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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 16 - Chapter 7.5




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Prologue: Another First Choice

March, 2044, Benetnasch

A girl had starved to death right before my eyes.

My memory of the events that followed that was hazy.

I remembered screaming at the top of my lungs, then frantically logging off and rushing into my bed, my blanket covering me like the overwhelming regret I felt.

Many questions raged in my mind as I lay there. Why did I pick Caldina? Why did I choose realistic visuals? Why did I walk down that street at all? Why...why did I ever pick up Infinite Dendrogram?

It was supposed to be a game, nothing more. A realistic game, but a game nonetheless.

But to me, it was just...too real.

I’d been utterly convinced I’d stepped into a desert city, despite never having been to any place like that in my life.

...And it had made me feel that I’d actually witnessed a child starve.

The moment of her death came back to me every time I closed my eyes.

“Why...? Why did that...?” I couldn’t wipe away that memory no matter how hard I tried.

It was the first time I had ever seen such a cruel death. The shock and regret I felt stuck to me like tar.

I relived the moment in my mind over and over. I even felt the sensation of that bit of food she’d so desperately wanted before dying as it slipped from my fingers.

“If only I could...at least...” If I had been able to give her that snack, perhaps my regret wouldn’t have been so deep.

But that was no longer a possibility.

I couldn’t undo the past.

The dead girl couldn’t come back to life.

Her untimely, unjust end haunted my memory.

“It’s a game...just a game...but...” A character in a video game had died — that was all there was to it.

But my heart just couldn’t let it end at that.

I continued to cry and wallow in regret for hours.

But then, I thought of one thing more.

“...A funeral...for her.”

I couldn’t change the fact that the girl was dead, but I found hope in the idea that I could ease my regret if I set some flowers on her grave and said a prayer for her.

“I should...prepare some snacks too...” With my hands still shaking, I picked up Infinite Dendrogram’s headset and logged in once again.

The time that had passed in the game was three times what had passed in real time.

It was currently the dead of night, and since there weren’t as many lights here as there were in real life, the city was dark. I hadn’t logged out far from the alley where I’d found the girl, so I was able to return to it in no time.

“She’s not here... Well, of course she isn’t.”

The girl was nowhere to be seen. I could only guess that she had been taken and buried by her family, or the church if she had no relatives.

In that case, I had to at least put some snacks on her grave and give her a prayer.

To find out where she was buried, I spoke to the nearby patrolman.

“Excuse me,” I said.

“Hm? What is it, Mr. Master?” he asked.

“Umm, I would like to know where to find the grave of the child who was here.”

“Child? Whose child?”

“It was a girl who died in that alley over there...”

“...Oh. Orphans who die in the streets are buried on the outskirts of the city, to the north.”

“Th-Thank you!” I expressed my gratitude before rushing off.

“But it’s best not to go ther—”

I couldn’t fully hear the voice behind me.

I went to the north of the city and, eventually, found the location. It was over ten minutes by foot away from the gate.

There, out in the sands, stood several large areas enclosed with pitiful fences.

They looked like the fences around graveyards, but these areas were anything but.

There were no gravestones, or even graves, for that matter.

There was nothing but piles of corpses.

Lying atop the dry sands, there were parched and mummified corpses, skeletal corpses whose flesh had been consumed by insects, and fresher ones that were still being feasted upon — all thrown together to create an imposing mountain of death.

“...Egh...” Before I knew it, I was vomiting.

The fear I felt and my confusion at how such a thing could be allowed to exist overwhelmed my mind like a raging torrent.

“...Huh?”


And then I noticed a sign next to the entrance.

It said “Homeless Body Disposal.” Below that, there was an explanation:

“Because there are no places in Cortana where the homeless who are unable to pay taxes may be buried, and because there are no funds to cover the fuel expenses of cremation, they are to be left here so that the elements and/or the local wildlife may see to them.

—Mayor of Cortana, Douglas Coin”

Because of the nearby save point and oasis, Cortana was a flourishing city in spite of its barren surroundings. However, its area was limited, and unlike large cities in the other countries, it couldn’t expand much beyond its current size.

Because of this, even burial space was in short supply, and with Cortana being the city that exemplified Caldina’s ideal of “money makes the world go around,” money was required to procure a grave plot. Street urchins couldn’t possibly pay the fees, so they were all thrown outside the city, as though the expenses of even burying them in the sand were too great for the authorities.

I spent a good while standing before the “graves”...the corpse-piles, saying not a word. I could read the explanation on the sign just fine. The auto-translation feature made it easy.

However, I couldn’t understand it, no matter how hard I tried.

My mind grasped the meaning, but my heart could not.

There was reasoning behind these actions, but it still didn’t make sense to me that someone would actually act like this. My society in the real world would give a proper burial to even the most unfortunate.

This felt less realistic than anything I’d experienced since I came to Infinite Dendrogram.

“...Ah.”

I gasped as I finally saw it.

At the top of the pile, on a corpse that was mostly bone, there were remains that still had skin and hair on them — and the body of the girl that had died right before my eyes.

I froze in place. I’d come here to give her a prayer alongside an offering of flowers or snacks.

But now, I couldn’t even do that much.

Falling to my knees, I looked away from her.

“Huh...?” And then, my vision stopped on a different sign.

It said, “Anyone is free to take the corpses, but bringing people back to life using Necromancy is forbidden within the city walls.”

The first half of the sentence shocked me. The idea that anyone could just take the corpses, though, felt apt for this inhumane place. Considering it would make space for more corpses, you could even call it “rational.”

That aside, though...

“Necro...mancy? Bringing people back to life?”

Those words implied that it was possible for dead people to live again.

Wait...perhaps it was possible? A world with magic may have resurrection spells, after all.

“A-Ahhh...” But bringing dead people back using magic was immoral. At the very least, it would stand against the faith I’d followed until now.

But if...if it was something I could do...

If it was possible...

“And if it...made this regret go away...”

...Then morality be damned. Just let me do it!

The moment that thought crossed my mind, my left hand began glowing purple...

“Very well. Then that shall be my nature.”

...and an unfamiliar girl appeared at my side.

“...Huh?”

The best word to describe her was “purple.” She had purple hair and wore a purple gown in the style of ancient Greece.

Her eyes, though, were a different color — a deep, striking black.

“Who...are you?”

“My name is Persephone. I was born of your flesh, soul, and the lamentation of your heart. I am your Embryo — a Type Maiden-Castle/Territory.”

“Perse...phone?”

“I am pleased to meet you, my Master,” said the girl with a ladylike bow. She shared a name with the queen of the underworld and was, apparently, my Embryo.

“So, will you use my power this very instant?” she asked.

“Power...?”

“Mmhmm. I am able to bring this girl back to life.”

“...REALLY?!” I exclaimed. I’d grabbed hold of her shoulders before I even realized it.

“Though I am but a hatchling in my first form,” she went on. “To resurrect someone, I need their fresh body, and the time they will be alive is brief.”

“What do you mean...?”

“I can bring her back...for a mere three minutes.”

I needed a while to process those words.

“Three...minutes.” That was barely any time at all. It barely compared to the amount of time the mythological Persephone had offered Orpheus when he descended into the underworld to fetch his wife back to the land of the living.

It was so little time, in fact, that rather than bringing her back only to die again minutes later, it was perhaps better to just leave her as she was now.

But...three minutes...

That was enough to...

“I...” The bag of snacks I’d been holding made a rustling sound as it shifted in my hand.

And then, I made my choice.





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