Chapter 58 |
"Please go outside!"
It had been about a week since I entered this quarantine room.
As I was rolling around in bed, Carol looked troubled and asked me to go outside.
I said, confused at her words.
"No. In the first place, you shouldn't let me go outside."
"But if you don't try to go out at all, there will be no deal! You have to want to be free before we can try to ask for favors!"
I see.
It looks like she can't ask for a favor because I don't want freedom.
In the first place, I am provided with food, clothing, shelter, and entertainment in exchange for not being able to go out as I please.
"...It's not my fault. Isn't everything I need here? I have food, a place to sleep, and most of all, if you wanted me to want freedom, you shouldn't have left me a computer."
Carol was about to refute, but she didn't find anything wrong with what I said, so she picked up on something else.
"...Now that I think about it, are you eating ramen again? I told you that that's not girly! A girl should only eat cute and sweet things!"
Carol took the ramen I was eating and then hugged me. This bitch keeps casually touching me!
"What do I know about your creepy tastes? Get off!"
"No, I don't like it!"
"If you don't like it, then it's okay?! You've been tarnishing your image as an elite since last time, right?"
Carol holds a high position as the director of the research center, and she has shown off her intelligence and wisdom.
At least until 3 days ago.
In less than a week, she began to show her true nature and would play childish pranks only on me.
"Ahhhh, I'm not leaving until you experiment!"
This person is casually violating the contract.
Is this really reality? For a grown adult to throw tantrums?
I was so embarrassed by the noise that I had to do something.
"Haa..."
"..."
Stare.
I was really annoyed that Carol stared at me while raising the corner of her mouth, but since she was an important person, I didn't want to get in trouble.
"Okay. I have no intention of continuing to live as an insectivore."
"Really?!"
"It's just a whim. If you do this again next time, you'll be in trouble."
"Let's get started right away!"
She doesn't even pretend to hear.
"Okay. Instead, just a little bit. I'm only going to do really minor experiments."
"Sure!"
...
I felt like it was going to attack me, but surprisingly, the thing Carol introduced didn't seem dangerous.
It looked exactly like an ordinary basket.
"The isolate being tested this time is P-888, nicknamed Snack Basket. It's an unchained level."
"If it's unchained... Does that mean it can't be quarantined?"
"No. It just means not being able to be restricted. Well, it's possible to bind it for a while using other means than restraint... It's just almost impossible. Oh my, the ratings given by the higher-ups are often ambiguous!"
It's ambiguous.
Still, I'm glad there's no danger.
Even though I have become a devil now, I have hardly ever used my power, so I cannot estimate my strength.
It would be quite annoying if the unchained entity had the ability to kill.
By the way.
"Umm... Okay. But why is that P? I'm D."
Over there is P-888, and over here is D-888. The numbers are similar.
"That's because you are a devil. And that is an anomalous object."
"I don't know why they need to be separated."
"I don't know what the higher-ups think."
Words like their position sound like just decoration rose up in my throat, but I could barely hold them in.
Anyway, I decided to conduct the experiment.
I stood at some distance in front of the snack basket.
"It looks like an ordinary basket, so it wouldn't be easy to tell, right?"
"The composition is the same as a regular basket. They show up at appropriate times and give snacks when people need them. It is basically harmless, but thanks to its ability to teleport, it has received an unchained rating."
"Hmm... Really?"
The reason why such a basket was able to be quarantined here for a while is probably because the conditions for teleportation are limited to the closest people.
Since there are many people in the Institution, it seems that the person who received the snack basket is helping by immediately returning it to the isolation room.
Of course, by coincidence, there are times when it goes out of the Institution, so it's unchained.
I stared at the basket.
And then I thought about it in my head. Snack. I want a snack!
"It reacted."
In the blink of an eye, the snack basket moved in front of my feet, and the open lid was closed.
"Open it!"
"...It's chocolate."
Carol checked the basket I opened. She recorded its contents.
"It's normal. Let's see, ordinary chocolate. It's not high-end chocolate, but it's quite expensive. And convenience store candy... Strangely, there's a lot of convenience store food."
"I see. Most of what we ate was obtained from convenience stores."
"What?"
"Nothing. So what information do we get from this experiment?"
"The same thing happens to devils as well as humans, and I can see beautiful Alice eating cute snacks."
"I won't bother reacting. Well, as you promised, that's the end for today. And I'll take this with me."
"Yes. It doesn't matter."
I packed some chocolate and tried to return to the isolation room.
And I asked Carol about a question that suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey. If there is a D, is there also an A?"
D is for Devil.
"..."
Ah. Is it confidential?
Or maybe Carol doesn't even know? I was about to tell her, who was silent for a moment, that she didn't need to respond, when she answered.
"No."
When it comes to the Institutions, all kinds of strange anomalous entities are rampant.
Among them, there is no A.
I was a little puzzled by that, and I was concerned about Carol's expression and tone of voice when she said there wasn't.
...
And it was a few days later.
"Ahhhh, I'm not leaving until you test it!"
Snap.
My patience reached its limit.
"I wonder what this is. Did time repeat itself? Huh?"
I placed my foot on Carol's stomach as she lay on the floor of the isolation room and threw a tantrum.
Of course, I took my shoes off. They'll hurt otherwise.
"Hey!"
Step!
"Am I a pushover?! Just because I'm calm doesn't mean I'm okay with it!"
Carol was distressed when I stepped on her stomach.
Even feet that were small and soft, like those of a child, would hurt if you pressed on a vital area.
But that doesn't make the anger go away.
My elitist impression of Carol when I saw her for the first time no longer remained.
There is only a slug crawling on the floor.
"Ugh! Not the stomach!"
"If you think I'll fall for the same trick four times, you're sorely mistaken! This! This!"
That's the fourth time! I had no choice but to participate in the experiment because she ended up lying on the floor! This bitch has no sense of limits!
"Ouch! Argh! Stop it already; you've done enough! Seeing this, you're quite gullible too..."
"Noisy!"
Step!
"Ah♡"
"Hey! Crazy bitch! Someone call James, James!"
When I stopped stepping on her in horror, Carol got up and said to me:
"James received another assignment. Hmm. These days, certain groups keep making attacks. I like James too, but he's quite capable, so we keep him busy."
"Other organizations?"
Ah, that's it. If it's an Institution, then that's it.
It's set up to be a group of interest or something.
It's a spice that adds interest to the setting by adding a story to the anomalous beings and creating a power structure.
It's fun.
"Uh.. Um. It's originally confidential, but I'll tell you later. Or would you like me to show you the relevant isolate this time?"
"You said it was confidential, so is it okay?"
"Oh, I don't know. You're a colleague and a friend, right? Right?"
I thought I knew now why I liked James.
If you decide it's okay, you just spill confidential information.
But it's a good thing for me, so I'll just shut up and follow Carol.
"Now, this is what was confiscated from the Workshop. D-1275-3. Safe grade. The nickname is Blade Plank."
The Workshop.
It's assumed to be a group that randomly creates items with anomalous properties.
"Hmm."
Last time, Carol got all the way into the isolation room, but this time she is talking while outside the isolation room.
If that's the case, then this can be said to be something that has the power to kill.
However, no matter how you looked at D-1275-3, it looked like nothing more than a 1.5m long flat wooden plank.
"It just looks like a wooden plank."
It was literally just a wooden plank.
Even though it had the name Blade, I couldn't see a single splinter, let alone a sharp point.
As I was observing with interest, Carol said to me:
"It's not a bad idea to explore it yourself."
"Umm..."
I touched the wooden plank.
And then a blade appeared.
"Tsk!"
The plank expanded and grew in size, and blades began to protrude here and there from the wooden body.
When it fully grew, it no longer looked like a plank.
"What is this?"
A wooden doll full of blades.
It looks like it is going to cut people down and use them as firewood.
"If you think it's dangerous, just come out!"
"No. it's okay. It's just a doll with blades on it."
I thought about this thing in front of me.
If it's something as simple as a battle doll, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just fight it in preparation for an unexpected battle.
"Alright. Let's try it out."
The wooden doll tried to cut me with a particularly large blade on its arm.
I held the blade with my bare hand.
Creak!
Because it was just caught without recoil, a creak was heard, probably because the doll's joints were strained.
Is it this much?
I ran my finger over the blade.
It stung slightly.
"It's so sharp that I can get cut."
Slash!
The doll cut off the caught blade and escaped backwards.
It then increased the number of blades coming out of its body, taking on an appearance similar to a hedgehog.
It is difficult. If I just hit that with my fist, it would sting.
It was a time when I was thinking like that.
[Whisperwhisperwhisper...]
"...Who are you?"
The sound of numerous beings whispering could be heard from somewhere. Telepathy? No, it's different.
"Alice. Who are you talking to?"
[Whisperwhisperwhisper...]
"Are you offering to help?"
I never thought I would get help from them.
"Okay. You would be nice."
As soon as those words were said, a mirror was created.
From the mirror, a bipedal monster with sharp kitchen knives attached to it came out and stood in front of D-1275-3.
"What is that?"
"This is a monster derived from fear of the sharpness of kitchen knives. I guess it was interested because it has the same blade?"
"I never thought you would have such abilities! It's fun!"
"Krieek..."
Clang!
The monster with a kitchen knife defended itself against D-1275-3's attack with the same blade.
When D-1275-3's attack was blocked, he attacked through the gap where there was no blade.
However, because the body of the knife monster was not strong, it started to get scratched.
The monster with the kitchen knife, who was blocking the attack with sparks flying here and there, took aim at the gap created by the attack and lashed out his knife.
D-1275-3's body was greatly damaged, even though it was protected by a blade.
"Watching fights is fun. I'm going to fall in love with it. Versus games always go beyond the limits, but it's fun as long as you keep the boundaries."
"Krieekeek!"
The match, which seemed to be a close one, ended with D-1275-3's blade being completely damaged and no longer causing any damage to the monster.
After consuming D-1275-3's metal parts, the knife monster destroyed its body and returned to where it came from through the mirror.
"Thank you."
Nod.
The situation was over, and I came out of the isolation room.
"Ah."
Next, I had to look at Carol's despairing expression.
"You can't destroy that."
"...!"
"You didn’t pay attention... I told you in advance. But it's okay."
Carol said with a soft smile to the embarrassed me.
Ironically, it actually hurt my heart more.
I needed to compensate, but since I had nothing, I had few options.
"Hey, over there. I'll help you next time too."
Cheer up!
"Really? Thank you, but you should not break anything in return!"
Alice didn't know that the same wooden planks received codes ranging from D-1275-1 to D-1275-300.