"There are actually different ways from what I heard..."
Ness tried to calm herself down, forgetting the intense moment earlier, and explained. But before she could do so-
"Wait, I have a question first."
Joren raised a hand.
Virena frowned while wiping the spilled tea but didn't say anything. No one noticed the difference in behavior- if it was before, she would've scolded Joren, saying he shouldn't interrupt the principal.
"Why only now?"
He asked with no ill-intent but with pure curiosity.
"Why am I only going to explain it now?"
Ness pondered for the answer before honestly, to the point of being frank, saying, "It's because I didn't trust you before. I mean, what if you turned to human and then wanted revenge? Revenge stories are a thing now!"
She slapped the table.
"Are you talking about anime, Principal- Oy! Are you thinking that just because you touched my boobs, you gained the Principal's trust!?"
Virena reprimanded after taking a glance at Joren's expression.
"Eh, that shouldn't be, right, Joren?" Ness thinks that Virena was becoming too fast to assume now but when she looked at Joren, she saw his 'How did you know?' face.
"What!? No, how did you think of that? It was because of other things but it's definitely not that!"
Ness immediately corrected.
"Is my face really that readable?"
Joren muttered, making Virena pop a nerve again.
"Ehem! So, anyway, you can't really accept my words as a hundred percent legitimate since I've only heard it and have not seen it myself." Ness said, attracting seriousness in the atmosphere again.
"If it's true, it's actually pretty easy to return to human. The reason why Virena can't turn you back into a human is that the reason why you're an undead is that you've died in the first place. Once you've revived and had life, that was when Virena can remove your status as undead, or maybe it will be removed naturally."
"Revival...?"
Virena muttered. This was the first time she had heard such a method.
"So I just need to revive myself and it's easy?" Joren smiled and enthusiastically asked, "So how do I do that?"
"Everyone has a soul and that soul goes somewhere once you've died. That's why no matter what others do to your body, without a soul, it's completely dead. Meanwhile, you, as an undead, have a soul that was about to leave but when Virena drank your blood, her saliva entered your bloodstream and made the soul stuck in the boundary of the underworld and the living world."
"Wait, so her saliva is all that needed? Then why did she drink my blood?"
"That's..." Ness glanced at Virena, who have her head lowered in shame, and couldn't say that it's because she just couldn't restrain herself, "... because making you her servant reduces her energy so she's just taking it back by drinking yours."
"Oh..."
Both Joren and Virena nodded to that, accepting it as the truth.
"Since your soul is not exactly in the underworld but just stuck on the door of death, it's easier to retrieve and revive yourself. One method is talking to your appointed Grim Reaper and ask it to return it to you."
"Appointed Grim Reaper..." Joren felt weird when he heard Ness talk about a Grim Reaper as if it's just your nurse or something.
"But Principal, that's impossible for Joren, the Grim Reaper will just behead him before he could say anything."
"Hm!?"
Upon hearing this, Joren's pondering face turned wide eyes.
"It's fine, Joren just need to not let it behead him. Asking politely is impossible in the first place." Ness said as if there's nothing wrong.
"Principal, you may be able to do that but Joren can't even defeat me." Virena explained.
"Ah," Ness just remembered, "You're right, Joren is weak, after all."
'My dignity as a man...' Joren felt depressed as he felt like he's losing something else. But he raised his head when he asked.
"Wait, does that mean you can defeat this Grim Reaper, Ness?"
Ness proudly nodded with a beaming smile, "Yeah, I can take them down even if there's ten of them! That's why as long as you got enough strength, you can increase your lifespan by annihilating your appointed Grim Reaper once in a while."
"Annihilating... that's how it works?"
"Only for the strong like the Principal." Virena replied to Joren with a defeated smile.
"So if that doesn't work, how about getting a Phoenix's egg instead and eat it? There's a chance you will get its ability to revive once." Ness moved on to another way.
Joren would've preferred the 'simple way' of battling the Grim Reaper. However, it was akin to a key inside its vault, he couldn't increase his strength while being a lesser undead unless he becomes...
Also, from the sounds of it, it seemed like Ness wouldn't be able to help him defeat the Grim Reaper because it is HIS 'appointed' Grim Reaper.
Thus, he opened his ears for the next method so he asked.
"So how do I get this egg?"
Virena sighed.
"Principal, a Phoenix is countless times stronger than a Grim Reaper."
"But he didn't need to fight one. He just needs to sneak in and grab the egg. Once he is revived, his only problem is that the Phoenix will chase him until it kills him. A revenge story!"
"Hm, if that's possible, then I will do it!" Joren's enthusiasm returned, startling both Virena and Ness.
"Hah? Are your ears broken? Didn't you hear me say that a Phoenix is countless times stronger than a Grim Reaper?"
"Say... is a Phoenix stronger than Zeus?" Joren suddenly asked.
Virena and Ness glanced at each other before the former answered.
"Obviously... Zeus is called the Father God of Gods, even any other Gods are enough to put the Phoenix race into extinction."
Joren raised his eyebrows, Gods sounds ridiculously strong from how Virena sounds it. However, that didn't take him back down.
"Well, then a Phoenix is nothing."
"Yeah, to a God." Virena rebuked.
"Once I revived, I can just become stronger."
"Tsk! You don't understand, do you? Even by a very slim chance that you really took the egg and revived. Do you think that you can hide from a Phoenix? And even if you do hide, how long before it finds you and kills you again? You think I will be there at that time to turn you undead again?"
Joren found something amiss and said;
"It's fine..."
After ticking Virena's nerves, both of them heard Ness giggle. With a big smile, she said.
"This is the first time I saw Virena worry about others."
""What!?""
The two jinxed.
"You see, Virena really likes people who are stron-mmm"
A hand immediately covered Ness' mouth.
"Principal...!" Virena desperately hushed. She glanced at Joren with a glare but it was ineffective as she saw his joyful expression.
"So you like me, Virena?" Joren pointed at himself before a bright red light shone in the room after its lights turned off for some reason, "Wait, I'm just joking, just joking! I mean, if you like strong people, then shouldn't you speak of Zeus with respect? But I'm hearing the opposite of it."
Joren reasoned because he had been thinking this for a while since he just met a certain girl who likes strong people too but seemed to hate the Gods. It's not linear at the very least.
"Hm, it's good that you understand." Virena then released her hand from Ness mouth but as she retrieved it, it was wet.
"Principal, did you just lick my hand?!"
"Revenge stories!"
"Anime had really influenced you, it seems like you need a rest from it, Principal." Virena defeatedly wiped her hands the second time.
Ness gasped, "Are you revenge story-ing me!? Virena, you're good."
'Why is revenge story becoming a thing?'
Joren posed a question many are asking but somehow, he seeks a different answer.
"So how do I get this Phoenix Egg?"
Virena just sighed and didn't rebuke this time.
"Hm... I don't know." Ness immediately shut down Joren's expectations, "I've been busy here that i haven't been outside for some years or so and even if I do, occasionally, it's not like I'm finding a Phoenix, they're rare, you know."
'So she's a shut-in.'
Virena saw Joren's face but she didn't reprimand him since she agrees with it.
"Are you two thinking about something rude?"
Ness frowned with an intense gaze.
After feigning innocence, the two escape that gaze as Ness continued.
"But none of it should be here on the first floor. It should at least be on the fifth or sixth floor. One Phoenix should at least be working as a teacher there."
Joren's image of the mystical being called a Phoenix was immediately shattered.
"T-teacher?"
"Hm? Don't act so surprise, you have a Unico-... you have a Homosexual as a teacher." Ness then muttered right after, "I forgot that guy wants to be identified as a Homosexual..."
"Then... does this Phoenix talk and communicate just like us?"
"Why are you talking like they're retarded? Yes, they can talk."
Ness didn't know why Joren was asking such questions. However, it was important for him. If something acts like a human, speaks like a human, and behaves like a human, if a Phoenix is like that, then Joren would see them as humans with different appearances like the unicorn.
Stealing its egg and eating it is like stealing a human baby and eating it.
At that moment, Joren was reminded... these people he was talking to were not humans but instead, monsters.