Future Diary Survival Game

Chapter 109: Medusa – 1

I had known she would react like this.

The Future Diary had also said she blended in with the party quite well.

I went ahead and asked the Diary Book for the bookmark string.

The Diary Book no longer corrected me with ‘It is the Thread of Connection.’ and simply held out the string silently.

Tap.

It didn’t even say it hurt anymore. You’ve grown, Diary Book.

“Give me your hand.”

“Huh? Ah. A handshake?”

“No. Not a handshake.”

I tied the bookmark string around her finger.

And then, in a soft voice, I said,

“Congratulations. From now on, you’ll be doing quests with us. Without ever getting separated into another team.”

“Come to think of it, you said earlier that you all always moved together. So this is what you were doing?”

“Yeah.”

“What a bizarre ability.”

“Hearing that from someone who handles spirits is a bit…….”

Then Armelia spoke.

“Now that we’ve formed a single party, may I say it?”

“Yes, Your Highness. Please.”

Armelia turned her gaze to Karin.

“Karin.”

“Yeah.”

“As you heard earlier, Mason could see the future.”

“And so?”

Perhaps to ease the burden on her heart, she spoke with the brightest smile she could muster.

“We die in three days.”

Edgar and Louis were in hell.

To be precise, they were before the lord who ruled one quarter of hell.

Louis trembled violently as she carefully lifted her gaze to observe the being seated upon the massive throne.

The being didn’t seem surprised at all by their sudden appearance.

It merely looked down at them with eyes holding the faintest glimmer of interest.

‘That’s one of the Four Lords of Hell.’

–Helena Protro Nine.

The sight of her sitting with her legs crossed was that of a beautiful woman.

However, Helena’s hair was not beautiful.

There, countless thin, long snakes writhed and twisted.

Her golden eyes gleamed so sharply that merely meeting them made one’s body stiffen, and at the corner of her lips rested a cruel smile strikingly similar to Magireta’s.

“Such rare guests have come to visit. Living humans, no less.”

“…….”

“Hm. How did this happen? You don’t seem like dropout contestants.”

Edgar stepped forward and spoke.

“It’s an honor to meet you. I am Edgar Tyler, and this is Louis Danahan.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“I apologize for appearing without notice. We had something we desperately wished to ask of you.”

“Go on. Ah, would you like some tea first?”

With an elegant motion, Helena summoned someone.

Soon they heard the sound of something slithering.

Snakes crawled across the floor, their upper bodies upright.

They placed teacups on the table and then filled them with something dripping from their own fangs.

“Ugh……”

As Louis groaned, Helena spoke.

“Drink.”

“No, um—”

“Drink. If you don’t, I will kill you right here.”

With a gentle smile, she urged them to drink the poison.

Louis only trembled, so Helena spoke again.

“You’re a doppelgänger, aren’t you? The human-looking one over there is perfectly calm, yet you—who are a monster—are shaking this much.”

Then Edgar stepped in.

“I’ll drink my wife’s portion as well.”

“Wife?”

“Yes.”

“Hm. Well, fine. Hurry and drink. It tastes best when it’s fresh.”

Before Louis could stop him, Edgar downed both cups of poison in quick succession.

And he died on the spot, vomiting blood.

“Ah, Arcane!”

But before Louis could do anything, he resurrected.

Helena spoke as she watched him stand back up unharmed.

“Aha. I heard from Magireta. One of the human-race winners of this world wished for immortality. Looks like that was you.”

“Yes. Now, will you hear me out?”

“Speak.”

Edgar calmly began talking.

It wouldn’t do to suddenly ask her to kill Mason.

He had to stir her interest first.

So he started by laying out their story in full detail.

He explained their journey from the First Quest all the way to the Seventh Quest.

Just like Mason had done with Karin.

Once he finished explaining up to the most recent Bungee Jump quest, Helena spoke.

“I do recall some humans crashing down here not long ago. It was in the territory I manage.”

“Here? Mason most likely bungee-jumped toward the moon.”

“You didn’t know? Hell is the moon.”

Even Edgar, who rarely showed surprise, widened his eyes at that.

Louis was no different.

She was a resident of hell who had crossed over to the world above, but she had never imagined hell existed on the moon.

Edgar looked out the window at the sky of hell.

‘If you can see the moon from our world, then from the moon you should be able to see our world.’

But the sky was only filled with purple.

There was no world, no sun, no stars.

Then Helena spoke.

“Anyway, impressive. That Mason fellow seems to be quite an interesting thinker.”

“The idea to bungee-jump to the moon also came to me. I simply couldn’t carry it out because of the guarantee contract.”

“Hm. A bungee jump. We had a similar quest back in our time. Memories.”

“Your time? A similar quest?”

Helena nodded softly.

“Just like the doppelgänger Louis over there, I too was once a participant in a past game. One of the quests then was ‘Flying Far’. It seems the bungee-jump was an arranged version of that old quest.”

“Flying far? You mean you actually flew through the sky?”

“Yes. ‘We’ were a race capable of that.”

Edgar didn’t understand what she meant at all.

But one scene did surface in his mind.

The woman who flew gracefully through the sky, overtaking him during the First-Come quest.

Edgar spoke half-jokingly.

“Humans might also be a race capable of that. At least one person definitely flew.”

“Explain in detail.”

“Ah, it was just an aside. Nothing to—”

“I said explain in detail.”

Helena’s tone shifted ever so slightly.

And the atmosphere shifted with it.

Louis nearly hiccupped.

But Edgar, without any sign of surprise, recounted exactly what had happened during the First-Come quest.

Tap, tap.

Helena tapped the armrest of her chair with her index finger.

Soon she ground her teeth and shouted:

“Magireta!”

“Knew you’d call.”

Ssshhk.

Magireta appeared with an extremely troubled expression.

Helena asked sharply, as if rebuking her.

“‘What is going on here?’”

“‘What.’”

“‘Humans shouldn’t be able to fly. They can’t wield ether.’”

“…….”

“‘For there to be someone who can wield it…… don’t tell me?’”

Magireta shrugged.

“‘Yes, that don’t-tell-me.’”

“‘This isn’t what we agreed! Why did you allow that child to participate in the quests?’”

“‘No. The agreement was “Please don’t kill that child.” And technically it wasn’t even an agreement, it was a wish ticket you used.’”

“‘You…….’”

“‘I granted your wish. That child has not truly died even once.’”

She continued, as if soothing her.

“‘This time it just so happened that the child got included in the quests……. I didn’t deliberately force her into the game out of malice. As you know, my game chooses participants completely at random. It was just bad luck.’”

“…….”

“‘Even if she gets eliminated midway, I will never “kill” her. Elimination is possible without killing. Your wish ticket is still valid.’”

Helena replied in an icy voice.

“‘You must have known the real intent of my wish. My wish was that the child would never get entangled with you!’”

“‘Then you should have said it that way. How would I know your true intent? Some things don’t work unless you put them into words.’”

“‘Whatever you say, this is absolute betrayal to me.’”

“Ha.”

Magireta let out a small laugh.

Then, changing from her soothing tone, she spoke sharply.

“‘So what do you expect me to do about it.’”

“…….”

“‘Calm down. Our relationship isn’t so shallow that it would fall apart over something like this. Right?’”

“‘I’m going down to the world. I need to find that child.’”

“‘No. Don’t.’”

Ignoring Magireta’s attempt to stop her, Helena rose from her seat.

And she walked out of the building.

Magireta drifted around her, continuing to speak.

“‘Think again. The world of humans is fragile. If you descend, you won’t last even a few days.’”

“‘Not my concern.’”

“‘Really? I’m about to get angry.’”

“‘Lady Magireta.’”

She looked up at Magireta.

Then she spoke each word as if cutting them out one by one.

It was an imitation of the tone Magireta had used just moments ago.

“‘So what if you get angry.’”

“‘Y-you…….’”

“‘You can’t restrict me. That’s the Hidden rule.’”

“…….”

“‘You’ve managed hell for countless years. Think of this as taking a vacation.’”

Magireta trembled.

‘Kill you.’

But she couldn’t kill her.

The rule forbade it.

At that moment, Edgar, who had followed after them, spoke.

“Excuse me, could you wait? I haven’t finished speaking yet.”

“You really can’t read the atmosphere, can you.”

“I hear that often. Haha.”

“…….”

“Well, what I wanted to ask was……”

Edgar could not finish his sentence.

Physically, he could not.

In less than a second, his body hardened into solid stone.

Not metaphorically—he had literally become ‘stone’.

“Ah, Arcane!”

Louis screamed and clung to him.

Edgar was no longer a person but a statue.

“You, you…… what did you do to Arcane!”

But Helena did not answer.

Louis’s furious yelling didn’t even reach her ears.

Helena crouched down.

And the next moment—

–Taaat!

She shot upward toward the sky.

And in an instant, she pierced through hell’s atmosphere and began flying toward the world above.

With just a leap, Helena could cross back and forth between the world and hell.

“Haah.”

Magireta pressed her forehead as though she had a headache.

Soon her gaze fell on the stone statue that Edgar had become.

‘Annoying.’

Crack—

She kicked Edgar’s statue.

It shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Louis, overwhelmed by fear and sorrow, felt tears well up.

“Ah…… aaah.”

“Ha. I should warn them……. No, I can’t because of the contract. What do I do.”

“Arcane. Arcane.”

“I guess I should at least go see my little brother.”

Ssshhk.

Soon Magireta vanished as well.

All that remained were Louis, sobbing uncontrollably, and the silent stone fragments of Edgar.

“We die in three days.”

Armelia had said that with a bright smile.

After calming Karin—who kept shouting she was being scammed or tricked—we went to sleep.

But the next morning.

Surprisingly, Karin did show up without having run away overnight.

Berseum opened his mouth.

“Thought you might try running. Good to see a young person acting responsibly.”

“Haah. Well, I was the one who asked to be added to the party.”

“Even if you tried to run, my detection magic would have caught you, though.”

“…….”

“Anyway, Mason, today is when Magireta comes, right?”

I nodded heavily.

“As I said before, she probably wants to warn us about something.”

“But couldn’t do so…… was that it.”

“Yes. Something must have restricted her. We need to pierce through that restriction and hear the warning. We need clues about what’s coming.”

Right now, we knew nothing.

Everyone nodded with serious expressions.

Then Karin asked,

“So Magireta just wanders around like that even when it’s not during a quest?”

“The lack of information is truly severe.”

“I tend to ignore information unless I absolutely need it.”

“This is information you absolutely need.”

“…….”

“For reference, Magireta usually appears suddenly like a ghost. Prepare yourself so you won’t get startled.”

Karin replied with a scoff.

“No matter where or how she appears, nothing will startle me. The spirits always warn me beforehand.”

“Right. You call them spirits.”

“Eeeek!”

Before she realized it, Magireta had placed a hand on Karin’s shoulder.

Completely contradicting her earlier boast, Karin jerked up to her hips and let out a weird noise.

Magireta glanced at her and spoke.

“Ha. Because of you, I swear this is such a headache.”