https://ncode.syosetu.com/n5562hc/78/
Resurrection
The fact finally set in when the dragon fell to the ground. Nerine is dead.
And it’s my fault. I wanted to show off as much as I could and avoided running away until the final second.
Of course there was also the benefit of us being able to quickly slay the dragon for the competition, but that isn’t something I would have ever bet Nerine’s life on.
But, I could be active and show off to a large crowd. I lost my self-control because I wanted to show what I could do.
And because of that, I tripped over myself after getting carried away, and Nerine had to save me.
No matter how many times I ran through what happened in my head, I come up with nothing but regrets.
Someone hugged me from the side.
“Liffy, look up. It’s all right. Everyone will be fine.”
I can tell it’s Lily by the voice. She was hugging me while using a softer voice than usual. But I can’t say anything back to her. Any words turn to sobs in my throat.
“Cut open the stomach! Pull out the upper body!”
Someone in the guild was shouting while giving signals to the others.
I need to see. It’s my responsibility to not turn away.
Lily supported me as I stood up, and we made our way to the center of the crowd.
They couldn’t find Nerine inside the belly. She must still be buried somewhere in the neck since the dragon was killed so soon after swallowing her.
As they carefully slit open the neck, *PLOP*, Nerine rolled out. She was covered in blood and dragon mucus, but when they wiped her with a cloth, her youthful and beautiful skin was without a scratch.
She was picked up by the guild members and placed next to her separated lower half.
“Nerine…. I’m so sorry….”
I apologized without thinking. Lily kept stroking my back. Her arm tightened around my shoulder. But my emotions continued to roil in the pit of my stomach, and the regrets plaguing my mind would not go away.
Peony knelt down next to Nerine’s body and began to pray. She was mourning the death. There is still a part of me that doesn’t want to acknowledge Nerine’s death, that wants to desperately avoid my sins. That part of me forced my feet forward and stopped right next to Peony.
“Stop! She’s not dead yet! You can still save her!”
I interrupted her rites and pulled Peony off of Nerine.
“Hey…. Lily! Do something about this girl!”
Peony looked annoyed and tried pushing me off her.
“You can bring her back right? That’s why we have healers in the first place. Can’t you fix something as simple as this?”
“….I can’t.”
“Why!? Useless!”
I shoved Peony to the ground. She glared at me when her butt hit the ground, but it’s her fault. She’s the one who can’t cure Nerine.
“We can do it. We can bring her back. But Lily-chan, you need to calm down. Okay?”
I felt a soft yet squishy touch on my back and heard a gentle voice that was different from Lily’s. Melia was hugging me from behind.
“M…. Melia! …..No! I….”
I really don’t hate Peony. She’s not useless, and none of this is her fault. I’m just so scared of my sins that I’m committing more trying to pass them on to someone else.
But what does Melia mean? She can bring Nerine back to life? I spun around, hoping that Melia was just giving me empty lip service to calm me down.
“Really? You can actually revive her? Then do it quickly!”
A single ray of hope had appeared in the midst of my despair. I’m willing to recklessly run towards that hope.
Melia didn’t seem to like me violently shaking her though, so she grabbed my arm and forced me to stop. I never knew she was so strong. I can’t move.
Melia’s eyes were serious. I couldn’t feel any of her usual warmth.
“Lily-chan, I told you to calm down.”
“….sorry.”
“It’s fine. Now listen closely. I…. Peony and I can bring Nerine back if we work together. But, it will be incredibly difficult. It will be exhausting and incapacitate both of us for a while.”
“What about it!? We’re talking about Nerine’s life!”
“There’s still the next…. the final round of judging. I will probably fail, but Peony will definitely move on to the final round. Not being able to participate in it will greatly affect Peony’s future. Would Lily-chan carry her on your back?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be healers? Is your sister’s future more important than a patient’s life?”
“Of course it is. There’s nothing more important to me than myself and my family. And would Nerine even be happy to be brought back in the first place? Would this really be what she wants?”
If things carry on like this, Nerine will almost certainly become a hero. And then with that prestige, she’ll be sold off to some nobleman. A future she’d loath is waiting for her if she comes back. The torment that drove her to betray Lily would continue to follow her.
But, Nerine hasn’t had a chance to convey her feelings to Lily yet. Her spirit will definitely carry that regret into the afterlife if we let her go now.
“She’d want this. Absolutely.”
Melia stared at me for a while. Maybe my thoughts were able to make it through to her because she eventually nodded her head like she had given up and said she understood.
Once our conversation had settled, Heath, the man who had slayed the dragon with a single attack in the first place, entered our circle.
“I would like to request your assistance as well. If there are any deaths, it will be difficult to hold the event next year. We can finish counting the votes and hold off on announcing the results until you both recover if it is necessary. I will make whatever adjustments as you require, so don’t worry.”
“Then it’s fine. Peony, are you good?”
“I got it….”
She seemed dissatisfied, but apparently the promise of the competition’s postponement was enough to convince her.
“Heath-san, I would prefer to keep the details of this secret, so please spread the news that Nerine was seriously injured but not dead.”
“Of course. I understand perfectly.”
Heath nodded and gave Melia a large smile. Thus the conversation came to a close.
Melia and Peony sat down with Nerine’s corpse centered between them, and when they began offering their prayers, the area was enveloped in a dazzling light.
The light was so warm. I could feel my whole body growing hot and the ugly anger that was eating away at my mind faded away as if it was never there.
I said some awful things to Peony and Melia. I will need to apologize to them both later. And thank them. Because they were able to save Nerine.
That magical light came and went after a few seconds.
When I opened my eyes, Nerine’s corpse was put back together without so much as a nick or scar marring her flesh. There was no sign that her body had ever been split in half, and the pool of blood that had formed beneath her was also gone.
Melia and Peony had collapsed and were lying down on the ground parallel to Nerine. I hope this means it worked.
“I wonder if they are all okay….”
Lily seemed to be wondering the same thing I was and watched them from my side.
“There is nothing we can do other than believe in Lady Melia. Relief team! These three will be carried to the dorm!”
Heath called over some of the waiting employees, and the three girls were carried to a nearby carriage. He then called over the moderator, and the two had a quiet conversation between just the two of them.
After a pause, it was announced that the second screening had come to an end and Nerine was safe. I don’t even know if that’s true or not yet, but it’s already a miracle that her body was repaired.
In the end, the dragon was defeated by Heath. Our team will be disqualified from the test, but none of that was really important. My lifesaver is standing next to me, and I have to say thanks.
“Heath-san, thank you for your help.”
He turned to me with his usual gentle smile.
“My apologies. This old geezer intruded on your fight.”
“Sir Gray is rather strong. If possible, I would like you to give me a lesson on swordplay when you have the chance.”
Lily got involved in the conversation as well. In truth, I was supporting Lily with my dance, and she still wouldn’t have been able to perform a coup de grace against a dragon like that. With that in mind, Heath’s swordsmanship is amazing. Sure there’s the fact that he’s older than Lily, but I’m not sure experience alone would account for that level of difference in skill.
“Oh there’s nothing an old man like me has to teach anyone. However watching you both did allow me to reminisce about the old days. Far away from the front lines, dancers would would bloom on the battlefield like a radiant garden. I appreciated their help and even once fell in love with one of them. However like Lily-sama, I fought apart from them in the front.”
Heath looked at us both and winked. It felt like he was exposing Lily and I for a wide range of things, so turned my gaze down towards my feet.
“I’m curious. Perhaps Sir Gray’s wife used to be a dancer?”
“Haha! How kind of you to ask. But I’m afraid I’ve been single my whole life. I adopted my family’s heir.”
Heath let out a loud laugh as he turned away and left us behind.
“A shrewd old man. He didn’t seem to have any issues with a relationship like ours, strange for someone of his generation.”
Lily muttered aloud towards me while glaring at Heath’s back.
“Well…. he doesn’t seem like a bad person, does he?”
“If he came across as a bad person, he wouldn’t have the power he currently holds. In that sense, he’s less trustworthy than someone who is openly villainous. That’s what it means to deal in the ugly world of nobles.”
More than the clean beard and droopy eyes, to me Heath is someone I always associate with my own self-protection. He’s the one who came to apologize to me when a mistake put me in this competition from the beginning, and he didn’t want anyone to die for the sake of the audition’s future.
I soon made my way out of the venue to visit Nerine and the others, all the while slightly scared of noble society where even a kind-looking old man was someone to be considered untrustworthy.
Experimental Translations 