"She said you are annoying, so she is in no rush to take you!"

Mericel says "You are mean, Ash!"

"She said if I can resurrect you then she is willing to wait until you die again."

Mericel says "That's better!"

"Seronia, do you have a minute?"

Seronia says "Of course, what trouble did you find now?"

"I am not in trouble! I don't only call on you when I am in trouble!"

Seronia says "So, if you aren't in trouble, what trouble are you creating?"

"Um, well that might be accurate. I wanted to ask you about resurrection."

Seronia says "What?! Who died?!"

"No one died. I am asking about the possibility of resurrecting Mericel."

Seronia says "Oh, good. Resurrection is a high level spell, you don't have it yet but I can make an exception. Did you already talk to my sister? She has plans for Mericel."

"Yes, I asked her. She said she would be fine with waiting until Mericel dies again."

Seronia says "Then yes it is possible, but it is going to be painful."

"Painful for who?"

Seronia says "For you. You will be channeling more divine power than your body is currently capable of handling."

"Oh, if it's me then it is fine."

Seronia says "Do you have her body or are you doing this with just her soul?"

"I am flying to the location where she is buried right now. Wait, can it be done with just her soul?"

Seronia says "Yes, but it is a lot harder, and in this case a lot more painful for you."

"Alright, I will let you know when I have arrived at her body. Is there anything else that would make this easier?"

Seronia says "I'll check when you arrive, if the grave isn't properly consecrated then doing that will make it easier."

"Alright, we should be there in a few minutes."

Mericel says "Is this actually going to work? And what was that about it being painful?"

"Yes, it is going to work. It will hurt me a bit because the spell is higher level than I am supposed to cast, but that doesn't matter."

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Mericel says "What? Of course it matters!"

"Pain is just your body telling you something happened, it is easy enough to ignore."

Just then the crypt comes into sight so she doesn't get a chance to continue the argument. The crypt is of course locked but I simply pull the stone door out of its frame. Then we proceed inside and find Mericel's coffin, which I push open.

Mericel says "Ugh, I didn't need to see that!"

"I am not sure if I need to touch the body, but even if I don't, I doubt you would want it to be closed when you get resurrected."

Mericel says "I guess you have a point there."

"Seronia, I have arrived at the grave."

Seronia says "Alright, this ground is not consecrated, and hasn't been for a while. You will need to perform the ritual I taught you."

"Okay, I can do that."

Performing the consecration ritual takes me about ten minutes, it isn't too complicated. I should remember to tell Mercy about this, she will probably want the whole place to be properly consecrated. That is something she can worry about after the capital is hers.

"Okay, Seronia, what's next?"

Seronia says "It is unpleasant, but have Mericel enter her old body. It will make the resurrection easier."

"Um, hate to say this, Mericel, but you need to enter your body."

Mericel says "Ew! This is totally gross!"

"Do you want to come back to life or not?"

Mericel grumbles but eventually she floats down and enters into her body. Then I contact Seronia and she instructs me to hold my hands over the body. After that I start chanting the chant that Seronia teaches me, as soon as I do a golden glow envelopes the body.

After a minute of repeating the chant I run out of divine power, but more starts flowing into me. Seronia appears behind me and I realize it when she places her hands above mine. Instantly the amount of divine power flowing through me skyrockets.

It feels like someone replaced my blood with molten lava, and I am burning up from the inside. The pain level is pretty high but I don't let it break my concentration and continue chanting. In the end it takes about ten minutes of chanting before the spell is complete.

During that ten minutes all signs of decomposition disappear and Mericel's body recovers. In fact, by the time the spell ends it looks like she is simply sleeping. Then the golden glow disappears as Mericel suddenly takes a breath and her eyes open.

Mericel says "Ahhh! That feels so weird!! But it feels good too! Thank you, Ash!!"

She manages to climb out of her coffin and throws herself into my arms to hug me as hard as she can. She is crying and laughing at the same time, but I can't really blame her. It takes several minutes before she manages to calm down and let go of me.

"How are you feeling?"

Mericel says "My entire body is tingly, but it is amazing to feel anything!"

"I am just glad it worked. Don't worry I will still keep my promise and deal with the king. However, now you can go back to living a normal life!"

Mericel says "A normal life? I am not sure what that even means anymore!"

"Don't worry, Mercy and Zamart will help you figure it out."

Mericel says "Speaking of my sister, we need to let her know it worked. If I know her she has been worrying about it since the minute we left."

"You are probably right. Let's get going. You need a bath and a change of clothes anyway!"

It is only when I mention it that she pays attention to herself and she is obviously disgusted by it. Before she can freak out or anything I pull out the cleaning stone and touch her with it. That should make it bearable for now but she will still need a bath and new clothes to feel better.

When we walk outside she tries to jump into the air like she would as a ghost. It takes a serious amount of effort not to laugh at her, but from the glare I get I may as well have laughed. Before she can start chewing me out I pick her up in a princess carry and start flying back towards the camp.

Mericel says "Not a word of this to anyone!"

"Whatever you say, princess!"

Mericel says "Don't call me princess!"

"But that is what you are now. You are no longer a ghost. You need to start thinking like a princess again."

Mericel says "I don't want things to change!"

"It's a little late to decide that."