“Resurrection!”

I didn’t have to return to the scene to know that there would be no body to recover. The moment we arrived near the area, someone had summoned a very powerful spell and dropped it right on our heads. I thought I was being so clever with my movements, yet the bandits somehow got one over on me. Now, all of my companions were dead. Well, all except for one. Raissa had tears running down her cheeks. She seemed to have just a bit of survivor’s guilt. I could sympathize. I should have died instead of them.

Instead, Miki had managed to save my life, and Ruby had managed to save Raissa’s. The only conclusion I could make was that she knew Raissa was pregnant. As to how that was the case, I wasn’t sure. That didn’t mean that Ruby was the first I brought back. That honor was given to Miki. Not only had she been the one to save my life, but if push came to shove, she was the only other one who could do Resurrection spells, although it was doubtful, she’d have the strength to do it the same day I brought her back.

Even knowing what I knew, my mind was disordered and my body was still shaky until I saw her body fully formed. Resurrection really was a miracle. It was a god-given gift, and one that I was happy existed in this world. I couldn’t count the number of times I would have faced a bad end if it wasn’t for that ability.

Miki’s eyes began to flutter open. It didn’t look like she had just died horribly under some horrific spell. Instead, it looked like she was just waking up from a good night’s sleep.

“Deek… ah Master!” She tried to sit up as soon as she remembered the previous events, but I kept her down with a hand on her chest.

“Miki…” No sooner did I feel her warmth in my hand did tears swell in my eyes.

“A-ah!” She looked down at my hand on her chest. “M-master! I’ll definitely make them bigger, you don’t need to cry because they’re not big enough!”

I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, burying my nose into her neck. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I failed you all.”

“Master…” Her voice calmed down as she started to regain her focus.

She ended up putting her hand on the back of my head, holding me gently as she stroked the back of my head. I was supposed to be the one calming her down, but in the end it was the other way around as usual. I thought I had gotten stronger than this. I felt like I still had a long way to go.

Miki suddenly shook, “A-ah! Master… even with this… you mustn’t show such favoritism!”

“Huh?” I looked up at her.

That was when I noticed some killing intent. I looked at Raissa, but she’d never show killing intent toward us. Besides, she was looking around anxiously looking for the source of the killing intent as well. Even my Map showed nothing within my Sense Life range. Unless, the source wasn’t something alive?

“Y-you summon me first, and even held me gently for such a long time! You know how Shao is!”

“Sh-Shao!” I suddenly had a feeling like there were eyes staring at me.

It was definitely the feeling Shao gave when she was displeased! Shao was dead though! Was she haunting me behind the grave? I just picked Miki for the obvious reasons, and then I broke down so I needed a minute before I could resurrect the others! This wasn’t favoritism! It wasn’t!

“Please, Master, the quicker the better!”

Wait, that was right! Miki was a Spiritualist and a nine-tailed fox. She was closest to death, so she definitely was far more aware of Shao’s presence than I would be. In fact, she might even be able to see the ghostly apparition of Shao right now! I started feeling a fear inside me. Shao kept saying that even in death we’d never be apart. I thought she was just talking about how my death meant her death from the slave bond. Now, I was seeing what she really meant.

“Miki… just a thought… but what if… and I’m just throwing things out here, what if we let her cool down, and not resurrect her for the time being?”

“That could work!”

A fearful energy filled the forest, and even nearby animals started to flee. A few moments later, I was on the ground desperately chanting Resurrection while Miki begged for forgiveness. Ghosts are scary, yet when I finished Resurrection, I realized I summoned something scarier.