I'm not Will

Natalia stared at the unfamiliar ceiling. The bed she was on was uncomfortable, and it creaked everytime she would turn over. She swears she heard a rat run by her head in the middle of the night. The smell of burning tobacco hung in the air, practically seering her nostrils. She had been in Will’s body for three days now. Unfortunately, Will, it seemed, couldn’t afford top of the line healers. Natalia had tried to run earlier, but her head throbbed with such intense pain she found walking difficult. Most of her treatments consisted of that part-time priestess coming and casting a low tier healing spell, as well as several foul tasting, poor quality healing potions.

“At least I don’t have to go to any more meetings,” Natalia said, raising her scarred hand and staring at it. It was bigger than what she was used to.

A lot of different people had stopped by to visit. Apparently, this guy had saved their lives or something. She wasn’t sure, but they seemed really grateful. Natalia defaulted to her training, nodding and agreeing, but not really listening. Her eyes were fixed towards the windowsill. This time, instead of a beautiful tended garden, all she could see outside was a bustling, dirty street.

“Surprise!” The priestess girl whose name Natalia didn’t remember brought her an ID card.

“What’s this?” Natalia asked, struggling to sit up against the hard wood frame of the bed.

“Well,” the priestess girl shuffled her feet. “We did get a firm reprimand, but apparently Buckstone was really grateful to us. He’s related to the banking guild or something, and was able to pull some strings. Plus, Ren and those guys are all C rankers, so they pushed this through with the guild.”

Natalia held up the crisp new card. It identified Will as a D rank adventurer.

“Pretty great right?” The girl smiled. “One step closer to Ricard.”

“Yeah!” Natalia nodded, feigning happiness.

“Will, are you all right?” The girl looked concerned. “You don’t seem as excited for this as you should.”

“Ah, sorry,” Natalia apologized. “It’s my head again.”

That was only half a lie. The headaches made it hard to think.

“If only we could get in contact with the High Priestess,” the girl sighed. “She’d fix you right up.”

“Ah, unfortunately she’s too busy for commoners like us,” Natalia said.

She hoped they didn’t push the issue. Natalia suspected Liandra would know that she had switched bodies.

“Really? She seemed so nice though,” the priestess girl put a finger to her lip.

“Yeah, sorry,” Natalia replied.

“Well, you’ll just have to deal with my heals and these potions, I guess,” the girl laughed. “Oh, Alan will be by later. Try to make a better show about being excited. He’s been pretty worried.”

This went on for the past couple days, until finally, on the third day, Natalia felt well enough to stand. She got up, wobbling a bit as her vision went blurry, before stabilizing. She was ready for her grand escape. Searching through Will’s stuff, she took inventory. There wasn’t much; just a few stale field rations, a spare knife, one change of clothes, a travel cloak that could function as a sleep bag, and finally, an old story book detailing the exploits of Ricard the Skill-less.

“Adventurers really don’t have anything,” Natalia sighed. “What a terrible life. Good thing it’s a life I’m leaving behind.”

Her plan involved hitching a ride on a caravan. She heard they moved regularly between the cities. She didn’t know the first thing about working, but how hard could it be? She just had to copy Shisa. Natalia would work, and then jump between caravans, riding from city to city. Then, she would hit the sea, and find passage on a ship. She would leave this country behind, forgetting what the word adventurer even meant.

“Sorry Shisa. Sorry Liandra,” she muttered to herself, packing up Will’s belongings into his pack.

She couldn’t decide whether to bring the book along; it was heavy and wasn’t really good for anything except fire fuel. After a short debate, she decided it was probably worth a few coins, so she packed it away. The ID card, however, she would leave behind. She placed it on the bedside table. It was no use to her after all; she was done with being an adventurer. With that, she wrapped herself in Will’s cloak, before striding to the window, opening it, and jumping out into the street below. She fell on her butt, the weight of the pack dragging her down, plus her balance was still shaky from the head wound.

“Jeez,” She got up, rubbing her sore rump. “This guy is really weak.”

Will’s body was inconvenient. Not only was she physically weaker now, but she also had to aim when she went to the bathroom. She would’ve preferred it if she ran away as herself, but at least this way no one would track her. She accepted that she was a man now; anything to get away from the sham of the life she was living before.

“I can’t believe this guy was running around without a skill, what an insane person,” Natalia sighed. “Now, if I were a caravan, where would I be?”

Natalia used to go out in town with her family, back before she inherited her skill. This changed after her father’s death; suddenly she was monitored at every waking moment, being cultivated to fit the perfect image of the Crestfall name. Needless to say, with all the winding, bustling streets, the confusing dead ends, and the fact that she never went outside anymore without a carriage, Natalia was hopelessly lost. She wandered for what seemed like hours, unsure which alleyway led where.

“Okay,” Natalia sighed, leaning against the wall of a building on a shady looking part of the city. “Definitely not ideal.”

She got up, turning the corner, only to run into Leo and a couple of thugs.

“You!” Leo pointed. The thugs accompanied him surrounded Natalia, cutting off her escape.

“Who are you?” Natalia asked. “I don’t have any money.”

“That's’ the problem, brat!” Leo growled, looming over Natalia with a viscous gaze.

Will’s body was a couple inches taller than Natalia’s, but even then, Leo was tall, forcing Natalia to look up at him. Leo wasn’t as tall as Kagan though.

“You really, really put me in a bad mood,” Leo leaned down, flashing his sharp teeth. “The Blade Princess isn’t here to bail you out. I want payment, now.”

Natalia observed her foes. About a dozen thugs, most likely low level adventurers. The rough looking crowd had sub-par equipment, and most likely had sub-par skills. Even without her skill, they’d be easy.

“Look, I already told you I don’t have any money, so please let me go before I hurt you,” Natalia threatened, crossing her arms.

The punch cracked Natalia’s neck back. She didn’t even see it coming. She hissed in pain, trying to recover.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Leo said. “I’m gonna kill you, and sell your organs on the black market. They aren’t gonna be worth as much as you owe, but it’s a start. And then I’m gonna hunt down your two little friends, and make them pay too.”

“The black market is illegal,” Natalia brought up.

Leo laughed. The rest of the thugs did too.

“Do we look like we care? How do you think Kagan is making all his money? Other than scamming country idiots like yourself,” Leo pointed out.

“Scamming? Wait Kagan is dealing with the black market?” Natalia asked.

“All right, enough talk,” Leo said, cutting her off. “Get him boys.”

“Wait a minute,” Natalia protested. “We’re not done talking!”

A thug grabbed Natalia by the arm, trying to pin her down. She tried to fight, but found her strength lacking.

“Ah, this guy really sucks!” Natalia complained, as she was brought to her knees.

Another thug drew his knife, stepping in front of her. He grinned, before slowly lifting the blade to her neck.

“Wait!” Natalia squirmed. “Stop! Somebody!”

Natalia’s mind flashed to a childhood memory. She was back at home, standing in the garden, her father smiling at her.

“Watch this,” he grinned, pointing towards a bottle across the garden.

With a flash, he dashed, his body a blur. A second later, he was back, the bottle in his hand.

“Wow!” The little Natalia leapt in joy. “So fast!”

“Yeah, I suppose,” her father laughed. “Not as fast as some others, but it gets the job done.”

“I wish I could inherit your skill already so I can move that fast…” Natalia pouted.

“Well, if the Blade Goddess actually chooses you, you’d be the first girl to inherit it,” he knelt down, patting the little Natalia’s red hair. “Besides, this isn’t really a skill. It’s a technique.”

“A technique?” Natalia tilted her head as she asked the question.

“Yeah,” her father nodded. “It was developed by our ancestor, Leon Crestfall. It allows you to fight strong foes without relying too much on our skill.”

“Why would we need that?” Natalia asked. “The Blade Goddess skill is invincible, isn’t it?”

“Not all the time, love,” her father grinned. “Actually, before I got my skill, I used this to become an A rank adventurer.”

“Really? Without a skill?” Natalia’s eyes widened.

“Honestly, high level adventurers learn to use a form of it but only the Crestfall’s have fully mastered this technique,” he explained. “I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, so you’re gonna have to rely on it as an adventurer when you grow up.”

“Okay!” Natalia smiled. “Teach me daddy!”

“It’s called Mana Flow…” his voice drifted off as Natalia suddenly remembered where she was.

She focused, drawing mana into Will’s muscles. He had very little, but she had to try something. She breathed in, feeling the strength flow throughout her body.

“Something’s wrong,” Leo frowned.

Natalia ripped herself free from the thug holding her, before planting a hard kick against the knife wielding one. He was sent flying, crashing back against the alley wall. The other recovered quickly, only to receive a right hook from Natalia, knocking him out.

“What’s going on?” Leo shook his head in disbelief, watching as Natalia easily dispatched half of the attacking thugs.

“I warned you,” Natalia slammed a thug into the wall, before turning to Leo. “To let me go before I hurt you.”

“Brat!” Leo drew two daggers, lunging forward.

Natalia side stepped, planting a punch into his chest. Leo bucked, falling to his knees.

“I’ll let you think about what you did,” she whispered into Leo’s ear, before walking away.

“You…” He growled.

Natalia’s muscles burned. It felt like some of her tendons had ripped off the bones, and she was only moving a quarter of the speed she was capable of in her original body.

“This guy’s body really is useless,” She gasped, realizing she was almost completely out of breath. “Even something like that was enough to wear me out…”

“Stop!” Leo roared behind her.

The beastman crouched low, like a tiger ready to pounce. Natalia gave him an unimpressed look.

“I could deal with Kagan knocking me around, I could deal with that princess doing it too, but you…” He gritted his teeth. “You, I’d never accept!”

“Give it up already,” Natalia sighed, waving her hand dismissively. “I get how it feels to lose now trust me, it’s not a good feeling, so that’s why I’m telling you to give up. I’m kinda busy running away, but normally I would’ve reported you and Kagan to guild, so count yourself lucky.”

“Give up?” Leo laughed. “Just like that? Like hell I would!”

“Why is everyone like this,” she sighed, readying Mana Flow again.

“Skill activate!” He yelled.

An enormous surge of energy suddenly erupted from his body, kicking up dust around him. It was enough to make Natalia nervous. The other thugs got up, a terrified look on their faces. They scrambled away, trying to keep clear of the force of aura emitting from Leo.

“Beast Heart!” He screamed.