On the other side of the suffering, execution stage.
A lot happened, but we were ready to go. The most difficult part was getting the target to wear the ring, but I wasn’t worried.
“The trap will be activated on the person who has this magic tool. You will accept the challenge, won’t you?”
When I challenged him, he happily accepted and put it on right then and there. Now, the game began. The Director’s situation was being filmed by a bee-shaped recording magic tool and a few fixed-point camera magic tools. All of us were waiting in a separate room, observing the Director.
The first trap, the pie toss after the water splash.
“Alriiight! A direct hit!”
It was worth testing repeatedly. It hit the target beautifully. I high-fived my brother, Ernst, and Jend.
“Ah, that old man of a Director is eating the pie!”
“Darn him! I want to eat it, too!”
“… Ku~n…”
The director licked the cream off his face and ate the pie with gusto. He’s got a strong mentality! He doesn’t seem to be disappointed at all… Leighton-san, Lefty-san, and Jend seemed to be jealous of him for getting to eat a pie. Don’t whine so sorrowfully, Jend! I will give you one!
“… Here you go.”
Many people wanted to be pie-throwing subjects. Because they all wanted to eat pie. Why?
“Rosarin.”
“Gladly.”
I gave my brother a spare pie and some tea. I gave Ernst some as well, and he ate it with relish. While we were relaxing with the tea and pie, we got a hit from the metal basin.
“Alright!”
It hit the target! He recovered quickly, but this time it seemed to hurt, and he was annoyed.
“Serves him right.”
I saw a glimmer of anger toward the Director in my brother’s mutterings. Director, don’t make enemies with my brother. You will regret it.
Furthermore, my signature wire trap… no, rubber string trap? was activated. It is activated by sensing the target’s magic tool. It does not activate even if others step directly on it.
“Oh, I knew it wouldn’t deploy at the feet.”
When he approached, he got caught up in it and bounced up and down from the rubber string while upside down. As expected, the Director was flustered.
“Oh my, the Director, who always looks so nonchalant, is getting flustered.”
“How unusual.”
The fact that no one was worried showed the Director’s lack of popularity. The Director severed the rubber string with magic and fell onto the trampoline. His expression cramped when he saw my letter. I am glad you understood the meaning correctly.
“What did the letter say?”
“Oh, the literal translation would be: I know you would have your hands full trying to escape the trap, so I have prepared a mattress for you.”
“As expected of you. You hit the opponent where it hurts the most. You are admirable.”
My brother nudged me. You must not make an enemy of my brother.
The trampoline was a mattress-like type. There was a trap below. Thus, the trampoline trap was activated. The Director was at the mercy of the trampoline that rippled on its own. There were various ways to deal with it, such as using levitation, but he couldn’t seem to get off the trampoline, either because he couldn’t concentrate or couldn’t think of anything. It was nearly impossible to escape from the rippling trampoline without magic. It would be possible if one had extraordinary physical ability, but from the looks of it, the Director’s physical ability is only better than that of an average person. It should be impossible for him to escape without magic.
“Onee… Rosarin, I want to try that later.”
Children love trampolines, don’t they?
“Sure. Ernst, why don’t you join him later? It’s a good excercise.”
“… No, I—”Yay! Let’s play together, Ernst!”
Ernst was defeated by Jend’s wagging tail.
“…… Alright.”
Oh, while I was looking away, 3rd’s lab’s Stout-san passed by.
Stout-san looked at the Director as if he were looking at an insect and abandoned him. I felt some sympathy for the Director.
And so, the Director somehow managed to escape from the trampoline trap by flying. He was completely tired.
5 minutes passed.
10 minutes passed.
“He’s not moving.”
“Yeah.”
“… Should we make him move?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Leighton-san seemed to be bored. Lefty-san looked like a naughty boy. We can’t use this if there are passersby, so… let’s do it!
“Hand Golems, launch!”
A large number of hand golems crawled out… A hundred of them. Ernst, Leighton-san, Lefty-san, Pochi, and Jend did their best. No, they tried too hard. Even through the camera, they were super scary.
The Director, who was dead tired, noticed the hand golems and ran away with a scream.
“… Director looks like a normal person there.”
Indeed, the man who was unmoved by the pie-thrower and ate it was running away like a normal person.
“Rupert-kun, you don’t know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that. I couldn’t even run away at first… I was too scared.”
Yes, Left-san was frozen stiff at first. It has this kind of power even against someone who knew it was coming. I would say that the Director was able to escape instantly because of his mental strength.
“Oh, he’s trying to turn.”
“Leave it to me. Shaka-san, go!”
My brother activated the hidden Shaka-san… a female type with only the upper half of her body… a Sadako golem. Well, I hid that one because it would freak out unrelated people if I left it as it was.
I also hid the hand golems in a box. Because they were scary even if they were not moving. By the way, Jend came up with the simple name “Shaka-san” because of its shakashaka (rattling) movement. Jend is not afraid of her. As expected of son of the Hero… he has a strange sense of humor.