Finally explained

It didn’t work. Will was still in Natalia’s body. He awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling somewhere underground. Shisa was there, sitting close to the bed, carefully writing on some documents propped up by a wooden clipboard.

“The city is lost,” Shisa told him. “The monsters are still running rampant, and Kagan had betrayed them, taking most of the adventurers on his payroll and garrisoning themselves in the guild hall.”

“And the other S rankers?” Will asked, trying to get to his feet. Shisa stopped him.

“Lady High Priestess is around, tending to the injured. So is lady Lily, she was just here earlier. Ronin is still missing, and it seems Markus as well.” She explained.

“What about Will and those others that were with us?” Will asked.

“They should be somewhere else in the catacombs,” She said.

The old catacombs are said to have existed before even the dungeon. Ancient ruins that ran under the city, they stored the bodies of those who died when the gods walked the earth. A few even swear that there are entrances to the dungeon itself located down in the very depths of the caverns. The occasional monster found in these halls seemed to confirm that fact.

“I need to find those adventurers,” Will resolved.

“I’m so very sorry my lady,” Shisa bowed.

Will noticed he was only wearing a thin white under dress. He blushed heavily, trying to keep his eyes looking forward.

“The manor is behind the monster line, I didn’t have time to retrieve a new dress for you,” she explained.

“It’s fine!” Will huffed, wrapping his blanket around himself.

“I have some trousers and a cotton shirt, but it’s hardly clothing to fit your stature,”

Will quickly put the clothes on, feeling much more comfortable than in a dress. He laced up his boots himself as well. Shisa looked surprised.

“Let’s go,” he directed.

They walked for a few minutes through the winding catacombs, the light of Shisa’s lantern dancing off the ancient walls. There were a few injured civilians laying against some of the walls, looking at them with somber eyes as they strode past. Finally, they reached a separate outcropping along the wall. Will could hear Alan’s voice echoing.

“Mina is missing,” he said. “So is Anissa. Half the city is…”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Will said, striding in and leaning against the wall, a stern look on his face.

“Blade Princess?” Alan spat, turning in panic.

Will looked eyes with Natalia. She had a sad look in her eyes, a look that was entirely unfamiliar on that face she wore. The other girl Will didn’t know was there, cradling Natalia’s arm. He groaned internally, wondering what Natalia had done.

“What happened to Mina and Anissa?” Will leaned, panicking slightly.

“That’s none of your…”

“No, it is,” Natalia sighed, looking down at her feet.

“What?” Alan looked at her.

“That’s not Will,” Will said. “I’m Will.”

“Not this again my lady,” Shisa scolded. “This is hardly the time…”

“You’re scared of dragons because when we were seven a miniature dragon attacked you. You have a scar just above your lower back from where it hit you. For three years, you would wake up at night crying and begged to sleep in my bed because you were scared it would come for you at night,” Natalia said.

“Huh?” Shisa turned, trying to comprehend what Natalia had just said.

“Alan,” Will approached him, crossing his arms. “Your real dream was to become a bard and travel around the world. But no one bothered to give you the time of day. With Mina’s help, I was able to scrounge up enough coins to pay for the interview fee to apply to the bard college. You passed the interview, but they didn’t give you a scholarship. You wanted to hide how disappointed you were from Mina, but you broke down in tears. We spent the night sitting under an old oak, wallowing in your sorrows. Then, I convinced you to follow me to the city and become an adventurer so that you can one day earn enough money to fulfill your dream.”

“Will.” Alan’s eyes widened, completely baffled at the fact that Will was standing before him in Natalia’s body. “You’re a woman now.”

“Yeah,” He laughed. “Not my choice though.”

“My lady?!” Shisa shook her head in absolute confusion.

“Yeah, it’s me Shisa,” Natalia said.

“You’re in that buffoon’s body?”

“Oye,” Will turned to her in annoyance.

“And you’ve stolen my lady’s body!” Shisa panicked, wiping forth a knife from her belt and aiming it at Will. She looked conflicted, unable to decide whether to attack or not.

“Shisa, please stop,” Natalia said, grabbing her hand. Shisa flinched.

“Ah! This is too confusing!” Shisa ground her teeth. “I need to sit down,”

“Wait, you were lady Crestfall the whole time? And Lady Crestfall is actually hero Will?” Lina’s eyes zipped between the both of them, having trouble putting together what happened.

“Everyone,” Liandra interrupted, appearing from behind a corner, lit lantern in hand. “What’s wrong?”

–

“It started after our fight,” Natalia explained. “First, my skill stopped working. Then, after fighting the Forsaken King, I suddenly woke up in this guy’s body.”

“For me, it was after killing that orc,” Will explained. “I woke, and I was in her body.”

“Could this be a skill?” Shisa asked. “Maybe the Forsaken King did something?”

“Hmm,” Liandra thought for a long moment. “Well, my divine eyes are telling me that your souls have swapped, which is strange, but I don’t remember there ever being any skill in the archive that lets you swap bodies…”

“Perhaps in the Crestfall archive?” Natalia suggested.

“My lady,” Shisa instinctively looked at Will, before turning to Natalia. “Unfortunately, we would have to press our way through the main enemy force. Numerous goblins, orcs and various other monsters seemed to have set up garrisons, along with the traitor adventurers, it makes it almost impossible to pierce through.”

“Maybe there’s a way through these catacombs,” Alan suggested. “Seems like these go under the whole city.”

“We only have a small part of it mapped out,” Liandra said.

“We can’t punch through?” Lina asked. “It seems hero Will in the Blade Princess’s body is quite powerful, given his performance yesterday.”

“I’m still not used to using this skill,” Will said. “And frankly Inot all that good with a sword, even with the abilities I now have. I almost died yesterday.”

“Wait, that’s strange,” Liandra interrupted. “Why can you use the Blade Goddess skill?”

“Uh, I don’t know, it just kind of works,” Will shrugged.

“That can’t be,” Liandra gasped.

“Why?” Natalia asked.

“My lady, I drilled it into you a dozen times,” Shisa groaned. “That’s definitely you in that ugly body.”

“Hey!” Will pointed.

“Skills, especially the S rank skills, are tied to the soul of the user. The exact mechanisms are unknown, but it is related to the Heart of the dungeon.”

“The Heart of the Dungeon?” Lina titled her head.

“Yes,” Liandra nodded. “The Heart of the Dungeon maintains the contracts that the gods have with mortals, after they were forced from the world by the Traveler treaty. The Blade Goddess skill is contracted to the Crestfall lineage. As long as a Crestfall lives, they stand next in line to inherit the skill.”

“I was the last remaining heir,” Natalia said. “For some reason the skill didn’t transfer to any women in our line, since I was the only left for it to go to, it went to me.”

“That’s…” Will tilted his head. “Wait, you don’t think it has anything to do with me being a guy, would it?”

“There’s no way that…” Liandra stopped and pondered for a second. “No, that couldn’t be, but…”

“So it’s possible,” Natalia sighed. “The skill didn’t like me being a girl, so it left me.”

“We don’t know that,” Shisa tried to comfort her. “I still believe the theory that it was the Forsaken King who did this. Maybe he was scared of your power.”

“I don’t know Shisa,” Natalia shivered, remembering the fear of that battle. “I don’t think I would’ve been much of a threat to him even at my best.”

“Regardless, we won’t know until we get into that archive at the Crestfall manor,” Liandra said. “Will, we’re having a meeting with the guildmaster and Lily in half an hour. Would you mind continuing to pretend to be Natalia?”

“I’ve been doing it so far,” Will shrugged.

“Will,” Alan looked at him. “Mina is…”

“We’ll find her,” Will assured, patting his shoulder.

“All right,” Alan nodded. “I’ll let Ren and Dan know about the whole swap business if that’s not too much trouble.”

“Okay, I’ll come find you guys later,” Will nodded.

“Hero Wi…Lady Crestfall…” Lina wilted. “What will you do?”

“Me?” Natalia wondered that herself.

“I will remain by your side, regardless of your hideous appearance,” Shisa resoluted.

“I don’t look that bad!” Will huffed.

“Okay, we’ll reconvene within the hour once we have a plan,” Liandra said. “May the gods be with you all.”

“Will,” Natalia reached out, grabbing him by the arm as he turned to leave. “Can I talk to you, alone?” She looked to the others, her eyes lingering on Shisa.

“All right,” Will nodded.

The two of them walked a short distance away, finally stopping by a large statue of a forgotten pre-dungeon adventurer.

“I want to apologize,” Natalia said. “It’s my fault what happened to your friends. I remember now. They followed me and…”

“It’s all right,” Will assured her. “Don’t worry too much about it.”

“I tried to run away!” she admitted.

“What?”

“I tried to run away, that was why I didn’t find you. I tried to run away, and your friends got hurt because I was in your body,” She said. “I…I’m afraid. I’m afraid of the Forsaken King. But it goes even before that. I don’t want to be the Blade Princess anymore.”

“Lady Crest…Natalia,” Will stammered.

“But you’re not like me,” She said, tears falling down her face. “Even without a skill, you still fight. Even with the odds against you, you still move forward. Everyone actually respects you and looks to, to me everyone always saw me as a weapon they would use for themselves. They never looked at me. But they look at you, Will. I could tell, I was in your body. No wonder my stupid skill left me, you’re a better Blade Princess than I could ever be,” She gasped. The tears wouldn’t stop flowing now.

“I…” Will was unsure of what to do or say. It was a strange thing, watching your own body break down into tears from the outside.

“I don’t want to fight him,” Natalia said. “Even if we did switch back, I couldn’t do it. Everyone expects me to, but I can’t. I can’t do it.”

“I can tell,” Will knelt down, grabbing her hand. “That you’ve been carrying a heavy burden for a long time. I could see it, I was you after all. All the practiced speeches and responses, the way people look at you. They don’t see the real you. They just see the Blade Princess.”

“I can’t live up to that,” She said.

“You won’t have to,” Will assured her. “I’ll carry this burden for you. Look, this life isn’t easy. At all. It’s something you have to really want. At the same time, I don’t think this is a life that should be forced on people.” Will tightened his grip on her hand. “Believe in me, Natalia. I’ll free you from this.”

“Will…” Natalia blushed. “I…” she whimpered. “Mhm. Please save me, Will.”

“Don’t worry,” he grinned. “I will. It’s what Ricard would’ve done.”