Ian had died.
However, he came back to life.
The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Edgar’s face smiling gently down at him.
“Ugh. Wh-where is this?”
“Looks like you had it rough, Mr. Ian.”
“Edgar… Tyler.”
“Yes. That’s why I told you not to act rashly and make an enemy of Mason. You only had to dig up some information or weaknesses.”
Gradually, his mind began to clear.
And then, his final memories returned.
“Am I… alive? Magireta definitely killed me.”
The answer came from Magireta herself.
“I killed you, so I can bring you back too. To be exact, it was more of a status transfer — from ‘eliminated participant’ to ‘participant.’”
She spoke as she floated idly in the air.
“Edgar here made another deal with me. He said that if Ian died, I should revive him and bring him to him.”
“You… revived me?”
Edgar smiled brightly and replied,
“Of course.”
“Why? Why would you do that?”
“What do you mean why? We agreed to work together, didn’t we? We’re allies.”
“But we were only together for about five minutes…”
“The time spent together doesn’t matter when forming a bond. I truly liked you, Mr. Ian, and I believe you’re someone I must go with until all these quests end. That’s all there is to it.”
Ian fell silent for a moment.
Then he carefully asked,
“What was the price? The price for reviving me.”
“My life.”
“……”
“It’s fine. As I told you before, I had five lives. Now, well, only two left.”
“You used that to bring me back?”
Ian felt an unfamiliar emotion rising inside him.
What should he call this feeling?
Objectively, he was nothing more than a pitiful loser who had fled in disgrace after being crushed by Mason’s gang.
When he had served in the army, Ian had always mocked retreating enemies.
Look at them—how pathetic.
Even after failing their mission, they would run for their lives without even looking back.
‘But this time, I’m exactly the same.’
And despite that—
Edgar had given up one of his lives to save him.
No matter how many lives he had, considering the cruel nature of Magireta’s quests, even a hundred wouldn’t be enough.
“Th-thank… you.”
“Not at all. I’m just glad we can see each other again.”
Edgar smiled brightly and rose to his feet.
“Nuna, we’ll be heading out.”
“Want me to send you to another area? Since the quest’s over, it’ll be free this time.”
“Then please send us to where Mason’s group is again.”
“Alright. Nothing else you want?”
“No. Besides, I don’t really have anything left to offer as payment.”
“You still have some organs left in that body of yours. A lung, perhaps.”
“Hmm… I’ll save that for a last resort.”
At that, Ian realized something.
“So that’s it. When I was sent to where Mason was, what you offered Magireta was your—”
“One kidney, yes.”
“I… failed that mission, didn’t I? I really have no excuse…”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Tap, tap.
Edgar lightly patted his shoulder.
Normally, Ian would’ve recoiled in disgust and chopped that arm off without hesitation.
But this time, he simply accepted it.
“Let’s go, Mr. Ian. There’s a lot I want to talk about.”
He reached out his hand.
Ian took it and stood up.
After quietly staring at Edgar for a moment, Ian spoke.
“…I’ll be counting on you from now on.”
“The same goes for me. Ah, and here—take this.”
He handed Ian the brooch he had received as the first-place reward.
Then he briefly explained how to use it.
“Wear it. It’s said to dramatically enhance the wearer’s physical abilities. Allows you to surpass your limits.”
“W-wouldn’t it be more useful for you to wear it than me?”
“I’m fine. Because you’ll protect me, Mr. Ian.”
Ian almost reflexively said, “Of course I will.”
What was this?
This wasn’t his usual self.
He pinned the brooch to his chest.
Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
‘If it lets you surpass your limits… there’s no backlash, is there?’
He asked Edgar about his doubt.
When that first-place reward was being explained, Ian had been dead, so he knew nothing about it.
Edgar replied instantly, without a moment’s hesitation.
“They say there’s none at all. No backlash or anything.”
We returned to Berseum’s house in the Deut Territory.
Berseum said he needed to greet Eris and stepped out.
Since it was already late at night, everyone decided to rest for the day.
I entered my room, lay down on the bed, and said,
‘Hey, Diary Book.’
[Yes.]
‘Feels like it’s been a while. How’ve you been?’
[Thanks to you, I have lived a long and prosperous life.]
…Can it even say that about itself?
‘I should check the updates. First, this new function—Thread of Connection, was it?’
[That’s correct.]
‘What is it, and how do I use it?’
[Please pull this out.]
The Diary Book extended the ribbon that was attached to it—basically the bookmark string tied to the book.
I fell silent for a moment.
[What’s wrong? Please, pull it out.]
‘Wait, can’t you do that trick Magireta does—make a hole in the air and pull things out?’
[I do not engage in such uncouth behavior.]
‘Asking me to pull out your bookmark string feels way less dignified, though.’
Well, not just undignified—it was plain ridiculous.
Still, I grabbed the string and pulled it.
Brrr.
“……”
I could swear I just felt the Diary Book tremble.
‘Does that hurt?’
[Not at all.]
‘Feels like plucking a nose hair or something. Bet it stings.’
[I told you it doesn’t. Anyway, since there are three members in your party, please pull out two more.]
‘Got it.’
So I pulled out two more strings.
Then, with a damp, exhausted voice, the Diary Book spoke again.
[Huff, huff. Now, tie one end to Mr. Mason and the other ends to your party members. Specifically, finger to finger.]
‘You must’ve been in pain. Don’t cry.’
[I’m not crying.]
‘What happens when they’re tied like that?’
[No matter how randomly Magireta divides people, from now on, you will all take on the quests together.]
Oh.
Last time, I made a deal with Magireta to let me participate only in the Fourth Quest together with them.
That was because I didn’t have enough to offer as payment.
I had simply trusted the Diary Book and taken the gamble—but as always, it didn’t disappoint me this time either.
‘So, from now on, we don’t have to worry about being scattered apart.’
[That’s correct. However, the Thread of Connection can only link up to ten people. Since you have ten fingers, you can’t tie more than one thread to the same finger.]
Even so, it was an incredibly useful function.
Of course, Magireta would find it suspicious, but that demon already knew I possessed some kind of special ability anyway.
If that was the case, then I might as well use everything I could.
Then next…
[Would you like me to show you?]
‘Huh? What do you mean?’
[You always want to know whether your lifespan has increased or not after each quest ends. You checked the last page of the Diary Book, remember?]
I wanted to deny it, but it hit too close to home to argue.
I decided to just admit it.
‘You’re right. Go ahead and show me.’
[Yes.]
Whirr.
The Diary Book flipped its own pages.
Meanwhile, the bookmark string I had pulled earlier had already regenerated.
Would it sulk if I tried pulling it again?
[Accessing the last page of the Diary Book.]
[Points consumed: 50]
[Remaining points: 618]
The Diary Book closed.
Huh.
‘So Ian came back to life?’
[It seems so.]
‘He definitely got eliminated before. So his status must’ve changed—from eliminated participant back to participant.’
[…]
‘Edgar must have traded one of his lives for that.’
Magireta wouldn’t have agreed to such a request otherwise.
That meant Edgar now had two lives remaining.
It should’ve been something to be glad about, yet when I pictured Ian with the Brooch pinned to his chest, my vision darkened.
A broken, overpowered item that could let even an ordinary person jump five to six meters high.
Magireta had said that the stronger the wearer, the more dramatically the Brooch’s effects would increase.
‘This won’t do.’
[Yes. This time will be much harder.]
‘I’ll have to kill Ian again.’
[…]
‘Why so quiet?’
[I’m just wondering how you reached that conclusion from everything you’ve read so far. Even if the three of you attacked him together, you couldn’t defeat Ian wearing the Brooch.]
‘That’s why I’m going to find her.’
Sernia—that was the name, wasn’t it?
The talented one my future self in the Diary Book had paid attention to.
The skilled fighter who had once dueled Ian wearing the Brooch.
The person I regretted not recruiting in time.
‘This time, I’ll make contact with her first.’
And one way or another, I’ll bring her to my side.