n the profession of adventuring, it wasn't rare to see some people doing quests for the night. After all, quests were needed to be taken care of most of the time, whether it'd be daytime or not. There were no problems for the time so long as the quest is finished within the set time limit it was given. There were pretty much no exceptions.
And there won't be anytime soon.
Before leaving Furian, the adventurer made a detour towards his home. This quest was going to take a pretty long time, so he needed to have a change of clothes. Afterwards, they continued on with their adventure. They were now in the middle of nowhere, with Poppy leading the way and the adventurer following her.
For some reason, the adventurer was getting awfully tired. Sure, he accepted this quest knowing that it was going to be months ahead, but he never expected to do his quest in the middle of the night.
There wasn't any problem with that, though. The adventurer liked horror stories, but he wasn't the type to believe in them, so it wasn't as though he was scared of the dark. And he liked strolling around in the middle of the night sometimes, so this would contradict his current state as he's pulling the crates with him.
That wasn't the case, though. Each time he pulled it, he needed to use more and more of his strength and energy in order to make it move. Although he could manage it, due to doing so many quests earlier, it's apparent that those times were taking a toll on him.
"Do you want to take a break?" Poppy offered next to him. "You seem awfully tired for someone who's just started his quest."
It wasn't exactly the time he started his quest. He accepted it in the afternoon, and it was now the middle of the night, so he's been doing this quest for about six or seven hours now.
"Y-Yeah… I think taking seven quests and then ending with this one is a little too much for a shut-in adventurer like me…"
"I'll set up camp, then."
The adventurer tried offering some help, but before he could even offer Poppy some, she just swayed her head and smiled at him. This was an indication that she didn't seen any help. At his state, he'll probably just get in the way. He thought so as well, so he had nothing to do but to wait.
They were in the middle of the wide plains just sticking with the road. The adventurer, using the last bits of his strength, pulled the crates out of the road by just about ten feet. Poppy disengaged her wind magic, making the crates slowly fall.
She opened one up from the side, making its contents spill onto the floor. There were various materials needed to set up camp, like firewood for a campfire, foods for nourishment, and even a small sleeping bag.
Poppy grabbed the materials to make a simple campfire as the adventurer quietly sat down on the ground to watch her do her work.
Maybe it was because of the warm fire, but the adventurer felt oddly calm now. After Poppy finished making the campfire, she sat down on the other side of the adventurer. She laid her hands out, feeling the fire on her palms.
It was the middle of summer, but today was surprisingly cold. Not to mention that the breeze kept on blowing despite having no signs of either rain or storm. It was an unusually cold evening tonight.
Poppy and the adventurer both sat down on either sides of the campfire, facing each other. They didn't look directly at each other's faces, but they were still in fact facing each other.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?" the adventurer asked.
"Hm?"
"What exactly are you researching?"
Poppy fell silent.
The adventurer has been wondering this ever since he'd first heard of it back in the tavern this afternoon. Ever since he heard of her leaving Vastum to continue researching.
He didn't know what her motives were other than her research, but the only thing that has made her go as far as leaving her own country is the research itself. Was it that important in any sort of way, or was she just researching out of her own selfish desire to satiate her curiosity?
Other than his initial question, that's what he wanted to find out the most.
"Hmm… That's a rather tough question, wouldn't you say?" Poppy said after giving it some thought.
"Not at all. I just want you to give me a brief idea of what it could be."
"I see."
Once again, she fell silent. No words coming out of her mouth.
For the adventurer, this was a strange thing for someone to do. He's never dedicated much when it came to doing things, so he was a little confused as to what motive Poppy had that made her go this far for her research.
Dedicating the time and strength to do things was something the adventurer never looked up upon. As long as the job was finished, especially so with a minimal amount of effort, then it didn't matter much for him.
This is how he's been able to continue doing quests without the need of troubling himself.
"Let me ask you something, then," Poppy said after a long pause.
"Hey, I'm the one asking questions here."
"I know. However, I need your proper thoughts before I can proceed to give you an answer that can satisfy you. If you wouldn't mind."
"Oh. Well, okay then."
He wanted his question to be answered first, but seeing as there was no reason for him to know that quick, he decided to listen to Poppy.
"Did you ever have anyone you cherished the most in this world?" she asked.
"Huh?"
"Someone you wanted to be with for the rest of your life, someone you truly wished to be the person whom you wouldn't let go?"
"Uh…"
He was at a loss for words.
It was actually quite hard for the adventurer to say, now that he thought about it. He didn't have much friends back when he was still in school, and the same can be said for when he was a child.
His parents were a bit on the rough side when it came to parenting (especially when they disowned him) so he never got close to any of them.
Talia was one of his favored rivals, but due to how she's been acting lately, he hasn't been able to get the chance to speak with her well. He'd probably consider her, but even then, it was still too hard for him to do so.
There was also Jean, but she was just a friend who frequently spoke to him. He didn't think much of her, and neither did Jean thought much of him as well. At least, that's what the adventurer thought of it.
"…No."
He didn't have anyone he could cherish. He knew that the moment he left his hometown and decided to become an adventurer.
"I see. Then I hope that I won't regret telling you my reason."
She took a deep breath, as if preparing herself, and then started speaking.
"A long time ago, back when I was still a child, I thought that nothing would ever change. I convinced myself of that, up to the point where I thought everything would be okay no matter what I did. And so I did what I could."
The adventurer didn't know where this was headed, but he nonetheless kept listening.
"But while I was out watering plants in our lovely garden, I saw one of my three favorite flowers wilting. Despite taking good care of it, I couldn't preserve its life. After a while, it died. The other ones followed one by one, as if the death of one life spread and infected the others."
It didn't exactly function like that, but it could be something that can be compared to. Death is inevitable, and every single death is followed by another one. It was understandable how one would want something to stay with them forever.
"One day, my parents decided to send my brother out on the battlefield, back when the war was still raging on. The reason they did so was that they could know whether or not his combat prowess makes him worthy enough of him inheriting their wealth."
Anyone who inherits a certain something always needs to be proven to be worthy of it before accepting it. If you just carelessly give it to some person, then who knows how they'll use it. Whether it'd be money, weapon, power, people always needed to be careful on who they pick.
"News came and went. Status of the war were always notified to almost every single people in Eldoria every day. And in those news, I hoped that my brother could make it out of there safely. But…"
She glanced down, preparing herself.
"…He never came back."
His companions were falling back.
After invading the demon's base, his companions started going back to their initial base in order to transfer their supplies.
While they were walking on the remains of war, as they reached the other base, they could see fire coming from there. All of them ran to see the situation, but when they were about to reach it…
…Poppy's brother was suddenly impaled through the chest by a spear.
Although he was able to live for about five minutes, without anyone on their side with knowledge of healing magic, the doctors in the area wouldn't be able to close the wound properly. He was the first person to die in that sudden invasion.
The others quickly followed. One by one, they were annihilated. Only one person managed to make it out alive, the only one being able to deliver the message to the other kingdoms.
Poppy's parents soon found out about this, and then after some consideration, they told Poppy about it as well.
At least, this was the story that Poppy received from her parents.
"After they returned to the base to get the bodies and give them a proper burial, my brother's body was never found," Poppy said, concluding her story.
The adventurer thought nothing of her story. As far as he's known, that's how war was operated. Whether you need to be careful with attacking, devise a proper plan for attack, or just defending, one way or another, someone eventually dies.
That's why he didn't care much about her story.
"It's interesting, but it doesn't really answer my question," the adventurer said.
"The reason I told you that story is because it's connected to the research I'm conducting."
"So what exactly is that?"
"Resurrection."
The adventurer was suddenly taken aback by what she had said.
"…What?"
"Like I said, resurrection. Bringing the dead back to life. I'd say necromancy, but they're both far and near each other that it doesn't exactly fit the description."
There were people in this world who could revive the dead, but if they revived one, then they're only a mindless puppet that the caster is puppeteering.
"I know what that means. It's just that I don't see how this connects with your story from earlier. I mean, I can probably guess that you're maybe trying to revive your brother, but wasn't his body not found?"
There was no point in trying to reunite with someone if that someone wasn't even anywhere to be seen; or in this scenario, found.
"Ah, that's what most people would think the moment they'd hear the reason for such a research. That isn't exactly it, though. I plan on temporarily reviving the bodies that were gathered back in that base."
"For what?"
"I'll ask them about whether or not they saw my brother being taken."
That was a fairly simple reason. The only witnesses of her brother's death were the opposing team and theirs, so it was natural to ask the latter.
"Well, what if you don't get the answer?"
"I haven't thought of that yet, but I do know that I'll be searching for him if I do get my answer. But for now, I think I'll keep being a scientist."
"What about the bodies?"
"I'll give them their chance of reuniting with their loved ones before returning them back to the afterlife."
"…That's wholesome."
"That's what my previous companions said."
If given one chance to do something before death, then that chance would probably be put for communicating with someone you know. That's why it's the first thing that came to Poppy's mind the moment she thought about it. She herself would like to see her brother again, so it was only natural.
But it was impossible to resurrect someone. The moment they die, they're dead for good. There's nothing anyone can do about that. It's a natural part of life. It's the end of a story, and a start of a new one.
So what Poppy was saying was quite in fact impossible. There was no way for something to be resurrected no matter how much you try to research it. Science won't do anything to revive.
"…Wait," the adventurer said. "How far ahead are you in your research so far?"
"Why do you ask?"
"It's just that resurrecting something isn't possible. If you have somehow done so, then what I want to ask if how you've done it so far."
"Hm, I can see how that would complicate things. I have revived simple things that were recently dead through magic, such as a flower recently wilted and a bird being shot down."
"So it's through magic, huh."
"What's strange is that I can only revive things that have recently died. I once tried reviving the three favorite flowers I mentioned earlier, but it didn't seem to have an effect. I haven't tried it with any humans or other beings, though."
She once thought of using the dead bodies from the spoils of war, but she was prohibited from doing any human experiments until she could revive an organic being besides humans that has perished for the last ten years or so.
The fire, which was keeping them warm, was gradually getting stronger and stronger as the breeze blew through it. Anytime now, and it's going to turn into morning.
Poppy let out a small yawn and she placed a hand near her mouth. Just from looking at that, the adventurer felt sleepy as well. It was the middle of the night, after all; a time to be sleeping.
"It's getting kind of late, isn't it?" Poppy asked. "We should sleep now. There's still a long way until we reach Cogitatio, after all."
"You do that. I'll keep watch."
It was currently nighttime, so who knows what dangers were lurking in the middle of nowhere. It was necessary for someone to keep watch, and since the adventurer was the one who was employed, it made sense that it was his job to do.
"That would be quite unnecessary."
"How? You're just going to pray that monsters wouldn't pop out in the middle of nowhere while you're asleep? Or is it that you can sense danger the moment it happens so you can protect yourself?"
"Um, neither, but I will put some thought on the latter," Poppy responded. "I've placed a talisman in one of the crates which was designed to put out a barrier around me in the middle of the night so as to not get detected by any dangerous beings."
"That's, uh, interesting."
"It's been helpful for the last five months since I created it, so it should still hold up for the both of us. There's no need for you to worry about anything, just sit back and relax. Or, you know, sleep."
"…Well, if you say so."
The adventurer hasn't seen much magic in his life, but if someone was this reliant on it, then there was no need for him to get worried. Even more so if the magic was made by Poppy herself.
With their last conversation of the night finished, Poppy laid down a blanket she picked up from one of the crates on top of some grass and laid on top of it. The adventurer just sat down, waiting for the drowsiness to kick in before going to sleep.