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

She shouted at Zuo Jian, her voice carrying a hint of tears.

[So... that's how it is? Sorry, Laurentina. I made you worry.]

[How embarrassing. I never thought I'd be the one making you worry, Laurentina. I promise you, there won't be a next time. When I need to, I'll quietly rest by your side.]

"No. You're resting tonight! I'll supervise you!"

As Laurentina spoke, she gripped the Sapphire brooch at her chest and stared fixedly at the eye upon it.

[Super... supervise?]

Zuo Jian suddenly had a bad feeling.

Before he could ask, Laurentina snapped her fingers.

The next moment, the world seemed to spin around him, and Zuo Jian's vision began to blur.

When he opened his eyes again, he found that his surroundings had changed beyond recognition.

He was no longer in that shabby little house in Saltwind City.

Instead, he was in a bright room, its corners filled with plaster busts and materials, with carving knives neatly arranged nearby.

Plaster scraps and all kinds of art books were casually piled in one corner. Yet as though separated by some invisible boundary, opposite that corner full of sculpting supplies—

was a room neatly stocked with all kinds of women's daily necessities.

On the potted plant by the windowsill, a miniature golden ginkgo tree

quietly basked in the sunlight.

The blanket on the bed had been spread out rather carelessly, while the dress tossed on top seemed to suggest that its owner's sleeping posture wasn't particularly graceful.

"A consciousness space? It's already been remodeled like this?"

Zuo Jian looked down and found that his body had taken on that familiar skeletal form.

"Laurentina did this? Not long ago, this place was still nothing but blank emptiness. In such a short time, she's already learned to freely control her own consciousness space."

"That's incredible."

Looking at the lived-in surroundings, he couldn't help but praise her sincerely.

It was a strange feeling, like discovering that your own child was exceptionally gifted in certain ways.

No... Zuo Jian looked toward the pile of plaster statues in the corner.

There were also countless traces of practice and heaps of discarded materials there.

To dismiss all the effort behind it with a single word like talent would be far too presumptuous, Zuo Jian.

Laurentina was far more resilient and determined than I'd imagined.

But putting that aside... why did she drag me back into the consciousness space...

Clink, clink...

Just as he was wondering, the sound of metal striking metal came from beside his feet.

"?"

Zuo Jian looked down and discovered that, at some point, chains had been fastened around his feet.

The other end of the chains led directly to the bed nearby.

Before he had time to think further, the door opened.

"Laurentina, these chains are..."

Through the open doorway, Laurentina slowly walked in, dressed in pajamas.

"I told you, didn't I? Tonight, I'm going to supervise your rest~"

She wore an eerie smile as she leaned close to him.

Clink!

The next moment, even more chains bound him to the bed behind him. At the same time, the previously bright surroundings began to darken.

Click.

Laurentina lay down beside Zuo Jian and hugged him, though he was so tightly bound he couldn't move.

"Hey—Zuo Jian, because of the kindness you've shown me, I can now completely control you..."

"Do you regret it?"

"Regret it... no, not really... I just never expected you to do something like this..."

Though he was nothing but a skeleton, Zuo Jian suddenly felt as if he were drenched in sweat.

At first, he'd only thought Laurentina was a little dependent on him!

How had it turned into this?!

Had he somehow raised her wrong?

After hearing Zuo Jian personally say that he didn't regret it, the smile on Laurentina's face seemed to deepen.

She reached out and stroked his ribs one by one.

"That's right, Zuo Jian. I don't want to betray your kindness... so I won't unreasonably lock you up here forever. That's why, after we find the captain, I want to go with you and make this land a better place."

"That way, you can stay by my side, right?"

"Uh, yes, that's true, but why are you tying me up—"

"Because you always treat me like a child, Zuo Jian. Like how adults soothe children to sleep, then go back to doing their own things."

"Fine, I was wrong, Laurentina. I swear on my personality, I really won't brush you off like a child anymore! I really won't run off once you've fallen asleep, so—"

"Why not? Actually, it wasn't until yesterday that I realized there's nothing wrong with being a child."

Laurentina climbed on top of Zuo Jian, her clear red eyes now brimming with bewitching allure.

"Except I want to be the kind of child who can lock up the adults in her own home."

Farming! Damn, I Love Farming! (Part 1)

It was night again...

A time of day that was hard to accept.

The port district of Victoria's city was still brightly lit.

Yet no matter how brightly the lights shone through the night as they always had, they couldn't conceal the fact that this city was gradually declining.

At some point, ships arriving from Iberia had begun to dwindle, and shipping routes had become incredibly difficult to maintain.

The port's business was shrinking by the day. At some point, this district, once synonymous with gold and wealth, had begun to decline.

To the point that...

"Ah—"

In the corner of a somewhat rundown street, inside an inconspicuous little shop, a clerk lay sprawled over the counter in boredom. He watched the street outside, then the brighter and more prosperous districts in the distance, his eyes filled with longing.

Ring-ring-ring-ring—

The next moment, the telephone's ringing shattered the neon-lit world he had built in his mind and dragged him back from his fantasy of dazzling nightlife.

"Hello—this is Old Wilson's Seed Shop. What can I..."

'You brat, what's with that attitude?! How many times have I told you to be polite to customers?!'

An aged voice began berating him from the other end of the line, and the young man hurriedly moved the receiver away from his ear.

Just from that tone alone, he could picture the old man at home glaring with those big eyes and puffing up his snowy white beard while speaking in proper Victorian.

"Old Wilson... what do you need?"

'Oh, look at you, look at you! You look like you haven't woken up in three days. Is that how you're going to greet our customers?'

'My God, if you dare behave so foolishly, I swear I'll kick your ass with those Martin boots I've had for over a decade.'

Damn that proper Victorian grammar... did the old man really have to talk in such a bizarre way?

"Dad... have you checked what time it is? The only places still open at this hour are shady businesses. We're just a seed shop. Staying open this late won't earn us much, since the people who come in are all farmers and the like..."

'You little bastard! I'm telling you, precisely because the people who come here are honest country bumpkins who can't even enter elementary-school math correctly.'

'So when they come rushing to the seed shop closest to the countryside on their camelbeasts, it means something urgent must have happened in their fields!'

'Listen up, brat. Those country folk have never been anywhere bigger than this port city in their entire lives. Farming in the countryside is all they'll ever do.'

'To them, the crops in their fields are everything. If anything happens to them, their entire families will be Victoria profanity forced onto the streets to beg!'

'This seed shop is the only place around that has everything—seeds, agricultural chemicals, tools, and more! I've run the damn place for half my life and saved the local farmers more times than I can count. If this were the Flame Kingdom, our walls would be covered in banners of gratitude!'

'If you dare ruin the reputation I spent half my life building, I'll break your damn legs!'

"Still, there's no need to stay open this late... Dad, if anyone comes running in at this hour..."

'Then it means something urgent has happened to the crops! Is your brain full of water?! You're supposed to stay in the shop precisely for situations like this! If it's serious, you go with them to the fields, figure out what's wrong with the crops, and then apply the medicine!'

"But you didn't used to stay open this late..."

The young man answered somewhat aggrievedly.

'The past was the past, and now is now!'

'The fishermen have been catching fewer and fewer fish these past few years, and plenty of people have gone back to swinging hoes. So even at night, you'd better stay sharp!'

"Yes, yes, you've said it so many times already... I'll do my best... ah... so sleepy..."

Halfway through speaking, he yawned and instinctively moved the phone away.

Normally, his dad would start yelling at him again over his attitude right about now...

But this time, the other end of the line unexpectedly fell silent.

After a long while.

The other man's voice dropped several decibels for once.

'...If you really can't handle it, hire a few clerks.'

'The family can afford it.'

"You don't like outsiders managing our shop, though?"

The man froze. He hadn't expected his dad to say something like that. Back when he'd suggested hiring people, the old man had cursed him out for an entire night.

"Old man... did someone possess you?"

'That's only because you're too damn useless! You can't even stay up all night! I'm an old bastard, and I've got more energy than you!'

Ah, that's more like it. He'd thought something was wrong with the old man.

'I'm telling you, if you're hiring people, hire properly. Don't bring some lunatic or some arrogant piece of trash who looks down on others into my shop!'

'If you really do that, I'll damn well—'

"Break my legs. Yes, yes, you've said it plenty of times. I know..."

Ding.

Just then, the shop door was pushed open.

The clerk froze, then turned to look at the newcomer.

A plainly dressed middle-aged man stood there, one eye marked by a horrifying long scar.

He walked into the shop with a hunched back and a slight limp.

A hunter?

The clerk looked at the scar on the man's face. It wasn't something an ordinary small creature could leave behind, and judging by the way he walked... he didn't look like any of the farmers the clerk usually dealt with.

He roughly guessed what had happened.

Maybe the poor man had made his living hunting, only to accidentally lose an eye and injure his leg, leaving him no choice but to put down his bow or crossbow and pick up a hoe.