Those Who Wear Their Skins Inside Out (1)
How the hell did it come to this?
When I asked if the academy had given permission, they shoved a document signed by the principal right in my face.
I’d given her a solid chewing out over the turf-head business, but since I’d done it as an Exorcist Priest rather than a regular priest, anyone with eyes could see this was that brazen girl’s doing.
I thought about kicking her out, but then a thought struck me.
This kid… she’s strong.
“There are plenty of rooms, so that’s not the issue. But is it really okay living with a man like me? The cathedral might be less comfortable than the academy dorms.”
“It’s fine.”
The place really did have way too many rooms.
“B-Bella, Sister?”
Luna, who had been preparing for mass, looked just as startled by Bella’s sudden appearance.
“Y-You really came?”
“Yeah. You said it was nice having me around, didn’t you?”
I had no idea when the two of them had met alone, but it seemed Luna hadn’t expected things to develop quite like this.
Whatever. They can figure it out themselves.
“If you’re done preparing, I’ll handle the mass alone today. Sister Luna, please show Sister Bella around.”
“Yes.”
With the distraction gone, the mass could finally proceed in peace.
Of course, I could feel the boys in the back radiating disappointment, but who cared?
“Exactly what kind of person is that nun?”
After the mass, I took over breakfast prep from Luna while she caught her breath.
Now that the subject had vanished, the questions came pouring out.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s not human, is she?”
“One question first. You’re not the type to just ask something like that outright, are you?”
“No.”
She at least seemed to understand that asking such a thing was a good way to get killed.
“Sigh. Yes, she’s a Dhampir. Not many people know, so please keep it secret.”
“A Dhampir… Then how do you give her the blood?”
“I provide it. Since it’s the blood of a divine power user, a single drop seems to be enough.”
“What if you don’t give it to her?”
“Bella. I have zero interest in raising a nun candidate who rips apart live rats inside the cathedral.”
If I tried to get blood from someone else, I’d need to supply an entire blood pack, which meant finding another donor every single day.
“Tch.”
What the hell was that tch for?
Anyway, she was clearly a little crazy too.
The cathedral’s daily routine ran like clockwork.
Mass, meals, chores, training, more meals, afternoon duties, more training, a simple dinner, then sleep.
All the training parts were Luna’s responsibility.
“Why… why are you looking at me like that?”
“Why does the priest keep leaving the cathedral?”
Since Dante’s necessary tasks during afternoon hours had been finished long ago, he usually spent quiet days maintaining his firearms unless something urgent came up.
Today was different.
“I… I wouldn’t know?”
“Why wouldn’t you know?”
“Because there’s no point in finding out…?”
It wasn’t her place to tell him not to leave, and she knew Dante’s situation well enough to understand that if he was abandoning the cathedral, it had to be for something truly important.
“It’s a little disappointing, but I’m sure he left with peace of mind because of you, Sister Luna.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because if it weren’t the case, he wouldn’t have left without giving his usual safety lecture or checking his guns.”
“……”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“I want to sleep…”
A lot had happened, but I hadn’t forgotten my promise to Leona.
It was just that every time I left the cathedral to see Luna, I prioritized her, so Leona’s training kept getting pushed back. It couldn’t be helped.
“The training ground here is actually pretty impressive.”
Maybe the empire’s taxes were funding it properly after all. The personal training ground reserved for the knight department was surprisingly high quality.
It was supposedly given to students with excellent grades. Given that her skills were genuinely good, it made sense.
“Over here! Over here!”
As the sun slowly disappeared, the lights around the training ground flickered on.
Even in the dark, an Exorcist Priest’s uniform still drew every eye.
“I was surprised when the web rat delivered the letter.”
“It’s one of the small rewards for the help I gave.”
Being able to use a familiar within Babylenia.
It was one of the two rewards for helping the witch. The other was free access to information, which I planned to use at the right moment.
“Are you sure it’s okay not to use divine power?”
“It’s fine.”
Until now, the training had been purely about helping Leona overcome her split personality.
Today was a little different.
“Not every Exorcist Priest can use divine power, you know? Training in mana is basic common sense.”
Even that old man Homeros had reached his level through mana training.
I had trained in mana before obtaining divine power myself.
It was just that divine power was so efficient, and before that I’d been thrown into real battles where a single misstep meant death, so I’d barely done any pure mana training.
“But you only ever use divine power, right?”
“That McDowell guy you keep sucking blood from can handle both mana and divine power at the same time. I just can’t.”
The moment he awakened divine power, he’d turned an ordinary sword into a damn lightsaber like he’d been training in mana his whole life.
“If I could, I’d be throwing punches that cause explosions.”
A knight’s sword could cut through rock because they coated the blade with mana to increase its cutting power and durability.
The Sword of the Sun that gave Yuri his title was a blade formed by inserting divine power between the sword and mana.
“You have to use two different forces at once. You think that’s easy? And on top of that, the person who taught me seems to like me too much. There’s no such thing as ‘moderate’ with him. None.”
The key to the technique was precise coordination between mana and divine power. That’s what he’d told me.
But what good was telling me?
The amount of mana I could handle couldn’t keep up with the divine power I received.
I usually fought in my coat, but since I wouldn’t be using firearms today, I took off the coat and top to avoid getting them dirty for no reason.
“W-Why are you taking your clothes off?”
“I’m not fighting with guns today. And it’s not like I’m the one doing laundry. No reason to dirty my clothes on purpose, is there?”
She must see the male knight students shirtless every day. I didn’t understand why she was reacting like this.
“Whoa…”
“Lots of scars, right?”
The kid at least had eyes.
My upper body was covered in glorious wounds earned as an Exorcist Priest.
“Y-Yes. Th-There are… a lot of scars.”
“Hoo. Then let’s begin.”
I loosened up my body a bit and faced her.
A wooden sword.
I’d told her to use a real blade, but it seemed she was still scared.
I understood.
The moment she lost control, a storm of blood would sweep through the area. Anyone with normal morals would naturally be terrified.
“Haaap!”
A straightforward downward slash.
But I caught a glimpse of that shadow.
I dodged lightly, but the sword path changed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
A flowing, continuous barrage of strikes.
Swish!
It was clearly a wooden sword, yet it still cut through the air with a sharp sound.
Her swordsmanship wasn’t quite at Yuri’s level yet, but the completion of Leona’s technique itself was outstanding.
Slide.
The blade aimed at my abdomen. The instant I tried to grab it and twist the path, it slipped free, ran along my arm, and aimed for my head.
“Oh.”
“Ugh!”
Since there were techniques that made the body itself flow like water, dodging wasn’t difficult.
She must have realized it was a single move because a slightly frustrated expression crossed her face.
Even so, she didn’t charge recklessly. Before rushing in, she took a stance like an angry bull.
“Let’s get serious.”
“Hup!”
While less efficient than divine power, mana could still strengthen the body.
It was a means created for ordinary humans to fight against monsters and demons.
Clack!
“Ugh!”
“Build up some grip strength. What the hell was that?”
Wooden sword and bare fist collided. It stung a little, but that was all.
Normally, even if the opponent dodged the forward thrust of the bull-like sword, she would rotate her body or arm to change the path and press the attack. The problem was that I was a brawler.
When she swung her sword in a hurry to block me closing in, I met it with my fist. She staggered backward.
“If you’re going to retreat, think about your next move in advance.”
“But…!”
“There are no buts. No one’s going to wait for you just because you stepped back.”
Since she had experienced real combat with me, she couldn’t possibly not know this.
Retreating in the middle of a fight was the same as giving the enemy your next opening.
If you had to allow that, you obviously needed to think about what came after.
If you didn’t—
“Ugh!”
“As long as your hand isn’t cut off, you should never let go of your sword.”
A kick aimed at the gap in Leona’s defense after she retreated struck her hand precisely.
I lightly caught the wooden sword that slipped from her grasp and handed it back. Her shoulders slumped.
“What? You’ve been beating all the knight department guys and now you’re depressed just because you lost to me?”
“Yes…”
Was she serious?
These people really had no talent.
It wasn’t that Leona was lacking, but I’d expected at least one person who could stand against her and win.
That old Sword Saint or whatever must have had a reason for taking her as a disciple.
“To be honest, there’s nothing I can point out about your swordsmanship.”
I had tried holding a sword once. Now I understood why the term “one-hit sword” existed in martial arts novels.
If someone without talent swung a sword just for show, they were likely to get themselves killed.
“The level of the person I’ve fought the most is just too high, so I was familiar with some of it.”
Since we learned from the same teacher, and I had a record of fighting desperately against the stronger one, there were definitely advantages on my side.
“And you’ve barely done any physical conditioning, have you?”
“The body… we share it, so…”
Her swordsmanship was separate, but the body was shared. So that was how it worked.
“Has the other personality ever awakened? Or shown any signs?”
“No. There was never a situation for it, and ever since Senior helped me, I haven’t awakened once as long as I don’t cut people or anything similar on purpose.”
“Is it specifically when you cut something? Or when you attack anything with the sword?”
“When I cut… I think. When I knocked out the robbers on the train with the flat of the blade, it was fine.”
Then the solution was simple.
I took the stuttering girl and headed into the city.
It was almost time for patrol anyway, so there was no problem with the schedule.
Passing through the bustling streets, we arrived at a forge still belching thick smoke even after night had fallen.
That was our destination.
“What business does an Exorcist Priest have here?”
A dwarf who had finished his day’s work and was leisurely drinking beer greeted me with a sharp look.
It was such a familiar reaction that I didn’t even feel offended.
“Do you have a longsword without an edge?”
“Why would I sell something like that? A sword needs an edge.”
It must sound strange if I said I wanted a sword without a sharpened blade instead of a blunt weapon.
“It’s not for me. It’s for this kid.”
“Huh? Isn’t that the kid who runs around the city every day pretending to patrol?”
“Ah. Hello.”
She really had wandered all over the place like a giant dog on a walk.
“Sigh. Come back tomorrow. Even if I start now, a sword without an edge won’t take long.”
“The money is here…”
“That’s quite a lot.”
“Think of it as beer money.”
“Hah… I heard there are many of my kin in the exorcism department. You know your stuff, friend.”
The dwarf laughed heartily and returned to his forge.
“Why did you order it without an edge?”
“You said cutting was the problem, right? Then removing the edge is the fastest solution. You’ll be staying in the knight department for a while anyway. Let the others handle the finishing touches.”
“But when I need to cut…”
“Being able to cut when you must, and not cutting when you don’t want to. Isn’t that what makes a swordsman, regardless of whether the blade has an edge?”
I’d roughly quoted some phrase I’d read somewhere, but her eyes were sparkling way too brightly.
“Then I can take it to the field training!”
“Field training?”
“Yes. The knight department starts field training tomorrow. We’re not going far. We’re supposed to subjugate some owlbears nearby.”
They were monsters that could rip a person apart easily, but with multiple mana-using knight students and professors providing support, it shouldn’t be too difficult.