Chapter 26
The sky was perfectly clear without a single cloud.
Anschel sighed and wiped away the sweat dripping down his face.
They say humans are creatures of adaptation, and that was exactly right. It had already been two weeks since he arrived in this rural village. A week had already passed since that confusing day.
During that time, Anschel had done a great deal of work. He diligently decorated and fixed up the container the military had sent him to make it somewhat resemble a home. Though he had to live in a military facility container in a place like this because of that damn superior of his, he had gotten used to that too.
And the rural village was now entering the final heat of summer.
It was too hot to wear long-sleeved clothes, so everyone was wearing short-sleeved t-shirts. When fighting fierce battles at sea or boarding military ships, he had to wear regulation uniforms regardless of the heat or cold, but strangely, that didn’t work well here.
When it got hot, he took off his uniform and worked hard in just a white t-shirt.
“Oh my goodness~ We’re saved thanks to this young man.”
“How handsome, how handsome. How old are you?”
Elderly people gathered around Anschel as he was busy harvesting watermelons. Among the ridiculously extensive fields that seemed too large to call this a small village, they were currently harvesting watermelons that were slightly past their prime season.
The grandmothers, wrinkled with age yet charming because of it, smiled brightly as they offered him cold barley tea. Anschel removed his work gloves and carefully accepted the paper cup from one of the grandmothers. Then he wiped his sweat and gulped down the refreshing barley tea.
“I’m thirty-three.”
“My, so young!”
“I’d like to introduce you to my granddaughter, I really would.”
The grandmothers giggled as they raised their voices one after another. Anschel smiled bitterly and placed the paper cup on the nearby truck. Time was passing quickly, and Anschel was adapting well to the village.
He had become quite friendly with the villagers, and had grown particularly comfortable with the village head after sharing drinks with him once.
Being a small rural village, most residents were elderly. Those who had never left this mountain valley didn’t seem to realize that the land was currently at war with the sea.
Anschel wiped his sweat and was about to move his body again. Until she arrived.
“Hello~ I’m here!”
“Oh my~ Our cute granddaughter is here!!”
“How pretty, how pretty! Here, eat this, eat this rice cake.”
“My cute little one!”
The elderly who had been busy rolling watermelons in the field rushed over in one swift movement. There stood a small woman in short athletic wear, waving her hand.
With dark brown hair and tan skin, she was Angela, the idol of this village. She smiled so brightly that her canine teeth showed as she eagerly accepted the rice cakes the grandmothers and grandfathers offered her.
Most of the heavy work in this village was done by Angela, and she possessed strength and physical abilities that even Anschel found impressive.
What took Anschel two hours of sweaty labor, Angela could finish in just thirty minutes. She continuously wiped her sweat with a towel while working with a bright smile on her face.
After finishing her work and surrounded by the elderly while eating rice cakes, Angela approached him.
“Hello, Lieutenant.”
“Yes.”
Until recently, Anschel had been a Second Lieutenant. He had been automatically promoted when his superior, Ender, was promoted to Colonel.
“By the way, how’s that going?”
“??”
“The presidential candidacy.”
“…Ah.”
Something he wanted to forget came to mind. Anschel chewed on the ice cream the grandmothers had given him. He muttered that President Dante Maxim might send a special forces team to kill him.
Angela laughed as if she’d heard an amusing joke, but Anschel was serious. The more he investigated the president’s actions, the more his cruelty was revealed. He had experimented not only on merpeople but on humans as well.
Harriet was the 442nd test subject. That meant 441 humans had been killed in experiments before him. Harriet spoke as if recalling a faded memory from long ago.
“I was called Sasai there. Sometimes some researchers called me Number Four-Forty-Two.”
“……”
“I think they said I was the first successful case.”
Anschel could easily guess that those who had been experimented on before him probably never survived due to pain and side effects. Harriet’s pain threshold was much, much higher than ordinary people’s. No, not just pain—his emotions themselves were very faint. He always smiled as if troubled, with his eyebrows drawn down.
“How much pension do you receive?”
“Five million won.”
“……”
Harriet had a very positive reaction when he mentioned receiving five million won per month. Sure, it’s nice to have a steady income of five million while eating, playing, and receiving a separate salary.
But the inhumane treatment and experiments Harriet had endured couldn’t be compensated with mere money. Whether Anschel felt troubled or not, Harriet spoke with a very serious face.
“Ender’s sperm count is very high.”
In Harriet’s hand was a photo of something round and densely packed. He looked at it very intently.
‘Ah, yes… his sperm count is above average… as expected of Colonel Ender…’
For the first time, life sparked in Harriet’s white eyes. He glanced several times at Ender’s… though reluctant to say it, sperm photo that was framed on the desk. Anschel had seen a similar disgusting photo on Ender’s desk as well.
He couldn’t understand why these crazy bastards exchanged photos of their vigorous sperm instead of framing pictures of each other’s faces.
“Isn’t it almost over now?”
“…I honestly don’t know if it’s really necessary.”
Anschel muttered gloomily. Ender was much younger than Anschel, but he was exceptionally talented and intelligent. That’s why he had risen to Colonel at his age.
Of course, Anschel’s promotion rate wasn’t bad compared to ordinary people, but he was just an average person beneath a genius. His barrier wouldn’t last even 2 seconds if Ender attacked him seriously. How could someone like him run for president, and who would protect him?
“No matter how I think about it, the Colonel running would be a much more winnable fight.”
Angela couldn’t bring herself to disagree. Anschel pulled out an electronic cigarette from his pocket with a gloomy face. Then he carefully asked Angela for permission.
“May I smoke for a moment?”
“Yes. I don’t mind.”
Anschel put the electronic cigarette in his mouth, taking care that the smoke didn’t reach her. Lately, he had been very depressed about that matter.
If he ran for president, then what?
It wasn’t a position one could just casually take, and he wasn’t the right caliber for the presidency. But if he did nothing, the image of his parents’ backs and the merpeople who died by his hands haunted him even when he closed his eyes.
“…I want to eat something spicy.”
“Spicy?”
“Yes, something so spicy it makes me cry.”
“I have capsaicin at home, would you like some??”
Anschel turned off his electronic cigarette and smiled bitterly.
“Yes, I want to eat something that makes me cry my eyes out.”
Because he already felt like crying these days anyway.
Anschel received a whole bottle of capsaicin from Angela. She said she had bought it at a supermarket when she went to town, but it was too spicy for her to eat so she had left it unused.
Anschel was calculating what might be in his refrigerator as he drove. The hot, humid wind passed through the interior of the car.
It was too hot.
Anschel quietly closed the window and turned on the air conditioner. By that time, he had passed the bumpy road and was approaching the military base. Anschel opened his eyes wide and called out to the person walking ahead while driving slowly.
“Harriet.”
The neat figure limping with a walking stick ahead was unmistakably Harriet. His white, faded hair was bathed in the crimson evening glow. Harriet turned around, greeted him, and took a sip of water.
“Where are you going?”
“Home.”
“I’ll give you a ride.”
“It’s not far enough to need a car…”
Harriet muttered with a small smile, but he obediently got into the passenger seat, which suggested that it really was too hot outside. The man before him, whose sensory threshold was significantly lower than ordinary people, was particularly weak to heat.
“Making dinner?”
Harriet muttered, looking at the cabbages and potatoes harvested from the field with the elders’ permission piled up in the back seat. Anschel nodded as he smoothly turned a curve.
“By the way, Ann was looking for you.”
“Damn, that pervert merman.”
Anschel gritted his teeth and turned the steering wheel roughly.
What could have happened during those three days of creating living quarters for the merman in the lake to make him grind his teeth like that? Harriet smiled slightly.
“Would you like to join me for dinner?”
It wasn’t exactly an invitation, but he asked out of courtesy. Harriet hesitated for a moment before nodding. Since it was an unexpected response, Anschel opened his eyes wide.
“I have a large pot at my house.”
“Ah, thank you.”
The pot Anschel had was a bit small and inconvenient for cooking, and without a gas stove, he had to diligently light a fire in that damn hearth. Harriet’s house had a gas stove and pots of suitable size, so going to his house was the better choice.
After smoothly parking in front of Harriet’s house, Anschel shuddered at the sight of that terrible military tent still standing. Even though the renovation of the building next door had been completed, Ender had not moved into the house at all.
And one late dawn, Anschel witnessed something he shouldn’t have seen. The back view of Ender McGuire, a star beloved by the entire nation, pressed right against the window of Harriet’s bedroom, peering inside.
Damn, ghost stories would be far less frightening.
Anschel even had nightmares that night.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
