Future Diary Survival Game

Chapter 12: Majority - 1

Armelia mumbled her answer.

“Mm. That was a slip of the tongue. It’s nothing, don’t mind it.”

“Yes. Sure.”

“……Don’t people usually ask again out of courtesy?”

“No. I really won’t mind. I’ll actively make sure I don’t, for as long as I live.”

Maybe it was my imagination, but Armelia’s shoulders seemed to droop a little.

As expected, she was a princess who was fun to tease.

We kept moving forward for another two hours.

At this point, darkness wasn’t the problem anymore—it was that our stamina was running out.

Aina’s backpack had a fairly large blanket inside.

“It gets cold at night, so we might lose body heat. Use this to sleep under.”

“It’ll barely fit two people, though?”

“I don’t need it.”

“You’re giving up something that’s yours? Are you really the same person who tried to kill us before?”

Aina ground her teeth.

“Surviving this quest matters more to me than killing you two. And you’re both way weaker than I am, so it’s more important for you to conserve energy.”

“Hm. How kind of you. Are we taking turns on watch duty?”

“No. I’ll stand guard. Staying up one night isn’t that hard.”

That was quite the service.

Then Armelia spoke.

“This blanket might actually fit three if we squeeze. Come in.”

Aina grinned.

Then she raised her third finger high and said,

“Shut up and sleep, before I tuck you in myself.”

And so, we walked another full day like that.

While gauging the remaining distance in her mental map, Armelia suddenly spoke.

“At this pace, we should arrive in two days.”

“Really?”

“Yes. At the very least, we won’t take longer than a week.”

“That’s a relief. I just wish we knew how many people have reached the rock by now.”

At those words, I spoke to the diary book.

‘Diary book, how many people have passed through so far?’

[Do you think I’ll answer just because you’re asking slyly like that?]

‘Tch.’

[If you’re that curious, why not check the future? You still have points left.]

As if I didn’t know that.

I was hesitating because I wasn’t sure if that information would even appear in any of the future entries.

[Even if it’s a Future Diary, it’s still all written by you, Mason. Wouldn’t it help to think about your own writing habits?]

My writing habits, huh.

I folded my arms and thought.

No matter how tired or busy I was, I’d never skipped a diary entry.

But that didn’t mean I always sat down properly to write each one.

Sometimes I just scribbled down the key things I had to remember or any unusual events that had happened.

‘And in those cases, I always filled in the details in the next day’s entry.’

For this second quest, I barely had time to breathe—we were racing straight toward the goal.

If it were my future self, I probably would’ve just jotted down a few words about the important stuff until the second quest ended.

‘Then once everything was over and I had time, I’d go back and write it all out properly.’

The second quest lasted a week, but it ended the moment the majority of participants reached the destination.

How many days would it take for the majority to arrive?

If I’d woken up near the cliff, it’d take three days.

Judging from the size of the forest, if someone had started from the edge, it would take about a week.

So roughly... if I looked at an entry about five days after the start of the quest, wouldn’t it be over by then?

[After all that reasoning, it sounds like you’re just guessing.]

‘Quiet. Just show me.’

[Understood.]

Whirr.

The diary floated up.

Since it had been a while since we could relax, I took today to review the second quest a bit.

When the game began, Armelia and I were right next to each other.

Maybe because she’d killed her own nanny with her own hands, Armelia looked noticeably worn out.

I did my best to encourage her as we moved together.

With no map or anything else, we simply followed the light of the rock.

We reached the rock on the third day after the game started.

Since the time limit was a week, I thought we’d arrived pretty fast.

But that was my mistake.

Magireta had indeed scattered all participants,but she hadn’t placed everyone at equal distances.

I later learned that the fastest person reached the rock in just three hours.

Then there were people who arrived after five hours, seven hours.

By the end of the first full day, eight people had reached the destination.

By the end of the second day, there were ten.

And when we arrived on the third day, there was only one spot left.

At that moment, Armelia gave up on herself.>

My whole body trembled.

‘Armelia said we’d reach it in two days. That means on the fourth day after the game began.’

But in the Future Diary, it said the game was practically over by the third day.

We were a day late.

‘What the hell... Why is this different from the Future Diary?’

[It seems Magireta didn’t send you to the same location as in the Future Diary. The diary says you and Armelia started side by side, right? But this time, you were dropped on top of a cliff.]

‘So why?’

[It looks like you’ve been marked—by that demon.]

‘……’

[In the diary, Magireta didn’t pay you any attention, Mason. So she probably sent you randomly back then. But this time, she deliberately put you somewhere you couldn’t possibly reach in time.]

Did I do something wrong?

She used to call me little brother and all that.

Anyway, at this rate, we’d be disqualified.

I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

Then I spoke in a grand, serious tone.

“We’ll have to hurry.”

“Aren’t we already?”

“Not like this. From now on, we need to run at full speed—without resting, all day long.”

At those words, Armelia and Aina turned to me.

Aina asked,

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m a wizard—and an astrologer.”

“Ah, of course you are.”

“I can catch a glimpse of the near future. Maybe not the exact details, but I can sense big things—like life and death.”

Aina’s expression hardened.

Magic might be one thing, but astrology was an actual scholarly field.

Armelia’s face grew even more serious.

“You already helped me once with that astrology. What did it reveal this time?”

“I’m not entirely sure, but we’ll live until tomorrow. The day after that—we’ll die.”

“……! You mean, by the third day of the game, thirteen people will already have reached the rock?”

“Most likely. Magireta didn’t scatter people at equal distances or positions.”

“Tch.”

Aina bit her lip.

“I knew it. That witch never said she’d distribute us fairly.”

A sigh escaped me too.

Then, Armelia closed her eyes and tapped near her temple twice.

A few seconds later, she opened them and said,

“It seems we’ll have to change our route.”

“What?”

“I tried piecing everything together in my head, but no matter how much we speed up, we can’t make it before tomorrow.”

“You mean there’s a faster route? Then why did we come this way in the first place…”

“Because according to the map, there’s a swamp in that direction. But naturally, the map doesn’t show how deep the swamp is. If it turns out to be impassable, the time we’d spend getting there would just be wasted.”

I quickly asked the diary book.

‘You know that swamp, right? You’re the one who drew the map.’

[Technically, I only helped create the map that you, Mason, were going to draw yourself.]

‘Whatever. Can you tell me how deep the swamp is?’

[Only once you experience it firsthand.]

So basically, no.

Armelia picked up a branch and drew on the ground.

Our current position.

The glowing rock that was our destination.

And the swamp between the two.

“If we cut straight through here, we could definitely make up for the lost time. But if we reach the swamp and find it’s impassable…”

“That’ll be the moment we’re disqualified.”

“Right. Maybe it’d be better not to gamble and just take the long way around.”

“But you said that’d make us run out of time.”

“That’s just a rough guess I came up with in my head…”

“No. I trust your insight, Princess. Let’s do it.”

Armelia’s eyes flickered faintly.

“Thank you. I appreciate that kind of faith.”

Then Aina cut in.

“Why doesn’t anyone ask my opinion?”

“Ah, sorry. It wasn’t on purpose. It was deliberate.”

“You said you used to be a servant, right? Bet you got slapped around by customers a lot.”

“Haha. Nope. I only run my mouth with people I can handle.”

“You’re seriously annoying.”

Aina let out a deep sigh.

“Whatever. I agree too. Move it, Princess.”

“Fine. Though come to think of it, I haven’t heard your name yet. Will you tell me?”

“……Aina. Aina Noel.”

I already knew that.

But Armelia’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Noel? As in that House Noel?”

“Yes.”

“A noble family like that, and you became an assassin? No, wait—that’s none of my business.”

“Yeah. It really isn’t.”

“I’m sorry. I can see why you’d hate the Imperial royals.”

What was that about? Could someone fill me in?

I was about to ask when Aina’s figure suddenly blurred—and before I knew it, she was already ten steps ahead.

She turned around and shouted,

“Are you coming or not? You said we’re short on time!”

We marched quickly for about half a day.

At this point, there was no turning back. If we couldn’t cross the swamp directly, it’d be instant disqualification.

Each step sapped our energy—the thick vines tangling around our legs made walking a battle.

Except for Aina, who was still bursting with energy.

“Can’t you walk faster? I swear, I’m this close to telling you to run.”

Armelia panted heavily.

“I’m sorry. I’ve been keeping up my training, but…”

“Yeah, well. That’s about what I’d expect from a frail Imperial leader.”

“Fair point.”

“Stop agreeing with me. It’s annoying.”

Then, suddenly—

Aina raised her hand to stop us.

“Another participant.”

She pointed ahead, where a middle-aged man was slumped against a tree, completely exhausted.

Judging by the situation, where every second mattered, his stamina must’ve already run out.

We were hesitating about what to do when—

Swish.

Aina was already pulling out one of her assassin’s needles.

Just before she threw it—

Tak.

Armelia grabbed her arm.

Aina’s face instantly chilled.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“There’s no need to kill him. We can just overtake him.”

“You think we’re friends now because we’ve been traveling together? Don’t touch me.”

“Then put that needle away, and I won’t.”

“I don’t get it. Overtaking him means lowering his chance of survival. Yet you say not to kill him?”

Armelia shook her head.

“I think those are two very different things.”

“Hmph. Of course you’d say that. You royals start wars, but leave the killing to soldiers and knights. Guess some habits die hard, even now.”

“If that were true, I’d have no reason to stop you. I could just let you kill him for me.”

“……”

“A noble of the great House Noel falling to the level of an assassin—that’s on the Empire. On me, as a Princess. I don’t want you killing anyone anymore.”

Aina’s eyes wavered.

She shook off Armelia’s hand like she was trying to break free.

But instead of throwing the needle, she tucked it away and muttered,

“Too late for that kind of talk. It’s just irritating now.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“I don’t want to waste time here. Let’s run. You two still have more stamina than that half-dead guy, right?”

We nodded and took off running.

It took only a moment to pass by the half-conscious man.

Then a desperate voice rang out behind us.

“Hey! W-wait! Take me with you! Please, help me!”

There was no answer to give.

According to the Future Diary, even if we ran with everything we had, we might still fall short of the cutline.

That meant that man’s disqualification was already certain.

‘But that’s none of my concern.’

Then the diary book spoke up.

[Then why are you clenching your teeth so hard?]

I didn’t answer.

And after walking a little longer—

“The swamp.”

We stood before a massive obstacle.