Chapter 21: Knight Attendant (Tsukaeshi) ⑨ – Training Begins.
The chimera’s eyeballs were huge—about the size of a baseball.
When I tried to harvest one, the knife melted.
“…………”
I had a bad feeling. I really did.
So, when I went to gouge out the eyeball from behind using the goddess’s charm-knife, a viscous liquid seeped out from the gap, hissing and smoking.
When I pulled the knife back—its blade was dissolving with a hiss and sizzle.
Panicking, I threw it away, and it melted completely.
“……”
“My, how dreadful.”
Lupinas-san said without a hint of malice.
I switched to Agaro-san’s modified knife and managed to extract both eyeballs of the chimera subspecies, storing them in a large jar.
I wondered if I should add some kind of preservative, so I poured in some elixir.
It looked grotesque. Just what kind of training machine uses materials like these, anyway?
Shiro-san came over carrying a tea table. The wall of light had already vanished.
“Looks like it’s over.”
“Mm. You have our thanks.”
“Much obliged.”
“Mm… nice… wall.”
“It’s nothing. Wof-kun, looks like you got the materials.”
“Yes, thanks to everyone.”
“In that case, let’s head back to the surface.”
No objections. We left the Fire Dungeon.
For now, we all headed to the witch’s house.
““““““Welcome home, Master.””””””
Munieka-san, dressed like a maid, stood at the center—wait, what…?
“Th-this is…”
“Quite a sight to behold.”
“Mm… good work.”
“…I-I’m home.”
“What an amusing touch.”
With Munieka at the center, Shardina and the Menos Dolls lined up to greet us.
W-what on earth?
“Members of Torquetum. Lady Shiro. The baths have been prepared.”
“What…!?”
“There’s a bathing hall?”
“…Liv… bath… love…”
“This way, please. I will guide you.”
Shardina said stiffly, and led them off.
Torquetum went to bathe. Shiro handed her tea set to Munieka before joining them. The other Menos Dolls busied themselves briskly with housework.
“W-what is going on here?”
“Is there a problem?”
“It’s Shardina and the Menos Dolls. They’re basically maids now.”
“They are maids, Master. They are maids.”
“No, but…”
“Master. Listen carefully. If they are wearing maid uniforms, they are maids.”
“…I-is that so…”
“Besides, since they are based on me, they can do their work properly.”
Indeed, there wasn’t anything amateurish about their movements.
“But how did it come to this?”
“I spoke with Shardina and the others. I asked them what they wanted to do, what they wished for. They all said they wanted to work for Master, to serve, to devote themselves. Thus, the Munieka Maid Corps was born.”
The… Munieka Maid Corps.
While I stood there bewildered, Shardina bowed her head.
Instinctively, I activated Silent One.
“P-pleased… to… serve. Master.”
(Someday, I will definitely push you down, Master.)
Why!?
“Y-yeah, pleased to work with you.”
Shardina smiled sweetly, though for a fleeting moment she shot me a challenging glance. Then, at Munieka’s orders, she went off to the kitchen. Good grief.
“Munieka-san, what about the witch and Haiyaan?”
“They’re in the lab.”
“Then I’ll head there.”
“In that case, this way.”
Munieka gestured to a tall mirror in the hallway.
Huh? Was there always a mirror here?
Wait—why does it look familiar… no way. There was a keyhole.
I instinctively looked at Munieka for an explanation.
She said nothing, just indicated the keyhole.
Of course. I inserted the key and turned it.
The mirror rippled, revealing a different scene.
A room full of stacked wooden crates… I see.
“You linked them.”
The mirror was a teleportation gate. It now connected my house to the witch’s.
“Yes. The witch and Haiyaan set it up.”
I really wish they’d asked the homeowner first.
Stepping through, I emerged in the storeroom on the other side.
It was still just as it had been when Dagaa was born.
I should really clean up. Thinking that, I headed for the watchtower.
On the first floor was another mirror—another teleportation gate.
I passed through, arriving in the lab where the witch and Haiyaan were.
Tables lined the walls, cluttered with alchemy tools and materials.
The witch was busy mixing something. She smiled at me.
“Welcome back, welcome back, Wof-boy.”
“You’ve returned, Wof.”
“I’m back. And I brought the goods.”
I set the harvested eyeballs on the desk. Haiyaan examined them.
“Yes, these are exactly what we need. We can begin crafting at once.”
Haiyaan operated the panel, and the table activated.
The eyeballs, jar and all, were swallowed into it.
On the floating display in midair, numbers appeared in percentages.
Then, from the center of the four tables, a platform rose up, carrying a metallic cylinder.
At both ends of the cylinder, eyeballs were attached.
“…A training machine?”
“Good. Now, let’s head to the training room. Wof, bring that with you.”
“Y-yes.”
I picked up the cylinder. It was surprisingly heavy.
Haiyaan stood before the door to the right of the lab’s entrance, and it opened.
Beyond it was a plain white room, fairly spacious, with a control booth on the left.
At the center was a pedestal.
“Set the cylinder on that pedestal.”
“Here?”
I placed it down. Haiyaan moved into the control booth.
“Wof. We’ll test run it.”
As he spoke, the pedestal sank into the floor with a clunk. The room darkened, and red lines ran across the walls.
At the far end of the room, an eyeball floated into view.
The chimera’s eye gleamed ominously—at once, I understood. [Evil Eye].
My body froze, locked in place like a paralysis spell.
“…Haiyaan!?”
“Seems it’s functioning correctly. I’ll release it now.”
The paralysis lifted, though the eyeball still floated there.
“……”
“Ah—Wof. Let me explain. Thanks to integrating the [Evil Eye] into this training room, we can now generate it freely at will!”
“…What…?”
This was over-technology as always. Ridiculously, absurdly so.
“What is your objective, Wof?”
“To control [Vanish]. To use my gaze like Alweld did.”
“—Exactly. Listen carefully. Here’s the training method: At set intervals, [Evil Eye] will activate and release. If you don’t want to be paralyzed, don’t erase the eyeball with [Vanish]. Instead, negate only the [Evil Eye]. Even if you destroy the eyeball, it will regenerate immediately. Training ends automatically after one hour. Understood?”
“What’s the goal?”
“To cancel only [Evil Eye] consecutively. Let’s say… ten times in a row for the first target.”
One hour. Ten times in a row canceling only the [Evil Eye] without erasing the eyeball… Alright. I’ll do it.
“Start it, Haiyaan.”
“Very well. Training begins.”
I braced myself.
Even if it’s just once, I’ll succeed.