Chapter 99

“……Evangeline, you say? You?”

“That is correct!”

At my question, the girl who introduced herself as Evangeline proudly puffed out her chest.

She looked at my face with eyes full of curiosity.

“Seeing you ask that, you must have known this body already. But in this body’s memories, you do not exist. How, then, did you come to know of me?”

Well, because I read about you in the novel.

But of course, I couldn’t answer that, nor could I think of a good excuse.

Besides, right now I was too overwhelmed to think straight.

‘Evangeline was alive!? And as a younger version that never even appeared in the original!?’

A joyous day indeed.

I felt like calling the whole neighborhood to throw a feast, but I decided to hold back for now.

There were too many questions I wanted to clear up first.

“As far as I know, Evangeline should be dead.”

“To a wizard, the concept of death does not exist.”

What’s that supposed to mean.

I’ve never experienced death myself, you know?

“Hmm… it is complicated to explain.”

Evangeline, now turned into a little girl, began her explanation, using both hands and feet to illustrate.

She spoke of being suddenly attacked by a man named Araya, whom she had never seen before, losing her life, and having her heart and magic stolen.

Of barely managing to gather her scattered soul and leaping into a ‘river.’

Of being swept away by the current, yet avoiding annihilation and just barely maintaining her sense of self.

“It was truly a difficult time. Of course, in that place, there is no such thing as the concept of time.”

The deep, subconscious flow far below.

In that place called the ‘river,’ everything flows without form, all mixed together, but at certain moments, by someone’s will, they take shape, gather, and are born as beings called [Arcanes].

In other words, within the vast furnace of what were once monsters or things that could become monsters, she refused to melt and blend, enduring until the end.

“Then, by good fortune, you called me. Thanks to that, I was able to escape the ‘river’ while fully maintaining the self known as ‘Evangeline.’”

“……”

“Hmm? Why do you make such a face, you?”

Well, because I didn’t quite understand.

I had listened to various explanations, but it was all full of abstract concepts and metaphors about rivers and furnaces, so I had no idea what she was really saying.

Besides, it seemed that along with becoming younger, Evangeline’s language skills and memory had also declined, because her explanation was terribly clumsy.

The Evangeline I knew was a sharp, impressive female character.

“In short.”

I opened my mouth after sorting things out in my head.

“You’re saying you’re Evangeline’s ghost.”

“Eeeek! What on earth did you hear from me just now!?”

Evangeline began to get angry.

“A ghost is when the soul and spirit scatter, and only the ‘spirit’ remains, clumped together by bad energy—wicked creatures, I say! Do not compare this body to such lowly things! I am not a being that can be explained in such simple terms! This is an extremely complex and beautiful prov… prov…”

“Provoked?”

“No, what was it again? Ah, providence! It is providence! If you could even understand half of how complex and delicate a magic I used with my remaining mana to somehow revive myself…!”

“That’s not important.”

“Not important!?”

“You don’t particularly want to stay in this form, do you? Don’t you want to regain the power, appearance, and speech you had when you were alive?”

“Gasp. C-could it be… my way of speaking is strange…?”

For some reason, Evangeline looked shocked.

My heart wasn’t strong enough to just answer ‘Yes’ to that face.

“…No.”

“I-is that so? Then I am relieved.”

For some reason, Evangeline seemed reassured.

The Evangeline I knew used a more normal manner of speaking.

I could accept that she became younger because her magical power had been stolen, but why had her speech become even more old-fashioned?

It was truly a mystery.

“In any case, the way for me to return is very simple. You only need to lend me a little bit of your fate.”

“Lend you my fate?”

“Yes, your heavenly mandate that you originally possessed. I will twist and extend it, and of that increased portion, you can give me half. It will not be a bad thing for you either.”

To put it simply, it was like letting her invest the money sleeping in my bank account, then giving her 50% of the profits as a fee.

Not bad.

No, if it worked as she said, it would actually be a gain for me.

“Alright, I accept.”

“The deal is struck! Show me your palm lines!”

The moment I agreed, Evangeline grabbed my hand.

I had thought she was a ghost, so I was a little surprised to feel physical force.

She examined my palm lines with great concentration, as if reading a map, then tilted her head.

“H-huh…?”

“What is it?”

“S-something is strange. You have already twisted your fate on your own. Twice, in fact.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Cannot say for certain. Ordinarily, you would have been fated to die a miserable death a few months from now.

Yet somehow, your fate was twisted twice, and you evaded the grip of death.”

“……”

If it had gone according to the original, Aaron Stingray would have died fighting the protagonist.

But I rejected that, cured my illness, and again, in Act 4 of Part 1, I refused the role assigned to me, which seemed to have changed my fate.

It appeared that my lifespan had been extended because of it, which was certainly something to celebrate.

But Evangeline did not look as pleased, instead stomping her feet with a troubled expression.

“W-what should I do? This body can no longer interfere beyond this point.”

“Is there no other way?”

“There is, but—”

“Then do it.”

“—It is a painful method, and I would rather not cause you more trouble… Eh? What did you just say?”

“Do it. I don’t care.”

“But I have not even explained what kind of method it is yet.”

“Doesn’t matter. Just do it.”

“W-why?”

Why, you ask?

First of all, because you need to be able to fully exert your power so that we can untangle the twisted story and restore it closer to its original form, making it easier for me to navigate.

Second reason—points.

For some reason, even after meeting Evangeline, I hadn’t received any Achievement Points.

My guess was that it was because Evangeline was currently half ‘dead.’

Of course, there was still the possibility that she wasn’t really the real Evangeline and was lying.

But judging by her appearance, and the fact that she had been the first to mention the name Araya earlier, the probability of that seemed extremely low.

If she truly intended to deceive me, she wouldn’t act or speak in a way so completely different from the original Evangeline.

And lastly—the third reason.

Forget all that logical reasoning.

It was simply because I wanted to.

If someone told you that you could bring back your dead favorite character, wouldn’t you grab at even the thinnest straw to make it happen?

This wasn’t just me—this was probably something any otaku in the world could relate to.

If they were told they could revive their waifu and keep her by their side, they’d say yes to just about anything.

So I had no reason to hesitate.

“You don’t need to know my reasons. If you need something from me, take as much as you like.”

“……!”

At my words, Evangeline widened her eyes in surprise and brought her hand to her cheek.

Her face flushed, and she suddenly turned around, exclaiming, “W-wait a moment!” before slapping her cheeks several times.

It was obvious from her expression what kind of misunderstanding she’d gotten into.

“You.”

Trying to compose herself, Evangeline asked in a serious voice.

Even in this dim place, I could see with my ocular camera that her cheeks were still faintly red.

“It seems this body has lost much of its memory along with its magic. That is probably why I do not remember you.”

Nope, that’s not it.

We’ve just never met before.

But I didn’t feel the need to correct her, so I stayed silent.

“So then… c-could you tell me what kind of relationship we had before? Perhaps… lovers…”

“……”

If I just said yes, it would make things easy, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

After all, the person in front of me looked like she wasn’t even ten years old.

As a man approaching his thirties, saying something about being a past-life lover with a little kid like this… well, that didn’t sit right.

Personally, it just felt like humoring a child at play, so I couldn’t take it seriously.

I’d probably burst out laughing mid-lie.

“…I don’t want to say.”

Not knowing how best to answer, I settled on that.

And just like before, Evangeline wandered off into her own strange imagination, then looked at me with unbearably sorrowful eyes and sighed, “Ahh.”

“I-I see. I should not have asked. I’m sorry for digging up old wounds.”

“……”

Wait, old wounds?

What? Why did it suddenly feel like I’d been dumped by the past-life Evangeline?

This little brat clearly thought I was a man grieving over the death of a woman who had loved me.

No way. That’s definitely not it.

I lightly knocked her on the head with my fist.

Thunk.

“Ow! Why are you hitting me! What kind of man hits the woman he likes!”

“I’ll hit you every time you say something weird.”

Thunk.

“Waaah! Who hits someone before even saying anything!”

“……”

“Fine! I get it! I won’t say another word! I’ll just do what I have to!”

Only after receiving two hits did Evangeline come back to her senses and quickly begin preparing her magic.

“Now I understand why my past self didn’t choose you. Such a handsome face, yet far too violent…”

“……”

“Alright! Alright, I get it!”

When I silently glared at her, Evangeline hurriedly began chanting a magic spell in a fluster.

She reached out her short arm to place one hand on my shoulder, while the other rested on her own chest, and she closed her eyes.

Before long, the light flowing from the magic staff grew stronger and stronger, and a gust of wind swirled around us with the two of us at its center.

Something began to leave my body, circling above our heads before flowing into Evangeline’s chest.

The process went on for several minutes.

Eventually, the wind subsided, and the magic staff dissolved into the air like smoke, disappearing completely.

Evangeline opened the eyes she had kept closed and removed her hand from my shoulder.

“It is done. With this… huh! I-I can’t see anything!”

The light from the staff vanished, and the experimental sample storage room was once again cloaked in darkness.

Unlike me, who had modules, it seemed Evangeline’s eyes couldn’t see a thing.

“A-Aaron. Where are you?”

At some point, the way she addressed me had changed.

Well, it didn’t really matter.

With no other choice, I picked her up in my arms and began walking out of the secret laboratory.

Of course, I didn’t forget to completely demolish the lab on my way out.

“Waaah! W-what’s happening! Something’s collapsing! We have to get out of here! Hurry! Hurry and run!”

Unable to see anything and hearing the sounds of the lab collapsing, she must have been scared.

Evangeline buried herself deeper into my arms, and I let her be as I continued the shutdown process.

After confirming the lab’s collapse, I exited through the entrance.

Once light reached her eyes, Evangeline finally regained her sight and let out a sigh of relief as she asked,

“W-what in the world was that…?”

With teary eyes, she glanced around at the entrance of the lab we had just left.

I called her name again.

“Evangeline.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“What exactly did you just do?”

“Just now? I borrowed the power of the magic staff to connect your soul and mine…”

“Simply.”

“S-simply?”

At my request, Evangeline paused to gather her thoughts before speaking.

“In short, this body has been completely revived.”

“Though you’re still in a child’s form.”

“That’s because this was the method that would place the least burden on you, Aaron! To fully regain my past-life form, I would need to take all of your life, and even that might not be enough!”

“I see.”

Well, at least she didn’t kill me.

As I was thinking that, Evangeline exclaimed with a triumphant expression.

“And there’s more!”

“More?”

“Hehe, don’t be surprised.”

Evangeline suddenly clung to my body, swung herself around to my back, and hooked her legs over my shoulders.

Sitting in the so-called “piggyback” position, she tapped my head and declared,

“You can use magic now too!”

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