The Broken System Chose the Antagonist

She failed.

"ARGH!"

Seraphine frustratedly dropped the belt and fell onto her back. "It just doesn’t wanna work with me!"

Nadia, ignoring the woman beside her, who was on the verge of throwing a childish tantrum, swiftly deduced the reason why Seraphine couldn’t wrap the belt around.

And it was one that at least one person had faced in their lifetime.

"You’re too weak," Nadia bluntly stated, causing Seraphine to stiffen and freeze in place.

"U-ugh... what do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you’re too weak," The Heroine repeated again. "If you strain yourself to try and pull the belt together, you’re going to end up hurting yourself... There is a simple solution to this problem, though."

Nadia then looked up from the scraps.

"Strengthen yourself with Vitality before trying again."

"Ugh—"

’Do I really need Vitality for something like this...?’ Seraphine thought, wryly, before shifting away and meekly turning her head to the side.

"I... I don’t know how to..."

Nadia blinked blankly.

"... Pardon?"

The Heroine then quirked an eyebrow at this revelation.

"You’re registered as a Vitalist, right? Unless you don’t have a home, you should’ve been issued a small guidebook on how to circulate Vitality to your residence by the government just a few days after you awaken."

Seraphine’s face twitched.

’And yet, I don’t seem to recall anything about reading it...’

She had completely forgotten about the narrative that the GOHG had sent out copies of a guidebook to Vitality to registered Vitalists.

But that didn’t really matter, considering that the previous owner of her body didn’t even read past the table of contents of the guidebook!

’So, I, someone who loves to read, got stuck in the body of someone who didn’t like to?’ A vein bulged on the side of Seraphine’s forehead.

Whoever was in charge of her transmigration needed to be fired!

’Although...’

Now that she thought about it, she did recall a few cases where the Visual Novel went over how Vitalists circulated their Vitality, but they were usually brief and not very descriptive.

’Something about... imagining your Heart pumping? Ugh...’

Noticing a look of displeasure on Seraphine’s face, Nadia lowered her eyelids halfway. It was obvious to her that the girl didn’t have a wink of knowledge of how to manipulate her Vitality.

If she hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought Seraphine had only awakened her Heart recently.

’It’s a miracle she managed to get this far...’

Even if all she did was run from Predicaments, it should’ve been impossible for Seraphine to even get this far without Vitality — much less manage to kill one, as she did with Callum on the first night.

"..."

Though now that she thought about it, Seraphine did mention that Callum was the only reason why she had managed to stay alive thus far.

Nadia sighed before shaking her head.

It was clear that Seraphine was in need of learning.

"Alright. I’m going to teach you how to circulate Vitality. So, pay attention."

"H-huh!? O-oh, uh, okay!"

Watching as Nadia gently rested her rear on the ground before crossing her legs, Seraphine quickly scrambled to assume the same posture.

She then stared intently at Nadia with a look of wonder in her eyes.

Although she was certain she would learn Vitality in due time, there was no way she was going to pass up the chance of the Main Character teaching her herself!

After she sensed Seraphine was properly seated, Nadia opened her mouth:

"Before I start teaching you... you should know this was how I was taught. Rather than what you can get from the guidebook," she stated before adding, after a brief delay, "I’m just saying this, just in case, you ever get confused as to why everyone does it differently."

Seraphine nodded energetically, recalling this bit of narrative about Nadia.

Apparently, there was no proper technique on how to effectively circulate Vitality; just methods on how to quickly/easily tap into it.

"First, calm yourself. Steady your breathing. Then, when you can hear your own Heart beating, become in tune with it by matching your heartrate with your breathing."

After laying all that out, she then added:

"And if needed, you can also close your eyes so that you can focus better."

The Transmigrator nodded, then did as she was told.

She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, then when she was done, she focused on her Heart.

And when she finished weaving her breathing with the beating of her Heart, she asked for the next step.

"The next step is to try and sense the blood pumping out of your Heart. Try to follow your blood as it circulates around your entire body. When you eventually get a tingly feeling by doing this, that’d mean you reached halfway towards being able to control your Vitality."

"A... tingly feeling, huh?" Seraphine repeated out loud, which was quickly misunderstood by Nadia.

"... It’s the best description I could give..."

"H-huh? O-oh no, I didn’t mean anything like that! I was just repeating it to myself."

After she cleared up the misunderstanding, she swiftly got back to where she was before.

She did her best to focus on her blood, but it was much easier said than done, as she constantly kept losing track of where she was and had to constantly go back and forth — resetting her progress.

Eventually, though, she did manage to get the hang of it. And when she did, she indeed felt the strange "tingling" feeling that Nadia had described earlier. To say the least, her description of it was rather apt.

"I got it!"

Nadia nodded curtly.

"Good work. Maybe you might have talent," The Heroine praised, though it was difficult to tell whether or not she meant it, given how indifferent she sounded.

"Now imagine yourself dispersing that feeling towards the rest of your body, while having a goal in mind. The stronger the goal, the easier it would be."

’Does tying together a belt work as a strong goal?’ Seraphine thought, self-deprecatingly.

She gave it a go, trying to disperse the "tingling" sensation she felt in her blood towards the rest of her body.

But no matter how many times she tried to disperse the sensation towards the rest of her body, it didn’t work.

"Haa..." She let out a disappointed sigh, which Nadia obviously picked up.

"Don’t stress about it for now. You still have some time," The Heroine reassured.

She then reached over to Seraphine’s scrap pile and tied it up herself. Afterwards, along with her own, she hauled both bundles onto her shoulders with minimal difficulty.

"When we’re done gathering parts for defences, I’ll help continue to help you until you manage to get the hang of it."

"R-really? Thank you!"

Seraphine got up from the ground and walked alongside Nadia.

With the two steadily approaching the warehouse, the Heroine couldn’t help but glance towards the sea and notice a faint sea of dark clouds begin to form in the far distance — a common sign of a particular weather.

’Looks like we might be getting some rain in a few hours, if the clouds blow over here...’ Nadia hummed to herself at this discovery before tilting her head upwards at the clear blue sky above them; her eyes glazed with tranquillity.

But also with anticipation and caution.

’Hilda...’ She thought briefly.

It’s been at least two hours since she woke up. And not once had Hilda returned from whatever she was doing.

’Just what on Earth are you doing...’ Nadia contemplated, now extremely curious about what the woman could possibly have in store.

Though she soon dashed that feeling away with a cold shake of her head.

As long as Hilda wasn’t doing something that could hurt people, she didn’t care much about what the woman was up to.

"Whatever..." She muttered before entering the warehouse.

...

While everyone was busy fortifying Rusty Den, there was a group situated far towards the east that was traversing the ruined streets with their unconscious hauled over their shoulders.

Hilda walked amongst them with her arms wrapped around her back. She had an amiable expression as she closely conversed with each member of the group.

Initially, everyone in Beatrice’s group was too hesitant and afraid to reciprocate. But that eventually changed when Hilda began cracking jokes.

"Hey, hey. Why did the soldier bring a ladder to boot camp?" Hilda asked before waiting for an answer that never came. "Because he heard that they were going to raise the bar!"

Despite the jokes never getting more than quiet giggles, her chatty personality had caused everyone to lower their guard around her.

While some enjoyed her chattiness and jokes, there were others who wanted her to stop and be quiet. But one thing was for sure: their impression of Hilda was certainly being rewritten under the influence of her approachable nature.

Obviously, this was all a part of Hilda’s plan.

After all, what better way was there to make it easier to manipulate someone than simply to lower their guard around you?

’To mould clay, you must soften it down. Only when it is soft, that’s when you can shape it to your Heart’s content.’

Hilda heard this phrase from a colleague a while back. Though she wasn’t sure how much of it was true, she felt it was fitting in this situation.

Not long after, she thought this...

"We’ve arrived!"

... Beatrice announced their arrival at their destination.

Hilda stepped forward and looked up. She then widened her eyes slightly in the direction Beatrice was pointing and murmured:

"Well, then~... that’s certainly a building to turn into a camp."