“I thought you died!” Alfred went up to Michael and hugged him, tears streaming down his face.
“Come on.. don’t get my white robe dirty..”
However, as he said that, he noticed the very bottom of his robe dyed in red, presumably from the previous trial.
‘Gross..’ Even with his experience, this continued exposure to gore left a bad taste in his mouth.
Alfred backed away and wiped his tears “What brings you to our humble city?”
‘Ah.. here it is.’
“You see.. while I was perceived as dead.. I might have lost all my wealth…”
Alfred’s expression remained the same, a smile still hanging on his face “Why didn’t you say so in the first place, if you need a place to stay, this city will greet you with open arms.”
He walked back to his desk and took a key out of the cupboard, it was the key to the church “Here, we did some renovations there, however, I can assure you, you won’t be left disappointed.”
Michael didn’t know how to react, to some extent, he expected them to wave him away, that’s the human nature he was used to back in his previous world.
However, nothing like that happened, his delusions were wrong and he couldn’t see the people for what they actually were.
And that was grateful.
The doubt settling within Michael had disappeared as he took the key out of Alfred’s hand.
“Thank you..”
“No, thank you” Alfred flashed a smile and went back to his duties.
‘…’
He silently walked out of the building and headed to the church, the crowd of people had increased exponentially, however, they all made a path for him.
What’s with the silence, are you about to cry or something?
‘What are you talking about? No, I am just seeing the people in a different light now, I used to see them as human bags of EXP but now it’s different.’
You are finally being honest with yourself, it’s a step in the right direction.
It had been a while since he last got the system’s approval.
Michael finally arrived in front of the church, it seemed.. bigger, more than twice the size he had seen last time.
The people once again opened the path for him, he unlocked it and went inside, locking it right behind him.
He didn’t want to deal with his former Saint duties at the current moment, all he wanted to do was wash up and sleep.
The inside looked like a church from his previous world, with the room where he lived being hidden to the side.
One thing that remained from the past was the statue ‘Gabriel.. Archangel Gabriel, was it a coincidence I came here?’
Surprisingly, I think it indeed was a coincidence.
The system didn’t sound that convincing as it seemed like it didn’t know anything either.
‘Right..’
Michael went into his room and ate, showed and got into bed, getting his long awaited nap.
—–
Wake up.
Michael tossed around in his bed, it was still as comfortable as he remembered.
I said wake up, you have a guest.
‘You should have started with that, your voice is like an annoying mosquito in the morning’ He groggily got up out of the bed and put on his clothing before heading to the front of the church.
Mosquito? Not my fault your deafness carried over from the second trial.
Michael rolled his eyes and unlocked the church, in front of it were many people, but only one stood out.
It was Kevin, the person he least expected to see at the moment.
“You..” His eyes widened upon seeing Michael.
‘He still looks like he has a punchable face’
“Come in” He gestured for Kevin to come inside the church, he preferred to talk when there wasn’t a massive crowd around looking at him as if he was some holy being.
Michael flashed a small smile and waved at the people around the church, waiting for Kevin to get inside so he could close the door.
As they both went inside, he was about to close the door, he noticed another one of his classmates, Liam, there was also someone with familiar red hair in the crowd, however, he couldn’t see the face of that person.
He nodded at Liam and closed the door behind him.
“How are you still alive?”
“Shut up, you sound like a broken record, sit down anywhere you like” Michael’s fake facade was gone, replaced with the usual dislike for Kevin, he was not sure how they could have been friends.
“I am serious.. you are way too different from the Michael I knew” He snickered and sat down on the sofa that was still right by the statue.
‘That’s my sofa..’ Michael sighed and sat at one of the seats at the very front, they were surprisingly comfortable.
“You had 2 years to debate whether I was the Michael you knew and you still hadn’t figured it out?”
“Try regressing and your best friend being a different person than you used to know” He replied in a helpless tone.
‘Is he in denial?’
Well, put yourself in his shoes, would you not feel strange talking to your friend who had become a completely different person?
“I understand where you are coming from, but drop it, I am not the Michael from your memories and I have no clue who you are” Michael gave him a reality check, he wanted to dispel the delusions Kevin was putting himself through.
“But how..” He suddenly paused, his eyes widening as he murmured “Did the demon have something to do with this?”
Michael overheard it “What demon?”
“The one who had killed me..” Kevin dropped this piece of knowledge nonchalantly as if it did not mean anything.
“You got killed by a demon..?”
He shrugged “Yeah, it was too strong, the only thing I recall besides my death was his name, for some reason, I can’t remember how he looked.”
‘Strange..’
“His name is Astaroth, one of the princes of hell, I can’t remember anything else sadly” Kevin rubbed his forehead a bit.
Well, you were not wrong about something being wrong with his head at the very least.
Michael held back a laugh ‘This is not the time..’
“I see, well that sucks, sorry you died.”
Kevin smiled slightly “Of course, thankfully I got another chance at revenge.”
‘So he is driven by revenge, not a bad goal I guess’ As his thoughts came to an end, a question arose inside his mind.
“How did I die?”
“You didn’t, I didn’t tell you I would be fighting Astaroth, so you lived at least longer than I had” He chuckled at the thought.
“Do you remember how you regressed then? Anything at all?” Michael felt as if that information could help him, since from what he understood, his situation is oddly similar to Kevin’s.
“Nope, I fought, I died, I woke up back in my bed back in this world, even my family is still alive.” A warm smile appeared on his face as he finished explaining.
‘No dice huh..’
Michael thought of asking about mana cores but quickly shot that thought down, oaths exist.
“Well, I am going to go clear my mind, see you next time I guess” Kevin stood up and walked past Michael, stopping just in front of the door.
“A high level dungeon break will happen soon after the academy year begins, it’s as if that place is some sort of a trouble magnet” He chuckled “Will you be there?”
Michael nodded “Yes”
“Good” With that, Kevin left, leaving Michael by himself to his own thoughts.
‘A dungeon break huh..’ He got up and stretched himself, preparing to open the church up to everyone.
‘It’s about time I dust off my healing skills’
