Chapter 162 : Possibility - 3
Chapter 162: Possibility - 3
Tap.
As soon as I touched the Receiver of the Listening Device, a Mini Bulletin Board appeared before my eyes.
“The Bulletin Board has appeared. You all can't see it, right?”
“That's right.”
“Just a moment. I'll try adjusting it.”
Several sliders were engraved on the Mini Bulletin Board.
Beside them were the following labels:
Volume
Time
Playback Speed
Subtitles
Subtitles?
I first placed my hand on the Volume slider and moved it.
Crackle. Crackle.
The static seemed to grow louder.
This wasn't very important.
Playback Speed and Subtitles weren't important right now either.
What mattered was the Time setting.
‘Magireta said it wasn't limited to real-time eavesdropping. I could also listen to recorded conversations afterward.’
I moved the Time slider a little.
Immediately, a few sounds different from the ordinary static reached my ears.
I pulled the slider all the way forward.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of someone approaching.
“Beat. What exactly are you doing?”
“Haa... haa...”
“Beat... No. The body is certainly my daughter's, but there's something strange inside.”
“Huff... huff... huff...”
“This is exactly why I told you to be more careful about what you eat.”
Odline's vulgar breathing.
And the other voice most likely belonged to Drod.
I continued listening.
Soon, B... no, Beat, Drod's daughter, vomited up the maggot.
While in maggot form, Odline communicated through some unknown method instead of speaking aloud.
Yet remarkably, the Listening Device even picked up Odline's voice.
After rambling on with a bunch of meaningless nonsense, Odline proposed joining hands with Drod.
‘That bastard.’
Fortunately, Drod rejected the proposal.
Afterward, it sounded as though Drod stomped the maggot to death.
Not long after, I heard something burning fiercely.
‘That sound...’
Judging from what Beat said afterward, he had apparently burned Magireta's hood.
If Odline ever found out, he'd probably cry tears of blood.
What else was there?
I moved the slider farther back.
Most of what I heard was simply casual conversation with Beat...
‘Hm?’
At one point, genuinely useful information finally reached my ears.
A smile spread across my face.
Drod laid Beat down on the bed.
“You've worked very hard, Beat.”
“Yes. But it's okay. You're here now, Dad.”
“Heh.”
He gently stroked Beat's head.
Then he spoke in a serious tone.
“I'm going to see Lady Magireta immediately.”
“Ah... Are you sure? Please don't push yourself too hard.”
“Push myself? Lady Magireta assisted in the incident that injured my precious daughter. No matter how much she may be my superior, I can't simply let it pass.”
“Dad...”
“Get some sleep. When you wake up, I'll bring you good news.”
Just then—
Grip.
Beat suddenly grabbed Drod's sleeve.
Drod, who had already begun rising from his chair, slowly sat back down.
“What is it?”
“Don't go, Dad.”
“......”
“I take back what I said about asking you to lecture Lady Magireta. So please... don't go. Okay?”
Drod's eyes reddened.
He knew exactly what Beat was about to say next.
“What if you disappear too? What if you vanish like Mom did?”
“Beat... I'm not leaving you behind anywhere.”
“Sniff... Mom said the same thing before she disappeared.”
“......”
“Just stay here with me. Please?”
Slowly, Drod took hold of Beat's hand and nodded.
“Alright. I understand.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Since you've asked me like this, perhaps it's for the best. To be honest, Lady Magireta is someone who exceeds common sense in every way. She makes me rather uneasy.”
“Hehe. I already knew.”
“This is embarrassing.”
“It's okay. To me, you're still the strongest person in the entire world, Dad.”
Drod stroked Beat's head once more.
Afterward, he sang her a lullaby that was rather awkward and terribly off-key.
Before long, Beat fell fast asleep.
And Mason listened carefully to every word of that entire conversation.
‘That lullaby was unbelievably awful.’
How could anyone fall asleep listening to something like that?
I'd think it'd wake them up instead.
After that, all the Listening Device transmitted was Beat's steady breathing as she slept peacefully.
I removed the Listening Device and fell into thought.
‘It's surprising enough that an MVP has a daughter, but he even had a wife.’
Did Monsters also have the concept of family?
Well, Monsters had once been intelligent species that ruled the world long ago.
Perhaps the memories of those days had led them to form families even in Hell.
‘Still... his wife disappeared...’
Instinctively, I felt that this was extremely important information.
So I immediately summoned the Diary Book.
‘Let's check the Encyclopedia. Drod Kuhalim.’
[Understood.]
The Diary Book soon opened.
《■ Drod Kuhalim
Species: Former Dragon. Current Monster.
......
......
Characteristics
: Among all intelligent species that had ruled the surface throughout history, Dragons were considered the strongest, and Drod was the Dragon Lord who stood at their very pinnacle.
As the Dragon Lord, Drod possessed the authority to annihilate anything that opposed him with nothing more than a single Dragon Word.
Like all Dragons, he could also unleash Breath, but Drod's Breath was an extremely corrosive acid capable of melting virtually anything.
Unlike most Dragons, who spent their days drowning in lethargy and boredom, Drod deeply cherished his wife and daughter and found joy in traveling the world alongside them.
However, he was eventually dragged into Magireta's Game, forcing him to part from his family while they were still alive.
Even so, he survived until the very end with outstanding results and was eventually reunited with them.
But several millennia later, Magireta decided to bring the Age of Dragons to an end, causing him to lose his family forever once again.
Drod had already learned of this future during the Game through information Magireta had shared with him.
Because of that, he postponed using the Wish Ticket awarded to the final victor.
On the day Dragons became extinct, Drod finally used the Wish Ticket he had saved, wishing to reunite with his family in Hell and live together with them once more.
Magireta granted his wish.
After becoming Monsters, Drod's family once again lived happily together.
For a while.
Their happiness was short-lived.
Drod's wife was suddenly consumed by an inexplicable madness.
A mysterious insanity that cursed and attacked every living thing she saw.
Eventually, when she even tried to attack Drod and their daughter, Drod tearfully imprisoned her beneath their mansion.
To his daughter, he lied that her mother had simply disappeared somewhere.
At present, he serves as an MVP, governing one quarter of Hell.
Additional Notes
: Although he became an MVP Monster, Drod still retains the "Authority of Annihilation" he possessed as the Dragon Lord.
Any living being pierced or even grazed by his claws has both body and soul instantly erased.
Once a being has been erased in this manner, not even Magireta is capable of reviving it.
Furthermore, although Drod unquestionably underwent Monsterization, his appearance and abilities differ little from when he was a Dragon.
This is because Magireta was especially fond of Drod.
In other words, she granted him special treatment.》
Hmm.
A Dragon, huh.
I wondered what such a creature looked like.
‘No. That's not what's important right now.’
His wife—Beat's mother—hadn't disappeared at all.
Drod had merely imprisoned her because of an unknown madness.
‘If I play this right... I might be able to make use of this.’
After organizing my thoughts, I addressed everyone.
“I'm going to tell you several things.”
I relayed everything I had learned from the Listening Device and the Encyclopedia without hiding anything.
Everyone looked completely overwhelmed, unsure what they should even react to first.
But Armelia eventually spoke.
“Just hearing about him, Drod sounds extraordinarily powerful.”
“He certainly does.”
“Helena felt like an enormous mountain. Odline felt like filthy sewage.”
That was an apt comparison.
Well... perhaps it wasn't really a comparison.
It was simply an accurate description.
“On the other hand, Drod gives off the unmistakable feeling of a true powerhouse.”
“I feel the same way. I'd like to fight him at least once.”
“Sir Sienne. I never imagined you were someone so eager for battle.”
“I've had more strength than I know what to do with lately. Thanks to the medicine Mr. Mason gave me.”
“So you've been enjoying it more than you let on.”
Berseum spoke.
“In any case, we've gained valuable information and learned what our future holds. Unfortunately, no immediate solution comes to mind.”
“......”
“As Her Highness the Princess said, despite never having met him, he already feels overwhelming. I believe it would be wiser to avoid confronting him head-on.”
Just then—
“Of course. You weren't actually planning to fight him directly, were you?”
It was Magireta.
As always, she had naturally blended into our midst.
‘I knew she'd come.’
At the end of the previous Quest, Magireta had said this after explaining that she couldn't kill an MVP.
—Actually, I have something I wanted to talk to you about, little brother.
—You do?
—Mm... Never mind. I'll come find you later. We'll talk then.
I intended to get straight to the point.
But the words caught in my throat.
“......?”
Something about Magireta was different.
No... rather than "something"...
To put it plainly—
She wasn't wearing her hood.
The others noticed as well, their eyes widening.
Karin asked,
“Changing your image?”
“Hm?”
“Why are you showing off those glowing red eyes? Put your hood back on.”
“Little brother. Is this girl's personality really okay as it is?”
She really had removed her hood.
I shrugged.
“I was wondering the same thing. Why did you suddenly stop wearing it?”
“You bought my hood last time, remember?”
“That's right. Well, to be precise, you gave it to me for free.”
“At that moment, something suddenly occurred to me.”
“What was it?”
“I wondered... why I'd been wearing this thing in the first place.”
It was such an unexpected question that I stared at her blankly.
“So... what was the reason?”
“I don't know. I really don't. But... it doesn't seem very important.”
“What?”
“I said it isn't important.”
Aina looked dumbfounded.
“If you're tired, why don't you go back to Hell and get some rest? For about a thousand years.”
“You and Karin are like twins sometimes. Both of you have filthy mouths.”
“That's an insult.”
Immediately, Karin kicked Aina's leg beneath the table.
Aina kicked her back.
The two soon began bickering under the table, but my thoughts were fixed on something else.
—It isn't very important.
I was sure I'd heard those exact words before.
When was it...?
Ah!
That time.
When Helena descended to the surface and I first learned what an MVP was.
Back then, I had learned about the Hidden Rule preventing Magireta from interfering with MVPs.
So I had asked her this:
—But why make such a rule? No matter how I look at it, it only puts you at a disadvantage.
—......
—Why create MVPs in the first place? Why invent that concept at all?
—...That isn't important.
What was it?
What did it mean?
No matter how I thought about it, "it isn't important" didn't sound like she was merely dodging the question.
Magireta genuinely believed it wasn't important.
As though something were preventing her from thinking about it...
‘No way...’
Just then, Magireta spoke.
“Anyway, I think I'll keep going around without the hood from now on. It's much cooler.”
I nodded and changed the subject.
“Do as you like. Anyway, getting back to the main topic, there's something I'd like to ask you.”
“I do too. But let's hear what you have to say first, little brother.”
“Drod is after us, isn't he?”
“......”
“Drod Kuhalim. The Second MVP of Hell.”
Magireta chuckled.
Without the hood, I could observe her expressions much more clearly.
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“You said Drod is much more respectful toward you than Odline or Helena. He's probably one of the MVPs you think relatively well of.”
“Haa... Is there anything you don't know?”
“But if you had to choose between one MVP who's merely one of your many subordinates and your adorable little brother... naturally, you'd choose your little brother, right? That's what I believe, Sis.”
For some reason, my companions all rubbed their arms.
Goosebumps had broken out all over them.
Smiling, Magireta replied,
“Try asking again with a little more charm.”
“I'm serious. If you don't help us, Sis, Drod will kill all of us.”
“As you said, he respects me. He knows that killing you participants right now would ruin the Game.”
“Then he'll simply wait until all the Games are over. And when that time comes, you won't stop him.”
Apparently, I had struck the mark.
Magireta fell silent.
A moment later, she spoke as though making an excuse.
“It's not that I won't stop him. I can't...”
“Yes. Because of the Hidden Rule.”
“......”
“So, Sis.”
I swallowed hard.
The realization that had struck me like lightning while observing the Future Diary.
Would this realization really work?
It was time to find out.