Chapter 37: Trade City Heisen (14) – The Phoenix Resurrection Egg

There’s a children’s song called “Haiyaan’s Three Eggs.”
This “Haiyaan” is that pervy rabbit Haiyaan herself.

Most people think Haiyaan is an old bald man from the Edda race.
But although she looks like a rabbit now, her true form is a beautiful Edda woman who looks just like Megadea.

She isn’t Megadea’s direct descendant, but from the same ancestral line—poor Megadea.

Now, the three eggs from the song:

The Holy Elixir Egg.
The Eternal Talisman Egg.
The Phoenix Resurrection Egg.

Every one of them has outrageous powers.

The Elixir heals any wound and destroys undead.
The Talisman grants agelessness—if you wish, you can live longer than elves or faerials.
And the Phoenix… brings things back to life. Anything can be revived.

And now, that Phoenix Resurrection Egg is in my hands.

Why is something like this here…?
Same with the Elixir—this is not something you throw in a junk heap.

No, someone didn’t “throw” it away.
Its owner probably died, and it ended up here.

But still… seriously?

“…Is this really the Phoenix Resurrection Egg?”

I hold the egg up.
Its golden ancient letters flare red depending on how the light hits it, making the whole egg glow crimson.
Ah, so that’s why. Phoenix-like.

“Hmmm, hmmm. My my, you’ve found something unbelievable again.”

“But is it real? There were tons of fake Elixirs in the world.”

True—lots of rare items don’t replenish themselves even if they look genuine.

“I think it’s real.”

It gave off the same blue light as the Elixir.
It was stored in a box similar to the Elixir’s.
Not much evidence—but I believe it.

“Well, well! Shall we try it, then?”

“Eh? Try… using it?”

“But Haiyaan said we must never resurrect anyone.”

It was rare to see Haiyaan speak seriously.
That stuck with me.

“Well well, if Haiyaan said it, it’s probably right. But still—aren’t you curious? The phenomenon of resurrection? Kon is very interested. Even if it’s forbidden. Even if someone says stop. Kon wants to try it at least once.”

A witch is always a witch.

But… I’m curious too.

“Then why not,” 

Mineha said flatly.

“Try it… how?”

“It doesn’t have to be a person, right? Try it on some weak monster. Something small.”

“Well well, this calls for a guinea-pig slime!”

“A… guinea-pig slime…?”

Not a mouse?

The witch pulled out a bottle containing red liquid.

“This here is a dead Red Slime.”
“Why do you even have that?”
“Well, well, material gathering of course.”

That’s definitely a lie.

She grabbed a bronze helmet nearby and poured the dead slime into it.
The thick red liquid oozed inside.

I opened the Phoenix Resurrection Egg and let a single drop fall.

The slime glowed red—then started moving.

“It really revived!”
“Well well, it returned to life, yes.”
“But something seems… off.”

The Red Slime trembled, then shot out of the helmet and attacked the witch.

I jumped in front, raising my gauntlet—the slime bounced off.

Mineha finished it with Demonstar Spear.

“What was that?”

As a monster attacking, it wasn’t strange per se.

The witch collected the corpse again.

“Alright then, Wof boy—again.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s see if it revives again.”
“…Okay.”

We repeated the experiment ten times.
All ten times, it revived.

But its behavior was completely inconsistent—sometimes attacking, sometimes passive.

At one point, hitting the core by accident made it die instantly upon revival.
Using the Elixir fixed that.

“Hm, hm. Very unstable.”
“Yeah. Its mood swings are wild.”
“Well, if you’re forced back to life over and over, of course it messes you up.”

Honestly, it wouldn’t be odd if its mind broke.
Though slimes even have minds or not, who knows.

“Hmmm. Hmmm. Over and over… yes…”

The witch folded her arms, thinking.
She did so in a way that emphasized her chest, and I looked away.

“What’s bothering you?”
“Well well… There’s no consistency at all. Each resurrection seems like an entirely different being. And that reminded me—of Seihou teachings. When someone dies, their soul leaves its vessel and returns to the Sea of Souls.”

“You… believe in Seihou teachings?”

I was surprised.
Mineha tilted her head.

“Seihou? What’s your point?”
“Well well—perhaps this Phoenix Resurrection Egg can only resurrect bodies.”
“…What?”
“Wof boy—what do people usually assume resurrection means? Say someone dear to you dies and returns—what do they think happens?”

“That it’s a miracle? That it’s… wonderful?”

Right—revival is impossible normally.

“Yes, yes. And of course you imagine the revived soul is that same beloved soul.”

“Well, obviously. That’s what resurrection mea—”

I froze.

The slime’s inconsistent actions flashed in my mind.

And the goddess of knives said the same thing— A soul leaves the vessel and returns to the Sea.

Meaning: resurrection is pulling a soul from that Sea.

But judging from the slime’s instability…

“Is the soul entering the resurrected body… random?”
“What?”
“Does the Egg pull a random soul from the Sea of Souls?”
“Well well… interesting.”
“Wait—then you can revive someone but NEVER meet them again!”

Mineha shouted.
Yes—that’s exactly what it means.

The revived would be a completely different person.

“Well well. That’s probably the case. The Egg can resurrect—but it only brings a soul, not necessarily the original one.”

“R… really?”

Mineha asked fearfully.
The witch smirked, mischievous and ominous.

“Well well—who knows? It’s just a theory. Just speculation. To prove it, well… we’d have to conduct a resurrection experiment on a human.”
“That’s impossible!”

“Yes yes, and yet there’s no other way to confirm it.”

“….”

Even if you bring someone back, the person inside wouldn’t be them.
And you can’t prove it without experiments.

I’ve killed many people—far too many.
But even I have limits.

Killing someone just to test resurrection is crossing a line.

Even if they revived, whether it’s them or not…
I’d be responsible for them.
I couldn’t kill them again. I couldn’t handle that.

But I’m certain:
A specific soul cannot be retrieved.
The Egg cannot “target.”

The goddess also said it: Souls return, souls flow out—rebirth.

If someone reincarnated, their soul can’t be retrieved.

The Egg just grabs a soul at random.

Which means revival = different person.

Haiyaan must have known.
That’s why she said never to resurrect.

This isn’t resurrection—it’s something else entirely.

“Well well, shall we head back to the surface?”

“Yeah… I’m tired.”

“Uh, witch… what do we do with this?”

I held up the Egg.

“Well well—Wof boy can have it.”
“But I already have an Elixir.”
“Then now you have two rare items. Same difference.”

Mineha said something equally careless.

“It’s not the same!”
“Well well, the safest place right now is Wolf boy’s pouch.”
“Isn’t that your pouch?”

Actually, her keeping it is probably safer.

But the witch gave me a sly, seductive smile.

“Oh my, oh my. Are you sure you trust me? Kon is very curious, you know. I’m called a witch for a reason. Once I taste the forbidden fruit of a Phoenix Egg… who knows what I’ll do?”

“Ugh… th-that’s…”

That’s a terrible threat—but not wrong.

She would do something forbidden.

I turned to Mineha.

“Me? I’m the weakest one here, and honestly… I have zero interest in that egg. I understand it’s important, but to me it’s just trash. I might literally forget what it is and throw it away. And that would be bad. So you keep it.”

She said it bluntly.

And she’s right—she’d forget.
Just like how I sometimes forget about spare knives.

“…Fine, I get it.”

I reluctantly put the Phoenix Resurrection Egg into my pouch.

Ugh… it feels heavy.

But now I’m more prepared for the Full Moon Bazaar.
My Relic evolved and became more usable—at least that’s good.

I’ll count that as a win.

We left the junkyard behind.