Chapter 4 - 'Great Saint' Else Reese (1) (『大聖女』エルセ・リース　１)

translated by: myonnie

(What is this... whose...? No, I... I know this. This is my memory. From my previous life.)

"Yes. I'm Else... The Great Saint..."

The pain subsided little by little, and my consciousness cleared like a vanishing fog.

(Right, I remember everything now.)

In my previous life, I was Else Reese. A saint from Reavis Empire.

During my lifetime, I protected the country and saved many people; the Great Saint with the greatest power in history.

(But embarrassingly, I actually died by accident.)

342 years in the Sewell calendar at present. Meaning, it's been seventeen years since I died.

Immediately after my death, I must have been reborn as Tiana Everett.

(Wow. They sure have guts for treating me, the former Great Saint, like that.)

It's beyond ironic that I was reborn as an incompetent "Hollow Saint". Just remembering how I was treated in the Fallon Kingdom made me feel like I might choke on anger.

"...And what's with this situation? Aren't I too unlucky in this life!?"

On top of that, it's not funny at all to be killed right after remembering my previous life.

(Hmm, this is bad. Even if I regain my memories back, I can't do anything without magic power.)

The man looked at me like I had lost my mind, then he laughed. Make sense, since I held my head in pain out of nowhere and started talking to myself. But now there's no way I would die without at least bringing this vile man to the brink of death.

Such a thought passed my mind when a strange sensation suddenly circulated my whole body.

It's like the magic power in every part of my body was forcibly sucked out.

(What is this disgusting feeling? It's so sickening.)

"Oh, this is the saint? She's a pretty good woman!"

"I know, right? As I thought, it's a waste to kill her."

The man's companions called out to him, and I took the opportunity to close my eyes again during their casual conversation.

And when I concentrated on following the flow of magic power in my whole body, I noticed an open seam in one part of me, coming apart and weakening the 'disgusting feeling'.

(I'm not sure, but my gut is telling me that I should purify this.)

I always had an exceptionally good hunch. As long as I follow my intuition whenever I was lost, I would naturally find myself reaching the exit.

And I sharpened the remaining little bit of magic power within me and purified the part that gave me the 'disgusting feeling'.

At that moment, the amount of magic power in my body, which should be empty, suddenly began increasing at once.

"...Hm? Oh? Why?"

Not even I could expect this development. I was so surprised that I couldn't contain the bewilderment at the tip of my mouth.

(I don't know the reason at all, but this is very lucky. If the amount of magic power I've had so far is one out of a hundred percent, it should be around fifteen percent now.)

For the time being, this amount should be enough to get me out of this situation.

I pushed the sword away from my neck and stood up to brush the dust off my body.

"Ah? Hey, you..."

"Shut up."

I held up one hand to immobilize the men and rushed to Marielle, whose head was bleeding.

Thankfully, it was only a small cut and wasn't life-threatening. Seems like some rubbles made a small cut to her forehead when her body hit the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes... Lady Tiana, you..."

"I'm sorry, and I'm fine. Thank you for covering for me."

I gently put my hand over Marielle's bleeding forehead, casting recovery magic to heal her wound.

(Whoa... So slow...! Past me would've cured this in a second. How inconvenient!)

It took me a while, but the wounds were closed. This meager amount of magic power really could only cause trouble.

While I was thinking so, I noticed that Marielle was staring at me with an expression of disbelief.

(What's with this reaction? I'm sure she hasn't known that I can't use magic properly...?)

Despite my confusion, I grabbed her hand to help her stand up.

The immobilization magic broke in no time since I had to conserve my magic power, the men already on their feet.

"What the hell did you do!? Did you have a magic tool?"

"Isn't it obvious? I just used magic."

"Don't lie to me! I know that you're a saint only in name, and you can't use any magic!"

(Hey! Why are you exposing me out of nowhere!)

However, having that knowledge meant these men were commissioned by someone from the Fallon Temple.

(...Ah, I see. It makes sense now.)

As long as they killed me on my way to the empire, no one would find out that I was a saint with no abilities.

They could even hold the empire responsible for failing to protect a precious saint, which lead to my death.

(Who knows that Sylvia would go this far...)

I wonder what happened to her. She wasn't this kind of person in the past... I thought as I held up my hand.

The thorough Sylvia would've sealed their mouth anyway. It would be impossible to torture the confessions of these people.

"Oh well. You all can disappear now."

With a smile on my face, I compounded fire and water into my magic, the whirl of heat blowing the men away full force.

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