by Sakon Kaidou
I also felt that the name “Audrey” fit her far better than “Marilyn” fit the Trihorn. Though, for all I know, Audrey Hepburn might also be turning in her grave right now.
“The miasma was too thick for me to see what was going on, so I was pretty worried about you guys,” said Rook.
“Well, as you can see, we won,” I stated. “It’s all thanks to you guys.”
“And me, of course!” Nemesis interjected.
“I know that much,” I said. “Thank you, Nemesis.”
“...Y-You’re welcome,” she muttered. “I-It’s fine as long as you’re aware.”
Hm? I thought. What a strange response.
“So everything’s taken care of now,” said Marie.
“Seems like it,” I agreed.
I still had the Superior Killer on my mind, but if he wasn’t here anymore, worrying about him was meaningless. Thus, I left that matter for later.
Using my healing magic and Marie’s potions to restore my HP, we waited for the debuffs to go away. Because the cause of them — the miasma — was gone, the debuffs on me and the carriage people disappeared within ten minutes.
Their leader — a merchant named Alejandro — was beside himself with gratitude. When the people got teary-eyed and thanked us with words like “Without you, my whole family would’ve died,” “You’re lifesavers,” or “We can’t thank you enough,” Rook and I both became a bit bashful.
They, too, were heading towards Gideon, so we offered join them. Personally, since they’d lost a number of escorts in the previous battle and the ones that had survived were not in the best of shape, I was kinda worried about them.
Alejandro instantly — and with great joy — agreed to have us tag along.
After we’d raised up the overturned carriages, I saw the survivors take something out of the pockets of the deceased. Upon further inspection, I realized that they were box-shaped inventories.
A moment later, the survivors stored the remains of the deceased into those boxes. Each and every dead person got stored into their own inventory.
I asked Marie about it, and she said that it was how traveling tians treated their dead — by putting them into those “coffins.”
With monsters terrorizing the roads, tians took the danger of death as a given. If some lost their lives while others survived, the dead would be put into those “coffins” so that they could be sent to their homes and families without decaying. That was why they all carried inventories where they could store themselves.
It made me more aware of how tians — who were always in danger of dying — perceived life and death.
“...Coffins, huh,” I whispered. I’d never cared much for any NPCs who’d died in other games, but it was different here.
It gave me a lump in my throat.
Even if I knew this was a game, I didn’t think I could ever get used to seeing people die here. That might’ve been because Infinite Dendrogram was simply far too realistic.
Or perhaps...
“I... I’ll just leave this for later.” I stopped that train of thought and returned to helping prepare the carriages.
◇
Half a day had passed since we’d gotten back on the road again. Marilyn’s dragon carriage was gently shaking me when I suddenly began to feel extremely sleepy. It was probably caused by me pushing my limits during the battle against Gardranda.
“Why not take a nap? I’ll wake you up if something happens,” offered Marie, and I gladly accepted. Logging out would’ve resulted in me being left behind, so I took a nap while logged in, just like I did at the inn.
Sitting down, I placed my back against the carriage’s cargo and closed my eyes.
Not even five minutes had passed before I felt someone sit next to and lie against me.
Wondering who it was, I opened my eyes and saw Nemesis sleeping with her head placed against my upper arm. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who was tired enough for a nap.
“Man, you sure are quick to fall asleep... Nemesis,” I said. Then I tried to follow her example and closed my eyes again.
However, probably due to having opened my eyes once, I couldn’t fall asleep, and instead began to think about things. Specifically, I remembered the many and various things that had happened since I’d started Infinite Dendrogram.
Despite the fact that only three days had passed in real time, they’d felt extremely dense.
The most vivid memory I’d had so far was the battle against Gardranda. In terms of danger, it might’ve even surpassed my encounter with the Superior Killer.
Not only that, but — probably because Nemesis and I had told each other how we felt about it — the regret I had been haunted with after getting PK’d had faded, and it wasn’t nearly as strong as before.
At the current moment, the dominant feeling in me was the vague pain I felt after seeing the bodies of the tians killed by Gardranda and the goblins.
They were nothing but characters inside Infinite Dendrogram — a game. And yet, my heart was grieving for them as it would grieve for those who’d died in reality.
A part of me felt that such sentiments were wrong. I didn’t know what to say to that idea. Before I realized it, I’d opened my eyes and looked at Nemesis.
She was my Embryo, my partner... and an existence that was limited to the game known as Infinite Dendrogram. However, the longer I looked at her sleeping face, the more I felt like I was looking at a living, breathing girl.
She’s alive, I thought to myself. I just can’t think otherwise.
“‘AI with intelligence equal to that of a person,’ huh?” I murmured. My brother had said that tians — the inhabitants of this world — were recognized as such. “But...” The drowsiness that I’d thought was gone came over me again and slowly overwhelmed my brain.
As my consciousness became more and more vague, I once again began to run my mind through the things I’d thought at the party on my first day.
Liliana and Milianne — tians.
Demi-Dragon Worms and Gardranda — monsters.
And...
“Nemesis...”
...Embryos like her.
They all felt... so alive to me.
“Is this really...”
...just a game?
Before I could voice those words, my consciousness was finally lost to the realm of slumber.
◇◆◇
Undisclosed Location
[“Polaris Bear, Polar Star” was defeated]
[Final level: 83]
[MVP: “God Hunter” Carl Lourlou, level 263 (total level: 763)]
[Embryo: “Indestructible and Everlasting, Nemean Lion”
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Ultimate Suit Series, Polar Star”]
[“Ore Dragon King, Dragnium” was defeated]
[Final level: 64]
[MVP: “Giga Professor” Mr. Franklin, level 198 (total level: 698)]
[Embryo: “Magic Beast Factory, Pandemonium”]
[MVP special reward: Ancient Legendary item, “Ore Dragon King’s Complete Remains, Dragnium”]
[“Navalport Strikefish, Portorpedo” was defeated]
[Final level: 42]
[MVP: “Great Admiral” Koukin Shoyu, level 229 (total level: 729)]
[Embryo: “Great Flame Brewer, Abura-sumashi”]
[MVP special reward: Epic item, “Come-and-Go Torpedo, Portorpedo”]
[“Fox-eyed Charcoal, Enryou” was defeated]
[Final level: 56]
[MVP: “The Glaive” Aono Hokugenin, level 335 (total level: 835)]
[Embryo: N/A]
[MVP special reward: Legendary item, “Incinerating Fox-eye, Enryou”]
[“Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda” was defeated]
[Final level: 24]
[MVP: “Paladin” Ray Starling, level 20 (total level: 20)]
[Embryo: “Maiden of Vengeance, Nemesis”]
[MVP special reward: Legendary item, “Miasmaflame Bracers, Gardranda”]
“Hm?” Surrounded by darkness, still recording and doing its preset activities, it suddenly tilted its head.
Considering that it always did nothing but work without as much as saying a single word, that was a rare occurrence.
“How curious,” it said. “To defeat an UBM that’s above you in level... that is quite rare.”
Its confusion was only natural. UBMs were exceptional creatures far beyond the norm. They all had multiple times the power of any boss monster at the same level. Even high-rank Masters had a hard time fighting them.
Thus, it was extremely rare for a UBM to be defeated by someone of a lower level.
Thinking that this defeat had been the result of a large number of low-level players and that the person had only been selected as an MVP by accident, it opened the battle log. However, the reality was far beyond its expectations.
The person — Ray — had defeated the UBM all by himself.
“Hoh?”
That person was equipped with abilities that were optimal for giant-killing. The mid-battle evolution caused by *** had given him a new ability that was simply perfect for the situation. That person was equipped with an indomitable will.
There were many reasons for his victory, but there was one that particularly stood out.
“He realized it right after destroying the first head,” it said. “That is far too early.”
The creature it acknowledged as an UBM — “Great Miasmic Demon, Gardranda” — was a gathering of traps.
First, there was the head that flagrantly released miasma and flames.
The player would think that to be its weak point and destroy it, but that would cause it to create two new faces on the shoulders.
All of those visages were traps.
Getting rid of them would not only fail to destroy Gardranda — it would cause it to be strengthened even further.
Even if all its heads were destroyed, it would go through more transformations and become even more powerful than before.
It was completely indestructible as long as the core within its stomach was intact.
Due to that, it had expected Gardranda to grow into a particularly powerful UBM. In fact, it wouldn’t have been surprised if the demon had reached level 100 — the apex of UBMs and the greatest level available to monsters — and broken through it to join the ranks of the exceptions known as SUBMs — Superior Unique Boss Monsters.
However, in reality, this low-rank Master had been able to miraculously defeat Gardranda and stop its growth process.
“Well, there’s no use in overthinking it,” it said. “Such cases aren’t unheard of. I will keep this in mind in my future work.”
It finished analyzing the battle and closed the battle log window.
However, its thoughts suddenly escaped through its mouth as words.
“Whatever the case, this is reason to be joyous. It’s all meaningless if only the current Superiors grow stronger. If no new powers emerge, we will never have a hundred Superiors... and never reach Infinity.”
After nodding at its own words, it took another glance at Ray’s log and continued talking.
“Now... I wonder if he will make good use of Gardranda.”
Imagining the future, it formed a faint smile.
“Whether you do or not... just grow stronger while having fun. To you people, this world — from start to finish — is nothing but a game.”
And so, control AI No. 4, Jabberwock — the one tasked with handling UBMs — returned to its busy, busy job.
Afterword
Bear: “Time for the afterword!”
Cat: “Thank you very much for buying the first voluume!”
Bear: “As you all can surely tell by the words next to our speech, this afterword will be presented by yours truly — his bearliness Shu Starling...”
Cat: “...and the only Dendro cat so far, Control AI no. 13 — Cheshiire! Just so you all know, at first, the author was thinking of acting proper and greeting his dear readers directlyy...”
Bear: “...but changed his mind and figured that Dendro is best represented by its mascot duo!”
Bear: “Now, bear with us as we tell you how it got published.”
Cat: “Good ideaa. It happened about 11 months ago. The author looked into his inbox on Shōsetsuka ni Narō and found a message from a sender whose name was in red... The red name caused him to quake with fear, but he somehow got himself to read the subject line. It said ‘Publishing Offer.’ It was actually an offer from Hobby Japan’s editor, K!”
Bear: “Naturally, the author was surprised, fur he never expected to get contacted by a publisher whose releases he’d read in his school years.”
Cat: “The author replied with a cautiously optimistic message, soon after which he had to go to a preparatory meeting...”
Bear: “...where he received an explanation and quickly sealed the publication deal with a contract.”
Cat: “However, there was a problem after that... Well, ‘problem’ might not be the right word.”
Bear: “Basically, Editor K raised his expectations and standards so high that the author’s heart couldn’t bear it.”
Cat:
“‘The illustrations will be done by Taiki,’ said the editor.
‘The one who does those designs? I’m so happy!’ replied the author.
‘A month before it releases, we’re putting Dendro leaflets in HJ Bunko,’ said the editor.
‘Wow! That’s so much advertising!’ replied the author.
‘It’s also getting a dedicated site and a preview video,’ said the editor.
‘Y-You’re going that far?!’ replied the author.
‘I’ll also get fifty artists to draw something in support of Dendro,’ said the editor, and at this point, the author could only shake uncontrollably.”
Bear: “All of this is completely true.”
Cat: “The author will be at ease if the work sells well enough to meet Editor K’s expectations. I earnestly hope that this afterword is read by many people, and that means the book is selliing.”
Bear: “Last, but not least, put your paws together for the author’s words of gratitude!”
Hello there.
I would like to give my thanks to everyone who bought Infinite Dendrogram Volume 1, everyone who supported my work on Shōsetsuka ni Narō, my sister — who checked on every part before I uploaded it — and, of course, Hobby Japan and their editor, K, for picking my work for publication.
I will keep on writing Infinite Dendrogram and do my best to live up to your expectations, so I would be thankful if you continued to support me.
Regards, Sakon Kaidou.
Cat: “Now that that’s over, let us meet again in volume twoo!”
Bear: “This afterword was brought to you by Brother Bear...”
Cat: “...and Cheshiire!”
Bear: “The second volume is planned to be released in the coming months, so grin and bear it until then!”
Table of Contents
Cover
Color Illustrations
Chapter Zero: Infinite Dendrogram
Chapter One: Nemesis
Chapter Two: Dinner and Intentions
Chapter Three: Starting Point
Chapter Four: Tomb Labyrinth
Chapter Five: Superior
Chapter Six: The Cat’s Tea Party
Chapter Seven: The Ordeal of Rookies
Epilogue
Afterword
About J-Novel Club
Copyright
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Copyright
Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 1
by Sakon Kaidou
Translated by Andrew Hodgson and Nick Nomura
Edited by Emily Sorensen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 Sakon Kaidou
Illustrations Copyright © 2016 Taiki
Cover illustration by Taiki
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2016 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2017 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: July 2017