Future Diary Survival Game

Chapter 8:  Offering a Sacrifice - 3

From then on I contacted Armelia once a day.

When I calculated the carriage’s speed and the remaining distance to the capital, it seemed we would arrive well within the time we had originally agreed on.

Having at least gotten this far, I felt a weight lift, and I dwelt on the next thought.

‘The diary. I can use a point now to view one more day, right?’

[Yes.]

Right.

My future self had survived the first-come-first-served quest.

‘I would have surely written down how I survived.’

If I followed a method that had once succeeded, I could greatly lower the risk.

But the problem was.

‘Which exact month and day’s entry contained that method?’

[I see.]

‘Don’t be so calm about it — tell me.’

[That’s impossible. Not right now.]

‘Of course. …Hm? Not right now?’

The diary spoke softly.

[If you survive this quest as well, my functions will upgrade once more. From then on it will be a bit easier for you.]

‘How would it get easier? What function would I get?’

[I don’t know.]

I almost wanted to tear it in half.

The long-awaited day of the appointment came.

I was hiding inside the hut.

As Armelia and I had arranged beforehand, no one had been encountered on the way here.

Suppressing my anxiety, I waited until the appointed time.

Footsteps reached my strained ears.

Luckily there was only one set.

Soon Armelia’s voice sounded at the door.

“Hum hum. Ma… Mason?”

“Yes. I’m here. Please come in.”

“Phew.”

Armelia opened the door and entered.

She waved with a strangely pleased expression.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes. Roughly a week, so you could say that.”

“I’ve told you many times, but thank you again.”

“No. It’s nothing. Still, we escaped the imperial palace safely, so half the work was already done.”

“Half?”

I changed the subject.

“More importantly, let’s move.”

“Move? Do you have a destination in mind?”

“Yes. From now on we will—”

At that moment.

Knock knock.

Suddenly there was a knock.

We froze at the same time and looked toward the door.

“Princess. I know you’re in there.”

It was a middle-aged woman’s voice.

I reflexively grabbed the diary.

And I activated the ‘secret conversation’ function to speak in my mind.

[You didn’t come with her, did you?]

[No. Of course not. Cecil probably left work early today anyway.]

[Cecil?]

[Ah, she’s my nanny. Her voice sounded so familiar I think I recognized it. She breastfed me when I was a baby. She’s continued to serve as my attendant ever since.]

A nanny for royalty would probably be a fairly high-ranking noble.

Someone like me would be too low to face her directly, but with the imperial princess right in front of us, there was no reason to panic over that.

[Ask how she found us. Act calm.]

Armelia cleared her throat and said.

“Cecil? How did you find this place? Did you follow me?”

“I didn’t set out to follow you. On my way home from work I stopped by the hunting grounds for a moment. That’s when I saw Your Highness slipping into this place.”

“What? Why—”

“Lately Your Highness has always worn a troubled look. You used to come here whenever something difficult or sad happened, didn’t you?”

“…….”

“I thought maybe you might come today, so I dropped by. Looks like my instincts are still useful.”

I clicked my tongue lightly.

As Armelia hesitated to answer, the nanny spoke.

“I will come in for a moment.”

“You won’t be permitted. Go back.”

“I’ll accept whatever punishment later. Right now, checking on Your Highness’s condition is my top priority.”

Clack.

The hut door opened.

A kind-faced woman’s face came into view.

She had been smiling at first, but when she noticed the unexpected guest — me — her expression stiffened.

“Wh, who are you?”

And then.

Suddenly the world stopped.

To be precise, the world stopped except for Armelia and me.

And from the sky a dreadful voice echoed.

“Ba-bba-ra-bam. You’ve all been waiting, right? I’ll start the second quest right now.”

Magireta!

Armelia and I froze and looked at the nanny’s face.

But something was wrong.

Her body was completely rigid.

No — it wasn’t only the nanny who was frozen.

The chirping of the insects outside had stopped.

I couldn’t even feel the flow of the air.

Then Magireta’s voice sounded again.

“You all seem flustered. Don’t worry, I just stopped time for a bit.”

“Stopped… time?”

“Oh, it’s my little sibling’s voice! Why are you so surprised? It’d be troublesome if ordinary people got caught up in our quests. I’m considerate enough for that.”

“Ah, yes.”

“That was a curt response. Well, whatever.”

Magireta’s voice continued from somewhere without any clear origin.

“Listen up. The second quest is ‘Offering Sacrifice’.”

…….?

What?

Wasn’t the second quest supposed to be ‘first-come-first-served’?

“You each had to find and kill one person you had ‘spent the longest time with’ in your lives. The time limit is one hour!”

“…….”

“If no one is killed within one hour, you’re eliminated. If the person you killed isn’t the one you’d spent the longest time with, you’re eliminated.”

Armelia’s face hardened.

Then Magireta continued in a voice that sounded oddly affectionate.

“Of course that’s too cruel. Kind-hearted ones might just think, ‘I’ll just die alone,’ right?”

“…….”

“So I’ll give you a little push. If you fail this time, I’ll kill everyone who ever once crossed paths with you in your life along with you.”

“What?”

“Will you save the person you spent the longest time with, or will you save all the other people connected to me? I had to give you some kind of justification so you’d steel yourself, didn’t I?”

“…….”

“In short, you’ll choose whether to become a murderer who killed a single person, or a butcher who wiped out countless people. Good luck. See you in one hour.”

Whoo—.

The voice drifted away, and then the world returned to normal.

The insects chirped and cold sweat ran down my back.

When time resumed, the nanny spoke again with a sharp voice.

“Answer me. Who are you?”

“……”

“Those clothes… you’re clearly not a noble or an official. Who are you? Your Highness, who is this man?”

Armelia’s pale lips trembled violently.

She seemed to have already realized who her sacrifice in the “Offering Sacrifice” game would have to be.

The nanny who had nursed her since birth and served her ever since.

That very person was standing right before her eyes.

‘Ah. So that’s why the Armelia from the future diary…’

…had written that she killed the one she loved most.

Step.

The nanny stepped toward us.

Armelia instantly backed up against the wall of the hut.

“D-Don’t come any closer!”

“Your Highness?”

“Don’t come closer. No, I can’t. I can’t do this. I just can’t.”

She hugged her own shoulders tightly and trembled.

At that sight, the nanny glared at me sharply.

“You wretch, what have you done to Her Highness?”

“Please, calm down.”

“How can I possibly calm down in a situation like this— no, enough. I have no need to speak to you. Your Highness, please, let’s go together.”

The nanny reached her hand out to Armelia.

Tap.

But Armelia slapped her hand away roughly and said,

“Wait. Just… let me be alone for a moment.”

“Your Highness.”

“Ten minutes… no, even five minutes is fine. Just leave me alone. Both of you. Right now. That’s an order.”

A moment of silence passed.

Then the nanny, her face pale as a sheet, finally spoke.

“It’s the first time you’ve ever used the word ‘order’ toward me.”

“……”

“I understand. I’ll wait for you to calm down. You— come outside with me.”

I shook my head calmly.

“No. You go on ahead.”

“What?”

“I’ll stay here and comfort Her Highness.”

“You dare to defy the Princess’s command?”

“Yes.”

My answer was so firm that the nanny’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

But I spoke with utmost seriousness.

“Right now, Her Highness won’t calm down even if given five or ten minutes. It’s impossible for her to handle this alone.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to stay. Then I should—”

“No.”

Then Armelia lifted her head.

“Mason, stay. Cecil, step outside for a bit.”

“Y-Your Highness!”

“I’m sorry for ordering you earlier. I’ll change it to a request.”

At that, the nanny’s expression wavered even more than when she had been commanded.

She lowered her head quietly and said,

“Understood.”

Click.

Once the nanny left, Armelia looked up at me.

Her expression was terrified—like that of a small animal.

Her first words were nothing like what I had expected.

“I’m sorry, Mason.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“You came all the way to the capital because of me. And now… now you’ll end up being eliminated from this quest.”

Now that she said it, she had a point.

Magireta had said the time limit was one hour.

There was no way I, being outside the city, could clear the Offering Sacrifice quest within that time.

Armelia was apologizing for that.

I couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“That’s the first thing you mention? Even in a panic like this?”

“I broke out of that panic a moment ago. When you said you’d stay by my side.”

“I’m honored.”

“Phew. Just like during the first quest—you truly are remarkable. I didn’t even know which choice to make and nearly lost my mind, yet you’re so calm even when the choices themselves are gone.”

I shrugged lightly.

“I’m not going to die.”

“Hm? …Don’t tell me you’re saying that I’m the one you’ve spent the most time with in your life?”

“I’m not that unsociable. I told you, I used to be a restaurant worker.”

“Then what did you mean by what you said?”

“This Offering Sacrifice quest is a lie.”

Armelia’s eyes widened.

I recalled what was written in the diary.

My future self had said that the name of the second quest was “First Come, First Served.”

That perfect guarantee was why I could remain calm.

But to convince Armelia, I needed another explanation.

I took a crumpled note from my pocket and showed it to her.

“This is the first piece of evidence. You remember this, right?”

“Bucklet Forest… of course I remember.”

“I believe this is related to the second quest. Otherwise, why would she give us a note with a place name on it? The Offering Sacrifice quest has nothing to do with Bucklet Forest.”

“Maybe she just did it to confuse us. That crazy woman seems perfectly capable of that.”

“Well, I admit this alone is weak proof. So, second.”

I raised a finger.

“Magireta said she was giving us a little push and added a condition — that if we failed the Offering Sacrifice quest, everyone around us would be slaughtered.”

“……”

“In a way, it’s a cruel condition, but because of it, many people’s hearts were surely swayed. They’d think, ‘Let one person die to save everyone else.’ They were given a justification.”

“That makes sense.”

“In the end, Magireta’s condition actually encouraged the increase of survivors. Why would she do that? Do you think she truly wants as many survivors as possible?”

Armelia slowly shook her head.

I continued in a gentle tone.

“My guess is this: this Offering Sacrifice quest is fake. She wants to trick people into killing the one they’ve spent the longest time with. The condition about killing everyone else is just there so she can enjoy watching it happen.”

“…Do you really think that’s the case?”

“All of that so far is just speculation. But there’s a decisive third piece of evidence.”

Armelia looked at me with desperate eyes.

I continued speaking.

“Do you remember what Magireta said when the first quest began?”