C40 Lazarus Heart 1/2

"These girls wanted to help each other even with their conditions? Just how much of an angel are they?"

"Quit praising your own sister, Seth. It's unsightly of you to do that while staring so lewdly at her body."

I was comparing the two girls because of the possibility that one of them might be a clone but the little girl accused me of something in which I was not so sure myself.

"Are you sure she's not a long lost twin sister? I'm not really convinced about having another world on the other side of the earth like you said earlier."

"Why don't you ask her yourself? She is right in front of you, is she not?"

The little girl answered while staring at the tray of hot delicacies on top of a chef's cart that was meant for the corpse girls.

"I don't think it's a bright idea to wake up the undead."

"We already did that earlier."

After Isla collapsed, Char quickly tried to cast healing spell on her which caused her to faint from mana depletion, and because the room we were in earlier was small, Fio had us carry them so we could move to a larger room where there was a wider bed so that Char and Isla could lie down together.

Still, on the way back to this villa from resurrecting Isla at the 'factory', she didn't appear to be someone on the verge of collapsing. In fact, she was so full of energy that she shook everyone's hands the moment her eyes opened. Yes, including the staff that brought Fio and the little girl to us.

Was it adrenaline?

The little girl was at Char's side while I was on the other side beside Isla.

"Isla didn't change much after weeks of being dead, she's beautiful as ever even with her white hair and her skull shaped face."

"I told you to stop with your lecherous eyes!... Why don't you help me choose which meat has the best flavor?"

I didn't realize that I was actually speaking my thoughts out so the little girl who still hasn't decided which food to take yelled at me for voicing my admiration.

"mmm... can't you two be more quiet?"

"Yeah... Please bear in mind that we're sleeping here."

Both Isla and Char woke up and scolded us for our noisy conversation.

"Are you two feeling alright now? Isla, is your body still feeling numb? Char are you still hungry?... Don't move too much just yet you two, you just woke up."

Isla tried to sit straight so I stopped her from doing so as I saw how she struggled to lift her thin body.

"Why would you ask me that? You were the one who made me like this."

"Seth, I'm hungry... will you feed me?"

I ignored Char as she complained while accusing me and tended to Isla who made a sweet request.

Why did she accuse me of driving her like this? I don't recall having done anything bad to her...

Huh? Something's missing? I remember Puchi asking about making her like this but what happened after that?

"I will feed you! Here! This one tastes good!...Why are you looking at me like that Seth? Did you think I was choosing food for myself? I'm not you, I would never eat other people's food!"

The little girl overtook my chance to feed Isla by bringing over a piece of fried chicken.

I shouldn't have minded Char and focused!

"If it weren't for the bite marks on every piece of fried chicken on that plate, I wouldn't even have thoughts like this."

It was the leg part of a chicken, what she handed and the poor leg had a portion of it ripped off by a savage little Goddess.

"I told you, I only tasted it to determine which piece had the best flavor."

I didn't even see her taking those bites earlier, just how fast did she take those bites?

Yes! It's as you have thought, there was only one dish prepared for the corpse girls. It wasn't because of the lack of ingredients but rather it was the lack of cooks.

The chefs in the building were still asleep and we wouldn't want to disturb them so we asked Fio not to prepare too much. But even though we asked Fio not to, she still went all out with only one dish.

We had three plates full of piping hot fried chicken... with bite marks on each one.

"Really? How thoughtful of you... *crunch! mmm! mmm! mmm~"

"Uhm... What about me? You do realize you're eating on top of my face, right?"

Char, who was still lying flat on the bed, complained as Isla ate what the little girl with her little... I mean, short hands grabbed over to her.

"You said you weren't hungry."

"I never said that! I was implying that you stop treating me like I'm always hungry!"

"Just eat the crumbs that falls on your mouth."

"You two are going to make me cry one of these days! *Sniffle"

The whining Char said while trying hard to keep her tears at bay.

"You did cry back at the-"

"Enough! Just feed me while I'm still calm! Puchi! Ahhh!... *crunch! *sniffle... This *crunch is *sniffle delicious!"

The little girl fed Char and Char cried while eating the delicious looking chicken leg.

"Sorry Char. I'm really hungry... mmm~"

"Puchi? Seth, stop drooling on my lap. Wipe your drool... This girl, her name was Puchi, was it not?"

Asked Isla after scolding me for drooling on her lap. I wiped it immediately of course.

"My name is not Puchi!"

"Puchi... It suits you."

"You have been insulting a Goddess since the day you died! You will receive divine punishment when you die again!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry... Anyway, let's talk about Seth and Char being siblings."

"Oh right that... No… We're the same age so it's impossible for that to happen."

"Unless-"

"Unless?"

Unless my age was not really the same as hers?

"How did you even know my age?"

"At your house there was a greeting card with your name, a date and the text 'Happy Birthday to me!'."

"Sorry Seth... I wasn't there for your birthday."

"Let's get back to the topic please... So what about my age?"

"There's only one way to find out!"

Fio proclaimed.

I didn't mention where Fio was earlier but now I will, she was sitting on a wooden chair a bit further from the edge of the bed where the corpse girls' feet were while covered with a blanket.

She was 'observing' us ever since she brought the fried chicken, she said she was curious about the 'other world' but she also didn't want to be annoying so she kept quiet just until now.

Ari on the other hand, was outside the room. I didn't know why and I didn't want to know why.

"And that is the factory! Although we call it the factory it's not really 'a factory'. It's a research facility where physical human bodies are being converted into useful minerals. When the world almost ended, the world lacked most of the minerals that were essential for survival or/and cities growth. Scientists found out the human bodies are made up of most of those minerals. Did you know? our bodies came from the soil and shaped like this... So they studied about every element found in the body and reconstructed it to weapons, food and other stuff."

"So that was why Puchi suddenly went on a rampage when she found out about it?"

I think Char got used to calling the little girl 'Puchi'. It was a made-up name but she found it convenient so she's using it.

"So that's why there were piles of dead souls just the other day at 'the afterlife'? or was it yesterday?"

"I will destroy that factory!"

Considering the fact that she's a Goddess, the maker of heaven and earth, it was totally reasonable that she would get angry on matters such as this. I mean, imagine, your own son or daughter cut apart piece by piece just for curiosity. Before, it was only done for medical purposes, but now, weapons, shields, nutrition and else.

"We can't do that... That very structure is the foundation of humanity. You destroy it, these walls would collapse. You see, the walls that surround the city wouldn't normally withstand constant giant monster attacks or even regular ones. While the physical elements that make up a human constructs the walls, the magical elements reinforce it."

Fio added.

"You humans do not get to have a say in this! It's either you find another way to fix the problems you made yourself or I, your 'current' God will force you to make one."

"Puchi... you do know not everyone of them is responsible for what happened to their world right?"

Char suggested. The way she phrased it shows that she wasn't one of us, the humans that teared down their own home. She proved that the other world existed.

"Yes they are... They are given legs to walk, mouths to talk, brains to think and hands to create. Yet what do they do? They brought the world to the brink of destruction! And now they are destroying their own flesh just to fulfill their own selfish desires!"

*Sniffle

"Do you not conjure any sympathy to the dead?-*sniff *sniff-Yes! I know they are just soil shaped to be humans and they will just return to the soil afterwards but dissecting your own family? How cruel can one being become?"

The room felt silent after the heated one sided argument.

*Sob

The little girl cried genuine tears while Char held her tightly on her chest. The little girl hugged her back.

Since when did they get along too well?-I thought to myself.