prof | Let's Play Umineko Chiru, Episode 6 Scene 26: The Revisions

<< | ^^ | >>

UNDERSTOOD. Lord BATTLER, we wish to take our turn!

My apologies. Actually, I don't have a new move to announce. There's something I need to apologize for.

...You already sealed something? In other words, you've already used up all three rooms' worth?

Yes. I promised that I'd report on it right away, but I completely forgot until just now. You have my sincere apologies.

You don't look like someone who's sincerely apologizing... well, that's fine. I'm the one who gave you that privilege. So? Where did you seal?

Dlanor.

Allow me to REPORT. Battler's guest room was sealed at the time of Lady Erika's inspection of the CORPSE.

Normally, I would have liked to seal all of the closed rooms, but I didn't have enough duct tape. Out of respect for the Game Master, I sealed only the room with Battler's corpse.

So you were kind enough to close the lid on my coffin.

I remembered a short while ago and was planning to tell you when we reached the mansion and investigated the guest room with your corpse in it. However, when this letter appeared, I figured I should report it right away.

Why did you think that?

Well, after all, Battler has been playing this game not knowing that his corpse was sealed in the guest room. Because of that, I thought it might change things regarding the appearance of this letter.

The cousins' room and the next room over are currently SEALED. Sorry for the late report, but the guest room with your corpse in it is also SEALED. And, there are 17 people on the island, excluding Lady Erika. The existence of an 18th person has already been denied in a previous GAME.

In that case... the person who could have placed the letter... and erased your corpse... I thought maybe... heheheheheh... I thought maybe things might be different...

...Battler...

Stay calm. Erika has just made her report a bit late. There's nothing to be nervous about.

Erika's hunch: Battler is alive. After Erika checked his crime scene, he snuck out of the guest room and placed the letter in the lobby entrance.

If she's right, those seals are now very important.

It's a violation of the rules, the greatest and worst form of error that the witch side must avoid making.

Yeah, I remember. It was something about the two sides of the tale not matching and creating a contradiction.

Do you remember the magic for making candy appear inside an overturned cup?

Yeah. Maria and Erika were fighting about that. Apparently, that was just a simple trick where someone slipped the candy into the cup while Maria had her eyes closed.

That's right. Since Maria did not observe the proecss of the trick and was only given the result, she accepted the illusion of magic - that the candy had appeared by magic inside the cup - and magic was established.

Think back to the fight between MARIA and Erika at the start of this tale.

There are two types of magic.

The illusion of magic that adorns the process. With no observers, anything is possible.

The magic with the cup is a different kind. In the end, the magic brought about an outcome - the appearance of candy - and that outcome was observed. This magic is much harder to perform.

Magic can only accomplish what you could accomplish on your own. It doesn't give you power you otherwise would have lacked.

Correct. Since all of the survivors are sealed within the closed room of the guest house, it is possible to embellish this suddenly-appearing letter and say that it was a strange magic, and only a witch could have placed it there. But even so, it must be a possible trick in the end.

The red truth can only be used to refer to the truth, right? If you could lie with it, it'd be a massive violation of the rules.

True. Denying your own trick with the red truth is a large violation of the rules. However, if you instantly switch over to another trick that doesn't violate that red truth, it may be slightly unfair, but that red truth can be acknowledged.

So in this case, the witch side would need to immediate propose another trick that doesn't contradict the red truth saying 'the closed room inside the cup was preserved'. It's like the excuses of a politician when he keeps backtracking as new evidence is shown to him.

Yes. Well, for a red like this, she might be able to get away with some painful excuse. Maybe there was some device in the table, or maybe it was a trick cup with a fake bottom... but if those possibilities had been denied beforehand, they would not be effective. The more red truths there are, the harder it is to talk your way out.

The witch can claim that the revised trick is what she had been thinking of from the beginning, and that claim can't be denied.

As long as a possible explanation exists, it's not a violation of the rules.

When there is no explanation that satisfies all the red truth, the result is a logic error.

The result of a logic error is the destruction of the witch's game.

No, that's wrong. That is where we get the fatal and horrible violation known as a logic error. When the witch side does this, the game is instantly destroyed and they suffer a fatal defeat.

Erika has probably seen through Battler's trick. Without the detective's authority, Erika can't perform a proper examination of the corpses. Because of that, he continued to play dead, snuck out of the guest room, and placed the letter at the entrance to the guest house.

However, because Battler was so overly gracious in giving out those retroactive seals, things went wrong.

Stupid Battler.

The current situation still does not warrant panic... it still hasn't been specified with red truth that the seals around the guest room are intact. He is free to break the seals. If he doesn't, then he can probably have it so that someone other than Battler was alive, and swap them in as the person who placed the letter...

That's right... it's not just Battler. The other corpses haven't been specified as dead by the red yet. So far, there wouldn't be any problem if they were all faking.

This is not a stage to get flustered at. All he has to do is change the move so that Erika's seals and the placement of the letter don't contradict each other.

And revising the plot without contradictions is one of the moves available to the Game Master.

However, taking a scenario one has imagine and revising it partway through can sometimes create flaws in the tale. It would be a very regrettable move to make when the first twilight has only just ended. It would seem that Battler was the one with an enemy piece moved deep behind his lines... This hidden piece will probably cause him pain and discomfort with each step from now on, like a pebble caught in one's shoe... This single pebble might kill Battler...

Retroactively rewrite the plot...?

Hmph, I see. If 'I' placed the letter there, than that would be impossible as soon as I was sealed in that closed room. In which case, this letter shouldn't have appeared here.

Correct. So, I thought you should have the chance to revise this small inconsistency.

We have discovered this letter HERE. We are saying that we do not mind if you want to undo that, or if you want to use a revised SCENARIO.

If Battler revises his move now, it's as good as admitting that Erika was right. That would pretty much be the end of the game.

But Battler, even if you can place the letter somehow, how are you going to make your corpse vanish afterwards? The guest room is sealed. If you don't find a trick to erase the corpse from the closed room right now, a logic error will occur.

...I still have time. Let me think until the last second. Dammit...

I feel like a ninja hiding above the ceiling. Even though I was just noticed and stabbed by a spear, I just withstand the pain, wipe up the blood, and act as though nothing happened. False courage works well enough. I can't let her know that this one hurt...

Battler...

What would the old you do? The old you, who created all of the closed rooms that tormented me so much in the past... What kind of trick would she use to erase my corpse from a closed room?

October 5th, 1986, 2:34 AM
21 hours, 26 minutes remaining

BGM: The Girl's Witch Hunt

Erika cuts across the entrance hall and into the heart of the mansion. Her destination: Battler's guest room.

As of this moment, the condition of the seals has not yet been revealed.

Good! Then show us your response. Are the seals broken or are they not? Has the closed room been preserved, or hasn't it?!

Heheheheheheheheheheheheh! Are you sure? Are you sure, Battler?!

Is... Is this all right, Battler?

Yeah, I can't back down here. After all, even if I'm sealed in here, there are ways of placing the letter.

But now, Erika will probably enter the guest room. Then, she will observe your corpse. What are you going to do?! If the corpse is there, there's no problem. The letter's prediction missed, but it's not as though there's a penalty for that. But still... you intend to fight head on?!

There are times... when a man is challenged head on... that he has to respond, no matter who the opponent. I must not pull back here. I'll take that challenge. I can search for a way out all I want to later! I managed to do that with Kinzo's study last time! Don't worry... I can do it! I can do it! Come on, Erikaaaaaaaaaaa!

Good! I'm breaking the seals! Rip, tear! Hehehihihihihihihihihihi!

<< | ^^ | >>