When Lukas returned to the room, he found Sedi fiddling with his body. The expression on her face was so serious that one would think she was conducting some extremely important research.
[What are you doing?]
“Mm!”
Sedi didn’t seem to be surprised by Lukas’ voice and instead raised her hand to her chin contemplatively.
“I’m just checking exactly what you are.”
[…]
“As I expected, you’re an Absolute who was once a human. Nevertheless, Father’s body is pretty high quality. From what I can see, you were probably the best among humans.”
Shaking his head at Sedi’s strange praise, Lukas returned to his body.
But even after entering his body, she didn’t let go of him. In fact, she actually began to act more aggressively.
With her two small hands, she stretched Lukas’ cheeks to their maximum.
This was the first time he had ever experienced something like this, so Lukas was speechless for a while.
“Wow. Amazing.”
“…what is?”
“Father’s face got warmer when your soul returned. By the way, how can you separate your body and soul? Is that one of your Lord abilities?”
“…”
Forcefully moving Sedi’s hands away, Lukas rose from his seat.
Sedi pouted slightly but obediently backed away.
“Did you have any harvest?”
“Right. I met the Saint.”
“Oh? How was it?”
“They are certainly a strange person. I couldn’t fully see through them.” (TL: Still using ‘they’ since there hasn’t been any gender confirmation)
“You coul-?”
Just as Sedi asked back in surprise, the door opened and Min Ha-rin appeared. Kim Min-chul was nowhere to be found.
However, Min Ha-rin’s attitude was a bit strange. She staggered around as though she was broken.
“What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“…!”
Those words caused Min Ha-rin to subconsciously shiver.
Lukas walked up to the small refrigerator in a corner of the room, took out a small plastic bottle, and handed it over to Min Ha-rin.
Min Ha-rin lowered her head as she received the bottle of water.
“…thank you.”
“What happened?”
“…”
Min Ha-rin’s face was extremely pale. Not only that, but her lips were also as white as snow.
She hesitated for a moment before finally lifting her head and speaking for a moment.
“Master, there is something I’d like to ask you.”
“What is it?”
“Is it possible to bring the dead back to life?”
“…”
Lukas was silent for a moment.
“No, it’s not.”
As far as Lukas knew, only God and the Rulers, as well as very few Absolutes, who had powers relating to life or creation, were able to resurrect the dead.
And there was no Absolute with that power currently in this universe.
“I just met the Bishop of the Church of Eternal Life. He said he would let me meet my parents.”
He already knew that Min Ha-rin’s parents were dead.
Min Ha-rin continued with a heavy expression.
“…then I met my parents.”
At that moment, Sedi opened her mouth to say something, but Lukas discreetly shook his head at her.
Min Ha-rin shook her head for a moment before taking a deep breath. It seemed as though she was steeling her resolve and determination.
“Master, I would like to make a request.”
“What is it?”
“For the time being…”
Min Ha-rin hesitated one last time. Lukas could feel that this was because she was preparing herself to make an incredibly difficult choice.
Nevertheless, it seemed that she’d already made up her mind. She wouldn’t back down now.
Since she had already come this far, she might as well go all the way.
Forcibly suppressing her hesitation, Min Ha-rin spoke in a clear voice.
“For the time being, I would like to move around on my own.”
* * *
After Lukas agreed to her request, Min Ha-rin went to stay in a completely different room. Fortunately, her room wasn’t very far. It was only a few doors down from this room.
But that wasn’t the point.
The point was that for whatever reason, Min Ha-rin had voluntarily chosen to walk out from Lukas’ shadow.
“I didn’t expect you to accept her request.”
“Why’s that?”
“It could be that she fell for the Bishop’s schemes. After all, it usually isn’t hard for cult leaders to rope others in.”
“That’s a narrow-minded way of thinking. I have faith in Ha-rin.”
“Ah. I see.”
Sedi looked at Lukas with a blatantly unbelieving expression.
“Nevertheless, why do you look so happy?”
“Of course I’m happy. My disciple is already preparing to stand on her own.”
Although it was earlier than he expected, it was natural for a teacher to feel happy when their student became more self-reliant.
That was why a smile was currently stretched across Lukas’ lips.
“That child will certainly become stronger. The experience she gains from this place will be fertilizer for her growth.”
Sedi, who looked at him with a slightly displeased expression, muttered under her breath.
“…you know. You’re supposed to be closer to your daughter than your disciple, aren’t you?”
“That should normally be the case, yes. But why are you asking that all of a sudden?”
“…no reason. Does Father have anything else to say? I’m sleepy, so I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“…”
Now that he thought about it since she now had a human body, Sedi probably needed to sleep. This was probably incredibly inconvenient and annoying for Sedi, who had still been an Absolute just a few days ago.
Thinking about that, Lukas ended the conversation, allowing her to go to sleep. Instead, he sat down and closed his eyes.
Then, he became immersed in his thoughts about their ‘mission’.
There was a time limit to saving Neil. To put it bluntly, it was probably a week, or it might even be shorter than that.
This meant that he had to persuade the Saint, who resided at the top of the building, within that time.
It would probably not be an easy task, but it would certainly be impossible if he were to act hastily.
Lukas decided it was best not to rush.
* * *
The next morning, Kim Min-chul came to them.
“Mr. Frey, the Saint has accepted your request. They said they would be available in the evening four days from now.”
Four days from now.
Considering the length of time, it was a bit tight, but Frey wasn’t in a rush since he had already found a way to contact the Saint separately.
“Then I will meet them then.”
“Ah… By the way.”
Then, he spoke as though he’d suddenly remembered something.
“Would Mr. Frey also be willing to become a member of our Church of Eternal Life?”
“Sorry, but I am an atheist.”
“Ah. Come to think of it, you did mention that you were a Wizard.”
Kim Min-chul nodded with a disappointed expression.
At that moment, Sedi, who was lazily sprawled on the bed, suddenly spoke up.
“Can we get a tour or something like that?”
Kim Min-chul didn’t seem to mind the attitude of this girl who was young enough to be his daughter and instead smiled.
“Of course you can.”
“Then I’d like to take a look around to pass the time. Is that alright, Father?”
Lukas nodded his head without much thought.
Since it was Sedi, there naturally wasn’t any reason for him to worry.
“Just come back before evening.”
This was because he had decided to meet with Arid that evening. Sedi simply nodded before leaving the room with Kim Min-chul.
Lukas sat on the bed and meditated.
—By the time Lukas awoke from his meditation, the sky was already dark, and Sedi had already returned.
“How was your tour?”
“It was boring and annoying.”
Sedi grumbled for a moment before looking at Lukas.
“Are you going to visit the Saint tonight?”
“Right?”
The expression of Sedi, which had been depressed until now, immediately brightened.
She smiled slyly and waved her hand.
“Go have fun, Father. Daughter will protect your body.”
“…don’t do anything weird.”
“I won’t. I won’t.”
Lukas tried his best to erase the strange feeling of anxiety that welled up in him at that moment before he once again headed to the top floor of the building with Ghost.
Just like the day before, Arid was calmly overlooking the city below. However, as though they felt Lukas’ presence, they suddenly lifted their heads and turned around.
“Ah! Mr. Soul! You’re back.”
[As I promised.]
“Hehehe.”
Arid chuckled.
“I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday! Is there anyone that Mr. Soul would like to meet?”
[…someone I’d like to meet?”
“Yeah! That’s what I’m best at! Helping others meet those that they want to meet.”
Now that he mentioned it, Lukas did recall hearing something like that the day before.
…Someone he wanted to meet.
Of course, there was. But it was impossible for the human in front of him to fulfill his wish. After all, it was qualitatively different from contacting souls that had already passed to the afterlife or who were still wandering around the world.
Nevertheless, Lukas wouldn’t easily reveal that. After all, his priority was to build a good relationship with Arid.
[There is.]