Chapter 03
This doesn’t make any sense.
The final hidden villain of the novel almost gets killed by a maid working in his own house? That really ruins the dignity of the original story.
Even now, the safe I had opened remained half ajar. Eden Croyden didn’t seem interested in it at all.
While I glanced again at the scraps of paper inside the safe—
Eden Croyden, having finally finished thinking, stood up. I flinched and subtly stepped back as he approached me.
“…How did you fire a mana bullet inside the mansion?”
His first question was completely unexpected.
“I just… fired it.”
I answered awkwardly, doing my best.
“Mana usage is supposed to be blocked inside this mansion.”
“I just…”
“They would have tested your mana sensitivity during recruitment. Since Madam Kelton oversees it, there’s no way the result was wrong.”
“I developed it later…”
“I’ve never heard of anyone developing mana sensitivity after the fact.”
Then why ask if you’re not even going to listen to my answer?
“What was your purpose in sneaking in here?”
“….”
Caught in his barrage of questions, I missed my chance to respond and simply shut my mouth.
Unbothered, Croyden stood up again and began pacing around the room.
It felt like he was making some huge misunderstanding. Shouldn’t I clear things up? He didn’t even seem to have recovered from the shock of dying and coming back.
“Um, Master…”
“……”
But he ignored me and spoke instead.
“…Did Arthur Camelon send you?”
“…What?”
Why is his name coming up here?
Arthur Camelon was a name even I knew. Of course I did—he was the protagonist of the original novel.
The Arthur Camelon he was referring to was the hero destined to defeat the hidden villain, Eden Croyden, and save the world from destruction.
A man seemingly blessed with mana from birth, able to freely wield all the mana in the world, protected by the light itself.
The complete opposite of Eden Croyden, who couldn’t use mana and instead learned swordsmanship.
And now he’s asking if Arthur Camelon sent me?
Well… it’s an understandable misunderstanding.
Let me explain calmly.
“I’ve never even seen his face.”
“What did he ask of you?”
“I…”
“Did he order you to kill me?”
“No…”
“So you brought a mana bullet? To kill me?”
“Um…”
This is bad. It seemed like Eden Croyden was still in shock after dying and coming back to life.
“I wasn’t sent by anyone. I was just looking for something valuable to steal and sell.”
“Lies. What kind of idiot would try to rob Eden Croyden’s safe?”
“….”
That idiot would be me…
If I said anything more, I’d officially become the biggest fool alive.
Trying to change the subject, I hurriedly spoke.
“More importantly, I want to talk about what just happened. Master, you definitely died… and then came back to life.”
Flinch.
“How did you do that?”
Flinch.
“…I think you would know better than I do.”
“Huh?”
Croyden glared at me.
“What did you do to me?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Did you use some kind of wicked sorcery on me? Kill me and bring me back just to turn me into your puppet?”
No, wait a second…
This was turning into a massive misunderstanding.
What did I do? If anything, I’m the one who should be complaining! I only fired the gun!
Ah… right. He was the one who got shot…
“I’m… sorry for killing you just now, Master.”
“……”
Was that the right thing to say?
“I’m not someone who goes around killing people usually… it was an accident.”
“……”
This feels weird. Still, let’s just apologize.
“I’m sorry.”
“……”
Eden Croyden stared at me silently for a long moment, then ran a hand through his hair as if confused.
Finally, he spoke.
“After I was shot by you, collapsed, and got back up… I started seeing strange words in front of my eyes.”
I instinctively lifted my head.
“What do they say?”
For a brief moment, hesitation flickered across his face. As if wondering whether he should trust me with this.
But it seemed he needed someone to share this unbelievable situation with.
Reluctantly, Eden Croyden began to speak.
“Congratulations. You have…”
His gaze wasn’t on me, but on empty space. I realized that what he was reading aloud were the strange words appearing before him.
And the moment I understood the meaning of that first sentence—
A chill ran from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, as if I’d been plunged into ice.
Goosebumps crawled across my entire body.
Those words would overturn the rest of my life completely.
[system]
Congratulations.
You have become the first person in this world to be killed by an outsider from another world.
It felt like the back of my head had been struck with a hammer.
My mind rang.
Eden Croyden’s brows furrowed as he looked at me—his gaze clearly asking:
Are you that outsider?
My body stiffened. I couldn’t even think of answering him.
‘An outsider from another world.’
The meaning was obvious.
Me—whose soul had been completely replaced.
But the message didn’t end there.
After briefly looking at me, Eden’s gaze returned to the empty space.
[system]
As a token of congratulations, you will receive a special reward.
Reward: Resurrection
Upon death, you will return to the state immediately before death.
Reward.
Resurrection.
“…What does this even mean?”
‘I’d like to know that too.’
Text appearing in front of his eyes? A quest window?
Was this world suddenly turning into some kind of game-like fantasy?
‘It was already a novel world to begin with…’
With nothing certain, I carefully spoke while watching his reaction.
“Well, it definitely sounds like a reward… If you die, you come back to life, right?”
“……”
“To confirm it, we could…”
Both of our gazes turned toward the gun I had thrown far away.
But the moment I saw it, I flinched. My body trembled as the memory came rushing back—the recoil, the blood spurting out, the life fading from someone’s eyes.
Do it again?
‘I can’t.’
“Even so, morally speaking, that’s a bit too much…”
I was just about to brush it off when—
Eden Croyden strode over, picked up the gun—the very weapon that had just killed him.
Before I could even react, he returned and placed it in my hands.
Worse, he gently wrapped his hand around mine and positioned my finger on the trigger.
“Try it.”
“W-what do you mean?”
My hand trembled slightly in his grip.
“Kill me again.”
Eden Croyden raised the gun and pressed it against his own forehead.
From an impossibly close distance, our eyes met.
His gaze did not waver in the slightest.
Even while facing the weapon that had just killed him.
“To be sure, we have to test it again.”
“There’s no need to test it right now—”
“No. We have to do it now.”
“Why…?”
Why? Is he some kind of masochist?
“Why?”
Looking at my trembling eyes, Eden Croyden smiled brightly.
“They said it’s a gift to celebrate.”
And then—
His hand tightened over mine, pressing down on the trigger.
Bang!
