— Y-y...es... i-if you give me the doll... I will help you escape.
Hearing the lady’s words, Marcus could not help but frown.
His expression made it clear that he wasn’t particularly fond of the offer, especially considering that the woman had specifically asked for me.
I was just as confused when I heard her say that.
What in the hell did I do? I haven’t done anything!
Don’t let her give you the wrong idea, Marcus!
I’m not a danger to anyone!
"Why do you want the doll...?"
Marcus asked aloud, seemingly unwilling to hand me over without getting an explanation first.
The lady’s eyes suddenly widened, as though she had become defensive after hearing his question.
— J-j-just give it to me, and I will help you e-escape...
Before Marcus could say anything else, Adrian raised a hand, signaling him to remain quiet.
"You’ll have to tell us why you want the doll first. We can’t exactly hand over our belongings without knowing what you intend to do with them."
The lady’s eyes narrowed in annoyance, and her voice took on an angrier, more demanding tone.
— I-if you don’t give it to me... I will m-m-m-make you regret it... hehehehehe. "That person" will know about it and come here! Hahahaha! HahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!
Hearing her words, Adrian let out a small sigh, seemingly unimpressed by the woman’s increasingly erratic threats.
"Make us regret it by informing someone?"
He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small flashlight. Without another word, he switched it on and directed its beam towards the lady standing behind the door.
— W-what...?
Her body abruptly stiffened.
It was as though an invisible force had seized every muscle in her body, preventing her from moving even an inch.
Her expression remained frozen in place, and the only thing she could do was stare at the flashlight in apparent disbelief.
"Seal her inside the cube we bought. Judging from her words, she seems to have some sort of connection with a dangerous entity. I’d rather not find out what happens if we allow her to contact it."
Hearing this, Samuel nodded before carefully approaching the lady.
He made sure to stay outside the flashlight’s beam, evidently aware that whatever effect it had on her might affect him as well.
— N-n-no..! W-wait! I’ll tell you why I want that d-doll...!
The woman’s expression immediately grew uncomfortable before panicking.
Her eyes trembled as she desperately tried to plead with them, her earlier hostility replaced by unmistakable fear.
"Alright. Tell us."
— Y-y-you must free me once I tell you! Swear on your true name!
"We do not engage in true name transactions to weaklings like you, so no thank you. Capture her."
Hearing Adrian’s response, Samuel no longer held back. He took the small cube and tossed it towards the immobilized woman.
— N-no..! Wait! That doll is a para—!
Before she could finish her sentence, the cube suddenly opened, revealing an unusual space within its tiny frame.
The woman’s body immediately began to distort.
Her figure was forcefully compressed, as though an invisible force had grabbed her and folded her into itself.
Her limbs folded inward, her torso shrank, and her entire body was dragged into the cube in a matter of seconds.
The next moment, the cube snapped shut as the woman had completely disappeared.
Only the small cube remained in Samuel’s hand.
"..."
A para what...?
Seriously, what is with this cliffhanger-type ending?!
Para what? Paragon? Paradox? Parabola?
Man, at least let her finish speaking!
Nica, ever so curious, was immediately the first to voice her concerns after witnessing what had just happened.
"I... I think we were a little too hasty. Shouldn’t we have asked her more questions about how to escape before capturing her? At the very least, we could have found out what she was trying to tell us."
Adrian promptly explained his reasoning, seemingly having already considered the possibility.
"No need. The way she reacted to your supernatural companion was rather unusual. When anomalous things interact with other anomalous things, there’s always a possibility of something going wrong."
"She had already threatened to contact some sort of entity just to get the doll from your hands. There’s no reason for us to waste any more time entertaining her demands, especially when doing so could give her an opportunity to contact that entity."
Indeed, the intelligence and decisiveness of a D-class Response Unit were quite impressive! I wouldn’t have hesitated to seal that woman away either.
"And besides, we already have another supernatural entity capable of offering us a solution to this scenario, don’t we?"
As he said this, Adrian turned his attention towards Marcus.
More specifically, towards me.
"This little guy seems to know the way out of here already."
Adrian suddenly smiled, looking at me with an expression that suggested he had just discovered something rather interesting.
"..."
I shivered inwardly.
This is the first time I’ve seen him smile since I’ve met him a few hours ago.
Jesus, is he gonna murder me after this?
"Hold his hand for a few seconds, and he should be able to offer you a fortune concerning what will happen to you today. From our previous experience, you can ask him a specific question, but the answer will still be rather vague."
Marcus instructed as he watched Adrian approach me.
"Alright, then before we play the next recording, let’s ask this little guy a question first."
Nica raised her hand once again, seemingly having another question she wanted to bring up.
She glanced between Marcus and Adrian before finally speaking.
"Since our supernatural companion has fortune-telling abilities, why didn’t we ask him how to escape in the first place?"
It was a perfectly valid question.
I mean, if you have the right tools to open a locked door, why wouldn’t you use them?
Samuel was the first to respond.
"You’re still relatively new to your Response Unit, right?"
Nica nodded, although she seemed a little confused by the sudden question.
"Yes... but how does that answer my question?"
Samuel grinned slightly.
"Then let me ask you something first. Do you actually trust your supernatural companion enough to follow whatever answer he gives you?"
Hearing this, Nica initially seemed ready to give a perfunctory answer.
However, she eventually closed her mouth, realizing that Samuel had brought up a rather important point.
Indeed, it was something she couldn’t exactly argue against.
Adrian decided to elaborate further.
"It is certainly impressive that you’ve managed to acquire a companion capable of foreseeing the future or reading one’s fate. However, do you know why most Response Units don’t actively seek out supernatural companions with fate or fortune-telling abilities?"
Marcus and the rest of Response Unit F-5 exchanged glances before shaking their heads indicating no.
"Because every Response Unit that has ever been assigned a supernatural companion with such abilities has either died or gone missing."
"..."
He was right.
In fact, I already knew why such seemingly useful supernatural companions weren’t more heavily sought after.
Instead, they were often assigned to the least important Response Units or, in cases where their abilities were particularly powerful, placed under extremely strict containment and supervision.
I was part of the former category, considering how I had ended up here in the first place...
Adrian’s expression turned stern as he continued with his "lecture."
"Do you want to know why? It’s because these types of supernatural entities tend to have their own agendas."
"Perhaps the reason he’s part of your Response Unit in the first place is because he needs you for something."
"You might trust him now because he’s still proving himself useful, but what happens if he’s simply leading you towards a predetermined fate? What if he eventually guides your entire team to its death just to accomplish whatever goal he’s pursuing?"
Adrian’s tone grew serious as he continued his warning.
His words might have sounded harsh, but he was simply looking out for his juniors.
Despite his stern attitude, he was actually quite a caring person.
In fact, half of his reasoning wasn’t entirely wrong.
Supernatural entities capable of fortune-telling or reading fate were indeed rather troublesome to deal with.
Their abilities made it difficult to determine whether their actions were genuinely helpful or simply part of some elaborate scheme.
And, well, I was indeed using this team to obtain a mind-control-resistant item from A.E.G.I.S.
However, it was a relatively harmless objective!
I’d simply take the item I needed and disappear afterwards.
There was no need to hurt anyone, and I certainly had no intention of leading this entire team to their deaths.
Marcus looked down towards me.
Surprisingly, his expression remained rather calm, and he didn’t seem particularly threatened by Adrian’s warning.
Instead, he simply smiled, as though the possibility of me betraying them wasn’t something he had seriously considered.
Ah, right.
I had already told Marcus about my intention to take something from A.E.G.I.S., so my objective wasn’t exactly a secret to him anymore.
Not to mention, his so-called "gut feeling" seemed to be telling him that I was trustworthy.
Seriously, what a strange guy.
"I fully trust our supernatural companion, so please refrain from making such insulting remarks about him, Sir Adrian."
Hearing Marcus’s response, Adrian let out a small sigh.
He didn’t seem particularly interested in arguing about the matter any further.
"Alright. Let’s just ask him the question, then."
Saying this, Adrian stepped forward and reached for my little doll hand. He carefully took hold of it, holding it for several seconds before finally speaking.
"How can we escape from this supernatural space?"
Here it was.
The big question I knew I’d eventually have to answer.
Fortunately, I already knew the solution to escaping this place.
And that was...
[Play the last recording.]