＜Infinite Dendrogram＞

□ ■ March 2004???

After completing my college exam, I started a memorial < Infinite Dendrogram >.

more so. This game was released three years after High School. "The timing sucks..." moaned all my friends in the same year who withheld from college.

It was also regrettable that those who had already abandoned their exams and those who inherited the family business of their personal shops played leisurely and talked with pleasure about it.

The exam was then successfully challenged with the thought of "definitely passing and playing", typing into the study without losing the temptation within me.

That's how I got the hardware I was waiting to arrive and today is my first login.

"It's really real... The wind is hot."

I chose a country called Cardina.

A commercial country in the desert. The dry wind that has come through the desert finely irritates the skin. I've never stood in the desert before, but I think it's real.

The city I descended from is said to be the commercial city of Cortana.

There were numerous open-air stands on the city's boulevards and merchants selling a variety of products with enthusiasm.

He's a very big, vibrant city, but not the capital of Cardina, his country.

Anything, the capital changes the strength of the monsters around it because it's moving, and it's not for lowering beginners. That's why I'm dropping you off at this cortana instead, the cat in charge of my making said.

Indeed, level 1. Level 0, which isn't even on any jobs yet. If I'm dropped off in a high level zone in this condition, I'll pack it.

I'll have to pick a job later and raise the level.

But we haven't even hatched the rumor yet.

After Embrio hatches, we'll be touring the exotic city with this Infinite Dendrogram.

The city of Cortana has a sight like the Arabian Night seen in picture books and animated films as a child.

The vibrant bazaar had many magical items sold in various shapes and colors, yet not in real life.

However, the funds are five silver coins I received from the cat at the reception during the making of the avatar… I cannot buy such items because it is only 5000 lil.

All I could buy was about the food I sell in the street.

I don't know what kind of meat it is. Buy skewers and buy bagged fried confectionery for dessert. Not a little sweet enough, but just right for eating while walking.

When I do this, I seem to be in an overseas tourist destination rather than say I'm playing games.

... or I can't believe this is the game more than an hour after I log in.

Both the environment conveyed by the five senses and the people who spoke in the stalls only seem authentic.

When the hell was the technology of mankind so far advanced?

◇

"... that"

He was entering an unpopular area as he walked through the city thinking.

I'm lonely somewhere, and I don't see any shards of vibrancy that filled me up to the last minute.

It was just built so that only old buildings could be pushed in.

Walk through that compartment wondering how different the atmosphere is in one city.

…………

That's how I was walking...... my eyes looked at it.

A narrow alley, between stone buildings and buildings.

A little through that entrance, a girl was lowering her hips to the ground and keeping her back on the wall.

The child was thin enough to see at first sight.

It looks worse than the children in the news of the refugees I've seen before.

There's no family or anyone beside her like that.

Just alone, where I kept my back on the wall.

…………

She moved her neck just a little like that, and she looked at me.

No, it's not me watching... it's the bag of fried confectionery I kept.

I wonder what that treat that I thought was "not sweet enough" looked like to her.

He lifts his arms thinner than a dead tree and reaches out to me.

But his hips never rose off the ground, his arms trembled, and his movements were too stiff.

I pulsed hard on the trick, on the motion, so that my heart could be tightened up.

"Oh, oh! I'll give you! I'll give you!

I approached her, spitting those words out of my mouth.

In my head, I try to think of things, but empty, to the appearance of a girl I've only ever seen as "miserable".

But the words and body were already in motion.

I couldn't leave you alone.

I can't watch this girl, and I'm approaching her and offering her a bag of sweets.

The girl reaches into a bag of sweets, but can't get her hands in it, and her hands cut off over and over again.

"I'll feed you now..."

I pick one treat and get softly close to her mouth.

The girl slowly opened her mouth, trying to cheek up the treat,

Keep it up... I solidified my mouth movement.

"... Huh?

A treat away from my finger rolls to the ground.

I don't know what's going on, I touch her cheek in fear.

The girl's body, which was like a dead tree, slowly fell over just that.

It doesn't move.

"... Huh?

The fallen girl, she doesn't move.

I wanted to think I fell asleep.

But her eyes were open.

I can't even see the sparkle in my eyes.

Even though there was dust on the ground, not a grain of sand was moving near her mouth or nose.

Only when the ants were crawling through the girl's face.

"Ah, ah...?

Touching her dry wrist...... there was nothing pulse there.

In front of her, the girl, who doesn't even know her name, starved, lean,

.................. He was dead.

◇

Then I'm uncertain about a few hours of memory.

I remember my own throat screaming.

I also remember you desperately logging out screaming.

I don't remember thinking about going into bed afterwards and wearing a blanket.

But I remember thinking more than once about "why did you make it Cardina," "how did you make your perspective real," "why did you walk down that road," and "why... did you start < Infinite Dendrogram >?

< Infinite Dendrogram > is a real game.

It should have been a game.

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

Like I felt real about a desert city I had never visited.

I've cut the sight of a child dying of thin and fading that I never should have seen before... feeling like it's real (real).

If you close the lid, the girl's moment of death floats over and over again.

"Why... why, you know..."

Trying to wipe that sight away from your memory won't make you disappear.

The brutal shock of death I've touched for the first time and... regret won't let me go away.

Over and over again, the moment the girl dies and… that feeling when she drops the last treat she asks for and ended up not eating, she reflates.

"At least... at least..."

At least, at the end of the day, if I could have fed her that treat... or maybe I had no strong regrets so far.

But that doesn't happen anymore.

I can't start over what's done.

Dead girls don't come back to life.

I really... the last time I didn't get it doesn't disappear from my memory.

"Of the game, it's supposed to be a game..."

The game's NPC is dead, that's all it's supposed to be.

My mind won't let that (...) end with (...).

Then he continued to regret it with tears in his bed for hours.

That's how I thought.

"... that kid's, funeral"

That kid is dead.

But I had hope that if I turned to the flowers for burial or prayed in front of the grave, this regret would also fade a little.

"That treat, too, needs to be served..."

I took the < Infinite Dendrogram > hard with my trembling hands and logged in again.

◇

In < Infinite Dendrogram >, three times more time had elapsed than in real life.

It is already midnight, the lights are much less than the real of something, and the city is dim.

However, due to the proximity of the location where I logged out, I quickly traced the girl to the dead alley.

But......

"I'm not... No, it is, right?"

There were no more girls' bodies in the alley.

I was sure my family would take me home and bury me.

Or if you're not close, maybe the church will bury you.

Then at least we have to offer this treat before the grave and pray......

I spoke to a policeman who was walking nearby to find out where her cemetery was.

"Excuse me."

"Hmm? What is it, < master >?"

"Um, I'd like to know where the kid who was here was buried."

"Kids? What kids?

"I'm a child who died in an alley over there during the day..."

"... oh. If you're an orphan who died on the street, it's off the north."

"Oh, thank you!

I thanked the policeman and ran out to the northern detachment.

"But I'd rather not go..."

The voice from behind, I didn't hear it very well.

◇

On the outskirts of the north, it was there.

Even from the gates of the city, it is far enough away on foot.

It was in the desert, with a wide array of fences to which I was sorry.

Like the border of a cemetery.

But that wasn't a cemetery.

There were no tombstones there, and there weren't even any graves.

It's just...

It's just... only a few bodies are piling up.

on a dry desert,

a corpse dried without rotting;

a corpse eaten and boned by insects;

A corpse with meat that has not yet dried is folded.

"Huh..."

If you noticed, you were vomiting.

Doubt and fear ravage the back of my brain like a torrent as to why such a sight is here.

"... Huh?

Near the entrance, only signs were erected.

Floater Body Disposal Site, and.

This is what the description that was written underneath says.

"Because there is no space in Cortana to fill the bodies of stray people who do not pay taxes, nor can the cost of fuel from cremation be twisted, stray people are buried in the desert. or shall be a bird burial or worm burial by a monster '

◇

Cortana flourishes in this desert by savepoint and oasis.

But that is not to a limited extent, nor can it be extended like any other national territory.

The location of the cemetery is even finite...... and it is money that most prominently represents the nature of the cardina, in this cortana...... even the right to enter the cemetery is determined by money.

And all the bodies of stray children who cannot possibly have the money to pay, etc. are thrown out of the city.

That's what I'm just saying, I don't even spare the expense of burying it in the sand.

Later I found out, but that was Cortana's mayor's policy now.

◇

Cemetery… I could read the description of the abandonment yard.

Automatically translated characters are easy to read.

But I don't understand.

Even if I could understand it with my head, I couldn't understand my mind.

I understand the logic, but I didn't understand that you were putting it into practice.

Because the society I have ever lived in reality should have been able to go to the grave, even if I were a vagrant.

Since I came to this < Infinite Dendrogram > … I have learned the most unrealistic sensation.

".................. ah"

That's how I found it.

At the top of the pile of corpses, I found the body of a girl who still had skin and hair on top of a number of corpses already on the verge of becoming bones.

Dead in front of me, the girl's body.

…………

I should have come to pray.

I should have come to serve you.

But I can't even do that to myself right now.

I got to my knees, unable to do anything, and only diverted my gaze from her sight.

……

There was another sign ahead of me that deviated.

There, it says:

"Freedom to take out the body. However, the resuscitation of the dead by the exercise of" Necromancer "in the city shall be prohibited '

The phrase that the body was free was shocking.

But thinking, "If the body disappears, the space in this abandonment yard will be empty for that matter" might be a good fit for a place to drain this humane flavour and reasonably pass.

But......

"" Necromancer... Art "? Of the dead, resuscitation?

Then the wording is as if it could bring the dead back to life.

No, is it possible?

If there is magic, there is magic that brings the dead back to life.

"Oh, oh..."

But bring the dead back to life in the hands of men.

That's unethical.

At least it's something I shouldn't be a religion I've ever believed in.

But if, if you can do that...

If that's possible......

"If you can get rid of this regret..."

- I thought it was okay to break ethics like that... strongly.

At that moment, the back of my left hand emits a purple light,

"- Accepted. Then it will be the way of the concubine."

- A strange girl stood beside me.

"... Huh?

The girl, in a nutshell, was' purple '.

He knits purple hair and wears an ancient Greek style dress in purple.

But only those eyes were pitch-black that seemed to swallow.

"You, what?

"The concubine's name is Persepone. The flesh and soul of that one, and the thing that was born more than the cry of the heart. of them and TYPE: Maiden with Castle Territory"

"Perl, sepone?

"See you later, My Master"

The girl who bears the name of the Queen of the Underworld… My < Embrio > thanked her like a lady for saying so.

"So, quick, but you want to use the power of a concubine?

"Chi, from?

"Uhm. A concubine can bring this girl back to life"

"... really!?"

I grabbed both shoulders of Persephone when I realized that word.

"But concubines are just the first form of birth. It takes a beautiful body of its own to bring it back to life, and the time to return to the Yellow Springs is short."

"What is it..."

"The concubine can return that girl - only three minutes (...) Yellow Springs"

It took time to swallow the words of Persephone.

"3. Minutes..."

That's a really short time.

The anecdote of Persephone, who became the motif...... even shorter than when he tried to resurrect Orpheus' wife, it should be noted.

Or, if it's enough to bring you back to life and let you die twice, it would be better not to bring you back to life for such a short time.

But three minutes.

Three minutes, if any......

…………

A bag of sweets I kept holding in my hand... made a noise with the casserole.

◆

There was a girl's body lying in front of me.

The only difference is that you have a serene face somewhere.

The girl came back to life.

He didn't seem to remember him dying, and he was reaching for me like a near-death refrain.

To her like that, I... now it's time to give her a treat.

She ate sweets that looked delicious.

"I guess you're doing the last thing that was untrained," Persepone said.

She, sobbing her sweets on her cheeks...... returned to the body after three minutes.

…………

I didn't know if what I did was right.

I brought her back to life only to wipe the untrained and fearful of me that left her... and let her die again.

The final words are:

"I'm glad it's so good to have something so good"

Words as if they were born to taste sweets now.

Testimony that I've never been happier.

She left it and died again.

"You can't have such a life...!!"

The delightful face of a girl in tears.

But...... was that really the salvation?

"... whichever way"

Either way, I won't forget what happened today.

And I'm sure... you'll never log in to < Infinite Dendrogram > again.

".................. ah"

Persepone tried to say something to me about logging out.

I look back at her, but she keeps reaching for her lack of location and says nothing more.

I don't know what's in it.

I know very little about her.

All I know is that it is my < Embrio > and that it only brought the girl back to life for three minutes.

However, thanks to her...... one untrained may have been fulfilled.

That... I guess I should be thankful.

That's what I thought. I tried to log out,

……

Huh... Reminds me.

"Embrio" is an evolving thing.

Persepone now...... newborn she can only resuscitate for three minutes.

But what if...

"My Master?

"... Persepone, one thing... I'd like to hear"

I look into Persepone's pitch-black eyes and ask.

"If you evolve, will the limits of resuscitation disappear?

…………

Evolve.

Then if Persephone evolves...... I wonder if her restrictions will go away too.

"... could be... possible"

"Right..."

When I heard that word, Persephone, who was looking at my face, somehow distorted my expression.

I wonder what I looked like.

Are you laughing, crying, or regretting what you heard?

But they're all the same.

The possibilities were shown.

"I'm sure there are many children in this world (...) who will die that way..."

My mouth naturally called < Infinite Dendrogram > the world (...).

"There are a lot of kids in the past and in the future in this city alone who are at the same end of the line as that kid... Unfortunately, I don't even know that I'll be saved... by the children who are dead. Live without even knowing the slightest happiness of eating sweets... a child who just dies..."

That's a world I didn't know about.

So much, I didn't know there was an unfortunate world.

I was not convinced by the irrationality of this world.

"But that kid... seemed happy. Must have been saved at the end...... I want to think so"

"Mm-hmm. So he's got his chest up and into the original world..."

So I wanted to cover it up.

"- Of all the unfortunate children, only that child"

- Now, only that kid was saved.

- Then, it's not enough.

"... what do you want to say?

"It's only three minutes now."

Grabbing Persepone's shoulder with a frightening expression, I... talk about our possibilities.

"But if you evolve and become strong, if you deliver ahead of that power... maybe you can save all the children who have died that way and give them a second raw without time limits"

"The other side...!

Save the child who has had all the unfortunate deaths.

Think realistically, that's impossible.

But she had already done it once, something that was supposed to be impossible.

Or if I could save all the kids... would the feeling of wanting to smash their heads, engraved in this heart, also disappear...?

No, - you should disappear.

"Such a thing is only a miracle too far into people's hands......! Too much, I can't stop......! My concubine told < Super Embrio >... I don't even know if it's going to happen when I get there!

"If you don't understand... it could come true"

"Aiming in itself is only a ordeal for them! You should dump this one and go back over there!

"I can't do that..."

Because I already know.

Because an unacceptable misfortune has made me know that there is a world.

Save the soul of a dead child until I can convince myself.

Otherwise... my heart will never heal.

So I...... choose this path (...).

"Let's be strong. I'm strong, and so are you. Repeat that, one way or the other, we'll get there. This world is like that...... what is it...?

…………

Persepone seemed to be worried about something.

But for a little while... meditate...

"... ok"

Nodded.

I'm glad to hear that.

Oh, now... you don't have to give up.

"... let's go on. One day, to fulfill our wishes..."

"... oh. One day, praying for their wishes and those of their concubines to come true."

That's how we swear to each other.

"To bring all the children back to life who have had an unfortunate death (...)... to live a happy life"

No more wishes, in Benetnache (me) and Persepone (her) … to come true.

◆ ◆ ◆

■ April 2045 - City Mercava

…………

In one of the cities of Cardina, in the corner of Mercava...... Persepone wakes up.

Sleeping on her back, she was now looking up at the cloudless sky.

"... again, that dream"

What she was seeing was a dream the day she was born.

The cry of Benetnache's heart, and hence her begotten.

Benetnache lives here as if he had an interminable wish and abandoned the other side (real).

Or, if you are someone else... this may not have happened in the face of the same event.

But he's the one with the soil of mind that produces Persepone, which is why this turned out.

"... even if you regret it, you won't regret it"

On that day, a journey began between Benetnache, who had a near-impossible wish in < Infinite Dendrogram > and dedicated real life for it, and Persephone, which was likely to stop by him.

Ever since that day, Persepone has been where he hasn't seen it...... repentant.

He made him a prisoner of his own with this world...

At that time, it was Persepone's voice that held him back from logging out.

Benetnache's heart is known to Persephone.

At that time, I also knew I was going to log out that I would never go back.

But as soon as I was born, I couldn't stand to be separated from < Master >.

So when that untrained leaked out of his mouth in words, Benetnache turned Persephone, realizing the possibilities, but for... retained him in this world.

How much of his life in the two worlds has been damaged by that.

He keeps drowning, holding a heavy stone he can't hold. It would help if I abandoned it, but I suffer extensively because I can't do it.

Since then, I have regretted it many times.

She was the first to regret the appearance of Benetnache, which shrunk physically and mentally.

So he said I could go home. He said I could give up. Because I couldn't even be Super Embrio. I uttered words to scratch out the possibilities I once said.

But already, there's nothing more to be done with her words...... Benetnache's heart was on this side.

We can no longer put him back on the other side except to accomplish his purpose.

So now, with all due respect... on the contrary, I pull his hand.

At the very least, we behave strongly in front of him so that Benetnache's heart doesn't break any more, demonstrating the hidden possibility that we have a future to wish for ahead of us.

But the act also makes her feel guilty.

So always...... Persepone wakes up with regret.

…………

Persepone closes his eyes and gently puts his hands on his chest.

The spiritual soul of the unfortunate dead child, picked up everywhere, sleeps in her inner spiritual peace chamber.

As if the time of mind had stopped...... or frozen sleep.

She doesn't know if the time will come to wake up.

She suspects that there is more than...

But until that power can have the power that Benetnache wants... she doesn't know either.

"Oh...... You were awake, Persephone."

In her ear as she was meditating, she heard the voice of Benetnache.

When I opened my eyes, there was the same lean face and thin body Benettonache as usual.

"Are you back, sir"

Striving to calm down his expression, Persepone answers.

"What about Vina and Trim?

"I'm still shopping."

Vina and Trim, named by Persepone, are Benetnache party members.

Tian, a child, … is a dead person (...).

The power Persephone gained in the course of evolution… Children revived by their skills of 'Resurrecting the Dead of the Suitable Tian as [Great Necromancer (Rich)].

Those of aptitude were rare, only two, even picking up the souls of many children.

But even with the harm of undead... I can also say that I had a job and was able to continuously resuscitate as someone who was seen as human.

... that's also one reason Benettonache hasn't given up hope.

"So how was the end of the information-gathering, sir? It was empty the other day."

Recently, in accordance with the contract at Cortana, the information that Benetnache wanted came through < Sephiroto >.

It's a prize for UBM beads that are reinforced by resentment in the “tournament" that opens in the kingdom.

Handling resentment is important to Benetnache's wishes.

Because even if it revives a child, if it melts into resentment, it won't come true either.

However, Persepone stopped before heading to the kingdom on the matter.

Persephone's source… because 'who knows more about beads than anyone' denied it. "That's not what that is," he said.

But it wasn't because I knew it was empty.

I didn't stop at [De Welmis], who also had information, and this time for a different reason.

It is now said that war is on the verge of opening in the kingdom and empire.

To such a land… Persepone stopped because he thought that if he went to an area where the death of an innocent child could increase, his heavy stones would increase.

That's how today, Benetnache was walking through the city in search of another piece of information.

"... the city was also less developed than any other information network."

The biggest source of information in Infinite Dendrogram is but Benetnache is not used.

Because Benetnache, the [Pluto], can interact with the dead.

I know what happened 2,000 years ago and what history has become since.

What have they done in this land, known as Managed AI?

That's why I wouldn't even call it hostile... but I have distrust.

It may be on my palm at the time I'm logged in with my avatar, but I still don't want to get close, nor do I get close to the < DIN > that supposedly has the admin AI in the back.

"but... got a message for me"

"Message?"

I just received the information from < Sephiroto > the other day, but Persephone thinks he has sent me new information again.

"The sender is a man named Star Tune. [Reporter] It says,"

"That's a name you don't ask. Contents…"

"It's an item of civilization from earlier periods, and he's got a clue about the stuff I need... Apparently"

"... what is that?

To a name that doesn't sound familiar, it's like a fraudulent winning email.

Persepone is strongly surprised...

"And... he also wants to talk about the [Amber Abyss] squad. It had the names of all of them."

"... Hmm?

[Amber Abyss] The squad is the dead called by Persephone in Cortana… those who drove the weapons of civilization in earlier periods.

But whatever the name of the weapon, it's not normal to even know the crew information...

It was a testament left to being a person deeply involved in civilization in earlier periods, and he was interested in the 'items Benetnache needs' presented by such a person.

Or... it could be something to help him with his wishes, he said.

"... what do we do?

To Persephone's inquiry, Benetnache smiled... his cheeks were not moving in an attempt to float.

"... it's been decided. My goal is…"

I can't make a smile. I make a smile, and that's what Benetnache said.

◆

To conclude, they decided to ride her invitation.

Star Tune - For the invitation of [Crystal Moderator].

Once again, the fate of one Super... moved.

To be continued