Chapter 21: If You Are Me: The Saintess’s Revelation

“Arthur…why don’t you just give up? You can’t beat me anyway.”

A voice so infuriatingly high-pitched.

But an infuriatingly true statement.

“You know that his face is under an illusion, but you don’t know my strength?”

That man is strong.

Perhaps close to an Archmage in terms of magic power alone.

But my body is also close to that of a decent knight, and above all…

I have the Holy Sword, so is he really an unbeatable opponent?

“Stop racking your brain. You’re not even smart.”

Ao picks his ear and sighs. He’s looking down on me tremendously.

‘Stop it, Arthur.’

‘…Holy Sword?’

‘There’s nothing to gain. Calm your emotions and duel him later.’

‘…Alright.’

I quietly unsummoned the Holy Sword.

And turned around to head towards the academy…

pretending to, I punched Ao in the face.

“Keuhuk!!!”

There’s a saying that fists are faster than casting.

The former Archmage said so.

“This bastard…”

Ao glared and tried to prepare a spell.

But my fist breaking Ao’s nose was faster.

Crack.

“Aagh!”

This should be enough of a warning.

I quietly turned around and walked away.

‘Arthur, sigh…listen to me and live.’

“It couldn’t be helped.”

He provoked the teacher.

“I have a slightly creepy feeling…”

Should I say it’s been a while?

I finally returned to the hotel and took off my mask.

Reflected in the mirror was neither the most familiar face of my past life, nor the somewhat familiar plague doctor mask, but the current me.

A beautiful girl with silver hair and blue eyes.

[There is a new notification in the status window!]

TS’d into a beautiful girl, and even a status window.

Suppressing the frustration that reality had become like this, I took a quiet breath and said,

“Status window.”

________________________________________________________________________________

[Status window]

[Name: Pest Raven]

[Abilities: Paradise Lost (EX), Divine Comedy (EX)…]

[Notices: Trauma (EX) will occur in three stages in one hour.

A promise with Ethan and Alex (dinner) remains.

The Hero has suspicious feelings towards you…

Serenade is looking for a way to contact you…

The True Demon King Army has noticed your existence and is attempting to contact you…]

[Trauma ends after suppressing it once.]

________________________________________________________________________________

This is really f*cked up.

The biggest problem is probably the trauma.

My blood is an uncontrollable disaster, so…

At stage three, even I won’t be able to regain my senses.

“Who should I call with…Serenade?”

There are very few people who can defeat me when I lose my mind.

“Sister Serenade, what troubles you?”

“Ah, Your Holiness.”

His Holiness the Pope smiled at me with a benevolent expression.

I wonder how he’ll react if I say I’m hoping for a contact from just one man.

“…I received a letter from the academy.”

“Ah, is that so.”

“Hmm, you don’t seem interested. It’s from a teacher who is famous as an eccentric…”

“Yes? Can I have it now?”

As soon as I finished speaking, His Holiness slightly raised his hand.

Soon, a white dove flew in through the sunlit window, carrying a letter in its beak.

“Thank you.”

Phew.

I was too excited for my usual self.

I quietly picked up a letter opener and opened the letter.

The seal wasn’t the academy’s, but a crow’s emblem.

To my dear colleague.

It’s difficult to explain in words, so I hope you’ll come to the academy immediately.

I would like you to come with your strongest sword and in your best condition.

Don’t bring anyone with you. If they’re not as skilled as you, they’ll probably be torn to shreds.

The Headmaster of the academy will also participate in the subjugation, so don’t be too surprised.

Wishing you well,

Pest Raven.

At the end, there was a crow feather simply drawn with a fountain pen.

I couldn’t understand the content at all.

The handwriting is neat, and there are no grammatical errors, but…

Well, the person who was waiting should go.

“I’ll be away on business for a while.”

“…You haven’t finished writing the report yet, Sister Serenade.”

His Holiness was slightly flustered because I kept postponing the last report, as it was difficult to write.

It’s only natural since I said I’d write it today. I should write it when I get back.

“I’m on my way to eliminate a heretic above Red Dragon level, Your Holiness.”

“Greetings, Headmaster.”

“Haha, does a doctor look well when he calls a patient and tells him to beat up the doctor?”

I’m speechless…

Currently, Duke Inverness was warming up after receiving Durandal back from me.

Serenade, who appeared through the portal, was also swinging her sword several times and taking deep breaths.

“First, I’ll cast several curses.”

Duke Inverness grinned and lifted the back of my clothes.

“My, you’re not just a simple doctor, are you?”

“…Why do you say that?”

“Do you know how many sword scars you have?”

Duke Inverness continued to inscribe curses while speaking.

He said these are scars that you would only get if you participated in a huge war alone.

He kept asking if I would spar with him if I had really participated in a war.

Serenade was looking at my back with a flushed face.

Ah, my body is indeed a model of lean muscle…she must be embarrassed.

“Ah, I’ll be ready soon.”

“Get ready, Inquisitor!”

“I’m also a judge, so don’t worry.”

I quietly cast the strongest binding spell on myself.

And as if to render that effort meaningless, my body soon tore through all the magic.

[Trauma is returning…severely.]

(From Duke Inverness’s perspective)

“‒‒‒‒‒‒‒!!!!!”

I can’t believe that’s the sound coming from the usually calm teacher.

Teacher Pest grabbed his head and kept hitting his body against the wall.

“…Inquisitor.”

“Yes, something…is coming soon.”

And then.

Swoosh…

Black smoke flowed from Teacher Pest’s back and took the shape of wings.

It seems like he mixed mana with something similar to aura…

That’s stronger than mithril.

“…No one understands me.”

!?

I reached out and approached Teacher Pest, saying,

“Teacher, have you regained your senses…?”

“Don’t come near me.”

The teacher said, his blue eyes shining through the broken mask.

The arrogance and disregard in those short words.

It seems like he hasn’t regained his senses…

“Headmaster, get ready.”

Clang-

The Inquisitor said, applying divine power to her sword.

Seeing the silver blade being dyed with light, I also imbued my sword with aura.

Hum-

Durandal, as if glad to meet its owner after a long time, changed its orange aura to white.

“Let’s begin.”

Flash!

The Inquisitor, kicking off the ground, immediately sharpened her sword with divine power.

And soon, the sword quickly headed towards Teacher Pest’s chest.

“13th Form, The Nail that Pierces the Palm.”

Bam!!!

If Teacher Pest hadn’t caught the blade with his palm, he would have been severely injured.

“I can’t be a burden, can I?”

I released Durandal’s aura as much as possible.

The pure white aura densely filled the air and shone brilliantly.

And soon, it changed to my symbolic orange color.

This inscription engraved on the sword.

Durandal’s unique skill, which even I, called the Sword Saint, can’t imitate.

Its first form.

“Durandal – Astolfo.”

Crack! Bang!!

A vast aura crushed the air and fell upon Teacher Pest.

The orange aura exploded in the shape of a pillar, emitting a huge light.

This should be a tremendous blow…

“Not bad.”

…I didn’t want to hear that voice at this moment.

Teacher Pest brushed off his clothes and walked out from the thick smoke.

“I’ll show you my skill, too.”

Clang!!!

More densely than my aura just now, complex inscriptions filled the sky.

Not the usual light blue inscriptions that Teacher Pest uses…

Grayish inscriptions.

“There’s a saying, Headmaster.”

Is it a different…personality than Teacher Pest?

He’s more arrogant than anyone I’ve ever seen, creepily so.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

The Inquisitor, her neck caught in his left arm, kept struggling.

The guy watching this scene right in front of him laughed loudly, even with his mask on.

“Insignificant humans are like ashes or dust.”

“So, get the hell out of my sight, dust.”

The inscriptions overlapped, creating a complexity and amount of mana that would make great magic seem trivial, and a grayish magic circle formed.

“Ultima Necet.”

What is he muttering…

Kwaaah!!!!

Grayish mana caused a huge explosion.

The only command entered into that mana is the will to kill and destroy.

The moment it touches the ground, this entire area will be blown away.

“Divine Power Manipulation-…”

The Inquisitor gathered a huge light in her right hand and placed it in the center of the mask.

“Don’t try anything funny!”

As if his pride was hurt, the bastard tried to drop the magic.

But I’m holding him in place by releasing all my aura.

This is the end.

The Inquisitor’s right hand glowed with a cross-shaped light.

And lightly tapped Teacher Pest’s forehead.

“Holy Spirit.”

And then.

There was light.

“Hello. Is your name… Mr. Joohyuk?”

A beauty I would never have met in my entire past life.

No, I wonder if such a beauty even existed on Earth.

The Saintess was standing before me.

“…Hello.”

“Heehee. It’s been so long since I talked to someone, so it might be a bit awkward.”

The Saintess smiled gently and approached me.

Strangely, even though I’m in a man’s body now, I don’t feel anything.

Is it because I used the Saintess’s body?

The Saintess, as if knowing what I was thinking,

spoke without caring about my thoughts.

“Arthur is so diligent, right? I saw Ethan and Alex in the documents too. Aren’t they lovely children?”

“They are.”

Is it because I answered indifferently?

The Saintess slightly raised the corners of her lips and said to me,

“…You’re sincere, but you want to talk about something else, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You’re curious why you’re in my body and why you’re experiencing something like trauma.”

“That’s also correct.”

“Well, there are many other things, right? Why are you so good at magic… What is that ominous right hand…”

The Saintess suddenly pressed my forehead firmly.

It didn’t hurt at all, it was an action meant to simply touch.

I wasn’t flustered at all.

Looking up at my strange self, who was flustered by not being flustered,

she said,

“You’ll understand everything with just one thing…

If you are me, and I am you, everything makes sense.”