Chapter 89

Diary (2)

A tiger leaves behind its hide when it dies, while a person leaves behind their name.

It was a proverb expressing a defining trait of humanity: one should accomplish great things in life and leave behind a name that will shine for generations to come.

Humans possessed the highest intelligence of all animals, but they still retained their instincts as living creatures.

One of those was the desire to leave something behind.

Whether that something was children, a name, or achievements didn't matter.

There was a reason so many people lived and died for "honor."

After all, one's honor determined just how great a name one would leave to future generations.

That was how strong the human desire to leave behind a legacy was.

Keeping a diary fulfilled that desire as well.

It might seem childish, but it was actually quite a profound hobby.

People kept diaries for all sorts of reasons, but ultimately, it was an act of "leaving" a record behind.

The diaries left by great historical figures, in particular, could possess immense academic value and frequently even reshape our understanding of history.

Even the diary of an ordinary person could hardly be called worthless.

An ordinary person's diary might seem unimpressive at first glance, but their life was embedded within its pages.

Others could gain wisdom from it or learn from their mistakes.

It had more than enough value.

Did I... say something I shouldn't have?

Snow-white hair and skin.

A beautiful face and a cold-looking demeanor.

Selena, a woman who had suffered from an extraordinarily difficult-to-treat disease before regaining her vitality with Grylls's help, was anxious.

Her expression was as cold as ever, but the trembling in her eyes betrayed how she truly felt.

What if I hurt Mr. Grylls by saying that?

Selena understood Grylls's situation well.

Certain death, and death that could strike at any moment.

There was a subtle difference between the two, but both had one thing in common.

They were intimately close to death.

Thanks to Grylls, she had now been completely freed from the fear of imminent death, but that didn't mean she had forgotten the terror.

If anything, she knew all too well just how frightening death was.

That feeling that had once seemed capable of driving her insane at any moment.

Although her fear had gradually faded once she entered the stage of "resignation," she still remembered the feeling vividly.

For someone in Mr. Grylls's situation, keeping a diary is something you'd usually do once you've reached the stage of resignation....

Keeping a diary itself was a good thing.

The mere act of leaving something behind had meaning.

But when people close to "death" began keeping diaries, it was usually because they had reached the stage of resignation.

Either they were quietly waiting for death, or preparing for a death that might come at any moment.

It was fairly common and, from one perspective, almost like a final desperate struggle.

Did he really come from another world?

The problem was Grylls himself.

Selena carefully studied the photograph he had sent her.

It showed a notebook filled with unfamiliar characters.

Even she, who had mastered numerous foreign languages, had never seen the script before.

Even languages from remote frontier nations often shared similarities.

It was easiest to think of them as dialects of one another.

But the writing in Grylls's photograph wasn't a dialect.

It was an entirely new writing system.

If Mr. Grylls really came from another world, then even if he leaves a diary behind... there won't be a single person who can understand it.

A diary was something people were embarrassed to show others.

Yet, ironically, it was also born from the desire for someone to understand who they were.

If someone truly wanted to keep their secrets completely hidden, they wouldn't write them down anywhere.

They would simply keep them buried in their heart.

Selena had once written a diary with that same feeling.

Even after her illness had been cured, she occasionally went back and read it.

How sad and miserable must that be?

A legacy that no one would recognize—

No.

A legacy that no one could recognize.

The only legacy he would leave behind would be the posts he had made in the gallery.

If his diary had been written in a language she knew, perhaps she could have inherited it someday.

But because he had crossed over from another world, even if she received his diary, she wouldn't be able to decipher it.

The best solution would be for Mr. Grylls to teach me his writing system, but...

Would someone struggling just to survive have the leisure for that?

Of course not.

Death was closing in on Grylls every hour of every day.

Hadn't he told the gallery just today that he'd narrowly escaped death again?

Mr. Grylls helped me out of pure goodwill. I need to repay him in kind.

Selena thought carefully.

How could she ensure that his legacy could be preserved?

Regardless of the maxim about never losing hope, one still had to prepare for every possibility.

She occasionally gave him elixirs or delicious snacks, but that was nowhere near enough.

... All right. I'll do this.

After a deliberation that felt both long and short, Selena made her decision.

I'll transcribe everything Mr. Grylls has posted in the gallery and record everything he's done.

The gallery's records weren't eternal.

Just as the dead could no longer speak, the gallery deleted the records of those who died.

If every post belonging to a particular registered user suddenly disappeared, it meant that person had died.

In other words, if Grylls's posts vanished, it would effectively confirm his death.

If I can't help him directly, then at the very least, I'll make sure his death doesn't go unrecorded.

It was the least she could do.

Selena once again blamed her own lack of ability.

She had desperately tried to analyze the Forest of Four Seasons mathematically, but there was only one conclusion she could reach.

Impossible.

She had realized that the moment she saw the video of the sea flowing backward into the river.

So that anyone else who becomes stranded in the Forest of Four Seasons won't die for nothing.

Grylls's survival records could someday become an invaluable resource for anyone else who found themselves stranded in the Forest of Four Seasons.

With that in mind, Selena began retracing Grylls's journey.

She started with the very first post he had written.

The post Grylls had made while confused and disoriented after suddenly finding himself in the Forest of Four Seasons.

He's been suffering ever since the beginning.

How he'd been chased by a pack of Mad Dogs immediately after helping Heavenly Demon.

How the Guardian had appeared afterward.

How a Mad Dog had bitten one of his arms, nearly putting his life in danger, only for SwordMaster's help to save him from the brink.

And how he'd discovered a mature Mandrake, which ultimately led to her own complete recovery.

Only ten days had passed, yet so many incidents had already occurred.

There had been so much that merely organizing everything he'd done took a considerable amount of time.

I should write about the registered users too....

Since it was a gallery, there were far too many... colorful personalities.

Pieces of trash—

No, idiots—

No, morons.

For now, she excluded the anonymous users masquerading as human beings as much as possible.

Occasionally, they said something important or taught Grylls useful things, such as how to clean and prepare fish.

But aside from a few important contributions like those, most anonymous users did nothing but leave bizarre comments.

His life-and-death struggle with the saber-toothed tiger, and the heart he obtained from it that had the same structure as a Dragon Heart....

The more she looked back over everything, the stronger one thought became.

Just how has Grylls managed to survive in this hellish forest?

He had the gallery's help, but the Forest of Four Seasons was a place where even most powerful individuals wouldn't be able to survive.

Just looking through the gallery records showed that all sorts of dangerous animals had appeared.

He must have exceptionally good instincts in combat.

There was a reason Heavenly Demon and SwordMaster had taken an interest in him. His talent, at least, was extraordinary.

What was even more surprising was the intelligence he displayed in the gallery.

When dealing with Passing Dwarf or anonymous users, he spoke like some uncouth thug, while he was extremely polite toward the registered users.

Even in a gallery where anonymity was the norm, his kindness and courtesy couldn't be hidden.

That was something Selena couldn't help but notice.

Just what did Mr. Grylls do before coming here?

He had displayed an astonishing ability to adapt.

He had already established a base for himself.

Even more interesting was his resentment toward God.

In truth, it would have been stranger for someone in Grylls's situation not to resent God.

But his resentment went beyond mere grumbling. There was such sincerity behind it that it bordered on blasphemy.

And yet he keeps pushing forward.

The deeper she looked, the stranger a person he seemed to be.

His exploits were equally full of peculiarities.

As Selena recorded Grylls's actions in her book, she slowly reflected on them.

From what I've learned so far...

The kindness to repay goodwill with goodwill.

The decisiveness to immediately cut ties with anyone who betrayed that goodwill.

The friendliness of being polite by default, yet speaking roughly with those he was close to.

The fairness to respect order even in desperate circumstances.

And the cleverness to subtly steer that order in a different direction when there was a legitimate reason to do so.

Those were the aspects of Grylls's personality that could be gleaned solely from his activity in the gallery.

He definitely said he was an orphan... What could he have gone through to develop a personality like this?

Orphans inevitably lacked certain things.

That wasn't discrimination. It was simply an unavoidable reality.

Everything they should ordinarily have received from their parents was absent, leaving them more heavily influenced by their environment than most.

As a result, orphans tended to become defensive by nature, and their personalities often became prickly as well.

Grylls bickered with the dwarf from time to time, but there was nothing prickly about him.

He seemed perfectly ordinary.

Maybe it's only because this is the gallery...

It was possible that everything he did was calculated.

But that seemed unlikely.

If that were the case, there would have been signs.

If he were that calculating, he wouldn't have helped Heavenly Demon in the first place.

Selena gradually continued compiling her records about Grylls.

She didn't know what would become of these records in the future, but they were bound to have a considerable impact.

In particular, they would have an enormous influence on research related to the Forest of Four Seasons.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Princess, it's Mary. May I come in?"

Selena was going through the gallery and organizing her records when Mary knocked from outside.

Selena closed the book for the moment.

She had no intention of showing it to anyone yet.

"Come in."

Creak—

Once Selena gave permission, the door slowly opened.

The person who appeared behind it was Mary, the maid who had remained by Selena's side until the very end.

Mary politely bowed in greeting.

"So, what is it?"

"Well, the Duchess..."

"She's someone you'll soon have to call Mother. Aren't you being a little too formal?"

"Y-Yes?"

Startled by Selena's words, Mary abruptly straightened from her bow.

Selena's expression hadn't changed in the slightest.

If anything, she looked downright cold.

"You'll soon be adopted as her daughter. You need to practice."

"H-How could someone like me possibly...!"

"You need to."

"Y-Yes!"

Unlike her gentle demeanor in the gallery, Selena maintained a cold manner of speaking in real life.

It couldn't be helped.

As her incurable illness had progressed, even her emotions had gradually faded.

At least she had been improving lately.

Selena rose from her seat.

The Duchess—or rather, her mother—had summoned her, so she needed to go.

In the past, she had used a wheelchair.

Now, she could walk proudly on her own two legs.

"Mary."

"Yes?"

"Hold my hand. Let's go together."

"B-But...!"

"It's a request from your older sister."

"Y-Yes!"

Well, she still had a long way to go before truly growing close to Mary.

Selena affectionately took Mary's hand and began walking with her.

The warmth of another person had once felt unusually hot to her.

Now, Mary's hand merely felt soft and warm.

It didn't feel hot at all.

I sincerely hope Mr. Grylls doesn't lose hope.

Selena whispered the wish silently to herself.

Around the same time, Grylls, who had decided to start keeping a diary—

"Wow."

He exclaimed in admiration as he looked at the test entry he'd written.

It must have been an incredible piece of writing, considering even his expression was filled with admiration.

It didn't matter that no one else would ever appreciate it.

He could simply use it as a collection of big data and a field guide.

But then an unexpected problem emerged.

"My writing skills haven't improved since elementary school."

He was terrible at writing.

No, "terrible" didn't even begin to describe it.

His writing was so awful that even he was impressed after reading what he'd written.

[I tried to steal a turtle egg and met the mother turtle. The mother turtle transformed into a tortoise and shot a laser at me. I was scared.]

That was more or less the style.

It was, in every sense of the word, a truly "objective" diary.

Grylls carefully picked apart the diary entry he'd written, then shrugged.

It's not like anyone's going to read it.

Contrary to someone's worries, he was remarkably optimistic.