I was supposed to die.
In fact, I was dead.
I couldn’t see anything, couldn’t hear anything. There was no sensation in my body, just a dark, cold abyss…
But that darkness was a painless peace I hadn’t known since I became self-aware.
The repose called “death” had finally arrived. I wished to fade away as if dozing off… but that wish was cruelly betrayed.
“…”
Awakened from the comforting darkness by a detestable “light,” the first thing I felt was the “pain” tormenting my familiar body.
“――Are you awake?”
I heard a woman’s voice. Perhaps my body wasn’t functioning properly yet; the sound resonated in my ears as if heard underwater, and in my blurred vision as I slightly opened my eyes, I could only see the silhouette of a woman, like a black shadow.
The faint scent of medicinal herbs…
Who could she be… friend or foe…
Ah, I remembered I had no allies, and though I tried to knead magic within my body, it didn’t work well, and I felt only the heat in my immobile body increase.
“…Don’t push yourself, honestly.”
The woman’s exasperated voice. At least she didn’t seem to intend harm, but why did this woman, whose voice sounded young, speak like an old person?
“My surly disciple will be back soon, so sleep for now… You really were dead until just a little while ago.”
“…”
The woman’s black hand touched my forehead.
Ah… I really had been dead. If so, is this not a Dream, but have I truly come back to life?
…How troublesome. Thinking became a bother in my hazy consciousness, so I closed my eyes to the pleasant sensation of the palm on my forehead and fell asleep again.
“Good morning.”
“…”
When I awoke to a pungent odor and a strange bitterness in my mouth, this time I heard the voice of an even younger girl.
“Sleep a little longer. Your HP hasn’t recovered beyond single digits yet.”
This cold way of speaking. You’re just like always, aren’t you? My blurred vision gradually focused, and I could see sparkling, pinkish-blonde hair.
I was told to stay in bed… but I felt better than last time, so ignoring the pain, I tried to sit up from the simple, yet well-washed and soft bedding.
“…Where… is this… Aria?”
“It’s my master’s hermitage.”
The Pink-Haired Girl I had fought to the death with――Aria.
I don’t know how much time had passed since then, but neither Aria nor I were in dresses; Aria was in her usual adventurer’s attire, and I had been dressed in an unbleached tunic.
Aria rose from the chair by the workbench where she had been sitting, casually approached, grabbed my head, and pushed me back onto the bed.
“I’ve made more. Drink.”
From a vessel with a rim thinned like a beak, a thick, pungent liquid was poured directly into my mouth. …So this was the bitterness lingering on my tongue.
“…Is it poison…?”
“Poison wouldn’t work on you, would it?”
As I complained, Aria, without changing her expression, made me drink the rest of the liquid.
“…Are you angry?”
“Of course I am.”
Aria replied thus to my words and returned to her workbench.
“I’m here.”
“…”
How blunt she is… But that was so like her, and I felt more genuinely relieved than if anyone else had said anything.
After that, I slept and woke up several times.
The things I was made to drink changed from poison-like medicine to a foul-tasting barley gruel mixed with medicinal herbs, and Aria told me what had happened.
The reason I could no longer use fire magic was, as I suspected, because of that Golden Dagger.
The Magic Metal (Orichalcum) dagger was apparently the reward for both Aria and me for clearing the Evil Race fortress Dungeon. And it was a one-time use item. That dagger, which erased my fire attribute, shattered and disappeared.
You can only make one wish per Dungeon.
To use such a precious reward for something like that… How foolish.
Aria had coated the surface of the Golden Dagger with a “chemical.” Not poison, but a cardiac stimulant. Aria, who had intended to kill me once from the start, said she had gambled on the possibility that I, once dead, would revive due to the effects of the stimulant I had received while alive.
“The probability?”
“About twenty percent?”
If it’s for dying once and coming back to life, that’s a pretty good probability.
But even that, it seems, was a high probability only achieved thanks to my abnormal amount of magical power and the easing of pressure on my heart from losing the fire attribute.
Also, when Aria was transporting me, she took advantage of my state of apparent death to put me in her Shadow Storage, which helped preserve my condition.
Aria, who had killed me, brought my body to this place where her master resides. As expected, the Evil Race woman I first saw when I woke up was Aria’s master.
“Treating me like luggage is cruel.”
“Should I have dragged you? You should be grateful to Nero.”
It’s true, without that Kitty’s speed, we wouldn’t have made it here, and if Aria’s master, who similarly has heart problems, hadn’t been here, I might have died again soon after being revived.
Where could Kitty be? As I thought that and searched for her presence, Kitty, sensing it, emerged from Aria’s Shadow in the form of an Illusion “black cat,” looked at me, and snorted with a “Hmph.”
Even when I possessed all attributes, I was told I wouldn’t live to be twenty.
Even now, with one less attribute, due to my lifespan being whittled away by Soul Thorn, I probably won’t live much longer than that.
I, who died once, have been given a few more years of life.
I was called back from the peaceful death I desired to this life full of pain.
“…”
I touch my own hair, which has turned completely white.
My once jet-black hair, perhaps because I died once, lost its pigment and turned pure white, and my reflection in the water made me look like a real ghost.
Called a demon child by my parents, a great sinner who killed my family and many people.
Trying to save someone like me, you’re truly a fool…
I can’t leave such a foolish child alone, so I’ll use these remaining few years of my life for you.
After that, I lived with them, consuming foul medicine and the strange meals Aria prepared.
Aria’s master, as expected of the Evil Race, knew magic, Sorcery, and tactics I was unfamiliar with, and I think I even enjoyed her lessons and discussions about magic.
Thus, several weeks passed, my health recovered, and around the time I became able to hunt Monsters in the forest, Aria suddenly brought two sets of luggage.
“We’re going to clear a Dungeon.”
What do you seek from the Dungeon?