Ch.99The Joy of Being Alive

When I regained consciousness after collapsing from mana depletion, I found myself inside the tent we had set up outside the dungeon.

“Huh…?”

“You’re awake?”

Turning my head toward the gentle voice beside me, I saw Jessica looking down at me with a tired face.

“Is this our tent? How did I…?”

“I brought Ancestor in and carried you out. Everyone else is exhausted and sleeping now.”

Following Jessica’s words, I looked to the side and saw Setty, Phyllis, and Mina lying asleep in a row.

While Setty and Mina appeared relatively fine, Phyllis was completely naked except for the part covered by a blanket.

“Don’t stare too much. Phyllis would be embarrassed if she knew.”

“Why is only Phyllis undressed?”

“When I found her, Phyllis had burns all over her body. I had to examine her thoroughly while treating her, or else her beautiful body might have been left with scars.”

Jessica’s gaunt face was apparently due to fatigue from repeatedly using Heal Touch, which consumes significant mana.

She must have used considerable mana just to treat Setty and Phyllis, and judging by Mina’s somewhat tattered clothes, the process of destroying the Throne of Madness and returning couldn’t have been smooth.

“Full-body burns… I guess she got caught in her own Fireball spell. She must have known the range of her spell, so perhaps she was prepared to sacrifice herself to let Mina escape.”

“Sacrifice? What happened during the fight with the Minotaur?”

“Well… let me explain in order—”

I recalled the events and explained to Jessica what happened when we pursued the Minotaur.

How Phyllis used Fireball to knock down the Minotaur.

How Peter and I safely outran the Minotaur, but Rick was caught and killed.

How Peter’s mental state broke, causing him to fail defensively and get knocked out, and how Hector lost his mind and attempted a grand spell but died after being hit by an axe.

How I barely held on using Peter’s sword, and thanks to Mina destroying the Throne of Madness, we were able to defeat the Minotaur.

After listening to my story, Jessica let out a soft sigh.

“Haah… so in the end, Hector almost put everyone in danger until the very last moment.”

“And even that ended in failure.”

“I’m sorry. We wanted to follow quickly, but Setty’s injury was more serious than we thought…”

When we first failed to stop the Minotaur, Setty was punched and sent flying, unfortunately dislocating his right knee.

Since fractures and dislocations couldn’t be completely healed with just Heal Touch, Jessica had to spend a lot of time treating Setty, which was why they couldn’t join the final battle with the Minotaur in time.

“When I finally caught up and saw everyone collapsed, I felt like the sky was falling. If I hadn’t seen the Minotaur’s mana stone, I might have fainted on the spot.”

When Jessica and Setty arrived at the scene, Hector and Rick were dead in a horrific state, and the three of us, including myself, were collapsed and motionless.

Peter had a fractured left arm, Phyllis had full-body burns and occipital bleeding, and I was suffering from mana depletion—something gunners rarely experience.

While treating the critically injured Phyllis and Peter, Mina safely returned and joined them. While Jessica and Mina guarded the site, Setty went outside the dungeon to bring in Ancestor.

“After that, we placed the three of you who had received emergency treatment on Ancestor’s back and escaped the dungeon.”

“How is everyone’s condition?”

“None of the injuries should leave lasting effects. Mina seems to have been hit by fragments when she destroyed the throne, but it wasn’t a serious injury. And Phyllis’s burns should disappear completely after one or two more Heal Touch treatments.”

“What about Peter?”

“He’s resting in Phyllis’s tent. We couldn’t let someone with a fracture roll around on the bare ground.”

Although he survived, his fracture couldn’t be treated immediately.

Peter would have to rest outside the dungeon until the return gate opened.

This meant that our party would have exclusive rights to the investigation from now on, but I wasn’t the kind of person who would rejoice at that fact.

“What about Hector and Rick’s bodies?”

“We couldn’t recover them. Bodies of those who die in dungeons disappear quickly. We could only retrieve their clothes and belongings.”

“I see…”

So even a promising genius, once dead in a dungeon, ends without even their body being recovered.

I understood this intellectually, but experiencing it firsthand left me with a bitter feeling I couldn’t shake.

“Don’t blame yourself for Hector and Rick. It wasn’t your fault, Will.”

“…Was it that obvious on my face?”

“We’re close, after all. And I’ve had similar experiences.”

Jessica moved closer to me and slowly began stroking my head.

“I can guess what you’re thinking. You planned the strategy to defeat the Minotaur and pressured Hector’s party to participate, so you feel responsible for their deaths, right?”

“Feel responsible… it’s the truth, isn’t it?”

Hector’s party, having failed to map the dungeon, was in a position where they had to abandon the investigation.

If they had waited quietly outside the dungeon instead of participating in the battle—with the condition that we would share the dungeon’s secrets—they might not have received good evaluations from the client, but they wouldn’t have lost their lives.

Although Hector made the final decision, I was fully aware that he was in a situation where he couldn’t refuse my proposal.

In effect, I had lured Hector and Rick to their deaths with an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“Do you think Hector would have accepted giving up the investigation and waiting until the gate opened? With that bet in place?”

“Ah…”

The bet between Hector and Jessica was whether Hector would admit his incompetence and apologize to Jessica, or Jessica would become Hector’s sex slave.

It’s hard to imagine that someone who would go to such extremes as proposing a sex slave bet because he couldn’t bow his head to a Codex Mage would quietly wait for defeat.

“Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, if we had both done our best and we won, Hector might have reluctantly accepted it. But to sit there twiddling his thumbs waiting for defeat while watching us monopolize the dungeon investigation results… there’s no way Hector could have endured that.”

“And if he couldn’t endure it?”

“He would have pushed Rick and Peter to forcibly continue the investigation or followed us around trying to steal our results. Even if we exclude the possibility of an attack, trouble would have been inevitable sooner or later.”

In his final moments, Hector laughed maniacally as he attempted to use his ultimate magic to blow away not only me and Phyllis but Peter as well.

It’s difficult to guess the effect or performance of that grand spell, but I can be certain that at that moment, Hector had lost the rationality to distinguish between friend and foe.

“From the moment they got lost and were chased by the Minotaur yesterday, Hector’s party’s fate was essentially sealed. If they hadn’t been lucky enough to meet us, they would have been wiped out right there.”

“That’s true.”

“We saved their lives, provided a way for them to contribute to the quest, and agreed to share the dungeon’s secrets. You gave them plenty of opportunities, Will. Losing their lives because they couldn’t seize those opportunities is their own responsibility.”

Losing one’s life for failing to seize an opportunity is one’s own responsibility.

Was Jessica’s statement meant to alleviate my guilt, or was it a resolution that every resident of Grantis carries?

“You did enough, Will. No, you did more than enough.”

“Did I…?”

If I had explicitly forbidden the use of fire magic, could I have prevented Hector’s mistake?

If I had remained vigilant until Rick had outrun the Minotaur, could I have saved both of them?

Despite all this, can I say I did enough? Was that really the best I could do?

As questions continued to pile up in my mind, Jessica seemed to notice my thoughts and tightened her arms around me, whispering in my ear.

“Looking back after everything is over, there will always be regrets and what-ifs. But even if you could turn back time and make different choices, there’s no guarantee they would lead to better results.”

“……”

“When I was working in the 6th Western City, I took on a simple delivery request. It got complicated and led me all the way to Maxwell Logging Camp. I regretted it so much at the time.”

“Was that…?”

“Yes, the day I first met you, Will. If things had gone smoothly then and I had stayed in the west, I wouldn’t have met you and fallen in love like we are now.”

If Jessica hadn’t returned to the area near Mothertown, I would have become food for the Scavenger Deer without knowing why, ending my second life just five minutes after it began.

The saying that misfortune might be a blessing in disguise seems to exist for moments like these.

“Even if they were rivals or people you disliked, I love how conscientious you are, mourning their deaths and feeling responsible. But I don’t want to see that hurt you and break you down.”

“Jessica…”

“Look at me. Look at Setty. Look at Mina and Phyllis. The people precious to you, and you yourself, are alive right now. Can’t we just be happy about that for now?”

There were many regrets and sacrifices, but for now, let’s just be happy that all our loved ones are alive.

It might seem selfish at first glance, but this must be Jessica’s own way of coping, having witnessed the deaths of others while living as an adventurer.

Opportunities are everywhere, and death is closer than we think.

That’s the nature of Grantis, and that’s the era of the Western Frontier.

Reflecting on this fact once more, instead of answering, I lifted my arms, heavy as wet cotton, and embraced Jessica’s waist.

“…What time is it now?”

“A little past 4 PM. But you should rest well today without pushing yourself. I’ll wake you up around dinner time.”

“I suppose I should. My body feels heavy and my head is foggy; I really can’t get up.”

A drowsiness like I’ve been drugged is trying to pull me back into deep sleep.

There seem to be many things to discuss, like the dungeon investigation or Peter, but I’ll have to postpone all of it and rest a bit more for now.

“Sleep well. I’ll stay by your side to keep the bad dreams away.”

“Ah, thank you, Jessica…Zzz.”

As soon as I buried my face in Jessica’s embrace, I lost consciousness and fell asleep.

“Thank you for surviving… I really love you.”

Without even hearing Jessica’s gentle voice whispering in my ear.