After chasing Baiye off in a huff, Xueli knelt beside the three Bosses' corpses, her mind a tangled mess:
"What do I do now... that powerful senior clearly saved me, and I ran my mouth and made her storm off angry..."
"But the three Bosses are plainly good people. Not only did they put up with a useless thing like me, they even fronted so much money to treat my injuries..."
"No, even if she's my benefactor, I can't allow her to slander the Bosses!"
And so, entirely immersed in her own little world, Xueli didn't notice in the slightest the footsteps gradually approaching from behind.
Not until Ningning reached out and patted her on the shoulder did Xueli come to, startling with a yelp, plopping down onto the ground, and turning her head:
"Eek-eek-eek—! Ah, you scared me... oh, it's you two seniors..."
Seeing the two seniors had finally returned, Xueli immediately relaxed.
But at the thought of that black-haired senior's outrageous claims a moment ago, she didn't know what to say, and simply held her tongue.
To Xueli's surprise, however, neither the kindly senior with short white hair nor the blunt senior with long black hair said a single word this time slandering her three Bosses.
The white-haired senior came to a stop before her and pressed her palms together:
"Hakimi nanbei lvdou."
Right after, the black-haired senior pressed her palms together too:
"Hakimi nanbei lvdou."
"...Huh? Th-this is?"
Bewildered, Xueli stared at these two seniors, seized by who-knew-what sudden madness, her mouth opening and closing.
Then the white-haired senior lowered her hands and revealed a smile as warm as a spring breeze:
"Maiden Xueli, on behalf of the divine, I hereby congratulate you."
"The divine? Congratulate?"
"Yes. Congratulations, you have passed the god's trial."
The white-haired senior nodded, keeping her smile as she went on:
"You were not broken by the tragedy before your eyes; you held true to your heart and bravely rebuked your own savior. In the eyes of the god, this is the most precious quality of all."
Dazzled into a stupor by the spiel, Xueli felt most of the hostility in her heart dissolve, and could only ask:
"Huh? Rebuked? What do you mean?"
The white-haired senior nodded gravely:
"Just so. What Senior Baiye said to you a moment ago was none of it her true heart; it was only to stir up the malice within you."
"That was the god's trial for you. And now, the trial is over."
"Congratulations. Your sincerity has moved the god."
Yet Xueli seemed riddled with doubts:
"But I clearly remember the Holy Temple saying that only by donating many gold coins can one move the god?"
The white-haired senior shook her head lightly and answered with a smile:
"Maiden Xueli, the god we believe in is not the pedantic, gold-grubbing false god of the Holy Temple, but the one and only true god of this world!"
"He is the god of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, and his name is — the Hakimi God!"
With that, the white-haired senior pressed her palms together once more:
"Hakimi nanbei lvdou."
The black-haired senior followed close behind:
"Hakimi nanbei lvdou."
Stunned witless by this bizarre spectacle, Xueli unconsciously pressed her own palms together and chanted along with the two of them:
"...Ha-Hakimi nanbei lvdou?"
"Just so. This is the holy phrase praising the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of our god. Keep it always on your lips, remember it well, remember it well!"
"Oh, oh, okay."
Xueli nodded over and over and went on listening to the white-haired senior:
"Your faith has moved the god. My ears have heard the divine oracle. The god says we are to work a miracle for you on his behalf—"
"Raise Dead!"
A beam of holy white light kindled in the white-haired senior's hand, lighting the cavern bright as day, then drifted wafting up into the air and settled onto the adventurer who'd been torn in two by the spider.
To her surprise and joy, Xueli watched the Boss who'd been ripped in half, who by rights should have been impossible to resurrect, meet the white light, and saw his corpse rapidly knit itself back together and restore itself, the color slowly returning to his skin.
This scene, defying all common sense, left Xueli dumbstruck:
"Th-this is a miracle..."
"Just so. This is a miracle."
Beneath the shining white light, the dead adventurer opened his eyes and slowly crawled up from the ground—
"Kyaaaaah!"
Xueli suddenly let out a piercing wail unlike any human sound, scrambling backward again and again until she tripped over a stone and fell, her voice choked with tears:
"Wh-what is this?!"
For the adventurer who'd risen had suddenly changed form—
His skin cracked, piece by piece, his face a deathly blue-white, his hands and feet twisted, transformed utterly into a life-seizing fiend, dreadful beyond words.
The adventurer, now a zombie, let out an eerie shriek and lunged at the fallen Xueli, only to be blocked one-handed by the black-haired senior.
Seeing this, the white-haired senior was astonished, and immediately knelt on the ground, flung her arms wide toward the cavern ceiling, and cried out again and again:
"How can this be? You had already consented to work the miracle; Lord Hakimi, why do you suddenly rage?"
"Ah, ah, I understand, my god... Maiden Xueli, the god says they still harbor malice toward you in their hearts."
"Tell me honestly, Maiden Xueli, did you ever do something to wrong them?"
Terrified, Xueli stared at the fiend-like face of the resurrected Boss and shook her head over and over:
"Something to wrong the Bosses? I-I really didn't!"
"Then why would they bear a grudge against you?"
"A grudge? Ma-maybe it's because I was not only useless but always causing disasters, and always making the Bosses front money to treat my injuries..."
"That's it exactly."
Two more beams of white light kindled in the white-haired senior's hand, flying toward the other two adventurers.
She turned to look at the terror-stricken Xueli and explained gravely:
"You owe them too great a debt of gratitude, unpaid, and so they bear malice toward you."
"But they only bear a grudge against me; why would they turn into this?"
Xueli pressed, gazing at her three fiend-like Bosses.
"The Hakimi God is the god of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Those with malice in their hearts cannot accept the gift of a miracle."
"So even receiving the miracle, they cannot be resurrected; they can only wear these fiendish faces and become a pack of walking dead."
"Th-then what am I supposed to do?"
Looking at the frantic, frightened Xueli, the white-haired senior heaved a sigh:
"The miracle has already been worked; it cannot be taken back. What's done is done, Maiden Xueli. Give up on treating them."
At that, Xueli stared blankly at her three walking-dead Bosses, watching them wander the cavern aimlessly, robbed of their minds:
"What's done is done... is it?"
"...No, I can't accept that!"
Xueli suddenly cried out, drawing startled looks from both seniors:
"I'll make up for the Bosses' kindness! I'll compensate them for their losses and dispel their grudges through my actions!"
"I, Xueli, swear it; I will absolutely restore the Bosses to normal!"
Hearing this, the black-haired senior grew inexplicably anxious.
She reached out to tug at the white-haired senior's sleeve, only to be gently waved off:
"...Is that so. Have you made up your mind?"
"Mm! Even if the Hakimi God rages, I will not regret it!"
"Good. It breaks the rules, but I believe the Hakimi God will understand this kindness of yours."
The white-haired senior walked up to Xueli, gripped both her hands, lifted her chin, and gazed at her earnestly, encouraging her:
"Then go! However much money you owe them, go and work hard to earn that same sum and repay it."
"That way, if they still fail to recover, then it must surely be the god's mistake."
Hearing the white-haired senior openly criticize the Hakimi God, Xueli's eyes went wide with shock:
"Huh? Aren't you a devout believer in the Hakimi God?"
The white-haired senior shook her head:
"No. Even gods make mistakes. We believers need not agonize over right and wrong; we need only be true to our own hearts, and then we may walk the world upright and unashamed."
"Even gods make mistakes... true to my own heart..."
Xueli murmured the words again and again, chewing over this vocabulary she'd never heard from the mouths of the Holy Temple's clerics.
Strange as it was, instinct told Xueli that this was how one who believed in a good god ought to be.
"I understand! Seniors, I'll work hard! I'll earn a thousand gold coins as soon as I can and pay the Bosses back, so they'll stop resenting me!"
"Since you understand, then go."
The white-haired senior smiled kindly and pointed behind her:
"See? Your Bosses aren't angry anymore either. They'll surely accompany you on your adventures and watch you earn the money to make it up to them."
Xueli looked at the three men standing meekly in place and finally set her heart at ease, nodding excitedly:
"Mm! I understand, seniors. Thank you for your teaching! And thank the god for his gift! Hakimi nanbei lvdou!"
"Go now. Hakimi nanbei lvdou."
The white-haired senior gave Xueli a gentle wave of farewell, watching the girl, flanked by her three Bosses, disappear into the tunnel.
As the sounds from the tunnel gradually faded, the white-haired senior — Ningning lowered her hand and heard the black-haired senior — Baiye speak up behind her:
"Ningning, this isn't what we agreed on."
"How is it any different? I resurrected the three of them, turned them into that ghastly state, and set Xueli back on the right path."
"Didn't that all turn out rather well?"
Baiye pointed in the direction Xueli had vanished and pressed:
"Didn't you say that once the kid saw those three ruined into shattered wrecks by your high-intensity support magic and mana overload, she'd get scared and run off?"
"Fine, you stopped me from talking, but then what's the meaning of tricking her into going off to earn money and repay a debt?"
Ningning tugged at her clothes and gave a slight shrug:
"She wants to repay the debt, so let her go repay it."
"As long as I don't dispel the magic, those three men can't move freely, and there's no way Xueli's money will ever end up in their hands."
"A thousand gold coins is a huge sum; she couldn't save it up in a year or two. As she earns and earns, she'll come to realize how absurd that figure is, and naturally she'll start to doubt those so-called Bosses of hers."
"She was just an inexperienced kid who got scammed. She isn't stupid."
Baiye listened, blinking in a daze, and could only concede:
"All right, I can accept that too. But I still have one question."
"What question?"
"What did you do to those three men?" Baiye asked. "You're a White Mage; surely you didn't use necromancy, black magic like that?"
"Ah, it's simple," Ningning explained. "First I resurrected them, then cast high-intensity white magic on them, Chains of Fate, causing mana overload that shattered their bodies, so they can't get a single word out, and their fates are forcibly bound by the spell to Xueli. They can only follow her around automatically and protect her."
The corner of Ningning's mouth curved into a savage arc, looking especially sinister and terrible in this gloomy cavern:
"Baiye, didn't you want them punished?"
"So I resurrected them, and left them trapped in shattered bodies, tormented by pain, able to do nothing, unable to live, unable to die..."
"They tormented an innocent girl for so long. Paying this little price is only reasonable, wouldn't you say?"
Gazing at Ningning, posed in that eerie stance and cackling wildly, Baiye drew a deep breath:
"Ningning, I suddenly find you scarier than those three men."
"Oh my, thank you for the compliment."
"I wasn't complimenting you."
"Mm, I know."