Separating his lips from the teacup he just sipped from, he caught sight of a small violet sphere breaking on top of the table once he casually raised his sight.
âIs something wrong, nee~?â
The one who asked, is sitting on a chair on the opposite side across the table. The bundle of bandages is quite difficult to describe.
It has a pretty humanlike shape, but its thickness isnât common. Will one turn into that form, similar to a poorly made bear plush toy, if they twine who-knows-how many bandages around themselves? Although slightly, it has piqued his interest.
âWell, it looks like the core which flew through the Forest Labyrinth was destroyed.â
Itâs a fact the human race doesnât know; the Forest Labyrinth has already been taken into our, the demon racesâ, possession.
A transfer gate has been established by our hands with one entrance on the demon racesâ continentsâ side and the other one on the human racesâ continentsâ side.
But then again, although the gate has been installed on the side over there, around a single person can be sent through the gate because we werenât able to bring many materials over.
Moreover, itâs flaw is that its usage fee is ridiculously expensive, however if itâs for the sake of research, thereâs no choice but to come to the decision that slight expenses canât be helped.
âWhat the heck are you doing over there?â
âA practical test of the new monsters. Itâs a superb monster that eats humans, multiplies in their abdomens and fuses with their bodies.â
I embedded a core into a control unit and tried to send it over, but with the master core on our side getting destroyed, it seems that the core over there was destroyed by someone.
I feel slightly irritated as I wasnât able to get much data.
Nevertheless, the goal is to obtain the required data from a great number of failures and a few successes by repeating the experiment many times over.
For example, with it being an operation similar to getting one winner from drawing a large number of lots, I will likely be disqualified as researcher if I raise my eyebrows each and every single time I pulled a miss.
âIt was a genuine experiment regarding their fighting strength and breeding speed, butâŠâ
âItâs a failure, nee~? My condolences.â
Who will blame me just because I felt a tinge of bloodthirst towards the bundle of bandages, which laid on top of the sofa with its legs outstretched while flapping its limbs.
Even so, itâs a mysterious cloth bundle.
Although it completely fails to expose a single thing, be it eyes, mouth or anything that qualifies as an organ, on its surface, it appears to be looking this way. Even its voice is easy to understand and clear without any mumbling.
I think it canât be helped that I want to unwrap it once.
Or rather, let me unwrap it with a *snap* once, by all means.
I have no doubt that I will definitely be able to see something that will satisfy my curiosity.
Once I looked at the bundle of bandages while pondering such things, the bundle of bandages, which noticed it was being watched, shook its body with a start.
âWhatâs wrong?â
âJust now, something cold⊠the wind, nee~?â
âDemons can catch colds?â
âCan they? Well, since there are many hot-blooded idiots, it looks like there are also fellows who donât notice catching a cold, nee~â
The bundle of bandages raises its voice in a giggle.
Tentatively, there are more superior demons than me. Even if Iâm a researcher, Iâm the equivalent of a leader, but since I quite prefer light speech and conduct like this, I have been branded as eccentric. I also donât overly much⊠no, there was a single person, I donât want to get involved with as much as possible.
âIs it a laughing matter, I wonder? In the first place, if you speak of failing the experiment, you ran an experiment in the same area as well. Didnât it merely fail because it was obstructed by people?â
Once I bluntly said so in a tone that was mixed with a small amount of sarcasm, the bundle of bandages abruptly stopped laughing.
Did I offend it? I wonder for a moment, however itâs impossible to read its expression with a glance at its face, as itâs no more than a bundle of bandages after all.
To begin with, given that I donât understand where its eyes are, itâs uncertain whether itâs even looking this way or not.
âThat doesnât particularly mean that it failed though nee~â
The voice, which was emitted by the cloth bundle a short while later, didnât have anything like discomfort mixed in it for now.
âDid you collect the necessary items? I was just stopped for a little bit on the way nee~â
âIâve heard you even lost the experimental magic gems. Itâs a failure if it goes into the red cost-wise, I think.â
âThis is harsh nee~â
The badly-done bear topples over on top of the sofa, spreads out both its hands and looks up to the ceiling.
Every single one of its movements is exaggerated and comical.
Itâs strangely rubbing me the wrong way.
Although I will immediately get rid of them if they are of equal or lower rank, I will be killed if I handle a superior in a higher rank impudently, though I believe it to be disgusting.
âEither way, the experiments will be suspended for a while.â
âOh? Why?â
The lump of bandages raises a curious voice.
Why doesnât this fellow even understand such a thing, I want to question.
There are many researchers who absolutely donât show any curiosity in things other than what interests them, however shouldnât you at least look over the reported facts which were transmitted from above?
Itâs not unlikely for your own body to perish if you make a single mistake.
Or does that oddball in front of my eyes plan to discard even that as inconsequential?
âYou probably got a notification from the military authorities. As it looks like they will convert the established scale of the Forest Labyrinth transfer gate so that it can move a certain amount, we will lose the usage of the transfer gate until that operations is completed.â
âThere was such a notification?â
Having a doubtful voice, the bandaged plush toyâs head is slanting slightly and trembling.
It appears that it inclined its head to the side, but because of its very short and stout build and the thickness of the bandages coiling around it, that doesnât seem to go smoothly.
Involuntarily I leak a sigh.
I want to finish the conversation with this strange object as soon as possible and quickly return to my research.
âThere was. If you think that itâs a lie, try inquiring to your own home about it as well.â
âI havenât particularly said that itâs a lie though nee~â
Throwing a disgusted look at the bundle of bandages, which began to flap its limbs again, I open my mouth to interrupt the chat any time now.
âIf thatâs your only business, can I please have you go home soon?â
âAh, yea. I will go home once I finish my business.â
Once a small impact hit my chest, I, who wanted to ask whether there is still some kind of business beyond this, had my words blocked by something hot, which gradually rose from my throat.
While feeling a highly viscous liquid leaking and dripping after my mouth became partly open, I looked down at my own chest.
An unfamiliar unrefined metal pole is piercing into the chest of my body, I was familiar with.
What gradually rose from my throat was a clot of my own blood. As I realized that, I was assailed by the pain at last.
âGofuu⊠the heck⊠what are you- planningâŠâ
âItâs troublesome nee~ Just when I have done something this flashy to that spot. Shall I cut you so that you wonât even be able to talk anymore by the time Iâm finished with the next spots?â
What stabbed my body was apparently an iron pole, which had a sharp pointed end shaped like a screw.
Its source is sticking out from a gap in the bundle of bandages.
I donât know the principle behind it, but that pole is pushed deeper into my body by piercing the screw part of the pole further in and rotating it.
If itâs one of those, thatâs still far from a fatal wound.
As I formulate a way to escape while enduring the pain and discomfort of a foreign object piercing my body, several more poles are casually stabbed and then thoroughly screwed into my body.
In front of me, who screamed while unable to bear it, stood that bundle of bandages.
âFor the time being I will have you die. The plan is for it to be as meaningless and gruesome death as possible so that it also serves as a warning to other people. Aah, since I will gouge out the parts that seem usable, best regards to those places nee~â
Once I try to scream âPlease, help!â, a pole was thrust into my throat.
It closes in on me, who struggles while vomiting blood and drool from my mouth which has lost the ability to speak, in order to slowly cover me.
âWell then, letâs start with this eyeball first nee~?â
Fritz was at his witsâ end in his room in the guild building.
A mountain of documents is piling up on the desk in front of him.
Most of them were reports.
The number of adventurers who passed away is 100, spread over 23 parties.
Almost all of the adventurers who accepted the request of the guild have died.
Merely one party of 3 people returned alive.
It was only the party, which had Renya Kunugi as its leader.
For Fritz those results are relatively trivial.
The participation of Renyaâs party was unexpected. He panicked at the time when heâd learned that, but since the result was them returning alive, it wonât turn into a problem.
The annihilation of 23 parties didnât matter either.
There are countless adventurer candidates.
From noble greenhorns who canât succeed their family, at the top, to the sons of farmers who went broke, from below; there wonât be any of inconvenience to replace them in any way since thereâs a diversity to such a degree.
In the first place, the veteran adventurers who are difficult to replace wonât bite onto a request like this times.
âWe have an ulterior motive for posting a request of that degree.â â is what that request is screaming.
There was also the possibility of them making the error of joining in if that Shion was the leader, but although I thought they will easily avoid it if itâs Renya, I wonder whether I have slightly misjudged him, Fritz ponders.
However, even this is no concern that will trouble Fritz greatly.
The problem, which is bringing him to his witsâ end, were the three things currently in front of him.
One is the examination report sent by the investigative team.
The new species of monsters discovered in the forest this time apparently had a great variety of beast-like beings, had imitations of the arms of people or imitated dragons; in other words, they had no definite shape.
Either way, they apparently had a truly evil-natured ecology of eating, capturing and breeding with the bodies of people.
If one talks about why he knew about those, one reason was the autopsy report of the corpse of a monster the investigative team brought back, and the other reason were the several specimens they discovered in the middle of doing those things.
If you ask why there were specimens discovered in that state, it connects to the second problem.
The second problem is that the forest in question was almost completely destroyed.
According to the only one who saw the actual scene, Renya, immediately after something similar to a white thread quickly descended from the sky, it stabbed into the forest. He had a bad premonition, so he deployed a defense barrier as his field of vision was painted over in bright white light and he was surrounded by a snowscape.
He tried to ascertain the the authenticity of his words with magic, but since he was told âPay the money to Renyaâ, Fritz gave up on that.
In reality, no matter whether Renyaâs words are a lie or the truth, itâs a fact that an extensive area of the forest has been frozen over.
Going by the results of the investigation, around 70-80% of the entire forest has been locked in ice. He was told that it likely wonât return to its former state as many trees have been mowed down.
According to the story of the magicians who accompanied the investigative team, itâs a spell with the intention to destroy and would require several hundred magicians to try to perform the same deed, and even then itâs uncertain whether they will be able to produce an effect which is barely similar, or not. Apparently thatâs the level of damage it has.
Of course, the report had a jurisdiction of ăBecause of those reasons, itâs deemed to be a sudden natural disasteră attached to it.
If itâs really a natural disaster, I will pray to god or something like that, Fritz judges.
Putting aside the damages to the adventurers, the sharp decline in resources, which could be taken from the forest and trees which ended up broken, will become a terribly hard blow for the residents of the city.
Since the country has to plan the countermeasures in regards to that, itâs not like harm will directly approach Fritz, but it has been decided that his work will increase as the country should naturally request his cooperation with the formulated countermeasures.
The third problem was just now in front of Fritzâ eyes.
âWhatâs this about? You can explain it, right, Fritz?â (Rona)
The one, who asked that with a calm tone while having a smile tinged with a coldness at absolute zero and a black flame in the background, was Rona.
As usual her body, which has liveliness and impulsiveness, was covered in a priestessâ garb, however she is putting strength into her right hand and grasping the one-handed mace tightly.
That hand is trembling slightly as she is putting too much power into it. A silent coercion, which can only be called stifling, was directed at Fritz.
âCertainly, this timeâs matter was due to the guildâs own judgement. However, I believed you would evade it, if it was that manâŠâ (Fritz)
âIs it fine to take that as your testament, Fritz?â (Rona)
âEh? No, ummm⊠Eeeeh?â (Fritz)
âThen get ready over there. At least I will send you off with one blow so that you donât have to suffer.â (Rona)
âEh, thatâs a bit? ⊠Eeeeeeehh!?â (Fritz)
The staff members looked at each otherâs faces due to the male scream which resounded within the guild. They returned to their respective tasks as if they didnât hear anything.
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