Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume16 Chapter3

A so-called secret room naturally referred to a room which others could not find, hence there was no better hiding place. Once hiding inside, it was very hard to be discovered. Although they still held and suppressed their breaths when sensing people outside the door, fortunately, no other people from the Knights Dominion came to the superintendent's office again after the knights had searched the room once.

Hence—Un Izoey finished what she had to do first.

In other words, the promise.

"Mmm-hmm..."

"Oh..."

After Un Izoey finished her explanation, Kana and Taizou were sitting on the floor, their arms crossed, eyes closed, making this sort of humming sound. As for what emotions were occupying their hearts—That would be an unknown for Un Izoey.

She had already said what she needed to say.

Curses and cursed tools. The phenomenon of tools taking on human form after being excessively cursed. The various organizations knowing about curses. One of these organizations had now captured the school. As well as their goal—

Also the fact that there were a number of cursed tools at school in human form.

For the sake of lifting their curses, they had gathered in a certain place in this town.

Mincing no words, there were also Yachi Haruaki and Fear-in-Cube.

"Mumumuu...?"

"Hoo~ Muuuu~..."

Un Izoey knew that the truth was not that easy to accept. When excessively huge unknowns were turned into knowns, people would feel shocked as though their world had changed. Rebuilding a new worldview in their minds would take quite a long time, of course.

However, she believed they would not go as far as to "not believe." Since there was no time for unnecessary explanations, she had asked for Isuzu's assistance to turn back into a bell in front of them before returning to human form again. Although this was a reckless solution, there was definitely nothing more convincing.

(So...)

Just let them digest the information they were fed.

She could only do what was in her power. For the sake of breaking out of this predicament.

"So, what are we doing next? Just hide here the whole time?"

Chihaya was leaning her back against the wall, still dressed in gym clothes. She asked with her arms crossed. Standing by her side, Isuzu smiled at everyone.

"My answer: No. Listening to the conversation between knights, several unknown news became known."

"Oh? You found out something?"

Sovereignty suddenly leaned forward and asked.

"In other words, the person who performed the hypnosis is named Taciturn. Most likely the owner of that voice heard on the public announcement. Also, that woman is currently not inside the school."

"Did she go shopping? I really wish she could've taken us along."

Shiraho remarked sarcastically in her usual displeasure.

"No, the knights also said that this school is currently impossible to get in or out. Probably the power of the Wathe seen on the sports ground, which looks like barbed wire. With this—My question: why is this Taciturn woman outside the school? If an emergency came up, that woman will probably order the hypnotized students to harm themselves."

"You're saying if the silver-haired little girl broke the school wall and appeared, right...? In spite of that, the fact that she still went outside the school means—"

At this point, Chihaya frowned as though realizing something and said:

"It's possible to make hypnotic suggestions from outside the school too...?"

"Or she was outside all along. It is already known that the public announcement system is controlled from the broadcast room. Is there a way to remotely control the announcement system from far away to broadcast your voice?"

"Something like that... can be done in many ways. You can have someone holding a cellphone call her then just point the phone's speaker towards the mic in the broadcast room. But why exactly do it from outside the school?"

"This is still unknown. Maybe it's because of some kind of curse."

In any case, the current problem was—

Un Izoey took out her cellphone from her skirt pocket. There was still no signal.

Just by watching Un Izoey's action of confirming, Chihaya seemed to figure out something. Suddenly gasping, she said:

"As long as this Taciturn woman is still outside—This means that there's definitely some method inside the school to contact outside and vice versa, right? Some method that's unlike our cellphones whose signals are jammed."

"My answer: yes. I guessed the same, suggesting this kind of suggestion."

What excellent power of understanding despite clearly a younger age. If possible, Un Izoey really wanted to recruit Chihaya for the Lab Chief's Nation, but Ueno Kirika would probably kill her if she really did that, so she suppressed the thought.

So, if their guess was correct and the enemy side did have their own communications devices—

"I believe our next target is to contact the outside world again. Since the person able to control students with hypnosis, Taciturn, is not inside the school, taken with the fact that it is impossible to enter or exit the school right now, asking other people outside school to take care of her will be the fastest solution. I also thought about finding the signal jamming device to destroy it, but—"

"It's probably hard to find since things like that can be made very small in the modern age. So rather than finding the device, it's probably more practical to use the enemy's means of communications directly."

"Hmm... If that kind of device really exists, go ahead and try, but we won't be helping. Do you know what it looks like?"

Probably to kill time, Shiraho was combing Sovereignty's hair one moment and straightening out the wrinkles in her maid uniform the next, meanwhile answering indifferently.

"My answer: no. But I think it should not be very complicated."

"Please allow me to ask in fear and trepidation, why is that~?"

"In an emergency situation where orders need to be issued, which requires her to give the hostages hypnotic suggestions, threatening hostages becomes pointless if it takes too much time. It is pointless unless the communication device can be used easily and instantly, I guess this kind of guess."

"I see now~"

"Uh... Something like a special, modified cellphone should be enough, right? Since they prepared the signal jamming after all, all they need to do is set it up to avoid the interference."

Chihaya was speaking in a respectful tone of voice, because she was answering Shiraho as well. On the other hand, Shiraho simply responded coldly: "Oh~ I see."

"Uh... Then who will be holding that special cellphone thing? Someone of a higher position, I guess?"

"The knights just now said something about the three squad leaders being the actual ones to issue hypnosis commands. Also—there should be a detachment with a number of members sent out of the school. I really cannot believe they do not contact those teams at all. Based on that, the people holding means of communications should be higher ranked as expected. Although others might have them too, at least it is certain that targeting a knight squad leaders will not leave us emptyhanded."

"But... those people should be quite strong, right? Will it be okay?"

"Well..."

One could hardly blame Sovereignty for speaking with worry written all over her face. Speaking of knight squad leader rank, they would be on the same level of Lilyhowell. Judging from the fact that Sleif was conversing directly with the Dominion Lord on the sports ground, she might be one of them. In other words—even Un Izoey could not guarantee a victory. Although she was assuming a surprise attack, if the attack failed and the enemy called for reinforcements, the situation would only get more despairing.

Seeing Un Izoey's hesitation, Sovereignty went "Hmm~" and started to contemplate.

"Anyway, all we need is to get a hold of a cellphone carried by a powerful squad leader, right...? Hmm~ If we could come up with a perfect plan..."

After frowning for a while, she suddenly clapped her hands together.

"Shi~ra~ho~!"

She poked the cheek of Shiraho who was focused on removing dirt from the maid outfit's sleeves. Shiraho instantly said with a serious expression:

"I am not going to help, it's too troublesome. You are not allowed to help either, it's too dangerous."

"Eh~ But if this continues, we'll never get home, you know? And I was planning for us to cook curry together tonight."

"..."

"I wanna go home earlier to cook curry with you, Shiraho, then take a bath as usual and go to bed with my body all warm~ Umm... Don't you want that, Shiraho?"

Shiraho sighed deeply and said with a slight pout:

"Seriously... That's so unfair. Using such an adorable look on your face to ask me to indulge you, how could I possibly refuse... Can this be considered the husband ruling the roost?"

"Hmm?"

"...Fine. You're right, this is all for the sake of getting home earlier. Since things need to be done, let's do it."

"Yay~! Shiraho, thank you! That's why I love you so much~!"

Seeing Sovereignty hug Shiraho as hard as she could, Un Izoey relaxed her face.

Then Sovereignty gave a simple explanation of the plan she had thought of. Some parts needed adjustment—But it just might work.

"But please allow me to ask in fear and trepidation, do you know who is a knight squad leader~?"

Sleif instantly surfaced in Un Izoey's mind. But approaching her would incur too high a risk. Not only was she a Wathe but they had met once already, so something unpredictable could arise, hence they must target the other two leaders.

Naturally, Un Izoey had no idea what those two looked like, but—

"Although unknown, they can become known next."

"Oh... How?"

"You're not planning on torture and interrogation, right?"

Chihaya said with a frown.

"That is the last resort. Interrogating a soldier to get information is faster, but I want to avoid a commotion as much as possible."

"Then what will you do?"

Un Izoey nodded and answered seriously:

"Observe. In a hunt, I can tell which is the alpha male in a pack of animals just from observation."

"...Oh, sure."

For some reason, Chihaya was sighing speechlessly.

Finding out by watching was the truth. The alpha males usually had bigger bodies or were followed by many females, so it was clear from a glance.

Although the situation this time was a little different, she should be able to find a way. "Strongest in the group" is something that naturally exuded into the air. The more tension released together, the more obvious it was.

"So, I will search for the squad leader alone first. I will only memorize the appearance first, which means I will hide while searching. This could take some time, up to a few hours depending on conditions. Please hide here quietly."

This mission must not be messed up by impatience. Caution was paramount.

Listening to Chihaya and the others acknowledge understanding one after another, Un Izoey walked to the secret room's exit—

"Uh~ Un-chan? You're going outside?"

"For real? It's very dangerous outside, right?"

Originally humming "hmm" nonstop, Kana and Taizou both looked up to gaze at her.

"No problem, I will pay attention to safety."

Kana and Taizou looked at each other after Un Izoey said that.

"Umm, to be honest, although everything is still beyond my understanding..."

"Yeah~ I've got so much to ask you right now, to confirm. But we can read the current atmosphere after all. What a man of the year needs most is the ability to read moods at all times!"

"Who the heck is the man of the year!? Don't call yourself that on your own!"

Kana smacked Taizou on the shoulder with the bottom of her palm. Then the two of them smiled shyly at the same time but with very serious eyes.

"Well, anyway, that's that. I just want to say one thing—Take care."

"Yeah, that's right, you be careful."

Un Izoey relaxed her expression and nodded lightly. She was very grateful for their genuine feelings of concern.

Then she turned around and resumed walking to the exit.

She did not forget to leave behind the important words:

"I'll be back."