Chapter 47: Clash Between the Supernatural

After watching the butler leave the room, Marcus and the others hesitantly turned their attention towards me, still sitting on the tray atop the table.

The butler that had just delivered me here was the same one I had taken control of earlier through the [Command] talisman. Before sending it back to the hotel, I had already given it instructions to gather Team F-5 in this particular room.

More importantly, I had also informed it of a loophole in the Supernatural Space’s rules, one that would allow it to bring the team together without breaking the hotel’s regulations.

The trick was to make use of the hotel’s own system of punishment.

Every guest was assigned a personal maid or butler, and the servants were expected to fulfill their duties without fail.

However, should one of them be deemed incompetent, its failures could be reported to the other employees, who would then be responsible for carrying out the punishment.

And in this hotel, that punishment was death.

It was a rather convenient arrangement.

By exploiting the rules and making the other servants believe that their colleagues had failed in their duties, I could have my butler eliminate them one by one, all while making it appear as though it was simply performing its assigned responsibilities.

’Sigh. It would be nice if I could just use the [Command] talisman on every butler and maid in this place...’

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.

The [Command] talisman had a rather specific requirement...

Its target had to be someone who had willingly cut out their own tongue.

Without fulfilling that condition, the talisman simply wouldn’t work.

That was also why I’d gone through the trouble of making my assigned butler cut out its tongue in the first place.

As my personal butler, it was obligated to provide me with the best possible service. Even an unreasonable request could be considered part of its duties if I insisted on it.

This gave me an opportunity to fulfill the requirements of [Command] that I would not have had with the other servants.

’Hm... I should find a way to speed things up.’

While traveling through the hotel corridors, I’d heard the voices of several other people.

Judging by the circumstances, they were most likely government teams that had also been sent to investigate this place.

If I could somehow get them involved in my plans, things might become considerably easier.

Of course, before doing anything else, I needed to see how much F-5 had figured out on their own.

They weren’t exactly the most reliable team, but at least they had some decent reasoning abilities.

I could probably leave them to investigate certain things while I worked on the rest of my plan.

For now, I’d just have to wait until they figured out enough to remember that they had a convenient little doll capable of "fortune telling."

Just then, Marcus spoke up.

He carefully picked me up from the tray and placed me inside the suitcase Jonathan had brought along.

Rather than closing it, he left the suitcase open, allowing me to sit upright and observe their discussion.

"There’s something about what that strange butler told me earlier that I can’t quite figure out."

Marcus looked towards the others.

"He said that the great being he serves had personally arranged for us to stay in this room. Does that mean [Euphoria] was responsible for bringing us here?"

Clara’s expression grew thoughtful.

She glanced between Marcus and the others, seemingly turning his words over in her mind. Then, as though a certain possibility had just occurred to her, she straightened up.

"Wait... Could it be? What if [Euphoria] has an enemy that’s trying to take over this hotel?"

"Think about it! That strange butler has been using the hotel’s rules and loopholes to eliminate the other servants. What if it’s actually working for another supernatural entity? Perhaps it’s trying to get rid of everyone loyal to [Euphoria] before taking control of the entire Supernatural Space!"

Marcus considered her suggestion.

"That’s certainly a possibility. It would explain why that butler has been going out of its way to eliminate the other employees. If it’s deliberately gathering us in one place, then perhaps we’re also part of its plan."

His expression grew more serious.

"But this is troublesome. If there really are two supernatural entities involved, then we’re caught in the middle of their conflict. And judging by the circumstances, both of them are probably far beyond what an F-rank team like ours can handle."

Hearing their discussion while sitting inside the suitcase in my doll form, my lips couldn’t help but twitch.

’I can assure you that the difference in power between me and that terrifying being called [Euphoria] is about the same as the difference between an ant and an elephant...’

Elias suddenly stood up, drawing everyone’s attention.

"As the leader of this team, I believe we have two possible courses of action."

"First, we acknowledge that this situation is beyond our capabilities as an F-rank team. We should prioritize finding a way for at least one of us to escape and report our findings to the management. If this really is a conflict between two supernatural entities of a higher rank, then A.E.G.I.S. will need to deploy a more suitable team to handle it."

He suddenly smiled as he spoke about the second option.

"Alternatively, we could deal with this incident ourselves. If we manage to resolve it successfully, there’s a good chance we’ll be rewarded with a promotion."

Hearing this, Clara immediately grinned.

"I choose the second option!"

Marcus couldn’t help but chuckle at her response.

Meanwhile, Jonathan remained quiet. He already knew that there was little point in trying to convince these oddballs to choose the first option.

Those three were practically promotion maniacs, constantly looking for opportunities to improve their standing within A.E.G.I.S.

Jonathan couldn’t really blame them, though.

After all, he also had something he wanted from A.E.G.I.S....

I silently watched as the team continued their discussion.

"Before we start investigating, I think we should consult our little companion first. After all, we do have a rather convenient fortune teller with us."

Marcus said, prompting everyone to turn their attention towards me.