Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 90 : Sea of Blood - 1

Chapter 90: Sea of Blood - 1
Louis’s face hardened.
However, unlike her, who was tense, Magireta continued speaking in a casual tone.
“Even I can’t detect this mysterious helper—a being powerful enough to nullify even Edgar’s immortality.”
“……”
“With such an unknown existence sticking close to your little brother, I can’t approach him carelessly. I’m at that age where I need to watch my health, you see.”
For a moment, Louis almost asked back—
‘Then what about me?’
Was she implying that it didn’t matter if Louis got into danger?
As if sensing her thoughts, Magireta spoke in a soothing voice.
“So you should stop here too. Your brother seemed really angry.”
“……”
“You’ve already given me plenty of information. Until a little while ago, Mason thought you were a real companion. You two shared all sorts of meetings and private talks, didn’t you?”
“Still—”
“You even stole all the memories and abilities of your brother’s group. Plus, you’ve got two teleportation beads and five brooches in your possession, right?”
Indeed, that much could be considered quite an achievement.
Louis nodded reluctantly.
It didn’t feel completely satisfying, but since Magireta—the one who gave the orders—had already concluded the matter, there was no reason to interfere further.
“I understand. Then I’ll take some rest now.”
“Ah. If you’re going to rest anyway, go to Bucklet Forest.”
“Pardon?”
“Take all your ‘selves’ and rest there. I’ll send you.”
“I don’t mind, but… why Bucklet Forest, of all places?”
“I learned during the Second Quest that it’s a perfect place to heal.”
Louis tilted her head at the somewhat random remark.
Still, she didn’t bother to question it.
‘If Lady Magireta says so, then so be it.’
Once she agreed, Magireta snapped her fingers.
And just like that, four Louis disappeared.
Edgar spoke.
“She’s my wife, but she’s truly stupid. I wonder how she made it to the Eleventh Quest.”
“What do you mean?”
“Bucklet Forest is a remote, uninhabited region. That alone gave me a hunch.”
“Let’s hear it.”
Edgar leisurely continued.
“Mason must have asked my sister for a deal—to send all the Louis to Bucklet Forest.”
“……”
“I don’t know what he offered in exchange, but it’s obvious he intends to settle things with my wife once and for all. Mason’s a good man; he probably requested a remote place so that no one else would get caught up in it.”
“Hm.”
“My poor wife has walked right into a trap without realizing it. I’m so worried I could cry.”
Magireta burst into laughter.
Edgar’s deduction was exactly right.
While she was talking with Louis just moments ago, the Magireta in the capital had been in negotiations with Mason.
Mason had said this:
—Please gather all entities of Louis Danahan in Bucklet Forest. Specifically, the clearing with the rock that marked the finish point of the First-Come game.
—And the price?
—My blood.
—……
—That’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You don’t need to steal it through Louis—I’ll give it to you myself.
—I don’t know what you’re planning, but that’s troublesome. You’re going to kill Louis, aren’t you?
—So I can’t?
Magireta in the capital answered immediately.
—Why wouldn’t you be able to?
Then Edgar spoke up.
“Sis. Make a deal with me too.”
“Huh? And what could you possibly offer? In that pathetic state, do you even have anything to give?”
“Of course. Mason offered his memories as a price, didn’t he?”
“……”
“He paid with just a dozen years’ worth of memories and still earned a Reshuffle. I’ll offer memories far more precious than that.”
“Hm… What memories?”
“The memories about the hidden rules I’ve discovered so far. I’ll give up three of them.”
A gentle smile curved on Magireta’s lips.
“Alright, I’ll listen. What do you want?”
Edgar replied slowly.
“First, fully revive me. Second, erase all the deaths looming over me. And last, send me to Bucklet Forest as well.”
“Hah. Three wishes, huh? And each one is quite a heavy favor.”
“……”
“Are you sure you want to put that on the scale? You might regret it.”
“Haha. What are you talking about? If anything, I should be the one getting change back.”
Magireta’s smile vanished.
Edgar continued unhurriedly.
“Three wishes. Three hidden rules to offer. Sounds balanced to me.”
“……”
“I know how much you value this game. And what I’m offering are memories of the hidden rules—the most vital information about the game itself.”
“……”
“With that much weight, it should be a fair trade, don’t you think?”
“So, you’re putting it on the scale?”
“Yes. As many times as you want.”
Magireta measured Edgar’s offered price and his wishes upon her own scale.
The scale tipped to one side.
As soon as I arrived in the capital, I spoke to the Diary Book.
‘Diary Book, this is an emergency.’
[It appears so.]
‘To be direct, I’m going to make a deal with Magireta. The price I’ll offer is my blood.’
There was nothing else I could think of that would entice Magireta.
The Diary Book stayed silent for a moment.
I asked carefully.
‘Do you think it’s alright?’
[Who knows.]
‘Please, just this once—give me any answer other than “who knows.”’
[How about checking it once.]
‘Huh? Ah.’
But could there be a hint even in that?
I thought I had nothing to lose and used the searching function.
[Search function: Search the Future Diary for whether it would be safe to hand Magireta my blood.]
[Points consumed: 100]
[Remaining points: 958]
<Today Magireta had suddenly come.
I had been about to rest a little after the quest, so I was considerably displeased.
But Magireta looked even more displeased than I did.
-What on earth is your brother?
-What are you talking about all of a sudden.
-The blood you offered as the price last time.
The last quest.
There I had lost Armelia and Benjamin.
I was nearly in panic, so I asked Magireta for a bargain.
I asked her to bring them back to life.
I offered my blood as payment.
My blood was something mysterious that went through monsters to…more precisely, it connected to Magireta’s omnipotence.
I told her she could take it out of me until I died if needed, as long as she resurrected the two of them.
I thought it was quite an insufficient price, but surprisingly Magireta had readily agreed.
And today she had come to me, grumbling about blood.
-There is absolutely nothing here.
-Did you even try researching it?
-What, should I not? It’s something that nullifies my omnipotence.
-…….
-The trade was a loss. Do it again.
-It’s too late.
Magireta, perhaps not speaking earnestly, grumbled for a long while and then simply left.
I felt pleased, as if I had gained something.
But at the same time a question nagged me.
They couldn’t find anything even after researching my blood? That inhuman being?
Maybe…stupid as it sounded.
What if my blood itself had some will and hid itself.
Ugh. I was daydreaming way too much.>
I read the Diary Book and felt satisfied.
‘It’s safe after all.’
[Is that all your reaction?]
‘What more reaction would you want?’
[No. There was a rather suggestive passage in the last paragraph…]
‘That stuff isn’t important right now. The safety of my party members was hundreds of times more important.’
[Well, if it’s Mason, of course he would say that. So what are you going to offer as payment for the blood?]
Kill Louis Danahan.
……that was my initial thought, but actually that might be difficult.
In the Future Diary, Magireta had readily accepted my request to resurrect my party members in exchange for my blood.
But the party members at that time would have been fakes—Louis Danahan’s altered selves.
A Louis could only maintain her disguise for a week after the person she had taken the appearance from died.
In other words, the real Armelia and Benjamin had still been alive then.
They were probably sleeping somewhere in some cave.
‘I asked to bring back people who were still alive. The me in the Future Diary was conned.’
[I see.]
‘Put another way, it meant I couldn’t request something that grand with my blood. There was nothing useful as a guideline.’
If I stupidly asked Magireta to kill Louis and her scale tipped the wrong way?
That would be the end of my life.
If one based things on the ethic that lives were equal, if I wanted Louis’s life I might have to put up my own.
[So what will you do?]
‘I have a plan. Wait and see.’
I called for Magireta.
“Sis.”
“What is it, little brother.”
“You slipped in as casually as ever, didn’t you.”
“Do my words have a sting in them?”
“They sure do. This time I’m having a lot of trouble because of you. You sent a doppelgänger-like monster at us.”
Magireta grinned slyly.
“Are you angry?”
“More than that, I want to ask something.”
“Go ahead.”
“I want to use a credit voucher.”
Magireta’s expression turned serious.
I lowered my voice.
“Do you happen to have, among future first-place prizes, something like this? A duplicating sack that returns two loaves when you put in one.”
“……”
“It’s an item that appears a lot in old stories. Put one coin in and it spits out two; put two in and it spits out four.”
“Hmm. I have one, but are you sure? If this item is the first-place prize in a game and you fail to get first place, you will be…forever—”
“You mean I’d become Your Highness’s plaything in hell? Well, I’ll become a monster sometime after I die anyway, so I don’t care.”
“Little brother. Becoming my plaything doesn’t just mean becoming a monster. You’d suffer something far worse than that.”
Now that you mentioned it, Edgar had said something similar before.
But I answered firmly.
“It’s fine. I’ll use the credit voucher.”
“Alright then. What a gambler’s spirit. You’ll win it back and pay, that sort of thing?”
Magireta opened a black hole.
She rummaged with her hand, found something, and flicked it at me.
It really was a sack.
“A real sack?”
“Yep. It works exactly like you described earlier, little brother. Put something in and in ten seconds it will double.”
“If you left something in for a long time it would tear, I guess.”
“Do you think such a flimsy thing would be a first-place prize? Don’t worry—the space inside the sack is infinite. Of course the weight won’t increase at all either.”
Once again, Magireta’s prizes were all strange in their own way.
“However, you can’t put in an object larger than the sack’s opening. At most it would fit a stone about a reasonable size.”
“……”
“And although it doubled every ten seconds, if you pulled out a duplicated item from the sack it would only remain for exactly three days. Except for the original, everything would vanish after three days—keep that in mind.”
“Hmm. Got it.”
“Lastly, I should explain how to use it. Think the item you want to pull out and the quantity in your mind, then untie the knot tied on it. If you want to cancel midway, tie the knot again.”
I nodded.
It was exactly the item I needed now.
When I smiled in satisfaction, Magireta asked,
“All done with what you needed?”
“No. One more thing remains. I want to make a deal with you.”
“A deal?”
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“Gather all entities of Louis Danahan in Bucklet Forest. Specifically, the clearing with the rock that was the arrival point of the First-Come game.”
“The price?”
“My blood.”
“…….”
“You wanted that, didn’t you? I’ll give it to you myself instead of having you steal it through Louis.”
“I don’t know what you’re plotting, but that’s troublesome. You intend to kill Louis, don’t you?”
“So can’t I?”
Magireta answered immediately without hesitation.
—Why wouldn’t you be able to.