Thanks for the Invitation, I'm in Terra, and I'm a Parasite — Chapter 30

"Stop joking around. What position have you put yourself in? You're not some true elder, and you're not even that much older than me. What makes you think it's only natural for you to bear everything?!!!"

"...At least... let me help with something too..."

The two fell into a brief silence.

A moment later, Zuo Jian's voice rang out again.

He teased Laurentina in a joking tone.

[Is that so? So Laurentina is that competitive? I thought all you knew how to say was, 'Help me! Mr. Zuo Jian!']

Hah!? I told you, I'm not—

[It's fine. I don't have a fetish for being someone's nanny or father.]

[Like I said, someone has to stay calm and make the relatively correct judgment.]

[Leave this time to me. Next time—or some other time—when even I can't control myself.]

[That'll be when you solve the problem.]

[Can you do it?]

Don't underestimate me, you bastard.

[Is that so? Good.]

[Then this time, Laurentina, don't think about so much. Just leave it to me.]

Then, then it's a deal. Next time, or whenever else, let me help you.

[Yeah. It's a deal.]

Atop the cliffs along the coastline.

Silvery-white hair whipped wildly in the gale.

Zuo Jian had to properly control the extent of his body's transformation.

So the canine ears were still left atop his head.

He hadn't deliberately changed his face back into the one he was familiar with either. He had merely adjusted and modified Laurentina's features, creating a distinction between the two.

He would need this face soon.

"Calm... huh."

Zuo Jian looked at the shredded, ravaged head in his hand, mutilated beyond recognition.

The parts containing the two faces had even been forcibly peeled away, while two tongue-like structures lay on the ground, torn out by force.

He raised his hand and gathered the scattered fragments back into that two-faced head.

Now, it was time to deal with the problems these people had caused.

"Ahh, it's me... I got picked!"

"Eek! Great, I got picked!!"

In the crowd, a man holding a red shell shouted wildly, madness showing on his unshaven face.

"I'm going to live a good life! I'm going to live a good life!"

"I won't have to go hungry anymore! I'll always have something to eat!"

"Congratulations... family..."

"You're going to live a good life."

"Congratulations..."

The residents around him watched the man with envious eyes, while he clutched the shell and ran madly toward the shore.

"That's wonderful. He was chosen."

"There must be even more food in the sea."

"He'll definitely live a better life."

"I want to go too."

"It's okay. We'll all live good lives. We all will..."

"How wonderful. Who would've thought Wooden Barrel would be chosen..."

Anita, too, looked at him with envy.

Unbeknownst to her, Laurentina was watching his retreating figure from the side, filled with an indescribable sense of absurdity and anger.

"Painter?"

"I... I'm fine."

[Laurentina, it's okay.]

[Trust me.]

For no apparent reason, Zuo Jian's calm voice gave her indescribable confidence.

"Okay."

Wooden Barrel staggered to the shore, clutching the red scale in his hand so tightly it seemed blood would drip from his palm.

"A good life... a good life..."

"In the sea..."

Drip.

Drip...

The tide.

Moonlight was swallowed by dark clouds, and the only source of light vanished with it.

All Wooden Barrel could hear now was the tide crashing against the shore and his own hurried breathing.

"A good life! A good life!"

He shouted into the darkness as one entire foot stepped into the water.

However, the next moment.

A scarlet lantern suddenly lit up nearby, dispersing the night that enshrouded them.

Wooden Barrel turned his head blankly.

Then his pupils widened.

That was... a delicate face so exquisite that no words could describe it.

Her features were distinct and three-dimensional, her skin fair, and she approached him with a gentle smile.

"Y-you, who are you? You can't come to the shore. The priests said that aside from those who were chosen, no one could come to the shore at this time."

"Did you come to steal my good life?"

"Who am I?"

"I'm a nun from the church."

"A nun... like the priests?"

Wooden Barrel froze, noticing that she was wearing the exact same clothes as those priests.

"A nun! I'm going into the sea to live a good life! Did you come to bless me?"

After realizing she was also a member of the church, Wooden Barrel suddenly became excited.

"No. I came here to persuade you to turn back."

"Turn back... why?! I'm going into the sea to live a good life!"

Wooden Barrel became even more agitated.

Zuo Jian looked at him with some sympathy. He firmly believed in his own luck and the good life awaiting him.

"A good life will come, but not in the sea, and not today."

"Go back, lost one. Go home. Tomorrow, all you need to do is sleep. Tomorrow, there'll be plenty of food and warm bonfires."

"No, you're lying! The priests said my shell was red, that I was chosen! You're blocking my way. You want to trick me into leaving, then go into the sea to live a good life yourself, don't you?!"

"You must be a fake nun. I don't even know you!"

..

Movement came from the flesh in the sea.

They began to stir.

Zuo Jian looked at the man tightly guarding the red shell in his hand. In his current state, he couldn't listen to anything.

"Priests?"

"You mean, them?"

The nun's gaze gradually turned cold as Wooden Barrel watched her. Then she raised the lantern in her hand.

Only then did he abruptly notice what form the nun's "lantern" took!!

"Uh... ah..."

It was half a head. The upper portion of its skull had been pried open, exposing the pink brain tissue within.

A cluster of white structures resembling finger bones had been inserted into it, lit like a wick and burning its brain.

And that head actually—actually had two faces?!!!!

Wooden Barrel looked at one of those faces, then was too stunned to speak.

"P-priest?!"

"Uh... I... was wrong... let... let..." The lantern emitted a weak, intermittent voice.

"You see? They lied to you, so they were made into lanterns."

"Oh, I almost forgot."

"Lying tongues shouldn't be left behind."

Before Wooden Barrel's eyes, she reached out and pulled the tongues from the mouths of the two faces one by one, producing a bone-chilling sound of flesh being stirred.

The tongues were tossed into the skull, becoming wicks that burned fresh fuel.

"Lost one, I didn't lie to you, because only liars are punished."

As the lantern-bearing nun spoke, her clothing began to twist.

Dense pupils covered her entire body, all focusing together upon Wooden Barrel.

"Here, nothing can escape my eyes."

"Lost one, you believed those liars. It's still not too late to turn back."

"Or—"

Zuo Jian raised the lantern.