The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 141: Academy, you’re out of your mind (11)

A week had passed since I began living at the Bet household.

A man entered the house and asked me a question.

"Who are you?"

Late at night.

A man, with soot on his face and clothes smelling strongly of oil, entered the Bet household looking like a thief. He looked at me in surprise, then ran out of the house. After a moment of hesitation, he came back inside.

"Is this our house?"

It’s understandable, as there was a woman he didn’t recognize. I knew him from Victoria’s memories.

"Are you Morris Bet?"

"Yeah, but who are you? A friend of my daughter?"

"Something like that. Beatrice left suddenly because of an urgent call from her company. As for Victoria..."

I pointed behind me.

"Hey! I can cook too! Look at this! The brilliant glow of alchemy! Huh? Dad?"

Victoria, who had brought an odd dish, came out laughing and waving her hand.

The dish she was supposed to make was something similar to ratatouille.

It was meant to be a vegetable stew with ingredients like eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, and peppers. The difference was that it had an abundance of fruit and mustard sauce in it.

For the record, those last two ingredients weren’t part of the recipe. This was her own creation.

"That’s our dinner."

A hint of regret passed across Morris’s face. It was food made by his daughter, so wouldn’t it be polite to eat it?

Anyway.

After a brief self-introduction, the three of us sat down to eat dinner.

What was surprising was that it actually tasted better than expected, so I ate it all, while Morris and Victoria could barely manage a few bites and left the rest.

"Eat it all. Especially the one who made it."

"Hmph."

I watched Victoria nibble on her food.

Morris? Well, as the victim here, he didn’t say much, but who would refuse to eat the food his daughter made while she begged him to?

If he were a so-called genius dad, maybe it would have been different, but both parents worked, so Victoria was often home alone.

So, I said it all.

"You said you’d taste it while making it, right?"

"I did! It was fine! And Bell ate it all!"

Well, the mustard and other seasonings in the stew made it edible at first. But after the second bite, the flavors just didn’t match, so it got weird. And tasting it when you're hungry versus when you're full is different, right?

And Victoria’s criticism could be avoided like this.

"We lived in a time when spices were hard to come by."

In the first era, I managed to eat properly cooked food, but in the second era, spices were almost impossible to find.

At least there was Celestial Horse, so it was possible to get some, but it wasn’t as abundant as it is now.

"That’s how it was back then?"

"Yeah, Tori. By the way, is this person someone who lives for a long time?"

It seemed like Morris was getting anxious.

I guess it was because he thought I was the same age as Victoria until now, so he’d been speaking casually to me.

"Yeah. I’m probably older than both of you combined."

Morris hurriedly stood up, then hesitated stiffly, trying to greet me, but I stopped him. Beatrice adjusted easily, but Morris seemed to be struggling.

At least, after making sure they both got enough nutrients, I did the dishes. In the meantime, Victoria told Morris about what had happened with me.

Most of it was Victoria’s adventures.

A little later.

"So, you’re saying you came from another world?"

"He’s my lifesaver, Dad!"

He’s my lifesaver, but since he ruined the future, overall, it’s probably bad.

I hid that part from Beatrice, so I don’t plan on telling her about it either.

Anyway.

Victoria rambled on, showing Morris the abilities she had gained. Despite the smell of iron and oil on her clothes, there was no sense of rejection.

Originally, it was because of Morris that Victoria had chosen to become a wind-up knight in her future. So, it’s not that strange.

In fact, it could only make sense.

After the story ended, Victoria showed off her abilities.

She brought moisture from the surroundings to form droplets of water or scattered droplets in the air.

Morris, who had been watching with wonder, suddenly stood up and ran somewhere. A little while later, he came back holding a box full of various tools and started measuring Victoria’s abilities.

There were tools that resembled things I remembered, and some whose uses I didn’t know. He used them to observe the floating water or attached measuring devices to various parts of Victoria’s body.

"How is this possible?"

"Why, Dad?"

"There’s no magic involved. I can’t understand the force creating this strange phenomenon. Even a spirit would usually create such a phenomenon through the magic around it..."

Morris’s gaze turned toward me.

"How exactly is this happening?"

It seemed like he was the curious type, the kind who would be called a scientist. But I shook my head.

I have many memories and pieces of information, but I’ve never used them to make something happen. There are several suspicious items when I skim through the memories of Daegon or the Primordial Celestial Ancestor, but it would be dishonorable to say that I know them.

"I don’t know either. Not everyone gains superpowers after making a contract, and even if superpowers manifest, it’s rare that they’re exactly the same. It’s more like they’re different for everyone."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

And that superpower, at least in that moment, gives them the ability to solve the problem they’re facing.

Or it grants them the power to fulfill their desires most directly.

In a broader sense, it means the same thing.

"Isn’t it your job to give powers after making a contract?"

Morris looked at me oddly. I understood what he was thinking. He thought that after making a contract with a god, the god would grant him powers.

"I can’t use mana, which is the universal force that interacts with living beings and brings their will into reality. So the superpower would be something the person who made the contract would gain."

At that moment, Victoria raised her hand.

"That’s right, Dad. I feel the same way! After using this power, I get super hungry! But it’s not like I can’t use magic!"

By the way, Victoria can use magic. Of course, Morris can too. In a world where magical energy is used as a power source, those skilled in handling it can use magic to some extent.

However, they’re not experts in magic, so they’ve only learned a bit more than a regular person who uses it and learned some techniques.

It’s like someone who studies earth science also learning statistics.

Victoria levitated a small magic orb in one hand, then created a mass of water in the other. She then placed the magic orb inside the water mass.

It floated without interfering with each other.

She separated them again, turning the water into steam and reabsorbed the magic.

Watching that, Morris grabbed his head.

"Where did the heat that should have been taken during phase change come from..."

Wouldn’t that just be the way the power works?

Still, his mouth was grinning like a child with a new toy.

"Ah, can I make a contract too?"

Morris pointed at himself and asked.

Well, I don’t see any issue, but... if I made a contract here, Beatrice would probably shoot me in the head.

Since I’ve made many contracts, he seemed to be suspicious about our deal.

He was misinterpreting a simple phrase in an odd way.

But aren’t all human contracts dirty? I know there are hidden clauses that people don’t realize at first but end up causing significant harm later.

It’s how human societies are built.

What if I added a little variation to the contract and ended up getting completely cleaned out?

That’s why I don’t change the contract terms.

Anyway.

"Not everyone gains powers. And if it’s about making a contract, I’d recommend talking to Beatrice first."

I made a gun shape with my fingers and slightly raised it.

"Mom was a bit sensitive, right? If you don’t want to get into trouble with her, it’s better to talk it over first. If Mom gets mad, no one wins in our house."

"Well... that’s true."

Morris sighed dejectedly, and Victoria patted his back.

I looked at them, then asked a new question to steer the conversation away from contracts.

"So, do you two take turns coming here on purpose?"

In Victoria’s memories, Morris was often around. But when he wasn’t there, Beatrice was.

So, one of them was usually with Victoria when it was late at night.

Both of them made time for her, but it was Morris who could regularly make time. I asked to confirm, and Morris nodded.

"I got a letter saying something urgent came up."

"How long is Mom gone this time?"

"It said three days."

"Ah, so there’s been a mistake at the contractor’s place. If it’s more than five days, then it’s completely broken."

The two whispered and understood it on their own.

It was nice to see a family-like atmosphere.

"Dad. You have to go to work tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah? Yeah. That’s right. Why?"

When I saw the news on the video receiver, I remembered that tomorrow was a holiday.

"Then, can’t we visit your workplace? Bell is here too, and it wouldn’t hurt to look around, right?"

Victoria’s words were full of personal interests, and Morris looked troubled. He glanced at me, and when I shrugged my shoulders meaning "do whatever you want," he lowered his head.

"Yeah. I can’t be with you on the weekend anyway, so that’s better. But you have to wake up early. If you don’t, I’ll leave you behind."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Victoria beamed with a satisfied smile.

For a wind-up knight, it must be exciting to go to the place where wind-up knights work.

Or maybe it’s because she’s excited to go to her dad’s workplace.

Or maybe it’s both.

Tomorrow won’t be boring.

As we were finalizing tomorrow’s plans, Victoria’s arm was suddenly grabbed by Morris.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Daughter. First, let’s look into your superpower. If it makes you hungry, it means some kind of energy is being exchanged."

"Ah."

As if sensing the unfortunate omen of what would happen next, Victoria glanced at me.

But I’m not on her side, and I’m just as curious about testing her powers.

"I’ll help you restrain it."

"Ah, is that alright?"

"You can drop the formalities with me."

"No, then you should drop them too..."

"My honorifics are a handicap. I can’t fix it, so please understand that."

Morris looked like he had just been punched in the gut and nodded, then started attaching various devices to Victoria to measure her abilities.

Victoria used her powers late into the night, and eventually ran off to her room.