Volume 1 Chapter 74 Cursed Spirit, Dissolving in the Mist
The bad ending was coming.
Through Silvia's eyes, she saw what happened — this person who was reborn from Japan... but had no body, only a parasite living inside Silvia's mind.
──Did I die? If so, can I take over this body?
She dreamed of living in the otome game world she loved, being cared for by handsome men, just like she had watched on a screen back in Japan.
──So useless... only helpful after death.
Let me tell you what she got wrong.
She thought she knew too much and believed she would die for sure if this happened.
She didn't think about the small things that can change everything — like how a butterfly's wing can cause a storm far away.
She forgot to watch the world around her.
Now, Silvia held tightly to Eleonora's body and passed out, but she was not dead yet.
Still, her mind, hurt by the parasite inside it and by the stress and headaches, was getting weaker, close to dying.
If we count the body as one and the mind as one, a healthy person is two points.
Silvia was at one point five.
And if another being has a mental score of zero point five...
Who will heal first?
──Huh? What? Something bad...
At that moment, Silvia's soul started to take the right kind of matter, and to wake up her mind quickly, she had to absorb it fast.
──Huh? Why am I melting? Stop it! Give it to me!
The matter fought back, but because there was a body, Silvia got priority.
It is stronger to stand on solid ground than to swing arms in the air — that's simple fact.
──Wait! No! I don't want to die! No! Aaaah!
Her sense of self was breaking down into a sticky mess.
Her name, face, even her family back in Japan, all disappeared.
Her survival instinct, or maybe her wish to escape, made her hope again and again in short moments that this was a dream and she would wake up.
But this was real, based on a game world.
That wish never came true.
──I... just wanted to be happy...
A small stone dropped and made ripples on the water.
The ripples quickly faded.
The high school girl from Japan was now part of Silvia.
"──I... am alive."
Silvia woke up, lying under a tree, with a cloth on her head.
When her mind came back, she felt a sharp pain, like her head was being squeezed.
This was not the usual punishment from the cursed spirit.
New memories she shouldn't have had flooded her mind.
Japan, school, games, wars, sequels...
A deep fear came to Silvia.
Her empty stomach burned with acid.
"W-where am I..."
Eleonora heard her vomiting, ran to her side, and called out.
"Are you okay, Holy Maiden?"
"What... happened...?"
"You fell from a cliff. Luckily, we are both alive."
The priest was unlucky.
Silvia looked to where Eleonora had been moments ago and saw Emilio's broken body.
"If it hit me instead of the window, maybe I could have helped."
Her head and body still hurt, but Silvia stood up, feeling she must do what she could.
She held out her hand to Eleonora.
Soft light shone from her palm, quickly healing Eleonora's cuts and bruises.
Next, she put her hand on Emilio.
His broken bones moved back into place, and at first, he looked like he was just sleeping.
But no matter how long she waited, Emilio did not wake up, and his heart did not beat.
"Why... can't I bring people back to life?"
Normally — no, if this were pure Silvia — she could have revived Emilio.
But when she restored the soul, there were impurities.
She had no choice, but those impurities made her lose her holiness.
Now, Silvia was an otherworldly being with knowledge of modern Japan.
She couldn't use it properly because she didn't fully understand that world's knowledge.
And in this medieval place, talking about atomic structure made no sense.
In any case, Silvia's power as a Holy Maiden was much weaker.
At best, she was a mid-level healer.
That means, the real Holy Maiden Silvia was dead because she could no longer do resurrection — the true proof of a saint.
"Hey!? Why!? Why!? Please!"
"If you can't do it, just leave it. Isn't it enough you helped with sight?"
"I... I did bring someone back to life!"
"Listen to the basics; once a person dies, that's it."
This is a simple, clear truth.
After death, you only get one life.
Resurrection is a myth promise.
You pay a price, or it works for a time, but fails in the end.
"This priest, Emilio, was meant to die today. You must not change that."
"Then what about the boy I brought back?"
"Well... I'm not God. I don't know what happened to that boy. Maybe he died again because you lost resurrection power, or maybe he is still living happily."
Eleonora rubbed her arms and sat on a nearby rock, eyes watching the area.
"Am I... not needed anymore?"
She sounded careless, like a leaf floating on water.
Was it because of another soul inside?
She tilted her head, not caring much.
"That's your life to choose."
"Then, will you listen? You may not believe me."
Silvia began to tell what had happened to her so far.
About the cursed spirit inside her mind.
The memories and knowledge it gave her.
Most of all, the terrible truth — this world was made by people from another world, and they were only characters.
"So what? That is not proven... What does it matter if it is true or not?"
"Did you have a similar experience?"
"Yes, I also lived and died in Japan. If I had known sooner, maybe things would be different."
Silvia was shocked by Eleonora's words — so there was a Japan like hers in another world.
She felt some relief that her memories were not all fake and a strange nostalgia.
"So you are..."
"Linker!"
Suddenly Eleonora called out and waved at a horse running toward her.
She hugged it, and her hair was messy from rubbing her head in its mane.
"That horse is..."
"Technically mine. Let's return to our land first, then decide."
"What about the Holy Capital?"
"I don't know who controls it now, but I'm not going naked to semi-enemy land. If you want to die, go alone."
When Eleonora asked what to do, Silvia shook her head.
"I'll go with you."
"Then, get on."
Eleonora put her hand under Silvia's side, lifted her gently, and helped her onto Linker's back.
"I have to send letters everywhere once we return..."
Linker walked slowly toward the Kingdom of Ashreach.
"It will work out somehow, or I will make it work."
Those words sounded casual, but also sure.
Silvia held tightly to Eleonora's clothing — even though Eleonora was a captive herself.
Character Notes:
• Emilio - A male student from the Department of Theology at the academy, described as having a girlish appearance and speaking with a voice likened to an angel's song. He approaches Eleonora di Kamitafira during lunch to request that she keep her distance from the Holy Maiden, a figure of significant religious importance.
• Linker - A large gray horse won by Eleonora in a tournament. He is friendly, enjoys apples, and is named by Eleonora. He will be kept at the academy for riding lessons.
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