I revived him.
I thought that alone would be enough.
Since we had exchanged our lives.
I thought I had returned what I received.
But that illusion,
collapsed when I saw Argal's depleted vitality near death.
"You, *sob*, you're going to die, with a lifespan like that only enough to...!"
"...I suppose that too is fate. It doesn't matter to me."
Fate? What fate!
She had suffered for a long time, dragged away by the dark wizard.
And the benefactor who saved her from that suffering had lost his life because of her.
If even the revival she somehow managed was just a brief reprieve,
that wasn't fate, but a curse!
The more Besia's face crumpled endlessly, the more troubled Argal grew
because she was worried about the undying immortal soon dying.
The fact that he couldn't reveal he was immortal had never been so vexing.
The one who comforted her, who had cared for her since she was young, was Bishop Rave.
He calmly suggested a solution.
"Besia, did you say you revived someone?"
"Y-Yes, *sob*, but what does it matter? *sob* I brought him back to life only for him to die soon."
The bishop firmly denied that.
"It's not meaningless. There's a way."
"...R-Really?"
"There are artifacts that can extend one's lifespan. It's just that higher authority than mine is needed."
The church had numerous powerful artifacts.
Including those that could extend lifespan.
However, even a bishop would have difficulty using such artifacts.
"A saint... no, at minimum, a saint candidate could do it. While you can't prove you revived someone, your abilities are clearly close to a saint's."
"Then--!"
"But Besia. You know."
The bishop stopped her rash decision out of concern for her.
"The path of a saint isn't easy or good. It would be better if I do my utmost to obtain that artifact for you."
"Uuuu...."
"The hastier, the worse. And I haven't heard so many of your stories."
The bishop's gaze turned to Argal.
His eyes were filled with deep emotions.
Amidst the complex feelings he couldn't utter, what welled up was gratitude.
He had saved Besia at the cost of his own lifespan.
How could one expect such devotion from another?
"...I didn't know I had received such great grace."
"It wasn't to that extent."
"When I saw the dagger you held, I knew it was a wicked item that gained magic power through self-sacrifice. How many times did you stab yourself with it?"
Argal honestly answered.
"Three times."
"...Despite being revived by Besia, the lost lifespan doesn't return. I pledge on my name to bring you an artifact to extend your lifespan. Please wait just a short while."
The bishop left the room with determination to bring it immediately.
Watching the chaos, Argal quietly sighed and thought.
Really, I don't die.
I can't say that anywhere.
**
With a hand on Besia's head as she sniffled, no longer crying but still down, I said,
"You really do cry a lot."
"Whose fault is that!"
I chuckled at the irritated Besia.
"Don't worry too much. At least I'm better off than you."
"You're spouting nonsense! When you're about to die, what's good about that?"
Indeed people lived on hope.
Even Besia who had mourned as if dying soon became considerably relieved upon hearing there was a way to extend lifespan.
Besia tapped the bedside.
"Sit."
Following her words, I sat on the bed and felt her embrace me from behind.
While her touch was weak, it was warm, so I remained still.
"I still remember that heart that didn't beat back then."
She seemed to be speaking of when I died.
The sole moment I couldn't recall.
The instant of death.
"It was so frightening, so awful, unforgettable."
"I see."
"I should have thanked you at least once, apologized at least once."
Besia rested her head on my shoulder.
Her weight was far too light.
"I regretted it so much back then, I don't want to regret again."
"..."
"This time I won't let you die."
Hearing her determination, I didn't know how to respond.
I don't die... I decided to shelve that thought.
The only thing I could do was,
comfort her in a good direction.
"The bishop said he'd resolve it with the artifact, so it'll work out, right? Then that takes care of it."
"Aren't you only considering the bad possibilities? Come to think of it, back at the Dark Tower too, Argal, you were strangely overflowing with confidence."
Well I had been confident we could escape that seemingly hopeless situation.
It wasn't an incorrect statement.
Since I knew I wouldn't die after all.
To comfort her whose only action was to excessively worry, I hinted a little.
"Just like back then, in the end, I will come back to life."
"Did you become a prophet or something?"
While not a prophet, I was a regresser.
I could probably play a similar role.
"If you think that way."
"No, the way you speak makes me think you're a prophet. I'll just blindly fall for it."
To express her irritation in her own way, she pretended to choke my neck, but in that state she was clinging to my body.
Despite that, with my body tilting backwards, I fell over...
Please just return my dagger.
It's so ridiculously powerless without magic power too.
When I turned my head, I saw Besia glaring as if to stab me with her sharp expression.
"In this state? You call your condition good?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
"At this level you're just a walking corpse, right?"
Since I had been a corpse just earlier.
Oh, maybe not.
Anyway, even Besia judged I was critical and told me to go lie down and get treated somewhere immediately.
In the end, the place I had to return to was the infirmary.
The priest's harsh warning was extra.
"Next time you sneak out, I'm tying your whole body in bandages and strapping you down."
"Yes."
Where had the awe towards the immortal monarch Argal of the past gone for this body?
...Even if I say that, I was just a baron and nobleman now.
While I had defeated the Tower Master, such achievements didn't remain anywhere.
"I don't know."
Since things had become like this, I had to spend one more day here.
I had originally planned to return immediately, but honestly, without the dagger it would be difficult to even escape from here.
I just had to ask them to bring me the artifact and send me home.
And the bishop returned sooner than expected.
"You mustn't lose this by any means."
He gripped an object that looked like a necklace in one hand.
That necklace, crafted as if one drop of the artisan's sweat at a time, held a noble air.
It was also an artifact I had seen in the past.
Worn by the party's Archmage.
Origin of the Stars.
I couldn't understand it at all.
It was far too precious to use just for extending lifespan.
"...Isn't this too extravagant?"
"Do you know the value of this object?"
I knew far too well.
As it was a powerful artifact that amplified the Archmage who had reached transcendence.
I couldn't say that, so I expressed it differently.
"While I may not know, it looks precious at a glance."
"Beyond precious. Please take good care of it as it's a treasure."
I held up the Origin of the Stars the bishop handed over.
In the round crystal, a star-shaped gem was embedded.
The very possibility of containing tremendous mana.
So in other words, I had gained a means to utilize external mana.
It truly stood comparable with holy swords and demonic swords.
If anything, the bishop was the one unaware of this object's value.
If I were the bishop, I wouldn't have handed it over even if the person was a benefactor.
In any case, I gratefully accepted it.
Since new means I could utilize had appeared with this artifact.
Wearing the necklace, I felt a sense of regained vigor.
"It's an artifact that blows life into the body with mana. It doesn't grant eternal life by halting aging, but helps restore depleted lifespan."
"I see."
The bishop raised his hand.
When I grabbed that hand, faint divine power flowed through my body.
"Phew.... What a relief. The diminished vitality is welling up once more."
"Thank you."
"No need for thanks. I've merely returned what you spent saving Besia."
...The vitality welling up again is probably because the side effects of revival are decreasing.
I couldn't spit out this preposterous artifact after receiving it just because of that.
Eh, if the person's happy about it, what need is there to pinch pennies?
The bishop told me to rest in the room and left.
While the priest outside guarding the infirmary gave me looks, it seemed he couldn't do anything about the bishop taking me out.
And I didn't die anyway, but Besia was a critically ill patient.
Stability was essential no matter what.
Barging in and chatting normally like earlier was also odd.
So I tried to test the true utilization potential of the Origin of the Stars while at leisure.
Why would the Archmage have this artifact?
Not only because it contained mana, but because it enabled tremendous amplification.
"While I've never used mana..."
The fundamentals were similar to magic power.
Having personally witnessed magic's extremes, it was odd I couldn't use magic.
"But I can't contain mana in my body."
The moment I contained mana in my body, it would clash with magic power, preventing me from using dark magic.
Since I was already plenty strong with dark magic, what need was there to learn magic and render my existing skills useless?
I snapped my finger.
While I had clumsily imitated it, it turned out better than I thought.
The white light floating in the air.
Attribute magic impossible even for a dark wizard reaching transcendence.
Light.
The basics of basics, but
it was enough.
**
"I didn't know even the church had rotted this much."
A succession of shocking events.
Bishop Rave was extremely weary, and couldn't fall asleep despite his weariness.
Obtaining the artifact hadn't required the bishop to pay anything out of the ordinary either.
He hadn't promised Besia would become a saint, nor had he offered any privileges he held.
He recalled the words of the cardinal he met today.
'Bishop, I heard Priest Besia was gravely injured.'
'Yes, Cardinal Yohas.'
'You said an artifact was needed, yes? It just so happens I have an artifact that could help the girl.'
And the cardinal took out an artifact that would make anyone's jaw drop.
The Origin of the Stars, which even the bishop couldn't handle, given for a critically ill patient.
'Please remain silent about this matter.'
'...Pardon?'
'The royal family made a move. It seems best to wrap this up now.'
The bishop had been personally investigating this case.
The Dark Tower situated near the capital.
Besia's appalling testimonies.
And the existence he suspected but couldn't confirm was behind this incident...
The royal family itself.
"That can't be allowed."
The bishop gritted his teeth.
If the church couldn't help, so be it.
But trying to bury this case?
"No matter what the royal family does, we of the church must not do the same."
But the Origin of the Stars.
The cardinal had likely given it to consider Besia, who suffered great harm from this incident, but it was desperately needed by the boy who had exhausted all his vitality and was only waiting for death.
He couldn't possibly refuse to accept it.
"I'm sorry."
He wanted to immediately take the order of knights and confront the royal family, the royals, accusing them of heresy and apostasy.
Overturn the church and expose the corruption built up with the royal family's collusion, but
he had to bend his knees to realistic limitations and pressing necessities.
The creed that should never yield collapsed.
He displayed submission that shouldn't have been shown to those children.
"But this is only temporary."
The bishop took out a sheet of parchment.
If he mobilized all his connections and influence, those furious about the corruption would gather.
It didn't have to be immediate.
And so he began drafting heatedly.
Unaware what conspiracy lurked behind.