Horror Game Developer: My games aren't that scary!

Chapter 793: A bunch of lunatics [3]

The Guild Master opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He seemed too speechless to know what to say.

Eventually, his gaze moved towards the man with silver-rimmed glasses, who looked as though he had quite a few things to say. After staring at him for a moment, the Guild Master shook his head and turned back towards the projection.

“As I was saying…”

Oh.

He was actually continuing.

I settled into my chair, rather pleased with how things had turned out.

“The woman inflicts her own pain onto others. She isn’t controlling them. The movements you saw were their reactions to what they were experiencing.”

He changed the image, bringing up another section of the hall.

“When she hurts herself, someone else suffers the same thing. That’s why taking their weapons away didn’t help.”

I whistled.

“…That’s interesting.”

No, really.

It was really interesting.

Ariel could control people, but this seemed to be something else entirely. The woman didn’t even need to make someone do anything. She could simply hurt herself and let them deal with it.

How… sadistic.

“What happens if she stubs her toe? That must be even worse than slicing her head off.”

I blurted out my inner thoughts without even realizing it.

The Guild Master’s hand stopped against the remote.

“…..”

That was a genuine question.

I had hit mine against the corner of a desk before. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Well, a few people.

My gaze briefly moved towards the man with silver-rimmed glasses before returning to the projection.

“We’ve been reviewing the recordings to determine how she chooses her targets,” the Guild Master continued. “Unfortunately, we haven’t found anything conclusive.”

He was ignoring me.

Fair enough.

I picked up my sunglasses and slipped them on as another image appeared.

“We initially considered distance. However, some of those closest to her were unaffected, while others farther away were targeted.”

“Then it could be her line of sight.”

“Possibly. But the footage doesn’t give us a clear enough view to confirm that.”

The image showed the woman standing beside one of the broken pillars. Part of her face was hidden beneath her hair, making it difficult to tell where she was looking.

I tilted my head slightly.

“…Hmm?”

The man beside me glanced over.

I lowered my sunglasses a little, looked at the screen again, then let them settle back into place.

He moved his chair away from mine.

The way he looked at me was rather rude. He was looking at me as if I was crazy, but I wasn’t crazy.

I had my own reasons.

“The scout recordings haven’t been much better.”

The Guild Master said.

“There are too many obstructions, and none of them show the entire hall. We haven’t been able to get any more information. We’re… stuck.”

My ears perked up.

“Then what exactly are you proposing?”

The question came from a woman near the end of the table.

The Guild Master put down the remote.

“A different approach. Rather than sending another conventional team, we need people whose Decrees allow them to operate without being affected by pain.”

“Pain suppression?”

“That’s one possibility. Another would be someone capable of producing independent copies.”

A few people started looking through their reports again.

I remained focused on the screen.

The Guild Master picked up the remote and changed the image. This one had been taken from near the entrance, with most of the hall visible beyond the doors.

My fingers stopped against the arm of my chair.

Oh.

I lifted my glasses once more before slowly taking them off and setting them beside the report.

Another person moved away from me.

“Someone who can send a copy inside while remaining outside themselves,” the Guild Master continued. “Preferably one that doesn’t share its senses with the original. That would allow us to investigate without placing another person directly in danger.”

“And someone who doesn’t feel pain?”

“They should be able to approach without becoming incapacitated in the same way. We would still need to account for the injuries, but it gives us somewhere to start.”

I raised my good hand.

“Oh…? What about robots?”

The Guild Master looked towards the woman at the end of the table.

“We’ll need to confirm which Guilds have suitable personnel before discussing the next attempt.”

“…..”

Ignored again.

I slowly lowered my hand.

Robots seemed like a perfectly reasonable suggestion. They didn’t feel pain, didn’t complain, and probably wouldn’t ask for compensation afterwards.

Actually, they sounded like excellent Guild Members.

“The matter of compensation will also need to be addressed.”

The man with silver-rimmed glasses said.

See?

Already talking about compensation.

“Any personnel committed to this operation will be taking a considerable risk.”

“I’m aware.”

“Then you’ll understand that we’ll require more than an assurance that—”

I looked down at my watch.

Then I stood up.

“Alright, I’ve heard enough. I’ll be taking my leave.”

The man stopped speaking.

Several heads turned towards me as I pushed my chair back into place with my good hand. Joanna straightened behind me, and the others started moving towards the door.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes.”

“The meeting isn’t finished.”

“That’s alright. You can continue without me.”

“…..”

I had come, sat down, and listened. That should’ve been enough to prove that I had attended.

It was a formality, after all.

Now that it was taken care of, I planned on resting for a little while. I still had quite a few things to deal with, but doing them while exhausted wouldn’t really do me any good. Then again, when was I not exhausted?

I picked up my sunglasses and turned towards the door.

Then I stopped.

“Ah, right.”

The Guild Master looked at me.

He seemed to be both relieved and angry at my sudden actions. Relieved I was leaving, angry at how rudely I was leaving.

I shrugged and pointed at the projector.

“Regarding the Gate, clearing it should be pretty easy.”

His brows drew together.

“…What?”

“The woman is a fake.”

The room went quiet.

I gestured towards the projection.

“She isn’t actually the anomaly. You’ve been looking at the wrong thing.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The doll.”

I pointed towards the lower edge of the image, where a broken section of a pillar lay near the wall.

“The little one in the corner. That’s what you should be dealing with.”

Everyone turned.

For a moment, nobody said anything. Then the Guild Master picked up the remote and enlarged the section I was pointing at.

A small doll sat against the rubble.

Its dress was dirty, blending into the debris around it, while one of its arms lay across its lap. With all the blood and bodies elsewhere in the image, it was rather easy to overlook.

Its head was tilted towards the hall.

Towards the woman.

“…That?”

“Yes.”

The Guild Master stepped closer to the screen.

Someone turned back several pages in their report, while the woman at the end of the table leaned forward.

“How did you notice it?”

“I looked.”

“You looked?”

“Yes. With my eyes.”

I wasn’t certain what else they expected me to say.

The man with silver-rimmed glasses abruptly put his report down.

“You’re not making shit up, are you?”

His voice was considerably louder than before.

“People will be going inside based on the information discussed here. You can’t just point at something in a photograph and expect everyone to believe you.”

“Then check it.”

“This could be extremely dangerous.”

I looked at the bodies on the screen before returning my attention to him.

It seemed rather dangerous already.

“You’ve done nothing but interrupt this meeting, and now you expect us to—”

I shrugged and put my sunglasses back on.

“Suit yourself.”

Then I turned and left.

Nobody stopped us.

*

“Wait, Team Leader.”

Mia caught up with me before we reached the end of the corridor.

“Was that true?”

“What?”

“The doll. Is it really the anomaly?”

“Ah. Yes.”

I nodded, looking ahead as Joanna and the others followed.

Mia glanced back towards the conference room.

“So they just need to go to that corner?”

“No. It won’t necessarily be there.”

“…What?”

“Its location changes. It was somewhere different in every recording.”

Her steps slowed.

“There’s such a thing?”

“Apparently.”

In one image, it had been by the far wall. In another, it had been beside the entrance. The same broken pillar was visible in both, so it wasn’t simply because the camera had moved.

I hadn’t seen it move, but it certainly hadn’t stayed in the same place.

Mia looked at me for several seconds.

“You noticed all of that while they were talking?”

“I was listening too.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“They kept ignoring me.”

“That’s…”

She stopped, apparently unable to argue with that.

“But how did you know it was the doll and not the woman?”

I lowered my sunglasses slightly and looked at her.

Then, smiling, I pushed them back into place.

“Trade secret.”

“…..”

Actually, it was the sunglasses.

I hadn’t expected them to work quite so well on a recording, but I had checked more than once. Even when the angle changed, they kept drawing my attention to the same little thing.

Without them, the doll looked like something someone had thrown away.

With them…

Well, there was a reason I had taken a second look.

I adjusted the glasses against my nose and continued walking.

See?

I wasn’t crazy.