Chapter 115 : Disqualification – 3
Chapter 115: Disqualification – 3
I nodded and said,
“Helena was Setra… in other words, the King.”
She wasn’t just any king.
I tried recalling what I had seen in the encyclopedia.
<Back when she had been an elf, she was the ‘Setra,’ the supreme authority who ruled over all elves.
Setra meant the equivalent of a king or emperor among humans.
Throughout the long history of the elves, Helena undeniably ranked among the most notorious tyrants.
She had reigned for ages as the embodiment of terror to all elves.
She had been brutal and cruel, but the only exception had been her one and only daughter, to whom she had given boundless love.>
“She wasn’t just a king. She must have been a tyrant. A symbol of terror for elves for a long time.”
“Hm. And?”
“I was thinking about how ordinary participants would react if such a king joined the game with them.”
Would people still try to appease the king even during the game?
Wouldn’t they think they must not offend her?
Wouldn’t they believe they couldn’t handle the consequences if the king missed first place?
Armelia asked me in clear confusion,
“Even if such a thought crossed their minds for a moment, would they really give up first place when their lives were on the line?”
“Giving up first place and risking your life are different things. Missing first place didn’t mean disqualification, after all.”
“That’s true.”
“For participants whose advancement was already secured, they might have felt it was safer to give up first place than risk upsetting the king.”
She nodded, though it wasn’t a look of full agreement.
“No matter how it was… someone like Matets or Ian told me, ‘Since we’re all participants in the same game, noble status means nothing.’”
“That’s because they didn’t take Your Highness seriously… because Your Highness is generous by nature.”
“That sounded like you changed your wording far too late, Mason.”
“In any case, it’s hard to put a historical tyrant on the same level as Your Highness.”
This time, Karin spoke up.
“But if they wanted to stay on her good side, wouldn’t it have been better to win first place themselves and then present the reward to the king as an offering?”
“Would a tyrant truly like a gift brought to her that way? She might have thought, ‘Is this insect bragging for surpassing me?’”
“What garbage.”
Uh… well.
We’re talking about your mother.
Berseum nodded slowly.
“Let me expand my imagination.”
“As much as you’d like.”
“Elves use ether, don’t they? There’s a chance they used it to quietly spread messages only to the ‘game participant’ elves.”
“……”
“If they had spread information the way humans do—through notices or messengers—news of the quest might have leaked and caused deaths, but elves didn’t need to worry about that.”
Through that perfect secrecy, the information that “the tyrant is participating in the same quest as us” could have spread among the elves.
Which meant that even elves participating in the quest at different locations from Helena might have given up first place because they were wary of her reaction.
I nodded and added,
“And for the same reason, Helena would’ve been able to locate the participants easily.”
“……”
“And finding the ‘participant who had taken first place in the previous quest’ wouldn’t have been hard, either. The participants must’ve realized that.”
“They might’ve feared some petty revenge during the breaks between quests. If they’d lived under terror for so long, giving up first place out of fear wouldn’t be strange at all.”
In fact, during the first quest, Armelia had ordered the Blacksmith to “find out the other participants’ occupations.”
She had used the authority of the imperial family to threaten him, and it had worked.
If the gentle Armelia held that much influence, Helena’s would’ve been incomparable.
After organizing everything in my head, I looked at Magireta.
“So what do you think, sis?”
“……”
“Was Helena’s MVP justified? Did she really take all those first-place rewards purely with her own ability?”
Magireta stayed silent for a long time before answering.
“I can’t be certain. I never even imagined there would be participants who intentionally gave up first place.”
“Can you look into it now?”
“It wouldn’t be hard. Those ‘former elves,’ who are now monsters, could be captured and interrogated. But should I really go that far?”
“……”
“And even if I did, there’s no guarantee the MVP would change. Even if one or two first-place rewards were reduced, she still might exceed sixty percent.”
My lips felt dry.
But I forced myself to stay calm as I spoke.
“Please just look into it. You can at least do that much.”
“I can’t even promise that.”
“Sis. Aren’t you angry?”
“Angry? About what?”
“I’m guessing you stopped Helena from descending into the world. Why? Because it’s a game. Because you didn’t want this world to be destroyed during the game.”
Magireta pressed her lips together.
I hurried to continue.
“But Helena must have refused your request by relying on the hidden rule. That’s why she’s in this world right now.”
“…Right.”
“Shouldn’t you give her a good hit for that? How dare she ignore the words of the almighty Magireta-sis?”
“……”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night from sheer frustration. You’re always too kind—that’s why things turn out like this. Sometimes you need to swing the rod with strictness.”
I was desperate—saying anything and everything.
Even I knew it wasn’t very convincing.
It was obvious flattery.
But unexpectedly, Magireta seemed to like my flattery.
“Pfft.”
She burst into a genuinely delighted laugh.
Then she approached and, without asking permission, ruffled my hair.
“I really can’t hate my little brother.”
“……”
“You’re right. Helena was too arrogant this time. To be honest, she really had been getting on my nerves.”
“Sis.”
“Edgar provided the spark for it all, but Helena ignored my words nonetheless. Thank you for giving me a hint on how to punish her properly.”
With that, Magireta stepped back.
I held myself back from letting the anticipation show on my face.
“The meaning of that is?”
“I’m going to return to Hell and interrogate the participants from back then. And by comparing the stats they were originally capable of with Helena’s record, I’ll narrow down the number of games she wouldn’t have been able to win with her true ability.”
“…….”
“If the number drops as a result… and it falls below sixty percent, then Helena would lose her qualification as MVP.”
The corners of my mouth naturally rose.
The rest of the party was the same.
Magireta spoke as though mocking us.
“Don’t expect too much. The odds are extremely low.”
“Right now, that’s more than enough. Without your omnipotence, there’s no way to stop that monster.”
“Heheh. It’ll take a little time. Is that alright?”
“How long will it take?”
“Well. I think I’ll be back by tomorrow morning.”
Tomorrow morning.
A chill ran down my spine for a moment.
‘It’s the 10th.’
A date that wasn’t recorded in the Future Diary.
The day I—my party in the diary—had died.
In the end, no matter what we did, we ended up facing the 10th again.
Had the “me” in the diary realized what I had just realized now?
And was that why he made the same request to Magireta?
‘If that’s so, then that means I die after all.’
[No. Not necessarily.]
‘Hm?’
[Even if the Mason in the diary came up with the same idea, you came up with it far earlier this time.]
‘Ah. Well, the diary of the 9th had nothing special and was pretty plain.’
[Yes. Which means that at least until “you” went to sleep on the 9th, he hadn’t thought of this idea. He wouldn’t have known danger was coming then.]
If that was so… it might be possible.
I steadied my heart and said,
“Please. Sis.”
“Alright. Don’t hope—just wait.”
Magireta quietly disappeared.
As I stood there blankly for a moment, I heard Karin exhale, “Hooa.”
“When I travel with you, do things like this happen all the time?”
“Probably.”
“Man, then I really shouldn’t be hanging around you. When Magireta patted your head earlier, I thought my liver was about to drop.”
“Better your liver than my head, right? Don’t even think about backing out now.”
Karin just gave a small laugh instead of answering.
Then Armelia asked,
“Then what should we do now, Mason?”
“Until Magireta returns, it’d probably be best for us to run around the continent, here and there. Normally.”
“…….”
“But in that time, victims will continue to appear. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”
“I-I wouldn’t say that.”
“It’s alright. I like that kind of compassion from Your Highness.”
Armelia’s face flushed instantly.
Karin looked back and forth between us and said,
“No way… are you two dating?”
A brief silence passed.
Aina leaned in and tapped Karin’s shoulder.
“There really has to be one person like you in every group, huh.”
“What are you talking about? Move your hand?”
“You’re a necessary position. Keep saying everything that comes to mind.”
“You really look stupid, you know that.”
“Try choosing your words?”
“Didn’t you say I should say everything I want?”
After a short bout of bickering, Karin shifted the topic.
“Anyway, I’ll lure the monster.”
“What? What are you talking about.”
“I’ll fly up and lure it. Its goal is me anyway. Isn’t it because of me that it’s roaming the continent and increasing the casualties?”
“…….”
“I don’t like hiding when I know that. I won’t win in a fight, but leading it to an unpopulated place won’t be hard.”
I went blank for a second because I hadn’t expected that.
Then Benjamin spoke.
“That sounds reasonable. In that case, we should dig a trap beforehand in the spot where Karin leads it.”
“You have something in mind?”
“If you’ll lend me that Replication Sack, Aina and I will be able to put something convincing together. Though there’s no guarantee it’ll work on a monster.”
Aina’s eyes sparkled.
“Ohhh, that one, brother.”
“Yes. That one.”
What is “that one.”
Karin was flying in the sky, holding tightly to the compass Mason had handed her.
‘This is probably one of the first-place rewards too, yet he lent it out so casually.’
Either he had guts, or he was careless…
…Or maybe he trusted her.
She let out a small laugh.
It didn’t feel bad.
After flying for a long while, she saw a massive mountain in the distance.
The thick poisonous fumes in the surroundings were still the same.
She stopped at a point safe from the poison’s influence and raised her voice.
“Hey!”
With the sound-amplifying magic Berseum had prepared in advance, her voice echoed thunderously.
Helena stopped and stared steadily toward the source of the voice.
Of course, thanks to Berseum’s other spell—the invisibility spell—Karin didn’t turn to stone.
“Luna? Luna, is that you?”
“My name is Karin. Karin Oblang.”
“That may be what you go by now. But the name I gave you isn’t that.”
“Like I care. Are you my mom or something?”
Helena’s face twisted.
“You really don’t hold back. If you’d grown up under my guidance, you wouldn’t say such insolent things.”
“And what kind of ‘guidance’ is that?”
“I had everything planned since the moment I gave birth to you. First, I wouldn’t give you meals until you said the words I wanted and behaved how I wanted.”
“…….”
“Every time you talked back, I’d pull out your nails. Every time you disobeyed me, I’d hang you upside down.”
Karin blinked several times, then asked,
“Didn’t you say you loved me? Isn’t that why you saved me with your Wish Ticket?”
“I do love you. If I didn’t, no matter how twisted you grew, I wouldn’t care.”
“Ha. Even if I really had lived with you as mother and daughter, I’m pretty sure the two of us would have fought until one of us killed the other.”
“As expected… you grew far too wrong.”
“After taking me to Hell, you’re planning to carry out that ‘education’ you postponed, right?”
“Of course.”
Karin let out a short, incredulous laugh at Helena’s answer.
‘Seriously, whether it’s my past life or now, my luck with family is just…’
Then she spoke with a cold expression.
“You go back to Hell alone. One-way only. Don’t ever return to this world.”