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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 16 - Chapter Pr




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Prologue: Another Started Game

March, 2044, ???

With my exam season over, I finally got the chance to start playing Infinite Dendrogram.

The game came out while I was in my third year of high school. All my friends who really wanted to pass, including me, weren’t exactly crazy about the timing.

To make it worse, all of our friends who’d already given up on exams or were set to inherit their family businesses regardless had picked up the game right away — and they had plenty of fun stories of their time in-game to bother us with.

Determined to play only after I’d passed, I fought the urge. I focused solely on my studies, finished the exams...and then, I finally got the gear I back-ordered and logged in for the first time today.

“It really is realistic... The wind is so hot.”

For my starting point, I chose the country called “Caldina.”

It was a merchant nation in the desert. The dry winds rolling in from the dunes tickled my skin with such detail that it felt real, even though I’d never been to a desert before.

The city I appeared in was a “City of Commerce” called “Cortana.”

The main thoroughfare had many stalls lined up on both sides, all filled with merchants enthusiastically hawking their wares.

As big and populous as this city was, though, it wasn’t actually the capital of the country.

The cat that had helped me with character creation told me that new Caldinian players started in Cortana instead of the capital because the strength of the monsters around the capital tended to fluctuate a lot, for various reasons.

That seemed to make sense. Right now, I was level 0 without a single job. If they dumped me right into an area swarming with powerful monsters, I’d be softlocked.

Speaking of which, I really needed to choose a job and start leveling up already.

The “Embryo” I was told about still hadn’t hatched, though, so I decided to leave the job-picking for later and just enjoy the sights for now.

Cortana had a very Arabian Nights feel to it, reminiscent of various picture books and animated movies I’d watched when I was little.

The bazaar was as lively as it was colorful, and among the goods on display were many magic items that caught my eye. Unfortunately, the five pieces of silver given to me by the receptionist cat — 5,000 lir, apparently — weren’t nearly enough to buy even a single one of those.

All I could afford was the food, so I got myself some skewered meat of unknown origin, along with some fried snacks.

The taste was about as real as it could get, and though I personally would’ve preferred if it was all a bit sweeter, it was perfectly fine for eating while walking.

Doing this made me feel less like I was playing a game and more like I was actually touring a foreign country.

...Honestly, I still had trouble believing that this really was a game — even after being online for a whole hour.

The environment I perceived with all five of my senses and the merchants who sold me that food all seemed like the real thing.

When did technology advance this far?

“...Huh?”

I suddenly realized that I’d wandered into an empty part of the city as I was lost in thought.


Desolate and silent, this place was nothing like the lively road I was just strolling down. Looking around, I saw nothing but decrepit buildings cramped together as close as possible.

It was astounding how different two sections of the same city could be.

“Hm...?” As I walked around, I caught something out of the corner of my eye.

In the tight space between two buildings near the entrance, there was a little girl sitting with her back against the wall.

Just at a glance, I could tell that she was abnormally thin. In fact, even the refugee children I saw on the news some time ago looked healthier than she did.

There was no one nearby — no family or anyone else.

She was just sitting with her back against the wall.

Without a word, without any sound at all, she turned her head slightly to look at me.

No — not at me, but at the bag of snacks in my hand.

I’d found those snacks rather bland... But oh, how the mere sight of them seemed to draw her hungry gaze.

She raised her twiglike arm and reached towards me. But she lacked the strength to even get up, and the way her little hand shook made it clear just how empty that movement was.

That tiny gesture, her fragile little action, made my heart want to burst out of my chest. It was a tight, emotional kind of pain.

“I-I’m so sorry! P-Please, take them!” Those words escaped my mouth as I approached her.

That girl was the most tragic thing I’d ever seen in my life. I tried to think about her, this situation, about what I was doing right now or should’ve been doing — but my thoughts were nowhere, letting my words and body take charge.

I was unable to ignore her, to leave her like this, so I approached and presented the bag of snacks.

She reached for it and tried to put her hand inside, but she missed every time she fumbled for it.

“I’ll feed it to you. Here...” I took a snack and gently brought it close to her face.

She slowly opened her mouth. She tried to chew. And then, she fell still.

“...Huh?” The snack fell out from between my fingers and rolled across the ground.

Sensing that something wasn’t right, I hesitantly reached for her cheek.

And that was enough for her malnourished body to slowly collapse to the side...and she made no attempt to get up again.

“...Huh?” She wasn’t moving. Not an inch.

She’d just fallen asleep, I rationalized. Surely that was it.

But her eyes were open.

The light had just gone out of them.

Grains of sand blew along the ground, but not a single grain near her mouth or nose was moving.

I stood there and stared in disbelief...and before long, an ant crawled along her face, to no reaction whatsoever.

“Ah... Ah...?” I touched her withered wrist...and felt no pulse.

This complete stranger. This innocent little girl... She had starved, faded...and died right before my eyes.





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