WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 92: The True Treasure

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"There's a secret technique passed down in the White Spirit Hall. It revives the dead by offering another person's life as a sacrifice."

It seemed this Dual Art had its own narrative background, unlike the ones with Cecilia and Alicia.

A resurrection Art.

I never imagined I couldn't activate my Dual Art with Mine because its activation condition was the death of a party member.

"Isn't that... heresy?"

"It is. The kind of heresy that gets you executed on the spot. If I weren't the Saintess, I probably wouldn't have even known such a secret technique existed."

Mine explained that Resurrection was a secret technique a certain Pope had secretly attempted just before dying.

It was surprisingly believable.

After all, someone had committed human sacrifice to meet the Main Gods. A secret technique that revived the dead wasn't all that far-fetched.

And it was an ability similar in nature to Renee's power.

Naturally, it had to be a heaven-defying power.

"But offering a sacrifice doesn't mean it can be used anytime. If it could, His Majesty the Emperor would have revived the founding emperor long ago."

"So there are other conditions?"

Mine looked around.

"The documents said the ritual had to be performed on someone who hadn't been dead for long, in a place filled with the power of time and space."

"The power of time and space? I've never heard of that. Halibal, do you know anything?"

I couldn't answer.

It was a term I knew far too well.

Neither in this world nor in the original game had the phrase "power of time and space" ever appeared outright.

Still, I could make plenty of guesses now.

'The power Renee wields. That's probably what Mine means by the power of time and space.'

That was why I had to be here to activate the Dual Art.

Last time, I revealed the secret, but thanks to Alicia, I didn't need to this time.

She must have taken care of it for me in the previous attempt.

Then I should accept her consideration.

When I shook my head to say I didn't know, Mine continued.

"I can only feel demonic energy here too. But maybe because I'm the Saintess... I somehow feel like it might be possible."

Aren stared at her in shock.

"...Mine. Don't tell me you're planning to sacrifice yourself?"

She wasn't.

I could see the condition for using the Dual Art.

[Consumes a Special Abyss Core to revive one party member once.]

"It's true that there'll be a sacrifice. But..."

Mine looked at Rosia.

"The sacrifice will be Rosia, not me."

"Is that even possible?"

A Special Abyss Core referred to the special core used by a playable character.

Mine's Abyss Core was Raphael.

Raphael's manifestation was Rosia.

In other words, Rosia was both a summon and a being much like a living person, while also being a Special Abyss Core.

Mine instinctively understood that she could use Resurrection by offering Rosia as a sacrifice.

She was right.

"Rosia. Come here, please."

Rosia approached at Mine's call, her expression blank.

The two identical women faced each other.

Mine clenched her fist.

"Rosia is a veteran mercenary. She admired adventurers from childhood and joined a mercenary guild when she was ten. Her main weapon is a mace, she can use holy power, and she's easygoing with people. She jokes around a lot, too. But when danger strikes, she's always the first to step forward and protect everyone."

Then she began reciting the details of Rosia that only she knew.

The image of Rosia she had envisioned since childhood.

"Rosia completed dangerous requests time and time again. But even she eventually met her end. She fell for the wicked Saintess's trick and was chosen as a sacrifice."

Mine closed her eyes.

"Rosia says, 'You wicked Saintess! You've pushed countless people to their deaths as sacrifices, and now you want to offer me too!' The Saintess answers, 'I'm sorry, Rosia. But with your sacrifice, we can bring back someone precious to us.'"

A farewell.

She had made it this far because she had played Rosia.

She had saved Pasha because she had Rosia by her side.

And Rosia had made it possible to clear this dungeon.

To Mine, Rosia wasn't an imaginary person she played, nor was she simply a summon created by Raphael's power.

She was the life Mine had dreamed of since childhood.

"Raphael is the Abyss Core a nun gave me when I was little. It had been with me long before that happened. I dreamed of becoming a mercenary with Raphael and traveling all across the continent."

She was about to part ways with her dream.

"But how could I really do that? The world is still covered in demonic energy. Until we defeat the Evil God and purify all the demonic energy, mercenaries won't be able to go on adventures. The world will need a Saintess more than a mercenary."

With a vow to live the rest of her life as a Saintess, she embraced Rosia.

"So I'll wake up now. From a fleeting dream."

"..."

"Rosia. No, Mine Rose, who wanted to become a mercenary. Princess Alicia is someone the Empire needs, and someone we need too. More than anything..."

A bitter smile appeared on Mine's lips.

"I don't want to be without Her Highness. If she's gone, there'll be no one to watch plays with me."

She wasn't lying.

Duty as a Saintess, peace for the world.

Those grand things weren't what mattered.

What mattered was simply having a friend who would watch plays with her.

She made that perfectly clear to us.

"So, Rosia."

She pitted her purest desire against her dream.

"Will you die for me?"

That was when it happened.

Rosia, who had stood expressionlessly all this time, suddenly pulled Mine into an embrace.

"Ah..."

Mine hadn't commanded her to do it.

Rosia had. Mine's will contained within Raphael, her dream, had acted on its own for the first time.

The two Mine Roses embraced each other.

Soon, one of them was engulfed in light and returned to the form of Raphael, the Abyss Core.

Mine held out the hand clutching the core to me.

She said nothing.

Still, as the Saintess, she seemed to vaguely understand that this secret technique could only be activated if I was here.

A Special Abyss Core could never be created again.

Even if one could be made and given the same name, its effect would be different.

I might have gladly offered up the paper-angel Raphael from the original game as a sacrifice.

But the current Raphael was different from the original. Without Rosia, clearing this dungeon would have been impossible.

Future dungeon raids would become much easier with her as a tank, too.

More than anything, hadn't Rosia developed a will of her own?

Rosia was Mine's will and dream.

The person she wanted to become.

Mine Rose herself.

Was I really supposed to choose to sacrifice something like that?

My gaze fell to Alicia in my arms.

'A cliché happy ending, huh.'

"Mine."

"Yes."

"You said it yourself. That you couldn't accept an ending like this."

I immediately grabbed Renee.

Alicia had called it a cliché happy ending.

But when I thought about it honestly, could a happy ending built on someone's sacrifice truly be called a happy ending?

More than that, it wasn't even particularly cliché.

A truly cliché happy ending was when everything was over and all the companions stood arm in arm, laughing together as they watched the sunset.

Then they said:

'Isn't the friendship we gained along the way the true treasure?'

Wasn't that far more cliché?

"I can't accept it either."

So let's rewrite the script with an even more cliché happy ending.

I took Mine's hand in my other hand.

『May the blessing of time be with your new choice.』

Through our clasped hands, my ashen energy and Mine's holy power intertwined, becoming a pure light of life.

What appeared was a sphere resembling Holy Calling.

But the life force within it far surpassed anything Holy Calling could produce.

The sphere seeped into Alicia's body.

"...Ah!"

Color returned to her pale cheeks, and warmth spread through her cold body.

Aren and I held our breath as we watched.

At the center of it all was Mine, praying toward the sky.

As she offered a reverent prayer toward the hole in the ceiling, she looked as though holiness itself had taken human form.

That must have been the bearing of a Saintess.

It wasn't hard to guess who she was praying for.

Raphael's core, dim and cracked apart, lay at her feet.

I had just made a choice.

It wasn't the choice to sacrifice Raphael.

Mine Rose's dream was to become a mercenary and wander the world.

As she said, that was something she could only do after defeating the Evil God anyway.

But if I thought about it the other way around, didn't that mean she could achieve that dream once we defeated the Evil God?

So even though Raphael had disappeared, Rosia hadn't died.

Only the one who would fall asleep had changed.

Rosia would dream for a while.

A fleeting dream of living as Mine Rose, the Saintess.

The choice I made was one that would let those two meet again a day sooner, no matter when that day came.

For that, I'd have to push myself even harder.

At that moment, the blue gem that had vanished above Alicia's head began flashing again.

"...Nngh."

With a quiet groan, Alicia's closed eyelids slowly opened.

Her eyes wandered without focus, as though confused, until she found me holding her.

"...Halibal?"

Her voice was hazy.

"...Would you turn off the lights? It's too bright in here."

"It's time to get up, Senior."

"...I told you to call me Alicia."

Alicia shifted in my arms and naturally draped both arms around my shoulders.

"Hehe. This time, I claimed the front row."

"This isn't the time for that."

"Then what time is it?"

The blue gem flickering precariously above all four of our heads quietly vanished.

"Look over there."

I pointed to where Necreddin had disappeared.

A treasure chest larger than anything we'd seen so far sat there.

"It's time for the curtain call. Have you ever seen a treasure chest that big? I haven't."

"No. Hehe... You're right. Yes. The treasure chest is important!"

"But Senior, what if there's nothing inside that treasure chest?"

"I'll report the Evil God for fraud."

"But isn't it fine? The friendship we gained while clearing this dungeon is the true treasure, after all."

Alicia scratched her head for a moment, then spoke with a sullen expression.

"What kind of cliché line is that?"

Footnotes:

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