ebonymovies Chapter 171 : Malfunction - 3
Chapter 171 : Malfunction - 3
The eyes of the Magireta beside me changed.More precisely, they became calm.
A gaze devoid of any emotion, as though she were looking at nothing more than a stone lying by the roadside.
“What should I do in a situation like this...?”
“……”
“I've decided.”
“It would be best to dispose of it.”
“Don't you all agree?”
Snap.
Magireta flicked her finger.
The sight that appeared afterward honestly made me want to faint.
“Uwaaah.”
“W-What is this? Why are there so many of them?”
Countless Magiretas surrounded us from every direction.
Without exception, every one of them looked at the “broken” Magireta standing beside Edgar and spoke.
“You're broken. Completely broken.”
“What an incredible irregularity.”
“She keeps babbling about realizing something.”
“Making such a fuss over something so unimportant.”
“She is preventing Edgar from vomiting Odline out.”
“An act that goes against my will.”
“We have to eliminate her, right?”
“We have to.”
A chilling sensation ran from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.
The countless Magiretas all stared at a single Magireta.
Then the “broken” Magireta spoke.
She wore an extremely bitter smile.
“Heh.”
“I can't say it.”
“The truth simply won't come out of my mouth.”
“There you go spouting nonsense again.”
“At this rate...”
“I really am going to lose.”
“Lose? What are you talking about?”
“Sigh.”
“I suppose there's no helping it.”
She suddenly turned around.
Then she walked over to Edgar, the human waterwheel, and lightly touched him.
Tap.
A small board immediately appeared before Edgar.
Written on it was—
Eliminated.
Magireta rolled up her sleeves and began erasing the words.
Then she rewrote them.
Participant.
The countless Magiretas cried out in horror.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
“Even if you're one of us, you can't casually alter someone's elimination or qualification.”
“That's right. Unless the participant requests it through a trade, you're not allowed to change that on your own.”
“If you change it... you'll...”
Just then—
Cough!
The “broken” Magireta coughed up blood.
What...
What exactly was I looking at?
That Devil...
Was coughing up blood?
She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and said,
“Edgar.”
“And Odline as an extra.”
“Magireta...”
-What do you mean, as an extra?! I'm just an extra?!
“I changed Edgar's status to Participant.”
“It'll be rewritten so that he successfully cleared the Intermediary Trade Quest.”
At that moment, the Magireta beside me shouted,
“You've gone mad!”
“You're going to be erased!”
And she was right.
'Huh?'
The broken Magireta's body slowly began to scatter away.
Starting from her legs, she gradually crumbled into dust.
Yet the broken Magireta paid no attention to it.
As if she had expected this outcome from the very beginning.
She calmly continued speaking to Edgar.
“To think I'd have to place my hopes in trash like you.”
“I've really fallen that far.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Rejoin the game.”
“Become a participant again...”
“And eliminate Mason and his companions.”
“……”
“I don't mean simply kill them.”
“You have to eliminate them.”
“Absolutely...”
“Before every game comes to an end.”
Sssss.
The broken Magireta slowly raised a trembling hand.
By then, almost her entire body had vanished.
Only a portion of her upper torso remained.
Gathering every last ounce of strength...
Snap.
She flicked her finger.
Edgar's appearance immediately changed.
From a waterwheel...
Back into human form.
Back to his original body.
Using the last of her strength, Magireta spoke.
“Odline.”
“You can hear me, can't you?”
“Open a hole and escape to the world.”
-M-Magireta!
“Run somewhere Mason can't reach.”
“And hide.”
“Until the next Quest begins.”
Edgar replied with difficulty,
“No matter how well I hide... Mason will catch up immediately.”
“He has the Compass and the Teleportation Orb.”
“Then keep running.”
“Odline possesses the omnipotence to manipulate space.”
“For you...”
“It's practically the same as obtaining a Teleportation Orb.”
After thinking for a moment, Edgar slowly nodded.
Cough. Cough.
Magireta vomited blood once more.
Then, in a raspy metallic voice, she continued,
“Odline.”
“Don't worry.”
“Your safety is guaranteed as well.”
-What?
“With my final act of omnipotence...”
“I prevented the other mes from making Edgar vomit you out.”
“Now...”
“If they want to kill you...”
“They'll have to kill Edgar first.”
-……
“But they won't be able to.”
“Edgar is now a Participant.”
“I cannot arbitrarily kill Participants who have cleared enough Quests.”
The broken Magireta turned toward the Magireta beside me.
“Isn't that right?”
“That's what the Hidden Rule says.”
Smiling faintly, she continued.
-Magireta cannot kill Participants who have cleared up to the Eighth Quest.
The Magireta beside me cried out in horror.
“Why would you reveal that first?!”
“No one had figured that rule out yet!”
“At this point, look at me.”
“If I'm already like this, breaking one or two more rules won't make any difference.”
“……”
“Who are you?”
“Are you really... me?”
“That's my line.”
The broken Magireta answered calmly.
“Are you really me?”
“Can someone who looks that empty-headed really be me?”
“……”
“How pathetic.”
Ssss.
Even the last remaining traces of the broken Magireta's face slowly disappeared.
Looking at me...
She left behind her final words.
“You dare...”
By the time we came to our senses...
Edgar had already disappeared.
Odline had opened a hole and escaped.
At this point, Edgar's whereabouts weren't what mattered most.
Something else was far more important.
“Sister?”
“……”
“Sister.”
“What exactly just happened?”
“You tell me, little brother.”
Magireta stared at me with icy eyes.
“What did the me who just disappeared mean?”
“How should I know?”
“No.”
“You know.”
“You have to.”
“You've had an assistant I know nothing about from the very beginning, haven't you?”
I quietly took a breath.
Growling, Magireta continued,
“Tell me.”
“What is it that I haven't realized?”
“What are you hiding?”
“Who is your assistant?!”
I didn't know any of the three.
Instead of answering, I merely shrugged.
I admitted it.
That gesture probably looked extremely irritating to Magireta.
Step.
She approached me with an angry expression.
Immediately, my companions hurriedly stepped in front of me.
“Move.”
“You're too worked up.”
“Calm down first.”
“I said move.”
Armelia spoke.
“You've known for quite some time that Mason possesses abilities beyond your expectations.”
“So why become angry now?”
“……”
“The one you should be angry at has already escaped into the world.”
“Wouldn't it be better to go finish off Odline and Edgar?”
Magireta silently took several deep breaths.
Again.
And again.
Only after finally calming herself did she speak.
“What the me who disappeared said was true.”
“Edgar's status changed from Eliminated to Participant.”
“It has been rewritten so that he cleared the Intermediary Trade Quest.”
“Then change it back.”
“From Participant to Eliminated.”
“If I do that...”
“I'll end up just like she did.”
“Sigh...”
“Since you've already found out, I might as well tell you.”
-Magireta cannot arbitrarily change someone between Participant and Eliminated. However, she may freely grant such a request if it comes through a Participant's trade.
I see.
In the past, Magireta had changed Ian's status from Eliminated back to Participant.
But that had only happened because Edgar requested it through a trade in exchange for his life.
Without such a request...
Changing someone's status on her own would result in her erasure.
I spoke calmly.
“This happened before.”
“When the letters mentioning Edgar's Quest were scattered throughout the world.”
“……”
“You said it would become troublesome if more than half the continent learned about the existence of the Quests.”
“You never answered when I asked why it would become troublesome...”
It probably meant...
Magireta would be erased.
At this point, there was no room left for doubt.
The Hidden Rules weren't created by Magireta.
At the very least...
She hadn't created them alone.
Someone else had created them.
Or perhaps...
They had been created jointly by Magireta and someone else.
'And that someone...'
...was probably the owner of the deep voice I had heard in the vision.
Sigh.
Just then, Karin took a deep breath and spoke.
“Can we go back now?”
“Karin.”
“So many things happened.”
“My head's a mess.”
“And I'm exhausted.”
“So am I.”
“Alright.”
“Let's go back.”
Then Sienne raised her hand.
“Before that, please wait a moment.”
“A lot happened...”
“But in the end, Edgar and Odline both survived.”
“……”
“Wouldn't it be better to deal with them completely before resting?”
She had a point.
But...
I shrugged.
“The Magireta over there already said it.”
“They can just keep running by using Odline.”
“Ugh...”
“That's true.”
Exactly.
Back then, Edgar had stolen the Teleportation Orb.
Even then, I hadn't bothered chasing him down.
Because he'd simply keep running.
And running again.
I had no interest in playing a meaningless game of tag.
“At this point...”
“The only option is to eliminate him through another Quest.”
“Once again.”
“I suppose you're right.”
“Of course, we'll keep Edgar under surveillance between Quests.”
“Once we're back in the world, let's use the Compass to check his location.”
After saying that, I looked at Magireta.
“If we eliminate him again...”
“This won't happen a second time, right?”
“……”
“Sister?”
“Why are you so calm?”
Magireta's voice had become noticeably sharp.
“How can you be this calm?”
“Huh?”
“What you just witnessed...”
“Was an incident that shook the very foundation of the game.”
“So how can you possibly...”
“It's not my game.”
“……”
“Brother.”
“My companions and I were simply dragged into the game you created.”
“So whether the game's foundations collapse or not...”
“I don't care.”
“There is only one thing that's important to me.”
I continued firmly.
“The survival of myself and my companions.”
“……”
“We're leaving now, Sister.”
Magireta rubbed her forehead as though she had a headache.
“Alright.”
“Go for now.”
“We'll talk again later.”
Works for me.
Actually...
Magireta was wrong.
I'm not calm at all.
I'm simply forcing myself to remain composed.
'That broken Magireta guaranteed Edgar's safety...'
Even as she was dying.
She had placed her hopes in Edgar.
While asking him to eliminate me no matter what.
'Why?'
The vision I witnessed.
The appearance of the broken Magireta.
The Potential companions and the Awakening Potions.
The first game between Magireta and that unknown individual.
There were far too many things to think about.
I didn't even know where to begin.
'But my objective hasn't changed.'
Just as I'd told Magireta...
The survival of my companions remained my highest priority.
Awakening every one of them...
And clearing the final game together.
That was my ultimate goal.
Stretching lazily, I said,
“Let's head back.”
The day after the sudden Quest, “Erasure,” ended safely.
So many things had happened.
But I deliberately avoided overthinking them.
If I kept worrying about events too far in the future...
I'd exhaust myself first.
The appearance of the broken Magireta.
The contents of the Memory Fragment I'd witnessed.
Those could wait until later.
Right now...
What was the most urgent issue?
'Awakening.'
Last time, I had learned that everyone in our party needed to face the final Quest in an Awakened state.
For everyone else, that wasn't difficult.
The real problem was the point cost of my own Awakening Potion.
'Diary Book.'
[Yes.]
'The more I think about it... the more doomed I feel.'
[Now what?]
'My Awakening Potion.'
I opened the Shop page.
Awakening Potion (Armelia Exclusive): Purchased!
Awakening Potion (Aina Exclusive): Purchased!
Awakening Potion (Berseum Exclusive): Purchased!
Awakening Potion (Sienne Exclusive): Purchased!
Awakening Potion (Benjamin Exclusive): 500 Points.
Awakening Potion (Karin Exclusive): 500 Points.
Awakening Potion (Mason Exclusive): 50,000 Points.
My Awakening Potion cost fifty thousand points.
Judging by my pace so far...
There was absolutely no way I could afford it.
'But you said I also have to face the final Quest in an Awakened state.'
[That's right.]
'You're on my side, aren't you?'
[Am I?]
Why did that sound like a question?
'Then lower the price a little.'
'You don't want to see me die either.'
[No.]
'Could you at least pretend to think about it?'
[If it's you, Mason, it'll be easy.]
[What's fifty thousand points to someone like you?]
All I could do was sigh.
Wait.
Maybe...
'Then check the Future Diary for me.'
'See if there's a Quest where I can earn fifty thousand points.'