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Each time I used powerful magecraft, I felt a strange sensation as though the strength was being drained from my body.

And yet, I kept averting my eyes, telling myself I was just tired—refusing to face a reality I didn’t want to believe.

“My life has gone on too long. With each repeated transplantation of my soul into new flesh, I have gotten abraded. Isn’t that so?”
“…Yes. Pest told me something similar.”
“I thought so. I assumed it was just clumsiness, but it seems the cause was soul degradation.”
“When it degrades… what happens?”
“What else? Death. Well, I’ve lived a thousand years. Wanting more than this would only be greed.”
“—!”

Momo’s face twisted as if her very body had been torn apart. What a strange child.

She had always been like that since the day we met—softhearted, reckless, forever dragging trouble down on herself.

She shouldered other people’s pain as if it were her own, sticking her nose into everything, never learning her lesson no matter how much she lost because of it.

“Isn’t there a way? There has to be a way! You’re smart, Master—you’ll definitely think of something!”
“There isn’t. Transplanting a soul into another’s body is already a forbidden art. Even if a method did exist, I doubt your sense of ethics would allow it.”
“Th-then… then…!”

Momo’s voice withered, drowned out by the pounding of the rain.

There was no way she could think of something I myself hadn’t. She knew little of this world’s knowledge, after all.

To defy the ultimate limit of “death,” the fate that awaited all humans—that would take nothing short of a god’s miracle.

“Well… from what I can feel, the abrasion of the soul is proportional to the expenditure of magic power. It’s inconvenient, but if I refrain from using powerful spells, my lifespan may be extended a little.”
“And… how long would that give you?”
“……At best, a year. More likely… six months.”
“S-six months!?”
“That’s why I don’t have time. Before I die, I need to send you back. Otherwise, you’ll haunt me even at my grave.”
“N-no! I’ll cry, I swear I will! More than that—I don’t want you to die, Master!”
“Then what will you do? You’re always complaining, yet you never offer a concrete solution.”
“T-that’s… something I’ll think of now!”
“I see. Then hopefully you’ll find one before I die.”

I turned my gaze away from Momo, whose words no longer held my interest, and focused on the entrance to the ruin.

With rain this heavy, water could easily flood inside. I had to raise the ground and build a retaining wall before it caused real damage.

“Master, are you really okay with this!? You’ll be dead in just six months!”
“How rude. There are people in this world who don’t even live that long. Don’t go tossing around ‘just six months’ so lightly.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about!!”

A fist swung from behind, smashing the sand wall I had been carefully constructing into pieces.

So, she was resorting to brute force now. Looked like she wasn’t going to leave quietly until I gave her a proper answer.

“…If you ask whether I’m okay with it, then no, of course I’m not. But what else can I do?”
“You don’t know that yet! If we search, there has to be some way…!”
“*Maybe* there is. But maybe there isn’t—and the odds are higher for the latter. You want me to waste the little time I have left chasing after some uncertain hope?”
“That… I…”
“How many times must I say it? I don’t have time. Within six months, I have to accomplish the unprecedented—finding a way home for an Outlander. I can’t afford to—gblblblbbghhhh!?”
“M-Master!?”

All of a sudden, a torrent of water surged in and swept my whole body away.

Damn it—I had let my guard down, distracted by Momo’s shouting. This was the danger of desert rain.

“Waaah! Hold on, Master! Where did all this water come from!?”
“Glblblb… the sand in an arid desert can’t absorb water quickly… plus, parts of the surface were vitrified from battle. If the rainfall exceeds the ground’s absorption rate, this is what hapblblblbghh…”
“Master!!!”

Just as the current threatened to drag me under, Momo’s hand caught me and pulled me free.

…So this body couldn’t swim. Good to know. Damn it, Babel & Null, at least warn me about things like this.

“Ghah! Cough, cough… M-Momo… hold me up a little longer, I need to seal the ruin’s entrance with sand…!”
“What are you saying!? Using magecraft shortens your life, doesn’t it!? And you just swallowed half that flood, don’t push yourself!”
“There should be clues inside—something to help send you back! I can’t let it all be ruined now!”
“Enough already! Nothing is more important than your life, Master!!”
“Don’t be selfish. You need to hurry up and go home!!”

Amid the pounding rain and raging flood, we grabbed each other by the collar and shouted back and forth.

There was no room left to hide behind composure—our emotions clashed bare and wild, like beasts in a fight.

“You’re unbearable! Everything about you! Stop darting around in front of me—I can’t stand watching you risk yourself!!”
“Then why do you care!? Why stay with me, why keep saving me!? I’ve been nothing but trouble for you—I’ve made mistakes, caused problems, and even when I want to apologize or repay you, I’m too much of an idiot to do anything but get in the way! So tell me how I’m supposed to repay you!!”
“Fine! You can repay me by shutting up and obeying me for once! Go back to your own world, don’t cling to this s̲h̲i̲t̲t̲y one, and forget about me completely!!”
“Noooo way!!!”
“You idiot!!!”

My full-force slap only landed with a limp, pitiful smack against Momo’s cheek.

No strength left, and any magecraft I used only shaved away more of my life. I was nothing more than a broken-down failure, hardly worthy of being called “Master.”

When it truly mattered, I couldn’t trust myself to protect Momo. Just like a thousand years ago—the longer I stayed, the more certain it became that she would slip through my hands.

“…When I die, what happens to you? This world is anything but kind. The injustices you don’t yet know will bare their fangs at you sooner or later.”
“Master…”

My shoulders trembled. Because of the rain—it was cold.

It was the same as back then. When my sister was gone. When that troublesome drunkard vanished too. It was always cold.

If everything you gain only leaves you freezing when it’s lost, then it’s easier never to hold anything at all. I should’ve just pushed everything away from the start.

“……Fine. Do what you want, Master.”
“…Hah. So even that thick skull of yours finally managed to catch up.”
“In return, I’ll do what I want too.”
“Huh?”
“You look for a way to send me back home. In exchange, I’ll look for a way to make *you* live longer!”
“……What?”

For a moment I thought I’d misheard her through the rain.

No—I wanted it to be a mishearing.

“I don’t care if you’ve lived a thousand years already! I want you to live, Master! Even if it’s impossible, even if it’s hopeless, I still want to try finding a way!”

…Turns out this girl was far more—utterly unreasonable than I’d imagined.