落とし穴７１堀：夏の夜の納涼 解析編 (Part2)
「Ah, spread that out on the whiteboard over there.」
At Taizo’s instruction, Taiki spread out the paper on the whiteboard and secured it with magnets.
Hmm, that’s probably the blueprint of the abandoned inn we used for the test of courage.
Oh, by the way, we’ve set up a prefab building about 300 meters away from the abandoned inn, using it as both a starting and returning point, and a monitoring station.
「Some of you may have seen it earlier, but this blueprint is of the abandoned inn used for the test of courage. Note that damage conditions and such are not indicated on this blueprint. As for the damage conditions and locations, I’ll omit the details for now, as explaining them would take too much time.」
「Could you wait a moment? What about the damage condition of the room where the doll supposedly moved? I think that’s important, don’t you? It might have moved due to wind or insect intrusion, for example.」
When I asked Yuki for an explanation, Taizo stepped forward.
「I’ll explain that part. This is footage of that room. The time isn’t now, but around noon. It was properly recorded beforehand for tonight’s event.」
As far as the footage showed, there were no holes in the roof or any noticeable damage.
「What about damage behind or beneath the doll or other installed furniture?」
「None of that either. This is the condition of the room before anything was placed. Naturally, considering people would be entering and exiting, things like the floor giving way or walls collapsing could lead to accidents. It only looks dilapidated, but those parts are solid.」
I see.
So, external factors like wind couldn’t have knocked the doll down.
「Other possibilities include vibrations from people entering and exiting, or the intrusion of insects or small animals. Finally, as we confirmed earlier, intentional human trickery has been ruled out.」
Hmm, hmm, we can’t rule out those possibilities either.
「Well, that should be enough for the preliminary explanation. Now, I’d like to show you the footage from that time.」
「Taiki.」
「Yes. Understood.」
Then, the footage began to play.
The time was just past 11 PM. Was that when the test of courage started?
The room was dark, with two camera feeds displayed: one showing a green image from a night-vision camera, and another showing a completely dark image.
At that time, the doll wasn’t moving.
「Wait, hold on a second. I don’t know which doll moved.」
「Ah, stop the footage. Uh, Taizo.」
「Right. I believe it was this doll.」
Saying that, Taizo pointed to the Japanese doll placed on the middle shelf on the left side.
It was quite a distance from the edge, so it didn’t seem like it could have moved from a slight vibration or an insect.
However, seeing it in the dark gives me chills.
It’s understandable that Hifi was scared.
I’ll apologize for teasing her later.
「Alright, let’s resume. A few groups should go in and come back normally now.」
Just as Yuki said, several groups entered and exited the room, taking commemorative photos before leaving.
However, there was no change in the doll that moved, and no one was seen touching it.
Then, when Hifi and Taizo arrived, the doll fell to the floor with a ‘kotori’ sound, just as Hifi had described.
「…It really moved.」
「Whoa, is this for real?」
「Hmm. Are there no other angles?」
The three of them switched to other angles, showing footage from various perspectives, but I was deeply impressed by that particular footage.
Amazing, to be able to do something like that in a magic and skill nullification space… there’s still so much I don’t know in this world.
「Whoa! It really moved!?」
「…It really is moving.」
「…Mm. Truly amazing. Are there ghosts?」
「I wonder about that? Wait, Yuki-sama, do you see something like a human hand?」
「「「Eh?」」」
Everyone was surprised by Samantha’s remark.
In the repeated footage, only the doll moving was visible.
「Samantha, where is it?」
「Um, it’s on the opposite side from the doll.」
At her words, I looked to the opposite side… and indeed, a human hand was faintly visible.
「A hand, it’s a hand!? It’s definitely a human hand!!」
「Ria, I understand you’re scared, but please stop clinging to my head.」
「…It’s certainly a human hand. But the position is strange. If it’s like this…」
「It would be strange if it weren’t visible in this footage.」
As Samantha said, this footage was shot from the front-side, at a 45-degree angle to the shelf where the doll rested, and it was clear that the back of the shelf was hollow.
That’s why it’s strange that only a human hand is visible.
From that position, if someone were there, their entire body should have been visible.
「Yuki. Any reactions within this dungeon?」
「None. There are no reactions other than ours.」
…Heh heh heh.
This is getting really interesting.
I prefer ghost shows that do scientific verification.
Also, Etrian Odyssey is still brutally difficult, as always.
But it’s a shame there are no deer. If you understand the meaning of ‘deer,’ you must be an excellent adventurer.