The Outer God Needs Warmth

Wow.

Boring.

Hyungkesuni got captured. People with a grudge against her are torturing her.

I watched for a while, thinking it was hilarious, but repetitive stimulation gets tiresome.

But there’s something even more interesting!

The harvesting period keeps getting longer!

It feels like a blessing agent is absolutely necessary as people spread everywhere! And as the harvesting period increases and expands, the warmth gathers more and more!

Wow, it’s really great.

I was worried the religion, which seemed to have been modeled after my knowledge, was too bland, but now that I recall my memories from when I was human, I realize I had killed many of such bland religions back then.

Whenever the Seongsin Church shows up during a witch hunt, they come over to mock and kill.

When discrimination arises because of purple hair, people fight each other over it. And having different hair colors can even become a reason for murder.

But fundamentally, when the harvesting period arrives, physical abilities increase, so without the blessing, it’s hard to win. There’s only a chance to win when the numbers are in your favor.

And if those numbers flip, the accumulated hatred crashes down on them.

Even if they’re not part of the Seongsin Church or belong to another religion, such events happen frequently.

Thanks to that, I laughed a little while watching the gradually increasing warmth.

Yes, that’s right. This is the automatic warmth collection system.

One world is gradually turning into my colors. Something like Seongsin got in my way at one point, but ever since that big fight, I haven’t sensed anything.

I’m a bit sad about that.

If something had happened, I could have captured it.

But there are countless worlds, so it’ll work out somehow.

And Hyungkesuni, ugh.

I can only sigh.

I had three people read a book before I went to die, remember? They carefully stored the book and then handed it over to the Outsider Church.

By that time, over 90% were in the harvesting period, so I could see where everyone was going. And I kept an eye on what happened to that book.

As expected, the book had a trap in it.

They unraveled the book and completely devised a new summoning method. Under Rebecca’s command, they executed the summoning magic in a remote place.

But the thread that came down didn’t reach the ground where I was.

Just like me, they concluded that with only Hyungkesuni’s knowledge, it was impossible to summon me.

Of course, if Yasle hadn’t inherited Hyungkesuni’s knowledge, summoning me would have been impossible.

I mean, I think about that much unless I’m an idiot.

But still, being sad is being sad.

That’s why my anger toward her has also cooled down.

After all, it was my mistake to task someone incapable of doing anything.

Warmth?

Hmm, it’s a tough judgment. Even if Hyungkesuni diligently wrote the book, it’s true she couldn’t summon me.

And it was meant to be a request not to take away warmth instead of writing a book.

Since I couldn’t obtain what I wanted, I sought revenge.

After all, it’s about keeping promises to someone who can’t even do it.

I’ll keep my promise.

As warmth, which had once felt like raindrops falling from a clear sky, now trickles down like a thin stream.

Of course, it’s thinner than a thread, but it’s much better than having no warmth at all.

Since she’s the one who allowed me to get this far, I appreciate that.

Then I can have my head held high later. Even if I break my promise with myself, I respect the effort they made.

Hehe.

Isn’t that the truth?

There’s no guarantee that someone like Rebecca, who can peek into my memories, will appear again. If I’m summoned again based on Yasle’s memories, there’s a high possibility that the body I’ll inhabit will come back to life.

At that time, this memory will help.

Just like a devil, I keep my contract.

Of course, the other side will be looking for loopholes in the contract to trick me. That comes up in many stories.

There was a question about why devils try so hard to comply with contracts, but once you realize you can exploit the gaps in the contract, no matter how terrifying the opponent is, someone will come out to make a deal.

I could trick them.

Many people think that way. One should learn from good things.

In the meantime, the water stream has gotten thicker. If I completely turn one world into my own, just how much warmth can I continuously receive?

I’m so excited!

One continent is now filled with the harvesting period. The children of the harvesting period are the future harvesters. It’s a downside that I need to go around putting them in one by one, but it’s not that much of a hassle.

Without needing to read the contract document separately, I just need to find them.

However, even though the number of people has greatly increased, I can’t go up.

To be precise, I have tried to go up once.

The place I died always has a lot of harvesters.

But the moment I tried to step there, the support looked too weak, so I couldn’t go up. It felt like the glass bottle would shatter right away.

So I quickly came down below the surface.

I don’t know what would happen if the glass bottle breaks, but warmth is steadily coming in, so why would I need to cut open the belly of the goose that lays golden eggs?

But.

Over there.

Why is there a crack forming in the glass bottle?

It’s a glass bottle filled with countless lights, as if a galaxy were trapped inside.

It’s gradually cracking, as if it can’t bear the weight of what’s inside.

I’m nervously watching, but there’s no solution. Since I’m connected through the thin light within, trying to interfere causes sounds of smashing around me, so I quickly bolted.

And the sound of cracking was eventually sensed by the harvesters as well.

I know that the frequency of that sound is becoming more frequent.

But the harvesters are pretending not to notice.

No, please don’t pretend not to see! Find a way!

But my wishes didn’t reach them.

As it was neglected, a gigantic crack eventually formed in the sky.

You can tell at a glance. The glass bottle is about to break.

My carefully crafted first world is falling apart.

All I can do is feel sadness as I watch it, and tears come to my eyes. Why am I this powerless?

As the world continues to tear apart, Rebecca said something strange. She said it’s time to meet the Outsider.

Thinking there’s no reason to go up there now, I looked on as Rebecca went to Dakota to tell her it’s the end.

Then the woman who had tormented Hyungkesuni for such a long time finally raised a flame-imbued sword, with an expression of acceptance.

And together with Rebecca, they headed to the basement. There, Dakota stabbed Hyungkesuni, who had turned into a lump of meat.

The witch is dead.

Then Dakota quickly aged and died in that state.

I was watching in confusion, unable to understand what happened.

And then, the glass bottle shattered. To be precise, there was a slight time lag, so it wasn’t directly causal, but…

As the glass bottle shattered, all the light inside fell downward.

It fell to where I am.

Splash!

Heh.

Hehe.

Hehehe.

What is this?

It’s heat. Amazing.

Ah, yes. It’s better than a little candle.

The cold, wait.

Just for a moment.

It didn’t disappear; it was gone.

No, no! Don’t take it! It was the first warmth I felt, coming to this filthy bottom!

Ahh.

The warmth is flowing away.

What the heck is this cold?

What the hell is this chill?

Why do I have to feel so cold?

Huh?

I shriveled up and grabbed the light slowly diminishing from within me.

It melted away and disappeared like flour crumbling.

Squeezing the shriveled thing produced no warmth at all.

The light that wasn’t grasped is already shriveled and slowly disappearing from within me. It has no nutritional value, all this trash.

I grabbed one and tossed it upwards.

Just as a large clump of light passed above me, I was annoyed.

I caught the clump of light that rose and flickered like a fish and flicked it back down.

Splash.

The light returned to the bottom. I didn’t know what was there since I had already licked it. But there’s a very faint warmth remaining. That warmth isn’t from the light itself. It’s from the clump of light above.

In other words, it means it’s relatively warm.

Oh ho.

Is that so?

The warmth from that will be my future target.

By the way.

I found someone I hadn’t seen in a long time among those who sank. They had already died at the point of the fall, but there’s light left in the corpse. However, there’s no warmth.

When I was first summoned, I could gain both light and warmth from the corpses around me, but this one has none.

It’s not that someone else ate it. It’s not that I took the chill away.

Honestly, I’ve taken almost all the heat, but there’s one I left.

Before being swept away by reason, I instinctively pushed it away.

Isn’t that contradictory?

Gaining warmth is a thoroughly rational act. Contracts are a matter of instinct. A rather useless instinct.

Well, anyway.

Welcome to below the surface. I decided not to take warmth.

So how do you feel this chill?

Can you laugh?

Then, now.

Do you change like me?

Do you become as unhappy as I am?

Wham!

The light shriveled up and turned to dust, disappearing.

Huh?

I thought that if I left it alone like the last time I fell after going up, a monster like me would be born.

But it couldn’t endure and just burst.

It crumbled and burst as if this place were the deep sea.

Was it too broken to hold up, or is it that humans can’t endure?

Questions keep piling up.

There’s so much to do.

How much is an appropriate amount, whether it’s better to drop the world like this, how to use the harvesting period, and how far I can go.

Alright.

I’ll do it all.

After all, time is plentiful.

Thinking that, I looked around.

There’s nothing left below the surface.

Ripples broke the surface, but that was all.

In short, this is the end.

I looked up at the place where the first world once existed and said my final goodbye.

Goodbye, first world.

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