Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 71 : Punishment – 2

Chapter 71: Punishment – 2
By the time the series of events had come to an end, Benjamin and Aina opened their eyes.
It wasn’t intentional, but somehow, we all ended up surrounding Benjamin.
“Ahem.”
He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, but none of us looked away.
After a brief moment, Benjamin raised his hand slightly and said,
“I surrender.”
“I wasn’t competing with you for victory or defeat. I just wanted to confirm whether you were in your right mind.”
“Well, I suppose I should say I’m fine for now. I have no intention of listening to Edgar’s words anymore.”
“That’s a relief.”
Just then, as if she had been waiting for that cue, Aina spoke up, having just woken up.
“Brother. Take off that face skin.”
“Aina.”
“It’s been a long time since we met. Let me see your real face.”
“Sigh.”
He hesitated for a moment, then brought his hand up to his face.
And peeled the skin off.
“Hh—”
Armelia inhaled sharply.
Berseum shook his head in pity, and the blind Sienne only tilted her head curiously.
His face was horribly disfigured by severe burns.
The skin had melted and clung together in strange places—it was the kind of sight that made one instinctively imagine how unbearable that pain must have been.
I let out a deep sigh.
“How did that happen… No, maybe I shouldn’t ask.”
“It’s all right. Aina probably already has an idea.”
Aina covered her mouth with both hands.
Her eyes welled up with tears.
I’d never imagined seeing that girl cry, yet I’d seen it more than once lately.
“Don’t tell me it was because of me?”
“Of course not. It was because of the ones who set our family’s estate on fire.”
“But you got hurt while trying to save me! It’s because I passed out so early…”
“I did get a little burned saving you, that’s true, but I don’t regret it. I never said this before, but I’m really glad you’re safe.”
“Brother. Brother!”
Aina threw herself into Benjamin’s arms.
As Benjamin silently patted her back, the voice of the Diary Book echoed.
[That was truly unfortunate.]
‘Yeah. …Wait, aren’t you supposed to be up in the sky or something?’
[It’s not like I can only talk when I’m attached to you, Mason. More importantly, how long do I have to keep doing this? I’ve already sent out enough letters for one per citizen of the capital.]
‘Then you can come down. And… thanks for your work. I’ll count on you from here on.’
[From here on, you say.]
With a sigh, the Diary Book floated back to me.
And then it said something unexpected.
[Good thing I got to see his real face at the end.]
‘Huh?’
[This is what I mean.]
<Sudden Quest. Survive the ‘Hostage Situation’ with Benjamin Noel.>
[You have successfully cleared the Sudden Quest ‘Hostage Situation’.]
[Records during the Sudden Quest ‘Hostage Situation’ have been updated.]
[Due to changes in the record, part of the Future Diary has been revised.]
[The Diary Book’s ‘Shop Lv.3’ feature has been upgraded.]
[You have achieved Sudden Quest: Armelia’s Survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[You have achieved Sudden Quest: Aina’s Survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[You have achieved Sudden Quest: Berseum’s Survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[You have achieved Sudden Quest: Sienne’s Survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[You have achieved Sudden Quest: Benjamin’s Survival. Reward: 100 points.]
[Current Points: 763]
What?
‘Benjamin was one of the potentials too?’
[Seems that way.]
‘Don’t sound like you’re guessing.’
[He is one of the potentials. That’s why Edgar’s ability didn’t work properly on him.]
‘I see.’
[For reference, once Mason saves someone even once, they become completely immune to Edgar’s influence. Since you just saved Benjamin, you won’t have to worry about him anymore.]
Ah.
So that’s why Edgar couldn’t touch any of us anymore.
In any case, I was quite pleased with this unexpected gain.
Then Armelia spoke.
“Step aside for a moment, Aina.”
“What?”
“I’ll try healing him myself.”
That statement surprised not only Aina, but me as well.
Even with the Light of Healing, Benjamin’s burns were from long ago, weren’t they?
“I-Is that possible?”
“My ability heals the wounded without leaving a single scar. Burns can be seen as scars too, so…”
“Please. Please, I beg you.”
Aina clasped Armelia’s hands and bowed her head earnestly.
Armelia looked a bit startled, but soon smiled softly and said,
“No need to beg. I already said I’d do it first. Just wait.”
She slowly brought her hand up to Benjamin’s face.
Soon, a gentle golden light seeped into his skin.
How long had it been?
We witnessed a living miracle.
Benjamin’s once-twisted face began to slowly regain its original skin.
Before long, he had a completely normal face again.
Armelia, seemingly satisfied with her own feat,
“Hmph.”
smiled faintly, and then collapsed on the spot.
I quickly caught her—she had simply fallen sound asleep.
“Ah… Thank you. Thank you so much, Your Highness.”
“Your Highness? You always called me Miss Princess before.”
“Sniff… Thank you…”
“Guess she can’t hear you.”
Benjamin touched his face in disbelief and said,
“What in the world…”
“You weren’t wearing that skin mask to hide your identity, were you? It must have been to cover the burn scars.”
“…That’s right.”
“Then you don’t need to wear it anymore. Come to think of it, you stopped wearing your fake face some time ago too, didn’t you, sir?”
Berseum nodded, stroking his mustache.
Benjamin asked,
“Wouldn’t that mean I should wear it even more now that my face is healed?”
“No, sir. Quite the opposite.”
“…?”
“From now on, you’ll be traveling with us. We can protect you not only from the Emperor, but from the Empire itself.”
“What? That can’t be.”
“We even managed to snatch you away from Edgar. Compared to that, the Empire is nothing…”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”
He stammered, trying to clarify himself.
“You mean… you’re inviting me into your party?”
“Of course.”
“But until just a moment ago, I was your enemy.”
“That wasn’t your will. Thanks to your sister’s efforts, your soul’s color has changed now—it’s fine.”
He still looked dazed, unable to answer right away.
Swish.
Then Aina grabbed Benjamin’s hand and said,
“Come with us, brother.”
“Aina…”
“It’ll be fine with him around. Mason may not look it, but he’s really clever.”
What do you mean may not look it?
“I can tell, just from what happened today… All right. I’ll count on you from now on.”
Good.
With that, our party now totaled six members, including me.
As I smiled in satisfaction, Sienne spoke up.
“More importantly, we should get going soon.”
“Huh?”
“Someone must have ed this. With all the Silver Knights lying here unconscious…”
“Ah.”
“I can already hear footsteps approaching from afar.”
I asked Benjamin,
“What’ll happen to those knights now?”
“I’ve removed the needles, so they should come to their senses in about a week.”
“That’s a relief. Then let’s move.”
“Where are we heading?”
Berseum answered,
“To Deut Territory…”
“No, sir.”
“No?”
“Yes. We’ll have to travel around the continent for a while.”
I took out a teleportation bead and continued,
“The god said so—told me to spread the word about Magireta’s game across the entire continent.”
Scattering letters only through the capital wasn’t enough.
Someday, when enough time passes, perhaps Edgar’s accumulated deaths will finally come to an end.
So, I’ll make sure everyone on the continent reads your letters.
So that you’ll never be able to join the game again.
After that, we wandered across the continent.
It might sound like a difficult task when put into words, but it wasn’t hard at all.
We simply used teleportation beads to travel to one territory after another, and the Diary Book scattered letters across the sky.
During that time, we enjoyed plenty of rest.
When the Diary Book returned, saying, [It’s done. Huff, huff.], we immediately moved on to the next territory.
[Hey, I never said huff, huff.]
‘You just looked tired. You okay? Don’t push yourself too hard.’
[It’s a little late for you to start sounding kind, considering who made me do this.]
‘Sorry. But I really mean it—don’t overwork yourself. With what you’ve scattered so far, Edgar’s deaths must already number in the tens of thousands.’
[It’s fine. By now, I’ve gotten used to it.]
I wasn’t sure what kind of “used to it” that meant, but it was good to hear.
Honestly, without the Diary Book, that last Sudden Quest would’ve been impossible to clear.
I scratched my head and said,
‘Do you want anything?’
[What?]
‘You’ve worked so hard. I’d like to give you something in return.’
[Mason.]
The Diary Book paused, as if it couldn’t believe I was saying that.
Then it replied, in a slightly softer tone.
[All I want is for you to survive to the end, Mason. Together with your companions.]
‘That’s the plan, of course.’
[Then that’s enough. That’s really all I need.]
‘Diary Book… No, that’s not right.’
Come to think of it, it had said before that “Diary Book” wasn’t its real name.
So I asked what its real name was.
But the Diary Book only replied,
[You can just keep calling me the same. Even if I told you my name now, you wouldn’t remember it anyway.]
‘Huh?’
[It’s just… how it is. Anyway, let’s move on to the next territory.]
I was about to press further but stopped myself.
It didn’t feel like it would answer if I asked again.
Just then, Aina spoke up.
“This territory’s already piling up with letters.”
“Are we really going to cover the entire continent, Mason?”
“That’s the plan.”
Armelia thought for a moment before replying.
“According to the Empire’s census, ninety-one percent of the continent’s population is illiterate. Since Edgar’s letters were written in the Empire’s script, the actual number of people who can read them is even smaller.”
“How many people do you estimate can read them?”
“Conservatively, seven to eight million. Generously, maybe ten million.”
Wow.
Ten million deaths.
Benjamin nodded in satisfaction.
“At that rate, Edgar won’t be able to participate in any quest until the very end.”
“You sound quite pleased, Mr. Benjamin.”
“Miss Sienne, you seem the same. I haven’t seen you stop smiling these past few days.”
“I’ve had plenty of grudges against that bastard too.”
We all shared a refreshing smile.
I told you in the letter, Edgar.
You’ve earned our hatred—so be prepared.
Then, we vanished again with a teleportation bead.
That’s how we continued, visiting more territories.
By area, we had probably covered only about ten percent of the continent so far.
“Brother.”
Suddenly, Magireta appeared.
With an unusually grave expression.
It was when we had just finished another round of “letter scattering” and gathered at an inn-restaurant for dinner.
“100,598 times, brother.”
Magireta appeared silently as always—without warning.
But her face was different this time.
The usual mad grin she wore under her hood was completely gone.
Her expression, her presence—both were entirely serious.
Everyone straightened up in response.
“What do you mean?”
“Counting the letters scattered in this territory, 100,598 people have read Edgar’s letter. In other words, 100,598 future deaths are now reserved for Edgar.”
“……”
“No, that’s not right. He’s already died a little over thirty thousand times, so we should subtract those from the total.”
What must it feel like to die and resurrect more than thirty thousand times?
That idle thought crossed my mind blankly.
Then Armelia interjected.
“There’s no way he’s died that many times already.”
“What do you mean?”
“Each time Edgar dies, it takes about thirty seconds for him to resurrect. To come back thirty thousand times would take nine hundred thousand seconds—that’s over ten days. It hasn’t even been ten days since that hostage incident.”
“You’re surprisingly calm for such a topic.”
“If we were talking about a human being, I wouldn’t be. But I decided not to consider him one.”
“A wise choice.”
Magireta shrugged and replied.
“He’s impressive, though. He’s been shortening the time it takes to resurrect on his own.”
“What? That’s possible?”
“Normally, the physical recovery happens much faster than thirty seconds. The delay comes from how long it takes for the soul of the dead to settle back into the body.”
“So, that means…”
“Yeah. He’s learning to attach his soul to his revived body more easily.”
Edgar’s ability.
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it definitely involved something to do with souls.
Given how he’d tainted Benjamin’s soul with that ability, it made sense.
He was now using it to reduce his own resurrection time.
“Now it takes him about fifteen seconds to come back once.”
“Can he shorten it even more?”
“No. He’s used every trick he has. It takes fifteen seconds for his head to regenerate when it explodes—and that’s something even Edgar can’t speed up.”
“Then we’ll just have to scatter even more letters, won’t we, Your Holiness?”
“About that.”
Magireta suddenly paused.
Uncharacteristically, she seemed to hesitate.
Then, she spoke.
“Let’s stop here.”
In her voice, I heard something.
An emotion so unfamiliar, I almost doubted it was coming from Magireta herself.
—Anxiety.