The Holy Scar Revealed
My deliberations dragged on so long that The Master and the Archbishop waiting outside must have grown restless. They had probably figured it out by now… After all, they knew confirming a Holy Scar never took this much time. The moment we started running late, they would have assumed we were discussing something serious.
“Haa…”
“Yuli…”
My sister looked at me with open worry. Even someone as airheaded and worldly-unaware as her could tell this was no small matter.
“What should we do?”
It was a choice too heavy for me alone. If I truly was the saint chosen by the Goddess, what would that Archbishop do with me?
Obviously he would try to drag me back to the church. Then I would never be able to travel with my sister… never share adventures with her.
While I dithered, unable to decide, my sister spoke with sudden firmness.
“Yuli, I think we should tell the truth.”
“Sis?”
If we revealed it, I might never be able to stay by her side again. Did she still believe we should speak up even knowing that?
“Hiding it will only make things worse.”
She wasn’t wrong. Either path led to trouble… Why did something this bothersome have to happen to me?
“Yeah…?”
Honestly, the urge to hide it was stronger. I had been looking forward to adventuring with her. Now that dream might never come true. A bitter taste lingered.
I pulled my top back on and left the room; my sister followed quietly behind me.
“Have you confirmed it?”
I nodded.
“It’s there.”
“Ohh!”
At my sister’s brief words the Archbishop’s expression shifted. Those eyes that had already glittered with fanaticism now looked downright ominous. Instinctively I moved to shield her.
“Yuli?”
“Ahem. I seem to have lost my composure.”
Really, why did he have to act so unsettling? I swallowed the sigh that rose in my throat.
“Would you show us the Holy Scar?”
The Master stepped closer, curiosity plain on his face. Once more I bit back a sigh, turned my back, and carefully lifted the hem of my shirt just high enough to bare my lower back. The reaction was immediate and intense.
“Ohh! Ohh!!”
Frankly, the elderly Archbishop’s frantic excitement gave me goosebumps. Anyone reacting like that would have been creepy.
“Heavens… it truly is a Holy Scar…”
“Ohh, I can feel the Goddess’s boundless grace!”
The chills were too much; I dropped the fabric and spun around. The Archbishop was already on his knees, gazing up at me with rapturous emotion. It felt thoroughly unpleasant—like idol worship.
“Please forgive all my previous rudeness.”
His attitude flipped completely. Not only did he switch to honorifics, every movement became careful and reverent. I had officially been recognized as a saint… no, a Saintess.
“No, um…”
Watching an old man kneel and press his forehead to the floor made me deeply uncomfortable. Apparently I still possessed enough respect for elders to feel awkward about it.
“It’s fine, really.”
“Haha…”
The Master also stared at me with a strange look, as if he could scarcely believe the situation. Of the three of them, only my sister remained unchanged…
Seeking some scrap of normalcy, I glanced at her. She wore her usual blank expression and offered me a small smile.
Yeah. That helped. Seeing her the same as always settled both body and mind.
“Um, could you stand up, please?”
“As you wish.”
The Archbishop rose carefully. The problem was that he still kept his waist and head bowed.
“Please just treat me normally. Honestly, I’m pretty flustered myself.”
“I could never do that.”
“Please…”
When I begged, he hesitated, then finally relented.
“Very well. As you say.”
I told him first that while I understood I bore a Holy Scar, I had no intention of going to the church.
“You mean you will not come to the Order?”
He sounded so startled he slipped back into honorifics.
“W-well, I’m just an ordinary Commoner, you know? Suddenly being called a saint and told to come to the church is only going to confuse me.”
“But… still…”
What had he said earlier? That they had searched for me for seven years? My Holy Power had only awakened recently, yet it seemed the selection itself had happened long ago. I understood their desire to cherish the saint they had finally found.
“I don’t mind if you announce it. I just want to live quietly.”
“I understand your wishes, yet…”
“What do I even know? I think I have a rough idea of what the Goddess wants, though.”
The reason I might have been chosen by the Goddess… that had to be the fact that I remembered my previous life.
Through books I had also accumulated a fair amount of knowledge about this world. Those selected by Goddess Metis were said to have spread some new knowledge throughout the land. So if I simply spread useful knowledge—including what I remembered from my past life—that should be enough.
I still had no idea what that knowledge would be, though……
“Is that so…”
“Yes. You can tell others about me if you like. But I have no intention of living at the church. I’m going to live my own life.”
I spoke firmly.
“I understand.”
He bowed his head respectfully, yet his expression looked truly conflicted. A twinge of guilt stirred in me.
“The hour is late, so I shall pay a formal visit tomorrow.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll come to you. Just wait.”
“But…”
“And drop the formal speech.”
Seeing his face made me feel as though I were tormenting him, which only increased my discomfort. Still, hearing honorifics from someone so much older than me felt bizarre…
“Very well… I shall wait at the temple.”
He looked back at me with lingering regret before departing.
Once the Archbishop was gone, the tension drained out of me all at once. I slumped over the table and let out a long breath.
“Haha… to think you, Yuli, had been chosen by the Goddess.”
“I know, right? I only just found out myself.”
Whenever I performed combinations, cast magic, or used Holy Magic, I had always felt I possessed an unusually large amount of Holy Power. Who would have guessed it was the Goddess’s blessing?
“Haa…”
“Yuli…”
My sister watched me with a faintly worried look.
“It’s okay. I’ve already decided what to do.”
In the end I had planned to roam in search of various materials and devote myself to Alchemy so I could become a man again. If I combined the knowledge of my past life with Alchemy, created something useful, and spread it through the church, wouldn’t the Goddess be satisfied?
Something like a Potion, for example. If I could invent a Potion and distribute it cheaply, countless people would benefit, right?
The path wouldn’t be easy… but it was work I was going to do anyway. I hadn’t intended to spread it, yet I could simply treat it as my achievement—or my research.
“I look forward to seeing how you will change the world.”
“I plan to research Alchemy…”
The Master seemed so expectant that I felt the need to say it aloud.
“That, you say?”
“Yes. Since Alchemy can also be performed with Holy Power, once I create the formulas, they’ll spread on their own, won’t they?”
“Ohh…”
The Master stroked his chin in admiration and nodded. Apparently my idea struck him as sound as well.
“Indeed. Depending on what you create, you could change the world.”
“Well, I don’t have any answers yet.”
I smiled and shrugged; The Master laughed heartily, then gazed up at the ceiling.
“Perhaps the fact that you came looking for me, and that I accepted you as my disciple, was all guidance from the Goddess.”
Was it…? It felt like overthinking, yet when I recalled how I had discovered the Alchemy book right here… the possibility seemed real.
Wait!
Could my rebirth into this world also have been the Goddess’s guidance?
Then becoming a woman?
Awakening Holy Power after becoming a woman?
Everything…… a plan laid by the Goddess?
A flash of anger rose inside me. But this was pure speculation. Would the Goddess really do something like that? I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“What’s the matter?”
“No, it’s nothing. As if it would really be the Goddess’s guidance.”
The possibility existed, yet if it turned out to be true I might end up resenting her a little…
Until bedtime I discussed several matters with The Master—my abnormal quantity of Holy Power, my talent for Holy Magic, and so on.
“I thought you were remarkable from the start. Now I understand why.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed. Do you think mastering every basic spell in two months is easy? And Holy Magic as well! For an ordinary person, even a year of study would be difficult.”
I-I see… Having no one beside me for comparison, I hadn’t realized. Watching the baron’s daughter struggle recently had made me wonder if I possessed talent, but that was as far as the thought went.
“Haha…”
“Ahem. Let us end the conversation here. You must be confused, and I’ve kept you too long. Go rest for today.”
I was confused, honestly. Me, a Saintess? The idea was ridiculous. A man who had once been male, now a Saintess…
“Yes…”
Seeing my unsettled state, my sister insisted she couldn’t leave me alone and offered to sleep together. Had I still been a man I would have refused out of sheer embarrassment… but I was a woman now, so it was fine, right?
Tonight I decided to climb into bed with my sister. Considering my age in my previous life I was surely the older one… yet my behavior felt pathetic.
Still, having her beside me was reassuring. No matter what happened, at least my sister would take my side and stay with me. That was what family meant.
A little embarrassing for a man… but I was a woman now… so it was fine!
Time to sleep.
I woke early and stared blankly at the ceiling. Recalling yesterday still drew a sigh from me. Even so, it was time to get up.
“Sis is still asleep.”
I sat up and reviewed the day’s tasks. I would have to go to the temple…… Me, a saint. It still sounded unbelievable. Yet it was reality.
I brought a hand to my lower back.
“There’s a Holy Scar here?”
I twisted my body this way and that, trying to see my own waist. Almost visible, yet not quite… Something was definitely there, but the spot was impossible to examine properly without contorting myself.
“I can almost see it…”
Frustrating! Using the small mirror in the room, I angled it toward my back… and there it truly was. White? Or translucent?
Something that radiated a sacred feeling was clearly marked on my waist.
“Haa……”
So yesterday hadn’t been a lie… It was real.
I sank into a crouch and clutched my head. Yesterday had actually happened!! A man who had once been male now had to become a Saintess?
“I feel so pathetic…”
But I had already revealed the existence of the Holy Scar. If I ran now, would that Archbishop simply let me go? He would unleash the church’s priests and nuns to hunt me down.
Better to walk in proudly on my own two feet and state my demands than be captured and dragged away in misery.
As long as it was certain the Goddess had chosen me, they had no real way to force me.
Yes—if I made my demands boldly, they would have no choice but to accept them.
So I had to go…
Ugh! I don’t want to go!
I raked both hands through my hair in frustration.