A Mob Character Who Just Wants to Get Banished and Escape This Death Game vs. The Party Members Driven Mad by the Radiance of His Brilliance - Chapter 10

“Huh…? What just happened…?”

My head throbbed as I slowly opened my eyes. A harsh light shone directly into my face, making me squint.

Where… was I?

This definitely wasn’t my bed.

I tried to sit up, but quickly realized something was wrong—my arms and legs wouldn’t move. I couldn’t even bend a single finger.

Looking down, I saw that I was strapped tightly to a table with thick belts, like some dangerous wild animal.

My eyes widened. What the hell was going on?

The last thing I remembered was drinking from the cup Professor Alhansen gave me…

Ah.
So he drugged me.
Great. Just great.

I slowly nodded to myself as the memory came back—
Wait, no! Why am I being calm about this?!

“Professor—! Professor Alhansen!!”

“There is no need to shout. I am right here.”

His voice came from the side, and then his masked face popped into view—he was wearing a bulky gas mask that made him look more like a grim reaper than a professor.

“Um… what exactly are we doing here, Professor?”

“I believe I’ve already explained.
You, Mikkanen, are currently the only person I trust completely. In order to continue my research, I must eventually find someone who can take your place.
To do that, I must first understand why I trust you.”

His reasoning was shockingly straightforward.

I wanted to quit the military.
He, on the other hand, needed someone trustworthy to support his research.
And to find that person, he needed to figure out what made me trustworthy in the first place.

Right now, I was the most trusted person in his life.
By studying me, he believed he could isolate the “source” of trust and apply that knowledge to someone else.

That was his logic.

“So, I’m afraid I can’t let you leave the military just yet.
At least not until I find a suitable replacement. I hope you’ll cooperate in the meantime.”

“…Fine. But in exchange, once this is over, I expect your full support in getting me discharged. No backing out.”

“Of course. I fully understand.”

As he finished speaking, Alhansen’s expression actually softened a little—just slightly.

Unlike with Isfana, it didn’t seem like he was emotionally attached or reluctant to let me go.
Which meant, when the time came, he really would help me leave.

Honestly, I’d been freaked out at first—thinking he’d poisoned me or something—but this was starting to seem… manageable.

I let out a breath of relief and decided to just let him do what he needed.

◆◆◆◆◆

Professor Alhansen was darting back and forth across the lab, busily working.

I had no idea what he was doing.
Even surrounded by flasks and weird instruments, it all made zero sense to me.

I sat there, mostly immobilized, staring around the lab in boredom.

Then I heard a wet, unpleasant splat.
I turned my head toward the sound.

There, in a petri dish, was a red-black lump of rubbery flesh—just dropped in with a squishy sound.

Professor Alhansen had just sliced it open with a scalpel.

It looked… familiar.
I’d seen stuff like that on the battlefield—more than I cared to remember.

“…Professor, what is that?”

“It’s your intestine.
More accurately, a copy I grew using cells from your skin.”

I forgot how to breathe.

What!?

Without my knowledge, he’d taken a sample from my skin and grown a replica of my own internal organs!?

That was insane. No—beyond insane.

Unbothered by my horror, Professor Alhansen continued calmly placing the dissected tissue into test tubes.

My voice trembled as I asked him:

“W-Why in the world would you examine my intestines?!”

“At the very least, I can confirm that my trust in you does not originate from your gut.”

I stared at him, stunned.

What did that even mean?
No normal person would try to understand trust by analyzing someone’s intestines. That was absurd.

He was supposed to be a genius. A real scholar.

“Look, trusting someone and their digestive tract are two completely separate things. Surely you understand that—”

“I don’t! That’s exactly the problem!”
“I don’t understand why I trust you, Mikkanen! I have no logical explanation for it, and it’s driving me mad!”

Suddenly, he slammed the flask in his hand down onto the table.
It shattered instantly, and shards of glass scattered across the floor.

A drop of bl00d, bright red like flame, rolled down Professor Alhansen’s dusky skin.

“…Ah. A valuable sample, wasted. What a shame.”

He murmured the words absently, as if dazed. Then, slowly, his eyes locked onto me with a sticky intensity.

This was bad. Really bad.

I squirmed in panic.

“Mikkanen, I’m sorry, but could you provide me with another sample?”

The scalpel in his hand gleamed ominously.

Terrified, I didn’t even think about the lingering effects of the drug—I just gritted my teeth and tore through the restraints with raw desperation.

Backing away from him, drenched in cold sweat, I stammered:

“W-Wait, Professor Alhansen… I’d rather not, if that’s all the same to you…”

“But if I don’t, then I’ll be left with no one to rely on.
And if I have no one to rely on, I can’t let the only person I do trust—Mikkanen—leave the military.”

His dark, tunnel-like eyes captured mine and wouldn’t let go.

I’d done something truly stupid again.
I bit my lip in regret.

I should’ve thought things through more carefully when I spoke to Morglaid.
It was obvious from the start that Professor Alhansen wasn’t in his right mind.

He truly believed—almost as if it were an illness—that there must be a physical source within the body for why one person trusts another.

But that kind of “trust” couldn’t be isolated through logic or dissection.

And that was a problem, because I wanted to leave the military right now.

If I stuck around and played lab rat for a theory I knew wouldn’t go anywhere, I’d be dead before long.

If there was one thing I’d learned from Isfana—it was that talking things out doesn’t work once someone hits this kind of obsessive state.
The only solution was to walk away and let them cool off.

“I’m sorry, but I’m leaving now.”

I turned and ran for the lab door.
As I passed Alhansen, I heard him murmur quietly beside my ear:

“Regrettable. But necessary. If reason fails, I must rely on other methods.”

He pulled a lever mounted on the wall.

At once, a thick green gas hissed out into the room.

So that’s why he was wearing that gas mask…!

Realizing it too late, I reflexively covered my mouth with my sleeve.

But it didn’t help—the gas quickly clouded my vision, and I began to lose consciousness.

“D-Dammit…”

“It’s pointless,” he said flatly.
“A plain cotton sleeve won’t block even 0.10% of this gas. You should know that, Mikkanen.”

Without hesitation, Alhansen peeled my arm away from my mouth. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer—I inhaled the gas deeply.

A rush of pleasure surged through my brain, so intense it hurt.
Writhing on the floor in agony, I could only stare up at him as he watched me coldly.

“I didn’t expect Mikkanen to go back on his word.
Clearly, I’ll need to restrain him more securely next time.
Without that, I won’t be able to advance my research.”

This was it.
There was no escape.

My thoughts began to fade into a dull haze… when suddenly—

“Hey, you damn commoner. Are you in here?”

It was Isfana’s voice. She was banging on the lab door.

◆◆◆◆◆

“Ah, Isfana. Unfortunately, Mikkanen isn’t here.
He stopped by for a quick chat, then left right away.”

Alhansen’s voice was calm, collected—as if the blatant lie cost him nothing.
He reached toward my face, trying to cover my mouth.

But in that moment, I used what little strength I had left to shout:

“I’m here! Help—mmph!”

“S-Sorry. I’ve captured a faerie alive for research, and it’s acting up.
There’s no need for you to concern yourself, Isfana.”

He pinned me down with ease as I struggled beneath him.

It didn’t make sense.
Even though he was just a scientist, he was overpowering me.
Which could only mean—that green gas was seriously potent.

“Enough. Blow the door open!”

With a shout that echoed like a war cry, Isfana burst through the lab’s far door, blasting it off its hinges.

Professor Alhansen clicked his tongue.

“…I didn’t actually think such a blatant lie would work. A shame.”