Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 72 : Punishment - 3

Chapter 72: Punishment - 3
I understood everything, yet I pretended not to and asked again.
“What do you mean? I’m not the one spreading those letters.”
“I told you to stop.”
“……”
“It’s no secret that you’ve been distributing them somehow. Don’t play dumb and just listen to me. Stop spreading Edgar’s letters.”
I fell silent for a moment, lost in thought.
In that brief pause, Berseum cut in.
“I don’t see why we should listen to that.”
“Do you want to die?”
“I hate to admit it, but Edgar is terrifyingly strong. The only thing we have to fight him with is the ‘letter spreading,’ isn’t it?”
“……”
“By what right are you trying to take away our only weapon?”
Even Sienne agreed with his calm but sharp words.
“He’s right. If you don’t like it, why not take away the immortality you granted Edgar instead? Then he’d be done after dying once.”
“……”
“This entire mess started because you granted that ridiculous wish of his. To be more precise, the real problem is your very existence.”
“Sigh.”
“We’re just victims here. So don’t order us around.”
Both Berseum’s and Sienne’s words were things Magireta wouldn’t take kindly to.
Even so, she didn’t seem particularly angry.
I was still deep in thought the entire time.
Then Magireta spoke again.
Her tone sounded almost as if she were trying to soothe us.
“Edgar has only just revived a little over thirty thousand times. The deaths you all inflict on him far outnumber his resurrections.”
“So what?”
“He won’t be able to participate in the next quest. Or rather, he will—but even there, he’ll just keep dying and reviving over and over.”
“And what does that matter?”
“In that state, a normal game won’t be possible. He’ll be disqualified, separated as one of this generation’s dropouts.”
Even after she said that much, no one’s expression changed.
Magireta’s voice quickened slightly.
“If he’s disqualified in the next game, he won’t be able to repay the credit debt he took from the first-place reward.”
“……”
“In other words, he’ll be dragged into hell and become my eternal plaything.”
“……”
“Don’t you get it? Edgar is already finished. You’ll never see him again.”
So that’s what she meant by wanting us to stop.
I understood her words.
But my teammates’ faces were full of deep distrust.
Then Magireta snapped her fingers.
A transparent panel, like that loathsome Bulletin Board, appeared before us.
“You don’t seem to believe me, so I’ll show you.”
Inside the board was Edgar.
He was abandoned in Bucklet Forest, where we had left him.
We could see him dying and reviving over and over again.
“I’ll let you see this board at all times until the next quest ends.”
“……”
“If all he does until then is keep dying, he’ll be disqualified. Then, according to the penalties of the credit system…”
“There’s no need to repeat yourself.”
“Little brother.”
“But why are you so anxious, sister?”
For a brief moment, Magireta’s lips tightened.
I kept talking.
“You’re not saying this because you’re worried about Edgar, are you?”
“……”
“If we keep spreading the letters across the continent… will something troublesome happen?”
The air froze.
Everyone swallowed hard.
What truly surprised me was that Magireta’s throat also twitched.
She’s nervous.
This witch was nervous about what I’d just said.
How could that be possible?
Who could make that demon nervous?
My mind reached a conclusion.
“Why do you want us to stop, sister?”
“……”
“The letters are being spread through some method. People read them… and then you erase their memories.”
“……”
“This pattern seems to bother you. Or rather… you look anxious about it.”
“Enough.”
“I understand now. There’s another hidden rule.”
I could feel everyone’s ears perk up.
“Stop…”
“The hint was there from the start. After the first quest ended, you told us not to reveal anything about the game to anyone.”
“……”
“Until now, I thought maybe it was because you didn’t want non-participants to interfere. But who could possibly interfere with your game? No one even has the power or means to.”
Aina, who had been holding her breath, finally spoke.
“Mason. Then…?”
“Yes.”
I recited each word clearly.
—“Magireta must prevent the game from becoming known to a certain number of non-participants.”
The others seemed to think I’d lost my mind.
Berseum glared at me and asked,
“You’re saying that’s one of the hidden rules?”
“I’m almost certain.”
“Wait, hold on. That doesn’t make sense.”
Berseum closed his eyes briefly, gathering his thoughts, then spoke.
“Up until now, none of the hidden rules or other laws have ever applied to Magireta.”
“That’s true.”
“Those rules were all made by her in the first place. So how could there possibly be a rule that restricts her actions?”
“Are you sure about that?”
I smiled wryly.
“Think carefully. The hidden rules aren’t something Magireta told participants unless they discovered them first.”
“And?”
“What if it’s not that she doesn’t tell them, but that she physically can’t? That would mean Magireta was being constrained by something.”
If I looked, there was more.
When Magireta was asked for a deal, she could not refuse it.
If a participant asked for purchases on credit, she could not refuse that either.
She was already subject to considerable restrictions from the hidden rules.
“This is only a theory, but perhaps the hidden rules weren’t made by Magireta.”
“……!”
“All of the things that restrict her are included in the hidden rules. She was skilled at tormenting others, but she didn’t seem like the sort to deliberately torment herself.”
“That’s true.”
“Someone must have created the hidden rules and imposed them on Magireta.”
It was then.
Swish.
Magireta suddenly raised her hand.
And she took off her hood.
“Gasp.”
For the first time we could see her whole real face.
Pure white hair. Red eyes.
An indescribable madness and hatred burning in those eyes.
“Let’s stop there, little brother.”
“I didn’t exactly mean to anger you. If I made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”
“…….”
“But it’s already been revealed. Once a participant notices, then you explain in detail yourself. That’s the pattern so far, right?”
“…….”
“Tell us.”
Magireta bit her lip.
Without any exaggeration, an age seemed to pass.
At last she slowly spoke.
“If more than half the continent’s people learned about the game… it would be troublesome.”
“What would become troublesome?”
“…….”
“Fine. I won’t ask that far. But it’s strange. Even if people learned, couldn’t you just erase their memories right away?”
Magireta sighed softly.
“Erasing their memories doesn’t undo the fact that they once knew. That isn’t the condition.”
“…….”
“The reason I erased memories was to stop rumors of the game from spreading among non-participants. Usually that was enough. As long as someone didn’t keep dropping letters from the sky.”
“…….”
“So stop it, little brother.”
There was a tone that was almost desperate.
After a moment Armelia asked.
“If more than half the people learned about the game, what exactly would happen?”
“Mason said he wouldn’t ask that far, didn’t he?”
“It seems like some punishment would be imposed on you. You’re trembling so much.”
“I’m not obliged to tell you that. It is true that if someone noticed the hidden rules I had to explain them in detail, but your question goes beyond that scope.”
“Then I’ll ask one more thing.”
Her eyes deepened.
“What if we refuse?”
The temperature around us plummeted.
I could barely breathe under the force pressed on me from Magireta.
Although Armelia had asked, Magireta glared at me with terrifying eyes.
Then she answered slowly.
“If you’re curious, try it.”
It sounded like “I’ll kill you,” delivered almost lightly.
In truth, Magireta didn’t need to persuade us.
Wasn’t she someone who could take our throats with a single gesture?
‘She was only hesitating because she worried that even if we died, the letters raining from the sky might not stop.’
What if the letters kept falling after I died?
If I were alive I could be coaxed and placated somehow, but after death even that would be impossible.
That fact preserved Magireta’s paper-thin patience.
I hesitated a moment, then said.
“Calm down, sister.”
“…….”
“Let’s compromise by each conceding one thing.”
“……How?”
“For now, I will stop having the letters scattered the way you want.”
Benjamin was the one who reacted to that line.
He raised his voice slightly as he spoke.
“Mason. You must think carefully. Even if nearly seventy thousand deaths are lined up ahead for Edgar, we can’t know for sure whether that’ll truly last until the next quest begins.”
He was right.
As had been revealed during the Fourth Quest, Magireta could adjust the starting date of a quest under her own authority.
A moment ago, Magireta said that even if Edgar participated in the next quest, he would be eliminated because he’d have to repeat death and resurrection over and over… but the timing of the next quest’s start depended entirely on her will.
“I know. But just by looking, Magireta seems like she’s on the verge of exploding right now.”
“That’s true, but still—”
“Instead of provoking her further, we should take whatever practical benefit we can get out of this.”
“Benefit? What kind?”
“Well…”
I looked at Magireta, who for some reason seemed relieved.
Then, lifting one corner of my lips, I said,
“That’s for you to think about, sister.”
“……!”
“Let’s make a deal, sister. I’ll place ‘praying to God so that no more letters are scattered’ on your scale.”
“Mason…”
She ground her teeth.
Magireta, who always made others decide the price of a deal on their own—
now found herself in the complete opposite position.
I spoke leisurely.
“What will you put on the scale, sister?”
“What do you want?”
“That’s exactly what I said you should think about.”
“…….”
“To be honest, I do have something I want. It’s just that, since I’m in the superior position right now, I feel like being a little petty.”
“Mason.”
“I’ll give you a hint. Around the time this hostage situation began—when we were riding the carriage toward the capital—I said something to you, didn’t I?”
Armelia seemed to realize it first.
She opened her mouth slightly but soon fell silent, waiting for Magireta’s answer.
The others also began recalling that conversation one by one.
Of course, Benjamin didn’t have a clue.
“…….”
Naturally, Magireta must have remembered too.
After a long, truly long silence, she finally spoke as if chewing out each word.
“Let me protect the people you hold dear.”