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

For some reason, whenever Laurentina called his name, Zuo Jian always felt a chill run down his spine.

Ah—this was an illusion too, just a side effect.

"Then let's start with us. What kind of information does your side wish to know?"

Zuo Jian, who had taken over control, closed his eyes, then changed his pupils to the exact same color as Laurentina's.

At the same time, the hand beneath the table mimicked a pair of framed glasses, which he placed on Laurentina's face.

His gaze seemed naturally gentle. No matter what he became, he couldn't hide it.

But in situations that required verbal sparring, a gentle gaze wasn't exactly useful.

He needed glasses to conceal the changes in his eyes.

In short, to make himself look less gentle!

"Huh?"

Irene froze.

For some reason, when she saw Laurentina put on glasses after entering her information-exchange mode, she suddenly found her less terrifying and instead somewhat gentle...

"We wish to know what information you have regarding the Church of the Deep, as well as their plans in Saltwind City."

Dario got straight to the point without beating around the bush.

Doctor: Change the World? Me? When Did I Say That?

"As for the Church of the Deep's plans, this is roughly all I was able to learn."

Zuo Jian told Dario everything he had learned over this period about the Church of the Deep's actions, along with his own deductions.

Naturally, he erased the part involving his own existence.

"Assimilation with the Seaborn... expansion, and preaching to the residents of coastal areas severely affected by the Great Silence disaster... No, it should be called brainwashing."

"...Heh... is that so? To protect Iberia, they abandoned Saltwind City and similar regions as expendable pawns, like a lizard shedding a limb to escape."

"Yet they never expected that this very act would create the perfect environment for those people from the Church of the Deep to spread."

The Grand Inquisitor calmly listened to everything, a trace of fury gradually igniting in his eyes.

But the next moment, as though a gray haze had veiled them, he thought in a somewhat subdued voice.

"No... perhaps the upper ranks were infiltrated by the Church of the Deep long ago. For the powerful, placing words like immortality on the negotiating table would surely be an offer impossible to refuse."

"Teacher, what are you saying? Could our enemy be among our own...?"

Irene listened to Dario's speculation in shock, unable to believe it for a moment.

But when she put together all the intelligence they had learned so far, the information about the Church of the Deep, and everything Dario had brought her to witness in this land of suffering, it all pointed toward one established fact...

The Seaborn were not the greatest enemy.

The true enemy... stood behind those they protected with their swords.

"No, it's only a conjecture. Intelligence can be wrong, conclusions can mislead, and facts can be distorted."

"But, Irene, after we return, you must bury everything I just said in your heart."

"Why?! Teacher, shouldn't we—"

"If this 'conjecture' is true, how will you prove it? How will you make others believe it?"

Zuo Jian spoke up to remind the somewhat agitated little bird.

"How could I not make them believe? I just need to present the evidence—"

"Evidence? Dear little Inquisitor, how will you prove that the evidence in your hands is actually evidence?"

"Just as your teacher said, intelligence can be wrong, and conjectures can mislead—"

"And facts can be distorted."

Using Laurentina's body, Zuo Jian crossed his hands beneath his chin. The glare on his glasses even obscured the eyes behind them.

"If you want to change the situation before you, what you need isn't evidence."

"Then what do you think we need?"

Irene turned and demanded.

Dario, beside her, lowered his head. After a moment, he spoke.

"Irene, these aren't things you need to concern yourself with. What you should become is an outstanding Inquisitor, not..."

"We haven't traveled through every corner of this land. Every deduction I've made comes from everything I've personally seen."

"If you ask me."

Zuo Jian pushed up his glasses.

"I'd tell you that Iberia is sick, and seriously so. Some cells—or perhaps tissues—have even completely necrosed."

"In modern medicine, there is usually only one way to deal with completely necrotic tissue."

What he meant was already obvious.

"Thank you for the warning, Hunter. But I still hope to continue observing. Whether the illness has truly become terminal, I wish to judge with my own eyes."

The Grand Inquisitor lowered his head and answered as though sighing.

"All right. Next, Hunter, what do you want to know?"

"Everything about the Great Silence, and the relationship between Iberia and Aegir."

..

"Zuo Jian, do you really not care?"

[It's a lie, but there's nothing I can do. If Iberia's current state is truly as I deduced, then the only ones who can save Iberia are the Iberians themselves.]

[Some things are far more difficult than simply killing.]

[This is the third time I've regretted being nothing more than an art student.]

[...I don't possess any grand vision or strategic mind. I'm only an ordinary person... who obtained an indescribable power.]

[All I can do... is find a way to help the people right in front of me.]

"But the captain once told me that this land has endless suffering."

"People can't all be saved, Zuo Jian. What exactly are your actions and kindness for? Why can you help them without holding anything back?"

Laurentina couldn't help asking him.

"And... you understand better than I do just how vile people can be, don't you? Like every time you speculate about the Church of the Deep, or when you just inferred things about Iberia's upper ranks."

"Every time, you make the worst possible assumptions. In your eyes, it seems perfectly unsurprising for humans to commit any despicable act."

"But why? You clearly know how awful people can be, so why... are you still willing to be a..."

[Laurentina, you're asking what everything I do is for, right?]

Zuo Jian spoke, then gestured for Laurentina to turn around.

At some point, she realized she had arrived before a different house.

She stepped forward and saw Anita clumsily cooking porridge inside.

Beside her, an unfamiliar old woman kept telling her to be careful, then to be even more careful.

"Grandma Petra, this is food the Sister made out of nowhere! I'm telling you, the Sister is amazing, but the Painter is even more amazing!"

"All right, all right, little Anita, speak slowly. And remember, cook the porridge slowly too. Don't scald yourself."

Laurentina turned and saw another door open nearby.

She froze. Inside the neighboring house were the two men she had seen when she first arrived in Saltwind City.

Those two guys who could get tripped up by Anita's child-level traps.

Their names seemed to be...

"Tin Skin, what are you doing? Ah, who is she?"

"She was wandering around outside. Still wandering around at this hour?"

Tin Skin looked at Laurentina, his eyes serious.

"At this hour, why can't I wander around outside?"

Laurentina shot back. Sure enough, she couldn't be as kind toward everyone as Zuo Jian was.

"You didn't go collect the Sister's food?"

"No wonder. Everyone else here is eating at this hour."

"If you don't go collect it and end up hungry, you deserve it."

"What did you say...?"

Laurentina frowned, annoyed by his harsh words.

But Tin Skin ignored her. After saying that, he went inside.

[...What's wrong?]

"I'm just a little annoyed. It's nothing. I'm not going to stoop to their level..."

But the next moment, Tin Skin came back out carrying a bowl of steaming grain porridge and walked over to Laurentina.

"Take it. Next time, if the Sister is still handing out food, go get some. Otherwise, go hungry."

"Tin Skin... but I still want some..."

"You've already eaten. She hasn't."

"Oh, right. Then she must be even hungrier..."

"This morning, I saw grass growing in the field outside. Later, we can pull some up and cook it together."

"Hey, what do you mean by that—"

Laurentina looked at the bowl in her hands, then at Tin Skin's retreating back.

"You haven't eaten. We have, so we're giving you some."

Tin Skin said as he walked back inside.

[Let's go, Laurentina.]

[There will always be rotten people, and worse ones besides. But that doesn't mean innocent people, or those who still carry kindness in their hearts, deserve to be dragged down with them.]

[I will always judge everyone with the worst, most malicious assumptions, then offer kindness to everyone who deserves to be treated with it.]

[As for those evil people among them... I'll make them regret ever being born.]

[I think that's the meaning of my arrival. After I help you find your companions, after you're able to stand on your own, perhaps I'll find a way to act alone and keep putting all of this into practice.]

[Unfortunately, I'm an idiot, so I can only take things one step at a time and help people in the stupidest way possible.]

Zuo Jian sighed as he looked over the ruined street.

Today, it somehow didn't seem so desolate anymore.

"Zuo Jian..."

"But I won't let you leave."

[Huh? What did you say?]

"...I don't dislike that way of thinking, but I don't agree with your plan to leave me behind and wander everywhere alone!"

"You will never, ever, ever be allowed to leave me!"

[No, Laurentina, that's a little too—]

"Didn't you say you'd judge others with the worst possible assumptions? Fine. I'm exactly that kind of terrible person."