GalaxyTL
* * *
A few days after Lady Sara Salar woke up…
“Let the water bullet manifest and pierce the enemy! 【Water Bullet】!”
Lady Sara chanted the spell incantation. A small water sphere then formed at her fingertips and… unlike before, it did not simply fall to the ground, but instead flew straight towards the target.
However, its force was extraordinary. Letting out a high-pitched whistle, a sound I had never heard before, the 【Water Bullet】 reached the target at an overwhelming speed, shattering it to pieces.
Its momentum did not dissipate after destroying the target, continuing onward to mow down dozens of trees in the forest behind the mansion.
Absolutely astonishing, that was the only word for it.
So easily, the power of my 【Stone Throw】 was surpassed.
“Sa…Sara, who was so inept at magic before…to be able to use such a high-powered spell…”
Lady Emma was so shocked that her legs nearly gave out from under her. I supported her to prevent her from falling and dirtying her clothes.
While I…and Extra too…had expected this to a certain degree, I still felt rather complex emotions about it.
To be honest, having my combat ability so thoroughly surpassed by someone who hasn’t trained at all, was incredibly vexing.
<You mustn’t get bitter about it, Emi. She has been granted divine protection. If anything, you’re the more amazing one to be capable of rivaling that without any blessings.>
Divine favor…Extra explained it was a gift bestowed by the gods upon those who receive their affection.
Typically, it granted special abilities or a massive amount of magic power.
In other words, the magic Lady Sara used was not her own power, but the gods’ magic power.
No wonder she could unleash such powerful attacks so easily.
Afterwards, she demonstrated not just water magic, but wind, earth, fire – even lightning magic that Lady Emma surely never taught her, leaving her teacher utterly dumbfounded.
When Lady Emma questioned how she had grown so rapidly, Sara gave the flippant response:
“It’s because…Mother’s teaching methods were so good!”
What a ridiculous lie to deflect with. If that were true, she should have been able to use magic long before now.
That blatantly dishonest excuse made on the spot really irked me.
There were also subtle differences in her behavior, speech patterns, and mannerisms compared to the Sara-chan I knew that deeply unsettled me.
I felt like killing her.
<Please restrain yourself, Emi. Picking a fight with a reincarnator blessed with divine favor gives you very little chance of winning. Even if you somehow overpowered them, the gods could simply grant them new powers to awaken and turn the tides.>
…I was just joking, Extra.
As if I could actually bring harm to that girl.
Even if her soul has been switched out, she is still undoubtedly my former friend, Sara Salar, is she not?
* * *
Sara-chan, who had appeared to be on the verge of death, was suddenly revived when that sphere of light entered her body.
At the time, no one in the mansion, including the Baron, had any idea what had occurred.
Hence, it was concluded to be a divine miracle.
Lady Sara’s personality and manner of speaking showed slight changes compared to before.
She had completely forgotten about me.
Including occasionally saying strange things, it was determined these were simply after-effects from the poison damage.
However, I have Extra, who is quite knowledgeable about such phenomena, residing within me.
Just what happened to Sara-chan at that moment?
Extra provided me a detailed explanation.
<What occurred then was a divine miracle.>
Hey, that’s no different than what everyone at the mansion concluded!
<Allow me to explain in detail. First, regarding that sphere of light that appeared in the room – that was a soul.>
A soul!?
But I’ve seen the souls of my former classmates being auctioned off, and they didn’t shine with light like that at all?
<It was shining because it had been imbued with a massive amount of divine magic power. In other words, that soul had been granted divine protection.>
…No way, Extra. You don’t mean a soul granted divine favor is…?
<Most likely one of your former classmates’ souls. Some god, I don’t know which, must have acquired it and been adjusting its blessing this whole time. That soul seems to have been refined into quite the high-spec product capability-wise.>
So then, Sara-chan’s current body is not actually Sara-chan, but has been hijacked by that reincarnated soul?
Then what happened to…the real Sara-chan’s soul…?
<Currently, Sara Salar’s physical body is indeed being almost entirely controlled by the reincarnated soul. However, her original soul has not vanished. Likely it has merely weakened and fallen into a dormant state as a result of the physical damage from the poisoning. Though it is unclear if that soul will ever awaken again.>
No way…!
Hey, Extra!
Is there no way to expel the reincarnated soul from Sara-chan’s body?
That body rightfully belongs to the real Sara-chan’s soul!
<For starters, you currently lack the ability to do such a thing. More importantly, with the original soul dormant and inactive, attempting that would simply kill Sara Salar’s physical body.>
…………
I felt dizzy.
Right now, Sara Salar is receiving a lecture on the history of the Teenidys Kingdom from Lady Emma before my very eyes.
Just days ago, she had nearly died from poisoning, but now she seems full of vibrant energy, showing no signs of it.
However, her core is not the Sara-chan I knew.
It is a reincarnated soul merely impersonating her.
Not my silly, loud, cheerful, and kind friend Sara-chan.
…………
…I wonder, was this reincarnation also carried out for the filming of an isekai broadcast?
<Most likely. Looking back, all the crises Sara Salar faced may have been choreographed by the gods with the intention of implanting a new soul into her body. To do so would require rendering the original body in a near-death state and the soul dormant.>
…As expected of gods. What a privileged existence to be able to toy with Sara-chan’s life like that for their amusement. What arrogance…to be a god.
…And so.
My very first friend has been lost.
Those dream-like days of cheerfully spending time together have vanished.
As if they never even existed in the first place – a mere illusion.
Because I was too weak.
Because I failed to fully protect Sara-chan.