Thanks for the Invitation, I'm on Terra, and I'm a Parasite

Chapter 34: An Old Father

"Painter, you're back."

"

"Ah, who is she? Is she the person you were looking for?"

"Wow, you're so pretty! I think you're even prettier than Painter. Painter, is she your companion? Are all your companions as pretty as her?"

Anita looked at the white-haired woman in a nun's habit standing behind Laurentina.

After hearing the girl's words, Zuo Jian suddenly sensed a strange feeling of danger spreading through the air.

Children just say things without knowing better, right?

"Ah, she is. Ah, yes, that's right. She's my companion."

"Really? Then you've finally found your companion? Does that mean you won't need to ask Grandma Petra anymore...?"

Seeing the expressionless nun behind Laurentina, Anita's initially delighted tone gradually turned dejected, as though she had realized something.

She lowered her head, her voice becoming very soft.

"Then... then are you leaving...?"

As she spoke, the girl did not even realize that her voice had become as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

But in the next moment, a gentle touch came down upon her head. Anita looked up and saw Laurentina's smiling face.

"Of course not. There isn't just one person I'm looking for, so I can't leave for now."

"Right, Miss Nun?"

[...]

Realizing Laurentina's words seemed to carry another meaning, Zuo Jian did not directly sink his consciousness into that body. Instead, he merely spoke stiffly, as if controlling a puppet.

"That's right... there are still many companions... not yet found."

"Really? That's wonderful... No, no, I didn't mean that. What I meant was..."

Watching Anita hurriedly correct herself but fail to find the right words, Laurentina felt an inexplicable pang of sympathy.

"Oh, right, Painter. Just now, Wooden Barrel came back and told everyone that today isn't food distribution day, so... we don't have anything to eat."

"Wooden Barrel..."

Zuo Jian sighed, then said,

My doing. If nothing unexpected happened, he intended to feed the Seaborn. As for why the shoreline is covered in Seaborn corpses for these villagers to eat, it probably has something to do with the Church of the Deep.

"Painter, are you hungry?"

Anita tugged at Laurentina's skirt. Then, before the latter could even answer, she reached into her little bag.

"Actually, I secretly hid a tiny bit of food earlier... Oh, Painter, don't tell anyone, okay? I know hiding things is bad, but otherwise I'm always hungry... Found it. Here, take it!"

Anita rummaged through her little bag and pulled out a dried scaly claw, its shriveled surface giving off a nauseating fishy stench.

"..."

Laurentina silently looked at the "food" the girl was offering her.

The foreclaw of a Seaborn. One of those creatures that moves on all fours, apparently called Frightfish or something.

...Have they been eating this stuff all along?

It hasn't been long. There aren't many Seaborn components in their bodies yet... They can still be saved.

"Painter, remember to give me the bones after you finish eating. Then we can make a pot of soup... Painter? Why aren't you taking it...?"

Anita watched Laurentina silently stare at the foreclaw in her hand. Then, seeming to realize something, she answered awkwardly.

"Right... Painter, you came from outside. Outside, where you can eat your fill every day... do you look down on food like this?"

"But... I'm sorry. This is all I can offer you. Can you please not dislike it?"

As she spoke, seemingly afraid of being rejected, she pushed the food forward again.

"Aren't you hungry?"

Laurentina took the Seaborn foreclaw and asked.

"Hehe, I'm not hungry—"

"Grrrrr—"

Her stomach growled at the most inopportune moment.

Naturally, it could not have been Laurentina's. After merging with Zuo Jian, her body had no need for such meaningless signals to remind itself that it needed nourishment.

"Um, all right. Actually, just a little."

Anita raised her hand to show that it was only a tiny little bit.

She is severely malnourished and has gone a long time without taking in essential elements required by the human body.

Yet in the face of Anita's evasive response, Zuo Jian directly laid the truth before Laurentina.

"But Painter, you're a guest. Grandma Petra said..."

Before Anita could finish, Laurentina had already taken the foreclaw she offered.

"Is that so? I understand. Thank you, little Anita."

"Painter, then why aren't you eating it?"

However, the girl only watched Laurentina put the foreclaw into her pocket.

"If you don't eat it, then the bones..."

"Little Anita, where we're from, it's very rude to take back something you've given away."

Laurentina patted her head.

"But then, the bone soup..."

"Don't worry. Since we've accepted your food, we'll give you something in return."

"Is that an outside custom too?"

The girl asked in confusion.

"Ah... yes, it is indeed an outside custom."

At least, that was what Zuo Jian had told her.

"Then... please."

She turned and looked at the nun behind her.

At that moment, Anita suddenly noticed that there seemed to be something more in the nun's eyes.

She could not describe it. In any case, they simply looked more alive.

"You really only care about yourself. You do whatever comes to mind, acting so willfully."

The girl also noticed that the nun suddenly spoke much more fluently.

"Sorry... I just..."

Laurentina truly looked like a child admitting her mistake as she lowered her head.

Then the nun stroked her head, and then Anita's as well.

"But I think Laurentina is rather cute when she's willful about things like this."

"C-Cute... what are you saying?!"

Without waiting for her to continue, the nun's body lightly leaped onto the wall and then onto the rooftop.

"Wow, Painter, your friend is amazing! She can jump so—so high."

Anita watched in astonishment as Zuo Jian's figure swiftly disappeared from sight.

"Right? She's amazing, isn't she?"

Hearing Anita's praise, Laurentina unconsciously took on a hint of pride.

"Ahem. Anyway, let's find somewhere to rest first, then wait for her to come back."

"Huh? Aren't we going to find Grandma Petra?"

"No rush."

.

There were almost no ocean fish to catch in the coastal region.

The surrounding desolation had also practically cut off any possibility of normal supply deliveries.

And the land around them seemed to be saline-alkali soil. No wonder no crops grew here.

He put down the soil in his hand and sighed.

Zuo Jian looked around. Near the sea where the laboratory had been, there was still a chance of catching bird-like creatures.

Those were probably the rare sources of ordinary food.

At full speed... one round trip would take five minutes.

He murmured, then reshaped his legs into a locust-like backward-jointed structure.

He was not very used to using wings.

..

Saltwind City, an abandoned room.

"Teacher, how are you feeling?"

Irene looked at her teacher. He had been flipping through the Inquisitors' scriptures since earlier.

"I'm fine. There are just some matters weighing on my mind."

"Really?"

"Knock, knock, knock..."

But in the next moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

Without hesitation, Irene instinctively placed her hand on the weapon at her waist.

"No hostility, Irene. Put your sword away."

Dario narrowed his eyes and glanced over, then waved his hand.

"...Yes!"

His student obediently lowered her hand, then walked to the door and opened it.

"Hello, are you Inquisitors?"

Irene froze. Outside the door stood a woman with scarlet blood all over her face, carrying three dead Fowlbeasts. Her entire body exuded an eerie and ominous aura.

"Aaaaah—mmph!"

Frightened, she instinctively reached for the hand cannon at her waist. But in the next moment, she remembered that her teacher was behind her. Forcefully suppressing her urge to act and her loss of composure, she stared at the woman with trembling eyes.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to wipe my face."

Realizing that she seemed to have frightened Irene, Zuo Jian wiped away the blood from her face, then looked at Irene again with a kindly expression.

"So... so beautiful..."

Once the bloodstains were wiped clean, what remained was an almost flawless face. But why...

Did she look somewhat like that bounty hunter?!