Episode 2: I Have Resurrection Magic?

The process of discovering I had resurrection magic was simple.

It was on my first day after being transmigrated.

I was killed by a cult, my limbs torn off.

The place I was transmigrated to was a gathering place for a cult.

They were a religion formed by those who had been harmed by transmigrators in the past.

Their ideology was to not allow even a single transmigrator in the First World.

And I just happened to be transmigrated to the gathering place of those bastards.

What followed is obvious.

「Kill the transmigrator!」

「Kill! Kill! Kill!」

No matter how much I screamed to be spared, it was meaningless.

In the end, my neck and limbs were all torn off, and I died.

And then I came back to life.

When I opened my eyes, the place I woke up was where the cult dumped corpses.

As I crawled out of the corpse pit, rain poured from the sky.

And I realized.

My ability is utterly useless.

If I had been buried alive by those cult bastards while dead, what would have happened?

I would have been resurrected underground.

And unable to move, I would have died from suffocation due to lack of oxygen.

Then I would have endlessly repeated resurrection and death.

For me, death is not liberation.

It’s a chain of curses.

As soon as I realized that fact, I hid my ability and lived quietly.

What good is it if I can be resurrected?

Roughly counting, the time it takes to resurrect is at least 4 hours.

If the corpse is buried somewhere within that time, I have to live in eternal pain.

Still, to protect my body in my own way, I even went to the training center promoted by the transmigrator association.

But I was a truly pure ordinary person.

To be precise, an ordinary person with slightly below-average athletic ability.

「Being a vanguard is impossible. You should learn magic instead. But we don’t have anyone who teaches magic at our training center.」

Formal magic lessons are expensive.

It was difficult for the association, established by transmigrators who had settled in the First World by pooling funds, to support formal magic lessons.

That being said, the unregulated magic created by low-quality magicians on the streets is dangerous.

Since the basics of mana are not properly refined, mana can run wild.

Of course, even that was impossible to learn because the transmigrator association’s support was limited to basic necessities like food and shelter.

‘That’s why I followed Bulldog-ajusshi.’

That man, despite appearances, had learned formal magic.

It was because he was an orphan who was lucky enough to be noticed by an old magician and became his disciple.

Eventually, the old magician died, and he became an explorer, but his skills were good.

The proof was that, unlike typical explorers who formed teams, he only took one porter with him.

And in the end, he died while only taking one porter with him.

He was brutally murdered by a serial killer, his neck cut off.

I could already see the cold, stiff figure of Bulldog-ajusshi.

I trudged over to him and lifted his head.

It had been 4 hours since I died.

The serial killer bastard would have already left to find other prey.

Thanks to that, the forest at dusk was very quiet.

Maybe it’s because I trampled on too many corpses while climbing out of the corpse pit.

Seeing a corpse didn’t make me nauseous.

Still, a bitter taste lingered in my mouth.

Bulldog-ajusshi was a good person, even if he had a rough mouth.

I was planning to sweet-talk him later and ask him to take me on as a disciple.

He was the best person among the uncivilized otherworlders.

The otherworlders I’ve met so far have all reached the peak of barbarism.

The hateful gaze and discrimination against transmigrators.

The height of lawlessness, associating transmigrators with any incident that occurs.

And yet, when they put transmigrators in prison, they shout that it’s according to the law, the ugly bastards.

You buggers.

I should kill you all.

For a moment, a deep hatred for the otherworlders surged.

“Hoo.”

I almost slammed Ajusshi’s head on the ground in anger.

I shouldn’t do this.

Ajusshi is a good person.

Is it because of my experience of being robbed clean by street thugs after the cult incident?

It happens often.

‘Otherworlder or not.’

He was also killed by the same transmigrator serial killer, his neck cut off.

People are all the same.

I took care of Ajusshi’s neck and body.

Then I closed Ajusshi’s eyes.

What do I do now?

Even if I take Ajusshi, who had his neck cut off, as he is, would the explorer’s guild accept it?

Ah, the porter somehow survived and even recovered the body and came back.

That’s unlikely.

Like the uncivilized otherworlders they are, they’ll just point me out as the culprit and put me on the execution stand.

It’s not like I’ll die if they do that, but experiencing my neck being cut off twice is enough.

Then should I just abandon Ajusshi’s body and leave?

The faint remaining morality and conscience conflicted for a while.

Then I rummaged through Ajusshi’s pockets.

Soon, a silver explorer’s card was found.

It was proof that Ajusshi was a silver-ranked explorer.

If I take this, I can at least report Ajusshi’s death.

I carefully packed his belongings.

I still have to get paid for today’s work.

“Ajusshi, you were the best person among the uncivilized otherworlders.”

These are words I would never normally say out loud.

Saying these words out loud is a sure way to get ganged up on.

But since no one is around, I just muttered to myself.

If I don’t do this, I’ll have a seizure from stress.

“I won’t be able to go to your son’s wedding, but you’ll have enough money.”

Still, it’s fortunate that the serial killer wasn’t interested in money.

In my opinion, that guy is a real maniac.

Seeing that he didn’t touch the money and just killed, he must really enjoy killing.

“Psycho bastard.”

I packed all the luggage.

Finally, I raised my hand and covered Ajusshi’s wide-open eyes.

I offered a final prayer for Ajusshi.

I hope you are not born as an uncivilized otherworlder next time.

I prayed with sincerity.

Until a pure white light flowed from my hand.

“Huh?”

A bewildered sound escaped from my mouth.

The light that spread from my hand was surrounding Ajusshi.

A large amount of power drained from my body.

I know this feeling.

It’s the feeling I get right before I resurrect.

I feel weak and my mind is hazy.

But even so, I couldn’t take my hand away.

I wanted to see with my own eyes what was happening now.

Finally, when the pure white light that filled the forest disappeared.

I slumped down on my butt.

My fingertips were trembling, and I had almost no strength left.

But for some reason, I felt a pleasant sense of exhaustion.

“Keu, euuu.”

Soon, a familiar voice was heard.

I quickly lowered my tired eyes.

At that moment, Ajusshi, whose neck had been cut off, opened his eyes in his restored form.

He frowned, as if feeling a slight headache, and raised his body.

“What.”

I was looking at Ajusshi with wide eyes.

He came back to life.

The dead Ajusshi came back to life.

Just like me.

My gaze reached my hand.

Could it be that my resurrection magic.

Also applies to others?

I didn’t know.

Even though I rolled around in the corpse pit, I didn’t revive them.

All I was going to do for Bulldog-ajusshi was offer a prayer.

But maybe I faintly wished for it in my heart.

In this harsh world.

A small wish that someone who benefits me would not die and live.

That wish activated an ability I didn’t know I had.

“Harua?”

Bulldog-ajusshi belatedly came to his senses and called me.

I quickly hid my hand behind my back and shouted.

“Ajusshi, are you okay?”

At my worried words, Ajusshi shook his head from side to side.

“Yeah, I’m okay, but what happened? Why was I suddenly collapsed?”

“The serial killer, that bastard, appeared. Ajusshi, half of your neck was gone!”

“My neck?”

Ajusshi wrapped his hands around his neck.

Judging from his expression, he must be experiencing memory confusion.

This is my chance.

“Ajusshi, you used magic at the end, right? It exploded, and the killer couldn’t finish you off and retreated.

After that, I somehow poured the potion that Ajusshi carried as an emergency to save you.

I really thought you were dead. Don’t you remember anything?”

“Really, I almost died.”

People usually don’t remember the moment right before death.

The brain temporarily forgets due to extreme stress.

At that time, if you roughly overwrite the memory, it will naturally interpret it in a good way.

Because usually no one thinks they have been resurrected.

“……The killer?”

Ajusshi looked around with uneasy eyes.

Having the experience of almost dying once imprinted on his body, a belated fear rushed in.

“The regular army, who received the report, came just in time and he ran away.

I was also stabbed by a knife, so I used what was left after pouring it on Ajusshi and was resting until Ajusshi woke up.”

“The regular army, I see. Hmph, those bastards didn’t care about us again and chased after the killer first, right?”

“It happens often.”

Catching the killer is more important than some half-dead explorer or porter.

Sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.

It’s a common guideline for the regular army.

“I almost died without the potion. I’m glad I spent the money to buy one.”

Of course, that potion is safely in my pocket now.

Since I said I used it anyway, there’s no way to return it to Ajusshi.

I’ll have to use it as an emergency fund.

“Ajusshi, it’s too late. Can you move?”

“Yeah, other than a slight headache, I feel lighter than I thought.”

Well, his head was cut off, so blood wouldn’t have reached his head.

Ajusshi got up from his seat.

In the meantime, I packed up Ajusshi’s luggage.

“Can you carry it?”

“Of course. Would I entrust luggage to someone who had half their neck cut off and went to the afterlife?”

“Ha, you bastard, you really suffered this time too. I would have died without you.”

“If you’re grateful, teach me some magic later.”

“Ugh, are you still talking about that?”

“Ajusshi, you’re good at magic, even if you’re not good at anything else.”

“Good my ass, compared to the formal magicians belonging to the Magic Tower, I’m nothing.

I just barely patched up the basics so that mana doesn’t run wild. To those guys, I’m no different from a street magician.”

Bulldog-ajusshi has a complex about magic.

That’s why he doesn’t try to teach magic to others.

Even so, Ajusshi was the only person I could learn magic from.

To learn magic at the Magic Tower, I would have to earn hundreds of times more than I do now.

“It’s enough to live on. And as a father who can take care of his son’s wedding.”

Ajusshi looked at me for a moment.

Seeing him touching his neck, he must feel new after coming back from the dead.

“……Tsk, anyway, you’re good at talking.”

“Were you a little touched?”

“Fuck off.”

Ajusshi turned around and walked away.

“When I was young, the old man gave me a book to study. It’s at home, so I’ll give it to you. Come over for dinner tonight.”

“I’ll do a somersault out of joy.”

“If you drop even one piece of luggage, you’re dead, really.”

Today is a lucky day.

I died once at the hands of a serial killer, but I finally got the chance to learn magic.

And one more thing.

I learned that my ability can also save others.

I’ll have to think about what to do with this in the future.

A few months after being transmigrated to the First World.

I can see a glimmer of hope for survival.