The Goddess of Sunshine Returns
"Bayul, what are you brooding over so hard?"
With the entire student body crammed into an indoor hall with nowhere for sound to escape, the assembly hall had grown so rowdy that you had to shout right next to someone just to be heard.
It was a particularly talkative time, too — the midterm exams just around the corner, everything that had happened over the weekend, preparations for the festival.
"Did something happen over the weekend? Your mind's completely somewhere else."
As Bayul lingered at the edge of the conversation, staring blankly into space, his friends looked at him with concern.
"It's because of the Crown Prince, isn't it?"
"…Huh?"
"You're worrying about protocol for when the Prince arrives, aren't you?"
"Aidan, before any of that, there's this little thing called exams waiting for us. But Bayul's probably hung up on what Lokha said about his palm line instead. Am I right, Bayul?"
Aidan and Eli each made their guesses with total confidence, but unfortunately, they were both wrong. Those things had certainly unsettled him lately, but what had Bayul lost in thought right now was the conversation he'd shared with the Death brothers this past Saturday.
The possible circumstances under which a human who died could come back to life.
One problem — to talk about it, there was a chance the Death brothers' identity as demons might be exposed. He would have to open up carefully, choosing every word.
"It's… I heard something strange."
"Something strange? From who?"
"Did you even get any proper rest this weekend? Your complexion keeps getting worse."
Quinn studied Bayul with narrow eyes, then pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Thankfully, no fever."
"If you're tired, do you want to go rest a while?"
Logan offered to walk with him, but Bayul declined, saying he was fine.
"Something's off. Then is it about the spirits?"
"Did they get into some kind of trouble?"
No — the spirits were doing remarkably well these days. Ever since returning to Carrington, where the spirit stone was, they'd been more energetic than ever.
Spinel, now an Intermediate Spirit, had spent the whole beginning of the semester trying to cling to him without letup, which had caused Bayul some difficulty, but they'd finally compromised on seeing each other only after classes, and he'd managed to claw back some personal time for himself.
"…My palm reading. Remember what Lokha said? My lifeline was severed, but he could clearly see a future in my other lines."
"Oh, so it is about the palm reading."
"And the part where he said I might die and come back to life… you remember that?"
"Of course we remember! That was complete nonsense!"
At the memory of that day, most of the friends frowned in visible displeasure.
"Lai said even dragons, the supreme living beings, can't be reborn once they die, remember?"
"Bayul, that much is just obvious. Everyone gets one life. Even the gods, probably."
"Apparently that might not be true."
"…What?"
"He said there are people with two lives."
What kind of garbage is that supposed to be?
Nobody said it out loud, but their twisted expressions said exactly that.
"Who spouted such nonsense? Does that guy read palms like Lokha too?"
"Did you visit some famous fortune-teller over the weekend or something?"
Bayul dodged the questions as best he could and explained.
"Like Lai said, everyone gets one life. But apparently there are exceptions."
"So what kind of exceptions?"
"…Someone born with two hearts, malformed from birth. Or someone who moved their heart to a safe place ahead of time. In those cases, it's said the body can be brought back to life through resurrection magic, even if it's destroyed."
"Whoa! There's magic like that?"
Aidan's jaw dropped in genuine astonishment.
"There are also ways to forcibly hold down a soul that's trying to leave a dead body. And supposedly you can even swap the bodies of the dead and the living."
"Unbelievable! Absolutely terrifying! But not just anyone could do that, right?"
"Did you go somewhere and meet a demon or something?"
"…Huh?"
At Eli's sudden question, Bayul's heart lurched.
"All of that is the kind of thing only low-grade demons do anyway. They're all going to die eventually — people flailing around desperate to live a little longer. It's pathetic just thinking about it, isn't it?"
"What's wrong with wanting to live long? I was born anyway, so I'd like to live long and well before I go."
"In the natural order of things, that's fine. But most of what Bayul just described goes far beyond that. Someone else's sacrifice is always required."
"…Sacrifice?"
"Let's set aside the ones born with two hearts. Take the person whose body was destroyed but who left their heart somewhere safe. How are you going to resurrect them? Where would you get the body? Obviously, you'd seize someone perfectly alive and perform the ritual on them."
"……!"
He hadn't thought that far. Seeing Bayul's shock, Eli seemed satisfied that his point had landed, and pressed on.
"Holding a soul in place by force is the same. You'd need a new body to contain that soul, wouldn't you? And swapping the bodies of the dead and the living needs no explanation at all, I trust?"
Because the focus had been fixed entirely on the possibility of dying and coming back, Bayul had never once examined that side of things. Part of it was that Death and Amon hadn't explained that far — but he should have suspected it from the start.
"Bayul, could you live with that? It would mean someone dying in your place."
Bayul's head shook slowly side to side. He had already sent his brother ahead of him. He hadn't fully shaken off that guilt, and he could never create a situation like that again.
"Hey, Lai! Why are you pushing Bayul like that? When did he ever say he wanted that? He's just telling us what he heard. I get that you're sensitive about demon stuff, but ease up a little."
"I'm not angry at Bayul. I just figured he didn't know, so I was telling him."
"Ugh, fine, you know so much, lucky you! Bayul's clearly distressed, and here you are nagging like it's exam period. Isn't that right, Quinn?"
"…What?"
"What, were you off in your own world even now? Come to think of it, you have healing abilities, don't you? Can't you bring a dead person back? Is there no way?"
Aidan asked without really thinking about it. But Quinn's face darkened abruptly. Whatever image had seized him, his eyes were darting wildly — unlike his usual self.
Everyone turned to stare at Quinn, sensing something strange — and then the front doors of the hall opened, and the professors began filing in. The clamor of the assembly hall naturally subsided.
"The Chairman's here too?"
"Even the Headmaster — the whole staff is out in force."
This assembly hadn't been on the schedule, so nobody had any idea what it was for. Students whispered to each other, each rattling off their own theory, but nothing was certain yet.
"…Huh? There are people I've never seen before."
It was then that Aidan's sharp eyes caught the unfamiliar faces coming through the doors.
"I've got it! They must be the new professors!"
"Already?"
He'd expected it to take at least a month — even accounting for that, this was remarkably fast. Carrington Academy prided itself on its high standards of education, and finding people who could meet them would have been no easy task.
"The Chairman's crisis management skills are no joke."
Aidan pointed out the people he took to be the new professors in a low voice.
"You all might not know this, but I may not look it, yet I'm a work-study student at the library. I've got every professor's face memorized."
Aidan suddenly leaned toward Eli.
"But hey, Lai — I don't see anyone suspicious, do you? The Chairman must have vetted them carefully after all."
It looked that way to Bayul as well. Nothing about any of the newcomers stood out. If he had to name one thing, it would be that one of them was a staggering beauty.
The hall, which had settled down, began to buzz again — all because of that beauty's entrance.
She was a presence that blazed brilliantly even from a distance.
Snow-white skin, blue hair cascading down past her waist, deep blue eyes that glittered like inlaid sapphires, and bewitching lips. Her stunning figure and flawless features were almost beside the point.
She was so overwhelmingly beautiful that Lady Catherine, once called the queen of the imperial court, would have looked positively plain standing beside her.
It was a bit like looking at Eli and Rayegar.
Of course, the three of them looked nothing alike — but they shared that same untouchable aura, the uncanny sense that they belonged to some world other than this one.
Wouldn't Innocent grow up to look like that, someday?
Her hair, her eyes, that blue dress — perhaps it was because of them that the thought flashed through Bayul's mind for an instant.
"Hello, everyone."
Rayegar walked to the center of the stage and waved to the students. True to his reputation as a champion of justice, he was beloved by them all. As the children welcomed him with thunderous applause, the corners of Rayegar's mouth lifted brightly. At that picturesque smile, boys and girls alike went weak in the knees.
"As most of you have probably guessed, we've gathered here today to introduce our new professors. If I talk for too long, it'll get boring, won't it?"
Rayegar winked one eye and gave the signal. At that, the four people Aidan had pointed out stepped forward.
"Waaaah!"
At the arrival of the great beauty, gasps spilled from the mouths of students already half-entranced. She looked like a doll come to life.
Well aware that the awe was because of her, the beautiful woman answered with a radiant smile, as if returning the greeting in kind.
"I'll list the names of the new faculty in order, so remember them well."
Rayegar introduced them slowly, starting from the left. The professor in question(?) came last. The moment the third professor's introduction ended, dry coughs sounded here and there throughout the hall. The will to concentrate was truly something to behold.
"Serarika. A mid-tier mage of the sixth circle, no less. She has joined us as a professor of the Magic Department — I personally went to great lengths to bring her here."
At the sound of her name, Professor Serarika waved, seemingly delighted. An avalanche of applause, so different from anything before, poured down on her.
Beauty combined with genuine skill — her popularity was a foregone conclusion. Envious voices from students of the other departments spread through the hall like wails, as the Magic Department students savored their good fortune.
But at some point—
"…Lai?"
Eli had gone silent. He stood frozen like a statue, staring at the stage. And his face, for some reason, looked terrified.