Future Diary Survival Game-Chapter 92 : Sea of Blood – 3

Chapter 92: Sea of Blood – 3
I had already changed my shoes before coming here.
Right. The shoes I stole from Edgar.
They were supposed to block the functions of the first-place rewards, weren’t they?
‘I want to disable Louis’s teleportation bead.’
The moment I thought that and was about to stomp my foot—
Edgar, who was rummaging through the sea of blood, raised his voice.
“You’re trying to use the shoes, right? Stop!”
“Why should I listen to you?”
“You took that reward from me. That means you didn’t get a proper explanation from Magireta.”
“……”
“The shoes block the functions of all first-place rewards in a set. The moment you stomp your foot, not only Louis’s bead but yours will lose its function as well.”
I had no choice but to stop mid-motion.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
It was Magireta who answered my words as she appeared out of nowhere.
She sat beside me and continued.
“The shoes don’t just block the ability of one specific reward. If multiple rewards were distributed for a shared first place, they all get sealed at once.”
“……”
“If you stomp your foot now, Edgar and Louis will surely die. But all of you will never be able to use teleportation beads again.”
I froze on the spot.
The shoes’ effect was only released when the owner died.
In other words, as long as the owner didn’t die, their effect would remain forever.
Since I had no intention of dying, if I stomped my foot now, I would lose the ability to use the teleportation bead permanently.
‘Ha. Damn it.’
At that moment, Edgar plunged his arm into the sea of blood.
“Grrgh.”
“Arcane!”
“Phew. Found it.”
I couldn’t stop the function of the beads.
But I couldn’t just sit back and watch them run away either.
I turned the direction of the sack slightly— to fire a direct shot at them.
A fierce stream of blood burst forth toward the two of them.
“Watch out!”
“Gah!”
Edgar twisted his body.
And he wrapped Louis in his arms.
As if protecting her with his whole body from my deadly attack.
“Argh!”
“Arcane, no!”
“Ugh. Louis… will you run away with me?”
“W-what?”
“Please… once more, go through the quest together with me.”
“What are you even talking about right now!”
“I’ll never repeat the same mistake again. Please… give me a chance to atone…”
Edgar’s voice, melting along with his body, grew faint.
Seeing that, Louis shouted desperately.
“Fine! I’ll go with you! I will, so don’t die!”
“……”
“Sob… No, please, no. Don’t die. Please.”
“Thank you. You truly are too good for me.”
I shouted, utterly dumbfounded.
“Hey! You two are seriously disgusting!”
I redirected the stream of blood toward Edgar’s head.
But in the next instant—
Whoosh.
Both he and Louis vanished.
As I stood there dazed, I heard Magireta’s laughter.
“Ahahaha. Haha.”
“What’s so funny, sister?”
“You looked exactly like a villain from a romance novel just now.”
My head suddenly throbbed.
I tied up the end of the sack and sealed it.
The Diary Book spoke cynically.
[The power of love truly is great.]
‘You call that love?’
[I don’t.]
‘Right? Me neither.’
Honestly, at this point, I almost felt sorry for Louis.
I climbed down from the rock.
Then I started searching through the sea of blood, which reached up to my calves.
The stench of blood was so nauseating I thought I’d die.
[What are you doing?]
‘The most horrible couple in the world took one teleportation bead. Which means one should still be left. I have to find it.’
[I see.]
‘Ah. There’s the brooch too. I gave mine to Benjamin, so I’ll have to find five in total.’
The clearing was quite large.
And the blood made it impossible to see the ground.
Under those conditions, searching for the first-place rewards was a tedious task.
The smell had numbed my nose by now, but the disgust wouldn’t go away.
After I managed to find one bead and two brooches—
“What are you looking for?”
“Ah, Your Highness. I only need three more brooches.”
“……”
“Huh?”
I straightened my back and turned around.
Standing there was the ‘real’ Armelia, who had been asleep just moments ago.
Barefoot, skirt lifted and tied up to her thighs, eyes glistening with tears.
“You’ve awoken. Huh!”
Suddenly, Armelia threw herself into my arms.
‘What the—what the heck.’
[What’s going on? What’s going on?]
‘Why is she doing this? Why is she doing this?’
[Why would she? Why would she?]
Why was the Diary Book panicking instead of me?
My chest grew damp with Armelia’s tears.
She hugged me tighter, arms around my back, and said—
“I just woke up… I just woke up, and I don’t know anything.”
“Your Highness.”
“But I think I understand one thing. Looking at this mess, you must have resolved another incident, haven’t you? While I was asleep. While I was lying there like a stupid fool!”
“Your Highness, please calm down.”
“I’m sorry, Mason. I’m so sorry for being no help at all. For being such a useless party member. Waaah.”
She wept in my arms like a child.
I wiped the blood off my hands against my clothes.
Then I wrapped my arms around Armelia’s shoulders.
“……! Mason.”
“There was no helping it this time. Not only Your Highness, but everyone else was ambushed from the start.”
“S-so, you faced it all alone?”
“Yes.”
“The more reason I should’ve been by your side. Even if the others couldn’t… I should have…”
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
Should I ask this?
No—I should.
I spoke carefully.
“Why is that?”
“Hm?”
“Why did you say, ‘at least me,’ Your Highness?”
“Well, that’s because I…”
She lifted her head from my arms.
Our faces were far too close.
Armelia’s lips parted slightly as if she were about to say something.
That was when—
“You two are so fresh and pure. Yeah, this is what a proper romance looks like.”
“……”
“Mm. I agree, this looks way better than Edgar and Louis.”
“Sister.”
“What, little brother?”
I spoke with a chill even I didn’t expect.
“You hear a lot that you can’t read the room, right?”
“……”
“Leave.”
“Uh… okay.”
Magireta scratched her cheek awkwardly and disappeared.
The interrupter was gone, but since Armelia had hastily pulled away from my arms, it was hard to pick up the topic again.
Instead, she helped me search through the sea of blood.
After a few minutes—
Except for the one bead that Edgar had taken, we managed to recover all the first-place rewards we had owned.
While I searched, I explained the entire incident to Armelia.
“So that’s it. A doppelgänger, huh.”
“Yes.”
“And it had taken on the forms of our other companions as well?”
“That’s right.”
“And you were the first to realize that I was a fake.”
“Uh… yes.”
Armelia gave an oddly sheepish smile.
But she soon cleared her throat and continued.
“Ahem. Then the other party members must also be asleep somewhere.”
“They should have awakened by now, I think.”
“Let’s hurry and go check.”
“Of course.”
I picked up the teleportation bead.
It could transport up to three people at a time.
To travel with others, one simply had to state the target—either aloud or silently.
Something like: I want to go to where Aina Noel is, with me and Armelia.
Swish.
But this time, there was no need for that.
“……!”
“……”
Armelia had taken my opposite hand.
Her ears were red to the tips as she spoke.
“Ahem. What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing.”
And with that, we vanished from Bucklet Forest.
The Diary Book spoke in an oddly unfamiliar tone.
[Ah, what a blissful time.]
That’s Brother Berseum’s line, you know.
Using the teleportation bead, we moved around and regrouped with our companions.
As we later learned, the party members had been scattered only a few dozen meters from the cave where Armelia had been asleep.
After that, when we all returned to Deut Territory, we discovered something new.
“Why were we all asleep beneath the church, of all places?”
“Ugh. I don’t remember anything. I just went to bed like usual.”
“Over three hundred people asleep together—unbelievable.”
“Sigh. Investigators even came to my house over this. I had nothing to tell them.”
That was the kind of talk going around the territory.
‘So the ordinary residents were hidden away beneath the church like discarded bodies.’
For them, this incident would forever remain a mystery.
But thankfully, every single resident was unharmed.
That alone was enough to find comfort in.
We returned to our hideout—Berseum’s house.
The moment we stepped inside, I grabbed the Diary Book.
For some reason, I really wanted to do this.
I spoke using the secret conversation function.
[Everyone, raise your right hand.]
The others tilted their heads in confusion…
Rustle.
Then they all raised their right hands.
I felt tears coming on.
At the same time, the Diary Book spoke:
[You have safely completed the Sudden Quest “Doppelgänger.”]
[The records during the Sudden Quest “Doppelgänger” have been altered.]
[Some parts of the Future Diary have been revised due to the changes.]
[The Diary Book’s “Shop Lv.4” function has been upgraded.]
[Sudden Quest: Armelia’s Survival achieved. Reward: 100 points.]
[Sudden Quest: Aina’s Survival achieved. Reward: 100 points.]
[Sudden Quest: Berseum’s Survival achieved. Reward: 100 points.]
[Sudden Quest: Sienne’s Survival achieved. Reward: 100 points.]
[Sudden Quest: Benjamin’s Survival achieved. Reward: 100 points.]
[Current Points: 1,258]
Suppressing the wave of emotion that rose inside me, I spoke.
“I’m glad everyone made it back safely.”
“Mason.”
Berseum lowered his head.
“I’m truly ashamed. While we were lying around comfortably, you handled all that alone.”
“Please, lift your head.”
“But still…”
“This time, it was unavoidable. The doppelgänger covered me in mud too—it simply couldn’t copy me. I was in the exact same position as you all.”
Berseum raised his head.
Aina bit her lip before speaking.
“I’m really sorry. I guess I let my guard down just because a quest had ended.”
“I told you, same here.”
“Still, I should’ve been more cautious…”
“Drop it. It doesn’t suit you.”
Then Sienne and Benjamin each spoke up.
“I have no excuse. Once I fall asleep, even being carried away wouldn’t wake me.”
“I’m sorry. And thank you.”
I waved my hand dismissively.
After a few rounds of apologies like that, we all sat together around the table.
Though I’d already explained things briefly along the way, I shared the full story from start to finish once more.
After hearing everything, Armelia said,
“So, in the end, one teleportation bead was taken.”
“Yes. But since each bead can transport three people, our movement won’t be hindered. It’s just… frustrating that Edgar ended up with one.”
“Hmm… That’s true, but I’m more concerned about something else.”
She looked me straight in the eye and continued.
“You pulled the future first-place reward called the ‘Replication Sack,’ didn’t you?”
“……”
“We need to know which quest that reward belongs to.”
“I was just about to bring that up.”
When we regrouped, I had prioritized investigating that very thing—
along with which quest Edgar’s shoes had come from.
Fortunately, both were listed in my Diary Book.
As a result, my remaining points had dropped to 758.
Of course, after finishing the quest, I earned another 500 points, bringing me to 1,258 now.
“Let’s start with Edgar’s shoes. Those were from the Twelfth Quest.”
“The twelfth? That’s quite far ahead.”
“Yes. And… hmm.”
I scratched my head and went on.
“The Replication Sack I brought was from the Seventh Quest.”