episode_0003

If I’m curious, I test it right away.

But.

This is an experiment I can’t do alone.

So I asked Ria for help.

“Ria.”

“Moooommmmyyyy…”

“Ria.”

“Mooommy… huh?…”

“If there’s a way to see your mom again, would you do it?”

“Th… there’s a way?…”

“It’s not 100%.”

“But it’s possible.”

“Possible?…”

“I… I’ll do it! I want to!”

“Good.”

“Let’s try it.”

We arrived at Ria’s house.

And.

I could see Ria’s mother’s corpse.

“Mooommmmyyyy…”

The moment Ria saw her mother’s body, tears streamed down her face.

‘In the game, clicking around here would open a hidden storage…’

But in reality, I had to open it myself.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

I knocked on the floor to locate the hidden door.

Tap! Tap! Thunk!

The sound was different here.

This is it.

Creeeak!

I opened the hidden door in the floor.

Then.

I found the items the Goddess of Light, Serena, had gathered for her daughter.

Ria was stunned.

“Huh… huh?…”

“Only Mom and I knew about that hidden storage… How did you know?…”

“Ignore the small stuff.”

“We’re going to use the things here to revive your mom’s body.”

“Revive her body?”

“Yeah.”

“If her body is restored, she can possess it again. You can live with your mom.”

“R… really?!”

“The problem is she can’t possess it until the Demon King is dead.”

“But that’s a problem we can solve by just killing the Demon King, so let’s move on.”

“That doesn’t seem like something we should just move on from…”

“It’s fine.”

“Even a single hit from me can kill the Demon King.”

“But you can’t even hit monsters…”

“Can you really hit the Demon King?”

“If I can’t, I’ll just let my allies handle everything and watch.”

“Just watch?”

“Is that okay for the Hero to do?”

“It’s fine.”

“Your mom also gave power to the people who’d become your allies for your sake.”

Auto-hunt mode.

Normally impossible on Adventure (Normal) difficulty or higher,

but on Journey (Easy) difficulty, it’s doable.

Let your allies handle all the battles,

while the protagonist watches from the back—a hands-off playstyle to clear the Demon King.

If the team isn’t set up right, it might fail,

but with the right team, it’s a 100% success.

…Thinking about it,

on Blessing (Baby) difficulty, even easier than Journey (Easy), hands-off play would be even simpler.

So.

The chance of failing to kill the Demon King was close to 0%.

‘If I tell her who to recruit, she’ll handle it fine.’

…With that thought,

I took out the items from the hidden storage one by one.

“Ria.”

“Do you know what this is?”

“A potion?”

“It’s an Elixir.”

“Elixir?”

“The ultimate potion—it can revive anyone as long as they’re still breathing, no matter their condition.”

“It fully restores HP and MP, cures all status effects like poison, curses, burns, and even diseases. A panacea.”

“We had something like that in our hidden storage?!”

“Your mom was the Goddess of Light, Serena.”

“It’s not strange for her to have something this precious.”

“Ah…”

Ria looked dazed,

so I slapped both her cheeks to snap her out of it.

Smack!

“Ow!”

“It didn’t hurt.”

“Hiiiing…”

“Even if it doesn’t hurt, I still get scared when you suddenly hit meee…”

“Anyway.”

“Make a choice.”

“A choice?”

“I can’t just use something as incredibly rare as an Elixir without permission.”

“You’re saying you need my permission?”

“Right.”

“You have it.”

“If it means seeing Mom again, I’d use even a legendary potion or whatever.”

“It might fail.”

“F… fail?…”

“I said it’s not 100%.”

“Ah…”

“You did…”

“Still want to do it?”

“Yes.”

“Use the Elixir to revive Mom’s body.”

“Good.”

“Grab the sword.”

“Huh?”

“Hold the Holy Sword and get in stance.”

“Ah… Ah!”

“Okay!”

Ria drew the Holy Sword.

“Ria.”

“This is the most important part.”

“Okay!”

“Swing the sword while thinking about subduing your mom.”

“……Huh?”

“Think about subduing her and swing.”

“Why?…”

“Because it’s the only way to revive her body.”

I explained it simply.

Ria’s trait, , has two powers.

The first is , which reduces any enemy’s HP to 0.

The second is , which subdues an enemy without killing intent, leaving them at 1 HP.

We’re using now.

‘If used on a living person, it’d leave them at 1 HP, near death.’

‘But what if used on a corpse?’

They might revive with 1 HP.

That’s my hypothesis.

I’d never tried it even once while playing .

Why not?

‘Me, a legendary veteran player of , embarrassing myself by researching in Baby Mode?’

‘No way.’

I tried it a few times in the past.

There might be a special ending only visible in Baby Mode.

But.

Aside from cheats activating, special monsters appearing, and secret chest rewards becoming insanely good,

the difficulty didn’t change much.

So I only researched it briefly and stopped.

I didn’t know then,

but while explaining Ria’s trait, it hit me.

‘Can’t we use to revive her?’

…That thought.

So I tried it.

“Ugh…”

Ria hesitated.

Well…

Makes sense.

She’d have to slash her mom with a sword.

For Ria, with her personality, it’d be hard.

So.

I helped a little.

Thud!

“!!!!!!”

I reached from behind, grabbed Ria’s wrists, and moved them for her.

It might’ve looked like I was hugging her from behind.

Anyway.

I guided her hands.

“Ria.”

“You don’t have to think about anything.”

“I… don’t have to think?…”

“As long as you don’t intend to kill, will activate, not .”

“Just close your eyes and leave the rest to me.”

“Ugh…”

“Okay!”

Ria was embarrassed but answered firmly.

“Here we go.”

“Okay!”

Ria closed her eyes.

And.

I moved Ria’s wrists and swung at her mom.

Swoosh.

The Holy Sword passed through Ria’s mom.

Oh.

This is interesting.

‘Turning a corpse with 0 HP into a near-death state with 1 HP.’

‘Not slashing, but healing?’

I learned something new.

“Ghk!”

“Mom?!”

Ria’s mom’s body coughed up blood and gasped roughly.

She looked terrible.

‘Well…’

‘Makes sense.’

She revived at 1 HP in state,

and the wounds from the bandits were still there.

Leave her like this, and she’d die.

So I acted fast.

“Using the Elixir.”

“Okay!”

I poured the Elixir into her mouth.

Fizz!

Ria’s mom’s body made a weird noise as it rapidly healed.

“Hahk!… Hah… Hah…”

Her breathing stabilized.

“M… Mom?…”

“Is she alive?…”

“Her body is revived.”

I pressed my ear to her chest to check.

Heartbeat normal.

Breathing normal.

Her physical state was near perfect.

“Th… thank goodness…”

“Yeah.”

“But leave her like this, and she’ll die.”

“D… die?…”

“People die if they don’t eat.”

Ria’s mom’s condition was like a ‘vegetative state.’

Alive,

but unable to move.

She couldn’t eat,

and left like this, she’d die from malnutrition.

‘In the game, we could rush the Demon King’s castle, clear it in a week, and get the mom revival ending…’

But make crybaby Ria speedrun the Demon King’s castle?

‘Impossible.’

‘She’d just collapse halfway, cry, and waste time until the bad ending.’

So.

I used another method.

“That’s why I’m saying.”

“I’ll use one more precious thing your mom prepared.”

“Precious thing?”

“The Sealing Dagger.”

A dagger enchanted with sealing magic.

A special weapon that can freeze other objects in .

Usually used to seal cursed items.

Not as rare as the Elixir,

but still valuable.

It can neutralize any cursed item.

…But players mostly used it as a .

Sealing food with it keeps it from spoiling forever due to .

Since food plays a huge role,

and spoils fast in ,

this was revolutionary.

And.

I was the one who first posted this genius idea on the攻略 (strategy) board, becoming a famous player.

…Recalling those memories,

I planned to store Ria’s mom’s body like a refrigerator.

means she won’t need food to stay healthy.

…After explaining,

Ria nodded.

“Mooommmmyyyy…”

Tearfully hugging her mom,

she handed her to me.

Swoosh!

I sealed Ria’s mom’s body with the Sealing Dagger.

Good.

Happy ending conditions complete.

Now we can see the ending—something even the game didn’t have.

“Here.”

“This is important, so store it in the Hero’s exclusive inventory.”

“Hero’s exclusive inventory?”

“Ah…”

“The official name was Dimensional Pouch, right? Store it there.”

Dimensional Pouch.

Like an in-game inventory,

but a special one for only the most important items.

The rest?

Where do we store those?

A bag.

Just a regular bag.

Carrying too much would slow you down,

but…

No need to worry about that.

Once the tutorial’s over, I’ll say bye to Ria and go to my favorite character.