novelDen Chapter 170 : Malfunction - 2
Chapter 170 : Malfunction - 2
Well, she certainly had every reason to feel refreshed.Honestly, even I sympathized with Magireta at this moment.
I threw in a bit of flattery.
“Congratulations.”
“Mhm. This really is something worth celebrating. Making that Odline fellow an MVP was the greatest mistake of my life.”
“Then why did you make him an MVP in the first place...?”
I stopped myself before finishing the question.
It was obvious she'd just answer with, “That's not important.”
'Hmm.'
What exactly was going on?
The last time we revised the Hidden Rule, Magireta had expressed her agreement by placing her hand on the board...
Exactly the same way we did.
Why would someone omnipotent choose such a method?
Who was the owner of that deep voice I had heard in the Memory Fragment?
What else was hidden behind this enormous game?
It was then.
“...Huh?”
Magireta suddenly tilted her head.
The rest of us instinctively tilted ours as well.
Berseum asked,
“What is it? Don't tell me you're feeling guilty now.”
“Try spacing out your jokes a little.”
“Then what is it?”
“Something's strange. Really strange.”
Magireta rubbed her chin.
Then she folded her arms and began pacing around us.
Anyone looking at her would have thought she was visibly unsettled.
I'd never seen her like this before, so I instinctively grew tense.
“Sister. Are you alright?”
“...This is a bit of a problem.”
“What happened?”
“One is missing.”
“A maggot.”
We all inhaled sharply.
Karin spoke first.
“You missed one?”
“Rather than saying I missed it, I'd say that little thing hid itself exceptionally well.”
“No, that's impossible. Aren't you omnipotent? Where could it possibly hide to avoid your omnipotence?”
“Exactly.”
Magireta shrugged as though it were someone else's problem.
Then her expression turned serious.
“There were about sixty million maggots beneath Odline's underground base.”
“Yes. You said those were the ones that hadn't been fed to Monsters.”
“I forcibly dragged those maggots into the sky too, but a few thousand of them managed to open Black Holes and escape.”
“……”
“Of course, I gathered every one of those escapees into the maggot mass.”
“Or rather... I thought I had.”
But she hadn't.
Exactly one maggot had escaped.
Aina asked,
“Did it run to our world?”
“No. It's still in Hell.”
“Even if it had escaped to your world, it wouldn't have been able to evade my omnipotence.”
“If you can gather maggots from another world, why can't you find a single one that's still in Hell?”
“That's the strange part.”
She scratched her cheek.
An awkward expression crossed her face.
“It escaped into Edgar's stomach.”
……
Huh?
What?
We literally jumped.
Berseum nearly shouted,
“What are you talking about? Wasn't Edgar turned into one of your toys?”
“He was, so stop shouting.”
“In other words, you yourself were watching over Edgar.”
“So how could anything possibly evade your omnipotence?”
“That's exactly... Sigh.”
She let out a deep sigh.
Then hesitantly admitted,
“I don't know either.”
“I have no idea how this happened.”
“What an absurd thing to hear.”
“I'll have to go and see.”
“I need to find out exactly what's going on.”
I quickly raised my hand.
“Wait, Sister.”
“What is it? I'm rather busy right now.”
“Please take us with you.”
“Hm?”
“Both Edgar and Odline have a terrible history with us.”
“I want to witness their complete downfall with my own eyes.”
Magireta stayed silent for a moment before answering.
“I don't mind.”
“Come if you want.”
Edgar had become a waterwheel.
It wasn't a metaphor.
Nor was it a joke.
He had literally become a waterwheel.
Back when he had first been dragged into Hell and turned into Magireta's toy—
“What should we start with?”
Magireta asked with a cheerful smile.
Edgar, overwhelmed by the shock that he would never be able to play another game again, couldn't answer.
Rooooar.
Beside them stood a waterfall of moderate size.
Magireta glanced at it and muttered,
“How about becoming a waterwheel?”
“What...?”
Stretch.
At that moment, arms sprouted from Edgar's sides.
On the left.
On the right.
Both of his legs were severed.
Instead, more arms emerged around his thighs and hips.
His body curled into a perfect circle.
Eventually...
He became a waterwheel with thirty-five arms.
“Guaaah... Ugh...”
“Now then.”
“Let's make you spin.”
With a flick of her finger, Magireta moved Edgar beneath the waterfall.
From that day onward, Edgar continuously served as a waterwheel.
Without a single second of rest.
The pounding waterfall hurt.
Seeing himself transformed into such a grotesque creature was horrifying.
Knowing he would never play another game again filled him with despair.
And so...
For the first time he could remember...
“Sniff... Waaah...”
Edgar cried.
Like a little child.
And his crying delighted Magireta.
“What a lovely crying voice.”
“I should enjoy it with a cup of tea.”
She actually brewed tea, sat on a nearby rock, and leisurely watched Edgar's pitiful appearance and his scream-filled sobbing.
Until she finally grew tired of it...
Edgar had no choice but to continue serving as a waterwheel.
How much time had passed?
Magireta, who had been watching the "waterwheel" all this time, unexpectedly lifted her gaze toward the sky.
Looking upward, she murmured,
“So Odline is meeting his end too...”
The maggots gathering overhead like a sun.
Another one of herself elsewhere in Hell must have been using her omnipotence.
Perhaps she'd watch that for a while instead of the waterwheel.
Just then—
Wheee.
A Black Hole suddenly opened beside the waterwheel...
Beside Edgar.
A single maggot emerged from within.
Pfft.
Magireta chuckled inwardly.
'Trying so hard.'
'Even filthy trash wants to live.'
She prepared to send the escaped maggot back into the giant mass in the sky.
But before she could—
-Edgaaar! Swallow me! Open your mouth!
Edgar had no idea what was happening.
But instinctively...
He realized that filthy maggot was his final chance.
Craaak.
Because his entire body had been curled into a circle, layers of flesh pressed against each other, making it difficult to open his mouth.
Even so...
Edgar pushed against his own flesh with every ounce of strength and forced his mouth open.
The maggot leaped inside.
“Pfft.”
Magireta sneered.
“You think hiding like that means I can't pull you back out?”
“……”
“Besides, Edgar isn't a Monster.”
“Half of him is still a proper human.”
“You can't take over Edgar's body.”
“……”
“For a last-ditch struggle, this is embarrassingly pathetic.”
“Now quietly disappear into the giant mass in the sky.”
Magireta used her omnipotence to make Edgar vomit the maggot back up.
Or rather...
She was about to.
Just before putting her will into action—
“...?”
She tilted her head.
What was this feeling?
This strange sense of déjà vu?
'...Haven't I said those exact words before?'
"For a last-ditch struggle, this is embarrassingly pathetic."
When had she said that?
During the Age of Humans?
The Age of Elves...?
The Age of the Celestials?
The Age of Dragons?
No.
That wasn't it.
It wasn't from such a "recent" past.
Magireta's pupils trembled endlessly.
Suddenly...
Memories she had never consciously realized came flooding into her mind.
An ocean...
Of lost memories.
“Urgh... Blegh!”
Magireta suddenly vomited onto the ground.
Blech!
Urgh!
She retched over and over until nothing but bitter stomach acid came out.
Eventually, she wiped her mouth and stood up.
Then Magireta muttered,
“This is insane...”
We arrived beside Edgar.
Or more precisely...
Beside the Odline Edgar had swallowed.
And there, we witnessed a bizarre sight.
“Gasp.”
Armelia covered her mouth.
Aina and Karin quietly turned their heads away.
Berseum and Benjamin silently closed their eyes.
Only Sienne, who couldn't see, asked,
“What happened?”
“Why is everyone reacting like that?”
“Edgar is here.”
“The Edgar who became a waterwheel.”
“What?”
“I mean that literally.”
After saying that, I looked at the waterwheel enduring the waterfall.
A human waterwheel.
The horrifying sight nearly made me nauseous.
Berseum spoke.
“So this is the fate of a so-called toy...”
“Of someone who failed to take first place in a game involving External Intervention Rights.”
“Magireta's malice always surpasses my imagination.”
“Tch. I don't care what happened to that bastard.”
“What matters is that Odline is inside his stomach.”
I nodded at Aina's words.
Then I looked at Magireta, who had come with us.
“Can you pull him out?”
“Odline.”
“……”
“Sister?”
“Hah...”
“How did this happen?”
Magireta brushed back her long hair.
Then she stared into the waterfall and quietly said,
“Come out.”
“……”
“Hurry.”
“I won't be angry.”
“Just come out.”
Swish.
Someone stepped through the falling water.
The moment I saw the figure, I couldn't help but stare.
“Magireta...?”
That's right.
The figure standing beside Edgar...
Was Magireta.
And the Devil standing beside us...
Was also Magireta.
The others panicked for only a moment before quickly calming down.
Benjamin said,
“There's no need to be so surprised.”
“We've known for quite some time that there are multiple Magiretas.”
“……”
“She conducts games simultaneously throughout every corner of the continent.”
“This may be the first time we've seen two Magiretas at once, but there's nothing to be shocked about.”
“That's true.”
Unexpectedly, Magireta agreed with Benjamin.
She continued in a gloomy voice,
“But the 'me' over there seems a little strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“How should I put it?”
“Broken?”
“...Yeah.”
“'Broken' describes it perfectly.”
I tilted my head.
Then the Magireta standing beside Edgar spoke.
“You know...”
“I just realized something incredible.”
“Liar.”
“You're calling me a liar without even hearing me out?”
“Yep.”
“I'm certain you're lying.”
“If you had realized something...”
“Then I should've realized it too.”
That's right.
All of the countless Magiretas were connected.
I remembered the Hide-and-Seek Quest.
Back then, we'd been scattered across different locations and were on the verge of having to clear the Quest separately.
That was when I'd proposed my first trade with Magireta.
The plan had been to use that trade to reunite my companions.
At the time, Magireta had stiffened slightly at my unexpected proposal...
And through our private conversation, I'd learned what the Magiretas in other regions were experiencing.
Ah, Magireta froze.
Yours too? The one here did the same.
How fascinating. It seems all those Magiretas are connected by something invisible.
Exactly.
All the Magiretas were connected.
If the Magireta beside Edgar had realized something...
Then the Magireta beside me should have realized it as well.
“But I haven't realized anything.”
“So why are you lying?”
“I haven't remembered everything.”
“But I... no, we... have lost memories.”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
“Listen seriously! So—”
Swish.
At that moment, the Magireta beside me raised her hand.
Then she uttered the phrase that had practically become her trademark.
“I don't know what it is, but it's not important.”
“……!”
“I didn't think it was important either.”
“Not until I recovered those memories!”
“You really are broken.”
“How could a version like you even exist?”
“I suppose living long enough lets you witness everything.”
Huh?
Suddenly, I remembered what the Diary Book had told me after I'd seen the vision from the First Memory Fragment.
There are gaps in Magireta's memories as well. Although she herself won't be aware of them.
……!
And by absorbing the Memory Fragment, there's a chance that Magireta may also recover her lost memories. Of course, I expect they'll manifest somewhat differently than they do for you.
Magireta could recover her lost memories as well.
Just in a slightly different way than I did.
'So that's what it meant.'
One...
Or perhaps several...
Of Magireta's countless selves had regained their lost memories.