The chimera's eyeball was huge. About the size of a baseball, maybe.
The knife melted during extraction.
"......"
I had a bad feeling. I really did.
So when I tried to use the Knife Goddess's charm knife to slip behind the eyeball and gouge it out—
Dissolving liquid oozed out from the gap with a sizzling sound and smoke, so I pulled it out, and—
The knife blade was fizzing and smoking as it dissolved.
I hastily tossed it aside, but it melted completely.
"..."
"Wow, that's terrible,"
Lupinus said, without a trace of malice. I used Agaro's modified knife to extract both eyeballs from the chimera subspecies and placed them in a large jar.
I wavered over whether some kind of preservative solution would be better, so I tried adding an elixir instead.
It looks absolutely grotesque. What kind of training machine uses these as materials?
Shiro came carrying the tea table. The wall of light had already dissipated.
"Looks like you're done."
"Mm. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Hmm... Nice... wall."
"It's nothing special. Wof. Looks like you got the materials."
"Yes. Thanks to you."
"Then let's head back to the surface."
No objections. We left the fire dungeon.
For now, we all headed to the witch's house.
"Welcome back, Master!"
Mounieka was done up like a maid... um.
"Th-this is..."
"What a spectacle."
"Hm... Good work."
"...I-I'm home."
"What an interesting idea."
Lined up to greet us were Mounieka, Shaldina, and the rest of the Menosdoll.
W-what's going on?
"Everyone from Torquetam. Lord Shiro. The bath is ready."
"Wh-what'd you say...?"
"There's a bathing area, you see."
"...Riv... bath... like..."
"..."
"I will, guide you, to it, Desu."
Shaldina spoke awkwardly and led the way.
"Torquetam" went to take a bath.
Shiro handed the tea set over to Munieka, then went off to bathe.
The other Menosdol went about their household tasks with brisk efficiency.
"Wh-what's going on here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Shaldina and the Menosdol! That makes them maids, doesn't it?"
"They are maids, Master. They are all maids."
"No, but still..."
"Master, if I may — as long as they wear maid outfits, they are maids."
"I...is that so?"
"And since they're based on me, they can handle the work just fine."
Sure enough, there was nothing amateurish about the way the Menosdol moved.
"How did this happen?"
"I spoke with Shaldina and the others. What they wanted to do. What they desired. I asked them. And every single one said they wanted to work for you, Master — to serve you, to attend to you. So the 'Munieka Maid Corps' was born right here."
Th-the Munieka Maid Corps.
While I stood there in bewilderment, Shaldina bowed her head.
I quickly activated [Still One].
"P-please do, take care of me, I will, Desu. Master."
(One day I will definitely, push you down, Desu. Master.)
What the heck.
Oh, ah, yeah, nice to meet you.
Shardina smiled brightly, but for just a moment, she shot me a challenging look.
Then, at Munieka's direction, she headed off to the kitchen. Sigh, whatever.
"Munieka. Where are the witch and Hayarn?"
"They're in the lab."
"Then I'll go over there too."
"If that's the case, this way."
Munieka pointed to a full-length mirror in the corner of the hallway.
Huh? Since when was there a mirror here?
And it looked familiar... No way. The mirror had a keyhole.
I naturally looked to Munieka for an explanation.
She said nothing and simply pointed at the keyhole.
Yeah, figured. I inserted the key and turned it.
The surface of the full-length mirror rippled, revealing a different scene.
A room stacked with wooden crates... Ah, I see.
"So you connected them."
This mirror was a transfer gate.
It linked my house to the witch's house.
"Yes. The witch and Hayarn did it."
I really wish they'd at least gotten the owner's permission first.
Going through it leads to the room used as a storehouse on the other side.
It was exactly as it had been when Dagaa was born.
I need to clean this place up sometime. Thinking that, I headed to the watchtower.
The full-length mirror on the first floor. I passed through the transfer gate.
The lab had the witch and Hayarn in it.
A table was set against the wall, buried with crafting tools and materials.
The witch was there, mixing something. She smiled at me.
"Welcome back, welcome back, young Wof."
"You're back. Wof."
"I'm home. I brought it."
I placed the eyeball material on the desk, and Hayarn checked it.
"This is the one. I'll start crafting now."
Hayarn operated a panel, and the table activated.
The eyeball, jar and all, was swallowed up by the table.
A display appeared in midair, showing numbers as percentages.
Then a pedestal rose from below at the center of the four tables, and on it sat a metal cylinder.
An eyeball had been attached to each end of the cylinder.
"...A training machine?"
"Good. Now then, let's head to the training room. Wof, bring that along."
"Y-yes."
I picked up the cylinder. Pretty heavy.
I stepped out of the lab, and when Haiarn stood before the door on the right, it opened.
Beyond the door was a plain white room. Decently spacious, with a control room to the left as you entered.
There was a pedestal in the center.
"Place the cylinder on the center of that."
"Here, I guess."
I set it on the pedestal. Haiarn was in the control room.
"Wof. Test run."
The moment he said that, the pedestal clunked downward and sank into the floor, the room went dark, and red lines streaked across the surfaces.
Then an eyeball floated into view at the far end of the room.
The chimera's pupil glowed with an eerie light—and in that instant, I understood. It was [Evil Eye].
My body went rigid, like I was pinned down by sleep paralysis.
"...Haiarn?"
"Looks like it worked. Releasing it now."
The paralysis lifted, but the eyeball remained floating there.
"..."
"Ah, Wof. Let me explain. See, by installing the Evil Eye machine in this training room, we can now generate [Evil Eye] at will!"
"You're kidding..."
Over-technology as always. So far beyond anything normal that it was almost exhausting. No—it was completely exhausting.
"What's your objective with this, Wof?"
"To control [Banish]. To make the gaze do the Arveld thing, is what."
"Right. Listen up. I'll explain the training method. I'll generate [Evil Eye] at fixed intervals, and you dispel it. If you don't want to get pinned down, don't let [Banish] erase your eyeballs—dispel only the [Evil Eye]. Note that your eyeballs will regenerate right away after being erased. The training releases after one hour. How about it?"
"What's the goal?"
"Dispelling only [Evil Eye] consecutively. Yeah. Let's start with ten times."
Dispel only the [Evil Eye] ten times in a row within one hour, without erasing my eyeballs… Alright. Let's do it.
"Go for it. Hiyarn."
"Then commencing training."
I steeled myself.
Even if just once—I'd succeed.
One hour later. The training room brightened.
"…Not… not even once…"
Damn it. But I'll get it done.
I'll absolutely master this.
I told Hiyarn to run the training again.