Episode 140: Interlude (Where is that person now?)
When he came to, he was lying in a place he didn’t recognize at all.
The room was about the size of a spacious inn room. There were no windows, but soft light poured down from the ceiling.
The interior was unified with calming colors such as milky white and brown.
In the room, there was the bed he was lying on, a side table, a closet, and a simple desk and chair.
That was all that was provided in the room.
There was a recess like a door in the back, but no doorknob was visible.
He had no memory of what had happened or why he was lying in such a place.
He was at a loss.
Several minutes passed, and as he steeled himself to get out of bed, he put his feet on the floor.
At the same time, a knock echoed in the room.
Startled, he turned towards the sound.
It was the place with the door-like recess. The moment he looked at it, it slid open on its own.
“…!”
He gasped in surprise.
It was not only the door that moved automatically, but also the person who came in from there was unexpected.
“Are you awake?”
She spoke in a voice like the ringing of bells, and gave him a lovely smile, but he felt like he was not alive.
Because she was the girl he had previously identified as his target.
“…So, I was abducted by your organization?”
“Oh, that’s terrible. Abducted? It’s not something that sounds so bad.”
“It’s just that we neutralized an enemy to protect ourselves.”
She replied to him.
In other words, he was regarded as an enemy by them and neutralized.
He put strength into his body, which was about to tremble with fear, and raised his head.
After all, he had made a living from covert reconnaissance and assassination. He knew how to control his emotions.
However, that didn’t improve the situation.
The room was clearly designed to keep him from getting out. There were no windows for light, and only one exit.
The fact that she had appeared before him was a declaration that she would be his caretaker and guard.
“Please be assured. Fortunately, we were not harmed, and well, if I had to say, the venue was a little noisy because you collapsed. Since there was no actual damage, we will not intentionally harm you, okay?”
She giggled, very adorably.
Of course, he couldn’t laugh.
Where was the reassurance in those words?
Just because she wouldn’t intentionally harm him didn’t mean he was safe or protected.
“By the way, can you tell me about yourself? We—no, I don’t know anything about you. Shall we talk?”
“…”
And so, he was subjected to an interrogation in the name of a conversation by a girl with a lovely appearance.
The girl sat in front of him, smiling, as if she was having fun.
Towards her, he had been using his ability all this time.
The power to make someone feel slightly favorable towards him, that was all.
He couldn’t tell if it was working or not.
“Oh. That’s right, you must be getting hungry soon. Please wait a moment.”
She clapped her hands together and said that, then jumped lightly off the chair (the chair in the room seemed a little high for the girl). She trotted over to the only entrance to the room.
When she stood in front of the door, it opened on its own.
“Oh, do you want to see this too? There’s a washroom, a bath, and a kitchen.”
Beckoned by her, he slowly walked towards the door.
Beyond the door was a short corridor, and immediately to the left was what appeared to be a kitchen. And to the right was a door, and another door could be seen at the end.
“The left is the kitchen. The right is the bath. I’ll teach you how to use them later, since I don’t think you know. Meals will be delivered, but you can make your own if you want. Please do as you like.”
As she said this, the girl moved quickly and quickly prepared tea.
“Meals will be delivered in about two hours. Let’s have a simple tea. The sweets are special today. It’s a special item brought directly from Forest Country (Lebresta).”
The man, who was standing awkwardly, was pushed back by the girl and obediently sat on the bed.
Tea cups and sweets were quickly arranged on the side table, and the teapot was placed on the desk along with an hourglass.
“It’s called black tea, have you ever had it?”
“…Yeah.”
“I see. Actually, these tea leaves are also imported directly from Lebresta. It’s a rare item that you can’t drink very often now, so please look forward to it.”
Was his Mystic Eyes effective on her?
From the beginning, she didn’t seem to have much hostility and was very close, so the man couldn’t tell the difference.
However, at least, she didn’t seem to intend to do anything to the man right away. The conversation in the name of interrogation was just continuing, though he didn’t know for how many hours.
Perhaps she was waiting for him to start talking voluntarily, rather than forcing him to reveal information.
He was a professional in espionage, but that was a skill dependent on his Mystic Eyes of Charm. He was not familiar with techniques such as skillfully extracting information through conversation or forcing it out through violence.
At best, he was slightly better than others at choosing his words by observing the other person’s expression.
“Here you go. Be careful, it’s hot.”
While he was staring at her, black tea had been placed in front of him.
He didn’t know the quality of the black tea, but from the aroma, it didn’t seem bad.
“In a place like this…”
“You don’t have to worry about poison. There are so many opportunities to harm you more directly than poisoning you.”
“In the first place, I could have poisoned you as much as I wanted while you were sleeping,” she said with a smile.
Since that was true, he gave up and reached for the tea set she had prepared.
In the days that followed, he continued to be cared for by the girl.
When he woke up in the morning, she noticed and started preparing breakfast. From there, it was the morning interrogation. After lunch, the daytime interrogation. After dinner, a bath filled with hot water was prepared on its own. After that, it seemed to be free time, but he just slept because there was nothing else to do.
The questions or explanations from the girl covered a wide range of topics.
From the kingdom’s aristocratic system to how to perform folk remedies. Questions about the time from sunrise to sunset, and about the moon in the sky. From childhood episodes to the popular entertainment of the people of Forest Country (Lebresta).
He had no problems with food, clothing, or shelter, and he wasn’t bored enough to be idle.
But even so, he was growing impatient.
He had no way of knowing outside information, and the only person he could contact was this girl.
He didn’t know if his prized Mystic Eyes were working or not. She seemed quite friendly at night, but she returned to normal in the morning.
Therefore, he decided to escape.
He was aiming for the end of the corridor where the girl was going in and out.
He had never been able to open it when he stood in front of it, but the girl always used it.
He couldn’t know what was beyond that, but he had no intention of doing nothing and being swept away by this hopeless situation.
In the middle of the night.
He got out of bed and went into the corridor.
And then, he collapsed.
“Hiss…! Cough… ah…!”
He gasped for breath and convulsed. He clawed at his chest, arched his back, and writhed.
It was his best performance. Of course, it wasn’t just a random act. He had learned to act like he was having a sudden seizure in anticipation of such a confinement.
Even if he showed it to a doctor, he wouldn’t be able to see through the act so easily. It was that convincing.
There was a whooshing sound of air escaping.
“Are you okay!?”
The door at the end of the corridor opened, and the girl jumped out from inside. She was backlit, and he was in the middle of acting out a seizure, so he couldn’t see the girl’s figure.
Even so, it was a golden opportunity.
“Kaaah!”
With all his might, he roared.
It was a reckless act of hitting the opponent with his magical power wave and disrupting the magical power inside their body. If the opponent was a person with considerable ability, it would be completely useless child’s play.
Even so, the girl stiffened as if surprised.
Those who were not involved in battle could not resist this intimidation.
He kicked off the floor with all his strength, dodged the girl, and jumped into the open door.
Beyond the door was a large space illuminated by a pale light.
It was about the size of a small party hall.
However, the room was filled with a large number of unidentified objects.
Plate-like structures emitting a pale light. Huge metal machines with many pipes sticking out.
He ran between the structures.
Why was such a room right outside his room? Where did that girl come from?
“…Aaaaaah!”
He hit a wall and turned right. Beyond that, there were several huge transparent cylinders that appeared to be made of glass.
Something was inside.
He tried to ignore it and run.
“Hiii…!!”
He noticed what was inside and jumped back. Thud, his back hit some kind of structure.
A giant glass cylinder. Even if he wrapped both arms around it, he wouldn’t reach halfway.
The inside seemed to be filled with liquid. Small bubbles, created from the bottom, slowly rose.
And, the contents were…
“It’s no use running.”
Along with that voice, his right hand was grabbed. Unfitting for the girl’s slender appearance, it was as strong as if clamped in a vice.
“…!”
The usual girl was gripping his wrist.
For some reason, the girl wasn’t wearing any clothes, and mysterious liquid dripped from her entire body, glistening.
And, a girl with the exact same face was floating inside the glass cylinder.
“You can’t. You’ve been caught by us.”
The glass cylinders weren’t just the one in front of him. There were many, many of them before him. In all of them, a girl with the same face was floating.
“Now, shall we go back to the room? We still have to talk again tomorrow.”
“U, uwaaaaaahhhh!! N, noooo!!”
◇◇◇◇
“…Why is it in a horror style?”
“Yes, Ma’am.
When packing the minimum functions into the hastily prepared offshore facility, it took that form.
The Communicator Dolls need to perform analysis and cleaning of the Brain Unit independently each time, so we prepared multiple units and rotated them.
I didn’t intend to scare him that much, but…”
“Well, yeah… it’s scary. If you’re suddenly shown that. Just invite him to Telek Port City normally. Otherwise, the story won’t progress.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Understood.”