Chapter 3: Refrigerator
by fnovelpia
If I’m curious, I test it right away.
But—
This is an experiment I can’t do alone.
So I asked Ria.
“Ria.”
“Mommmmyyyy…”
“Ria.”
“Mommmyyy… Huh…? What…?”
“If there were a way to see your mom again, would you do it?”
“Th-There’s a way…?”
“It’s not 100%.”
“But there’s a chance.”
“A chance…?”
“I-I’ll do it! I want to!”
“Good.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
We arrived at Ria’s house.
And there—
I saw the corpse of Ria’s mother.
“Mommmmyyyy…”
The moment Ria saw her mother’s body, she burst into tears.
‘In the game, if you clicked around here, a secret warehouse would open…’
But in real life, I have to open it myself.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
I tapped the floor, searching for the hidden door.
Tap! Tap! Thunk!
A different sound—
There it is.
Creeeeak!
I opened the hidden door in the floor.
And there—
I found the items the Goddess of Light Serena had collected for her daughter.
Ria’s eyes widened.
“H-Huh…?”
“This secret stash… Only Mom and I know about it… How did you…?”
“Don’t worry about the small stuff.”
“We’re going to use the things here to restore your mom’s body.”
“Restore… her body?”
“Yeah.”
“If the body is intact, she can be possessed again. You can live with your mom.”
“R-Really?!”
“The only catch is that she can’t be possessed again until the Demon King is defeated.”
“But that’s a problem we can deal with after.”
“I feel like… that’s not the kind of problem we should be brushing off…”
“It’s fine.”
“You can defeat the Demon King with a single hit.”
“I can’t even hit a monster… How would I hit the Demon King?”
“If you think you can’t, just let your party members handle it. You can sit back and watch.”
“Just watch?”
“Is that okay for a hero?”
“Of course.”
“Your mom even gave power to someone who could become your ally.”
***
Auto-battle mode.
It’s normally impossible on Adventure (Normal) difficulty and above, but on Travel (Easy) difficulty, it’s doable.
Let your allies handle all the fights, and the main character just watches from the back, clearing all the way to the Demon King in idle mode.
If you don’t form the party properly, you might fail, but if the team is set up right, it’s a 100% guaranteed win.
If you think about it that way, on Blessing (Baby) difficulty, which is even easier than Travel (Easy),
It should be even simpler to enjoy idle play.
So—
The chance of failing to beat the Demon King was close to zero.
‘If I just tell her who to recruit into her party, she’ll do fine.’
Thinking that, I began pulling the items out of the secret stash.
“Ria.”
“Do you know what this is?”
“A potion?”
“It’s called an Elixir.”
“Elixir?”
“The ultimate potion that can revive someone as long as they’re still breathing.”
“It restores 100% of HP and mana, and cures every status condition— Poison, curses, burns, even diseases. It’s a universal remedy.”
“A treasure like that was in my house’s secret stash?!”
“Your mom is the Goddess of Light Serena.”
“It’s not strange for her to have something this rare.”
“Ah…”
Ria stared blankly.
So I gave her a slap on both cheeks to snap her out of it.
Smack!
“Ow!”
“That didn’t even hurt.”
“Hiiing…”
“Even if it doesn’t hurt, suddenly slapping someone is still scaryyy…”
“Whatever.”
“Just make your decision.”
“Decision?”
“Something this precious—I can’t just use it however I want.”
“That means you need my permission?”
“Exactly.”
“Then I give it.”
“If there’s a chance I can see Mom again, I’ll use whatever it takes—even a legendary potion.”
“It could fail.”
“F-Fail…?”
“I told you, it’s not 100%.”
“Ah…”
“Right… you did say that…”
“Still want to go through with it?”
“Yeah.”
“Use the Elixir to bring back Mom’s body.”
“Alright.”
“Grab your sword.”
“Huh?”
“Grab the holy sword and get in position.”
“Ah… ah!”
“Okay!”
Ria drew the holy sword.
“Ria.”
“Yeah!”
“This is the most important part.”
“Yes!”
“Swing that sword, thinking you’ll subdue your mother.”
“…Huh?”
“Think of it as subduing her, and swing.”
“But why…?”
“Because it’s the only way to bring her body back to life.”
I gave her a simple explanation.
Ria has a unique trait called One-Hit Kill, which has two abilities.
The first is Instant Death, which reduces any enemy’s HP to zero.
The second is Near-Death, which leaves a non-hostile target at 1 HP—subduing them instead of killing.
This time, she’ll use Near-Death.
‘If used on a living person, it just drops them to 1 HP.’
‘But if used on a corpse…?’
She might be revived in a 1 HP state.
This is my hypothesis.
I’ve never once tried this hypothesis while playing Prophecy RPG.
‘Why not?’
“Someone like me, a veteran Prophecy RPG player known even in the community, doing research in baby mode? Embarrassing.”
“That’s not happening.”
Okay, maybe I tried it a few times a long time ago.
There’s always the chance that there’s a secret ending only accessible in baby mode.
But still—
The only difference was that cheat codes were enabled, rare monsters appeared, and the secret treasure chest rewards were insanely good.
The game got ridiculously easy, but nothing else changed.
So I dropped it after a short while.
That’s why I never noticed… until now.
While I was explaining Ria’s unique trait, something clicked.
‘Couldn’t we use the <Near-Death> trait to bring her back?’
That thought crossed my mind.
So, I decided to test it out.
“Ugh…”
Ria was hesitating.
Well…
That’s understandable.
She’d have to strike her own mother with a sword.
For someone like Ria, who has a gentle and emotional personality, that’s got to be a heavy burden.
So I gave her a little help.
Tap!
“||!!!!”
I reached out from behind and grabbed Ria’s wrists with both hands.
From the side, it probably looked like a hug.
Anyway—
I moved her hands for her.
“Ria.”
“You don’t need to think about anything.”
“Not think…? About anything?”
“As long as you’re not trying to kill her, the <Instant Death> effect won’t trigger. Only <Near-Death> will activate.”
“Just close your eyes and leave the rest to me.”
“O-Okay!”
She was flustered, but she answered clearly.
“Here we go.”
“Yes!”
Ria closed her eyes.
And then—
***
I guided her hands and swung the sword at her mother.
Slice.
The holy sword passed through Ria’s mother.
Oh.
Now this is interesting.
‘We just turned a corpse with 0 HP into someone in <Near-Death> with 1 HP.’
‘So technically… that was more like healing, not an attack.’
I learned something new.
Cough!
“Mom?!”
Ria’s mother coughed up blood and gasped for breath.
Her condition looked terrible at a glance.
Well…
That makes sense.
She was revived with just 1 HP in a <Near-Death> state, and all the wounds inflicted by those bandits were still there.
If we left her like this, she’d definitely die.
So I acted fast.
“Using an Elixir.”
“Okay!”
I immediately poured an Elixir over her body.
Sizzle!
Her body made an unsettling sound as it rapidly healed.
“Haah… haah… haah…”
Her breathing stabilized.
“M-Mom…?”
“She’s alive?”
“Her body’s alive.”
I placed my ear over her chest to check.
Heartbeat: normal.
Breathing: normal.
Her physical condition was nearly perfect.
“Thank goodness…”
“Yeah, thank goodness.”
“But if we leave her like this, she’ll die again.”
“D-Die again…?”
“People die if they don’t eat.”
To be precise, Ria’s mom is in a vegetative state.
Her life functions are working, but she can’t move on her own.
Of course, that means she can’t feed herself.
If we leave her like this, she’ll die of malnutrition.
‘If this were just a game, I’d storm the Demon King’s Castle and beat it within a week for the revival ending.’
‘But sending crybaby Ria on a Demon King speedrun?’
‘Impossible.’
‘She’d break down crying halfway through and stall until the timer runs out. Game over.’
So I took a different route.
“Here’s what I’m thinking.”
“I’m going to use one more rare item your mom had prepared.”
“A rare item?”
“The Dagger of Sealing.”
It’s a cursed weapon with sealing magic that puts whatever it strikes into a <Time Freeze> state.
It’s usually used on other cursed items.
It’s not quite as precious as an Elixir, but still pretty rare.
It can neutralize any cursed item, after all.
…But in reality, most players used it as a fridge.
When you seal food or ingredients with the Dagger of Sealing, the <Time Freeze> effect keeps them from ever spoiling.
Considering that food plays a huge role in Prophecy RPG and also spoils ridiculously fast—
The ability to preserve it indefinitely? That was revolutionary.
I was the first one to post this fridge idea on the strategy forums.
That’s how I became a famous player.
…Anyway.
With that nostalgic memory in mind, I decided to store Ria’s mom’s body like I was putting it in a fridge.
***
As long as she’s in <Time Freeze>, she won’t need food, and her condition will stay stable.
After I explained that—
Ria nodded.
“Mom…”
She cried and hugged her mother tightly before handing her over to me.
Shlick!!
I sealed Ria’s mom’s body with the Dagger of Sealing.
Alright.
With that, the happy ending conditions were complete.
Now we could finally see the <Mother-Daughter Reunion> ending that wasn’t even available in the game.
“Here.”
“Since she’s important, store her in the Hero’s exclusive inventory.”
“The Hero’s exclusive inventory?”
“Ah…”
“The official name was the dimensional pouch or something? Just put her in there.”
The Dimensional Pouch.
In game terms, it’s like a special inventory.
You can only store a few of the most important items in it.
What about the rest?
They go in your regular bag.
Yeah—just a bag.
And the heavier it gets, the more action penalties you get.
But whatever.
That’s not my concern.
Once the tutorial ends, I’m parting ways with Ria and heading off to find my favorite character anyway.
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