Resurrection Failed, Trial Succeeded. And Then...

After quietly retrieving the Ghost that had been controlling the late Ronesky, the late Ronesky returned to being a corpse.

The Ghost itself was something I could normally spawn in my dungeon using DP, so I used it while making excuses about alchemy and whatnot.

Yep. I'm a dungeon master with a skill that's basically adjacent to a necromancer's ability to tame Ghosts. Sorry. I can never say that in a Church-of-the-Light-God-place like this… but, well, the previous Pope was a dungeon core and it was kept secret, so whatever. It's fine, right?

"… Now then, Ragil-dono. What will you do about the trial? Resurrection seems to have succeeded, and yet also failed. If you wish, you may present a new trial."

"…"

Ragil was sprawled out flat on the ground.

He had the air of someone who'd decided that everything, absolutely everything, no longer mattered.

"… Call it cleared. Yeah. I admit it. I admit it…"

"Oh! In that case, that makes three trials cleared, yes? … Ah, no — do we redo the late Ronesky-dono's portion?"

"Well, that's unavoidable… We'll call Barakdo tomorrow or something, sigh…"

Magni let out a deep sigh.

She was probably exhausted from the unfamiliar ritual magic. Yeah, yeah.

… No, okay, sure, some of it was that, but most of that sigh was probably because we'd gone a bit too far.

Still, to knock down the previous Pope's so-called "miracle," I had to reveal a bit of the mechanism.

I don't actually know if the Pope truly used Ghosts to do fake resurrections. But I had the Ghost say it while ignoring that detail.

If the hurdle the previous Pope left behind is too high, all sorts of things become a pain. Can't be helped.

Magni spoke to Narikin.

"For now, Narikin. I'll declare your companions innocent and release them. You can send them home. As for the paperwork… we'll handle it."

"Oh? Thank you, Magni-dono. That's wonderful news, Rokufa, Kyou."

"Yes. I'm glad we can return safely, Narikin."

"Yeah～. Geez, I'm exhausted～."

… By the way, the "Kyou" speaking right now wasn't me.

I'd secretly swapped places with Nerune herself and had her play "Kyou." I gave her a [Resurrection] scroll as a special bonus, so she was happily going along with it.

I, meanwhile, had used [Super Transformation] to become a bird and watch from the shadows. I sent advice via telepathy — I'd told Nerune not to talk too much.

Eh? Why go to all this trouble?

Because if they can't perform [Resurrection] without me, I'll get summoned every single time someone needs reviving. I needed them to carry it out properly as ritual magic and confirm that it could be done without me.

If that's the case, then if we send in more "Resurrection scrolls" from my wife's family homedungeon and increase the number of users, we won't even need Narikin and his group anymore.

For that purpose, I don't mind spreading them around within the Church of the Light God, either. With [Minor Replication], they're basically free anyway.

"…"

Saintess Alka glanced at KyouNerune.

She might have realized it wasn't me. But even if she noticed, who cares? The real Kyou isn't there anymore. Too bad!

For now, I sent telepathy to Nerune, telling her to ignore Saintess Alka.

Alright then — because of the late Ronesky's trial portion, we have to redo one trial.

I wonder what kind of test Barakdo will come up with? They made even resurrection part of the trial; surely it can't get any harder than this.

As for "Kyou," we managed to return safely without getting tangled up with the Saintess.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

And so came the next day.

They announced the fourth trial once more.

I'd secretly followed along by "possessing" a little bird.

"… Um. Because the late Ronesky has ascended to the Light God's side, the First Trial will be retried."

Barakdo was Ragil's yes-man.

However, Ragil himself was slumped over, powerless, and Barakdo didn't seem to be receiving any particular instructions.

This is going to be an easy trial.

"So, the trial we will present is, um… yes. I will announce it."

"Hah!"

"As a retry of the First Trial, um… ah, yes. Please complete that dungeon you were partway through clearing — finish it to the end. And please take Saintess Alka with you as well."

"Yes— …Huh?"

Wait. You're making us take the Saintess… to that flimsy filming dungeon!?

"Um—ah—no, I mean. Clearing the dungeon should be fine with just me, though?"

"Ah, well… there were many requests, you see. People wish to see you and the Saintess teaming up to clear a dungeon. So please, if you would. The Saintess is accustomed to dungeon conquest; she will be a powerful ally and will not be a hindrance."

With the thing we used for the original First Trial.

And with the Saintess, who proved her strength in the Second Trial.

"At the very least, she is certain to be more useful than the holy scriptures."

"… Indeed."

Narikin said.

"Once you complete this trial, you will finally become Pope. Please do your best."

To tell the Saintess — who could fairly be called the strongest adventurer in this country — that I want to go alone because she'd just slow me down…

Yeah, no way I can say that.

Besides, in the First Trial, I even protected the holy scriptures. There's no way I can claim I don't have the leeway to bring the Saintess along.

Narikin glanced at me quietly.

… So I really have to take her to that filming dungeon. Her?

For there to be a problem like this right at the finish line… damn it! If only I'd blown up the dungeon in the First Trial!!