Chapter 98

A quiet church.

Alexander, walking down the silent corridor, stopped in front of the door at the end and murmured.

“Could you please wait a moment?”

“Excuse me? Why?”

“I’m just going to tidy up the room a bit.”

“……?”

Flabbergasted, I was momentarily at a loss for words.

What does that mean?

It’s not like he’s some teenage girl, making sure to tidy up before guests come over.

“Come on. How dirty can a priest’s room be?”

“Still, just in case it might be uncomfortable for you……”

“I’m fine.”

“……”

A slightly mischievous spirit kicked in, pressing him hard.

Is there something in the room that he wants to hide that much?

Seeing him hesitate a bit, it seems it’s not something confidential or related to assassination that absolutely shouldn’t be shown.

Alexander squinted his eyes tightly and, with a big sigh, parted his lips.

“Well then…… please come in.”

“Ha ha. Excuse me.”

With an expression of resignation, Alexander turned the door handle.

Great. I have a chance to see the untidy room of a socially inept priest with no friends and no idea how to have fun.

As soon as I stepped lightly inside, my body shrank back.

A peculiar musty smell pricked at the inside of my nose.

“Ugh……”

“I’m, I’m going to ventilate a bit.”

Alexander hurriedly dashed past me and threw open the window.

The smell seemed to improve a bit then.

But what on earth was that smell?

It felt familiar, like something I had smelled before, but my memory was hazy and I couldn’t quite recall.

‘I feel like I used to smell that every day. What could it really be?’

Even as I glared at Alexander, he pretended not to notice and looked outside for no reason.

By the way, the inside of the room was much tidier than I had imagined.

It was hardly any different from when I came last time.

The only difference compared to then was that peculiar, slightly addictive smell.

“Ah.”

“……?”

The moment my gaze landed on a trash can in one corner of the room, Alexander hastily picked it up and dashed out of the room.

What the hell was that about?

There wasn’t anything to tidy up.

But it did seem like he needed to ventilate a bit.

“Hey? What’s this?”

“Oh, that……”

There was another thing that was different since my last visit.

I found a wooden box sitting on the desk and approached it.

It was filled with junk.

Literally junk.

Rings, badges, scissors, gloves, etc……

There seemed to be no commonality among the items.

Given the color and state, they didn’t appear to be antiques or used items, nor did they seem to be a collection of valuables.

“It’s a personal collection.”

“What are your criteria for collection?”

“I don’t have any. I just collect whatever catches my eye while traveling around the country. You can say it’s practically worthless.”

“Hmm……”

Is it like collecting dirt from various places while traveling the world?

Honestly, I didn’t understand it, but I decided to let it be.

I can sort of guess why Alexander has no friends just by looking at his hobbies.

“Um?”

While rummaging through the box, I discovered something shining inside.

As if enchanted, my hand moved on its own and pulled it out.

It was a key.

An old metal key.

It wasn’t just a simple drawer key; it seemed to have some modest decorations. However, it definitely didn’t look like a valuable item.

“What is this?”

“It’s a key.”

“I know that.”

He was using that characteristic speech of a complete friendless person.

I barely suppressed the urge to hit him.

“Do you know what it’s a key for?”

“I don’t know. But why, do you want it?”

“What? Want it? No. No way……”

I was taken aback by his surprise denial, but after hearing it, it somehow felt right.

It was just an ordinary item, but I suddenly felt drawn to it.

As if this key had originally belonged to me……

Ah. Saying it like that sounds like some thief’s mentality.

“Take it. I’ll give it to you as a souvenir.”

“Oh, no. It’s your collection……”

“Even so, I can’t even remember what’s in the box. I’m not particularly attached to it, so you can really take it.”

“Ugh. It feels a bit wrong to accept it for free.”

Ever since I fell into this world, I’ve developed an allergy to free gifts.

I find it hard to accept anything that’s free.

So I thought it would feel better if there was some kind of exchange for it……

“Ah! How about this? You give me some magical tutoring, and I do assignments for you in return.”

“Assignments?”

“Yes. How about if I pass the assignments, I get this key as a reward?”

“That sounds good. It could motivate you to learn.”

“Right, right?”

Clink.

I dropped the key back into the box.

Alexander rolled up his sleeves and lifted the box, placing it under the bed.

It seemed quite heavy, as the veins and muscles bulged in his arms.

I hadn’t noticed before since he always wore priest robes that covered him entirely, but I was a bit surprised to see his arms were more muscular than I expected.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? Ah……”

I snapped back to reality at Alexander’s rough words.

I suddenly realized I had been staring at his arms and quickly pulled back.

It was absolutely not because I was interested in Alexander’s body.

Really not.

Though I did have a fleeting thought about wanting to touch those forearm muscles……

That was just admiration for male muscles; it wasn’t anything else.

Really.

“Can we start the class now?”

“Yes, yes, teacher!”

“So, about that teacher title……”

“Why are you so embarrassed about it? It’s true.”

“That’s…… Only little kids at St. Sophia call me teacher…… Hearing that from a grown woman feels a bit strange……”

Alexander’s face flushed to his ears as he avoided my gaze.

Ah.

So that was what it was about.

Of course, knowing that doesn’t mean I intend to stop.

From now on, I’ll call him teacher frequently.

“Anyway, to continue from our last class, the result of measuring divine power showed that Julia’s divine power is astonishingly abundant.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes. It’s unprecedented.”

“……”

I thought it might be a bit more since she’s a holy maiden, but I didn’t expect it to be to that extent.

Surely he didn’t discover that I’m actually a holy maiden, did he?

Nervously swallowing my saliva, I watched for signs, but Alexander simply seemed to be unperturbed.

It seems he doesn’t suspect me of being a holy maiden.

After all, he confirmed that I didn’t heal after he cut my hand last time, so I must be excluded from the suspicions.

Before my nervousness became apparent, I decided to continue with the class.

“Having more is good, right?”

“Of course it’s better than having less. However, no matter how much there is, if it’s not refined, it’s useless. Julia’s divine power is raw, so to speak. It’s a mess because it hasn’t been trained or refined at all.”

“Hehe.”

“That’s not a compliment. From now on, you’ll have to learn how to handle all that divine power, so brace yourself. It will be quite a tough and arduous path.”

“Is that really necessary? I’d rather learn about manipulating magical power than divine power.”

Alexander’s serious warning made me a little scared.

“Sigh. Using magical power is called magic, while using divine power is called miracles. They are similar but entirely different phenomena. For Julia, learning to handle the abundant divine power will be much faster and easier than figuring out how to deal with the magical power she doesn’t even perceive well.”

“How is a miracle different from magic?”

“Magic primarily generates matter or energy, while miracles focus on changing the state of matter. For example, if a spell conjures a fireball and drops it, you could then cast a miracle to heal the resulting wound.”

“Ah……”

So magic is like dealing damage and miracles are like support skills.

I understood perfectly.

“Also, regarding the woman’s voice that has been echoing in your head recently. Once you learn to handle divine power, you won’t hear it anymore.”

“Oh.”

Right.

That thing.

The ominous whispering voice in my head was scary at first, but now I’ve become so accustomed to it that I had even forgotten its existence.

It actually provided a calm background sound while I worked, making it not boring, and I liked that.

Now, if it were to disappear, I might actually feel empty.

“Want to hold my hand?”

“Huh? Why? Are you a pervert?”

“No…… I have something to explain……”

While giving him a doubtful look, I gently took hold of Alexander’s hand.

At that moment, the whispering that had been softly playing in the background dissipated.

“You can’t hear it now, right? I’ve intervened in Julia’s divine power and orderly managed its flow. Just with that, it becomes harder for evil spirits to intervene in your mind. How about it? Want to learn how to handle divine power?”

“Yes! I want to learn, teacher!”

Motivation surged within me.

Initially, I had come here to find explosive magic and shooting flames, only to be told I didn’t have that kind of talent, so I decided to learn miracles instead.

The class was surprisingly fun, and I lost track of time.

Even though I didn’t succeed in using a miracle, I could see the potential.

After some time, I checked the clock and realized it was about time Tia would be returning, so I hurriedly stood up.

“Ah. I need to go now.”

“Thank you for your hard work. But Julia.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you really have any idea why you possess such an enormous amount of divine power?”

“……”

Suddenly, I received a piercing question.

I forced a smile, pretending not to be flustered, and replied.

“No, unfortunately, I have no clue.”

“No, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I just thought that Julia seems to know less about her own body than she does about what she knows.”

“……”

That was true.

I really don’t know much about myself.

To be precise, I have no idea who the original owner of this body, Aerial, was.

It seems I perfectly revealed that ignorance during today’s class.

“I’ll see you next Sunday.”

“Yes. Thank you……”

As I picked up my basket and walked toward the villa, I felt strange.

Alexander’s words kept replaying in my mind.

Excluding the facts that my original name in this body was Aerial, that I was a holy maiden, and that I was cursed to not die, I knew nothing at all.

I haven’t made any effort to understand my body at all.

Now it truly is my body.

Of course, I will return to being a man someday, but for now, this body is mine.

So I felt the need to learn more about my body.

‘Should I go back and investigate after a long time?’

The village where the holy maiden used to live.

I should return to that small village that the damned black dragon burned down.

If the holy maiden’s house was far from the village, it wouldn’t have been burnt down.

Maybe I could find something by looking through her belongings.

‘By the way, wasn’t that village right next to the Putorana Forest?’

Putorana Forest.

It was the forest Leopard had warned me never to enter.

But since I’m not going into the forest itself and just near it, it should be fine.

There shouldn’t be any problems.

I decided not to worry about it.

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