I sat up on the bed and looked down at my new self. I don’t know what I had expected, but aside from the slight additional weight on my upper torso and more freedom between my legs, Lilana’s female body didn’t feel so much different from Tomar’s.
‘Whoa! What is going on!? Why can’t I move!?’ Lilana asked in a panic from within my head.
Ugh... so that’s what those headaches feel like... that’s going to be annoying.
‘What did you do!?’
“I tricked you into giving control over to me, so that I can fulfill your wish. We’ll get me out of this body.”
‘What...? How is this even possible!?’
“That’s a little complicated. Listen, I promised you that we would get me out of here, but I also told you that it’s not going to be that easy. It will take a little bit of effort and time. Maybe a few hours, maybe a few days. But first things first, what day is it?”
‘... huh?’ she said, perplexed at my sudden question.
“I’d like to know what day it is, do you mind telling me? That will make things easier.”
‘Y-you’re not messing with me?’
“No, I’m not.”
‘Do you promise?’
“Promise,” I said with a sigh.
‘... it's the eighteenth day of Shae.’
The second summer month... I thought. “And the year?”
‘Fifteen hundred fifty seven.’
A smile creeped onto my face. Thank god! It’s only been about two weeks since I was in Cerus with the others! Okay, if they stuck to our plans even a little bit, they should be in Cerus, in Alarna, or somewhere in between. I don’t know how to find them yet, but that’s secondary for the moment.
‘Hey...’
We had to get out of there. I had a body, but it wasn’t exactly that of a Fighter. The ultimate goal would be to get mana, but how would I go about that? Tomar and I had yet to figure out how exactly he and Riala had become “Sourcerers” in the first place. We had been right next to a water source blowing up, and the mana explosion had hit us hard, but we had also blasted guards into walls with raw mana, and that had not changed them. What is the difference?
‘HEY!!!’
“Argh! Please don’t yell like that! It hurts!”
‘Then don’t ignore me!! What will you do now!?’
“Right now I’m trying to think!”
‘What is there to think about? Just do what’s necessary to get out of me and give my body back!’
Exasperated, I stood up and gestured around the room. “Have you looked around? How exactly do you propose I do anything from within this cell? First I need a plan to get out of here!”
‘Hmph!’ she grunted, but at least she became quiet for the moment.
If I could manage to get out of there, I could certainly find a water source to blow up, and with a little luck, it would activate my mana circulation. Although that would rob Alarna of another water sour—... Wait, “mana circulation?” Where am I getting these terms from...? I thought. First “Erinn,” now this. The last thing I remembered before waking up in this girl’s mind was the snap of that god, but I was starting to feel like something had happened in between. Where was I in these two weeks...?
Disregarding that question for now, I had to come up with a way to awaken, and for that, I would first have to get out of here. The windows were most definitely too small, even for Lilana’s dainty body. Not to mention that I couldn’t even reach them. With no other way out, the door would be the only option. Even if I could get through it somehow, however, I had to assume that the two agents were standing guard outside. Everything hinged on whate they would decide to do with this girl next.
Maybe they would just kill us outright, but I had my doubts about that. She was apparently important in some way, and her uncle had said that he would go to the High Priest himself, so they could get to the bottom of what had happened, and presumably to save his niece.
“Lilana, who are your parents exactly?”
‘Now you’re asking the right questions!’ she said. Apparently very proud of her family, she started speaking in a pompous tone. ‘They’re members of the upper clergy and they’ve known the High Priest all their lives! My father was even a candidate for becoming the next High Priest himself, and I’m also in line! As soon as we sort this situation out, I might even become the first High Priestess in the histo—’
“So you’re essentially a princess. Got it.”
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‘Wha... Will you let me finish speaking!?’
“You take too long, we don’t have the time. There’s a decent chance they’ll not just kill you then... You have a worth, and they will think they have an idea what they’re dealing with already.”
‘Huh? What do you mean? This is the Mad Calling! It would be a miracle if they didn’t kill me.’
“I told you, it’s not the Mad Calling,” I said with a sigh. “And I’m pretty sure they aren’t certain about that either. If we can get out of here, we can... ‘cleanse’ you of me, and then you can possibly go back to your life.”
‘... and how likely is that? I’m in an isolation room!’
“Let’s assume we could get out of this room. It was a little hard to see through your tears on the way here, but there wasn’t a lot of foot traffic, right? And the temple’s entrance is close to the ritual room. If we could get there, we should be able to just walk out.”
‘I suppose... What do you need to get out of my body anyway?’
“That’s... another thing that’s a little difficult to explain.”
‘You just don’t want to tell me anything, is that it? Hmph!’
Even if we had the time, I couldn’t tell her too much. It was bad enough that she would see everything I might do. If I managed to get mana somehow, I could only hope that she wouldn’t be able to repeat the process on her own afterwards. Just in case, we might even want to keep her around for the time being. Even though she’s not gonna like that...
Looking at the door, I knew that it would eventually open, and someone would come in here to at least question Lilana. Maybe they would also try to do some kind of test. If that person would be just some random priest, maybe I would even be able to take them by surprise and get out. However, I would not be able to take out or escape the agents outside. Maybe there could be some kind of opportunity if they brought us somewhere else. Or maybe I could even get them to bring us somewhere. Maybe, maybe, maybe, if, if, if, there’s too many uncertainties...
Whatever the case, should I get an opportunity to get mana, I would need to be able to act quickly. “So... I need to do something, and you’re not going to like it. Sorry about that.”
‘What?’
I sat down on the bed and raised Lilana’s robe to reveal her bare legs.
‘Whoa, what are you doing!?’
With my fingernails I dug into my leg until I drew some blood, and then started drawing scripts. They’ll probably not check her legs. Maybe I could get close to a water source, or maybe the ritual platform, whatever the case, I would need to have scripts ready, and something I can write with.
‘Why are you... What are those...’ Lilana said almost in a whisper, until she immediately got loud again. ‘Stop it! You can’t do that! The sigils are sacred!’
“Like I said, you weren’t gonna like it. Regarding the ‘why’ and the ‘what,’ you’ll either never know, or you’ll see soon enough. Don’t worry about it for the moment,” I said, while trying to look at the scripts I was writing as little as possible. Maybe I should’ve practiced writing scripts blindly.
‘But what is this supposed to do!? Are you trying to make me look like a blasphemer!? Only real priests may study the sigils! And why are there sigils I’ve never seen before!? You are—’
“Please, don’t yell like that... You’ll see in time. Hopefully...”
‘Just... get it done and lower my robe again!’
I finished four scripts and then cleaned up the blood as well as I could with the underside of the blanket on the bed. I wished I knew when someone would come. I could’ve tried asking Lilana for some insight, but she probably wouldn’t know either, since she just assumed that we would get killed soon. And if I talk to her, she might start to yell again. Right now she’s silent... Sweet, sweet silence. Some time passed, as we just sat there. I guess we had more time than I thought.
Maybe twenty minutes or so later, I could finally hear muffled noises from outside the room, followed by the door getting unlocked. I stood up, and when the door opened, I could see another familiar face standing in the hallway.
That guy... is this bad for us? Or... could it be good?
‘Ugh... What is Oryn doing here!?’
Oryn...
He looked appraisingly at us for a moment before stepping into the room. “Hello, Lilly. How are you?”
‘Don’t call me Lilly! Especially not you!!’
He had a sharp glint in his eyes, and I assumed it would be best to try to act a little like her.
“Don’t call me Lilly, Oryn!”
At my outburst, he seemed to relax slightly and chuckled. “Sorry about that, Lilana.”
He nodded at the agent behind him, who sat down a bucket in the room and then closed the door from the outside. “No aura...” I heard Oryn mumble as he looked me up and down. Somehow, this feels even more creepy than last time. That bucket though... Does he think...?
“Why are you here?” I said.
“I was sent here to appraise you. Though it seems like you aren’t what I was hoping for. Very unfortunate.”
He had presumably hoped that we might have mana, like the last person who hadn’t gotten a normal Calling. However, he had determined that Lilana wasn’t the same just by looking at her. Does he...?
“Let’s make sure though. Would you sit down, please? I just need to check something real quick, and then someone else will probably take over from there,” he said and took a quill and a jar of ink from his bucket. I did as he asked and sat down on the bed again, with him crouching in front of me, as he started writing the water source script on my hand.
‘What...? Why is he drawing sigils on me as well!?’
“What are you doing...?” I asked, acting as if I didn’t know.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said as he placed a blue stone on my hand, but nothing happened, as expected.
There could only be one reason why he thought that we didn’t have mana before he tested us. He had gained the ability to see it, hence the “aura” comment. Maybe he had actually managed to awaken somehow, though I didn’t feel any special air around him. Still, if he had even a little bit of mana, maybe this would be my chance. How to go about this... He’s the obsessive scientist type... If I throw him a bone, will he...?
He looked at my hand with disappointment and then up at me. “I don’t suppose you can tell me what these sigils say?” he said with a derisive laugh.
Even though he managed to get mana, he still doesn’t know what the sigils mean? Maybe he reverse engineered the modified water source scripts on Riala and me... and maybe he blew up a water source by accident as well? This is almost too good to be true.
“Actually... maybe I can,” I said, and he looked at me in surprise.