Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 36 : Hide-and-Seek – 1

Chapter 36: Hide-and-Seek – 1
At those words, I straightened my posture.
I had never imagined anyone stronger than Aina.
Moreover, Aina didn’t sound irritated or hesitant — she said Ian would win, as calmly as a scholar reciting a proposition.
‘The world is wide, and there are many monsters, huh.’
Then Berseum added,
“He’s also the archenemy of your family, you know. The conflict between the Noel family and the Trosse family has appeared numerous times throughout imperial history.”
“Huh? I don’t think I told you my family name, though?”
“That much, anyone with some sense can figure out after a while. I’m quite perceptive, you see.”
“Perceptive, huh. Judging by the fact you’re talking about families in front of me, you must not be very…”
“……”
“Kidding, kidding. Don’t look so gloomy; you’ll make me feel bad.”
The current head of the Trosse family — sworn enemies of the Noel family.
So Edgar had approached such a man.
Armelia let out a small sigh and continued,
“The shuffle only lasted about five minutes before the teams were divided again. But from what I observed, Ian seemed to have formed a team with Edgar within those five minutes.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“They smiled at each other and shook hands.”
“Hmmm.”
“Well… of course, since there was a shuffle, unless they were extremely lucky, they would’ve been separated again. Still, I thought I should mention it.”
“Thank you. That’s useful information.”
I decided to stop thinking about Edgar there.
Then I brought the topic back to its original course.
“Anyway, let’s talk about the quest again.”
“Alright.”
“We’ll find out in a few minutes anyway, but the next quest is hide-and-seek.”
I whispered to the group what I had seen in the Future Diary.
They no longer asked how I knew such specific details about the game.
They simply listened carefully to my explanation.
A short while later, after hearing everything, Aina looked confident.
“This quest’s going to be easy.”
“It will be.”
Indeed, in the Future Diary, Aina seemed to have passed this quest without any trouble.
Berseum nodded in agreement.
“Plus, if I use my perception-reduction spell… or my special invisibility magic, we’ll have an easy win.”
“Invisibility magic?”
“Explaining it in detail would be complicated, so to keep it short — it’s a spell that makes you unseen.”
“What… are you saying you’re a magician or something?”
“I’m literally a magician.”
So that was why Berseum had survived safely in the Future Diary as well.
An idea suddenly crossed my mind.
“Can that spell be cast on multiple people?”
“Of course. I can cast it on you as well.”
“Yes. And please, on the rest of the group too.”
“The rest?”
“This quest is a team battle.”
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.
I was about to give a detailed explanation — but I didn’t need to.
Magireta’s voice rang out.
“Ehh, finally done. What a hassle, all because of my little brother.”
“……”
“Alright, sorry for making you do mock training twice. Though honestly, you didn’t do anything — I did it all! Anyway, we’ll really begin the fourth quest now.”
Clap!
<Fourth Quest. Hide-and-Seek.>
Within 10 minutes from now, form teams. There must be two teams.
To form a new team during the quest, all twenty participants must agree.
The playing area is within a 500-meter radius.
The searching team and the hiding team will alternate each day, and the quest will last two days in total.
The hiding team has six hours to choose their hiding spots. After six hours, if they leave their hiding spot, they die.
To find someone, you must tap their body with your palm and say, “Found you.” Only then is it recognized as a successful find.
The team that finds more members of the opposing team passes. The losing team is eliminated.
If both teams find the same number of opponents, the game will repeat until a winner is decided.
The toughest part of this quest was Rule 8.
‘In the Third Quest, everyone passed if they got a perfect score on the pop quiz.’
This time, it didn’t seem like things would go so smoothly.
In any case, one team — that is, ten people — would be inevitably eliminated.
Just then, the Diary Book opened.
<Hidden Quest. Ensure the survival of Armelia Kerr Dneroum in the “Hide-and-Seek” quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure the survival of Aina Noel in the “Hide-and-Seek” quest.>
<Hidden Quest. Ensure the survival of Berseum Ferux in the “Hide-and-Seek” quest.>
At this point, it almost felt strange not to see these appear.
Then Magireta asked,
“Everyone got that? Any questions?”
“……”
“If not, then as per Rule 1, start forming teams right away. You have ten minutes. If you fail to split into two teams within that time, everyone will be eliminated.”
At that, people began glancing nervously around.
Of course, looking around wouldn’t help much.
It’s not like anyone had a face that looked particularly good at playing hide-and-seek.
Poke, poke.
Aina nudged my side.
“We should hurry, too.”
“Is that really necessary? I don’t think it’ll make much difference who we team up with.”
“Normally, no. But look over there.”
Aina pointed toward a lone figure standing off to the side.
“Huh?”
It was a man dressed in quite an old-fashioned outfit.
But even to someone as ignorant as me, the aura radiating from his body felt strong and dangerous.
Aina spoke in a satisfied tone.
“You can tell just by the way he’s standing. He’s incredibly skilled.”
“You can tell just by looking?”
“Grandfather could recognize a magician the moment he met one. It’s the same thing.”
“Of course, you’d have to have met a magician before to know……”
Aina ignored me and continued speaking.
“About as strong as that Ian I mentioned earlier? Just where has someone that powerful been hiding until now?”
“……”
“And that sword. I can’t be sure since it’s still in the sheath, but it looks like an incredible blade. Especially that emblem on the scabbard—it looks a lot like the Trosse family’s rose.”
“……”
“Wow. Now that I look closely, he even looks just like that bastard Ian. At this point, you could almost say they’re the same per—”
Aina’s voice gradually trailed off.
I swallowed hard.
After a brief silence, Armelia spoke in a resigned tone.
“Ian de Trosse.”
“Your Highness.”
“There’s no need to invoke my perfect memory for this. That Ian who just shook hands with Edgar—it can’t be anyone else.”
“Could he have come over to our side during the shuffle?”
“That’s the most reasonable assumption. Still, considering how many participants there were left, it’s far too deliberate for him to have ended up here among only twenty of us.”
The Princess’s reasoning was sound.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible by chance, but it was far more likely that Magireta had a hand in it.
Just then—
“They’ve recognized us as well,” Berseum said.
And sure enough, Ian was striding directly toward us.
Step.
He stopped completely, stroked his chin, and spoke.
“One old man. Two women. And a young fellow who looks like the leader.”
“……”
“You must be the party he mentioned.”
My heart sank.
‘Did he hear about us from Edgar?’
But that guy had died right away.
Even if he somehow came back later, by then we were already gone.
How on earth…?
At that moment, the Diary Book spoke to me.
[They say hearing is the last sense to fade after death.]
‘Oh? Really?’
[Yes. When you stood before Edgar’s corpse, you all had quite the conversation, didn’t you? Seems he made good use of that.]
I clicked my tongue in regret. I had been too careless.
Well, at the time, I never would’ve imagined a corpse could come back to life.
Either way, I kept my expression calm and spoke.
“You’re making strange comments before even introducing yourself. Who might you be?”
“Until a moment ago, I wasn’t here. Magireta—what did she call it again? Ah, right. She announced she’d be performing a ‘shuffle.’ Then I came to my senses and found myself here.”
“……”
“The fellow told me, as soon as he heard the word ‘shuffle,’ that it must mean someone had requested a deal with Magireta.”
Gulp.
I could hear Armelia swallowing audibly.
She had said that only five minutes passed between Edgar and Ian shaking hands.
Within that brief span, Magireta must have told the participants she’d perform a shuffle.
‘Then he barely had time to think. And yet, in that moment, he deduced that the shuffle came from a deal?’
Well, considering Edgar had already tasted what a deal with Magireta was like once before, maybe the idea came to him easily.
Then Berseum spoke up.
“Go on.”
“He said the one who requested the shuffle must surely be the group that killed him.”
“……”
“He asked me to come over here and take a look.”
I replied calmly,
“The ‘he’ you keep mentioning… that must be Edgar Tyler, right?”
“……! How do you know that name? He said you wouldn’t know. Magireta wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“I had other means of finding out.”
“Hmm. Seems he had reason to keep an eye on you.”
Swish.
Armelia suddenly cut in.
“You joined hands with Edgar, didn’t you?”
“My, so it’s Her Highness. I must apologize for not recognizing you sooner.”
“No. You recognized me the moment you saw me—long before being brought here.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because our eyes met back in the original location. I clearly saw your pupils widen.”
“……Well, I won’t deny it. But even at the edge of hell like this, I didn’t see much reason to show royal courtesy. Besides, it doesn’t seem Your Highness will last very long anyway.”
Rather than grow angry, Armelia shifted the topic.
“Answer my question from earlier. Did you join hands with Edgar?”
“Yes. Both physically and in alliance.”
“In just five minutes?”
“Ah, so you didn’t hear what we discussed. He told me a great deal in those five minutes. The shortest yet most fulfilling interview of my life.”
Good grief.
What in the world did Edgar say to convince this man?
“Then you really intend to oppose us—to oppose me? I could return to His Majesty the Emperor and expose your crimes.”
“You mean during the quest?”
“……”
“Well, if Your Highness falls by my hand here, that won’t happen anyway. Besides, who knows if His Majesty would even grant you an audience again.”
What an infuriating tone of voice.
I stepped forward and asked,
“So, what did he offer this time? What did he pay to send you to us?”
“Hm? I don’t see why you’re speaking so casually. You look like a commoner.”
“Even nobles mock royalty sometimes. Why shouldn’t I?”
“You insolent…”
“That guy should only have three lives left. He gave up one of them just to send you here, didn’t he?”
Ian’s expression hardened instantly.
It wasn’t surprising — he might have guessed I could find out Edgar’s name, but knowing exactly how many lives Edgar had left was another matter.
“How do you—”
“Just answer.”
“I don’t know what he offered in exchange. The two of them communicated silently, through their minds.”
“I see. So they hid the fact that Magireta accepts deals.”
“What’s your name?”
I shrugged.
“Mason Gear.”
“Gear? An absurd surname.”
“It’s precious to me. Watch your mouth.”
“You dare—!”
Clack.
He reached for his sword.
But then—
Swish.
Before anyone realized, Aina had her needle poised at Ian’s neck.
From its tip, drops of thick, black liquid slowly fell.