The Letter Quinn Left Behind
To Bayul.
Hey, Bayul. It's me, Quinn.
By the time you're reading this letter, I probably won't be in this world anymore. I'm planning to come and get you in a little while.
You already know I have rather exceptional healing abilities, don't you?
There's one thing I never told you, though — the truth is, I can bring the dead back to life. It comes with the limitation that it only works within one day of death, and I can only use it once in my life.
I'm explaining all this because I figured you'd wonder.
I imagine you must be cursing me by now.
But I don't regret my decision. Because you are someone this world cannot afford to lose.
For a prince of the Mermaid Kingdom like me, a world without a Spirit User like you is a world without a future. So please try to understand this — it wasn't a decision I made for your sake. It was one I made for mine.
I suppose this is why I met you.
You were the first person who ever showed me what hope looked like.
I'm glad I was able to save you.
I hope you won't cry too much. You're surprisingly strong-willed, Bayul, so I believe you'll get through this.
For my sake, and for your brother's sake, live even harder than before.
Thank you for everything.
Your roommate, Quinn.
The hand clutching the letter trembled uncontrollably. Bayul could not believe it.
Quinn had thrown away his own life in Bayul's place. The figure he had seen in the mortuary just moments ago had been Quinn's body. When he'd first felt that the boy didn't seem to be sleeping at all, Bayul had shaken him like a madman, desperately trying to wake him up.
But no amount of hitting or shaking could rouse Quinn. He only grew colder and stiffer with every passing second.
Thud!
His legs gave out beneath him. When Bayul collapsed onto the floor, the friends who had raced back to the dormitory with him flinched in shock — but they, too, lacked the strength to so much as keep themselves upright.
Two friends lost in a single day. Bayul had returned alive, yes, but there was no joy to be found in that. That Quinn had ended his own life in Bayul's place was a devastating shock to all of them.
One after another, they sank down to the floor. Only yesterday the academy had been ringing with festival excitement and laughter; now it was turning into a living hell.
"…Why didn't you stop me? You should have stopped me…… Quinn…… You shouldn't have let me send Quinn off like this."
Bayul sobbed as he poured out his resentment on his friends.
"What did I do……? What did I possibly do to deserve this? How am I supposed to live, looking like this? Could I ever live with myself after sending Quinn away like that? Is that what you all think of me?"
"Bayul, of course we don't think that."
"Then you should have stopped me! I didn't even know I was dead! I woke up after the treatment and thought everything had gone fine!"
"I know you're worked up right now, but if we'd known about Quinn's plan, do you really think we would have just stood by?"
"…What?"
"We only found this letter a little while ago — that's why we rushed to the temple. Nobody knew. Do you really think Quinn would have told anyone beforehand?"
No. If he thought about it rationally for even a moment, the answer was obvious. Quinn was absolutely not the type to say such things out loud.
The letter alone made that plain. Only he could have written something this composed with his own death staring him in the face.
It was so utterly, unbearably like Quinn to the very end that a hollow laugh escaped Bayul's lips.
"Cold-hearted bastard. Right up to the last, it was all about him."
Aidan wiped away the tears streaming down his face with a rough hand as he cursed Quinn.
"How could anyone make a decision like that all alone? Did he really think of us as friends at all? I knew he was a cold fish from the start, but I never imagined he was this bad. I never knew he could be this cruel!"
"We never should have gotten close to him from the beginning. I should've just ignored that merfolk bastard — this is what I get for sticking my nose in. What are we supposed to do now, looking at what's left?"
The room shook as if it would come apart at Eli's roar. To any observer it would have been an absurd sight, but no one had the presence of mind to find it strange. They seethed with fury at Quinn's reckless choice — and in the end, every last one of them broke down into wailing.
Quinn no longer existed in this world.
They would never see him again, anywhere.
Those two facts drowned Bayul in a crushing guilt — and in fear. He had leaned on Quinn for so much; Quinn had been his roommate. The realization that he would now have to use this dormitory room alone sent a horrifying feeling surging over him.
Plenty of students had seen Bayul bolt from the temple and sprint toward the dormitory. At first they'd all doubted their own eyes — it was only when they caught sight of the Crown Prince hurrying after him that they understood it was all true.
Just like that, the occupant of the mortuary had changed.
The white sheet that had covered Bayul now covered Quinn's body. By the Crown Prince's order, the mortuary was placed under strict guard once more.
"Bayul……"
He didn't know how long he had wept, or how the time had slipped past. His tears had run dry as if there were nothing left in him to shed, but Bayul still sat slumped on the floor, staring blankly into empty air.
"Your Highness……"
The friends belatedly came to their senses at the sight of the visitor and rose to receive the Crown Prince, but Bayul did not move a muscle. There was no focus at all at the end of his vacant gaze.
This life he'd been given was a bonus — one purchased with a friend's life.
Was living like this really meaningful?
Would he truly be able to live well?
Bayul panted for breath in the depths of his confusion.
How many more people would die because of me? First my brother, and now Quinn. Who would be next?
"Hic……!"
As those thoughts consumed him, the tears he'd believed dried up came flooding out all over again.
'Bayul……'
The Crown Prince could not bring himself to approach. He, too, felt a measure of responsibility for Quinn's death.
When Quinn had come to the Crown Prince's sickroom, saying he had something to tell Bayul, the prince had replied that speaking to a dead Bayul would accomplish nothing — and Quinn had said something strange then.
'He will…… hear it.'
Not in his wildest imaginings had he understood what those words meant.
What an astonishing ability it truly was.
A magic-like gift that took another person's wound upon oneself and healed it in their place. The Crown Prince had always believed that mending wounds was the province of priests alone, and so Lindemann was left both profoundly shocked and deeply sorrowful.
He had no intention of letting Quinn's noble sacrifice pass lightly. By saving Bayul, Quinn had in effect given the Crown Prince his life back as well — for Bayul was the one who had saved him.
He would see to it that Quinn — his savior, and a prince of the Mermaid Kingdom — received a funeral befitting his station. It was the only expression of gratitude he, as Crown Prince, could offer.
"Young master! Young Master Bayul!"
Just then, a voice came crying frantically for Bayul from outside. News had apparently traveled fast. The door to the dormitory room burst open with a bang that threatened to tear it from its hinges, and Ian appeared together with Rita.
"Waaahhh! Young massster!"
She hadn't been able to believe it until she saw him with her own eyes. After receiving word of Bayul's death early that morning, Rita had wept and wailed, fainting over and over — and now, finding Bayul truly alive, she ran to him and crushed him in a fierce embrace. Then she wailed at a volume that threatened to bring the whole dormitory down.
No one tried to stop her, for they understood her heart all too well. There was a gulf of status between them, but she was as a sister to him — raised on the same mother's milk.
Rita sobbed in Bayul's arms for a long while. Worry, anxiety, relief — a storm of emotions poured off of her.
Bayul had all but lost his mind in the wake of Quinn's death, but with Rita alone, it was different. He managed to hold her to his chest, stroking her hair and patting her back gently.
I'm all right.
I'm sorry I worried you.
Those were the words carried in Bayul's touch.
Watching him, Ian quietly wiped away tears of his own. For him, who had been enduring a punishment-like vigil since Bayul's death, Bayul's resurrection was a gift he had never dared hope for.
Of course he felt sorry toward Quinn. But as Bayul's escort knight, what mattered to Ian could only ever be Bayul. Quinn's sacrifice grieved him — and yet it was also true that he was grateful, and joyful, to see Bayul alive again.
"Young master…… His Grace the Duke will be arriving before long."
"…My father?"
When Rita had somewhat calmed, Ian stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and reported that he had already sent word to the Duke.
"Yes. When he arrives and sees you, young master, he will be utterly astonished — but I have no doubt he will be overjoyed."
"I'm…… I'm not happy at all."
Bayul's face crumpled in grief all over again.
"Quinn died in my place. He threw away his own life for me. It has to be undone…… I should die, and Quinn should come back to life!"
Even knowing full well that no such way existed, Bayul screamed as though in the grip of a seizure.
"Young master! Please, calm yourself! If you carry on like this, it will break your body and mind!"
"Everyone — where is Lokha right now?"
Rita's attempts to soothe him were for nothing; instead of calming down, Bayul turned on Lokha with desperate intensity.
"He's the one who said it — that my lifeline showed a fate of dying and coming back to life. And that's exactly what happened. If I ask him, maybe he can find some way!"
He had to do something. Just as Quinn had, Bayul had to try anything and everything. If he sat still like this, he felt his head would split open.
"We already went to see him. Lokha says he only reads palms — he doesn't know anything beyond that."
"No! There has to be a way! Quinn found one! No matter what it takes, I'm going to bring him back!"
No one had ever seen Bayul this worked up. His frantic struggling left them all helpless — no one could bring themselves to step in and hold him back. They were worried he might spiral into outright delirium at this rate.
"There isn't no way."
Just then, someone strode unannounced into the dormitory room. Not one of them had sensed a presence. Instinctively, Ian's hand moved toward the scabbard at his waist.
"…Des?"
And against all expectation, the unwelcome guest was Des. Des, who had left his post claiming business at the family estate, had returned — not to the residence, but to the academy.
"Des! What do you mean, a way? Are you saying there really is a way to save Quinn?"
Bayul rushed to Des's side in an instant. Here, Des lived as a houseboy — but his true identity was a demon lord. If he said there was a way, it would be no idle boast.
"That boy."
Des suddenly pointed a finger at Eli.
"If it's that boy's father, it's possible."
Eli's father was Rayegar, the Chairman of the Academy. He was certainly a powerful mage. But Bayul had never once heard of magic raising the dead.
As Bayul and everyone else present stared in bewilderment, one person alone — Eli — began to tremble as he looked at Des. Like someone whose secret had just been exposed.
"Isn't it about time you revealed who you really are?"
A flicker of red rippled in the black eyes hidden beneath Des's fringe.
"Y-you're……!"
And in that moment, Eli realized who Des was. An overwhelming tide of demonic energy, so vast it made everything before seem laughable, was pouring out of Des.