''Please, Demon God. Let the brave man ... bring Al back to life!

　It was the Goddess Officer who summoned me that day.
　The room was solemn ... perhaps a room in a temple.
　Behind her pleading in a praying pose, a woman warrior and an old sorceress with a divine look on her face.
　The wish is for the resurrection of the brave.......Surely if the brave party were to disappear from the brave party, it would be organized like this?

''Where are the bodies of the heroes?''
And then, well... during the battle with the Demon King, they disappeared in the face of each other...
Hmm....

　The oath is clear, too, but I pondered it.
　It may come as a surprise, but I am rarely summoned with a wish to resurrect the dead.
　This is despite the fact that the total potential total number of wishes is probably far greater than that of immortality.

　Of course, it wouldn't be unrelated to the fact that I can't use faith-based magic to raise the dead.
　But the biggest reason, however, is due to the unique circumstances of the multidimensional universe managed by the f*cking gods.

　Gaff's Room.
　An efficient and super inhumane system that automatically collects the souls of the dead at the end of life and converts them into the energy of a new creation.
　No matter what you are, if you die, you cannot escape the fate of having your spirit bleached and washed clean.
　The only exceptions are cheat reincarnators and substandard exceptions like me and Alto (Overflow One).

'Mr. Sacagawea?'

　Ituna next to me looks up at me.
　Don't you want to do it?　That's the look on your face.
　They don't doubt that it's possible for me to bring a dead man back to life.

　Anyway, while restraining Itsuna with my hand to watch in silence, I decided to get some confirmation from the hero's party.

''Resurrection of the brave.......is that what you guys want?''
'Yes!　That's right, demon god!

　The priestess shook her head frantically over and over again.
　The other two didn't open their mouths either, but they nodded their heads hawkishly.

''I see...''

　In fact, at the point in time when I am being summoned like this, there is no doubt that "Summoning and Pledging" judges that "the achievement of this pledge is the wish of Ryouji Sakagagi Ryoji to the extent possible".
　However, it is a judgment that includes the proxy pledge, so we can't let our guard down at all.

'Then let's hear the reason first.

　While deciding to face the pledges seriously without making fun of them as usual, he questioned the Goddess Officer.

''Reason........?''
'Oh, yes. In some cases, we may not need the resurrection of a brave man. Why do you want a brave man back?

　If the motive for wanting to resurrect a brave man was "to defeat another Demon King" or something like that, then that might be a substitute for me to defeat the Demon King.
　The female warrior and the old sorcerer frowned around 'no need to resurrect', but the Goddess Officer answered immediately.

'Al is ... my family, my brother. There's no better reason for it than that.

　Well, you're a survivor.
　This could be a pretty nasty pledge.

''Listen, Demon Temple.

　The old sorcerer interjected.

'Sacagawea is fine,'
Then, Mr. Sacagawea. I do not doubt your power, but is it possible to resurrect a hero?
'The conclusion alone is that it's probably possible. But I can't say that it's going to be the way you guys want it to be.
What do you mean?

　The female warrior nodded her head.

'Well let's give it a try then. Brave man, revive.

　As I used an instant revival cheat, a young man appeared in front of the three of us.

''A, Al!''
What?
Seriously I'm surprised at this one.

　The three of them all opened their eyes in surprise.
　A young man in blue armor with an air of bravery this seems to be the figure of the brave man called Al.

''Al!''

　The priestess hugged the brave man.
　With tears streaming down her face, she talked to him about many things....

''Al, Al?　Can't you speak?

　Perhaps it was because he was too unresponsive, but the goddess officer looked into the hero's eyes suspiciously.

''It's too early to rejoice. It is only the body and abilities that have been revived. Your soul is not yet.''

　This hero is a fake (copy) that was reconstructed from the memories of three people in an instant resurrection cheat, not the person himself.
　And the copy doesn't have an ego.

　Sure enough, no summoning team appears at my feet.
　That's to be expected. As long as what the brave party wants is not the "function" of a brave man, but "family" and "friends", this can't be the fulfillment of a pledge.

　Nevertheless, the brave party was still talking to the brave party as if they were happy to see each other again.

''Sacaghagi-dono, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to be able to perform such a miracle...''
To be honest, I didn't know what was going to happen when Shrina said she was going to summon a demon god to bring Al back to life.

　The way the old sorcerer and the female warrior look at me has clearly changed.
　Well, that's why I used an instant resurrection cheat as an easy to understand demonstration.

''You really can bring me back to life, don't you, Sakahagi-san!

　Ituna will praise me as usual, but I can't be honestly happy about it.
　I didn't expect to have to do such a serious and grave pledge when I'm putting Ituna out, of all things.......
　Sure enough, the Goddess Officer shoots through my eyes with an even more serious gaze than before.

'Sacaghagi-sama. What do I have to do to get Al's soul back?

　........well, here's the problem.
　Even I don't have the means to get back the souls that were washed in Gaff's room.
　It would be fine if they were reincarnated in the same world, but same-time axis reincarnations like Ayana's are extremely rare. It would be a long shot.

　The Priestess seemed to be prepared to pay any price.
　In that case, I'll have to respond to that.

''And while we're at it, do you have any legends of a land where the dead go, or any lore about where the souls of the dead go in this world?''

　I'll be sure to pray about it.
　It would change my behavior to some extent, though.

'The Land of the Dead... oh, you mean the legend of Yomi by any chance?'
You ever think of a place for a dead warrior to go? Isn't Valhalla?

　Women are exchanging opinions with each other about such and such and such.
　If it's vague at the level of lore, it may not even be real.
　However..........

''Sacaghagi-dono. Could it be that you're talking about Helheim?

　The old sorcerer asked, squeezing his long beard.
　The women looked at the old sorcerer.

'Is this Helheim?'
What's that?
''Hmm. I have read in the writings of the late Great Sage Itou that there is an underground world inhabited by the dead called Helheim. Of course, no one has ever confirmed it alive.
Itou-sama's!
Then it's really there, isn't it?

　It's there.
　I'm not sure if there are any, Itou.
　The only thing left to do now is to hope that it's not the real thing....

　Nevertheless, I'm me, until I fulfill my pledge.
　I ask the question with a mindless mind.

'Tell me more about it.'
I don't know if it's true.

　I finished listening to the narrative of the old sorcerer with a grim face without any mischief.



''Hey, hey, Mr. Sacagawea. You're not well!　What's going on?

　We walked through the city, saying a somewhat forced goodbye to the three of us who wanted to follow us on our journey to Helheim.
　We stopped well away from the temple where we were summoned.

''Hey, Ituna,''
What?

　I even feel bad for Ituna, who acts in an upbeat tone like usual.
　That's why I wouldn't be able to use rule 3 here.
　I turned around at will and opened my mouth.

''I may possibly........end up destroying this other world.
What? Why?

　While quieting the surprised Itsuna, I tell her the truth in a voice so calm that I'm surprised myself.

'It's illegal in a f*cking god's universe to let spirits stay in the world instead of sending them to the gaff room,'

　Perhaps the most common offense in the f*cking God's multidimensional universe is "creating a world of the dead within another world".
　The dead here are the ones who have retained their spirit intact in their memory before they were born.
　Apparently, there is a rule that the souls of the dead must be sent to the room of the gaff at a fast pace, except in the case of reincarnation.
　The gods and the world that distorted it are said to be erased by the gods of shit without any extenuating circumstances.
　Even so, Eva says that there is no shortage of gods who create the world of the dead for various reasons.

　In case you're wondering, there are not without exceptions.
　For example, an alternate world where the resurrection of the dead is a plant.
　Sometimes special permission is granted to stage a play where the gods enjoy watching life suffer and struggle between life and death for their entertainment. Or rather, the gods of shit are running around to take the initiative in creating them.

　Particularly popular are the boxed-in worlds where the otherworldly trippers are forced to kill each other.
　The trippers can come back again and again without being sent to gaff, forcing them to engage in eternal battle royale.
　One special condition is to adjust the parallel worlds so that they don't derive from each other, and another is that the stage itself has to have a means of self-destruction. The stage itself must be provided with a means of self-destruction, and a mechanism must be installed that can destroy it at any time and recover all of its soul energy. Otherwise, the f*cking gods wouldn't give permission for it to happen.
　To put it another way, there's no way we can hope for a legal astral world like this in a normal other world.

'Even if the violation is confirmed, I won't be tipping off the f*cking gods... but if I find out that I'm in the spirit world or the underworld or something, I'm out as soon as that guy confirms my movements in the present, past and future with his all-seeing eye. This other world will be 'deleted'.
But that doesn't mean what you just said is true, does it?
Well.

　Yes. So there is hope.
　

So as for me, I just hope that there is no such thing as a land of the dead that the gods have prepared for the underground.

　Cursing the deceitful, shitty way the world was supposed to be I set out to confirm the legend of Helheim, which seemed to be the most believable.



　And the next day.
　Ituna and I had returned to the hero's party.

''Sacaghagi-sama!　My brother!　Al's soul is!

　The goddess clings to me as I return.

"Calm down, Shrina.

　The female warrior takes care of herself and pulls the Goddess Officer off me.

''Sacaghagi-dono.......by the looks of it, Helheim.......?

　The old magician asks me with a mysterious look on his face.
　My answer to him is.

'Oh. There is. I don't know if it can be called the Land of the Dead as you guys call it, but if it's a place that's like an undead hangout, it was definitely there.
Oh my God!

　The old sorcerer's eyes widened, as if he was thrilled by the great discovery of the century.

''So, my brother is there too!
Yeah, I get to meet him. We didn't get a good reception.

　And I don't know if I can call that thing a hero.
　Anyway, I take out a sealing bead from the item box.

The spirit of a brave man is sealed in this item. I have sealed up the spirit of the hero with this.
Yes!

　In one of the rooms of the temple that I was led to, a brave man was dog-eating a whole roasted pig.
　He was still soulless as ever, so he seemed to be able to act only like an animal.

''I'm surprised. Al's guy, even in this state, can properly fight me in a mock battle. Is it because the body remembers things?

　It's reconstructed based on the memories of a brave party, so it's no surprise that you can do it as far as fighting is concerned.
　It's essentially a cheat ability for that kind of usage.

　Well, let's see.
　It's my job to take it from here.
　This method should work, but now....

"Unseal.

　He presses the sealing bead against the brave man's forehead and chants the usual words.
　Then.

''Ugaaaaahhhhhh!

　The brave man suddenly turned his eyes round and white and began to flail about.
　I quickly put him to sleep with sleep magic.

''Al!''

　The summoning party appears at my feet.

'Pledge complete. Looks like it's working.
'Thank you!　Thank you, Mr. Sacagawea!
I didn't do anything to warrant a thank you.

　For once, there's really no need for thanks.
　As for the resurrection of a brave man, it was completely for my convenience.

'I should have been asleep for a week. Even after I wake up, my memory will probably never fully return.
'I'm fine!　From now on, we'll definitely get it back........!

　After the priestess said that in a tearful voice, the brave party gathered to the sleeping brave and began to rejoice.
　I don't think it's heartless that they no longer have a care in the world for us.
　That's the kind of wish I should be granting.

'Sakahagi-san........'

　Ituna, who had been watching me silently next to her, grabbed my sleeve.
　I thanked her profusely and patted her head.

''I'm sorry. I'm sorry I had to put you through this.''
No, it's fine.

　At the same time as Ituna laughs back, a light envelops us.
　The moment we disappear from this other world, we see only the old sorcerer bowing towards us.



''Do you want to ask me something?''

　After putting the scum summoner, who wants to be immortal, to sleep once, he asks Ituna.

''Well.........if you've been summoned, then the hero has come back to life properly, right?
'Yeah. At least, I've properly prepared the 'family' that the goddess wanted. But it's doubtful that the brave man himself will be able to say he's come back to life.

　Ituna looks around at my phrasing, as if I have things stuck in my teeth.

'Well, let's see. But there was a country of dead people, wasn't there?

　Following the steps that the old sorcerer spoke of, we headed into the basement of that world and emerged into the vast space where countless spirits were wandering around.
　A scene similar to the one I saw right after the summoning of the other world where the zombies were roaming around when it happened.
　The wandering spirits were wandering around everywhere, like the faces of horrible spirits gathered together, and Ituna had a look of despair on her face as she said, "It's scary and creepy......the f*cking gods will erase me.......
　That's why I quickly realized what Helheim was.

''It's not the Land of the Dead. It's a layer of spiritual dust sedimentary layer!
The sediment layer?
"The dust left behind after the spirit body was shaken off from the soul in Gaff's room is spirit dust...in other words, the remnants of what was a spirit. In short, that place is a garbage dump. That other world must have received a lot of energy by providing a landfill for the spirit dust underground.

　The washed out spirit bodies are energy impurities from the gaff room.
　That's why they are chopped into pieces and processed into spiritual dust for easy disposal, and then taken over by various other worlds.
　This can be a hotbed of undead, but from the point of view of the gods, it's not important.
　There are even gods who think it's more convenient for them to have a fantasy view.

''If that's the case, can that world not be erased by the f*cking gods?''
Well, that's what happens.

　When I cowered my shoulders, Ituna showed a look of sincere relief.
　I knew she cared about it.
　I should have told her sooner, but I didn't have the time to do so either.

''Huh?　But Sacaghagi, you said you found the memories of the heroes by beating up that ghost over there, right?　What's that?
'All that was there was a fragment of a brave man's memory. And they were like puzzle pieces that didn't fit together, so I couldn't put them together. That's why I read only the information from the shards and transcribed it into a purely spiritual body.

　I briefly explained to Ituna, but it was quite a painstaking process.
　To put it bluntly, it's like picking up documents from all over the world that had been shredded and then blown away by the wind and restoring them.

''........What does that mean?''
It wasn't the spirit of the brave man himself that was in the Seal Bead.

　Huh, then sighed.
　Suddenly the story of what Artoo had done to me a long time ago crossed my mind.

'Ituna. Have you ever heard of the Swamp Man?
Swamp Man?　Hmmm, probably never heard of it.
Okay.

　I don't know what it is.
　Some kind of psychologist... or something like that, at least, that's what Alt said.

"A man was struck and killed by lightning on his way out...
Wow. I'm not.

　Ituna hides her pigtails in her hands and buzzes her head.

'I know. Natural lightning, I mean, it was an accident. Anyway, the man went down, but by some miraculous chemical reaction, a life form with the exact same memories and body as the man was born from the nearby swamp. This is the Swamp Man ... the Swamp Man.
Huh.
"The Swamp Man has the exact same memories, habits, habits and preferences as the dead man. His body structure is exactly the same as the dead man's. He speaks to his family, friends and lovers the same way he did to the living man, and Swampman thinks he's the man himself and doesn't question it. Now Ituna do you think this guy can really be said to be the same person as the dead man?
'What?　Um.....
I don't have to give you an answer. It's just a thought experiment to see what would happen if that happened. In short, the brave man I resurrected is a swamp man. I created a perfect copy of the hero with the same memories as the hero.

　So here's the thing.
　Coincidentally, the god of this other world happened to provide Gaff with a disposal site for the spirits.
　After all, it was just a coincidence that the spirits of the heroes who died in this other world were fragmented and discarded at the same other world's disposal site.
　Through a truly miraculous coincidence, I was summoned and came to find the fragments of the hero that were dismembered at the disposal site.

　However, the fragmented brave spirit body was completely useless. It was only natural because the Spirit Dust Deposit Layer was not an individual, but something like the collective unconscious.
　So I read and copied the really dusty and fine memories left in the Spirit Dust Sedimentary Layer with my appraising eyes one by one, and then I rubbed out the mountains and mountains of enchantment that were all over the place to make new spirit body materials and pasted the reconstructed memories of the heroes.
　Finally, I shared my soul energy with him, and the pseudo-spirit was complete.
　Not even the spirit body or soul, let alone the memory, is not the brave person's own.

''Perhaps the awakened brave will rejoice in reuniting with his sister and friends, and will spend his time just like the brave before his birth. He or she will read the books that the brave man before him or her liked, eat the food that the brave man before him or her liked, marry the woman that the brave man before him or her liked, have children, and if the demon king appears again, he or she will fight just like the brave man before him or her. But the real brave guy is still dead. Can we really say that this guy is the same person as the brave man in life...?

　If there is a land of the dead that preserves the spirits of the dead, the entire world is erased by the f*cking gods.
　If it was a spirit dust deposit layer, then the brave party would never come back to life in its full form.
　In other words, there was no such thing as salvation for the brave party either way.
　But even so, the 'Summons and Pledge' read that the return of the 'family' that the Goddess herself wanted was fulfilled.
　That's why I'm being summoned to the next different world like this.

'It would have been better if my body was still there. Then I could have completely recreated the memories of the heroes from the cast of spirits left in the body, but... no, that would have been the same thing.

　If the body was still intact, he would have been able to bring it back to life through a procedure similar to the surgery used to restore Nicopodol to its original state, but it's doubtful that even that can be called the brave man himself. And it's not like he can call back the spirit of the person himself.
　I've heard that even the high-level resurrection of the dead magic only creates a copy that follows a similar procedure to mine. Even the console command "Resurrect" is suspicious.
　I suppose in the f*cking God universe, reanimating a dead person would mean creating an undead or an indistinguishable Swampman with identical memories and personality to anyone else.
　Well, no one anywhere would bother to expose such a truth.

'I know. Even I can't bring the dead back to life, Ituna.
Mr. Sacagawea....

　Ituna reached for my head as I was goofing around.

'Good.'
Hmm, what?
You did a great job, Mr. Sacagawea, and I'll give you a compliment. I'll give you a big compliment.

　It's kind of embarrassing, but I can't bring myself to resist, and I continue to be stroked meekly.
　For some reason it was comfortable even though I was in the opposite position to usual.

'Even if it's not the real hero, I'm sure those people will be able to live with the belief that the hero has come back to life. It may be a terrible lie, but Mr. Sakahagi did his best. You can't do this to anyone. I know that because I know that...

　Ituna does her best to say everything she can to me.
　It's not easy, but every time she strokes my head, it's as if my soul is being washed away.

So, you know what?　Cheer up!
'Oh, yeah. Yeah.

　I nodded back coyly after the stroking was over.
　I didn't want him to see my face right now, so I quickly turned my back to him.

''........Jeez, well, let's see if I can make this scum immortal for now and then summon him to beg for death!
Begging for death?

　



　But........thank you so much, Itsuna.
　I love you.