A Secret Operation with the Butler (11)
A Secret Operation with the Butler (11)
#
"Hey. How was this originally used?"
When I pointed at the heavily modified Polymorph Mirror, Rebecca hesitated for a moment as though searching her memory.
"...You reflect your own image in the mirror, then imagine the appearance you desire. However, the duration depends on the amount of mana you possess..."
I cut Rebecca off. That part wasn't important.
"Can't it target other people? Like, say, me turning you into a baby?"
"...That is impossible."
So originally, it could only be used on oneself.
[Mirror of Mutatio (Improved)]
[Effect: Changes the target's appearance. Changes in appearance may also alter their personality. Long-term use may cause the Morph to become fixed as a side effect. Consumes magic stones.]
[Current: On / ▶Off]
...But that pig bastard had modified it so it could target other people. Impressive.
Well. Who would willingly become a loli? On top of that, if you became a loli you'd receive that pig's unwanted favor.
"Yoo-jin? What will you do now..."
"Ah. Wait a moment. I've got something to think about."
"...Understood. Then I shall investigate elsewhere for a while."
"Yeah."
While Rebecca examined the walls, I took a small magic stone from my inventory and inserted it into the slot. A screen resembling a game's character-customization menu appeared. Let's see. The target was... over there, that inverted-nipple butler.
"Pfft."
At my involuntary snort, Rebecca turned toward me, but I gave a casual shake of my head to show it was nothing.
Well, of course I laughed. Anyone would if the naked body of the person standing beside them moments earlier suddenly appeared on a customization screen.
Now then. Enlarge this meager chest a little more...
"..."
Hmm. This could be very useful. I wanted it for all sorts of reasons.
Anyway, this was really a headache. How could I walk off with this thing? No, even if I did walk off with it, wouldn't I get caught right away?
I'd thought that guy would just confiscate it and shove it somewhere in a warehouse, so I figured I could steal it easily. But now that I was here, it was an item at the core of this pig's plan.
Even an improved model at that. Considering the resources put into this, it was clear he'd track it down no matter what, even if I stole it.
It also didn't look like I could get it back legally.
Rebecca had already acted confident while talking about documents and the like, but could I truly trust someone who was all show and no substance?
Would a guy obsessed to that degree let go of Ariel over a few documents?
"Yoo-jin."
Rebecca's call pulled me out of my thoughts. The brat was impudently beckoning at me, as if telling me to come over.
"What?"
Rebecca tapped the wall, and the distinctive hollow echo of an empty space rang from behind it.
"There is something further inside."
"Yeah? But how do we get in..."
[Open the door?]
[Yes / ▶No]
...Right. Just touching it makes a pop-up appear.
"I think I can open it."
"What?!"
"Well, let's just say I have that kind of ability too."
I teased Rebecca while enjoying the shock in her eyes.
There was probably some separate trigger, but such things were unnecessary before an Awakened.
I could use artifacts simply by touching them.
I usually took it for granted, but on second thought, this was an incredible ability. A mere touch told me an item's purpose and how to use it. In modern terms, it was like knowing how to operate an electronic device I had never seen before without reading the manual.
Especially since otherworld magic artifacts weren't intuitive at all.
"Hold on. Step back. Who knows what might be inside."
I said that, then opened the door.
-Pssht.
One side of the wall disappeared smoothly to the side, just like an automatic door.
And inside...
#
A chill leaked from the room inside the wall, and immediately afterward, a subtle blue light turned on. It was a cold feeling, in contrast to the outside secret room, but the ominousness was the same.
The interior was a long, straight structure more like a hallway than a room.
And to the left and right were pedestals, all empty.
"This..."
"...A preservation spell is placed here as well."
These devices resembled the one preserving the bud-covered branch in the outer room. Unlike the branch's pedestal, however, they were larger. Small metal nameplates were fixed beneath them...
[No.001 Ariel Ionia]
[No.002]
[No.003]
[No.004]
"...What the hell."
"Yoo-jin. There is something at the far end."
In the brief moment I stood frozen, Rebecca appeared to have found something. Following her lead to the end of the corridor, there—
"!"
Young girls were fixed on pedestals, their eyes closed.
No way!
Rebecca's eyes flashed as she brought her hand to a child's neck.
"...She is alive. She is in Suspended Animation."
"Yeah. That's a relief."
I realized. That pig bastard hadn't been satisfied with just violating them. Now that I thought about it, I'd seen something like that in some deranged comic. Freezing your girlfriends, taking them out whenever you needed them, doing it with them, and freezing them again.
Wait. Come to think of it,
"...Didn't they say they kept replacing the maids?"
"...Yes. We thought they frequently hired new employees simply due to his whims, but seeing this, it appears they did not replace the employees—he abducted them to this place."
Rebecca quickly checked the other children, but fortunately there seemed to be no fatalities.
"Let's get out for now. I don't think this is our problem alone."
"...Understood."
# # #
After leaving the room, Rebecca sat in silence. Of course she did. She had seen far more than she had imagined.
But on the other hand, it answered some lingering questions. In the novel's alternate future, Ariel took over this mansion, but the pig was nowhere to be seen.
Probably the moment he tried to lock Ariel in that secret room, everything was exposed. And likely, he was killed.
"Haa..."
A sigh escaped me. Rebecca didn't have much to say either, but she was probably quite shaken too. The guy's desires were beyond imagination. And I'd been thinking too complacently as well.
Was this really a guy who could be resolved with a few documents? Would someone who prepared things to that degree really give up? Even if we somehow cut him off from Ariel—what about the kids abducted inside?
This guy needed to be utterly destroyed. But how?
"...What about reporting him to the guards?"
"I think that will not work without evidence."
Evidence? At Rebecca's immediate answer, a question suddenly occurred to me.
"Hey. Do you by any chance have something like that here? You know... something that preserves images or recordings..."
What followed was an explanation about cameras. Rebecca didn't understand at first, but as I used gestures and hand signals to describe it, something seemed to occur to her.
"Maybe... there is."
"Really? Then if we record that abduction den and report it..."
I cut myself off mid-sentence. An idea had occurred to me. An idea to destroy the guy more completely.
"Alright. I have a way."
"...I'm listening."
Rebecca pretended to be composed, but the desperate impatience in the way she watched my mouth was obvious.
Well, it was nothing special.
If the bastard had not openly committed a crime yet, then we simply had to make him commit one.