Resurrecting the Dead (1)
The Hero clutched the lifeless girl to his chest, tears streaming down his face for a long while.
"I... If only I'd... If only I'd finished off that snake for sure..."
The Hero kept blaming himself endlessly. Poor guy. But who could've known? That the snake which fled while the Hero was fighting the wyvern would come back to attack this village.
If only I'd known... If I'd finished it off, would this village have been safe? Yeah, it probably would have. If that snake had died, they'd all be fine.
"God..."
The Hero began searching for a god.
"Life Goddess who entrusted me with this heavy duty as Hero..."
The Hero was searching for me.
"Please... help me..."
The Hero spoke in a frail voice.
"If this is the punishment for shirking the responsibility you gave me, I'll accept it gladly."
The Hero sobbed.
"But shouldn't that sin fall only on me...? This girl is innocent, isn't she...?"
The Hero started crying like a child.
"So please... bring this girl back to life... You rule over all life, don't you? Please. Please, I beg you. I won't run from my role anymore... Please..."
I let out a small sigh.
"Fine."
"Sis...?"
I was already standing in front of the Hero by then.
"I won't ask what you were doing after running off like that... You must've had your own troubles."
Lies. Truth is, I'd been watching everything. What this kid's life would've been like if he hadn't shouldered the Hero's duty. How he'd live among people in this little village—I'd seen it all.
And honestly... it didn't look half bad.
"S-Sis..."
"Yeah, you big idiot."
The Hero clung to me, bawling like a little kid. No, even more childish than when he was actually little. Regression much?
"Sis... help me..."
"Yeah, I know. I heard everything."
I examined the girl nestled in the Hero's arms. Broken arm, twisted ankle, covered in blood, and a rotting shoulder wound from the snake's venom.
I began touching her body here and there with my hands. Aligning the broken bones, resetting the ankle, and when I placed my hand over the blackened, festering wound, it vanished in an instant.
"Wha—wh-what...?"
"I haven't revived her yet. Just cleaned up her body. Let's find the others first."
"The others...?"
"If the girl's in this state, shouldn't we look for the rest? Or are you saying reviving just her is enough?"
"Th-that's..."
The Hero's face flushed deep red, thoroughly embarrassed.
"Here, give her to me and go pull your sword out."
I pointed at the massive snake with its head pierced through, lying dead. The Hero handed over the girl with a slight flinch and headed toward the corpse to retrieve his sword.
Really, when's he gonna start acting straight? Tsk tsk.
I clicked my tongue briefly at his back, then looked down at the girl I'd taken.
Her body was now spotless, without a single wound. But her soul had already departed.
If I hadn't created the afterlife... her soul would've scattered by now, impossible to retrieve.
But things are different now. The underworld where the dead proceed. With its seven layers taking seven days each... as long as it's within forty-nine days after death, revival is possible.
So first, let's find the others. Might as well handle them all at once—no point making those kids deal with it piecemeal.
"Y-you're really sure we can revive them?"
"You don't trust me?"
"But..."
I smacked the whimpering Hero's head with a sharp thwack! and said,
"You prayed so desperately bawling your eyes out that I flew here in a panic! Am I that untrustworthy?!"
"N-no, but reviving the dead... honestly, it doesn't make sense. How can you bring back someone who's dead?"
"And you're the one who was just begging and sobbing for it? Hilarious."
The Hero shut his mouth like a dummy with honey on his lips, saying nothing more.
"Let's see. This big guy's the last one, looks like."
After dragging over the burly man's corpse and gathering them all, I inspected the bodies. Everyone in this small village had lost their lives to that giant snake.
The girl was probably the last one sacrificed to it. Or maybe the villagers tried luring it away to save her.
They failed, though.
"Put the girl next to them too."
"Ah, okay."
Total wrecks. Not a single intact body—some were reduced to scattered chunks with just a hand left.
Seeing that, the Hero's expression darkened again. After spending even a short time with these villagers, finding them like this... he'd start blaming himself again, no doubt.
"Not your fault."
"But..."
"When I say it's not, believe me. Anyway, let's begin."
I started scattering my life force bit by bit around us. The fallen bodies began regenerating flesh, scattered meat and blood gathering back into human forms.
Even half-dissolved corpses from inside the snake's gut reformed and regenerated.
Ew... not a pretty sight.
But unavoidable. Gotta accept it to fully restore the bodies.
As my life force spread, the corpses regenerated—and bizarrely, plants sprouted from the bare ground too.
After a bit more time, the villagers' fully intact bodies lay amid the lush new grass.
"Is it... done?"
"No, the real part starts now."
You can't revive without a body for the soul to return to, right?
Anyway, bodies ready—time to call back the souls.
"I, the one speaking in the name of the great Mother of All Life, declare."
Got eyes on us, so I'll chant some nonsense to make it look like a spell.
"Here lie pitiful souls awaiting resurrection."
> Thanatos?
> Yes, O Genesis Dragon.
> Will you return their souls?
> Huh? Right now?
> Please.
> But...
"Under the name of life, birth and death that exist therein—deny their fates."
> Ngh... Understood. If the Genesis Dragon asks like this, I have no choice.
> Thank you.
> Only because the Genesis Dragon personally requests it. And since they just died, retrieving the souls isn't hard.
"Make their hearts beat again, their blood flow once more, and let breath return to them."
> ...Returning souls.
"You lot—arise!"
Following my words, reapers invisible to others briefly appeared, returning the villagers' souls. Perfect. All souls back.
For the finale, I raised my right hand and declared,
Resurrection!
At that moment, the villagers' hearts began to beat again. Bodies intact, souls returned—no issues with revival.
Hearts pounding, breaths filling lungs. Consciousness would take time, but not long.
"Th-they're... really alive...?"
The Hero gaped at the girl's body starting to breathe.
Hmm. Didn't believe me, huh? Well, fair enough.
And so, resurrection magic (not actually magic) made its debut.
Magic to revive the dead. Resurrection magic.
Known as the Life Church's most famous miracle, this spell made everyone envy, admire, and respect the Life Church—no one could look down on them.
Long ago, used for the first time at the plea of a nameless Hero, it's called a magic that consumes no mana—unlike others.
Though regenerating flesh does require life force, not mana.
Borrowing the name of the Mother of All Life, it calls back the dead's souls and revives them.
Unlike any school's magic, it's utterly unique and fantastical.
One might call it a true miracle manifested through her name.
The most famous users are the Dragon Priestesses, saintesses of the Life Church. Beyond them, only a rare few high priests chosen by the Mother of Life.
Such priests appear maybe once a century, if that. And Dragon Priestesses only emerge when the world is in crisis...
So in normal times, resurrection magic is a rarity you might never witness.
But... is this really magic?
Can something using zero mana even be called magic? Wouldn't miracle be more fitting?
—Resurrection Magic. Magic? Or Miracle?