episode_0177

Chapter 6 Episode 33 – Between bugs and shortcuts

What is the standard for being treated as ‘killed’ in this game?

The easiest thing to think of is ‘murderous intent.’

Does the target intend to kill me?

However, the standard for this ‘murderous intent’ is ambiguous.

For example, there was the previous case of Marona on the Eastern Continent.

Marona tried to rape me using me as a plaything. Thanks to the chastity belt trap, he died from excessive bleeding and was successfully retried, but if you think about it, Marona did not have ‘murderous intent’, so it is normal that the conditions for murder should not be met.

But Retry succeeded.

Why? I conducted several experiments to find out why.

As a result, we were unable to find the exact standard for retry, but we were able to discover several ‘bugs’ during the experiment.

The last resort is a suicide bypass device using a bug discovered at that time.

Usage is simple.

Of the two muzzles, the one with the bomb is pointed upward.

And when you fire it at my heart, a bomb is planted.

Afterwards, turn the muzzle to make the signal generator go up.

And when you pull the trigger, a signal is generated and the bomb explodes.

In short, shoot, turn, shoot, and that’s it.

However, in order to generate a ‘bug’, several prerequisites are necessary.

First, I need two people besides me.

And one of the two people (A) must have murderous intent towards the other person (B).

Finally, A must pull the trigger as a last resort to kill B.

And as a result, I die.

If this condition is met, the retry is successful.

I think it may be the result of a conflict between the murder verdict from firearms and the murder verdict from explosives, but the exact cause is unknown. It’s probably a bug.

‘If you look at what hasn’t been fixed, it might just be an expedient… .’

Anyway, thanks to a last resort, Retry succeeded.

It’s a good thing that Patricia is a cooperative type, but if it had been any other heroine, it wouldn’t have worked.

‘Anyway, at what point did we regress?’

I looked at the clock and saw that it was a little late in the morning.

Considering that the location is my home, it seems like it was before heading to the capital.

“Bir?”

Bir, who would normally have come to me as soon as I woke up, was nowhere to be seen, so I called loudly, but there was no answer.

“……Hmm?”

I wondered where he had been at this time, but I later remembered that I had sent Bir to St. Mary’s Church.

‘Then, after receiving Maria’s revelation, infiltrate Bir and Banshee into the Virgin Mary Church. And it’s before going to the capital.’

There is quite a bit of time left until the incident occurs, but that does not mean there is enough time to relax. Especially considering the scale of what Patricia did, I think it would be better to hurry a little.

‘We have to stop the Demon incident, we have to stop Raphael, we have to stop the crusaders, we have to wake up Lufia… . Plus, we have to find Maria.’

I couldn’t help but sigh at the mountain of work piled up.

First, we have no choice but to solve them one by one.

*

*

The most important turning point in this event is, of course, the Mine incident.

It is no exaggeration to say that the success or failure of this attack depends on how to prevent the Mine incident, as once it explodes, the empire will be destroyed in an instant.

In that sense, I came to the laboratory where the Bureau’s best scientist was located.

“Olivia?”

Even when I call his name, there is no answer.

Judging by the fact that the lab door wasn’t locked, I don’t think he was going out, but I guess he was so focused on research that he couldn’t hear me.

Normally I would have waited, but now I don’t have time.

I had no choice but to open each room in the lab and look for Olivia.

Squeak–.

I carefully opened the door to the last room located deep inside.

“Ugh… . I need a little more natural color… .”

Olivia is mixing various medicines. She was so focused that she didn’t even realize I had come in.

Olivia looked different than usual.

Her hair was tied up in a messy bun and her white gown was the same as usual, but the large glasses she always wore were gone, and the freckles around her nose were no longer visible.

[Heroine profile]

Name: Olivia

Height: 176cm / Difficulty level: B

Progress: 100% / Like level: 3

‘Looking at it like this, she’s a heroine too.’

I forgot about her because I was just looking at her as a nuisance in the corner, but Olivia is also quite beautiful as a heroine.

Since the freckles are gone, it looks like she’s wearing makeup. Are they making cosmetics?

“Olivia.”

“Heek–!”

Clink!

Surprised, Olivia lost the glass bottle she was holding in her hand. Naturally, the bottle that fell to the floor shattered, and the medicine contained inside soaked the floor.

“Not careful.”

“Ugh… . It’s because the director surprised me… .”

Who would have thought I would be so surprised just by calling my name.

Anyway, it’s not my fault.

“What were you making?”

“Ah, that’s… .”

“No. It probably isn’t poetry anyway.”

“Ugh… .”

Seeing that he was being stabbed, it seemed like he was doing something really useless.

“I’m busy, so I’ll get to the point first. Make me a cure for the flu.”

“Ugh… . By flu, do you mean POVID-8, which is prevalent right now?”

“Povid or Covid or whatever, the flu will destroy the empire.”

“Ehh!? What is that… . It’s true that it’s a serious flu, but the fatality rate is extremely low, so I don’t think it’s at the level of extinction… .”

“The flu itself is no problem. What’s hidden inside is the problem. First, I asked the security department to bring me a sample, so you can analyze it yourself. By the way, is there any data on monsters brought from the Eastern Continent?”

“Yes. Of course it remains.”

“It’s probably similar to that. It’s the same guy who made it.”

“……Huh?”

This is enough information to give to Olivia.

If I clumsily mix my personal opinions, there is a high possibility that it will only cause confusion, so it is better to convey only the minimum facts.

“I don’t have time, so make it as soon as possible and let me know.”

“That… . If you don’t have time, how much do you have?”

“Han… . 3 days?”

“Huh!? 3 days, boo, that’s impossible!”

I squeezed Olivia’s embarrassed shoulder and looked at her intently.

“……You can do it.”

“Ugh, uh… . If you look at it that way… . I can’t refuse… .”

“Do you believe it?”

“That… . that is… .”

Olivia’s eyes, which were running here and there, met mine again.

“I’ll do my best… .”

After all, 100 points of charm will never fail.

*

*

“……”

“……What is it? Do you have any business?”

Karjen, who was sprawled out on the bed, asked me bluntly if she felt my gaze.

” By the way, a dog is a good person. ”

“What? Are you calling this body a toothless wolf that obeys humans and the like?”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Hmph. They say you humans prefer a stupid bastard who flips his stomach and fawns over a noble, elegant, and beautiful fox. It’s foolish.”

Does this guy have any bad memories of dogs?

“Canines of the same family should be friendly.”

“It’s noisy. And don’t call them the same dog. This body is not such an insignificant creature.”

“……Okay, whatever.”

He says he doesn’t like him. You need to understand.

“……No, but this bastard climbed up just because I let him out.”

Why should I understand that?

I grabbed the tail of Karjen, who was lying down, and lifted her up.

“Aaaagh–! Let go! The tail is sensitive and hurts!”

“They say it hurts. Now, follow me. I will never cheat on my master again.”

“Let go! Hurry up and let go!”

“Don’t you tell me? It’s been a while since I wanted to get caught in a rat race, right?”

“Now, sleep – keaaa!!”

As she grabbed her tail and twirled it around, Karjen’s body began to rotate along with it. Thanks to its red fur, it really looked like it was playing Jwibul.

Although I’ve never actually tried it.

When it stopped after about 30 turns, Karjen began to vomit.

“Ha, ha… . Ugh… . Ugh… .”

“Now, follow along. I will never cheat on my master again.”

“Ugh… . Fuck you–laaahhh!!!”

Jwibulnori has begun again. Now, it is also possible to perform tricks such as floating in the air and catching it with the other hand.

I think we might be able to play Kerr and Firefox Frisbee in the future, right?

“Aaaagh–!!! Stop ahhh–!!!”

For your information, the reason why Karjen is punished is not simply because she looks bad.

In the previous route, Karjen didn’t try to kill me. I want to keep the hatred towards me within me until I begin my attack on Karjen in earnest.

Only then can it be used as retry insurance in dangerous situations like before.

“Ha… ha… Phew… Ugh… . Big… . A guy who will tear you to death… .”

I guess this is enough.

Karjen is hanging limply with her tail caught. He is complaining of dizziness and muttering that he is going to kill me.

‘hmm. I think it went well.’

Since training was over, I was just about to put it back on the bed. My eyes met the gaze looking at me through the gap in the door.

“……Ah, this is so… .”

Squeak–.

The door opened as if it would not allow me to make excuses.

From beyond, Daisy quickly ran over and took Karjen in her arms.

– He’s bad.

The sign language I held out with one hand pierced my heart like a dagger.

“Ugh… .”

Daisy doesn’t know Karjen’s identity. I just know him as a cute fox who says some cheeky things.

Therefore, from Daisy’s perspective, what I just did was clear animal abuse.

– I won’t sleep with you today. I’m also going to ask Curry to read a children’s book to me.

Curry. It is a nickname that Daisy calls herself after hearing the name Karjen by mistake. I tried several times to tell him the real name, but the curry was in my mouth… . No, it must have stuck to my hand, so I keep calling it curry.

Anyway, it only happens three times a week, and I can’t let Karjen take it away like this.

“Daisy, don’t be too angry. This is… . okay. I disciplined Karjen because she was causing too much trouble.”

Daisy looks at me with an expression of disbelief.

I changed my position so that I could see Karjen’s face, and signed with one hand.

– He’s this cute, but he got into trouble?

Cute? That?

Of course, the exterior itself is cute when kept quiet.

But the look Karjen is making towards me right now… . I was so annoyed that I wanted to grab my head and pull out all the hair on my body.

Daisy returns to her room. And Karjen peeked at me over Daisy’s shoulder and stuck out her tongue.

‘You lost.’

As she spoke silently, Karjen trembled and hid her head in Daisy’s arms.

dump-.

I just threw myself on the bed.

It’s painful to lose what little healing time you have, but there are still a mountain of more annoying things than that.

‘Making a cure will take quite some time. But once it’s done, it’s done.’

When I need some medication, like now, I use Retry to shorten the time.

Once completed, I ask Olivia to write down the chemical formula, put it on a note, and then retry it. Then, the drug can be made much more quickly using the recorded chemical formula.

It’s the same this time too. It doesn’t matter if you can’t prevent the Mine incident because you’re trying to create a cure.

Once completed, the time on the next route can be greatly reduced.

‘I told Mariela to persuade pharmaceutical companies to mass produce the drug, so I think mass production will be possible somehow… . The problem is distribution and vaccination.’

Even if there are many treatments, it is difficult to inoculate all of the empire’s citizens. No, it’s not just difficult, it’s virtually impossible.

‘Something needs to be done… . Capable of distributing treatment in large quantities… . That way… .’

While thinking about this and that, my eyes began to slowly close.

I surrendered myself to the approaching horse.