Entry 34: A secret room

[So we head into the Labyrinth again. (The menu there marks Rin as this floor’s “Sentinel.”) Caster and I fight some things, then head for the part of the path we couldn’t get to last time before Rin stopped us.]

Caster :: Mu, this feeling of something having been spilled... Master, I sense a harsh presence ahead!

Leo :: Sakura, scan that building. Can you tell its status?

Sakura :: No, I…My scanning won’t go through that building. Its construction is different from the others, as if it was added on later.

That’s suspicious indeed. So this means that’s Rin and Lancer’s secret room? If we want to bring down the shield, we’ll need Rin’s “secrets” — that’s what Kiara said. It would be nice if there were some kind of hint in that building, but…

Leo :: Indeed, we need any information we can get at present. Please keep exploring, Hakuno. But be careful. We don’t know when Miss Tohsaka and Lancer might appear to oppose you.

[So we go up to the building and enter through the gate in the front.]

The moment I enter the room, fear runs up my spine. There’s red splattered all over the room. Red spilling from crucified bodies. Red pooling on the floor, spreading little by little. All of it red. All of it anguish. All of it — a prison of blood that shouldn’t exist in this world. On the opposite wall are human shapes, sewn in place like insects pinned down as specimens. Blood flows obediently from the wounds gauged into their flanks, shoulders, and arms.

Sakura :: That’s horrible…

Leo :: Hakuno, can you break down those walls? Ah, of course you can’t. Only the arena’s root user would have clearance to do that. They look human, but…Sakura, what are they? NPCs or Masters?

Sakura :: …Both. They’re all virtual bodies, captured from the near side, same as the rest of us, anyway. I would guess that they’re people who couldn’t make it to the old school building, and were imprisoned in the Labyrinth.

That’s…so, if we’d taken one wrong step, we could have ended up like them ourselves…?

Unknown speaker :: Ugh…ah…Tired…Heavy…Is there…someone there…?

They’re awake! Those people with the blood wrung out of them are alive!

Caster :: ...It's true that being alive means that there's still a chance of being able to save them. But, this might be...

Caster gazes at the blood-stained torture chamber with a dark expression. But, they’re still alive. We may not be able to save them now, but if we go and look for some way —

Unknown speaker :: Ugh…ah…ah…give it…give it, back…this is, enough, for a lifetime, so…Come on, give it back…Give it back…give it…give it…give it, give it, give it, give it! Give me, give me back my talent…!

Leo :: So that’s what it is. They’re draining blood…data, from the NPCs, up until they can reconstruct themselves. From the Masters they’re pulling out their magic circuits. That’s their talent, their innate potential as a wizard.

Julius :: …it’s the opposite of “designer babies.” This is a room for physically transforming geniuses into ordinary people. I’ve fought with a Servant that possessed a similar skill before. With the Territory Creation skill and A rank skills in torture…A Servant specializing in murder, not battle. Kishinami, lingering is useless. No matter what you do, you won’t be able to save the captured Masters. Hurry forward before you’re poisoned.

Julius’s instructions cold, but his voice isn’t cruel. It might be my imagination, but he acts as if he’s really concerned for me. Still…On the other side of those windows, Masters whose names I don’t know are crying. The young man who used to be a Master continues to cry out as his whole body is skewered by some lance-shaped thing. The mark of a wizard. The power to freely come and go in the virtual world. He cries for that privilege back, as if it were the foundation of his existence.

…my cognizance has been weak. I hadn’t though of the self-proclaimed master of this castle, Rin, as an enemy. But this horrific scene is just inhuman. I still haven’t gotten back my memory, power, or self-awareness as a Master. But I know this much. This is something I can’t forgive. Even if it’s Rin I’m facing, I’ll have to fight her head-on.

Caster :: I know you're furious, Master. This horrible scene... It's the work of a demon. Someone possessing so much cruelty that they can't be called human. 

Caster :: ...In my case, I don't have the right to condemn this. But... Master, if you were to meet this kind of a fate, I wouldn't be a pretty sight. Indeed, I would wield my versatile array of godly powers against time itself! ...or something. I didn't think that horn woman was this much of an idiot. There's a limit to how much you can ignore reality.

Caster :: The curse of being unable to view humans as human... As her senpai in the yandere category, I'm going to rake her over the coals for this!

Caster's voice takes the tension out of me. …I breath slowly. My determination hasn’t waned, but the strain in my body has been released. Even if I harden my heart with anger and justice, this body remembers that we can’t fight to our satisfaction.

Julius :: Don’t make me repeat the instructions. Nothing will come of standing there. If you want to help those people, search for the source.

…Julius is right. I turn my back to that terrible scene and walk forward. Just as I did in that dark school building.

Leo :: Now…Hakuno. What do you make of that torture chamber? Do you think it’s the “secret of Miss Tohsaka” Kiara said we needed to take down the shield?

> I think the torture chamber is Rin’s secret
[>] No, I think it’s something else

I think the torture chamber isn’t Rin’s secret. It’s true that Rin Tohsaka is a dangerous person, but she wasn’t the kind of person who would do something so evil — My memories are lacking, but I’m sure of this. …probably.

Leo :: Yes, I agree. For it to be Miss Tohsaka’s secret, it would have to be something more amusing. There should be some other secret. First let’s investigate every corner of this floor.

Original translation here: https://tsukinoura.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/entry-34-a-secret-room/. Please support the original translator.