So, we take turns napping while alternating between torture and meals.
…You see, as we speed up the perception of time, what was initially every 8 hours becomes faster, eventually reaching every 4 hours.
In other words, if we don’t sleep in shifts, we’ll have to wake up every four hours.
To increase the pace of hunger, we make them vomit, and to confuse their senses, we use water torture, among other inventive methods.
As for me, I can’t keep making porridge every four hours, so I cook three kinds at once, sleep for three hours, distribute them, sleep for another three hours, wake up, and start cooking the next meal.
Plus, I also have to cook our own meals, which is beginning to scramble my brains…
Unfortunately, there’s only one Rosemary, so I end up like a mother woken up by a crying baby at night.
But instead of a crying baby, it’s the porridge boiling over that wakes me up…
Well, if there’s any advantage to this, it’s that the prisoners, who seem to be growing concerned as Rosemary becomes increasingly sleep-deprived and tired, are starting to show some sympathy.
Especially Fukuyama.
…Ah, speaking of which, as mentioned before, there’s no wall near the ceiling in this room, so the space is connected. That means sounds and voices leak out quite a bit.
As a result, Fukuyama’s righteous indignation (laughs) has started to spread to the other prisoners.
Thanks to that, by the eighth round of meal distribution, the prisoners are becoming quite friendly.
However, I’m sorry that the meals are always just porridge. But no forgiveness. So it will be porridge from now on! Be thankful you have something to eat!
Well, as we were about to have our tenth meal distribution, a momentous occasion, President came.
It seems that after ten rounds of torture, even we are starting to feel the strain, showing signs of fatigue.
“This is bad. An unforeseen situation has arisen.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It’s Stockholm syndrome.”
…
That is… yes, that’s not good.
…Stockholm syndrome is.
To put it simply and broadly, it’s a phenomenon where victims who have been kidnapped or taken hostage during a siege begin to feel a sense of closeness or affection towards their captors.
In this case… it means the prisoners are feeling this… towards the people torturing them… yeah.
This was completely unexpected.
“Just to be sure, it’s the girls who’ve got Stockholm? And there’s no Lima syndrome happening, right?”
“It’s the girls. And we are normal, of course.”
Contrary to Stockholm syndrome, there’s something called Lima syndrome, where the perpetrators develop a fondness or a sense of closeness to the victims.
However, Lima syndrome tends to occur when the perpetrators’ indices of living intelligence and the like are extremely lower than those of the victims, so it doesn’t apply here, but just to be sure.
“It would be understandable if the object of their affection was Suzumoto or someone, but disgustingly, that’s probably not the case.”
Don’t call it disgusting.
“For now, Maito-san. We will handle the next distribution, so please get some sleep.”
“Really? Is that okay?”
“Yes. Rosemary is being punished for starting to get along with the prisoners.”
“I see.”
So you’re going to take a gamble here? That means I’m freed from being the porridge guardian! Hooray!
“Dragging this out any longer will only make them more blindly devoted, and continuing is tough on us too because of our own physical stamina and such.”
Yeah, I get it. As someone who’s been repeatedly woken up by the cries of porridge at night, I really do understand.
“Maito-san, you may have work to do later, so please take this chance to get some proper rest.”
“Work? What kind of work, specifically?”
“Perhaps the ‘Sleep Cocoon’?”
…Yeah. Very specific.
But I guess that makes sense. Unless we need to use it for hostages to pull out the former king’s side, it’s easier and better to just put everyone to sleep and stuff them somewhere.
“Then I’ll be off, so please get some sleep, Maito-san. Let’s see, I don’t think we’ll be moving for about 9 hours, so please rest easy.”
“Are you guys going to be okay?”
“We’ve been taking turns sleeping quite a bit. Don’t worry about us and just sleep.”
I see. Then I’ll take you up on that offer and sleep without holding back.
When I woke up, my eyes met with those of Suzumoto.
…Deja vu!
“Ah, um, I came to wake you up.”
“Then hurry up and do it!”
It’s quite a shock to open your eyes and immediately lock eyes with someone!
“…It’s just… you seemed to be sleeping so peacefully…”
…Is that so, huh… well… sorry about that. Don’t look so apologetic…
“Any progress?”
“…Yeah, President said that probably this is as far as the information goes. So, it’s your turn, Maito-san.”
I see. Alright, then I guess I’m up.
“Ah, and President said to change clothes and come back as a different person.”
Hmm, so someone other than Rosemary. I guess I’ll go as the ghost maid Euralia.
If I have to change clothes… well, maybe the clothes I wore to the gladiator tournament will do.
Alright, I’ll go get changed.
After changing and disguising myself as Euralia, in a general blue-gray color, I spoke with President for a bit before heading down to the basement to put the prisoners to sleep.
I opened the individual cells, and as the prisoners were bewildered by the arrival of a person they had never seen before, I cast “Sleep Cocoon” on them and quickly moved on to the next cell.
With MP recovery in between, I swiftly cast “Sleep Cocoon” on all 27 prisoners. Yeah, that was straightforward!
Now, I guess I’ll see what information has come out.
Once all the prisoners were gathered in one place, we had a meeting.
“As a result of cross-referencing the information obtained, it can be said that they probably didn’t know any way to return to their original world other than the temple ceremony.”
There’s no particular doubt about that. The temple… or rather, the former High Priest probably didn’t want it to be known that there was another way back to the original world.
“As for the other students and the classroom, there was information from several people. In addition to testimonies that they were seen in the royal capital and Deichemoore, it seems that some have been confirmed in a country located to the northeast of Deichemoore. There was no new information about the classroom.”
Hmm, it’s clear now that there’s a country to the northeast. That might be our next destination.
“Regarding the connection with the former king, everyone except Fukuyama was approached by Fukuyama, and it appears that Fukuyama had contact with the former king who had fled to the royal capital. It’s mostly a matter of luck.”
Whether the former king was lucky or not… it was bad luck, wasn’t it?
By now, he must be thoroughly wrung out by Itoigawa-senpai. Namu.
“Lastly, regarding the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ and the Hero’s life (physical), this might be a bit troublesome.”
First off, this problematic situation… the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ are not in the temple, and the High Priest doesn’t know their whereabouts, which is a very unpleasant situation. This was due to the system of the heroes’ life (physical).
To start with, about life (physical), the heroes have actually died several times each.
…And when they die, they “restart from the High Priest of the temple,” so to speak.
The contract necessary for their revival was explained as the “Hero’s Contract,” that is, the operation that separates the life from the physical body, the glass of life.
And it seems they had to redo this contract every time they came back to life.
…Based on the related information obtained so far, my guess is this: by separating life, the heroes are left in a state of just a body, and when that body dies, it is resurrected with a “Spirit Medicine,” resulting in revival.
Then, if you separate the life from the resurrected hero again, you can create an infinite loop.
…And then comes the discussion of the ‘Ashes of the Abyss.’
As you know, the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ are an ingredient for Spirit Medicine.
And indeed, the “Spirit Medicine” was used over and over again for the revival of the heroes, which means it was also made repeatedly. However, there were no ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ in the temple, and the High Priest did not know where they were.
…The answer derived from this is only one.
The former High Priest stupidly used the “Spirit Medicine” to resurrect the heroes, thus depleting the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ that were stocked in the temple. And he didn’t even know how to acquire more.
And since he didn’t know the method of acquisition, it must have been something that had always been there in the temple.
…It’s really up to Miss Arianne now.
It’s one of the temple’s messes, so well, let’s get it sorted out…
But really, didn’t the former High Priest lack any kind of planning? There might still be a stock of “Spirit Medicine” in the temple, but using up something that can no longer be produced like it’s nothing… that’s nothing short of foolish.
It’s regrettable that Miss Arianne has to clean up after such foolishness…
For now, we decided to wait until nightfall before heading to the temple and to take it easy in the meantime, as it’s been a while since we had a break.
Yes, considering the irregular sleep patterns, the mentally taxing acts of torture, and the fact that all this followed the battle without much of a break, it was concluded that rest was necessary.
Since it’s just past noon now, everyone is free to spend their time as they wish until dinner.
Those who are sleepy head off to their futons, those who are bored play cards, and I am busy mass-producing pudding.
After all, sweet things are good when you’re tired. Fortunately, in this party, no one dislikes sweets, which is a relief.
The reason for making pudding is not only to treat ourselves for our hard work but also to say thank you to Itoigawa-senpai, who is still going strong after three consecutive all-nighters.
Since there’s a chocolate-like confectionery in this world, I made chocolate pudding.
Anticipating that Itoigawa-senpai could eat a tremendous amount of chocolate pudding, I made quite a lot.
Well, we have a food storage (classroom) with otherworldly quality that doesn’t have any problems with preserving food, so having leftovers is not an issue.
I also prepared for tonight’s dinner.
I think I’ll make stuffed cabbage rolls for tonight. The kind simmered in tomato. When you’re feeling a bit weary, you just crave something simmered in tomato, right? Yes.
After preparing dinner, I joined the group playing cards, and then Itoigawa-senpai, who was completely exhausted, returned.
“I did it. I really did it… Maito—”
Senior came towards me, staggering like a ghost, and then clung to me tightly.
“Ufufufufufu Maito— Maito— so soft— so warm— smells nice— ufufufufu”
“Senpai, I understand you’re tired, but please let go of Maito. Her ribs are quite fragile.”
Despite my ribs screaming under Senpai’s merciless bear hug, thanks to Suzumoto pulling her off me, I was spared from any breaks. Really, give me a break!
“Senpai, the chocolate pudding is chilled. Would you like some?”
When I spoke to Itoigawa-senpai, who had collapsed and was lying prostrate,
“Pudding!”
she revived, her eyes sparkling.
…Alright. From now on, let’s call the chocolate pudding the exclusive spirit medicine for Itoigawa-senpai.
Now, with this, I wonder if we’ve somehow settled the matters in this country, right?
So, we take turns napping while alternating between torture and meals.
…You see, as we speed up the perception of time, what was initially every 8 hours becomes faster, eventually reaching every 4 hours.
In other words, if we don’t sleep in shifts, we’ll have to wake up every four hours.
To increase the pace of hunger, we make them vomit, and to confuse their senses, we use water torture, among other inventive methods.
As for me, I can’t keep making porridge every four hours, so I cook three kinds at once, sleep for three hours, distribute them, sleep for another three hours, wake up, and start cooking the next meal.
Plus, I also have to cook our own meals, which is beginning to scramble my brains…
Unfortunately, there’s only one Rosemary, so I end up like a mother woken up by a crying baby at night.
But instead of a crying baby, it’s the porridge boiling over that wakes me up…
Well, if there’s any advantage to this, it’s that the prisoners, who seem to be growing concerned as Rosemary becomes increasingly sleep-deprived and tired, are starting to show some sympathy.
Especially Fukuyama.
…Ah, speaking of which, as mentioned before, there’s no wall near the ceiling in this room, so the space is connected. That means sounds and voices leak out quite a bit.
As a result, Fukuyama’s righteous indignation (laughs) has started to spread to the other prisoners.
Thanks to that, by the eighth round of meal distribution, the prisoners are becoming quite friendly.
However, I’m sorry that the meals are always just porridge. But no forgiveness. So it will be porridge from now on! Be thankful you have something to eat!
Well, as we were about to have our tenth meal distribution, a momentous occasion, President came.
It seems that after ten rounds of torture, even we are starting to feel the strain, showing signs of fatigue.
“This is bad. An unforeseen situation has arisen.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It’s Stockholm syndrome.”
…
That is… yes, that’s not good.
…Stockholm syndrome is.
To put it simply and broadly, it’s a phenomenon where victims who have been kidnapped or taken hostage during a siege begin to feel a sense of closeness or affection towards their captors.
In this case… it means the prisoners are feeling this… towards the people torturing them… yeah.
This was completely unexpected.
“Just to be sure, it’s the girls who’ve got Stockholm? And there’s no Lima syndrome happening, right?”
“It’s the girls. And we are normal, of course.”
Contrary to Stockholm syndrome, there’s something called Lima syndrome, where the perpetrators develop a fondness or a sense of closeness to the victims.
However, Lima syndrome tends to occur when the perpetrators’ indices of living intelligence and the like are extremely lower than those of the victims, so it doesn’t apply here, but just to be sure.
“It would be understandable if the object of their affection was Suzumoto or someone, but disgustingly, that’s probably not the case.”
Don’t call it disgusting.
“For now, Maito-san. We will handle the next distribution, so please get some sleep.”
“Really? Is that okay?”
“Yes. Rosemary is being punished for starting to get along with the prisoners.”
“I see.”
So you’re going to take a gamble here? That means I’m freed from being the porridge guardian! Hooray!
“Dragging this out any longer will only make them more blindly devoted, and continuing is tough on us too because of our own physical stamina and such.”
Yeah, I get it. As someone who’s been repeatedly woken up by the cries of porridge at night, I really do understand.
“Maito-san, you may have work to do later, so please take this chance to get some proper rest.”
“Work? What kind of work, specifically?”
“Perhaps the ‘Sleep Cocoon’?”
…Yeah. Very specific.
But I guess that makes sense. Unless we need to use it for hostages to pull out the former king’s side, it’s easier and better to just put everyone to sleep and stuff them somewhere.
“Then I’ll be off, so please get some sleep, Maito-san. Let’s see, I don’t think we’ll be moving for about 9 hours, so please rest easy.”
“Are you guys going to be okay?”
“We’ve been taking turns sleeping quite a bit. Don’t worry about us and just sleep.”
I see. Then I’ll take you up on that offer and sleep without holding back.
When I woke up, my eyes met with those of Suzumoto.
…Deja vu!
“Ah, um, I came to wake you up.”
“Then hurry up and do it!”
It’s quite a shock to open your eyes and immediately lock eyes with someone!
“…It’s just… you seemed to be sleeping so peacefully…”
…Is that so, huh… well… sorry about that. Don’t look so apologetic…
“Any progress?”
“…Yeah, President said that probably this is as far as the information goes. So, it’s your turn, Maito-san.”
I see. Alright, then I guess I’m up.
“Ah, and President said to change clothes and come back as a different person.”
Hmm, so someone other than Rosemary. I guess I’ll go as the ghost maid Euralia.
If I have to change clothes… well, maybe the clothes I wore to the gladiator tournament will do.
Alright, I’ll go get changed.
After changing and disguising myself as Euralia, in a general blue-gray color, I spoke with President for a bit before heading down to the basement to put the prisoners to sleep.
I opened the individual cells, and as the prisoners were bewildered by the arrival of a person they had never seen before, I cast “Sleep Cocoon” on them and quickly moved on to the next cell.
With MP recovery in between, I swiftly cast “Sleep Cocoon” on all 27 prisoners. Yeah, that was straightforward!
Now, I guess I’ll see what information has come out.
Once all the prisoners were gathered in one place, we had a meeting.
“As a result of cross-referencing the information obtained, it can be said that they probably didn’t know any way to return to their original world other than the temple ceremony.”
There’s no particular doubt about that. The temple… or rather, the former High Priest probably didn’t want it to be known that there was another way back to the original world.
“As for the other students and the classroom, there was information from several people. In addition to testimonies that they were seen in the royal capital and Deichemoore, it seems that some have been confirmed in a country located to the northeast of Deichemoore. There was no new information about the classroom.”
Hmm, it’s clear now that there’s a country to the northeast. That might be our next destination.
“Regarding the connection with the former king, everyone except Fukuyama was approached by Fukuyama, and it appears that Fukuyama had contact with the former king who had fled to the royal capital. It’s mostly a matter of luck.”
Whether the former king was lucky or not… it was bad luck, wasn’t it?
By now, he must be thoroughly wrung out by Itoigawa-senpai. Namu.
“Lastly, regarding the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ and the Hero’s life (physical), this might be a bit troublesome.”
First off, this problematic situation… the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ are not in the temple, and the High Priest doesn’t know their whereabouts, which is a very unpleasant situation. This was due to the system of the heroes’ life (physical).
To start with, about life (physical), the heroes have actually died several times each.
…And when they die, they “restart from the High Priest of the temple,” so to speak.
The contract necessary for their revival was explained as the “Hero’s Contract,” that is, the operation that separates the life from the physical body, the glass of life.
And it seems they had to redo this contract every time they came back to life.
…Based on the related information obtained so far, my guess is this: by separating life, the heroes are left in a state of just a body, and when that body dies, it is resurrected with a “Spirit Medicine,” resulting in revival.
Then, if you separate the life from the resurrected hero again, you can create an infinite loop.
…And then comes the discussion of the ‘Ashes of the Abyss.’
As you know, the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ are an ingredient for Spirit Medicine.
And indeed, the “Spirit Medicine” was used over and over again for the revival of the heroes, which means it was also made repeatedly. However, there were no ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ in the temple, and the High Priest did not know where they were.
…The answer derived from this is only one.
The former High Priest stupidly used the “Spirit Medicine” to resurrect the heroes, thus depleting the ‘Ashes of the Abyss’ that were stocked in the temple. And he didn’t even know how to acquire more.
And since he didn’t know the method of acquisition, it must have been something that had always been there in the temple.
…It’s really up to Miss Arianne now.
It’s one of the temple’s messes, so well, let’s get it sorted out…
But really, didn’t the former High Priest lack any kind of planning? There might still be a stock of “Spirit Medicine” in the temple, but using up something that can no longer be produced like it’s nothing… that’s nothing short of foolish.
It’s regrettable that Miss Arianne has to clean up after such foolishness…
For now, we decided to wait until nightfall before heading to the temple and to take it easy in the meantime, as it’s been a while since we had a break.
Yes, considering the irregular sleep patterns, the mentally taxing acts of torture, and the fact that all this followed the battle without much of a break, it was concluded that rest was necessary.
Since it’s just past noon now, everyone is free to spend their time as they wish until dinner.
Those who are sleepy head off to their futons, those who are bored play cards, and I am busy mass-producing pudding.
After all, sweet things are good when you’re tired. Fortunately, in this party, no one dislikes sweets, which is a relief.
The reason for making pudding is not only to treat ourselves for our hard work but also to say thank you to Itoigawa-senpai, who is still going strong after three consecutive all-nighters.
Since there’s a chocolate-like confectionery in this world, I made chocolate pudding.
Anticipating that Itoigawa-senpai could eat a tremendous amount of chocolate pudding, I made quite a lot.
Well, we have a food storage (classroom) with otherworldly quality that doesn’t have any problems with preserving food, so having leftovers is not an issue.
I also prepared for tonight’s dinner.
I think I’ll make stuffed cabbage rolls for tonight. The kind simmered in tomato. When you’re feeling a bit weary, you just crave something simmered in tomato, right? Yes.
After preparing dinner, I joined the group playing cards, and then Itoigawa-senpai, who was completely exhausted, returned.
“I did it. I really did it… Maito—”
Senior came towards me, staggering like a ghost, and then clung to me tightly.
“Ufufufufufu Maito— Maito— so soft— so warm— smells nice— ufufufufu”
“Senpai, I understand you’re tired, but please let go of Maito. Her ribs are quite fragile.”
Despite my ribs screaming under Senpai’s merciless bear hug, thanks to Suzumoto pulling her off me, I was spared from any breaks. Really, give me a break!
“Senpai, the chocolate pudding is chilled. Would you like some?”
When I spoke to Itoigawa-senpai, who had collapsed and was lying prostrate,
“Pudding!”
she revived, her eyes sparkling.
…Alright. From now on, let’s call the chocolate pudding the exclusive spirit medicine for Itoigawa-senpai.
Now, with this, I wonder if we’ve somehow settled the matters in this country, right?
