Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: The True Treasure
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“There’s a secret ritual passed down in secret within the White Spirit Hall. A forbidden art that revives the dead by offering someone else’s life as a sacrifice.”
This Dual Arts was different from Cecilia’s or Alicia’s—it seemed to have its own specific conditions.
Resurrection arts, huh.
To think the reason I couldn’t activate Dual Arts with Mine was because the activation condition required a party member’s death.
“Isn’t that... heresy?”
“It is heresy. The kind that warrants immediate execution. If I weren’t the Saintess, I wouldn’t even know of its existence.”
Mine explained that Lazzarekion was a secret ritual attempted by some pope on the verge of death.
It was surprisingly convincing.
After all, they’d gone as far as human sacrifice to meet the Lord God—what’s a little resurrection spell on top of that?
And it was a power in line with Rene’s abilities.
Of course it would be Reverse Heaven’s authority.
“But even with a sacrifice, it’s not something you can use anytime.”
“Meaning there are other conditions?”
Mine’s gaze swept over the surroundings.
“The texts say it must be performed in a place brimming with the power of spacetime, on a target who hasn’t been dead for long.”
“Power of spacetime? First I’ve heard of it. Halibal, do you know?”
I couldn’t answer.
It was a keyword I knew all too well.
Even in this world—or the original story—the phrase “power of spacetime” never appeared outright.
But now, I could guess plenty.
‘The power Rene wields—that must be what Mine means by the power of spacetime.’
Which is why I had to be here for Dual Arts to activate.
In the previous loop, the secret was revealed, but this time, thanks to Alicia, there was no need.
Alicia must have handled it with care in that last loop.
I should accept her consideration.
I shook my head to signal I didn’t know, and Mine continued.
“I don’t sense anything but demonic energy here. But for some reason... even though I’m the Saintess, I feel like it might work.”
Aren looked at her in shock.
“...Mine. You’re not planning to sacrifice yourself, are you?”
No.
I could see the conditions for Dual Arts.
[Consumes a special Abyss Core to revive one party member once.]
“It does involve a sacrifice. But...”
Mine looked at Logia.
“The one being sacrificed won’t be me—it’ll be Logia.”
“Is that even possible?”
A special Abyss Core referred to the unique cores used by playable characters.
Mine’s Abyss Core was Raphael.
Raphael’s incarnation was Logia.
In other words, Logia was both a summon and a lifeform akin to one, while also serving as a special Abyss Core.
Mine had instinctively realized she could use Lazzarekion by offering her as a sacrifice.
She was right.
“Logia. Come here.”
At Mine’s call, Logia approached with an expressionless face.
The two identical women faced each other.
Mine clenched her fist.
“Logia is a mercenary of reversal. She’s admired adventurers since childhood and joined the mercenary guild at age ten. Her main weapon is a mace, she can use holy power, and she gets along great with people in a carefree way. She cracks jokes often too. But when crisis strikes, she’s the first to charge ahead and protect everyone.”
Then she began reciting Logia’s backstory, known only to her.
The image of Logia she’d envisioned since childhood.
“Logia completed countless dangerous commissions. But even she met her end. She fell for the wiles of an evil Saintess and was chosen as a sacrifice.”
Mine closed her eyes.
“Logia says, ‘This wicked Saintess! You’ve fed countless people to the flames, and now you’re offering me up too!’ The Saintess replies, ‘I’m sorry, Logia. But with your sacrifice, we can bring back someone precious to us.’”
A farewell.
They’d made it this far by role-playing Logia.
With Logia, they’d saved Pasha.
With Logia, they’d conquered the dungeon.
To Mine, Logia wasn’t just a figment of her imagination or a summon forged from Raphael’s power.
It was the life she’d dreamed of since the past.
“Raphael is the Abyss Core I received from the nuns when I was young. It was with me long before that even happened. I dreamed of becoming a mercenary with Raphael, traveling the entire continent.”
Right now, she was bidding farewell to that dream.
“But how could I? The world is still shrouded in demonic energy. Until we defeat the Evil God and purify it all, a mercenary can’t adventure. The world needs a Saintess more than a mercenary.”
With a vow to live her future as the Saintess, she embraced Logia.
“So now, I’ll wake up. From this fleeting dream.”
“...”
“Logia. No, Mine Rose, who wanted to be a mercenary. Princess Alicia is essential to the Empire—and to us. And more than anything...”
A bitter smile touched Mine’s lips.
“I don’t want a world without the Princess. Without her, there’d be no one to watch plays with me.”
She wasn’t lying.
Not duty as Saintess, not world peace.
None of that grand stuff mattered.
What mattered was simply a friend to watch plays with.
She told us plainly.
“So, Logia.”
Clashing against her purest desire, her dream.
“Will you die for me?”
That was when it happened.
Logia, who had stood expressionless all along, suddenly embraced Mine tightly.
“Ah...”
It wasn’t Mine’s command.
It was Logia. The will of Mine herself contained in Raphael, her dream—it was acting on its own for the first time.
The two Mine Roses embraced each other.
Soon, one of them was enveloped in light, reverting to the form of the Abyss Core, Raphael.
Mine held out the core to me, gripping it in her hand.
She said nothing.
But as the Saintess, she seemed to vaguely sense it.
That this forbidden art could only be activated with me present.
A special Abyss Core could never be recreated.
Even if it could, even if named the same, its effects would differ.
In the original story, with the paper angel Raphael, I might have offered it up without hesitation.
But this Raphael was different from the original. Without Logia, conquering this dungeon would’ve been impossible.
Future conquests would be far smoother with her as the tank.
Above all, hadn’t a will sprouted in this Logia?
Logia was Mine’s will, her dream.
The person she wanted to be.
Mine Rose—herself.
Was I supposed to choose to sacrifice that?
My gaze turned to Alicia in my arms.
‘A clichéd happy ending?’
“Mine.”
“Yes.”
“You said it yourself. You won’t accept an ending like this.”
I immediately seized Rene.
Alicia had said it.
A clichéd happy ending.
But let’s think about it plainly. Can a happy ending built on someone’s sacrifice truly be called happy?
And it wasn’t even that clichéd.
The real clichéd happy ending is when everything’s over, and all the companions link arms, laughing ha ha ho ho as they watch the sunset.
And then they say it.
‘The friendship we gained along the way—isn’t that the true treasure?’
That’s way more clichéd.
“I won’t accept it either.”
So let’s rewrite the script.
Into an even more clichéd happy ending.
The moment I grasped Mine’s hand with my other.
『May your new choice be filled with the blessings of time.』
Through our clasped hands.
My ashen energy and Mine’s holy power intertwined as one, transforming into pure light of life.
What emerged was a sphere resembling Holy Calling.
But the vitality emanating from within far surpassed mere Holy Calling.
The moment the sphere seeped into Alicia’s body.
“...Ah!”
Color returned to her pale cheeks, and warmth spread through her cold flesh.
As Aren and I held our breath, watching the scene.
At its center was Mine, praying toward the heavens.
Praying reverently toward the gaping hole in the ceiling, she looked as if holiness itself had taken human form.
That must be what they call the Saintess’s bearing.
The object of her prayer was easy to guess.
At her feet lay Raphael’s core, drained of light and shattered.
I had just made a choice.
Not to offer Raphael as sacrifice.
Mine Rose’s dream was to wander the world as a mercenary.
As she said, it could only happen after defeating the Evil God anyway.
But conversely.
Once the Evil God is defeated, she could achieve it anytime, right?
So in truth, even if Raphael vanished, Logia hadn’t truly died.
The one slumbering had simply changed.
Logia would dream for a while.
Living as Saintess Mine Rose.
A fleeting dream.
My choice was to reunite those two someday, even if just one day sooner.
For that, I’d have to push even harder from here on.
At that moment, the blue gem that had vanished above Alicia’s head began blinking again.
“...Ugh.”
With a shallow groan, Alicia’s closed eyelids slowly opened.
Her pupils wandered unfocused in confusion, then locked onto me holding her.
“...Halibal?”
A drowsy voice.
“...Could you turn off the lights? It’s too bright here.”
“Time to get up already, Senior.”
“...I told you to call me Alicia.”
Alicia squirmed in my arms, naturally draping her arms over my shoulders.
“Ku-heot. This time, I claimed the front seat.”
“Not the time for that.”
“Then when is?”
The blue gem flickering precariously above our four heads quietly vanished.
“Look over there.”
I pointed to where Necredin had dissolved.
There sat a treasure chest vastly larger than any before.
“Curtain call time. Ever seen a treasure chest that big? For the record, I haven’t.”
“No. Ku-heot... You’re right. Yeah. Doesn’t matter, treasure chest!”
“But Senior, what if there’s nothing inside that chest?”
“I’ll report the Evil God bastard for fraud.”
“But isn’t it fine? The friendship we gained conquering this dungeon—that’s the true treasure, right?”
Alicia scratched her head for a moment, then grumbled with a sulky expression.
“What’s with that clichéd line?”