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Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 17 - Chapter 12




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Chapter Twelve: The Promise

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“...Eh heh heh.” With her body having completely vanished, Jubei’s consciousness was now in a dark area—the place Chelsea’s group had called the “waiting space.”

She had Death Soldier among her sub-jobs, but its effect was meaningless when there was no body left to control. She might have been able to move the floating weapons in her Asuran Battle-Mounts, but the weapons had all vanished when she used Kasanehime.

They were all MVP rewards that would come back in time—but until then, she couldn’t use them in any way.

Thus, the battle ended in her defeat. However, she wasn’t the least bit dissatisfied with this outcome.

On the contrary, having experienced a battle against the Ray Starling, she was completely ecstatic.

She couldn’t even bring herself to care about the event anymore. She hadn’t been gathering hints or plates to begin with, so in a way Jubei was playing an entirely different game all by herself.

“I wonder if he made it to the goal in time.”

Instead of being upset, she was sincerely worried about whether the man who’d just defeated her had managed to reach his goal.

This had been a very fruitful event for her regardless.

All that was left now for her was to wait until her Death Soldier skill expired and she was sent back. But before that happened, a certain thought passed her mind.

“It is surely a coincidence, but...he is rather similar to them,” she said out loud, picturing the one who’d defeated her. “The ones who saved me back then.”

The visage bore resemblance to the ones who’d helped her—the ones who saved her from a speeding truck.

◇◆◇

Paladin, Ray Starling

We were now in some strange, sparkling space where you couldn’t tell which way was up or down.

“...I thought I was gonna die,” I said.

“You were certainly close to it.” Nemesis nodded. We managed to beat Jubei in time, but I was uncomfortably close to getting a death penalty once my Last Command expired. I might’ve not cleared the event if Nemesis hadn’t been there to turn back into her human form and put in the correct answer fast enough.

“...The wounds are all gone now that we’re past the finish line, though.” Before, I’d been riddled with holes and my body had even been cut in half at the torso, but now I was in perfect health.

Without this aspect of the event, my battle against Jubei would’ve ended in a draw.

Silver still had the wound he’d received, though.

“Oh... If this won’t fix itself, we might have to ask Blue Screen.”

“Indeed. I feel like your steed helped us greatly this time as well.”

Silver gave no sound or movement in response to our words. I was certain that the battle had only ended in my favor due to his efforts.

“Rayyy. Good work back theeere.”

My thoughts about Silver were cut short by a drawn-out voice. I looked towards the source of it and saw Cheshire, wearing the same tuxedo he’d had during the explanation.

“Cheshire.”

“Congrats on clearing the eveeent. The final stretch suuure was something.”

“You’re telling me. Thanks... By the way, what about the two who cleared before me?”

“I gave them the reward and seeent them on their way. They wanted to stay, but rules are ruuules.”

“I see...” Well, they probably hadn’t anticipated that all the people who cleared the event would be members of the same team. Only the first three could do it, after all.

It had probably turned out like this because we’d beaten the other players who were closest to winning—Jubei and Carl.

Alto and Juliet were already sent back, though, huh? I would see the former at school, while meeting up with the latter would probably have to wait until I returned to Gideon.

“Anyway, lemme give you the reward toooo!” said Cheshire.

“Sure. What is it, anyway?” I asked.

“A fine dining catalog, perhaps?” Nemesis asked.

...I really doubt this is the kind of event where we’d get little souvenirs like that, I thought.

“Here it iiis. This is the rewaaard. Congratulatiooons,” Cheshire said as he gave me...a ticket.

“A ticket? Is this an invitation to another event?” Was this like a qualifying round for the real deal? I doubt I can handle battles harder than the ones I fought here, I thought.


“Nuh-uhh. That’s a gacha ticket.”

“...A what?” I really hadn’t expected to hear such a familiar term here...

“You probably know it already, but places like Gideon have these gacha machines that let you pull for money.” Oh yeah, I was very familiar with that. I’d actually planned on pulling once I got back there.

“The ticket is for those... It just guarantees an S-rank pull.”

Ohh? A guaranteed S-rank, huh? Cool, I thought...and then his words began to actually sink in. Wait, WHAT?!

“You mean, like Rook’s MVP reward?!”

“Oh, you should know that S-rank doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll get thaaat. Please understaaand.”

Ah, so Rook’s pull was lucky even for an S-rank. Still, a guaranteed S was a big deal.

“...Indeed. You have pulled so many times, but have yet to have a single one.”

“...True.” Looking at it that way, I kinda wanted to save it until I got a natural S-rank pull.

“Well, it’s up to you when you use iiit.”

“Yeah. I’ll think about it.”

Honestly, a guaranteed S-rank gacha ticket felt like a very fitting reward for an in-game event.

And that thought jogged my memory about something I wanted to ask.

“Hey, Cheshire,” I said.

“Yeees?”

“Why’s this event called ‘The Anniversary,’ anyway? I thought it was just to make the answer a trick question, but I feel like there’s gotta be more to it.”

“...Uhhm...” Cheshire looked up at me, looking slightly bashful. “Today’s uuhh...birthdayyy.”

“Whose?”

“Mine.”

...The control AIs had birthdays? I thought. Regardless, the naming made sense now. It felt like kind of an abuse of authority on Cheshire’s part, but...

“Well, happy birthday.”

“Thaaanks. I’ll send you back to Altea nooow,” he said as light began to shine beneath my feet.

“All right,” I said. “See ya, Cheshire.”

“Take care,” said Nemesis.

“Until next tiiime!” And so, seen off by a white cat waving at us, we returned from the tumultuous event.

After the teleportation, we found ourselves in front of Altea’s save point—the fountain. This wasn’t the place I’d been when I was whisked off to the event, but I felt like we were probably told at one point that we’d be sent back to the save point instead, so I didn’t worry too much about it.

In my hand, I held my reward—the gacha ticket.

“Well, I’ll just keep it for now,” I said. I wanted to save it for something special. A guaranteed S-rank deserved that much.

“Hrmm... The sky is turning brighter.”

“It was the dead of night when we left. That whole thing sure took a long time.”

There weren’t many people around the fountain at this hour. Looking up at the sky, I saw dark clouds being gradually painted in lighter colors by the morning sunlight.

“Hm...?”

And between them, I spotted something that looked a little like a bird. It grew larger and larger until I recognized the shape as someone I knew well.

“Ray!”

She flew right towards me.

“Juliet...” I said.

“I suppose she could not wait for you in Gideon, so she flew all the way here,” commented Nemesis. I knew Juliet could fly at supersonic speeds, but this was a bit much. She must have been really eager to see the outcome of the event.

There was only one thing I had to tell her, then.

“I won,” I said as I showed her the ticket, fulfilling the promise I’d made.

“...Yes!” And so, with a joyous expression, she landed; we exchanged a high five.





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