Ariel was a heinous criminal who had brutally murdered seven people and was now an expendable employee at MSS.
Walking down the corridor blindfolded, she sensed her end was near.
"Um, excuse ..."
"Quiet."
Ariel fell silent at the agent's cold voice.
As an expendable employee, her only freedom was her thoughts.
'The last expendable couldn't even die - they rged with the MS instead...'
Ariel felt wronged.
She had never killed even an ant in her life, yet here she was accused of serial murder.
She had no mory of ever hitting anyone, yet the witnesses and evidence were irrefutable.
As if soone had tampered with her mories.
Was she really living with a split personality?
Or maybe...
When Ariel stopped walking as a theory occurred to her, the agent roughly shoved her forward.
"Keep moving."
"Ah... yes..."
After walking another five minutes, the agent removed her blindfold.
Before her stood a massive chanical door.
As the agent stepped away, a voice ca through her earpiece.
"Nice to et you, Ariel. I'm Evelyn, leading this experint."
"...Yes."
So it begins.
Ariel nervously gripped her clothes.
This was her favorite white prison uniform.
"The MS is behind that door. We'll have a simple contact test, so don't worry too much. Understood?"
"...I understand."
"The door will open now. Don't approach the MS - stay where you are."
Ariel nodded at the empty air, and the massive laboratory door began to rise.
Small shoes appeared, then white ankles.
As the door rose further, she saw a bow and arrow aid at her.
"Eek!"
Ariel scread and collapsed to the floor.
She put her hands over her head and began trembling.
"Ariel! Stop screaming and look up!"
"P-please spare ... please..."
She had heard so MS weren't aggressive.
Just her luck to get a vicious one.
Panicking, Ariel lay face-down on the floor, trembling.
"Oh..."
Gyeoul could only stare in confusion.
She had aid her bow when the dungeon door opened, but a person erged instead of a monster.
Did she get scared thinking she would shoot?
Gyeoul quickly hid her bow and arrow behind her back.
"Um, excuse ..."
Gyeoul slowly approached the woman.
With her keen hearing, she could hear everything through the earpiece.
"Ariel, it's approaching! Pull yourself together!"
"S-stay back! Get away from , you monster!"
Ariel lay on the floor, frantically waving her hands.
Seeing this, Gyeoul backed away.
She had only been cautious, yet she called her a monster.
That was too harsh.
Gyeoul's ears and tail drooped dejectedly.
"Go away! I said go away!"
"Uu..."
If she wants to go, I'll go.
Gyeoul trudged to a corner of the containnt chamber.
She sat down heavily there, staring at the wall.
"Ariel...?"
"E-Evelyn, please save ... I really..."
"Ariel, get a hold of yourself and look. It's not aggressive."
"......"
They say it's not aggressive when it aid a bow at ?
Ariel was certain Evelyn was lying, but she grew confused when no arrows ca flying.
If it were an aggressive MS, it would have shot by now.
"Haa, haah..."
Breaking free from her panic, Ariel carefully raised her head.
Confused to find no one in front of her, she spotted sothing sitting in a corner staring at the wall.
'A child?'
She hadn't noticed earlier when she saw the bow and arrow first.
So this MS took the form of a child.
But not an ordinary child.
The tail on its back and ears on its head proved that.
The ears were drooping, and the tail tapped gently on the floor.
Its whole body expressed 'I'm sulking.'
As Evelyn said, it showed no signs of aggression.
Seeing it act so childlike, Ariel managed to collect herself.
"E-Evelyn, what should I do...?"
"...It seed to speak earlier. Let's first check if communication is possible?"
It spoke?
That would an it had intelligence.
Gulping, Ariel carefully approached Gyeoul.
"Um..."
She called out to the MS from a safe distance.
Gyeoul, who had been staring at the wall, carefully turned her head.
"Oh."
Gyeoul and Ariel faced each other.
The mont Ariel saw Gyeoul, she felt all her tension disappear.
An angelic face without flaw, and eyes full of innocence.
Those eyes drooped sadly at the corners.
'Was it because of ...?'
Did she beco dejected because she told her to go away and called her a monster?
Ariel felt guilty but quickly slapped her cheeks.
Though this was the most adorable and cute child she had ever seen, it was still an MS.
Who knew what evil it might possess.
While Ariel thought this, Gyeoul was studying her.
'A foreigner.'
Gyeoul couldn't help but be flustered seeing Ariel.
For Gyeoul, who was awkward with people, foreigners were ultimate-level difficulty beings.
'Should I speak English?'
Due to various confusing events, Gyeoul had forgotten they could already communicate.
She decided to try using English learned from children's programs watched with Levinas.
"H-hello... My na is Han Gyeoul..."
Gyeoul's clumsy English was translated in real-ti by MS's automatic translation technology.
Thanks to this, Ariel and the facility staff heard it like:
"H-hello... I'm Han Gyeoul..."
"Oh... hi..."
Though she wanted to stay wary, seeing her speak so timidly just made her seem cute.
Was this MS really not dangerous?
Ariel scratched her neck awkwardly at the strange encounter.
I looked up at the woman who introduced herself as Ariel.
Soone unknown was speaking to her through an earpiece.
"Ariel, could you ask the MS... Gyeoul why she ca here?"
"Um... I was going hunting and ca through a portal."
"...Can you hear ?"
"Yes. My ears are very good."
I perked up my ears to demonstrate, and a mont of silence followed.
As I also kept quiet, the voice in the earpiece addressed .
"What were you hunting?"
"Today I was just going to hunt so goblins."
"Goblins...?"
"They're green monsters about this big, with long noses like this..."
I used body language to describe what goblins look like.
A surprised female voice ca through the earpiece.
"Monsters, you hunt monsters?"
"Yes. I was going to test my new weapon against weak monsters."
I showed her the bow that Gaeul had enhanced.
Ariel didn't seem particularly interested in the weapon.
"So goblins are weak monsters."
"Yes, anyone who can handle weapons can hunt goblins."
"Then what's the strongest thing you can hunt?"
"Hmm... alone I've hunted up to level 3 monsters, but with my family's help I've even wounded stronger monsters."
Though not critically, I had managed to hit a death worm with my arrows.
Co to think of it, was the death worm from a level 6 dungeon?
Things were so chaotic then, I couldn't rember clearly.
"What kind of strong monsters?"
"A death worm - it's a huge worm with fangs."
"...A worm with fangs? You wounded a fanged worm with that bow?"
"Yes, but my family dealt the critical hits. I only wounded it."
My chest puffed out rembering my family easily taking down the death worm.
I felt a bit proud, but for so reason the voice in the earpiece sounded grave.
"We suffered heavy casualties against that fanged worm... the death worm."
"Yes, they're strong. They're level 6."
"What level of strength is level 6?"
"Um... it varies by person? It's really strong to , but might be really weak to others."
"...I see."
Silence fell again.
When no one spoke for a while, I decided to chat with Ariel.
"Ariel, sorry for aiming my bow earlier. I thought a monster was coming out."
"O-oh. You said you were hunting?"
"Yes."
I wonder if the tension had eased.
Grinning, I approached Ariel.
She flinched but very gently tapped my ears with her fingertips.
"They're soft."
"Want to pet them?"
"...Is that okay?"
"Yes. I like having my ears and head patted."
After so hesitation at my words, Ariel began playing with my ears.
I could see her expression softening.
"Here I thought you were so terrifying monster."
"M-...?"
"Yeah. That portal has only ever spat out monsters before."
"Ah..."
So that's why everyone was so wary and asking questions.
The situation made perfect sense.
"Gyeoul, you won't eat , right?"
Just as Ariel spoke playfully, the chamber door opened and people entered.
Among the soldiers in military uniforms was one person in a white coat.
I instinctively knew she was the one who had spoken through the earpiece.
"Hello?"
"Yes, hello."
"You said you can hunt monsters?"
"Yes..."
She looked at the bow and arrows on my back.
Then carefully spoke:
"Could you perhaps show us how you hunt monsters?"
"Monsters?"
"Yes. I'm curious how you kill things that don't die even after being hit with thousands of bullets."
"That's..."
Usually bullets don't work on monsters above a certain level.
This world seed to have mana, yet they didn't know this?
I looked around.
All the soldiers were carrying guns.
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