The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Human Experiment Now lol

Since Stella was waiting, I quickly got out of the bath and started changing.

Taking Joanne, who was steaming from the top of her head, with me, we returned to the basement.

At that moment, Joanne had caught a suitable zombie and was whispering something into Pork’s ear.

Probably, she was trying to lure Pork into an experiment. The zombie showed a subtle reaction, but despite being slightly reluctant, it seemed to follow us to the basement.

“…So slow… taking a long bath.”

Upon arriving in the basement, there was Stella, polishing a blade with a length of fifty centimeters that Joanne had prepared.

The sight of a gothic lolita girl standing in a dimly lit basement with a blade in hand…such a scene seemed like some kind of joke.

The mismatch between a girl who looked like she had jumped out of a picture book and a blade capable of easily killing a person.

It was precisely because of this that her abnormality stood out even more.

Stella placed the machete-like weapon on the table and then picked up a large pair of shears, opening and closing them several times.

The pruning shears made a crisp sound, reminiscent of chewing an apple.

Perhaps because they are more commonly seen in everyday life, the thought of being cut by them felt more unpleasant.

I never thought I’d end up helping with an experiment. Sigh, it feels as distasteful as witnessing a secret rendezvous.

“Let’s get started right away. Oakley, come here.”

I was pushed onto a workbench lined with strange restraints, and then Joanne lay down next to me.

I seem to recall that one of the last items on the list was ‘head transplantation’—

In other words, does that mean they’re going to chop off our heads and see what happens when they’re re-attached?

It doesn’t seem like it would hurt because i probably passed out by then, but still, it really freaks me out.
“Uh, do you have any painkillers?”

“…Humans tend to feel less pain when they are s*xually aroused… If you want, I, Stella, can personally take care of that for you.”

“…N-no, thank you. I’ll pass, sorry.”

I see, so the secretion of brain chemicals due to s*xual arousal has been used as a method of pain relief.

In this setting, without modern technology, that would indeed be the most readily available means of pain relief.

However, even though my human dignity is virtually non-existent to begin with, being dismembered while receiving sexual stimulation is something I’d rather avoid. I also don’t know what Joanne might say.

Just as I thought, I felt an immense pressure from Joanne next to me.

After refusing Stella’s offer, I stared at my own ring finger and took a deep breath.

Joanne, an Executive with the highest healing ability, can be revived as long as even one milligram of her cells remains in this world.

To possess a piece of her flesh is to have obtained a deterrent and combat power that transcends the framework of an ordinary person.

The experiment that is about to be conducted is an observation and recording of how my body and her flesh will behave when they fuse together.

It will likely be the first step towards the human weapon—the mobile fortress Oakley.

“First, let’s see if each other’s ring fingers can be restored. I’ll get this done quickly, okay?”

Stella picks up a pair of thick scissors, and Pork firmly restrains and presses down on my left hand.

Before I can say wait, I feel the cold, sharp sensation of metal against my left ring finger.

Ah, I was about to be cut. The moment I thought that, Joanne next to me bites something.

Then came the sensation of a blade biting into my skin. The part pinched the base of my ring finger—then it was smoothly cut off.

“―!!”

Joanne’s ring finger nerve was connected to me, so an intense pain exploded as if it were originally part of my own body.

My head felt like it was boiling with heat, and goosebumps covered my entire body.

I writhed in pain so much that the concept of endurance didn’t even come to mind, and the workbench shook violently.

A tear-stained groan echoed in the room.

As my vision blurred with tears, another metallic scraping sound, ‘clank’ resonated. It seemed that the ring finger on Joanne’s hand had also been cut off.

Our finger was quickly exchanged, and thanks to Stella’s healing magic, my ring finger returned to its original place.

“…I confirm that it has reattached as before.”

“Hmm, this will be an important sample.”

Stella, licking the blood off her hand with her long tongue meticulously, and Pork, scribbling with a pen like a mad scientist.

Joanne, perhaps worried about my state as I gasped for breath with tearful eyes, peered into my face with concern.

“Oakley… are you okay?”

“Heh, haa, haha. ‘Once past the throat, the heat is forgotten’, right?” (TL/N: quickly forget about unpleasant experiences once they are over. Maybe similar to ‘out of sight, out of mind.(

“Wow! I might be impressed by you for the first time.”

Sweat glistens all over my face.

The contents of the experiment list I had been trying not to think about until now flash through my mind.

“Well then, we’ll repeat the same procedure next…’

Repeat the same procedure… That means, I need to cut off my fingers that have fused together and once again replace them with Joanne’s—

“…Eiii.”

Contrary to Stella’s cute voice, an unbearable sharp pain burst again from the tip of my left hand.

It was just the amputation of a single finger. However, the impact raced through my body like an electric shock, rampaging as if to destroy my neural circuits. My back arched, and I writhed within the restraints.

This was the ‘shock’ Joanne spoke of. Indeed, to endure this, a considerable determination is necessary.

There’s no doubt that it would be easier to either kill my emotions to get through it or to actually go mad.

In the corner of my vision, a gloved corpse and a gothic lolita girl swayed.

In my hazy consciousness, there was a warmth that held my crumbling mind together.

It was Joanne’s hand. She must be holding my right hand. Of course, I had no leeway to be concerned about such things.

Having my left hand slashed twice and completely drained of strength, I blankly watched as Joanne’s ring finger was reattached.

“…Yeah, it’s well connected. Perfect compatibility.”

“Oakley, hang in there. I’m with you.”

I think I’m in this mess because Joanne came along.

It must have been an unavoidable path if I wanted to become an Executive, but… I gave a bitter smile at the indescribable correlation.”

“Let’s continue. I’ll put Joanne’s body through the blender. And then, finally, we’ll examine how will you resurrect with the ring finger that has fused with him. “

“…I just took a bath…”

Joanne, who had handed over my ring finger to Pork, stripped off her cloak and became naked.

After showing a gesture as if to cover her breasts towards me, Joanne stepped into the heat ray force field created by Stella without hesitation.

The sound of flesh burning off exploded, and Joanne’s figure disappeared without a trace.

Fragments of her hair flew in front of me. Definitely instant death.

The sight was too gruesome, and the residue of intense pain made my heart waver greatly.

(Working so hard… hurting yourself… What’s beyond that? What makes you do this?)

Several seconds after her body was incinerated, a ‘premonition’ ran through the ring finger of my left hand.

Joanne’s ring finger, sharing the sensation, trembled violently, a feeling that her will resided in.

A chill as if all the blood in her body was being drawn away, and dizziness like that of anemia occurred.

It’s coming… Joanne’s resurrection begins.

“…If Oakley were to die, I’d consume everything… so, rest assured.”

Stella boasted so because the Executive’s physical healing could even penetrate space.

For example, even if a metal plate were affixed to the wound, the body would push the metal plate aside and regenerate.

In other words, there’s a risk that my body, connected to Joanne’s wound, would be deemed an obstacle and pushed away, leading to my disappearance.

However, when our ring fingers had fused, Joanne had said she was good at healing magic, so she won’t make such a blunder―Of course, until we see the actual behavior, we don’t know what will happen.

I might die in an instant, or I might finish without injury as she declared.

I prayed to Joanne, who resided in my ring finger, as if clinging to her.

And then―the revival begins.

“Ugh, ahh――”

A pain like gouging under the skin ran from the ring finger of my left hand.

Bones and flesh burst through the back of my hand.

In an instant, my spine and ribs begin to extend, and flesh starts to layer over the bones.

The sight of internal organs and bodily tissues forming is seared into my retina.

It’s like watching a piece of meat dissolving in strong acid being rewound, and there, Joanne resurrects in her naked state.

“How about that, Oakley? I did well, didn’t I?”

Joanne straddles my waist, completely nude.

I glance at her eerily grinning face and drape a robe over her shoulders.

Looking down at my left hand, I realize that part of its back is gone.

However, judging by the reactions of the Executives, it seems my damage is minor compared to the benefits.

Pork was groaning at how little she had pushed away.

“…When summoning, it is wise to sever the part first.”

“Yeah, that’s right. If we were to teleport, even if we managed to do it well, we might end up pushing aside his entire body.”

Joanne moved off of me.

With the same smile as always, she casually joined the conversation, and I couldn’t help but ask her.

“…Why can Joanne-sama remain strong without flinching from pain? …What is the driving force behind it?”

It wasn’t just Joanne. Pork and Stella, too—what reasons do they have to choose the path of carnage?

I knew the answer, but I couldn’t help asking again.

“Oh, don’t tell me you forgot.”

“…If we follow Aaros-sama, Stella and the others will find happiness.”

Pork and Stella answered with a mad gleam in their eyes.

Joanne, still with her cheerful smile, murmured this.

“It’s a nation. We are going to create an ideal nation centered around the holy land of Metashim.”

It was a kind smile, like that of teaching an answer to an ignorant child who questions common sense.

Aaros’s true purpose is to become a real god by gathering faith through brainwashing.

He believes that on the day of the total solar eclipse, which is said to occur in a few years, he will be reborn as a god.

By performing a ritual in the holy land on that day, Aaros will become a true god and at the same time establish his real kingdom.

There must have been personal reasons why Aaros attacked Kenneth Orthodox, but hostility was essential during the recapture of the holy land Metashim.

Even if a great number of his allies were to die in battle, he believed that once he became a god, he could bring the dead back to life—such was his line of thinking.

The outline of this plan had been drilled into us to the point of disgust during the process of brainwashing education.

Create an ideal nation. Become the foundation for it. The ideal nation will be filled with happiness, devoid of the concept of death. And eventually, it will be able to avoid the world’s destruction.

—Well, it’s a crazy theory, but due to the abnormal environment, most ended up believing his words.

Joanne and the others must believe in the dream of the kingdom.

Their eyes had the muddied color suitable to describe as fanaticism.

“…That person gave me a reason to live… For him, I can endure any pain…”

As Stella murmured this, she pressed her blood-stained hand to her chest.

In the increasingly somber basement, I was able to maintain my sanity thanks to the pain.

(I’ll need to develop the skill to regain my sanity by observing mad people in the future. When my heart is weak, I might be swallowed up by their aura.)

“…My apologies. It seems the pain made me forget what’s important… Now, Stella-sama, let’s resume the experiment.”

I wiped the tears that had welled up in the corners of my eyes from the pain and surrendered my body to Stella, who was attempting to dissect me.

Perhaps my tears looked like tears of gratitude, as the three of them exchanged glances and seemed deeply moved.

“…Indeed, you look especially delicious… If Joanne weren’t here, I’d be tasting you a lot.”

“Huh!? This one is mine, so don’t you dare lay a hand on him!?”

Stella-sama’s all-out cannibalistic gag burst forth, and with Joanne’s usual retort, a warm laughter filled the basement.

I see, when you become an executive, you are perfectly able to control people’s hearts.

What a homey workplace this is.

“Haha, it seems you’ve gotten motivated, Oakley. Let’s continue with the next part, shall we?”

The next item on the list was torso exchange.

Our experiment was just beginning.

…..

Having completed all the list, I was released from the workbench, battered yet whole.

From head transplants to swapping upper and lower bodies.

From the fingertip to the first joint, it’s my finger; from the first joint to the second, it’s Joanne’s; and below the second joint, it’s mine again—like this, we even tested to see where the healing of these striped fingers would occur.

During the course of the experiment, my body seemed to have evolved to become less sensitive to pain.

“Amazing! I will report this as important experimental data.”

With those words, Pork’s zombie vanished into the ground.

Stella, her jet-black gothic lolita outfit stained with blood, didn’t seem particularly bothered as she followed after the zombie.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that my bodily fluids had been sipped a few times, but Stella never laid a hand on me.

However, the way she occasionally looked at me, as if I were an ingredient was a concern.

“Oakley, you did well.”

“It was thanks to Joanne-sama that I was able to endure.”

“Well, that’s true. At the beginning, you looked like you were about to cry.”

Joanne chuckled softly.

“It hurt so much I was crying, you know?”

As we were getting a bit excited talking about the experiment, the gothic lolita girl showed her face in the basement again.

“…Both of you, there’s something I need to talk about.”

“Hey Stella, don’t take up too much of our time.”

“…”

Stella looked down at the floor smeared with mine and Joanne’s blood, her gaze shifting left and right several times.

As if she had made up her mind, the girl lifted her gaze and threw a surprising statement at us.

“…In the nearest town, information has come in that Executives have begun preparations to retake the Metashim region… Therefore, Oakley, you are instructed to infiltrate the town and carry out the plan…”

I was so stunned by the sudden order that I couldn’t even breathe, let alone move.

“…You have no right to refuse… Prepare immediately.”