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 a soft light poured down from the ceiling.
The interior was decorated in calming colors like milky white and brown.
Next to the bed where he lay was a side table.
A closet.
A simple desk and chair.
That was all that was in the room.
There was a recess that looked like a door at the far end, but he couldn’t see any doorknobs.
He had no memory of what had happened or why he was lying here.
Lost and confused, he was at a loss.
Several minutes passed, and as he steeled himself to get out of bed, placing his feet on the floor, a knock echoed through the room.
Startled, he turned towards the sound.
It came from the recess that looked like a door. The moment he looked at it, it slid open on its own.
“…!”
He gasped in surprise.
Not only at the door moving automatically, but also at the person who entered, who was completely unexpected.
“You’re awake?”
She spoke in a voice like the tinkling of bells, offering him a sweet smile, but he felt like he was losing his mind.
Because she was the girl he had previously identified as his target.
“…So, I’ve been kidnapped by your organization?”
“Oh, that’s terrible. Kidnapped? That sounds so awful.”
“We simply neutralized an enemy to protect ourselves.”
She answered him.
Which meant that he was considered an enemy by them, and had been neutralized.
Forcing strength into his body, which threatened to tremble with fear, he raised his head.
He had made a living from infiltration, reconnaissance, and assassination, after all. He knew how to control his emotions.
However, that didn’t improve the situation.
The room was clearly designed to keep him inside. There were no windows to let in light, and only one exit.
The fact that she had appeared before him meant that she was assigned as his caretaker and guard.
“Please rest assured. Fortunately, we suffered no damage. Well, if I had to say, the venue was a little noisy because you collapsed. Since there was no real damage, we won’t intentionally harm you, okay?”
She giggled, ever so charmingly.
Of course, he couldn’t laugh.
Where was the reassurance in those words?
She only said that they wouldn’t intentionally harm him, but there was no mention of safety or protection.
“Oh, by the way, will 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 guise of a conversation by a girl with a lovely appearance.
The girl sat in front of him, smiling, seemingly enjoying herself.
Towards her, he had been using his ability the entire time.
A power that simply made him slightly more likeable.
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 nimbly hopped off the chair (the chair in the room seemed a little too high for her). She trotted over to the only entrance to the room.
When she stood in front of the door, it opened on its own.
“Oh, would you like to see this side 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 hallway, with what appeared to be a kitchen immediately to the left. And to the right, a door, and another door at the end of the hallway.
“The kitchen is on the left. The bath is on the right. I’ll teach you how to use them later, since I’m sure you don’t know. Meals will be delivered, but you can cook for yourself if you want. Please, make yourself at home.”
Saying that, the girl moved efficiently and quickly prepared tea.
“Meals will be delivered in about two hours. Let’s have some tea for now. The sweets are special today. A delicacy brought directly from the Forest Country (Lebresta).”
The man, who had been standing awkwardly, was pushed back by the girl and obediently sat on the bed.
A teacup and sweets were quickly placed on the side table, and the teapot was placed on the desk with an hourglass.
“It’s called black tea, have you ever had it before?”
“…Yeah.”
“I see. Actually, these tea leaves were also imported directly from Lebresta. They’re a rare treat that you can’t often enjoy these days, so please look forward to it.”
Was his magic eye effective on her?
She didn’t seem to have much hostility from the start, and she was already close to him, so the man couldn’t tell the difference.
However, at least, she didn’t seem to intend to do anything to him immediately. For how many hours he didn’t know, but the conversation in the name of interrogation continued.
Perhaps she was waiting for him to start talking voluntarily, rather than forcing him to reveal information.
He was a professional specializing in intelligence, but that skill relied on his charm magic eye. He wasn’t familiar with techniques like skillfully extracting information through conversation, or forcing it out through violence.
At best, he was slightly better than others at choosing his words while observing the other person’s expression.
“Here you go. Be careful, it’s hot.”
While he was staring at her, a cup of tea had been placed in front of him.
He couldn’t tell if the tea was good or bad, but judging from the aroma, it didn’t seem to be bad.
“In a place like this…”
“You don’t have to worry about poison. There are plenty of opportunities to harm you more directly than with poison.”
“Besides, I could have poisoned you 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 would notice and start preparing breakfast. From there, it was the morning interrogation. After lunch, the daytime interrogation. After dinner, a bath filled with hot water was prepared automatically. After that, it seemed to be free time, but he had nothing to do but sleep.
The girl’s questions and explanations covered a wide range of topics.
From the kingdom’s aristocracy to methods of folk medicine. Questions about the time from sunrise to sunset, and the moon in the sky. From childhood episodes to the popular entertainment of the Forest Country (Lebresta) people.
He had no shortage of 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 couldn’t tell if his prized magic eye was working or not. She seemed quite friendly at night, but she would return to normal in the morning.
Therefore, he decided to escape.
He was aiming for the end of the hallway where the girl was coming and going.
It hadn’t opened when he stood in front of it, but the girl always used it.
He couldn’t know what was beyond it, 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 hallway.
And then, he collapsed.
“Hiss…! Cough…! Aah…!”
He gasped for breath and convulsed. He clawed at his chest, arched his back, and writhed in agony.
It was his best acting. Of course, it wasn’t just a random act. He had learned to feign a sudden seizure in anticipation of such a confinement.
Even if he showed it to a doctor, they 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 alright!?”
The door at the end of the hallway opened, and the girl jumped out. She was backlit, and he was in the middle of acting out a seizure, so he couldn’t see her clearly.
Even so, it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
“Cough!”
He roared with all his might.
A reckless act of slamming his magical energy waves into the opponent, disrupting their internal magic. If the opponent was a skilled fighter, it would be a childish prank that wouldn’t work at all.
Even so, the girl stiffened as if surprised.
Unless you were someone who lived in battle, you couldn’t 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 faint light.
It was about the size of a small party hall.
However, the room was filled with a large number of unidentified objects.
Plate-shaped structures emitting a faint light. Huge metal machines with many pipes sticking out.
He ran between the structures.
Why was there such a room right outside his room? Where did that girl come from?
“…Aaaaaaaah!!”
He hit a wall and turned right. Beyond that, there were several huge transparent cylinders made of what appeared to be glass.
Something was inside.
He tried to run, ignoring it.
“Hiii…!!”
He noticed what was inside and leaped back. Thud, his back hit some kind of structure.
A massive, 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 at the bottom, slowly rose to the top.
And the contents were…
“Running won’t do you any good.”
With that voice, his right hand was seized. Unfitting for the slender appearance of the girl, the strength was as if clamped in a vise.
“…!”
The usual girl was gripping his wrist.
For some reason, the girl wasn’t wearing any clothes, and a mysterious liquid dripped from her entire body with a glistening sheen.
And, an identical girl floated inside the glass cylinder.
“It’s no use. 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, the same girl floated.
“Now, shall we return to your room? We still have to talk again tomorrow, you know?”
“U, uwaaaaaahhhh!! N, noooo!!”
◇◇◇◇
“…Why did it have to be horror-themed?”
“Yes, Ma’am.
When packing the bare minimum functionality into the hastily prepared offshore facility, it took on that form.
The Communicator Dolls require standalone analysis and cleaning of their Brain Units each time, so multiple units were prepared for rotation.
We did not intend to frighten him to that extent…”
“Well, yeah… it’s scary. If you were suddenly shown that. Just invite him to the port town of Telek normally. Otherwise, the story won’t progress.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Understood.”
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