Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 133: "Seeking"

"The frontier...?"

"Yes, that's what it's called, if I'm to be believed by the knights of the cathedral I met there."

The story begins with the sound of bells heard before I got caught up in the magic, and how I found myself in the wilderness, and what the cathedral knight I met there told me, and how the landscape changed as soon as it got dark, and the bridge and the valley with the mist.

It concluded by telling how I found myself in Oratorium.

']"You seem to have been transported to a very strange place."

"Not at all. 'It's not a place I'd like to visit again and again, but I'm curious about the other side of the bridge and I'd like to see it again if I get the chance."

"As for me, I don't want you to go too far away from where we can't contact you, but..."

Fatima then laughs in annoyance.

"In the meantime, that's all I've seen and heard."

As for that one, I don't even want to remember it, so I left it out.

Well, my story is over.

Now it's my turn.

"I want to ask you some questions too. I see that the territory has changed a lot, can you explain it to me?"

Fatima answered my questions with much glee.

The first thing to do is to make sure that the finances are not only recovering but also running in the black, thanks to the germination of the seed that I imposed on her.

The orchard I saw earlier was the result of that.

I remember trees and ivy, from which several kinds of fruit were hanging in great quantities.

And that taste. It must have sold very well.

With the proceeds from the fruit sold, they even built this mansion. They must have made a lot of money.

The orchard is a joke, covering the entire wilderness area from Oratorium to the north of Liard.

Despite the scale of the orchard, labour costs are almost zero, which is a good cost performance ratio.

Goblins, orcs, trolls and others who are caught by the smell of fruit and enter to steal are caught, and after their bodies are taken over, they are engaged in harvesting and other work, so there is no need to do anything to increase the labour force. If they are no longer useful, they can be used as fertiliser and there is no waste.

So the bottom line is that the process is completely automated before it is sold?

This is great.

There are almost no expenses, so it's easy to make a profit.

"...So now that you've got the money, you're working on the territories?"

"No, what we're doing now is expanding our territory."

"......... what?

Expansion?

The territory is a defined area and you're expanding it, you're attacking the neighbouring territory-

Ah. Speaking of which, there's a piece of land that doesn't belong to anyone.

"The Teardras Mountains?"

"That's right. We are currently embarking on a campaign to conquer the Teardras."

Oh, my God.

I didn't think you'd go that far.

"What's the war situation?"

Fatima's expression clouds slightly as I ask the question.

"It's not going well."

"Well... well, I suppose it is."

The ground is in their favour and the mountain roads are steep.

The road is narrow and not suitable for a large scale march.

It would be a little difficult to attack with an army, let alone if you were to ride in alone.

But, I see.

You are attacking the Tierdras?

That's convenient. I've got a few things I want to do, and this is a good time to come.

"Fatima. I need a little favour."

Fatima looks up vigorously as I say this.

"Yes, sir? Anything you wish to ask! Ah, I understand! It's a bedtime treatment, isn't it? I'm ready to-- ah!"

I silently flicked Fatima's forehead with my finger.

I ignored the fact that she was holding her forehead and bending over as hard as she could, and continued talking.

"First of all, I want to use them in my experiments, so I need people who are still alive... preferably people I can kill and not have to deal with the aftermath."

"How many?"

"At least ten. As many as you want to increase the number. And I want a large room with no problems with dirt."

"How can you say 'rent'? This land belongs to Mr Rothfeldt, it is enough that you order us to prepare it for you."

Fatima stands up, smiling.

"I have just the materials you need."

The place I was taken to was a building in the garden of the mansion.

From the outside it looks like a warehouse or something, but inside it is a prison.

A bunch of guys who look like bad-looking thugs are locked up in the prison.

When they saw us, they started shouting "Get me out" and "I'll kill you".

"What are they?"

"Dust from a robbery in the compound. We were going to plant their seeds and put them to work in the orchard, or crush them for fertiliser."

Hmm.

They're alive and usable.

I walk up to the prison and look for good material.

"You're good. Come here a minute, you there."

I call out and a man comes up to me from one of the cells.

He was tall, in the late 180s.

He is well muscled and well trained.

"What is your name?"

"......"

He spat at me from behind a grate.

I tilt my head and duck.

Well, you don't want to answer.

I stick my hand through the grate and grab it around the mouth.

"!?"

The man tries to pull my hand away, but he can't.

Well, let's see your memory first.

What's your name?

"Riley."

The man in front of me - Riley - opens his eyes.

"Well, Riley, I'm going to need your help with some human experimentation. You can't veto it, though."

Now, I'll put some root medicine in you so that you'll be happy to undergo the experiment!

Riley jerked and twitched and stopped moving.

Roughly, what, 40 seconds? I'm getting better at this.

I'll have Fatima open the prison and let Riley out.

Riley silently exits the prison.

His expression is completely slipping and he silently follows me when I tell him to go.

The people who had been ranting and raving at the sight of him were crestfallen.

Several of them said, "Chief? Are you alright?" but Riley did not respond.

I took one look at the rest of them.

"Yeah, one of you will be next, so if anyone wants to leave, please come forward as soon as possible."

After saying this, Fatima leads me to the back of the prison.

We go down the stairs to the basement.

At the bottom of the stairs, there are a large number of torture devices and a number of operating tables.

Is this a torture room?

I look back at Fatima.

"Because we need to find out who is behind the bandits."

I see.

"You can make this place as dirty as you like. You're free to use it."

"Oh, thank you. Riley, lie down on the bed there."

Riley nods and lies down on the operating table.

Now, let's get started.

After completing all the work, I decided to have a meal at a good time.

"By the way, may I ask you about the details of the experiments you were doing downstairs?"

"Well, it's just a search for optimisation."

I continue eating while Fatima tilts her head.

The place changed to the dining room of the mansion.

I'm tucking into the meal in front of me.

I have tried many things, but simple is still the best.

If you just join the parts that look strong for the time being, you will hit your ceiling somewhere.

What is needed is the optimum shape. Yes, the optimum.

I can't see completion yet, but I've got a good start.

If I continue, I'll be able to see many things.

The land is good, but now it's time for the sky, but how to make it...

"By the way, Mr Rothfeldt..."

"What?"

"What should I do with Miss Heidi? If you don't mind, I could let her know that you're safe and sound."

Heidi?

Oh, I completely forgot about ................

Come to think of it, I left Savage over there too, didn't I?

I can ask him how he's doing by communicating with him, can't I?

When I tried it out, I got a rough, wheezing breath back.

What the hell is he doing?

'Where's Heidi? When I asked him, he replied that he didn't know.

...What?

I thought you were in the Royal Capital.

When I asked him where he was, he said, to my dismay, that he was on his way here.

He said he was currently in Medrym and would be able to join us in a few days.

When I asked him about the situation, he said that after I disappeared, he frantically searched all over the Royal Capital but couldn't find me, so he went back to the Oratorium and was on his way to Fatima to ask for instructions.

I told him to join me and cut communication.

Savage looked like he wanted to say something, but I ignored him.

Well, that's convenient.

Now I don't have to go through the hassle of building a new vehicle.

Savage is moderately useful for that.

It will be useful in the future.

As for Heidi - hmm. I don't really care.

I've allowed her to follow me, but I have no obligation to look after her or report on my current situation.

She's been doing a lot of things on her own recently, so keep up the good work.

"Fatima."

"Yes."

"You don't have to say anything to Heidi. She'll do her own thing."

"...... Okay. Then we'll leave her alone."

"So be it."

I'll eat the food in front of me and get up from my seat.

"Oh... and also, I've decided to be part of the attack on the Teardrops, so please plan accordingly."

"Uh... what? Yes. That's no problem, but ...... are you sure?"

Fatima is unusually surprised, round-eyed.

"No problem. I am interested in the elven realm beyond the mountain range. The goblins are a hindrance to our passage. I'd like to try a few things, and I don't want to take the lead, but I'd like to have a little hand in it."

"Thank you very much! Thank you, Mr. Rothfeldt!"

For some reason, Fatima clenches her fists and nods repeatedly, as if moved.

"First we'll increase our forces. Until then, don't attack badly and focus on maintaining the front line."

"Understood. How long do you want us to hold them?"

"Give me ten days for the time being. I want to train the people who made it to a certain extent."

Fatima nodded and walked out of the room, put her hands to her ears and started talking.

It seems that she is in contact with the front line.

I'm leaving the room too.

Now, let's do some more.

I'll let Trust do the training, and the guys who don't need training will need to be packed up a bit... after that...

I head back to the torture room I was in earlier, organising the work process in my head.

When I returned to the room, I found Riley sitting there, having just finished the procedure.

His appearance has changed a lot, his head is now that of a wolf-like beast and he is a little more muscular overall.

His eyes are blind demon eyes, and he has been fitted with legs that can move at high speed, which were used by a woman from Darzain.

It's probably best not to play with the human form too much, after all.

At first I tried to make it walk on all four legs and put tentacles on it, but it was unbalanced.

In the end, I settled on this form.

The others also have this - well, let's give them names.

Werewolves... are said to actually exist, and this one is a bit different, so I should give it a different name to differentiate it from the others.

...Let's see... ......... Shrigala.

Incidentally, the name comes from the cunning beast.

It should be ......... of the fox or the jackal thing. Which is it?

It's a beast that takes pleasure in scavenging for carrion. It's like being born from carrion, and that's fine.

It's my nerd knowledge quality that's half-baked in terms of detailed settings and original stories.

...But still... it might be good to give it a name.

It's easy to imagine.

Let's rework the others into Shrigaras.

Before we do that, I'll have Riley test the performance.

After running it through its paces and identifying any problems, I'll make some adjustments and then it'll be finished, right?

Well, that's a good starting point.

If there are no problems, we'll move on to the next step.

I'm busy, but sometimes it's not so bad.