episode_0142

The Revarud Researcher

“Hmm… I knew there were still a Saintess and priests outside, but the ones who just spoke with me don’t seem to be on their side. Thinking back, it was truly horrible… The Saintess and priests, having noticed the existence of this Revarud facility, invaded and began to clear out Tiavel… What exactly is their purpose for coming here?”

The researcher, recalling Aria and Zeke, looked at Zeke’s group on the screen, wondering what their purpose was for coming here. Then, he switched to another screen, watching various life forms caged and trying desperately to escape by grasping the bars. He let out a sneer and said,

“Well… it doesn’t matter, does it? It’s also an opportunity to see how well my failures perform… Go on, then. Go and tear them apart. Show them your power.”

When the researcher pressed the red button below the screen displaying the test subjects, the doors of their cages simultaneously opened, and the subjects immediately rushed out and headed outside. The researcher then saw the Saintess and priests, who had killed their kind, on another screen and said with a sneer,

“You fools will never reach this place. Creatures who’ve never even handled machinery, trusting only in an unknown power called divine power, dare to try and enter here… I apologize, but this passage is made of a special material that cannot be detected. Of course, if their power were god-tier, that would be a different story… Ah, what do you think, XMC-034? Do you truly believe these people can break into our headquarters here?”

“You lunatic! Those creatures are attacking those people because you starved them, to sate their hunger! You intentionally made them ferocious, and now you call them failures? Does that make any sense?!”

In a dark and spacious room where the researcher was, he asked the test subject girl who was trapped in a cage in the corner, shaking the bars wildly in frustration. The girl, enraged, refuted the researcher’s claim that the recently released test subjects were failures. The researcher then slowly approached the girl, looked down at her, and sneered.

“Hmph. Do you still not understand why they are failures? Our ultimate goal is to create the ultimate life form, and for us to become that life form ourselves. To achieve that, they shouldn’t have experienced hunger, but look at them. Do you think they possess intelligence? Isn’t it clear that they’re feeling hunger? If they don’t meet our expectations, they are all failures. Our human species is also a failure.”

“You lunatic… Do you think you can live a normal life doing things like this…? Your comrades all lost their lives as a price for doing these very things! Isn’t that right, Stein!”

As Stein asserted that all test subjects who failed to meet his expectations were failures, the girl, recalling the immense suffering she and many other creatures had endured at the hands of Stein and his comrades, again became enraged and shouted at Stein. Stein, seemingly unable to comprehend her reaction, frowned and returned to his desk, saying,

“Indeed… low-level individuals like you can’t possibly understand our ideals and goals. We are on different levels, different tiers. You still don’t understand that such complacent thinking hinders the progress of life… You truly are foolish, Test Subject XMC-034.”

“Don’t make me laugh! You talk about the progress of life, yet you arbitrarily judge other life forms based on your own standards?! Don’t you know that everyone who thinks they’re so great meets an end they didn’t desire?! That’s why all your researcher friends were killed by the Saintess and priests!”

No matter how much the test subject girl criticized him, Stein firmly asserted that the research and experiments he was conducting were for the benefit of life forms. Seeing that Stein utterly refused to listen to her, the test subject girl, as if utterly dumbfounded by her own attempt to lecture him, let out a deep sigh and said to Stein.

“If you want to be ruined so badly, then keep doing what you’re doing. Such experiments are bound to fail anyway. Why? Because there are many people in this world who know that experiment is wrong! They will stop your experiment, and they’ll destroy this laboratory driven by greed in no time, you know? Just like how you feared that Black Saintess so much!”

“Ha. That Black Saintess is nothing more than an inferior woman like you. It’s only natural that such a woman can’t understand our experiments. How could inferior beings understand the thoughts of superior ones?”

“It’s the opposite, you idiot. You’re so inferior that ordinary people like us can’t follow your thoughts— *Screeching!*”

As Stein asserted that others were too inferior to grasp the thoughts of superior beings like himself, the test subject girl scoffed at him and tried to say it was the opposite. But at that moment, electricity surged through the bars, electrocuting the test subject girl. When Stein, who had electrified the bars, lifted his hand from a yellow button on a square device he held, the electricity stopped. The test subject girl, who had been electrocuted, collapsed inside the cage and began to breathe heavily.

“Pant… pant… pant…. Ugh…”

“Even if you are the most excellent among our test subjects, you are still an imperfect one. That’s why you suffer even from an electric shock like this. Don’t worry. We, the great ones… no, *I* will surely make you survive in any environment and become the most intelligent life form.”

“I… I never wanted such a thing… Just release me… You damned researcher…!!”

As her body automatically regenerated its wounds, the test subject girl slowly pushed herself up, grasping the bars with trembling hands. She told Stein that she never wanted to be modified and pleaded for him to release her. Stein ignored the test subject girl, sat down in the chair in front of the desk, and, assessing the current situation of the laboratory through the screen, said to the test subject girl:

“Don’t even think about stalling for time anymore. You seem to have intended to draw my attention, even to the point of insulting me, just to buy time for those you met just now to get here… But I don’t have the luxury of listening to your useless chatter. Besides, even if they do manage to get here, I plan to release the strongest failed test subject, so it would be best for you to abandon hope.”

“What…? The strongest failure…? What do you mean by that…?”

The test subject girl, stunned, asked Stein about the strongest failed test subject he mentioned, which she hadn’t known about. But Stein, seemingly no longer interested in her, ignored her words. In her bewildered state, the test subject girl’s hands went limp, and she hung her head in thought.

‘I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Black Saintess… I think I underestimated Stein… I had no idea he had a hidden trump card… I’m truly sorry…’

“Hmm… The guards are attacking the Saintess and priests. They don’t seem to have expected the guards to be here at all… Well, before, I couldn’t release the guards because I was caught by a surprise attack… Hmm… In any case, it’s a relief that the guards are moving as I intended. It just goes to show, even waste material is more efficient when recycled… I’m giving you failures a special opportunity, so do well.”

‘Damn it…!!’

As Stein watched his failed test subjects splendidly ambush the Saintess and priests on the screen, looking satisfied, the test subject girl began to shed tears, one by one, in frustration. But the moment Stein turned his eyes to another screen.

“And where… is the Black Saintess’s group…? Wait… Is this fellow looking at *here* right now?”

“….?”

As Stein showed signs of bewilderment for the first time, the test subject girl realized that a reversal was occurring and looked up at Stein’s bewildered expression. Meanwhile, as Dio V Runner-nim suddenly intently examined the ceiling and wall corners, I tilted my head and asked,

“Runner-nim? Is there something there? Why are you suddenly looking so intently at that spot?”

“….Well… I naturally assumed there’d be something, given it’s a facility like this… but I didn’t expect it to be operational… I should have realized it from the moment this facility started operating, but I’d forgotten because of those other guys.”

“Huh…? Wh-what? Run-Runner-nim?! Why the flamethrower all of a sudden?!”

As Runner-nim seemed to discover something and aimed his flamethrower at the spot he was intently watching, Yuria grew greatly flustered, and everyone except Aria was flustered, following Yuria’s lead. And at that moment, Runner-nim shot out powerful flames from his flamethrower. Watching this, Stein shouted in great bewilderment as the screen turned black after Dio V Runner unleashed the flames.

“This can’t be…!! Did he notice the camouflaged surveillance camera instantly?! It was so small it normally wouldn’t have been visible, so how…?!”

“….What…. It’s… it’s happening just as I said, isn’t it…? Heh… heh heh…. Those people will surely save me…. From this cage-like laboratory, they’ll save me….”

As Dio V Runner noticed the camera and immediately attacked, making themselves invisible, Stein could not hide his shock. The test subject girl, thinking that Zeke’s group could save her, fainted for a moment to allow her wounds to heal. Meanwhile, Dio V Runner-nim, who had spewed out flames hot enough to scorch the walls and ceiling, extinguished the flames and explained to us.

“There are cameras. It seems there are cameras hidden everywhere, even smaller than the one Aria has. I strongly heated and broke them, guessing that the researcher you mentioned would be devising plans to hinder us through these cameras.”

“Hmm… Then it seems we’ll have to move while monitoring all the cameras around us. I think it would be best to leave that to me, given my excellent physical abilities. Right, Zeke-nim?”

“Uh… now that we know those exist, I guess you wouldn’t miss even one…”

When Dio V Runner-nim explained that the researcher would track our movements through the cameras, Aria told me that she could destroy all the hidden cameras herself. I couldn’t help but agree. After all, Aria had even dodged my uncle’s sword with her eyes before… The moment I let out a wry chuckle in agreement with Aria’s words, Aria thought deeply and then explained to us.

“Hmm… What we need to deal with right now are the Saintess and priests, and the researcher. In that case, it might be best to split up. Someone will have to deal with the Saintess and priests, and someone else will have to deal with the researcher.”

“In that case, leave the Saintess and priests to me, Aria. Once I’ve annihilated all of them, I’ll go look for the researcher’s location.”

“Then I’ll also deal with the Saintess and priests. I think you two can handle the researcher… Plus, I’ve dealt with them before, so I think that would be better.”

When Aria suggested it would be better to split up and deal with different enemies, Dio V Runner-nim and Yuria agreed, saying they would deal with the Saintess and priests. A question then came to my mind, and I immediately asked Aria.

“Aria. But don’t Saintesses and priests usually consider killing a taboo? Is it alright for them to commit acts of killing like this?”

“Laws are originally made and amended by someone. Rules can also be called laws, so they were amended by someone, which is why the Saintess and priests can now commit acts of killing. However, to change an existing rule, one needs that level of status, and frankly, I don’t care who that is! Hehe.”

When Aria said that someone with powerful influence might have changed the rule for the Saintess and priests, which forbids killing, and that she didn’t care who it was, I let out an awkward chuckle, as if I had expected her to say that. Right, well… Aria wouldn’t be interested in such things… because for Aria, the most important thing is whether they will harm me or not…

“….I see…. Alright. Then we’ll…”

“W-wait! Zeke! Come here for a moment, I have something to tell you!”

“Huh? Wh-wh-what?”

Suddenly, Yuria said she had something to tell me, pulled my arm, and took me into the adjacent room. It was so sudden that I couldn’t even react. Dio V Runner-nim then scratched his head, sighed deeply, and said,

“To have the leisure to have a conversation at a time like this… How truly leisurely, Yuria… Isn’t that right, Ari—”

“That damned temptress…! Does she have a death wish…? I won’t let her get away with this…!!”

When Yuria suddenly took me into the room and even locked the door, Aria, as if she absolutely couldn’t stand this, her eyes blazing, fully intended to kill Yuria. Dio V Runner, startled, restrained Aria with all his might, and when that sound came through the door, I pointed a finger at the door and said to Yuria,

“Don’t you hear that sound, Yuria? If you don’t come out quickly, Aria might actually kill you.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll be over quickly… I have something I want to ask you.”

“Something to ask me?”

When Yuria said she had something to ask me, I tilted my head and asked her back. Yuria, without even blinking despite Aria pounding loudly on the door, stared directly at me and then asked,

“What do you think of Aria?”

“What?”

“Exactly what I said. What do you think of Aria?”

When Yuria suddenly asked me what I thought of Aria, I was flustered. Why is Yuria asking such a question in this situation? What do I think of Aria…? Well, obviously…

“A companion I’m traveling with, a friend who cherishes me… and a Saintess who loves me perhaps too much, but still, a precious friend… I guess?”

“….You’re really dense, Zeke? I didn’t realize you were this dense…”

“What?”

When Yuria, upon hearing my answer, suddenly looked disappointed, saying I was that dense, I was utterly flustered. What on earth does that mean? I’d been thinking of Aria that way all this time… Unable to understand her meaning, Yuria shook her head and said,

“Never mind… Time will tell… For now, let’s just go stop this laboratory.”

“Uh… huh?”

Yuria opened the door, as if she had nothing more to ask me—or rather, having been disappointed by my answer—sighed deeply and said we should go stop Revarud. What on earth did she mean? Did Yuria realize something? If so… something I don’t know…?