Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 85 : Doppelgänger - 3

Chapter 85: Doppelgänger - 3
The trap had already been set long ago.
For the past three days, Berseum had drawn a massive magic circle near the house.
He called it a Capture Spell — in short, a spell that immobilized its target completely.
“It’s activated!”
At Berseum’s shout, we all rushed outside.
Everyone had drawn their weapons, spirits high, but the scene before us was rather anticlimactic.
“Ah! W-What’s happening?”
A woman, who no matter how you looked at her could only be mistaken for Diana, sat collapsed on the ground.
Her eyes trembled.
Her face had gone deathly pale.
Her frail body was far from what one could call strong or resilient.
‘I was prepared for a life-or-death fight, but…….’
Wasn’t this far too easy?
I gave a signal with my eyes to the others.
They didn’t lower their weapons, but they eased their killing intent, loosening the tension in the air.
Diana’s expression relaxed slightly.
I asked,
“Who are you?”
“Huh? Mr. Mason, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me?”
“I know you’re wearing Diana Mame’s face. What I’m asking is—who are you really?”
“……”
“How did you manage such a perfect transformation? Why did you come here? What are you after?”
Diana didn’t answer any of my questions.
But at least she admitted to one thing.
“Heheh.”
That sly grin alone was enough to acknowledge she wasn’t Diana.
“Just as I heard. They say you can see the future.”
“……!”
“Looks like you saw the future where I’d show up, and the future where I wasn’t really Diana. Honestly.”
“Answer my question.”
“No. I think I’ll just run for now. I’m not confident enough to take all of you on…… Besides, fighting isn’t really my specialty.”
“What—?” I began, but before I could finish—
“Wh-What the…….”
Diana’s face started to melt.
Its color darkened into a deep, murky brown.
Like rotting mud—no, it was mud.
The mud writhed and squirmed before suddenly sinking deep into the ground.
Then, as it seeped into the earth, it vanished completely.
“Did it escape underground?!”
At Benjamin’s shout, Sienne swung her sword.
Kwa-gwa-gang!
But all it did was carve a deep trench in the earth—no corpse, no trace remained.
“Did we lose it?”
“Seems so. The magic circle was drawn on the surface, so it couldn’t restrain something that went underground.”
“What the hell was that thing just now?”
“Mud…… It looked like living mud.”
“At least one thing’s certain,” Sienne said, her voice tight with tension.
“That thing isn’t human.”
If it wasn’t human, then what was it?
We already knew the answer.
I looked up at the sky and muttered,
“A monster.”
Just then—
Fwi-rik!
Suddenly, the Diary Book flew open.
<Sudden Quest. Protect Armelia Kerr Dneroum from the ‘Doppelgänger.’>
<Sudden Quest. Protect Aina Noel from the ‘Doppelgänger.’>
<Sudden Quest. Protect Berseum Ferux from the ‘Doppelgänger.’>
<Sudden Quest. Protect Sienne Katrin from the ‘Doppelgänger.’>
<Sudden Quest. Protect Benjamin Noel from the ‘Doppelgänger.’>
We immediately returned to the house.
As soon as everyone sat down, I spoke.
“The monster we just saw—it’s called a Doppelgänger.”
“You know that monster?”
“Of course not.”
“You said it like it was obvious.”
“Just think of it as me naming it on the spot.”
Honestly, I’d never heard the name before either.
‘Anyway, so that monster’s name is Doppelgänger, huh?’
[That seems to be the case.]
‘Then I’d better check it out. Encyclopedia, please.’
[Understood.]
Fwi-rik.
The Diary Book flipped open.
<■ Doppelgänger
Species: Monster
Size: Average 1.5 meters
……
……
Characteristics
: A mud-type monster. It can completely cover its prey with mud.
After enveloping its prey once, it can perfectly transform into that target at any time.
Not only its appearance and voice, but also the target’s memories, behavior, habits, and even talents or abilities can be replicated.
It averages 1.5 meters in size and cannot transform into anything that exceeds that range, as it must fully engulf the target with its mud to imitate it.
It can divide its original body into several portions, allowing multiple smaller transformations.
However, the total amount of mud cannot exceed its overall mass.
If the replicated target dies, it can only maintain its form for up to seven days. Therefore, it tends to keep its prey alive whenever possible.>
As I carefully read through the contents, Berseum spoke.
“Why is a monster freely wandering around the human world?”
“It must’ve been permitted by Magireta. There’s no way a monster could escape from hell on its own.”
“That’s true. Then why would Magireta allow something like that?”
“Let’s ask her ourselves.”
At my words, everyone straightened up.
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Sister.”
“Yes, little brother.”
As always, Magireta appeared as if she had been there from the very beginning.
By now, none of us were even surprised by her sudden appearances — and I couldn’t help but feel oddly proud of our group for that.
Crossing her legs on the chair, Magireta said,
“What is it?”
“Don’t pretend to ask when you already know exactly what happened.”
“Hmph.”
“The mud monster from just now. You sent it, didn’t you?”
“Who knows?”
“So you did. Then why did you send it?”
“I only said who knows. What’s the point of asking if you’ve already decided the answer?”
Grumbling, Magireta adjusted her posture.
“Sorry, but I can’t tell you anything.”
“……”
“More importantly, it’s not good to run to your teacher every time you’re curious. You should learn to think for yourself. How will you survive this harsh world otherwise?”
I ignored her and fell into thought.
‘If she refuses to answer……’
I remembered this pattern.
It must be one of the Hidden Rules.
She never revealed them until a participant realized it on their own.
So what was the rule this time?
If my last theory was correct, then the Doppelgänger monster must have once been human.
If it was human, could it have been a former participant?
Perhaps one of those who had been eliminated before?
‘And if the eliminated person was truly one of them……’
A sudden flash of inspiration crossed my mind.
Without thinking, I spoke aloud.
“I see. You’re giving them another chance.”
“Huh?”
“You’re granting another chance to someone who’s already been eliminated and turned into a monster of hell — by giving them the qualification to participate in the next round.”
“So that means……”
“Yes. I was thinking about how to phrase it, but I’ve just thought of the perfect term.”
I looked at Magireta and said,
“A rematch for the defeated.”
“……”
“Am I right, sister?”
A moment of silence followed.
Then Magireta raised both her hands in mock defeat.
“Well, I figured you’d notice anyway. You’re right.”
“So that mud monster is a participant in the rematch?”
“They already seem to know the name Doppelgänger, so just call it that.”
“……”
“And to be precise, it’s not a participant in the rematch. It’s the winner of it.”
In an instant, I understood what she meant.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that—Armelia murmured softly,
“I see. So in hell, the monsters are having their own quests.”
“Correct. Quite a clever princess, aren’t you? The Empire’s future looks bright.”
“So, humans play the game in the human world, while monsters play theirs in hell. The games in our world are called ‘Quests,’ and the ones in hell are called ‘Rematches for the Defeated,’ right?”
Magireta nodded approvingly.
This would be news that Edgar would love to hear.
He could enjoy the game forever—whether alive or dead.
“But don’t misunderstand. The main stage is still the human world.”
“……”
“When you humans win, you earn the right to make a wish. But when a monster wins the Rematch for the Defeated, all it earns is the right to participate in the human world’s game.”
“How many monsters have won that rematch so far?”
“How would I possibly tell you that?”
So there must be quite a few.
Meaning that besides that Doppelgänger, some of the participants among us might also be monsters.
Magireta took a sip of tea that had somehow appeared before her.
When did she even make that?
“The games in hell honestly aren’t much fun,” she continued. “Most of the monsters there have lost their minds. Almost all of them go insane while I’m still reconstructing them into monsters.”
Grit.
Sienne ground her teeth.
Berseum’s expression had hardened as well.
Magireta glanced at them and said lightly,
“Ah, right. I suppose some of your precious loved ones participated too. Want me to tell you what happened to them?”
“Shut your mouth.”
“You called me here, and now you tell me to shut up?”
“Let’s get back to the point. Why did you send the Doppelgänger to us? What are you after?”
Magireta only smiled faintly.
That smile alone told us everything—it meant she had no intention of answering.
I stepped in.
“Either way, since it’s a monster, it must obey your orders absolutely, right?”
“I suppose so. There aren’t many as impertinent as you, little brother.”
“Understood. Then please leave.”
“Heh.”
Magireta clicked her tongue, as if exasperated.
“Kids these days…… what’s the world coming to? Honestly.”
Then she vanished with a soft swish.
I turned to the group and said,
“I think Magireta’s goal is information—about me.”
“Huh?”
“How I can read the future, how I managed to scatter Edgar’s letters into the sky, and so on. She probably planned to approach us disguised as Diana and ask to join the party.”
“……”
“Now that that’s failed, it’ll try to transform into one of us next—and perfectly swap places with the ‘real’ one.”
After that, it would act alongside us, pretending to be a companion.
It would stay close, joining quests with us, gathering information about me.
And I would treat it like a comrade, never realizing it was a fake.
Gulp.
Feeling tense for no reason, I swallowed and said,
“It has to completely cover its target with mud in order to transform. It can’t copy anyone larger than its total mass.”
“And how exactly do you know that?”
“The Doppelgänger’s average size is 1.5 meters. There might be slight variations, but at most it could copy one adult. And since it just transformed into Diana…”
“……”
“That means all of you are the real ones right now. So from today, we’re all sleeping in the same room.”
“Wait. That conclusion’s kind of weird, isn’t it?”
Aina raised her hand.
I explained casually,
“If we sleep separately, and someone gets replaced while alone, there’d be no way to notice.”
“Well, that’s true, but still—”
“To be safe, we should also set up night watches. It’s not exactly camping, but still.”
Everyone nodded.
Then Aina muttered under her breath,
“So… how long are we supposed to keep doing that?”
……
I didn’t know either.
A day passed, then two.
Three days, then a week.
We ended up living together for a whole week.
Inside the house, we always stayed within sight of one another, and if anyone had to go out, everyone went together.
At night, we took turns keeping watch before sleeping.
At first, it was nerve-racking. But after about a week, I started to question what we were even doing.
The Doppelgänger hadn’t shown itself once in all that time.
‘Something’s not right.’
I fiddled with the compass.
It was already set to search for “Doppelgänger.”
But not a single red dot appeared anywhere on the map.
‘I even expanded the range to the entire continent, but still nothing. What’s going on?’
[The Doppelgänger must have transformed into someone else.]
‘Shouldn’t it still show up on the map though? Its essence is still that of a monster.’
[It’s a monster that copies everything from memories to habits. If it transformed into, say, a rabbit, then the compass would register it as a rabbit, not a Doppelgänger.]
I see.
So it was already transformed into something.
Was it still disguised as Diana, maybe? I switched the compass setting to “Diana Mame.”
But still, no red dot appeared.
“Tch.”
If only I could locate where that thing was, I’d be able to relax a little.
Then, one morning—