? I've prepared a place for you to stay until we go back."

The Princess of Endelion prepared to lead them. Right then, Asiph-1 shouted from the ground.

"They're too big like that! The sturdiest one looks to be several kilometers tall... If 167 kids like that swarm over the headquarters, the believers will freak out again. Plus, we have no space for them to stay in that state!"

It hadn't even been that long since he returned as pope, yet Asiph-1 was already worrying about his followers.

Regardless, Del thought his concerns made sense.

"Tell them to change into a smaller form! Even if it was forcefully implanted, if they're capable of dimensional jumps, they should be capable of transformation too."

The children also understood those words, which Asiph-1 had shouted in the common tongue.

They didn't understand why an animal as tiny and gross as a bug was bossing their princess around, but when the princess gave them the same instructions, they had no choice but to comply.

The children exchanged glances, then covered their bodies in light. Unlike when they were bound by restraints, there was no resistance. Even when they chanted unapproved spells and attempted to alter their bodies, no pain struck them.

Flash!

"...Huh?"

Flashes of light covered the sky one after another, and the giant tentacled creatures instantly shrank.

At first glance, it looked like they had vanished entirely. That was how drastically they had reduced their size.

Tilting his head up, Asiph-1 scratched his cheek.

"I didn't mean for them to shrink that much. Well, I guess it doesn't matter?"

The children hadn't particularly wanted to transform into a species like humans.

Also, since there were no specific instructions on exactly how small they should get, they figured it would be enough to just be smaller than the human who had first brought it up.

Thus, they executed a Polymorph that merely reduced their size without altering their Endelion appearance.

A moment later, wriggling masses of tentacles the size of human palms floated around Del.

After confirming this, Del also reverted to her human form.

"...Gasp?!"

The children looked shocked when their princess transformed into a gross animal, but they asked no further questions when she explained that there were complicated adult reasons for it. For children, there were always unknown realms and mysteries that couldn't be solved until they grew up.

Having finished her preparations, Del flew toward the order's headquarters. The long day was coming to an end. The smog in the area had been washed far away in the aftermath of over a hundred Space Motherships jumping in during the day. In the fresh air, clean for the first time in a while, all things slowly changed color. As the sun dipped below the horizon, it unleashed a harsh crimson glow in all directions. It was an atmosphere so rich that one felt they could dip the tip of a tentacle into it and pull away thick paint.

Del set off across the vivid canvas. Following right behind her, the small masses of tentacles flew in a swarm. Their twenty-six extremities wriggled.

Watching that scene from behind, Asiph-1 was reminded of how birds raised their young: a flock of small creatures huddled together, flying closely behind a parent taking off first to teach them how to fly.

Of course, no bird hatched 167 chicks all at once.

"...It is quite a sight."

Looking at the mother who, in the span of just a few days, had not only suddenly gained a son but had now also taken on the role of raising 167 children, Asiph-1 felt a complex mix of emotions.

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