Zero [2]

Opening my eyes, I was met by an unfamiliar ceiling in an unfamiliar building. Although it resembled Theia's temple to some extent, there was no doubt that my little transmigration had worked out.

'But man, that shit hurts like hell...'

Once again I had gotten to experience the feeling of every single atom that I consisted of getting dematerialized and reformed. All in all, not the greatest of experiences. *Knock, knock, knock!*

Forcing my sleepy body to sit up in the bed I had been placed in, I turned my sights toward the door where someone was knocking. Somehow, I felt like my body had regressed back to before I had gotten appointed as Loki's apostle, the few centimeters that I had gained were now washed away.

*Click!*

"Zero, are you awake yet? You have to start getting ready to depart for the academy! I know that you might be nervous to go outside for the first time, but now your wish will finally be realized!"

A middle-aged man dressed like a stereotypical priest entered the room, wearing a huge smile on his face while trying to get me to hurry up. With that, a surge of artificial memories started to flood my mind, letting me know what kind of backstory the goddess had made for me.

Zero had been an orphan that was saved by the priest in front of me, Aksel Adler after he had gotten a revelation from Theia that I was a child that would become a great power for the allied races in the future.

However, because of the threat of the demons, I had spent my whole life in hiding, with only Aksel knowing of my existence, taking care of my every need and education by himself. There had been many times when the man felt incredibly guilty when he hid me from the world, but at long last, the day had come when I would get to live a real life.

And now he had even gotten recognized by the rest of the church after getting yet another revelation from Theia where he had gotten to know about the demons lurking in Kurat, but he still couldn't do anything for me.

Even now I felt like I could see the guilt behind his large smile as if he thought that even this was not enough to make up for the pitiful life that I had lived for 17 years. Getting out of my bed, I withheld a sigh as I realized that my earlier fears were probably correct and responded by mimicking his smile.

"Sorry, Da... I mean, sorry Aksel. I was just about to get up and..."

"What did you say?! Ah! I mean... You were about to say something... But then you stopped yourself..."

'Too easy...'

From the artificial memories I had gained, it wasn't hard to see that the man in front of me now desperately wanted me to acknowledge him as my father, something that Zero had never done before.

Squirming a bit, I forced myself to blush by thinking of some other things and spoke softly, "I was just... No. I'm sorry, but would it be okay if..."

"If what? You know you can tell me anything Zero. Just like always."

"Haaa... Is it okay if... If I could be your son? Would you... allow me to be Zero A-Adler? D-Dad...?"

He hurried to my side and took me in his arms. Warm tears started soaking the shoulder part of my white pajamas and he spoke with a shaky voice. "O-of course! Of course, my son! Zero Adler, son of Aksel Adler!"

And with that, my first mission had easily gotten accomplished. To make sure one of the people with authority inside the church of Theia would always back me up.

==========

Sitting on the train going from the city to the academy, I finally had some time for myself, to see what kind of effects this body transfer had on my body.

===Status===

Name: Zero Adler [2nd Form]

Rank: C

Strength: F+

Agility: C-

Stamina: ?

Intelligence: B-

Mana Capacity: B

--> Main Manual:

[Bottomless Trickster - Ungraded] - Major Understanding

-Core Skill: [Double Trouble]

-1st Skill: [Swap]

-2nd Skill: [Materialize]

-3rd Skill: [Detonation]

--> Elemental Affinity: Water

->Elemental Skills (Affected by [Bottomless Trickster] Manual): [Orb of Water], [Bottomless Vessel]

==========

'This... Wasn't my progress supposed to be gone?'

Although it was obvious that my progress had regressed a bit, I had gotten to keep a lot more power than I thought I would. I had assumed that I would have to start from at least [D]-rank again. Still, I felt like I needed an answer before I could accept this.

'-Loki, is this your doing?'

Looking out the window of the train, it didn't take long until I got my response, '-So you have finally gotten to see your status? The answer to your question is both yes and no. It's just a byproduct of the fact that you are more than a mortal.'

Cutting the connection to the god, as I had gotten the answer I needed, I suddenly felt even more satisfied with my decision to go back. After all, the largest drawback of having to act in a weak body had been eliminated.

There was no doubt that I would use my main form when doing anything of significance, but this meant that I would have no issues with one of the plans I had. After all, wouldn't it be fun to see the faces of the people when they realized that the one they would think of as the child of Theia was the same individual they had sentenced to death?

'I'm so excited!'

****

[Sophie's Pov] - Back to the present time

"Sophie! Who was that? And why did you suddenly grab him like that?"

Anna wasn't all too pleased with my stupid behavior, most likely understanding just as much of it as I did. After I had gotten confirmation from my inner self that it was, in fact, not James, I couldn't feel more stupid.

"I don't know... I just thought it might have been..."

Because of my confused state of mind, I wasn't quite thinking about what I was saying. Luckily, Arthur managed to save me once again. "Oh! You must have thought it was Mr... Mr. White! Yes, that Mr. White that we met during our walk through the city the other day!"

It was a shitty save, but a save nonetheless. At least it was enough to clear my mind a bit. The sad thing was that now I had to play along with his silly lie, "Ha...haha, yes. It really looked like him. It's quite rare to see someone with such white hair, so I just assumed that it was him."

Although all three of the girls that were accompanying us were looking at us skeptically, neither of them opened their mouths to refute our words. If they had gotten to see the 'new' James, they would probably have understood immediately, but luckily they hadn't.

Taking a sip of the coffee that a waiter had just brought out, Anna still couldn't quite let it go. "Man, it will be awkward for you later."

"What do you mean?"

*Tak.*

Placing her cup on the table, she let on a mean grin, "Haven't you heard? This year they will introduce combined training between the freshmen and the juniors. In other words, you will be having combat training with him during the semester."

"Wait..."

Suddenly, Adriana fell into deep thought, appearing to have realized something important. Picking up on her actions, Arthur felt the need to inquire further, "Hmm? Do you know something about him, Adriana?"

"I think I do... Or I mean, I don't know him personally, but there has been a rumor about a certain youth that will start to attend the academy this year. And if that is him, I think you might be in trouble, Sophie..."

Crossing my arms, and inadvertently pushing my large chest up a bit, I needed to find out what she meant, "Why would I be in trouble? Is he some kind of super noble or something?"

"No, he is far from a noble. However, if he truly is the Zero that I heard about, it might be a lot worse."

At this point, I felt my head heating up, "Just tell me! Who is he?"

"He is the one the church of Theia has acknowledged as a son of Theia, a super genius that will supposedly defend humanity from the demons in the future. Ah! I have no idea if this is the truth, and this is most likely a secret from most people, but at least this is the information they gave out to all the royals."

In a matter of a second, my head had cooled off. As a matter of fact, it almost felt like the warm and sunny day had gotten replaced by the winter of Kurat.

"So... You are telling me that I just pissed off the son of God...?"