“How many times have you experienced Return by Death?”

“I’ve repeated the same day eight times. Last time, I even committed suicide on purpose to make up for the lack of time. Thanks to that, I was able to reach the road where I met you, Skill Collector.”

She’s experienced death eight times?

As someone who has witnessed many deaths, I know—there are far more people who panic and struggle than those who accept sudden death calmly.

The fear of death, the pain, the regret. All of it floods out at the moment of death. People lose control, speak of regrets, and sometimes even curse the living.

That’s how terrifying death is.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“Yes. Every time I die, I fear that I might not return again... That this time I might really die. The coldness of that moment, the sensation of life extinguishing... I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

No one knows if Return by Death is infinite. There could be a limit to the number of times it works. If she dies again, there’s no guarantee she’ll come back.

And yet, Ripure committed suicide last time to return earlier than usual. That kind of courage deserves respect.

“Three times, I begged the villagers to flee from the oncoming monsters, but no one believed me and chose to stay with the village. Once, I recklessly went to check the cave and was killed inside. Twice, I fled with those who believed me, only to be pursued and killed by monsters. Once, I committed suicide. And the remaining time was the very first, when I died without even knowing what was going on.”

So all that struggling has led to now.

Her desperate demeanor earlier now makes sense with this explanation.

If she fails again, Return by Death might activate once more. But even if her body returns, her heart does not.

How many more times can her heart endure dying? Her eyes burned with determination, but that flame flickered so violently it seemed like it might go out at any moment.

“Ripure, what were you planning to do after this?”

“If I could get help from adventurers, I intended to somehow reseal the cave. But in this situation, that’s probably impossible.”

She doesn’t know my strength. So honestly, she probably doesn’t think I’d be much help.

Ripure also has the skills ‘Swordsmanship’ and ‘Endurance’. She has many open slots.

What should I do? If I take on the cave, I’ll probably win. If I use my skills seriously, I don’t feel like I’d lose.

But that won’t do. The village might be saved, but this story’s protagonist is Ripure. She should be the one to bring it to a conclusion.

Her hardships and efforts so far must be rewarded.

“Ripure. Let’s go to the cave together and defeat the monsters.”

“That’s impossible. There were an enormous number of monsters, including many mid-level ones. Just before I died, I think I even caught a glimpse of a high-level monster. There’s no way the two of us can handle that. It’s frustrating, but...”

“No, it’ll be fine. You used Return by Death, dying over and over again, to reach this possibility. Then let me use my skill, ‘Trade,’ to buy your despair... and sell you hope.”

Just as she said, an uncountable number of monsters came pouring out of the cave, scrambling over each other.

Standing against them were the two of us—me, the Skill Collector, and Ripure, who is also a swordswoman.

Ordinarily, this would be an absurdly reckless fight, but under overwhelming force, the monsters were cut down without mercy.

I wasn’t the one doing the defeating. Ripure was cutting them down on her own.

“This is ‘Advanced Swordsmanship’! Endless stamina thanks to ‘Endurance’! And ‘Foresight’—what an incredible skill! I can see the enemies’ movements as if they’ve stopped!”

As if releasing all her pent-up frustration, she shouted with joy and raced freely across the battlefield.

Maybe I gave her too many skills. But considering everything she’s been through, this much of a reward should be fine.

Though, we did agree that she’d return them later.

By the way, it’s not purely out of kindness that I lent her those skills.

There’s something I’m curious about—if she activates Return by Death again in this state, what will happen to the skills I gave her?

The state of the body, the dirt on the clothes, and the wounds all return to their original state. That much is understood, but Ripure is returning to the past while retaining her memories.

In other words, her inner self does not revert. If she remembers something before returning, that memory stays with her.

That would mean the skills might also not revert. The skills I gave her remain even after she returns from death.

If this speculation is correct, doesn't that open up further possibilities?

If I give her a skill, it decreases from me. While only she returns to the past with her inner self unchanged, the other people return to their previous state.

Wouldn't that mean skill duplication is possible?

If I gave her a level 10 skill and she returned from death, the level 10 skill I gave her would be restored to me. And she would still retain the level 10 skill.

…Wouldn't that mean the skill count increases by 10 without doing anything?

But this strategy is based on the premise that she returns from death, so there's no way to prove it.

"Now, I will never have to return from death again! With this power, I can save not just the villagers, but many more people!"

She's saying something that sounds like a hero. Isn't she getting a bit drunk on power?

I did think she had a strong sense of responsibility and justice, but isn't this turning dangerous in a different way? She probably already forgot that the skills weren't given permanently, just lent temporarily.

With that many skills, there's no way she'd lose... or so it should be, but she's becoming careless, intoxicated by her power. Maybe I should step in.

"I'll assist you as well."

I, who had been watching from the rear, stepped forward—but she extended the arm not holding a weapon to block my path.

"No need to worry. With this power, no matter who the enemy is, it's an easy victory!"

So she’s the type who gets carried away when she gains power. Don’t turn your back in the middle of battle.

And she did it at the worst timing, just as a high-ranking monster was approaching.

Activating ‘Ground Shrink,’ ‘Leap,’ and ‘Burst Speed,’ I closed the dozen or so steps in an instant… but while I was clearing away the monster that jumped in front of me, the monster's massive sword came crashing down on the top of her head—

—and struck.

Inside the stagecoach traveling east along the highway, I was bored out of my mind.

Riding with me were a trio of adventurers and a parent-child pair.

I'm usually a solo traveler, but once in a while, swaying in a coach like this and enjoying a leisurely trip isn’t bad. The destination is a mining town, but my business lies at an immigrant village along the way.

Apparently, a large number of people have been flowing in from a neighboring country, so I'm heading there to investigate whether any useful skills can be found.

I’ve already finished checking the adventurers’ skills—looks like they’re all mid-tier adventurers.

They all have useful skills that I’d like to purchase, but I doubt any adventurer would be willing to sell them.

Since I had too much time on my hands, I figured I’d review my own skills. I do this every night before bed, but leisurely gazing out the window while going over them isn’t bad.

The result of years of collecting—I've gathered a truly absurd number of skills, even if I say so myself.

The levels of each one are also crazy. Especially things like ‘Swordsmanship,’ which are easy to collect… huh? Wait, the level of ‘Advanced Swordsmanship’ has dropped. What’s going on…?

Several other combat-related skills with high demand have also drastically decreased in level.

This makes no sense. There's no way I’d forget selling off my skills. I check them every day—there was nothing wrong last night.

"What’s wrong, brother? You look down."

"Ah, I was just thinking about yesterday’s business. I took a loss."

"Well, that’s life for ya!"

I brushed off the adventurer who spoke to me. He probably meant well, but this isn't something I can just shrug off. This is a serious problem.

Was my memory erased? No—I remember everything in detail, from what I had for dinner to who I met. So maybe it’s memory alteration. There are indeed skills that can tamper with memories, but I don’t think they’d work on me.

What happened…? If there’s someone out there who could outwit me, that would be—

"Sorry! Please stop the carriage!"

A loud female voice that even echoed into the interior of the coach pulled me back from the deep sea of thought.

I needed to cool my overheated head, so I opened the window out of curiosity to check who the voice belonged to.

A young woman, her dark green-looking hair tied back into one bundle, stood there. She had a sword at her waist, so I thought she might be an adventurer, but she wasn’t wearing armor.

Her appearance was attractive, and her voice and posture were confident and full of self-assurance.

"There you are, Mr. Collector. I’m Ripure. Thank you for your help last time."

An unfamiliar woman bowed her head to me.

Eh, who? She’s speaking to me so familiarly, but I don’t recognize her.

Could she be related to why my skill levels dropped?

"I’m sorry for causing trouble due to my carelessness. But this time I’ll do it right, so don’t worry!"

I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but I decided to hear her out.

There’s still a chance she’s some delusional person like certain individuals out there, but I checked her skills and instantly grasped the situation.

All the skills that had disappeared from me were there. The high level of the ‘Sincerity’ skill must be something the version of me I don't know planned in advance.

And more than anything, there was one skill I couldn’t ignore.

I’ll hear from her directly—about what happened in a future I don’t know, and about how this is probably not our first meeting.