Milène had been searching for us, and she filled us in on everything. That’s how we learned why Ares had left town so suddenly. Neither we nor Ares had known this, but resurrecting someone had a strict time limit: If more than three years pass after death, resurrection becomes impossible.
Geos was the source of that information. After his daughter died, he had naturally attempted to clear a dungeon to wish for her resurrection. It was a level-four dungeon with a known strategy, but he lacked the necessary achievements, so his wish was denied. Instead, he received information about resurrection. To bring someone back, you need to clear a level-ten dungeon, defeat a level-ten Demon King, or accumulate achievements equivalent to that. And all of that has to be done within three years, before the soul returns to the cycle of reincarnation.
A level-ten dungeon was practically a myth; there wasn’t even a record of one existing. Geos had once ventured into a level-nine dungeon, but his mentor and the mercenaries with him were all killed by what was believed to be a mid-boss, and Geos only narrowly escaped. Even now, he said he still hadn’t reached his mentor’s level, so it was utterly unrealistic for him to challenge a level-ten dungeon. That despair was apparently what had broken him the most. Once Ares learned this from Geos, he panicked and immediately left town.
There was so much I wanted to ask him... When we’d parted, he’d said that I had saved his life in our old world, but I’d only saved someone once: the boy who was supposed to become a hero in his next life. I wanted to know if that was really him. Finding out wouldn’t have changed anything, but the curiosity ate away at me.
“Devil—I mean, Thor, thank you so much.”
“Carolina, you can walk now?”
“I can!”
Carolina had survived, with no visible changes. Indeed-Missy had said that there was a good chance that humans who drank the heaven dragon core soup would die from their mana going berserk, but not Carolina. Apparently, because the lord had drained her, the dragon power’s effects had weakened, leaving only the healing properties. Thanks to that, there were barely any side effects too. I’d hate to say it was thanks to the lord, but his actions did end up saving her.
She hadn’t woken up for a while, and she’d spent about six months in a wheelchair. Even so, she’d worked hard on rehabilitation, and she’d recovered enough to walk with help. Soon, she should have been able to return to normal life.
She calls me “Devil” for some reason, though. Apparently, when I saved her, the red mana around me made me look like a demon... Perhaps she was able to see through people’s true nature.
“Take care,” said Milène.
“Please be safe!” said Carolina.
Shiro and Kuro smiled brightly at the two women they’d grown so attached to over the past year.
“Myah! We’ll come back!”
“We’ll come back once our bodies are norrrmal.”
“Please use Sir Geos’s letter of introduction.”
“We’ll pray that your curse is lifted!” said Carolina.
“Thank you. We’re off!”
Our destination was a small dungeon in a northern town—a level-one dungeon with an established strategy. We had four goals for this journey.
First, to help resurrect Ares’s friends. We had to pay him back for breaking our curse, and to do that, we had to catch up to him.
Second, to gather information about demons and cheaters. We’d managed to win this time, but who knew what would happen next? Since we’d decided to keep diving into dungeons, we needed intel. I also wanted to see Godlord again and thank him properly. According to soldier reports, he’d escaped the dungeon and left town. If he were still alive, we’d meet again someday.
Third, to learn more about Shiro’s and Kuro’s races. They were apparently rare species: silver tiger and hell wolf. They didn’t seem bothered, but if they had relatives, I wanted to find them. It was possible someone out there was searching for them.
Fourth, to return to a fully human body. The dragon body was strong, but I didn’t want to stay like this forever. Shiro and Kuro were girls, and the fierce eye and arm were less than ideal. We’d hoped to have a dungeon restore our bodies.
A journey with just three children wouldn’t be easy, but I believed we could overcome any hardship and achieve our goals, just like how we’d cleared the dungeon and broken the curse.
“Shiro, Kuro, off we go on our adventure!”
“A-okay!”
“Arf!”
When I was born, I’d resented the god a little, and I still hadn’t completely forgiven her for what had happened in the dungeon. But I was grateful too. If I’d been born in a different town or to a different family, I probably never would have met Shiro or Kuro. And when I looked at their smiling faces, that alone felt like enough.
There would be hardships ahead, harsh realities waiting for us. But as long as those two were with me, we could overcome anything. That’s truly how I felt.
“Shiro, Kuro, let’s give it all we got.”
I was already imagining the journey ahead, but the two of them weren’t listening to me at all. They were drooling, completely lost in their own fantasies.
“There must be sooo many delicious foods out there!”
“Piiig ooout.”
“Can’t wait!”
Slurp!
Their goal had turned into a full-on food pilgrimage. I’d explained all sorts of things to them, but...the only part they seemed to remember was that other places might have food they’d never seen before.