Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 87 : Discovery – 1

Chapter 87: Discovery – 1
The atmosphere instantly turned cold.
I spoke to Berseum.
“Brother. Do you have any magic that can capture this thing?”
“Capture? Not kill it?”
“I want to be cautious about everything until we’ve secured Her Highness’s safety. After all, a Doppelgänger is an unknown existence.”
Of course, judging by the Encyclopedia’s information, there shouldn’t be any particular precautions to worry about.
But since the current Encyclopedia was only level 1, it didn’t reveal every piece of information.
Berseum opened his mouth.
“Hmm… There’s something like this.”
He moved his lips slightly and chanted a spell.
Then, a massive cube appeared in midair.
Before the Doppelgänger could even show resistance, the cube completely enveloped it.
Bang, bang.
The creature pounded on the translucent wall and shouted something, but no sound came through.
Berseum lifted the cube into the air with a flick of his finger and said,
“If we tried binding it with magical chains, it would just turn into mud and slip away. This method should be the best.”
“Impressive. That was easier than I thought.”
“I haven’t exactly been idling around these past few days. I’ve been thinking about what kinds of spells might be effective.”
“Thank you. Then our next course of action is clear. Let’s go rescue Her Highness.”
Aina responded to my words.
“Ah, I see. Your top priority is still always the Princess, huh?”
Aina snickered, and the group let out light laughter.
There had been some tension and chills earlier, but in the end, the situation had been resolved surprisingly easily.
I picked up the orb and said,
“I want to go where Armelia is. Oh, to the Armelia inside the cave.”
The other party members did the same, and soon, we all arrived inside a pitch-dark cave.
Viiiiing.
Berseum cast a spell.
Several small orbs of light, each the size of a palm, floated up and illuminated the surroundings.
We glanced around.
Before long, we could faintly make out someone lying on top of a rock a short distance away.
The light streaming in through a crevice in the cave highlighted her silhouette.
“Ha. Look at that setup. It’s straight out of Sleeping Beauty.”
“She’s a Princess, though.”
“Don’t nitpick.”
Anyway, we hurriedly approached her — it was Armelia.
Benjamin spoke.
“I mean no disrespect, but she looks incredibly peaceful.”
“She’s sleeping quite comfortably.”
“Her breathing is very even. Must be having a good dream.”
“Let’s wake her up. Same way as before, right?”
Aina smacked her cheek with a sharp slap.
……
But Armelia didn’t even flinch.
Berseum commented,
“You’ve certainly grown closer to Her Highness compared to before. You even hit her gently now — such consideration.”
“No, I hit her really hard, actually.”
“Hm?”
“This is weird. Hold on a sec.”
Aina quickly laid Armelia flat and examined her thoroughly.
She checked her pulse and pressed an ear to her chest.
Soon, she spoke with a baffled look.
“She’s definitely asleep.”
“Then why won’t she wake up?”
“Hmm… Oppa, can you check? You’re better at this sort of thing.”
Benjamin sat beside her, wearing a serious expression.
He lifted Armelia’s eyelids and pricked her with a needle in a few places.
I forced myself to stay calm, suppressing the anxiety that threatened to rise.
At length, Benjamin said,
“She is indeed asleep.”
“But why…? No, there’s no need to ask.”
I turned my glare toward the Doppelgänger trapped in the magic prison.
“Brother, can you adjust it so we can hear its voice?”
“Sure. Give me a moment.”
As Berseum muttered another spell, communication with the creature became possible.
“Hey, could you let me out of here? I hate cramped spaces.”
“You’re not exactly in a position to sound pitiful.”
“You’ve got quite the scary face right now.”
“What did you do to Her Highness?”
“Well… what I always do?”
She continued leisurely,
“Like I said before, I don’t usually kill the person I replace, but that doesn’t mean I just let the real one roam around freely either.”
“……”
“You know how it is. If there are two of the same person walking around, ordinary people get confused, right? Then they’ll try to figure out who’s real, and that could put me in danger.”
“So you put them into such a deep sleep that they won’t wake even from a slap? To comfortably take over the real one’s place?”
“Exactly. No matter what method you try, you’ll never wake her.”
“What can make Her Highness wake up?”
“If I feel like it, I can wake her. Which brings me to…”
She changed her expression and spoke seriously.
“Let’s make a deal.”
“……”
“I’ll wake Her Highness. In exchange, give me your blood — the one you drew earlier.”
“You’re planning to deliver it to Magireta, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
I snorted.
“How do I know you’ll keep your word? You could take my blood and still not wake her.”
“Am I really that untrustworthy?”
“Given your track record, it’s hard not to think so.”
“Then how about I wake Her Highness first? You can give me the blood afterward.”
For a moment, I almost fell for it.
But something in my gut held me back.
After a brief thought, I shook my head.
“When you replaced Her Highness this time, we didn’t notice at all.”
“……”
“Even if you did wake her up as promised, there’s no guarantee you wouldn’t approach her again later. Just like before, we might not notice next time either.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“I’m not sure.”
Really, what should I do?
After a pause, I spoke to the Diary Book.
‘Give me a hint.’
[Huh? But you already searched for hints about the Doppelgänger using the search function. There was nothing there.]
‘Not a hint about the Doppelgänger — a hint on how to wake Armelia.’
[That sounds the same to me…]
‘Just do it. We might as well try.’
The pages of the Diary Book flipped rapidly.
[Searching in detail for a method to awaken Armelia.]
[Cost: 100 points]
[Remaining points: 1,058]
I read through the Diary Book carefully.
Then my eyes went wide.
“What the—!”
[What’s wrong?]
“I have no idea what this means!”
[…]
“No matter how I look at it, it has nothing to do with what’s happening right now! Don’t tell me you’ve glitched out?”
[“Excuse me, but I am always perfect.”]
Of course it was.
In truth, a possibility had just crossed my mind as well.
If the search function had produced results, that meant the answer lay somewhere within what I had read.
With that premise, I began to see a thread of logic.
‘If that’s the case…’
There was no need to accept that creature’s offer.
Clank.
I lifted the bucket.
The Doppelgänger’s eyes widened in alarm.
“What are you planning to do?!”
“Don’t move. If you do, it’ll hurt more.”
“You damned—”
BANG! CLANG!
Suddenly, the creature struck Berseum’s magic prison.
I spoke to Berseum.
“Brother, can you pour this blood inside?”
“Hmm… That might be a little tricky to control.”
“Then could you just open the top a little, like taking off a lid? I’ll pour the blood through that part.”
“I can try.”
Berseum lowered the prison cube from where it floated in the air until it rested on the ground.
Its height came up to about my waist.
I lifted the bucket and readied myself to pour the blood.
“I’ll begin.”
“Yes.”
Berseum released only the upper surface of the prison.
And in the very next instant—
Splash!
It all happened at once.
I poured the blood just as the Doppelgänger tried to escape.
“Gaaahhhh!”
The creature rolled on the ground, drenched in blood.
Just like with Edgar before—or rather, far more gruesomely than that.
Its form melted rapidly and began crawling toward the cave’s entrance.
But its movements were painfully slow.
Without anyone saying a word, we followed behind it at a walking pace.
Now reduced entirely to mud, the creature could barely be called a living thing.
After crawling a little further, it finally stopped moving.
My blood had completely consumed it.
It dissolved into the blood, disappearing without a trace.
All that remained was a single lump of mud mixed with blood.
Gulp.
Aina swallowed hard and said,
“It’s dead, right?”
“As you can see.”
“Do you think Her Highness woke up?”
“Let’s go check.”
We turned back.
Armelia was still asleep.
Sienne spoke in a regretful voice.
“She hasn’t awakened. It seems the monster’s power hasn’t faded.”
“……”
“Well, since the creature’s dead, she should wake up soon enough.”
“That’s too optimistic.”
“Pardon?”
I summoned the Encyclopedia.
<■ Doppelgänger
– Species: Monster
– Size: Average 1.5 meters
……
……
Traits:
A mud-type monster. It can completely cover its prey with mud.
Afterward, it can perfectly transform into the covered prey’s appearance at any time.
It can replicate not only appearance and voice but also memories, behavior, habits, talents, and even the target’s abilities.
It is about 1.5 meters in size and cannot transform into a target that exceeds that range, since it must fully envelop the target in mud to do so.
It can divide its original body’s mud into several smaller portions to transform into multiple small targets.
However, the total volume of mud cannot exceed its original mass.
If the copied target dies, it can only maintain the form for up to one week. Hence, it tends to keep its prey alive whenever possible.>
The same information as before.
Nowhere did it mention that a Doppelgänger possessed the ability to put someone to sleep.
Could it be that the Encyclopedia’s level was too low to display that detail?
But no—information of similar importance was already listed in full.
Then what other possibility could there be?
“Her Highness’s slumber isn’t caused by the Doppelgänger’s power. To be precise, it isn’t the power of a normal Doppelgänger.”
“……”
“The one that found us was special.”
A simple search for ‘Doppelgänger’ would only reveal the species’ general traits.
Just like how searching for ‘Human’ only brings up ordinary human characteristics.
The one that came for us required information as an individual.
And to obtain that—
“We need to find out its true name.”
“Its true name?”
“Yes. If we can discover its true name, we’ll learn how it put Her Highness to sleep… and how to wake her.”
“Hm. I won’t ask why anymore. But how exactly do you plan to find out its true name?”
At Berseum’s question, I recalled what I’d just read in the Diary Book.
<This quest was somewhat special.
It was because I completed it together with Edgar.
Surprisingly, even after being drenched in my blood, he didn’t die.
Since this game didn’t require us to fight one another, he suggested we have a friendly chat.
Though reluctant, I agreed, thinking I might be able to glean some information from him.
He babbled cheerfully on his own.
– You know, Mason, you amaze me every time. You’re probably the most outstanding participant I’ve ever met across all the rounds I’ve taken part in.
– ……
– In every round, there’s always been at least one person who caught my eye. Among them, you’re the best—by far, in many ways.
– That doesn’t make me happy at all.
– Yes. I figured you’d say that.
……
…….>
That was all there was.
You could understand now why I’d thought it was an error.
But as I said earlier, since the search function had found it, there had to be a hint hidden somewhere in that passage.
“The Doppelgänger is a monster.”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
“And if our deduction before was correct, it used to be human.”
“Hmm…”
“Furthermore, it might have been a participant from a previous round.”
Everyone nodded easily — that much we had already discussed.
But at what I said next, everyone’s eyes widened.
“If that’s the case, then it may have met Edgar once — back when it was still human.”