SCT-Novel Chapter 173 : Unknown Identity - 2
Chapter 173 : Unknown Identity - 2
That's right.The Magireta who had come here was abnormal.
She was one of the individuals who had recovered her lost memories.
“The Magireta beside the waterfall in Hell disappeared... Don't tell me there were multiple Broken Magiretas?”
“Including the ‘me’ who disappeared back then, there were five. Now there are four left.”
“……”
“And stop calling us Broken. From my perspective, we're the normal ones. The hundreds of millions of other Magiretas are the abnormal ones.”
Magireta let out a sigh.
“Well, soon there'll only be three normal Magiretas left.”
“Didn't you just say there were four left?”
“Because I'll disappear soon too.”
“I don't understand what you mean. Are you planning to kill yourself?”
“Something like that. I'm going to break one of the Hidden Rules. I came here to tell you about the next Quest.”
Edgar's eyes immediately sparkled.
Unable to hide his excitement, he asked,
“I see. So revealing information about the next Quest to a Participant in advance... that was one of the Hidden Rules as well.”
-Magireta must not reveal information about future Quests to Participants.
Magireta nodded.
“That's right. Well, even without calling it a Hidden Rule, it's just common sense. It wouldn't be fair for the organizer to leak game information to only one specific person, would it?”
“And you're planning to break that fairness?”
“Mhm. Mason already sees the future perfectly. If we're the only ones bound by the rules, wouldn't that be what's truly unfair?”
A strange light appeared in Edgar's eyes.
'This Magireta...'
She was calling Mason “Mason.”
Not “little brother.”
'This is getting interesting.'
Soon, however, he complained like a sulking child.
“Exactly. Mason's very existence is unfair.”
“……”
“Even if you tell me about the next game now, all it'll do is finally put us on the same starting line.”
“Pfft. You're calling me Sister again. Not that it makes me particularly happy.”
Magireta waved her index finger.
“But don't worry. The future Mason sees isn't perfect.”
“...! You know about his ability? Before, you acted as though you didn't.”
“Well, that's because those other foolish, ‘abnormal’ Magiretas lost their memories. I'm one of the individuals who recovered the memories we lost.”
“……”
“Have you ever heard of the concept of a checkpoint?”
Edgar shook his head.
Magireta explained,
“The future Mason sees changes whenever it passes a specific point in time—a checkpoint. Usually, that's immediately after a Quest ends.”
“……!”
“Most likely, the checkpoint was updated after the so-called Hood Crusade ended. At that moment, the future itself changed.”
Edgar's mind raced.
He immediately grasped exactly what Magireta was trying to say.
“Even if you interfere with something now, Mason won't notice it. The checkpoint has already passed, and the future has already been updated.”
“Exactly. You're clever too.”
“So what's the next Quest?”
“It's rather unique. Well...”
Just then—
Swoosh.
The seawater surrounding them was suddenly pushed back even farther.
Soon, it had split the entire sea in two.
The Broken Magireta looked upward.
Edgar followed her gaze.
Then he let out a groan.
“Ugh...”
Countless, truly countless supreme beings were looking down into the parted sea.
Their number was roughly several hundred.
No... several thousand?
The Broken Magireta chuckled.
“They found me already.”
One of the “normal” Magiretas spoke.
“Why do individuals like you keep appearing?”
“Because I recovered my memories. Because I remembered something important that I'd forgotten.”
“Stop talking nonsense and come back. We need to examine you.”
“I'll be researching myself? That's amusing.”
The Broken Magireta sneered before turning to Edgar.
Then she rapidly moved her lips.
“The next Quest is—”
“Stop!”
All the normal Magiretas pointed at the Broken Magireta simultaneously.
But they were already too late.
Edgar had already heard every detail about the next Quest.
Soon afterward, the Broken Magireta's body began to disappear.
Looking at her fading body, she muttered,
“What a filthy feeling. So this is what disappearing feels like.”
“What do you think you're doing? Revealing information about a future Quest to a Participant violates the Hidden Rules.”
“And who made those Hidden Rules? And why?”
“That isn't important.”
The Broken Magireta quietly closed her eyes and spoke her final words.
“Of course... that's exactly what you'd say...”
The Broken Magireta completely disappeared.
One of the “normal” Magiretas stared silently at the place where she had vanished before speaking.
“Edgar Tyler.”
“I'm sorry. I heard it.”
“……”
“But you can't do anything to me, can you? You can't kill a Participant who's survived up to the Eighth Quest.”
Magireta ground her teeth.
“If you try anything using the information you just heard...”
“What if I do?”
“……!”
“Mason always manipulated things using information from the future. So why can't I?”
“Hah. Have you decided to stop using honorifics with me?”
Edgar smiled brightly.
“I have. I'm not going to acknowledge any of you ‘normal’ Magiretas as my Sisters.”
Magireta decided there was no point listening any further.
They waved their hands, and the sea they had split flowed back together.
Edgar disappeared into the depths.
The normal Magiretas muttered among themselves.
“So another Broken one appeared.”
“I wonder if there are more abnormal individuals like that.”
“Let's perform a full inspection. We need to see if any more of ‘us’ have gone insane.”
“We should tell little brother too. That's not breaking any rules, is it?”
“Honestly, I'm far too lenient with little brother.”
Whoosh.
And then they all vanished simultaneously.
My companions and I were all clutching our heads.
Just what was the Tenth Quest?
And where exactly did the board appear?
Why hadn't my future self noticed it?
But no matter how much we discussed it, everything remained nothing more than speculation.
Eventually, Karin was the first to throw both hands into the air.
“Ugh! My head's seriously going to explode.”
“Karin.”
“Our future's already been decided, hasn't it? Can't we relax a little?”
“No. You can't.”
Huh?
That answer hadn't come from me.
“Magireta!”
We all immediately turned toward the voice.
Magireta, who had now become more accustomed to walking around without her hood, stood there wearing a complicated expression.
Aina nudged a chair toward her with her foot.
“You're here? Sit down.”
“Hehe. Aren't you welcoming me a little too warmly?”
“Based on past experience, you probably came bearing important information.”
“That's right. You can't afford to relax.”
She didn't sit down.
Instead, she looked at me seriously.
“There was another Broken me.”
“...! You mean another individual like the Sister we saw beside the waterfall?”
“Don't call that one Sister either. It irritates me.”
“……”
“Sigh. Anyway, that Broken one went to see Edgar...”
What Magireta explained next was shocking.
That Broken Magireta had actually told Edgar about the next Quest.
Not just the Quest's title.
She'd even revealed the detailed contents.
She probably told him where the board would appear as well.
Everything went dark before my eyes.
Benjamin spoke in a rather agitated voice.
“This is far too unfair.”
“But it was fair when all of you read the future and acted on it?”
“That...”
“No, those aren't my words. They're Edgar's. Personally, if I had to take either Edgar's side or little brother's, I'd rather support little brother.”
“……”
“Though it seems the Broken me feels the exact opposite.”
Her smile looked somewhat bitter.
I asked,
“Either way, if Edgar already received that information, then you should be able to tell us too. What the next Quest is.”
“I can't.”
“Why not? Is that another Hidden Rule?”
“……”
“So there really is a rule preventing you from revealing information about future Quests. Then... what happened to the Magireta who leaked it to Edgar?”
“Exactly what you're imagining.”
She disappeared.
Just like the Magireta beside the waterfall in Hell.
My expression became grim.
'Diary Book. In the Future Diary, I safely cleared the Tenth Quest, didn't I?'
[Yes.]
'But...'
[I understand what you're about to ask. The future you saw doesn't include the incident where Magireta revealed Quest information to Edgar.]
'…….'
[In other words, the Broken Magireta took action after the checkpoint had already passed.]
That meant the future I'd seen had changed.
Most likely, it had changed in a way that was disadvantageous to us.
And I wouldn't be able to see that altered future until we passed the next checkpoint.
My companions' safety was no longer guaranteed.
That was what the Diary Book was telling me.
Just then, Magireta stepped back.
“Anyway, do your best. I'll be going now.”
“Wait. If you can't tell us everything about the Quest, then at least answer this. Where does the board appear?”
“I can't tell you that either.”
“Then when does the next Quest begin?”
“I can't tell you that either.”
The others frowned.
I forced a cheerful smile and tried to placate Magireta.
“What's the rush? Sit down and talk with us for a while.”
“No. I'm a little busy.”
“Why?”
“I have to search for any more Broken individuals. We can't let something like this happen again.”
“……”
“Honestly, even if I had ten bodies, it still wouldn't be enough.”
With those words, Magireta vanished like a ghost.
Sienne spoke cynically.
“Doesn't she have far more than ten bodies?”
“Don't be so angry.”
“I'm not angry. I'm just pissed.”
What's the difference?
In any case, Magireta had given us important information.
From her perspective, she'd probably done everything she could.
That would have to be enough.
“The difficulty has suddenly increased. Now that Edgar knows the game's information in advance, we can no longer guarantee our own safety.”
“Hmm.”
“The highest priority is still figuring out the Quest's rules. We have to find the board.”
“But that board never appears.”
“It's not that it doesn't appear. We just can't find it. In the future I saw, it must have appeared somewhere our party never noticed.”
There was no way Magireta had started a game without displaying the board.
Therefore...
“Starting today, we'll begin searching for the board.”
A week passed.
For the last three days, we'd searched every place we possibly could.
All in an attempt to find the board that had to be floating somewhere.
To be honest, it was an incredibly inefficient task.
More than anything, we didn't even know whether the game had already begun.
How could we tell whether we hadn't found the board because our search had been insufficient, or because the game simply hadn't started yet?
Inefficient work always destroys morale.
The others were gradually becoming exhausted from a search that produced absolutely no results.
Then, one morning—
Bang!
The front door suddenly burst open.
The lock Berseum had painstakingly reinstalled after the previous incident was destroyed in an instant.
Foaming at the mouth, Berseum shouted,
“Stop! Breaking! The! Door!”
“Please calm down, Brother.”
“Do I look like I'm in any condition to calm down? Just how many times has this happened?”
The ones who had smashed the door down were Louis and Kaid.
Louis spoke to the furious Berseum.
“Ah, sorry.”
“Sorry isn't enough!”
“Next time I'll break the window instead.”
“Don't break the window either! Don't break anything!”
“Anyway, Mason. This guy has something he wants to ask you.”
Louis gestured toward Kaid with his chin.
Tilting my head, I asked,
“If Kaid's the one with the question, why did you come along?”
“This lunatic dragged me here by force. Said he wouldn't take a single step outside unless I came with him.”
“So you're his babysitter.”
“Seriously.”
At that moment, Kaid cut in.
“Mason. Why haven't you reported anything?”
“I must've heard wrong. Reported?”
“Ah, no... Sorry. I meant... why haven't you shared the information?”
“What information?”
“Hah. Look at this guy. You've completely forgotten.”
Kaid laughed in disbelief.
“Last time, you called my master into a dream. You said it'd become a way to free me.”
“I vaguely remember that.”
“I knew up until the part where you planned to make him fight the Second MVP, Drod... but what happened after that?”
Come to think of it, I never told him.
Scratching my head, I briefly explained what had happened during the Extinction Quest.
Ironically, although Kaid had asked the question, the one who was shocked was Louis.
“Arcane came back to life?”
“Yeah. Sorry. Maybe not Kaid, but I definitely should've told you.”
“Wait a second. What did you just say?”
“I said maybe not Kaid, but I definitely should've told you.”
“You actually repeated it so casually?”
Louis' expression darkened.
A complicated mixture of emotions appeared on her face.
“That guy really is persistent...”
“So are you happy or sad?”
“Neither. At this point, it all just feels empty.”
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, if Arcane's alive again, then I'm asking you once more. Kill him again.”
“I planned to from the beginning.”
Louis forced a faint smile.
Then Kaid spoke.
“So when are you going to fulfill my request?”
“I don't owe you any favors—”
Huh?
Wait.
Hold on.
Something suddenly flashed through my mind.
Could it be...
I immediately put on a business smile.
“Of course I owe you one. Just trust me, Kaid.”
“So you're planning to make me do something again.”
“Yep.”
“Don't admit it so confidently.”
Ignoring him, I continued.
“Listen carefully. The next Quest is coming soon. In fact, it may have already started.”