[ Name: Ken Feinstein
Unique Skills: Item Crafting, Calorie Burn.
Unique Traits: Physical abilities amplify as weight decreases.
Ownership Traits: Obesity, Curse of Death -NEW!
Current Physical Specs: 175cm, 104kg ]
[ Curse of Death: The cursed person must die after a designated period. ]
I carefully examined the trait description and realized.
‘Here we go….’
This is the sudden death incident event that happened in the game.
The episode begins with rumors of a student at Dedris Academy suddenly dying.
Dying without any signs, falling asleep and not waking up the next day.
The cause of that death was never revealed in the game.
Is it a plague, poisoning, magic, or a curse? Not even the faculty of the academy could uncover this sudden death incident.
Emily gets involved in the case when one of her classmates dies.
A student she knew suddenly faces death, and out of anger, Emily takes on the investigation event.
“But wait, the first victim is me…?”
I was prepared for this event to happen.
But I didn’t expect I would be the one to fall first. Damn it.
‘No, maybe it’s a blessing in disguise since it’s the first time…’
It would be better for me to be the first target instead of someone else getting sacrificed and then having to solve the event.
‘I’ve already made preparations, anyway.’
Originally, the first victim in this event is a nameless student, unrelated to Emily.
Then a student from Emily’s class.
And next, a random character with a high affinity for Emily.
Finally, Emily herself falls under the curse.
The way to clear the event is to find and eliminate the culprit before Emily dies.
The problem is, figuring out who the culprit is using normal methods is way too hard.
This event is a high-difficulty mystery game created on the premise of save loading.
“Raphne, I seriously need to talk.”
“…U-uh? W-what is it? Did I do something wrong?”
Feeling the tension in the air, I called Raphne, who cautiously approached me with a scared face while cooking.
“Listen carefully. Just to let you know… I’m probably going to have no problems.”
“Uh, okay?”
First, I hinted like this in case Raphne might go berserk.
After giving Raphne a moment to ponder my words,
I slowly opened my mouth.
“I’m going to die in 3 days.”
“…Huh?”
However, despite my warning, Raphne’s face was one of despair.
And a moment later.
“No! No, no, no━!! If Ken dies, I’ll die too━! Waaaah, I’m sorry! I did something wrong, I’m so sorry━! Don’t die, Ken━! You can’t die━…!!”
Raphne clung to me, sobbing her heart out.
“Is something tough happening? So you want to give up on life? Don’t do that…! Waaaah, I’m saying you’re my only hope to keep living…! Huuh, just tell me! Who is it? Who is tormenting Ken? Just say it, and I’ll kill them all!!”
‘… As expected, this is how it goes.’
While petting Raphne’s head as she cuddled against me,
I said, “So… I will die, but then again, it’s not really death.”
In fact, if I use Raphne’s pendant now, I can avoid death.
But coincidentally being chosen as the first victim, avoiding the curse now would be an utterly foolish act.
That’s because there’s a trick to clear this event quickly by utilizing the death tied to this curse.
“Raphne, calm down and listen to me until the end.”
“Waaah, huaah, sniff.”
I gently squeezed Raphne’s shoulders, looking into her teary eyes, and spoke seriously.
“If I die in 3 days, there will surely be chaos… but don’t worry, I’m coming back in a week.”
After hearing my explanation, Raphne still looked at me, tears falling down her face.
“Sniff, …so you’re not going to die?”
“…Well, not that I won’t die. So, you shouldn’t be too shocked, okay? I’ll be back soon.”
In this find-the-culprit event, I can’t just speak carelessly about who the culprit might be since I don’t know who it is.
But with Raphne, it should be fine.
This event is one of the demon lord’s invasion events.
Which means, finding the culprit involves looking at Raphne.
There’s no way Raphne could be the culprit.
So the only person I can inform that I’ll return after I die is her.
“…sniff, so you’ll be gone for a week?”
Oh, speaking of which.
“Isn’t a week okay? Emily and Mary will be around, right?”
“But I want to be beside Ken…”
Her face mixed with sorrow and disappointment weakens my resolve.
“Oh, or what if I die in my room? Then we can be together for a week…”
A corpse is fine with her, huh.
“Then Raphne would be suspected as the murderer. Absolutely not.”
“Waaah…”
A gloomy Raphne buried her face back into my arms.
“Then… let’s stay together until 3 days from now. Let’s sleep here too.”
She looked up at me with damp eyes.
…Maybe it would be okay until the day I die.
During the last survival event, I couldn’t last 5 days and had to leave the tower.
Now I have a pendant, and since I’ve said I’m dying, she wouldn’t think I would be abandoned.
I patted Raphne’s head, who looked so distressed.
Her fine hair felt good slipping between my fingers.
“Alright. But you can’t sleep with me the night before I die. I’ll die after falling asleep.”
“…Okay.”
I thought she would smile at accepting the condition, but instead, she looked even sadder at the talk of death.
Then she cautiously looked back up at me.
For a fleeting moment, time seemed to freeze as Raphne looked silently at me.
Soon, she flushed red, gently closing her eyes.
…Um, this is.
Feeling shy at that sight, I hesitated for a moment.
“…Mm.”
I closed my eyes too and kissed Raphne on the lips.
I could feel her soft lips and warm breath brushing against me.
Raphne soon wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in.
…Somehow, I feel like she’ll keep wanting this until I die.
The next day.
I finished training with Siegfried and briefly returned to my dorm room.
Standing in front of the bed that would be my grave in a few days, I took something out.
It was an item from a hidden stall that I found during a festival outing with Mary.
A Resurrection Scroll.
Just like its name, if used ahead of time, I could come back to life after a certain period if I die.
For reference, I asked Raphne to keep the body.
I don’t want anyone messing with the cause of my death, like dissecting the corpse.
‘…Is this how I use it?’
I poured magical power into the scroll, just like using other magic items.
Then, blue flames erupted, igniting the scroll.
[ System: Magic scroll has been used. Effect is granted. ]
“Whoa, it worked properly.”
This puts my mind at ease for now.
This resurrection scroll is like an item that allows you to revive at any point in the game, but in reality, it’s a special item only usable for this event.
Originally, if you die in the game, you restart by loading a save.
However, this culprit-finding event occurs randomly, and most players face death early on.
Not dying at the start makes finding the culprit that much harder.
Thus, the game developers prepared this item for those blocked from save loading in hardcore mode.
To skip the event quickly.
“Alright, I’m ready, so shall we head to the academy?”
I wonder how others would react.
In this event, since we don’t know who the culprit is, I can’t carelessly say, “I’ll come back to life!”
They’d likely really think I was dead.
It’s truly shocking when someone you’re close to dies overnight.
‘…A week, huh.’
It’s unavoidable.
I have ways to avoid the curse, but to find the culprit quickly without sacrificing others, this is my best option.
Still, it’s just a week.
Even if it’s sad, I can endure a little longer.
With a heavy heart, I forced a smile and headed toward the academy.
But then.
“…Hey Ken, are you free two days from now?”
Suddenly, Emily asked out of nowhere.
“Uh, huh? Two days from now?”
“…Yeah, remember the meal vouchers we got from the survival event?”
Thinking back, there was indeed something like that.
Surely, it ended with Emily winning after a competition with Mary and forming an alliance with me.
I had completely forgotten in the midst of Raphne’s sudden visit.
No way….
“Is it that day? How about then?”
Emily asked quietly, her face slightly flushed.
‘How do I respond to this?’
Of course, it’s awkward.
Haha, sorry Emily. I’ve got plans to die that day, so let’s have a meal next time.
…There’s no way I could respond like that.
As I was pondering, Emily noticed my hesitation and asked again.
“Is it not a good time…?”
“Um, that day I have a schedule.”
“Oh, I see…”
Emily looked a bit disappointed.
Thankfully, she understood before I even made an excuse that I had plans.
Phew, I could let this slide….
“Then how about the next day?”
But Emily didn’t give up and pressed on.
In fact, her earlier shy expression was now replaced with a confident smile.
But unfortunately for her, I would be scheduled to be dead for the week.
“Sorry, but I… have something going on that day too.”
“Is that so?…Then how about four days from now?”
“Well, that day… I also have a schedule…”
“What about five days from now?”
“…”
I couldn’t manage to respond.
It was tough because Emily’s expression was changing with every refusal.
Her initially shy face turned bolder, but after being turned down several times, she grew increasingly gloomy.
Soon, she was on the verge of tears, glaring at me.
Oh no, I should’ve just made up a schedule or something!
“…What’s with you? If you don’t want to, just say so.”
But before I could even get those words out, Emily’s fury came out faster than my quick wit.
“Fine! You idiot! Just die!”
She turned around and ran away.
“…”
Watching Emily’s figure fade away.
As she ran, small droplets glimmered by her side.
No way, …am I seriously going to die.
Two days later, after being rejected by Ken
Emily had a gloomy morning in her bed.
If everything had gone according to plan, it would have been a day filled with excitement for their date.
But having been completely rejected, Emily’s mood was dampened from the start.
‘…Yeah, …he might not want to eat with me.’
She hadn’t forgotten the things she did to him.
She couldn’t forget the words he spat out in anger.
She had no thoughts of acting as if her wrongdoings didn’t happen because he forgave her.
She just wanted to show her remorse by treating him to a meal.
‘…No.’
Stunned, Emily paused grooming her hair and lowered her head.
Tears she had been holding back that morning began to fall, soaking her knees.
The truth is, she wanted to go on a date with him.
She wished to share a cozy meal together as an excuse to apologize.
But surely that was just her selfish wish.
He had gently rounded about, turning down her invitation.
“…Waaah, if that’s the case, …just say you don’t want to.”
His kindness that made it hard to easily reject someone hurt her heart even more at times like this.
After shedding tears, Emily calmed herself and finally stepped out of her dorm.
‘…I’ll talk to him today.’
The past two days, they hadn’t exchanged words.
Of course, she knew it wasn’t his fault.
But every time she encountered Ken, she felt she would break down into tears, making her hesitant to approach him.
She was certain if she continued like this, their improved relationship would fall apart again.
So, today, she vowed to greet him with a smile.
But.
“Emily━!”
On the way to the academy, she noticed fewer people than usual on the familiar path.
In a hurry, Adrian ran towards her.
“What’s going on?”
His demeanor, usually relaxed, looked unusually tense.
He stood before her, hesitating as if he didn’t know what to say.
“…Emily, I’m not sure how to tell you this, but…”
At his shaky words, Emily dropped the bag she was holding.
