WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Escaping the Mystery Hotel ◈
Episode 36: Room 103, The Cursed Room - ‘Athanasia’s Human Ranch’ (5)
──────
[User: ██████
Date: Day ██
Current Location: Level 1, Room 103 (Curse Room - Athanasia’s Human Ranch)
Sage’s Advice: 3]
Through the Diverse Perspectives bracelet, I had learned the true nature of this “ranch.”
At first, I thought it was some kind of laboratory.
A massive lab stood on solid ground, like a structure built by humans, with spaces inside where the intelligence of various sentient beings was extracted.
I had also guessed that beneath it was an overwhelmingly huge room where “Teacher” was imprisoned.
The truth was completely different.
This facility was, absurdly enough, a massive alien spaceship!
Dozens of rooms revolved around the room where Teacher was confined, and that collection of rooms traveled endlessly through an immense expanse.
It was like a recreation of planets, including Earth, orbiting the sun while the sun itself raced endlessly along the edge of the galaxy.
Teacher’s role aboard this huge spaceship was not that of a research subject or object of study. Teacher was the engine that powered the entire ship.
I also understood what disabling the control devices meant.
It meant separating the two rooms that controlled the engine from the engine itself.
But...
On a spaceship flying through space, what would happen if just one connected room were detached?
Wouldn’t that room become lost in space, with no engine and no means of survival?
Startled, I looked at Estavio.
“If I remove the control device, what happens to this room?”
You ask what is obvious. It will become lost in space. It may collide with something, but the occupants will starve to death before then.
There is no need to worry. Even death is salvation to the “faces” in this room. You need only travel through the bracelet.
“What about you?”
What are you worried about? Have you come to feel affection for me in such a short time? If so, that is fortunate for me.
It is nothing. A brief rest will come, that is all...
Even that will not last forever. One day, this room’s nightmare will begin again, and the Devourer will restore my ego once more.
“Putting aside any affection I might feel for you, how am I supposed to get out of here without your help?”
Even without me, the Devourer will help you somehow. In the end, overcoming a trial is something the participant must do alone.
You will not learn the answer by asking me. In truth, it is laughable coming from me. I am already a loser who failed to overcome a trial.
You are a participant who still has a chance, yet you seek help from a loser? Believe in yourself...
Estavio refused to continue the conversation. I no longer expected any help from him either.
--------Clank!
A tremendous noise rang through the entire facility. In the middle of space, the connection to the engine had been severed.
The future of this room...
Let’s not think about it anymore. I was already too busy taking care of myself.
I ran my fingers over the bracelet, which I was finally getting used to using. It was time to jump to the room containing the second control device connected to the engine.
What on earth would be there?
There is one final thing to do.
“Didn’t you say there would be no more help?”
Before that, did I not say I could intervene twice? I should keep my promise...
The moment Estavio’s tentacles swept through the air, unfamiliar knowledge entered my mind.
I learned the true nature of the space containing the second control device. The moment I understood it, I also realized what I had to do.
Ah... this hotel was really driving me to the limit. Still, there wasn’t much left now.
* * *
This place was completely different.
This room was nothing like the nightmare farms that embodied imaginary hells I had seen throughout the “spaceship.”
Despite being built by a species with a completely different sense of aesthetics, its interior had a gentle atmosphere. It was warm, too.
Soft carpets and various objects that looked like toys.
Of course. This was a place for protecting and educating Athanasia juveniles, in other words, children.
I had come here to turn it into hell.
As I walked deeper into the room, little starfish wriggled toward me as though they were looking at a strange animal.
Could Athanasia not walk upright when they were young?
Come to think of it, human children crawled around when they were little too. They were juveniles, but already larger than I was.
As I walked among them, I thought about why the Pain Farm and the kindergarten were in charge of controlling the engine. The answer was not difficult to reach.
They were the places Athanasia considered the safest.
Most of the other rooms were ranches where Athanasia gathered and exploited alien sentient beings.
Just as I was doing now, they must have considered the possibility that alien sentient beings might rebel.
In the Pain Farm, on the other hand, every sentient being except Athanasia had been reduced to a severed head and tortured forever. Without bodies, they could not resist.
There were only Athanasia juveniles in the kindergarten, so there were no dangerous elements.
They probably never considered the possibility that some insane “livestock” would steal a bracelet with the engine’s help...
It should be appearing soon, shouldn’t it? I loitered among the “children.”
Obviously, there couldn’t be only children in a kindergarten.
Of course, Teacher had to appear. Teacher, who had control authority over the room, had to appear before I could proceed.
You. Who. Are. You.
A sharp voice pierced my mind like needles.
Compared to Estavio’s voice, which had almost felt like talking to a person, this one sounded awkward somehow.
When I turned around, I saw an adult Athanasia.
“Who knows? Maybe a lost chicken that escaped from a poultry farm?”
Come. Out. Of. There.
“Are you planning to use Diverse Perspectives the moment I come out from among the children?
“I learned after using this thing that, when this many sentient beings are gathered together, it unexpectedly can’t identify a specific target.”
I. Know. You. You. Have. Theodus’s. [Bracelet]. Turn. Back. You. Will. Be. Forgiven.
“It’s really hard to understand you. Sorry, but I still have a lot to do.”
You. Do. Not. Understand. Me. You-
-----------Raaaaaaaah!
Teacher’s brilliantly multicolored cry rang out once more! How could someone feel color through sound? I had been waiting for this mysterious sound to echo through the room!
The moment it rang out, the adult Athanasia froze like stone.
There was no one here like Estavio, who had guided me right up to the control device in the Pain Farm. So...
Now I had to break this kindergarten teacher’s spirit.
* * *
----Stab!
I killed one.
----Stab!
I killed two.
How many had I killed? I counted up to five, but I no longer knew.
The only thing I knew for certain was that the entire room was filled with starfish I could kill.
My attempt to free Teacher by controlling the adult Athanasia with the bracelet in the Engine Room had failed.
The bracelet’s power was truly overwhelming, but I was a complete novice as its user.
With my skill, I could not fully deceive an adult Athanasia’s transcendent mind.
But... could I not control the juveniles instead?
Athanasia were merely mortal creatures, only a little stronger than humans. They had not been born as godlike beings.
After that, it was far too easy.
I lightly stroked a juvenile’s head and “taught” it that another Athanasia’s head looked like delicious food. The child happily began to eat.
------Grrrrrk.
------Urrrgh.
Strange sounds began to come from the adult Athanasia that Teacher had frozen in place.
Was that its mouth? I wasn’t sure, but an odd liquid flowed from a hole that had formed in its body, and its tentacles began to tremble.
What did I look like to that being?
A chicken that had been raised in a poultry farm until yesterday had escaped, suddenly picked up a gun, invaded a kindergarten, and started shooting children dead en masse.
It probably felt like watching a nightmare it could never have imagined, even in its dreams.
“When I came here, my biggest worry was, what if we can’t communicate?
“Before meeting Estavio, I’d never once spoken with any of you.
“But looking at it now, you were perfectly capable of communicating with us.”
----Stab! Ehehe!
Apparently, its friend’s head tasted quite good. I had made it that way, but still.
“You can understand me even now, right? I want to go to the control device.”
The truth was, I had no intention of accepting the adult Athanasia’s help.
Conversation. Communication. Negotiation. Those peaceful methods were for when you had no way to dominate the other side.
Why talk or negotiate when I held a tool that could control the other party’s mind?
I only had to wait for its mind to collapse, until it could no longer resist even my clumsy control.
----Riiip!
This time, the juvenile I controlled tore off another child’s tentacle and began eating it. I had chosen the largest-looking child and started controlling it, but it was pretty violent.
Even in the children’s world, there were differences in size.
As what would be the equivalent of a four or five-year-old child began acting violently, the ones closer to infants were busy crawling around and making strange noises.
Slosh.
Something collapsed. When I turned my head, I saw the adult Athanasia’s trembling tentacles sagging down like thoroughly boiled noodles.
I understood at once. It had broken. At last, the adult’s mind had collapsed under the horrible nightmare.
After that, everything proceeded smoothly.
The adult accepted my control through Diverse Perspectives without any further resistance, and I separated the kindergarten from the engine.
Now, the last step. Just one more.
I had to return to the Engine Room.
* * *
The moment I jumped outside the Engine Room, I saw a face so familiar and dearly missed.
“Song-i! Ugh... sob... I missed you so, so much. I waited for you to come to this scary place, sob...”
Footnotes:
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