Chapter 509 – Hellish frost [15]

(POV – Protagonist)

I’d interacted with humans enough by now to have a pretty good idea of how most of them still felt a certain degree of unease around me. And, to be fair, I couldn’t exactly blame them. After all, I was an anomaly capable of doing things that probably seemed completely absurd to an ordinary human.

If someone like me suddenly appeared in front of a normal person, it would be hard to expect them to simply shrug it off and go about their day. That said, while most people had some degree of fear or distrust toward what I was and what I could do, there was also a considerable number of them who saw me in a completely different light. To those people, I was practically some kind of hero.

An anomaly that had turned against its own kind because, somehow, I had developed an affection for humans and decided to protect them. It was an interesting interpretation, to say the least. But it wasn’t even remotely the strangest one. There was also a small group of... weirdos who apparently believed that I was actually the mastermind behind all the anomalies.

According to their theory, I was simply eliminating the problems I had personally ordered other anomalies to create, all as part of some much more elaborate plan to slowly take control of humanity from the shadows. I didn’t even know where to begin explaining how stupid that theory was. Thankfully, they were a minority.

Still... conspiracy theories could be downright unsettling when they wanted to be. Especially when people started connecting completely unrelated events until they had somehow pieced together a story that made perfect sense in their own heads.

Anyway, the point was that I had never thought of myself as a hero. Much less some kind of megalomaniacal conspirator plotting to take control of the entire human race. Yikes. I could barely keep my little sisters organized without something going wrong. Ruling billions of people scattered across the entire world? Just thinking about it made me tired.

I preferred to stay as far away from that kind of thing as possible. Presidents, governors, mayors, journalists... There were already more than enough people willing to get involved in those kinds of disputes. I definitely had no intention of joining the fight. Besides sounding incredibly exhausting, it would be completely counterproductive to what I actually wanted.

Peace. And quiet. All I wanted was a place where I could relax without having to worry about conspiracies, organizations, anomalies, or anything else along those lines. If possible, I just wanted to spend a good while doing absolutely nothing.

Actually, even though I didn’t particularly like the High Council, I was pretty sure they would agree with me on at least one thing: the whole “doing absolutely nothing” part. After all, from their perspective, I was basically a walking nuclear warhead. The only difference was that, normally, humans were the ones who decided when and where a warhead should explode. In my case... I was the one who decided.

That said, considering everything I’d just said, anyone would probably wonder why, at this exact moment, I was going out of my way to save a group of humans who had, incidentally, been particularly rude to me and whom I had already saved before. To be honest, the answer was pretty simple. ⅇ

I didn’t know what anyone else expected from me, but I was doing this simply because I could. There was no grand heroic reason behind my decision. I didn’t consider myself a hero, much less some kind of guardian of humanity or whatever other embarrassing title humans had come up with for me. I just... could help them.

And somehow, I felt like it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t as if I still had much sensitivity toward death. That part of me had disappeared a long time ago. Death no longer elicited the same reaction from me that it probably would have from a normal person. Maybe that was just more proof that, in the end, I really was an anomaly.

But that didn’t mean I would simply ignore a human who needed help. If I was nearby, if I could do something, and I didn’t have any genuinely important reason not to... then why not help? At the end of the day, not everything needed some grand reason behind it. Sometimes, I just did something because I could.

That was why, as I fired short but relatively slow bursts of concentrated lasers made of pure thermonuclear energy, I didn’t feel particularly heroic. Sure, I was helping the agents sent by the High Council, the same people who apparently hated me simply for the crime of existing and breathing the same air as them. But honestly, what did that have to do with me?

Did they have to like me? That would just be arrogant of me. If even Jesus couldn’t please everyone, why would I expect things to be any different for me? Either way, the fight barely lasted three minutes. My shots practically obliterated the snowmen one after another.

Each burst tore across the battlefield like a glowing streak, leaving behind nothing but molten fragments and a wave of heat that made the air around me shimmer. The flying ones even tried to do something about me, diving in my direction and launching attacks of their own, but they didn’t stand a chance either.

After all, what exactly could they do against someone capable of raising their own temperature to such an absurd level that everything around them started melting just from being nearby? Including the building. More specifically, the edge where I was standing.

I watched for a moment as the concrete beneath my feet began to warp and run... Well. The organization could pay for that later. Once all the snowmen had finally been defeated, I stopped firing and let silence settle over the battlefield once again. I gave the agents one last glance before turning around and continuing on my way.

I’d already done more than I’d intended to. There was no reason to keep helping them beyond that, especially since I didn’t even have any healing abilities. Given the condition they were in, they didn't exactly look capable of continuing the fight, either. Some of them could barely stay on their feet, while others were carrying wounds that clearly needed immediate attention.

If they wanted to survive, the sensible thing to do would be to return to base and get treated. I was finally about to continue on toward the castle when I stopped for a moment. The man. The one who seemed to be the agents' leader was watching me. For some reason, he had removed his helmet, leaving his face completely exposed.

I had no idea what was going through his head. His expression remained neutral, almost impossible to read, but there was something in his eyes that gave away the fact that he was thinking deeply about something. Then, after a few seconds, he simply nodded in my direction.

I stood there for a brief moment, slightly surprised by the gesture. In the end, I just nodded back. We didn't exchange a single word. Somehow, though, that seemed to be enough. The other agents had noticed me as well. Even though none of them were looking directly at me, I could tell they were all perfectly aware that I had helped them... again.

Most of them seemed... grateful. Not necessarily grateful to me, perhaps, but grateful for the simple fact that they were still alive. Even so, there was a noticeable difference compared to last time. They still didn't seem to like me, that much was obvious, but they didn't seem to hate me, either.

Maybe that was the best they could manage. After all, no matter how many times I helped them or how many dangerous situations we went through together, nothing would change the fact that I was an anomaly. And not just any anomaly. I was probably one of the most dangerous anomalies they knew.

Still, at least they seemed to understand that I had saved their lives. They didn't have to like me. I wasn't expecting that. But acknowledging what had happened was something, at least. It was definitely better than last time, when their first reaction had been to point their weapons at me.

Although, thinking about it, given the condition everyone was in right now, they would probably have a hard time even lifting a weapon... So maybe I was being a little generous. Without saying anything else, I finally turned around and continued toward the castle. It didn't seem like he had suddenly started liking me.

In fact, I highly doubted that was the case. Nor did it seem like he was thanking me for saving his life. What he was acknowledging was something else. I had saved his men. I had shown up, helped when necessary, and, most importantly, I hadn't come along and made the situation even worse.

Interestingly enough, he seemed to even recognize the fact that I hadn't done more than necessary. I could have gotten more involved, but in the end, my biggest contribution had simply been eliminating those stupid snowmen. And apparently, that had been enough for him.

I had no idea who this guy was, what his story was, or whatever had happened to make him act the way he did. To be honest, I didn't particularly like him, either. And judging by the way he usually looked at me, he definitely didn't seem to like me very much. Well, fair enough, I guess. I didn't like him either, so I couldn't exactly say I cared that much about whether he liked me.

Besides, he didn't need to like me. I wasn't expecting sympathy, friendship, or any kind of excessive gratitude. All I wanted was for him not to point a gun at me right after I helped them. That would be enough. At the end of the day, I really didn't care whether he liked me or not.

As long as he acknowledged the help I had given them and didn't decide to turn the situation into some kind of pointless hostility, I was fine with it. He didn't need to like me... He just needed to have a little common sense. That said, he had acknowledged me. From my perspective, that was enough.

Well... I guess I could celebrate for now. After all, at least this time he hadn't looked at me like I was nothing more than a particularly annoying mosquito buzzing around his ear. Considering our last interaction, I could probably count that as progress.