Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 61 : Weight Loss - 3

Chapter 61: Weight Loss - 3
The final day of the Diet Quest.
Edgar let out a loud burp.
“Buuurp. Ah, I can’t eat another bite……”
“You kept saying that, yet you kept stuffing your face.”
“I couldn’t help it. It was just too delicious.”
That was right.
Edgar was swimming through a mountain of bread among the other participants.
The man talking to him now, Vane, was the one who had tried to stop him several times.
Honestly, Vane had no obligation to restrain Edgar.
Their connection was extremely shallow.
At best, on the very first day of the Diet Game, Edgar had simply approached him, saying he seemed likable and asking for a good partnership with a handshake.
‘What kind of guy is he, anyway?’
From the start, Vane had suspected there was some kind of trick hidden in that bread.
So, he postponed eating the bread as long as possible, trying to figure out what kind of trap it was hiding.
But after starving for five whole days, even he could hardly stand it any longer.
Just as he was about to reach for the bread out of desperation, a thought crossed his mind.
‘What if there’s another kind of food hidden somewhere else?’
That thought had hit the mark. After a desperate search through the buildings, he discovered splendid, mouthwatering dishes hidden away.
Vane had tried to inform Edgar of this fact.
But it was already too late.
Edgar was already deeply addicted to the bread.
“……Anyway, that’s unfortunate.”
“Huh? What is?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t realize what kind of state you’re in. At least you didn’t lose your sanity and turn into a monster like the others.”
“Hm.”
“You must’ve gained at least seven kilograms compared to four weeks ago. You’re out. Looks like this is goodbye.”
Edgar only shrugged his shoulders.
Just then, Magireta appeared.
“You all worked hard for these four weeks!”
“Urghhh. Bread, the bread……”
“Uwooooh……”
“This place looks disastrous. Quite the contrast compared to some other teams.”
After saying that, Magireta tried to summon the papers showing everyone’s current weight.
Or rather, she tried to.
But before she could, Edgar suddenly raised his hand.
“Noona. Just a moment.”
“I told you not to call me that.”
“Could you wait for ten minutes?”
“Hm? Well, ten minutes is fine.”
“Thank you.”
After replying, he did something strange.
He suddenly sat down on the floor and took off his shoes.
“What are you doing?”
“These shoes become ordinary ones for a month if their wearer dies. Since I’m about to die, I should take them off first.”
“……? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“There’s something like that.”
Of course, those shoes were the ones Edgar had received on credit—
—an item that ‘disables the effects of other first-place rewards.’
‘That Mason bastard can see the future. As soon as this quest ends, I need to move on to the next part of my plan. But to do that, I must block his teleportation bead.’
So dying while still wearing the shoes had to be avoided.
Otherwise, they’d turn into ordinary shoes for a month.
‘Well, anyway, let’s finish this quest first.’
Edgar rummaged through his belongings.
Vane, who was watching, couldn’t suppress his curiosity.
“What are you thinking, Edgar?”
“Mr. Vane, do you remember the condition for clearing this game?”
“Do you take me for a fool? You pass if you lose weight compared to the start.”
“You are a fool, Mr. Vane.”
Vane bristled, but quickly calmed himself and asked evenly,
“What do you mean by that?”
“Losing or gaining weight isn’t the condition itself. The condition is whether your weight has decreased or increased compared to the start of the game.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“No. The point is, as long as my weight is less than it was at the start, it counts. Like this.”
When Vane blinked,
“Huh?”
—one of Edgar’s arms was gone.
He had cut off his own left arm with a sword he’d taken from his luggage.
An unbelievable speed.
Blood spurted out from the severed stump.
Vane stood blankly, splattered in red.
Edgar, wiping the blood dripping down his face, muttered,
“Ugh. Trauma kicking in. Hope my skin doesn’t start burning again.”
“W-What did you just do?”
“Hold on. I’m in a bit of a hurry right now.”
He dropped heavily to the floor.
And in the blink of an eye again—
—slash!
He cut off both his legs.
Even as the floor turned into a sea of blood, Edgar smiled brightly and held out his sword to Vane.
“I’m thinking of cutting off my right arm next. Would you help me?”
“You’re out of your mind……”
“You still don’t get it? The condition says my weight just has to be less than it was on the first day. I might be a fat pig right now, but if I cut off both arms and both legs, I’ll be much lighter, won’t I?”
“……”
“But I don’t just want to pass—I want to win first place. I have to reduce as much weight as possible. So please, help me cut off the last arm.”
As if possessed, Vane took the sword.
Then he swung it hard.
But his swordsmanship was nowhere near Edgar’s level.
He didn’t cut it cleanly—the blade caught on bone.
A sudden wave of guilt rushed through Vane.
“I—I messed up.”
“It’s fine, Mr. Vane. You’re not a swordsman, are you? Don’t you have another specialty?”
“……Do you know who I am?”
“Who knows. I do know that face isn’t your real one, and ‘Vane’ is an alias.”
“……”
“Anyway, please continue. With a bit more force this time!”
Vane swung again.
This time, the arm came off cleanly.
Now missing both arms and both legs, Edgar lay sprawled on the floor.
“Huh, this kind of feels like I’ve become one of those roly-poly toys.”
“Are you done now?”
“Yes, Noona. Thanks for waiting.”
“Nah. Honestly, it was fun to watch.”
“I think I’m about to die soon. Please announce the results before I resurrect. I need to pass while I’m still dead.”
Once he revived, his arms and legs would grow back—
which meant his weight would increase again.
Magireta felt a mischievous urge to wait and see if he’d die and come back.
But she soon shook her head and said,
“All right. Let’s announce the results.”
Swish!
On a large piece of paper, the current weight appeared.
Edgar had succeeded in reducing his weight by 23 kilograms.
The moment he confirmed it, his consciousness faded.
And within just a few minutes, he was revived.
When he came to, his arms and legs were back, and the irritating addiction symptoms were completely gone.
He cracked his neck and looked around.
None of the other participants were anywhere to be seen.
“Did everyone else die?”
“Not die—eliminated. Out of your team, only you and that guy passed.”
Where Magireta pointed, Vane was standing blankly.
Edgar smirked and slipped on the shoes he had taken off earlier.
Then he stood up and—
“I’ll block the function of the teleportation bead,”
—he muttered as he stomped on the floor.
That should do it.
The teleportation beads belonging to Mason’s group had just been disabled.
Now he was ready to begin the next phase of his plan.
He cracked his neck and started walking toward Vane.
But Vane raised his hand to stop him.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“Sorry?”
“You’re a dangerous man. To put it bluntly, you’re insane.”
“You’re being rather rude.”
“That’s not all. Just a moment ago, I cut off your arm. But I don’t even know why I did it. I had no reason to comply with your request.”
Edgar muttered with a faint, peculiar smile.
“You’re definitely better than Ian.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Edgar turned to Magireta and asked,
“Anyway, Noona, I’m first place this time, right?”
“Yeah. Annoyingly so.”
“Ah, don’t say that. So, what’s the first-place reward?”
“Catch.”
She tossed something toward him.
When he caught it, it was a compass.
Edgar shook it a few times and asked,
“How do I use this? The first-place rewards change every round.”
“Put it on your palm and think of the target you want to find.”
“Mason.”
“You really have an obsession, huh.”
Soon, light burst out from the compass.
Like a bulletin board, an image appeared in the air.
It was a map of the continent.
A red dot blinked in one of the regions.
That red dot must represent Mason’s current location.
“No need for an explanation, right?”
“No. With this, I can track anyone’s location in real time.”
“As long as you set the condition properly, yes. The map can even zoom in—you can find which room of which inn they’re hiding in.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Noona.”
Edgar tucked the compass into his chest pocket and continued,
“By the way, there wasn’t another first-place tie this time, was there? Mason’s group, for instance.”
“I can’t tell you. I didn’t tell him either.”
“But if it’s Mason, he probably already figured it out.”
“Then why don’t you figure it out yourself?”
“Hmm… well, whatever.”
He turned to look at Vane.
By now, the confusion had faded from Vane’s face.
“Well then, Mr. Vane. Would you like to come with me?”
“What’s your goal?”
“Does life need a goal? Life’s meant to be enjoyed.”
“……”
“So you do have a clear objective. But even so, unless you survive the quests to the end, your objective won’t matter. Let me help you.”
After a brief silence, Vane nodded slightly, but unmistakably.
Feeling somewhat cheerful, Edgar hummed a tune as he said,
“Noona. Now, could you—”
“—send you to where Mason is again, right?”
“No.”
“No? That’s unexpected—from someone so obsessed.”
“Send us to the capital. The Imperial Capital.”
Magireta stayed silent for a moment.
Then she spoke with a meaningful smile.
“Fine. Then off you go. See you next time.”
Snap.
Magireta snapped her fingers.
Edgar and Vane’s figures vanished.
Left alone, Magireta muttered,
“That brat’s starting to play dirty. Must be getting desperate.”
When they arrived at the Deut Territory, it was right around dinner time.
Without anyone saying a word, we all rushed to the most luxurious restaurant nearby.
After getting seated, when the waiter approached, Aina spoke.
“From here to here—”
“You mean… everything?”
“Yes. All of it. Bring everything.”
The waiter, half in disbelief, took the order.
Soon, the dishes began to pile up like a mountain on the table.
Normally, such an amount would have been intimidating, but at this point, none of us could be stopped.
Chomp chomp.
Everyone tossed manners aside and devoured the food.
Only Armelia maintained a bit of decorum, though even she gave up halfway through the meal.
Without a word, we just kept eating, shoveling food into our stomachs until a sense of peace returned.
“Ahhh.”
Sienne spoke with a genuinely delighted expression.
“As expected, when you want to eat, you should just eat.”
“I agree. Didn’t think I’d still have an appetite at this age.”
“How about ordering something sweet for dessert?”
“Good idea. Something sugary sounds nice.”
After finishing dessert, we immediately booked our rooms.
We could’ve gone back to Berseum’s house, but the food in our stomachs made us feel so heavy that going back sounded exhausting.
Besides, the fatigue we’d been putting off came crashing down all at once.
We decided to postpone reviewing the quest until tomorrow and each returned to our own rooms.
When I flopped down on the bed, the Diary Book spoke up.
[You’ve worked hard.]
‘You too.’
[Yes, that’s true.]
‘It was just a polite response. Honestly, you didn’t do anything.’
[That’s also true.]
No point in arguing with it.
‘Anyway, there was a new function, wasn’t there?’
[Yes.]
‘What was it again?’
If I remembered correctly, it was called “Peeking.”
Flutter.
The Diary Book opened.
On the blank page that appeared—
[Write the name of anyone you want here.]
‘Huh? I don’t have a pen.’
[Just think it.]
I absentmindedly thought of Armelia.
Then, writing began to appear on the blank page.
There was so much that it was impossible to read it all.
I just picked a random spot and focused.
And soon, my eyes widened.