Future Diary Survival Game

Chapter 23: Week 3 - 3

A long silence passed.

Matets spoke in a dry, cracked voice.

“Just kill me instead. It would be easier to ask that monster to do it.”

“If I kill you, that’d be a violation of Rule No. 3. Is this a trap now?”

“……”

“Anyway, I was planning to kill you after the Third Quest ended. There was no need to use this quest to do it. However—”

She glared at Matets with terrifying eyes.

“Because of your stubbornness and selfishness, fifty-one people died in the First Quest. No, if you count those who died because of cheating, it’s fifty-seven. If you hadn’t been so obstinate, they wouldn’t have needed to cheat in the first place.”

“……”

“At the very least, you should die for the same reason—and in the same way—they did.”

“I, I just……”

“That’s enough. I don’t even want to talk to you anymore.”

Armelia turned to Aina.

“Aina. Are you really fine with this?”

“With what?”

“Watching over that man here for three days. Even if we provide your meals… there’ll be, well, natural bodily needs.”

“If I leave this spot, that bastard will toss the book off the rooftop the moment I turn my back. You think you could catch it mid-air?”

“……No.”

“Then don’t worry about it. I’ll just have to control how much I eat.”

I felt a creeping sense of guilt.

After all, I was the one who came up with this plan.

Seeing my expression, Aina chuckled softly.

“I agreed to this plan willingly. Stop worrying about useless things.”

“Aina.”

“If I couldn’t do it, I would’ve said so honestly. But three days? That’s within reason. When I first heard the plan, I was actually prepared for a full week. So this is fine.”

“Sorry about making you go without sleep for three days. You’re still in your growing years.”

“I’m already grown, you know?”

“That’s what you call grown?”

“I’ll kill you.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Then, I’ll head down now. I need to pick one of the books we recovered from the rooftop—something others can fully memorize.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll come by from time to time.”

“Then I’d appreciate that. It won’t be so boring.”

I turned to leave.

Then Aina’s voice called out behind me.

Her tone sounded somewhat embarrassed.

“Princess.”

“Hm? Me?”

“……Sorry. For insulting someone I didn’t even know. I think I was just too sensitive back then.”

For a second, I didn’t understand what she meant.

But soon, I remembered their brief quarrel during the first week.

Armelia blinked several times in surprise before answering.

“Oh, no. It’s fine.”

“……”

“More than that—why bring that up now? I thought you had already forgotten.”

“I might not have your kind of perfect recall, but I’m not that stupid. It’s just… I didn’t want to apologize before doing anything worthwhile in this quest. I wanted to at least earn my keep first.”

A faint light shimmered in Armelia’s eyes.

She hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Then I’m sorry too, for speaking ill of your family.”

“It’s alright.”

“Aina, I think you and I will get along for a long time.”

“What a coincidence. I was just thinking the same thing.”

With those words, we descended below.

Step, step.

Then, from above, came Matets’s voice—torn and desperate.

“Please, please forgive me just this once! Your Highness the Princess! Mason!”

Sure, I’ll forgive you.

But punishment must still be served.

Three days passed.

Aina carried out her duty to the very end.

When I met her again at the exam hall a week later, she looked completely worn out.

“What’s the first thing you want to do right now?”

“Sleep… No, the bathroom. No, wash up.”

“Just hold out two more hours. As soon as the test ends, I’ll take you to the finest inn.”

“Hehe.”

Still, no matter how exhausted Aina looked, she wasn’t nearly as bad as Matets.

He sat in his chair with a completely hollow expression, like his soul had left his body.

Aina jerked her chin toward him.

“That guy tried to kill himself three times, you know? Maybe I should’ve just let him.”

“No. You did right. He needs to be disqualified from the quest—nothing more, nothing less.”

“Heh. I’m already looking forward to how that’ll turn out.”

Then Armelia suddenly cut in.

“Changing the subject for a moment.”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

“When this quest ends, come with me to the Deut Territory.”

“Sorry? Why there?”

“……No, I’ll explain after the test.”

Then—

Magireta, perched atop the teacher’s desk, spoke up.

“Alright, alright. You’ve all worked hard these three weeks. Honestly, weeks two and three were pretty relaxed, but still—let’s give a round of applause.”

Clap, clap.

“Now then, let’s start the final Third Week quiz. You’ve all got your papers, right? Then… begin!”

And so, the final test began.

Using the secret chat function, we easily got all the answers right.

The other participants did the same.

Besides the first poetry book, they had memorized one more—the one Aina had handed out from the rooftop.

Out of the 153 participants, 152 had memorized both books.

Only one person had memorized just one.

In that case, the ending was obvious...

“Test over! Everyone, put down your pens.”

After grading again, Magireta pinned the results to the board.

No need to even check.

“Wow, my little darlings are doing great! A total of 152 perfect scores!”

“……”

“And one person scored 42. Dead last!”

Rustle. Thud.

Matets fell to his knees.

He muttered to himself with a twisted grin on his lips.

“I’m last? Me… who learned to write before I could walk, who was always called a prodigy…”

“Yes, yes. Stop pretending to be crazy. You’re not getting any mercy.”

“Hehehe… This is a dream. It has to be. There’s no way I could lose to that princess.”

“Hey. Are you interrupting the teacher while she’s talking? How irritating.”

Suddenly, Magireta’s voice turned icy cold.

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet below freezing.

“I was going to give you an ordinary death, not a hopeless one like that idiot from Week One, but… I’ve changed my mind.”

“Uh, wh-what?”

“Now. Repeat after me. ‘I am an idiot!’”

Thud.

Matets rose to his feet.

He slowly approached the wall.

The only difference from that man who had faced the same punishment in Week One was that—

“Ugh… No, no, I don’t want to die…”

Matets still had his sanity intact.

I wondered— what it must feel like to smash your own head against a wall, knowing you’re about to die.

“Repeat after me.”

“I am! An idiot!”

Thud.

His forehead split open, and blood began to seep out.

“I am a fool.”

“I am! A fool!”

Thud. Thump.

“I was completely defeated by Princess Armelia.”

“I was… Ugh, no, no. By Princess Armelia… No, I didn’t lose— I was completely defeated!!”

Thuuud!

Crack.

He slammed his head so hard that the wall actually cracked.

If that was the wall’s condition, then Matets’s skull must have already been shattered.

Thud.

He slid down against the wall and collapsed limply.

Magireta asked with a bright, refreshed smile.

“Well then. Do you all feel avenged now?”

“……”

“Hmm. Not as much of a reaction as I expected.”

“The root cause of all this lies with you, Magireta.”

At Armelia’s cold remark, Magireta only shrugged.

“Oh. Right. My bad?”

“……”

“Here, I’ll give you a gift. Let’s not hold grudges, okay? We’re going to be seeing each other for a while.”

Clatter.

As always, gold coins poured down from the sky—

No, since we were indoors, from the ceiling.

I simply stared blankly at them and muttered without thinking.

“I don’t need gold coins anymore.”

“What do you mean, little brother?”

It was a small voice, yet she caught it again.

I regretted saying it, but then, a strange thought struck me.

‘Could it be…?’

Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I began to speak.

“I don’t need gold coins. The ones from the first and second quests are already enough to make me rich for three generations.”

“Really?”

“Yes. So could you give us something else instead? Especially since our group ranked first with perfect scores for three consecutive weeks. Don’t we get some kind of bonus for that?”

Magireta suddenly smiled deeply.

Then she gave a surprising answer.

“My little brother really has great intuition.”

“…Pardon?”

“What do you want, then?”

“……”

“Actually, I don’t even need to ask. The prizes for those who ranked first in this third quest were already decided.”

Whoosh.

Magireta suddenly reached out into the air.

A dark, murky hole opened up there.

Before I could even ask what it was, Magireta shoved her arm into the hole and rummaged around.

Soon, she pulled something out—

Three palm-sized beads.

“This time, you three tied for first place with a perfect 300 points. Here, one for each of you.”

She tossed a bead each to me, Armelia, and Aina.

We were momentarily stunned.

Aina asked,

“This is the first-place prize?”

“Yup.”

“Wait, so there were also separate prizes for the first-placers in the first and second quests? Not just gold coins?”

“Of course.”

“Then why didn’t you say so?”

Magireta picked at her ear.

“Why should I?”

“Wow, unbelievable.”

“Didn’t little brother ask to change the return location after the second quest? It’s the same thing. If you don’t ask first, I don’t go out of my way to tell you. I’m not that kind.”

She continued leisurely,

“For every quest, first place gets a special prize instead of gold coins. If you’re curious about what the next one is, work hard and come in first again.”

“…So, what exactly are these beads? How do we use them?”

“They’re a kind of teleportation device. Just hold it tight in your hand and clearly state the place you want to go. It’ll whoosh send you there. It works the same way I send you guys off. Each one can carry up to three people.”

That was an incredible prize.

Far beyond the worth of a few bags of gold coins.

And I had obtained such an amazing item just by asking once.

Of course, it was thanks to being first in the Third Quest…

But if I had stayed quiet, I’d have walked away with nothing more than coins again.

Armelia gaped and asked,

“What were the prizes for the first and second quests?”

“I can’t tell you that. You weren’t first place then.”

“Then let me ask differently. Were there people who received those prizes? Who were they?”

I could guess why Armelia asked that.

These teleportation beads were unimaginably useful.

The prizes from the earlier quests must have been just as extraordinary.

Anyone who had obtained such powerful tools would have a huge advantage in future quests.

Magireta answered soothingly,

“That, too, I can’t tell you. But… fine, I’ll say this much—

the same person received them both.”

“……!”

“No need to be so shocked. They did lose the third quest prize to you three, after all. It was running simultaneously in other locations too, and that person’s total score was 297.”

“……”

“It’s still a very high score, though. You’re not the only one I’m keeping an eye on, little brother. Try harder.”

I swallowed hard.

There was someone out there who had surpassed even me—

even though I held the Future Diary, giving me an overwhelming advantage.

‘Is that even possible?’

I spoke carefully.

“I can’t accept that.”

“What now.”

“The first quest was held with everyone gathered together. No one there asked for a special prize instead of gold coins. How was first place even determined in the self-introduction round?”

“Well, the one who figured out all three occupations in the shortest time was the winner, of course.”

That made sense. During the self-introduction game, Armelia and I had just barely made it in time.

“And as for your first question…”

She placed a hand over her chest.

“You could say our hearts connected?”

I see.

That mysterious person had asked for the prize silently, without letting others notice—

by speaking directly to Magireta through their thoughts.

That meant they believed Magireta could hear telepathic communication.

And that was during the very first quest.

How could anyone make such a leap of logic so early on?

How could they have known that first-place prizes even existed? Was it just a lucky guess?

…Who in the world was that person?

‘I’ll have to look this up in the Future Diary later.’