#16 Rosario of Succession (Teasing the Cleaning Maid) [Persuasion Failed.]
[Persuasion Failed.]
The message of despair floated before my eyes. The silver blade came plummeting down without hesitation. And just like that, I met my end with Lete's still-warm body pressed against mine.
Ah, I wanna eat some chicken.
Chicken and beer.
With a girl by my side.
My final thoughts before death were, pathetically enough, something so mundane. Even I thought it was pathetic, but those thoughts soon sank away with my fading consciousness.
The moment of death was agonizing and painful, but eventually, release from all that suffering came—and what remained was a peaceful darkness. My awareness plunged deeper and deeper and deeper into that void.
I sank so deep I couldn't even think anymore...
[Restarting from Save Point.]
> Save Point Restored
A voice echoed through the darkness like that. And my consciousness returned.
"......?"
When I opened my eyes, Gaon was sitting on the stone throne in the conference room. The very same stone seat where he'd first awakened in this world. Even after he built the hotel as his base, it stayed right there—and it was still his favorite spot.
Forget how strangely comfortable it was despite being made of stone.
"...Hm?"
Gaon looked around. In front of him loomed a massive oval table. Piles of assorted treasures were stacked beside it like bundled loot. The room had a neat atmosphere, high ceilings, and a chandelier. This was the familiar conference room in the hotel.
At first, he wondered if this was the afterlife. Then, if it was all just a dream.
As those thoughts crossed his mind, a crunching sound came from his hand.
In his palm was a small, dark metallic cross-shaped object. Right then, a huge crack split through it, and it shattered.
The top half broke off and thudded to the floor, then the whole thing crumbled into fragments along the fissures.
"Gaon-sama, are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh... Number One? You're here?"
"I'll clean it up right away."
The orange-haired maid. She'd been standing behind him the whole time before he woke up. She bowed to pick up the fragments on the floor.
Gazing at Number One's ass as she bent over to gather the scattered pieces, Gaon suddenly flipped up her skirt without warning.
Underneath were black panties. He yanked those down too.
Her skirt flipped up, panties pulled aside, exposing her pure white ass and pussy completely.
Yet Number One didn't care at all, dutifully continuing her task in silence.
With Number One's ass right in front of him—and that faint, maid-like scent wafting over—Gaon got hard.
That made him realize he was alive.
He vaguely recalled hearing once that dead people don't get erections.
I'm... alive...?
As he pondered that, Number One turned to look at him while still bent over. Her ass and pussy still fully exposed.
There were still fragments left on the floor.
"Master. Mea-sama has arrived."
Shortly after Number One's announcement, the conference room door opened, and Mea entered. Barosy followed right behind.
"Greetings to my esteemed king. I have come at your summons."
"Greetings to Gaon-sama. Chwik-!"
Seeing the two of them left him stunned again.
In Gaon's memory, both were dead. For Mea, he'd only seen the death message, but for Barosy, he'd clearly confirmed his dismembered corpse using remote viewing.
Yet here they were, alive.
Those who should have died were alive. And he himself, who should have died, was alive.
And this scene, this view... it felt familiar somehow.
"......."
Various possibilities and thoughts swirled in his head, piecing together one by one.
Finally, Gaon rubbed his dry face and let out a deep sigh. A sigh laden with all sorts of emotions—above all, relief.
Time had rewound.
He'd returned to the past.
This was still well before taking Stonevic—just after Mea and her group cleared the dungeon he'd ordered them to tackle.
He'd called them to the conference room to discuss how to use the loot they'd brought back.
Lete wasn't there because she'd been dispatched to Stonevic. But using the player's authority, he confirmed she was alive. Her status window said so too.
Dead heroes get removed from the hero list and moved to the [Deceased List].
Everyone was alive. Me, all of them.
This was still before Eve's raid.
"......."
After sending Mea and Barosy back, I returned to my room and sank into thought.
The scene right before death. Eve's raid and everything leading up to it didn't feel like a mere dream or illusion. It had been far too vivid an experience.
A death so real it shook me.
Come to think of it...
Right before or after dying—I wasn't sure—but I'd heard a strange voice. Something about a [Save Point].
I turned to look at the fragments of the object on the table in my room, placed on a cloth. Number One the maid had gathered them up earlier.
It had been a cross-shaped object before, but now it was shattered beyond recognition.
The reward Mea brought back from the dungeon as loot.
But no way it came from that dungeon.
It was—a resurrection item.
A rare item that sets a save point and revives you there. Technically not resurrection but regression, rewinding time.
I remembered receiving it from Mea, pondering its use in the conference room, and roughly activating it.
Then I'd completely forgotten about it. But the save point I'd set must have persisted until now.
Plus, being a consumable, it broke after one use—right after the regression.
"......Seriously, what was Mea thinking, giving me something like this."
It was an insane treasure. An incredible item.
Thanks to it, I survived once. In a situation with no other way out.
But even with an item like this, the strategy guide never mentioned it. EoR has a save-load system anyway, so maybe no need.
Above all, this—this wasn't even an item from this game.
"How the hell does an item from a completely different game drop as dungeon loot?"
I'd played the game that used this item. That's why I recognized it instantly: Isn't that the one?
So I'd assumed Mea was lying about it being dungeon loot.
The actual dungeon clear notification hadn't listed it in the rewards either.
So many questions.
But thanks to it, my life was saved.
I'd have to grill Mea about the lie later, but something more important came first.
"—The Most Noble Knight."
Because of that woman, we all died.
We died.
Foolish as it was, Barosy and the orcs who'd shown full loyalty. Mea, whose true intentions I couldn't read but respected me. And—even Lete, who gave her life for me.
"To survive, I gotta deal with her first."
As I pondered what to do next—
Bam bam bam!
"Gaon-sama! Are you in there?! Gaon-sama!"
A rough knock and an excited voice.
I opened the door, and there stood Noa, looking extremely tense.
Come to think of it, at this point, I hadn't fully broken her yet.
So maybe she came for another duel—
"Y-You're... alive...! Master Gaon, you're alive...!!"
Noa said that, tears welling up, and threw herself into my arms.
I hugged the sobbing Noa in my arms, feeling utterly bewildered.
"Sniff... I-It's really... really such a relief... Your limbs' meridians were severed, so while you were getting stabbed, I couldn't do a thing...! Sob... I'm sorry, Master, I'm such a useless, worthless slave... Ahh, you're alive, hic... It's really, truly a relief~...!"
Even after bringing her inside, Noa clung to me sobbing for a good while before finally calming down.
Apparently, my limbs' meridians had been cut. Their movements were too fast; I hadn't seen it clearly. Scary as hell.
No mercy even for a former comrade. Or maybe because they could heal it with 'Heal' back at the church.
But more importantly—
"Noa, you remember?"
"Yes. At least up to you getting stabbed by that woman's sword. I crawled there like a bug...."
"What about after? How far do you remember?"
"...Not sure. Nothing beyond that, it seems. Right around when you drew your last breath, it was like waking from a dream, and suddenly this...."
She'd come here after some time passed since the regression because she'd been confused by the suddenly fused memories up to that point.
"At first, I thought it was some demon's illusion... But now I clearly recognize it as my own memory."
It was fascinating.
Earlier in the conference room, Mea and Barosy remembered nothing. I'd checked with Lete via [Command Voice] too—same thing.
Not because they were hero units.
I wondered if it was because she was a [Hero Candidate], but no.
Only one guess left.
The slave oath. Is that why?
Noa had sworn complete submission to me. Rolled the dice, and the system fully recognized our eternal master-slave bond.
Maybe that's why she shared the item's effect and regressed with me.
Or not just that simply—
"...Ah."
I recalled something and pulled up my status window again.
Checking the parts I hadn't before, a grin crept onto my face involuntarily.
Noa looked at me curiously.
The item that revived me was called Rosario of Succession.
Its effect wasn't simple revival—it was a so-called 'power-up resurrection' that brought back your stats and inventory from right before death.
At the bottom of the status window, my remaining resource magic was listed.
All the resources I'd spent growing territories in the future, food consumption, and miscellaneous uses—they were all back.
Even the magic steadily collected from two territories, gains from rising favorability, minor dungeon clear rewards—everything.
The amount I had now was enormous. More than at any point after dropping into this game world.
The numbers were on a whole different scale.
Hmm.
This might make it possible.
No—definitely possible.
Changing the future where we all die anyway.
And above all—toppling that Most Noble Knight, soaked in injustice.
