kscans

Chapter 233 - An Item Unknown to the Administrator

Hayato tried to somehow organize the information, but his mind refused to work properly.

He understood the meaning and the situation, but the content was difficult to accept.

Death did not visit this virtual reality. But that was only a story about the virtual reality characters not dying. If one's real body died, they would die in this world too.

Ignoring Hayato's confusion, Diite continued speaking.

"And we made a promise, a contract, that he would wake up and receive treatment once a cure was found. That's why there's no such thing as an item to avert the undying sleep. If he were to be woken up by force, the disease's progression would accelerate and his real body would be in danger."

"I see, so that's how it is..."

"Hayato-kun, I think you're shocked, but please be at ease. If they enter a complete sleep through cryosleep, they can live for a hundred or even two hundred years. We can't stop their real body's time completely, but a cure will be found while they sleep. It might be lonely not being able to talk to them, but it's not like they're dying."

Diite said that, but to Hayato, it sounded just a little sad. Not because of Mist's circumstances, but because Diite was the one who said it.

"That part of you is very machine like, Diite-chan..."

"Eh...? What do you mean?"

"They might not be dead, but you can't talk to someone who's asleep anymore, right? If you don't know when a cure will be found, there's a possibility you'll never be able to speak to them again, isn't there? To me, that's close to being deceased."

It wasn't Diite's fault, but because he had been told something so important after the fact, Hayato's words came out sounding a bit accusatory.

It was Diite who panicked.

"I, I am sorry, Hayato-kun. That's right, you all have lifespans. You can't live for a hundred or two hundred years. I want you to believe me, I didn't mean it with any malice at all..."

Diite's flustered voice now made Hayato panic. It would be more accurate to say it sobered him up.

"Sorry, I went too far. I understand, of course. There's no way you would do something like that, Diite-chan. I apologize for saying you were machine like, and for speaking so accusingly. I'm really sorry."

"No, it's not something you need to apologize for, Hayato-kun. This is my problem. I must learn more about humans... that aside, I'm going to examine Mist-kun now."

"Eh?"

"It's true I made a contract with Mist-kun and the others regarding the undying sleep. But that was only for when the disease progressed. In Mist-kun's case, his situation shouldn't have been that severe. He was supposed to enter sleep sooner than everyone else, but there's no way it should have been this soon. He should have been fine for at least a few more years."

"What do you mean, he was supposed to enter sleep sooner than everyone else?"

"Right, I should tell you, Hayato-kun. First, Mist-kun is a doctor. By some twist of fate, Mist-kun contracted the same disease as the patients he was treating."

"What?"

"A surgeon, you could say. He was called a master physician at the time. And Damian-kun is his colleague."

"I had no idea."

"And the other members of the Ten Undead Heroes are their patients. Please don't be angry when you hear this, but in order to recruit Mist-kun to this world, I proposed cryosleep for his patients. The spaceship had the latest cryosleep technology at the time, so I brought in the master physicians Mist-kun and Damian-kun with the promise of letting their patients on board."

"Diite-chan..."

"No, well. You don't seem angry, but you do seem exasperated. I think I was a terrible person back then. I regret it now. But that aside, Mist-kun said he wanted to cure everyone himself once a treatment was discovered. He didn't know if the cure would be just taking medicine or if it would require surgery, but either way, he said he wanted to look after his patients as their doctor until the very end."

"So, you mean he planned to go to sleep before the disease progressed so he could cure his patients himself?"

"Exactly. This disease causes the body to gradually become immobile. If it progressed to the point where Mist-kun could no longer provide treatment, he wouldn't be able to cure his patients. But even taking that into consideration, it's far too early for Mist-kun to fall asleep. That's why I'm going to examine him directly. It's less of an examination and more of a data check. It's faster to access his data directly than to look at it from here. I'm going now."

"Thank you, Diite-chan."

"It's nothing to be thanked for. But, I suppose I will have some coffee."

"I'll brew the highest quality."

Hayato ended the voice chat with Diite and returned to Mist's room.

When he told them Diite was coming, Damian showed his disapproval.

"Someone from the church is coming? Mist and I are vampires, you know. Or are you saying we can be cured by reversing the vampirism?"

"Damian-san, you've never met Diite-chan, have you. It's alright, she's just going to check on Mist-san's condition."

NPCs like nuns and priests from the church act aggressively when they see vampires. It's part of their roleplay, but Diite doesn't engage in that kind of thing.

Also, a player with Holy Magic at 100 can use a spell to reverse vampirism. Since Necromancy and Holy Magic are skills that cannot be learned together, one has to ask another player to reverse the vampirism.

Damian must have been worried about what would be done to him because of those facts.

To dispel his anxiety, Hayato told Damian various things about Diite.

While they were talking, Diite arrived.

Since six people in the room was too crowded, Rose and the Maid Chief went out into the hallway. Only Mist in his coffin, Hayato, Damian, and Diite remained inside.

"You must be Damian-kun. A pleasure to meet you, I am Diite."

"I am Damian. You're from the church, yet you're helping us?"

"Of course. I am in Hayato-kun's clan, after all. That makes me Mist-kun's comrade."

"...I see. My thanks."

Damian bowed his head and stepped away from Mist's coffin.

Diite took his place, moving right next to Mist. She knelt beside the coffin, placing her left knee on the floor, and held her right hand over Mist.

She could probably analyze his data without doing all that, but Hayato figured she was putting on a show since Damian was there.

After about a minute, Diite withdrew her hand and stood up.

"As far as I can tell, it's the undying sleep. He should awaken with that item from the lowest floor of the Necropolis."

"You seem to be a sister who knows a lot. Or did Hayato tell you?"

"Ah, well..."

Hayato panicked, having been put on the spot.

Diite had said there was no item to avert the undying sleep, but now she was saying such an item existed, so he wasn't sure what was what.

"No, I have heard a little, but I also get information from another source. I am a person of the church, after all. I have done quite a bit of research on vampires."

"I see. People of the church believe in God. I suppose it wouldn't be strange to have information from God."

"That's right. It would be best to leave Mist-kun as he is. I will check on my end to see if there's any other information. Damian-kun, I would like you all to continue aiming for the lowest floor of the Necropolis."

"Understood. It's a blow that Mist can't participate in the assault, but it can't be helped. Besides, with Hayato and his friends' help, we should be able to reach the lowest floor without issue."

"Please do so. Now then, Hayato-kun, this is all I can do. I believe you owe me a cup of coffee."

"Eh? Ah, yeah."

"I'll stay here a little longer. Let me know if anything happens."

"Yes, please do."

Hayato and Diite went out into the hallway. There, he explained the situation to the waiting Rose and Maid Chief, and they dispersed.

Then Hayato and Diite moved to the dining hall.

There was no one else in the hall, just Hayato and Diite.

Hayato placed coffee for Diite and himself on the table. Then he sat down facing her.

Diite hadn't come outside with him just because she wanted coffee. Guessing she probably had something she wanted to say, Hayato spoke first.

"Did you figure something out?"

"Mist-kun is definitely in a state of undying sleep. I checked his real body, and there are no problems there. It's not a case of his illness progressing rapidly, just that he entered sleep much earlier than planned."

"That's good... right?"

"Yes. In his current state, it's not like anything will happen to him immediately even if he wakes up. The problem, however, is that there is, without a doubt, an item on the lowest floor of the Necropolis that can undo that sleep."

"Is that a problem?"

"Of course it is. For me, I mean. I never prepared such an item. I didn't give Infinity instructions to create one either. The problem is why such a thing exists."

"So it's your problem. Can you guess the reason?"

"The highest probability is that Hypnos did it. Ah, I don't mean now, I mean back around the time of the Stampede event."

Hayato nodded.

Diite's backup AI, Hypnos, had schemed in various ways to take Diite's place. Diite was saying that this was part of those schemes.

"Could there be something in the Necropolis that can defeat you, Diite-chan?"

"I wonder? Hypnos should have only been able to change the settings for the Stampede event. The Necropolis dungeon has been around for a long time, but it wasn't involved in the Stampede, so I have my doubts about whether it could have meddled with it. That said, it's the most likely possibility for now. I plan to investigate that next."

"I see. If Hypnos was involved in this, you could be in danger, Diite-chan, so please be careful."

"You're right. I will be careful. While I'm investigating, I want you and your friends to explore the Necropolis, Hayato-kun. There's no doubt the item is there... and, well, you want to talk with Mist-kun again, don't you, Hayato-kun?"

Perhaps bothered by what he pointed out during their voice chat, Diite looked up at Hayato, her gaze slightly probing.

Hayato felt he had been a little mean and decided to follow up.

"Diite-chan, I'm sorry about before. You're usually so human like, you know, so I was just a little surprised when you said something like that. So please don't worry about it."

"...It helps to hear you say that. But, I see, I'm usually human like. That might be a failing for an AI, but for some reason, it makes me happy."

(I don't know which of them is correct as an AI, Diite-chan or Hypnos, but I definitely like Diite-chan better...)

Hayato thought to himself as he exchanged information with Diite.