I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 403: I'm Not Dangerous at All

Ariel was a heinous criminal who had brutally murdered seven people and was now an expendable employee at MSS.

Walking down the corridor blindfolded, she sensed her end was near.

"Um, excuse me..."

"Quiet."

Ariel fell silent at the agent's cold voice.

As an expendable employee, her only freedom was her thoughts.

'The last expendable couldn't even die - they merged with the MS instead...'

Ariel felt wronged.

She had never killed even an ant in her life, yet here she was accused of serial murder.

She had no memory of ever hitting anyone, yet the witnesses and evidence were irrefutable.

As if someone had tampered with her memories.

Was she really living with a split personality?

Or maybe...

When Ariel stopped walking as a theory occurred to her, the agent roughly shoved her forward.

"Keep moving."

"Ah... yes..."

After walking another five minutes, the agent removed her blindfold.

Before her stood a massive mechanical door.

As the agent stepped away, a voice came through her earpiece.

"Nice to meet you, Ariel. I'm Evelyn, leading this experiment."

"...Yes."

So it begins.

Ariel nervously gripped her clothes.

This was her favorite white prison uniform.

"The MS is behind that door. We'll have a simple contact test, so don't worry too much. Understood?"

"...I understand."

"The door will open now. Don't approach the MS - stay where you are."

Ariel nodded at the empty air, and the massive laboratory door began to rise.

Small shoes appeared, then white ankles.

As the door rose further, she saw a bow and arrow aimed at her.

"Eek!"

Ariel screamed and collapsed to the floor.

She put her hands over her head and began trembling.

"Ariel! Stop screaming and look up!"

"P-please spare me... please..."

She had heard some MS weren't aggressive.

Just her luck to get a vicious one.

Panicking, Ariel lay face-down on the floor, trembling.

"Oh..."

Gyeoul could only stare in confusion.

She had aimed her bow when the dungeon door opened, but a person emerged instead of a monster.

Did she get scared thinking she would shoot?

Gyeoul quickly hid her bow and arrow behind her back.

"Um, excuse me..."

Gyeoul slowly approached the woman.

With her keen hearing, she could hear everything through the earpiece.

"Ariel, it's approaching! Pull yourself together!"

"S-stay back! Get away from me, you monster!"

Ariel lay on the floor, frantically waving her hands.

Seeing this, Gyeoul backed away.

She had only been cautious, yet she called her a monster.

That was too harsh.

Gyeoul's ears and tail drooped dejectedly.

"Go away! I said go away!"

"Uu..."

If she wants me to go, I'll go.

Gyeoul trudged to a corner of the containment chamber.

She sat down heavily there, staring at the wall.

"Ariel...?"

"E-Evelyn, please save me... I really..."

"Ariel, get a hold of yourself and look. It's not aggressive."

"......"

They say it's not aggressive when it aimed a bow at me?

Ariel was certain Evelyn was lying, but she grew confused when no arrows came flying.

If it were an aggressive MS, it would have shot by now.

"Haa, haah..."

Breaking free from her panic, Ariel carefully raised her head.

Confused to find no one in front of her, she spotted something sitting in a corner staring at the wall.

'A child?'

She hadn't noticed earlier when she saw the bow and arrow first.

So this MS took the form of a child.

But not an ordinary child.

The tail on its back and ears on its head proved that.

The ears were drooping, and the tail tapped gently on the floor.

Its whole body expressed 'I'm sulking.'

As Evelyn said, it showed no signs of aggression.

Seeing it act so childlike, Ariel managed to collect herself.

"E-Evelyn, what should I do...?"

"...It seemed to speak earlier. Let's first check if communication is possible?"

It spoke?

That would mean it had intelligence.

Gulping, Ariel carefully approached Gyeoul.

"Um..."

She called out to the MS from a safe distance.

Gyeoul, who had been staring at the wall, carefully turned her head.

"Oh."

Gyeoul and Ariel faced each other.

The moment Ariel saw Gyeoul, she felt all her tension disappear.

An angelic face without flaw, and eyes full of innocence.

Those eyes drooped sadly at the corners.

'Was it because of me...?'

Did she become dejected because she told her to go away and called her a monster?

Ariel felt guilty but quickly slapped her cheeks.

Though this was the most adorable and cute child she had ever seen, it was still an MS.

Who knew what evil it might possess.

While Ariel thought this, Gyeoul was studying her.

'A foreigner.'

Gyeoul couldn't help but be flustered seeing Ariel.

For Gyeoul, who was awkward with people, foreigners were ultimate-level difficulty beings.

'Should I speak English?'

Due to various confusing events, Gyeoul had forgotten they could already communicate.

She decided to try using English learned from children's programs watched with Levinas.

"H-hello... My name is Han Gyeoul..."

Gyeoul's clumsy English was translated in real-time by MS's automatic translation technology.

Thanks to this, Ariel and the facility staff heard it like:

"H-hello... I'm Han Gyeoul..."

"Oh... hi..."

Though she wanted to stay wary, seeing her speak so timidly just made her seem cute.

Was this MS really not dangerous?

Ariel scratched her neck awkwardly at the strange encounter.

I looked up at the woman who introduced herself as Ariel.

Someone unknown was speaking to her through an earpiece.

"Ariel, could you ask the MS... Gyeoul why she came here?"

"Um... I was going hunting and came through a portal."

"...Can you hear me?"

"Yes. My ears are very good."

I perked up my ears to demonstrate, and a moment of silence followed.

As I also kept quiet, the voice in the earpiece addressed me.

"What were you hunting?"

"Today I was just going to hunt some goblins."

"Goblins...?"

"They're green monsters about this big, with long noses like this..."

I used body language to describe what goblins look like.

A surprised female voice came through the earpiece.

"Monsters, you hunt monsters?"

"Yes. I was going to test my new weapon against weak monsters."

I showed her the bow that Gaeul had enhanced.

Ariel didn't seem particularly interested in the weapon.

"So goblins are weak monsters."

"Yes, anyone who can handle weapons can hunt goblins."

"Then what's the strongest thing you can hunt?"

"Hmm... alone I've hunted up to level 3 monsters, but with my family's help I've even wounded stronger monsters."

Though not critically, I had managed to hit a death worm with my arrows.

Come to think of it, was the death worm from a level 6 dungeon?

Things were so chaotic then, I couldn't remember clearly.

"What kind of strong monsters?"

"A death worm - it's a huge worm with fangs."

"...A worm with fangs? You wounded a fanged worm with that bow?"

"Yes, but my family dealt the critical hits. I only wounded it."

My chest puffed out remembering my family easily taking down the death worm.

I felt a bit proud, but for some reason the voice in the earpiece sounded grave.

"We suffered heavy casualties against that fanged worm... the death worm."

"Yes, they're strong. They're level 6."

"What level of strength is level 6?"

"Um... it varies by person? It's really strong to me, but might be really weak to others."

"...I see."

Silence fell again.

When no one spoke for a while, I decided to chat with Ariel.

"Ariel, sorry for aiming my bow earlier. I thought a monster was coming out."

"O-oh. You said you were hunting?"

"Yes."

I wonder if the tension had eased.

Grinning, I approached Ariel.

She flinched but very gently tapped my ears with her fingertips.

"They're soft."

"Want to pet them?"

"...Is that okay?"

"Yes. I like having my ears and head patted."

After some hesitation at my words, Ariel began playing with my ears.

I could see her expression softening.

"Here I thought you were some terrifying monster."

"M-me...?"

"Yeah. That portal has only ever spat out monsters before."

"Ah..."

So that's why everyone was so wary and asking questions.

The situation made perfect sense.

"Gyeoul, you won't eat me, right?"

Just as Ariel spoke playfully, the chamber door opened and people entered.

Among the soldiers in military uniforms was one person in a white coat.

I instinctively knew she was the one who had spoken through the earpiece.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello."

"You said you can hunt monsters?"

"Yes..."

She looked at the bow and arrows on my back.

Then carefully spoke:

"Could you perhaps show us how you hunt monsters?"

"Monsters?"

"Yes. I'm curious how you kill things that don't die even after being hit with thousands of bullets."

"That's..."

Usually bullets don't work on monsters above a certain level.

This world seemed to have mana, yet they didn't know this?

I looked around.

All the soldiers were carrying guns.