Oh, hello, Goddess. It’s been a whole, what, ten minutes since we last met?
“Weren’t you just here?” said the goddess, dropping her refined act all at once.
“Uh, yeah. You mind filling me in on what’s happening? In ten words or less, please.”
In the meantime, I was in a state of complete confusion. Huh? What? What’s gonna happen to me now? Am I gonna die?
“Sorry,” said the goddess, “I don’t have a clue.”
“Am I getting summoned again or something?”
“Most likely. For the time being, the rules say I need to give you another gift. I don’t know what’s going on, but... Good luck!”
You’re just gonna say “good luck” and ship me off again?! Before I could say anything, though, a flash of yellow light once again filled my vision.
“Ah, the summoning was a success.”
“Indeed. Let’s name this one ‘Guinea Pig Number Twelve.’”
The magic circle was still shining under my feet. Now that I think about it, the magic circle back in Haigen was a pale blue, but this one’s yellow. That was the least of my worries right now, though, because being dubbed a “guinea pig” gave me a pretty bad feeling.
“Luigi, use your Eye of Constriction on him just in case he has an offensive-type Magic Eye.”
Wait, “Luigi”? As in the green little brother of that guy with the mustache? Okay, I seriously need to stop getting distracted.
The mustacheless man named Luigi had the appearance of a knight. He walked up to me and shot me a piercing glare, and as I noticed a flash in his eye, I felt my body go numb.
“Restrain him too, just in case.”
The stern-looking guy standing before me ordered the others around me to shackle me with iron chains around my wrists, ankles, and neck. I couldn’t have resisted even if I wanted to. Some kind of magical power held me back.
“Mwa ha ha,” a man laughed maniacally. “Well done, Luigi.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“At last, we can resume our experiments.” The first man let out another maniacal laugh.
This guy really gave me a bad feeling. The man named Luigi had called him “Professor,” and he certainly looked the part—with a thin body draped in a white coat, and a monocle. He was, without a doubt, a mad scientist. Now that I had a chance to calmly look around, I could tell that I wasn’t in the best of situations. If I could not be summoned right into the lion’s den next time, that’d be just great. Man, Haigen Kingdom was heaven compared to this.
Once again, the professor laughed maniacally. “Welcome to our world, boy.”
I really hated the way he was smiling at me, and it didn’t help that he was getting all up in my face either. Get away from me! Your nose is about to touch me, you creep!
“You’re surprisingly calm...or maybe it’s that your brain simply hasn’t processed the situation you’re in? Or maybe you’re frozen with fear? Or maybe, your mind has already fled your body?”
I had no choice but to listen to this creep drone on. I couldn’t answer him even if I wanted to, since the numbness in my body apparently extended to my mouth as well. The most I could do was make my lips tremble. Since there was nothing else I could do anyway, I decided to let out a sigh.
“Hm? Giving up? Clever boy!”
Like I really had any other choice. Fighting back would just be a waste of energy—of course it was smarter to give up! But what could I do right now? It would’ve been awesome if someone barged in to save me, if this whole place collapsed, or anything else happened to thwart their plans. I needed to prepare myself for any of those situations playing out.
Of course, there was also the chance that none of that would happen. In that case, I needed to just stay calm.
“I can tell from your eyes that you’re a fighter! Quite the interesting boy. I’m so excited to perform experiments on you!” His maniacal laughter filled my ears.
That’s a hard pass from me. Why summon someone just to perform tests on them?
“I will be conducting experiments on your Magic Eye,” he continued. It was as if he’d read my mind. “Those who come here from other worlds arrive with a Magic Eye—there are no exceptions! It is my hypothesis that they receive their Magic Eye as they travel between worlds, and it is my duty to perform experiments on these individuals.”
Oh, I see. The Magic Eye he’s talking about must’ve been the Gift I received this time.
“Professor, begin the experiment. We, the Knights of Maran, have been instructed by the king to follow your orders for this experiment, but we’ve no intention of staying to listen to your idle chatter.”
“How rude of me,” said the professor. “I was thinking about how he’d make a good gift to the underworld...but I guess he won’t be going there for a long time.”
From the way he said that, I could infer that I was going to be kept alive for a while. In that case, during that period of time, maybe someone would come and save me. But then again, if this was all approved by the king, this experiment might be conducted with public acceptance. Didn’t look like I was going to be saved by these knights anytime soon either. Hm...do I have any chance of being rescued at all?
After he finished speaking with the stern-looking man, who was presumably the knight commander, the creepy guy looked back at me and held his hand up.
“It’d be most problematic if you were to flail around or lose your mind during all of this, so I shall hypnotize you. Mwa ha ha.” As he said this, a yellow magic circle appeared before his hand, and suddenly I felt as if a fog were creeping into my brain.
The world became hazy, and everything started to feel distant. It must have been a type of hypnosis spell that interfered with one’s mind—no, this had to have been a subjugation spell.
It was trying to compel me to obey his orders. The feeling of this was absolutely disgusting. As the fog continued to creep into my mind, however, I forcefully expelled it, casting aside his commands. I shot him a hateful glare. I’m not as helpless as you think.