Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 66 : Rescue - 1

Chapter 66: Rescue - 1
This couldn’t be happening.
How had they managed to strike my weakness so precisely?
At first, I had clearly held the initiative.
“If you don’t kill yourself within the deadline, I will kill Cecil.”
That must have put tremendous pressure on Mason’s party.
But.
‘If you don’t free Cecil within the deadline, you will never hear an answer.’
Now the one being chased had become Edgar.
When he bit his lip, Magireta spoke.
“Are you going to reply? If you don’t reply, you’ll never hear an answer.”
“Sister. You stole a look at the letter.”
“Mason said it was fine.”
“…….”
“You had that look like you’d never reply. Do you still feel the same?”
Instead of answering, Edgar grabbed the pen with trembling hands.
Then, clenching his teeth, he began to write the letter.
A few minutes later.
He handed the letter to Magireta as if he were throwing it.
“Please deliver this.”
“Ke ke. You’ve lost a lot of composure.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“I don’t care about your mood. If I’m in the mood to joke, I will. It wasn’t a joke to begin with.”
“…….”
“I’ve been thinking for a while that you picked the wrong person to mess with. Besides, that guy has recently adopted a bad-boy image.”
She smiled faintly and tucked the letter into her chest.
“Then I’ll go do the mail. Cheer up.”
Magireta disappeared.
Edgar kept silent for a moment, then slammed his fist down on the table.
Crack.
The table split neatly into two pieces.
Benjamin watched that and thought.
‘I really ought to side with them.’
Magireta the mail carrier returned with Edgar’s reply.
She handed over the letter and vanished.
We gathered and checked the reply.
<You told me to write back, so I am.
I’ll admit it. I wanted to know my future.
To be precise, I wanted to know how many more rounds of the game I could participate in.
But I cannot free Cecil in exchange for that.
I want to know the future as much as I want to bring you down.
Instead, I will give any other price.
For example, how about trading one of the items I possess as the bargaining chip.
I have three items.
One of the three… no, I don’t mind handing over all three.
If that interests you, tell me in your reply.>
The group blinked and looked at me.
“What kind of letter did you send to get that reply?”
I slowly explained the contents of the letter I had written.
Everyone opened their mouths as if in admiration.
Berseum said.
“That was supposed to be a brilliant move, but it backfired. Edgar doesn’t seem inclined to free Cecil under that condition.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“Huh? But…….”
“I’ve never seen Edgar’s future anyway.”
The future I saw only extended to Year 327.
There was no way I could know whether there would be another round, or whether Edgar would participate then.
“The core of the plan is that we exchange letters with him.”
“How does that become the core?”
“We have to make him mention ‘Magireta’s Quest’ in the letter.”
Armelia was the first to catch what I meant.
Sssnap.
She even clapped and said.
“I see. That’s why you confirmed with Magireta earlier. If anything about the quest leaks to the coachman during our conversation, the question is whether the coachman dies.”
“You are correct. Magireta answered that no, it wouldn’t.”
“You intend to show Edgar’s letter to the coachman. If the quest is mentioned in that letter, Edgar will die.”
“Yes. Exactly.”
Color returned to everyone’s faces.
But Sienne spoke with a grave expression.
“That can’t be done, Mason.”
“Yes?”
“If you do that, Edgar who wrote the letter will die, but you who showed it to the coachman will die as well.”
“…….”
“It’s true Edgar gave the clue by writing the letter. But the person who shows that letter to a civilian will also be subject to the condemnation. I can say that for sure as someone who participated in a previous round.”
At that, the group turned to look at me.
I nodded solemnly.
“That’s true. But what if I don’t show it?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if we make the coachman read Edgar’s letter without our hands touching it? Then we would avoid being subject to condemnation and only Edgar would die, right?”
“What are you saying? How would you make the coachman read the letter without our hands being involved?”
Berseum intervened.
“Hmm. Could I conjure a breeze with magic and place the letter beside the coachman?”
“No. That kind of method wouldn’t fool Magireta’s eyes. The person who used magic would also be condemned.”
“…….”
“Similarly, if we staged it by dropping the letter somewhere and letting the coachman read it by chance, the result would be the same. The head of the person who discarded the letter would burst.”
“Then how on earth…….”
There was only one way.
We had to make the coachman read the letter in a way ‘Magireta didn’t know about.’
I thought back to the Third Quest “Pop Quiz” note test.
When I held the Diary Book and continued secret conversations, Magireta had passed right beside me without noticing.
Right.
Magireta didn’t know about the Diary Book.
The Diary Book not only didn’t know the Diary Book’s functions, it didn’t even recognize its existence at all.
I stared quietly at the Diary Book.
Earlier that guy had clearly said he could tear pages out by himself.
He had also said he could tear out the peeking page.
[That’s a very unpleasant gaze.]
‘I’m counting on you. You’re the only one I can trust.’
[Huu.]
I rubbed my palms together and said to the party who were waiting for my answer.
“That I don’t really know either.”
“Eh?”
“Let’s wait first. If our wish reaches the heavens, the gods might help us.”
The party seemed to take my words as some kind of metaphor.
But I was only stating a pure fact.
The Diary Book was a god!
Then the Diary Book muttered.
[Even if you flatter me now……]
The exchange of letters continued several more times.
When there were five days left until the capital.
<I don’t care what the first-place prize is.
No, to be honest I care, but not more than Cecil’s life.
Free Cecil quietly.
We have five days until we arrive at the capital.
I’m not recommending it, but even if you free Cecil this time, you still have many other precious people to take as hostages.>
<As I said, I can’t.
Even if you try to take other hostages, you’ll surely have laid some sort of trap.
Mr. Mason is a person whose ability’s limits are unknown.
We cannot let our guard down carelessly.
I think this operation was valid because it was your first time.
So please accept my item as the price. It will be useful.>
When there were four days left until the capital.
<What was that first-place prize again. You said you had three, right?
I’m guessing one is a brooch.
I can guess the function of one of the other two.
Probably something that blocks the function of another first-place prize.
Tell me in detail what kind of object that is, its effects and penalties.>
<They are shoes.
It’s the kind that activates when you imagine the target item in your head and stomp the ground once.
It can be used indefinitely until the wearer dies.
However, once the wearer dies, it returns to being ordinary shoes for a month.
In fact, when you killed me last time it became ordinary shoes. You must have used a Teleportation bead then.
I think it’s a very effective first-place prize.
I will give this to you, so please tell me my future.>
Good. Good.
The guy was gradually loosening the locks on his heart.
At first he had even substituted the word “prize” for “first-place prize.”
But he was getting loose-lipped enough to even recite the shoes’ function.
Let’s nudge him a little more.
When there were three days left until the capital.
<That kind of thing is useless.
Why don’t you bring another on-credit item and offer a different prize instead?
Find an on-credit item that would pique my interest.
There are three days left now.
You’d better send a satisfying reply quickly.>
<I don’t know the list of all first-place prizes either.
As I said, the list of first-place prizes and the quests’ contents change every round.
But if you insist, I will find out.
Tell me what function you want.>
When there were two days left until the capital.
<I don’t want any specific function.
I just want something that helps clear Magireta’s game most safely and quickly.>
<That’s too broad.
Also you, you’ve comfortably referred to “those things” for a while now — are you sure that’s okay?
Don’t forget I still keep the letters.>
<The moment you show the letters to others you’ll die too.
Ah, since you resurrect it doesn’t matter to you?
Still, I don’t think you could kill me with the letter.
Because you’d want to hear the answer.
How many more times you could participate in the game.>
When there was one day left until the capital, Edgar’s letters grew very short.
So did his tone.
Instead, letters were exchanged several times a day.
<Stop provoking me. You’re starting to get on my nerves.>
<You must be getting anxious since time’s running out. Even your tone has changed. You bastard.>
<Enough with the jokes. Tell me what you really want.>
<Fine. Forget the victory prize — tell me the secret to surviving until the end of Magireta’s Quest. You’re the winner, aren’t you?
I want you to tell me all the hidden rules you know.
If you’re honest this time, I’ll stop teasing you and tell you your future.>
Please. Please take the bait.
I found myself praying.
There was now less than half a day left until we reached the capital.
My throat felt dry.
<Fine. Forget the victory prize — tell me the secret to surviving until the end of Magireta’s Quest. You’re the winner, aren’t you?
I want you to tell me all the hidden rules you know.
If you’re honest this time, I’ll stop teasing you and tell you your future.>
Edgar received Mason’s letter and fell into deep thought.
There was less than half a day left until they arrived.
Considering the time it would take for him to send a reply and for Mason to respond again… this might very well be the final letter.
‘Can I tell him?’
If Mason received this letter and then pretended as if nothing happened, Edgar would only end up being tricked.
But he wanted to know so badly.
How many more times he could participate in the game.
“Is that really something to worry about?”
“Mr. Benjamin.”
“He’s not even asking for your first-place prize. If it’s just about revealing some of the hidden rules you know, that’s not such a big risk, is it?”
“…….”
Edgar didn’t even have the energy to reply to that foolish comment.
But he did get a small spark of inspiration.
Soon after, he picked up his pen and began writing a letter.
<Magireta’s game changes a lot with each round, but the hidden rules remain the same for every round.
Those alone are eternal and unchanging.
That’s why telling you all of them would be too much of a loss for me.
So I will tell you only three.
I will skip the ones I assume you already know.
First…….>
He stopped writing there and put down his pen.
‘How transparent. I almost fell for it.’
He could tell Mason intended to keep this letter and show it to someone else.
Probably planning to make it look like a coincidence when showing it to a civilian, thinking he himself would stay safe...
‘Foolish. Magireta would never fall for such an act.’
Even so, getting caught up in such a cheap trap was unpleasant.
At that moment, Magireta asked,
“All done?”
“No.”
“……?”
“I’ll cancel this. I’ll write a new one.”
He burned the letter in the candle flame.
Then he began writing a new, final letter.
<I’ve lost. Or perhaps I’ve won.
I will give up on learning about my future.
Instead, Cecil will die right now.
Thanks to you stalling for time through letters, the deadline I mentioned long ago has already passed.
These past few days of correspondence have been more enjoyable than I expected.
Let’s meet again someday.
I’ll postpone asking about my future until then.
Until that time, I wish you well.>