CH 36

“We’re leaving soon!”

There was a loud sound that seemed to resonate throughout the mountain, and the people of the merchants, who were scattered and eating, stood up on the spot.

Hearing the joking murmur that time goes by too fast even though it doesn’t seem like a few minutes off, I followed the merchants to the carriage. I had to follow quickly to not fall behind.

It had been a week since we moved by carriage, and I was gradually getting used to the coachman’s loud voice. No, actually, I’m a bit good at adapting to whatever environment I’m in. It’s one of my few strengths. Without this, I wouldn’t have been able to stay sane for that long time.

However I, too, can’t adapt to my physical condition these days.

“Ah.”

As I grabbed the doorknob to get into the carriage, I felt a tingling pain. I reflexively removed my hand and examined it with bitter feelings, then I saw that my left index finger was bleeding.

Ah, now that I look at it, the nails at the top of the handle were screwed in incorrectly. Seeing that the studded part was quite sharp because it stood at an angle, the unnecessary sharpness and location were perfect for cutting. I glared at the nail with a little irritation, then looked down at my hand with a frown.

Drop, drop. At the same time as the tingling sensation, droplets of blood leaked out from between the thin wound. It was a little uncomfortable because the blood was flowing between my fingers, but since it was a really scratchy wound, there was nothing special except for the tingling pain.

If only this much, well, it will go away slowly for a few days, and then when I come to my senses, it will disappear without a single scar. I have better resilience than other people, and even ordinary people heal quickly from wounds like this.

Even though I thought so, I still looked at the wound on the spot without straightening my frowning face. I want to check whether the changes I’ve been feeling lately are due to my mood or not.

I was hoping that it would be because of my mood in many ways. Unreasonable changes are always unpleasant.

Yet, as always, my ominous foreboding wasn’t wrong. After a few seconds, the blood leaking from my finger stopped and at the same time, the wound disappeared as it felt bitter over the skin.

When I turned my hand over to check it, the wound had disappeared. It healed in seconds without leaving a scar.

No matter how resilient I am, it should have taken me a few days to get this well. No, it’s a wound that should have taken a day even if it was fast.

It wasn’t only my feelings either. I clenched my fists and let out a blank laugh. Ah, I’m in a bad mood.

I got into the carriage, trying to relax my expression at the voice calling me, yet my mood didn’t get better, it only got worse. The fact that I had discovered an unexpected nuisance and couldn’t ignore it kept adding to my annoyance.

Because, the trouble was my body and nothing else.

Yeah. Since I survived 10 years of death, my body was recovering faster day by day.

Thinking about it again, I’m speechless. In the end, I had no choice but to hit my clothes a few times without others noticing.

***

It wasn’t until I stayed overnight at an inn with people from the merchants that I realized that my body had changed somewhere.

The inn, filled with groups of guests, was as busy as a market, and the restaurant staff seemed hectic, serving customers. Occasionally drunk people would scream, and someone else would talk so loud that the inn rang, and it was, anyway, a mess.

I, who was dragged into the restaurant because I couldn’t overcome the friendly attitude of the merchant people, saying that I could survive the trip only if I ate every meal, sat quietly alone in an atmosphere that was escalating over time. At that time, all I could do was respond moderately whenever the people from the merchant spoke to me, and make sure that nothing broke or tumbled.

When such distraught people gather together, something always happens. Around the time I had such thoughts, trouble eventually arose.

[Ouch.]

[My goodness! I apologize!]

I must have bumped into someone as I was passing through the hallway, and the bowl of hot stew the waitress was holding spilled onto my arm. The waitress was frightened and stopped there, then people sitting at the table with me also got up in surprise.

Since there were many people around, first aid was done in an instant. I splashed cold water on my arm and carefully applied medicine to remove burn scars. However, in the midst of people’s worries and care, I was alone thinking that something was wrong.

My arm should’ve still throbbed if hot liquid had been spilled onto it, yet there was no sign of it at all.

It only hurt for a moment when the stew was pouring out, yet during the treatment, nothing happened. I was left alone in my room with the words, ‘you must’ve been surprised, go to bed early’, so I checked the wound without anyone knowing.

I took off the bandage, thinking that I would see some reddened skin or blisters, and what I saw was an undamaged arm.

It looked rather like the arm of someone who had never suffered any violence. Not of someone whose arm was covered with steaming hot stew.

“…”

And the present, while I was injured, I even checked everywhere.

To be honest, I didn’t like the change in my body.

It was natural for me. First of all, I was anxious because I couldn’t figure out why this change occurred, and I was more anxious because it seemed like there was nothing bad at all, as if this change was beneficial. There’s nothing that’s purely good, the world is rotten.

But since it was almost impossible to ignore the changes that happened to my body just because I didn’t like it, I tried to think about this phenomenon as positively as possible. There would be nothing to do on the way to travel, such an evasive thought was very good for killing time.

The merchants in the same carriage started talking among themselves as if they were trying to avoid disturbing me as much as I could.

I always think that they are really kind people. I wish I could express my thanks, yet my mind is too complicated for that.

We shall get back to the point.

Now, let’s think about it. First of all, as I have lived for a long time, there are often cases where my body’s recovery ability improves after dying. However, it was the first time that the wound improved so rapidly that it healed as soon as it was formed.

In addition, even if recovery was improved in the past, it stopped at the point of recovering very slightly faster than before, so I had never paid much attention to it.

In short, if I showed others my wounds were disappearing now, they would call me a monster, yet at that time, I was able to get better quickly and be treated as a normal person.

What caused this to happen? It wouldn’t have happened all of a sudden, and there must be a reason.

I came up with several hypotheses in my head, and even thought about whether there was a difference between the situation when my resilience was slightly improved and the current situation.

What’s the difference? Even then and now, it’s the sameㅡin the end I died and came back to life. The cause of death (死因) was different, but the death this time wouldn’t be anything special.

…No, it was special. Because it took me 10 years before I came back alive.

There must have been some connection between the 10 years and this ridiculous resilience, but there was a problem in thinking that resilience increased in proportion to the time it took for me to simply survive.

I can’t verify it as I don’t remember exactly how long it took between so many deaths and resurrections.

Honestly, how would I remember all of them? I was a little surprised at first, yet later I got used to it, and I passed it by saying, “I see, time has passed like this again.” Of course, 10 years was a bit surprising for me too, but…

Wait. I get used to it?

The carriage rattled and swayed loudly for a moment, but I blinked my eyes unconcerned. A thought flashed through my mind for a moment, and I unknowingly held it with my hands, then I turned my eyes and moved my gaze to the two hands that were facing each other. It must be an illusion to have cold sweat running down my back.

Just as I got used to the situation where time passed every time I died and came back to life, what if I think that ‘my body’ got used to healing me?

Yeah like… just doing the same thing over and over again makes you proficient.

Over the years, I’ve died a lot, and I’ve been hurt as much. From scratches like before, to mortal wounds that couldn’t be avoided, I suffered all sorts of things.

What if my body, accustomed to treating wounds, could recover more and more quickly?

And, if a kind of ‘ability’ that kept me from dying repaired the woundㅡit wasn’t the level of a wound, but anyway, I’m talking about the physical damage caused by the explosionㅡso big that I was dead for 10 years and reviving myself again, rapidly developed through leaps and bounds.

If so, then this bizarre phenomenon is understandable. I’m assuming too many things, but anyway…

I continued my thoughts and tilted my head while frowning. It wasn’t such a pleasant feeling. If my recovery is speeded up in this way, I will literally have perfect immortality, and I will no longer be a normal person, even in nice terms. In the future, even if my head was cut off, I might come back to life right on the spot.

That’s what I thought, but it’s very bewildering. I shouldn’t feel bad during a long trip like this, yet I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

I would rather sleep at a time like this, comforting my body and cursing as I wrapped myself in a blanket.

Ah, really. Today, I wanted to see Dante even more.