99. Academy (12)
99. Academy (12)
The first thing Abe saw when she opened her eyes was a brilliant ceiling.
It was so brilliant that even Abe, the daughter of a Lord, was struck with admiration, and her senses returned in an instant.
"Where am I?"
She sat up and looked around.
"How on earth is this lamp working?"
The first thing that caught her eye was none other than the lamp right next to the bed.
It was emitting light, yet she couldn't feel any mana from it at all.
Starting with the lamp, Abe calmly surveyed her surroundings and immediately realized something was strange about this room.
The ceiling was just a fancy ceiling, but one entire side of the room was made of mirrors.
'How could a mirror this size be here? No, how was it even made in the first place?'
She got out of bed and searched the entire room thoroughly.
'What kind of space is this? And why on earth did they bring me here... Wait a minute.'
Abe slowly retraced her last memories.
'That woman clearly said she wanted to lock me in the Human Zoo... Then, could this possibly be the Human Zoo she mentioned? But...'
This place was nowhere near what one would call a Human Zoo.
It looked more like a space where royalty, even among nobles, would live.
'How long was I unconscious?'
She remembered losing consciousness for a week after exhausting all her mana before.
But this time, she had used not just her mana, but her life force as well.
She must have been unconscious for at least over a week.
'First, I have to escape this place. I have to let everyone know that Lea and Prodisia aren't just simple students, but terrifying beings trying to devour the Academy.'
Abe took out her staff.
'Wait... Why did they leave my Subspace Pouch? And why is my physical condition so good?'
Abe was bewildered as she checked her physical condition while taking out her staff.
'I'm in better shape than ever... It's like I've been blessed. Could it be... Lea? But why? No, how could that woman even use Holy Power in the first place?'
Her mind was becoming a mess.
Countless pieces of information, unorganized, were making her head spin.
'No. Escaping from here is the priority.'
She channeled the mana that was overflowing to the point of recovery through her staff, which she had set perpendicular to the floor, and cast a spell.
'The fact that I'm here means there's a door. There must be a secret door somewhere.'
Pure white smoke began to flow out from around Abe's body.
Sseueukㅡ
The smoke coming from Abe's body began to be sucked into one of the walls.
'There it is!'
Abe raised her staff and aimed at the wall made of mirrors.
The pure white smoke gathered in an instant to form an ice spear.
The sharp ice spear flew, creating a gust of wind, and embedded itself into the mirror.
"Wh-what."
If it had been an ordinary mirror, it should have shattered the moment the ice spear hit it, but it just slid right in and stopped, as if it had been stuck in mud.
Kkumul. Kkumul.
The mirror rippled like a living creature and swallowed the ice spear whole.
"W-what in the..."
Abe rubbed her eyes with one hand.
"Did I see that wrong?"
Abe approached the mirror cautiously.
It was a mirror without a single smudge.
It was a perfect mirror that didn't seem like it could possibly be from the current era's technology.
She had never seen such cleanliness anywhere else.
Abe carefully raised her staff and tapped the mirror.
Tuk. Tuk.
It was a hard mirror.
This time, she touched it with her hand.
The cold feeling of glass. It was definitely a mirror.
'Once more.'
This time, Abe didn't use magic, but Spirit Magic.
Spirit Magic required incantations, so it took time, but it showed better performance than regular magic.
The ice magic, with increased power and range, struck the mirror directly.
But even this time, the mirror was perfectly fine.
It didn't even get a scratch; it just embedded itself into the mirror as if it were stuck in mud, then slid inside and disappeared.
'It's certain that I can go through the mirror. Wind passes through, and magic passes through.'
The problem was that she couldn't get out.
She tried pushing it with her hands, kicking it with her feet, and hitting it with her staff, but there was no damage at all.
"What the hell is thisssss!"
==
"Haa..."
I don't know how much time has passed since I came to my senses.
Has it been 4 hours? 5 hours?
Nothing has changed during that time.
I have no idea what that crazy bitch Lea is thinking.
She kidnapped me and isn't doing anything.
A room with no windows, just a mirror on one wall.
The only light is maintained by a single lamp next to the bed.
After waking up in the room, I tried screaming, using magic, and breaking this and that, but nothing could change this situation.
I just laid back down on the bed where I had regained consciousness.
I had tried everything, but since nothing worked, I decided to conserve my stamina for now.
I don't know when or what kind of situation might arise, so I intend to keep my physical condition in top shape.
==
I don't know how much time has passed.
I think it's been two days since I woke up here.
I don't know exactly because there's no way to check the time, but it feels like that much has passed.
For that time, I hadn't been sleeping.
I can't sleep.
There's probably no one who could sleep in this situation.
Kidnapped by a monster-like being and locked in a strange space, and I'm supposed to sleep? That would be someone who's crazy in the head.
==
I fell asleep.
I held on, and held on, and held on, but when I came to, I realized I had slept.
The scary part is that I don't even know how long I slept.
If at least sunlight came in, it would be different, but without any light, the only lamp in the room is emitting a constant light, neither turning off nor getting brighter.
Right now, this light is my only hope.
==
I'm hungry.
I'm thirsty.
I need to go to the bathroom.
How much time has passed?
Are they looking for me at the Academy? Do my parents know I've disappeared?
==
What should I do to make a human submit without Erosion?
First, I have to break their spirit.
Currently, the only intact human in our Colony is the Healer Erina.
I made Erina submit through overwhelming fear.
Of course, it was a submission born not just from fear, but from ripping off her limbs and pulling out her heart, but now she's just living, satisfied with this life.
Originally, I was just going to use her for the human farm or as food, but since she's doing a good job as a doctor at the human farm, I'm letting her continue that life.
Erina didn't have very good mental fortitude for an adventurer, so she submitted quickly, but what about Abe?
Even from my perspective, Abe's mental fortitude seemed truly very high.
The mental fortitude I saw in Abe when I first saw her in her room deserved applause.
She has that level of mental fortitude, and I have to make her submit without physical torture.
Actually, I know this well.
The humans here are truly evil and there are many pieces of trash.
They traffic young children and torment humans just like themselves who lack power due to social class.
But Earth humans are no joke either.
Especially in places called companies, they teach you just how much you can erode a person's mental fortitude.
For starters, you just have to make them do nothing.
I can see inside from my side, but from the inside, it looks like a mirror—what do you call this? Ah, a Magic Mirror.
I asked our Evolute to make a mirror with this kind of feel, and Evolute ate a mirror and made it just like that.
I'm watching Abe through that Magic Mirror.
It's been 3 days since I kidnapped Abe, and it's the 4th day.
I attend classes at the Academy in the morning, roam around the surroundings to observe humans in the afternoon, and observe Abe in the evening.
The Academy hasn't shown any major movement since Abe was kidnapped.
It's just that Charlotta checked Abe's room for a moment, and a few other humans came to check and left; that's all.
I don't know what they're thinking at the Academy, but even if they did something, it wouldn't be able to affect me.
Anyway, I kept Abe locked in the room for 4 days, doing nothing but watching her.
I didn't give her water, food, or anything else.
Not even sound.
There isn't really anything in the room either.
Just a bed and a single lamp emitting a little light.
Abe's behavior, having been locked in a room where she couldn't do anything for 3 days, was quite interesting.
I checked every evening for 3 days, and it was a different situation every time.
On the first day, she tried hard to attempt various things to do something.
On the second day, she spent time worrying about what to do.
On the third day, after ending that worry, she worked hard on something again, but when nothing changed, she sat down and had a dejected look on her face.
Now, she was lying on the bed, doing nothing, just staring endlessly at the ceiling.
Thinking it was okay to start slowly, I told the children emitting light from the only lamp in the room where Abe was locked up.
To turn off the light.
As the only light disappeared, the space where Abe was plunged into darkness in an instant.
A pitch-black space without a single ray of light.
They say human eyes have excellent adaptability, but in the end, if there is absolutely no light, they cannot see anything.
However, since I am not human, I can see Abe well regardless of whether there is light or not.
"Wh-what!"
Left alone in the darkness after the only light vanished, Abe urgently got up on the bed and groped around with her hands, looking for where the lamp had been.
She picked up the lamp and fiddled with it desperately, but it didn't light up again.
Now that the light was gone, after 4 days of being unable to do anything.
How long will Abe hold out?
How long can a human really endure in a situation like this?