Chapter 112 – Soul Transfer

When the light of sunrise entered through the window, I woke up comfortably.....somewhere that I didn't recognize at first.

I looked around the bed. Mind calming blue wallpaper adorned the wall. Lavish furnitures were set slightly away from the bed.

When turned my sight back to the bed I slept in, there was a huge black colored stuffed bear sitting in the back.

What's the meaning of this? Why was I in this room? I wanted to consult this to Greed, but he's nowhere to be found.

After finishing last night's exchange with Mimir, I immediately went to sleep because I was tired. Could it be perhaps, I did a sleepwalk and unconsciously wandered to this room....?

Unable to think up anything, I sighed.

[Haa...ee!? This voice]

I had a female voice!? Moreover, it's the voice that I'm familiar with already.

I looked down to check my body. I'm wearing a frilly white negligee. My eyes then fell on the bulge on my chest.

Have I become a woman!?

With the drowsiness already leaving my mind, I was once again shocked from hearing my own voice.

[No way...eeeeeeeeee!]

There's no mistake. I wanted to quickly check my appearance on a mirror. But since it's not originally my body, the way it moves was different and thus making it hard for me to even walk properly! Before I knew it, I was tumbling with my feet tangling to each other....really. What the hell was going on!?

[I'm now Roxy!? Eeeeeee!!]

I involuntarily yelled after confirming my appearance.

[Eh! Eh! Eeeeee.....]

I walked around the room round and round, trying to calm myself down. But the feeling wouldn't died down. In the end, I laid down on the carpeted floor. Overwhelmed.

[Kyah]

What the hell was going on.....hahahaha.....this must be just a weird dream.

Ah, I actually hadn't woken up yet, and was still dreaming.

I kept lying on the carpet, five minutes....ten minutes...twenty minutes passed, and I still hadn't woken up yet.

[It's real! What now, what now]

As I was rolling on the floor, the door suddenly swung open. And the one standing on the doorway.....was shocking to see. It was Fate Barbatos, still in his pajamas.

He approached me with an ugly expression on his face.

And just like that, he placed both of his hands on my shoulders.

[Kyah, I'm going to be assaulted by myself!]

[Calm down. You are Fate, aren't you?]

[Nn? ...could it be, Roxy?]

[Yes]

AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa. I was struck by an outburst of feeling that made me felt powerless.

Slowly calming myself down once more, both of us opened up to confirm what was actually happening.

[We've]

[We have]

[ [ ....switched bodies ] ]

Roxy who was in my appearance, got up. And then, offered me her hand.

[Now, get up. It's not healthy to sleep on the floor.]

I grabbed her hand and got up. Guided by Roxy, the two of us sat on the bedside.

As I slowly settled down, she began making assumptions on how this thing could have happened.

[Yesterday, I was still myself when I went to sleep. But when I woke up, I've become Fai. Turns out Fai like to thrash around while sleeping, eh? I woke up after falling from the bed.]

[Ahahaha, I'm not a calm sleeper indeed. Leaving that aside, a similar thing happened to me too.]

[U～n, is that so? Could it be perhaps, this had something to do with that mysterious magic diagram at the hobgoblin forest?]

[Yeah.....most likely. That time I and Roxy were struck by that red light although for a short time.]

Roxy came closer to me.

[You are right! The light was meant to switch our body to each other. But the effect did not appear immediately because Fai attacked and forced it stop midway.]

[U～n, the switch was probably supposed to happen right at that place.]

Me and Roxy...when I think about it, I got scared.

[I think that's not the real aim. Maybe, they were trying to replace us with the goblins?]

[If so, then it's even more dangerous. Fortunately I switched with Roxy. I can't imagine if it's with a goblin]

[I also feel fortunate that I switched with Fai. I really hate those goblins]

Ahahaha, we laughed at each other like that.....but in any case, I had to find a way to switch back. I mean, I can't be using Roxy's body all the time.

That also applies to Roxy.

[I am a bit troubled by this sudden body switching. My heart is not prepared for this...]

[Me too....]

On the bedside, both of us fell into deep thought. This kind of thing, perhaps only that girl may know the solution.

Right. She's working on the research facility at the military district. Only yesterday we delivered to her the data from our investigation for further analysis.

[Maybe, Raine might have a clue about that mysterious magic diagram, and this strange occurrence. Let's go meet her immediately.]

[Yes, let us go. But before that!]

Roxy grabbed my shoulder tightly.

[Eh, what!?]

[Please come here]

Saying so, he brought me to the front of a closet. She opened the closet door and extracted her holy knight uniform.

[Yes, we are ready. Please close your eyes.]

[Close my eyes!?]

[That's right! It will be embarrassing if you were to see my naked body. Just in case, let me just put a blindfold on you.]

She used a long cloth to cover my eyes. Only then she began to work.

First she took off the negligee from my body. Helping me changing into the holy knight uniform.

I was preoccupied with raising and moving my limbs accordingly. Once in a while, I unconsciously yelped when her hands touched my skin.

[Hyaaa!]

[Fai, please don't make strange voice with my body.]

[It's because this body is more sensitive than my original body...]

[Moou, don't say that!]

Perhaps because it's winter, but her hands felt cold on my skin.

Whilst thinking about that, I yelped a couple more time. At last, after I was done changing clothes, the blindfold was taken off.

[This is somewhat.....tiring.]

[We are going to meet Raine, how dare you to show up just like this! It's not over yet. Next, come over here.]

This time around, she sat me down in front of the dressing table then proceeded to comb my hair. It actually felt pleasant.

[How nice]

[It is something we always do though. Being a girl is this hard.]

[Is that so?]

[Yes it is, we are done now!]

I looked at the mirror, and the reflection of the usual Roxy stared back at me. Sharp and cool.

Placing my index finger and thumb under my chin, I tried to strike a cool face. Looks good.

However, Roxy immediately scolded me upon seeing my antics because she normally wouldn't do such a thing.

[Well then, let us go to Fai's abode next, I need to change clothes as... well....]

[Un, that's.....right.....]

When we were about to leave the bedroom, was that Aisha-sama peeking on the door!? She was looking at us with incredulous face.

She entered the room in a haste, just like that.

[Fate, Roxy...I don't want to say much about the two of you, but seeing what happened here just now.... I think it's better if you two stop doing it. There is that thing called rule and order. Suddenly barging in, pushing her down, then changing clothes while blindfolded. As your mother, I'm surprised to know that my daughter has such a hidden hobby!]

[Mother, it's a misunderstanding!!]

Roxy jumped in and desperately tried to explain to Aisha-sama. But it was in vain, since she's approaching Aisha-sama while still in my appearance. This instead upset Aisha-sama.

[Fate, you.. Where are you touching, aaaaa! What's the matter!? Are you not satisfied with Roxy only and decided to go after me either....I'm sorry, my dear husband...what are you trying to do to me!]

Dangerous, dangerous! The misunderstanding got even worse. At this rate, my credibility would fall sharply.

I somehow got in between the two of them, and tried to explain the circumstance. How when I woke up in the morning, I woke up in Roxy's body. And how it probably have something to do with our investigation on hobgoblin forest. I explained patiently until Aisha-sama understood.

[So that's why. Moou, that surprised me. I thought Fate was going to attack me because he wanted both the daughter and mother. It's been a while, so I got a bit excited.]

Aisha-sama laughed in a jest. At the very least, it's good that the misunderstanding has been solved.

While I was still sighing in relief after the explaining, Aisha-sama suddenly hugged me, and not letting me go. Why me?

[Aisha-sama, please stop for a moment]

[It's the parent-child skinship. You see, we are parents and child even if only in body. Even if you don't want to I still won't stop.]

[Kyaaaaa, help me. Don't, you are touching my butt!]

Roxy was also annoyed at Aisha-sama's antics. Especially since she just had to do it in this time of emergency. But apparently most of all, she didn't want me to make weird expression while I'm still inside her body.

Roxy jumped at her mother once more, all of us ended up rolling on the bed.

[Mother, please do not play around in times like this.]

[Stop, Fate. My heart still belongs to my husband.]

[Gununu.....mother. At the moment, I am in Fai's body!]

[Aisha-sama, this is a bit too much.]

The angry Roxy was in a mounting position over her mother's body, while I was restless on the side, unable to think up anything to stop this.

Still on the bed, I sensed a gaze coming from the open door.

There, the eldest maid――Haru-san was looking at us through her glasses.

Aisha-sama and Roxy also noticed her presence, and looked back at her. Haru-san's face turned pale, and she immediately bowed repeatedly.

[Pardon me. I didn't know that you are in such a relationship....I won't tell anyone of what I saw just now. Excuse me!]

Haru-san's expression turned bad as she escaped the scene. Aisha-sama's face also looked bad.

And so, we promptly exited the room to chase after Haru-san who had already running towards the end of the hallway.

=====

The misunderstanding with Haru-san was solved somehow, and we were now at the Barbatos mansion.

I was waiting at the entrance for Roxy to finish changing. I thought that there's no need to use blindfold like how I did, since there is nothing for me to be ashamed of, so I just let her do everything herself.

When we left the Heart mansion, Aisha-sama offered to help Roxy changing clothes, insisting that it's too much of a burden for Roxy. But since Roxy greatly opposed it, she backed down.

As for me, I felt that it's far dangerous to entrust my body to Aisha-sama, since I had no idea what she'd do.

Aisha-sama even teasingly said, if we couldn't return to our original body today, we'll take a bath together with her later. Or so she said.

I just hoped that she's not being serious. While thinking so, Roxy came down the stairs, already finished with changing clothes. Next to her were Aaron, Mimir, and Shara.

Apparently, the incident didn't escape their notice, and they had recognized that the despite having the body, the contents weren't really Fate. Aaron smiled and talked to me who was still in Roxy's body.

[O Fate, it seems that you are involved in something weird once more.]

[Yes, to think I'd switch bodies with Roxy..]

[This may proven to be bad, since you are using the body of a well known holy knight. No one else other than us here, and Aisha and Haru at the heart mansion, should know of this matter. Once you arrive at the military district, you should refrain from acting strange. Remember, you are currently Roxy Heart.]

[I'll be careful.]

Aaron said all that because he's worried of us, so I strengthened my resolve. Someone might catch the masculinity of my speech. It'll be better if I don't open my mouth as much as possible.

Shara came to my side anxiously.

[Fate-sama....]

[It'll be alright! I'll be back soon. Until then, I leave the mansion to you.]

[Yes, I'll do my best!]

Nodding her head, Shara showed a relieved smile.

After Mimir talked to Roxy for a while, she then bowed to me before retreating back to the kitchen.

[Well then, I'm going.]

With Aaron and Shara seeing us off, we began to stride towards the military district. Along the way, I asked Roxy about the short conversation she had with Mimir, in which she responded with a smile.

[Mimir is not being honest, isn't she? I think she's worried. She asked me take care of Fate-sama.]

[I see..... So Mimir did that....]

There was always some sort of distance between me and Mimir before, but this somewhat shortened it down in my heart.

For her who must feed during the full moon, I am by all means a necessary existence for her.....reminded of this aspect, I was slightly relieved after hearing that from Roxy.

Going north along the holy knights residence area, the gate leading to the military district is finally on sight. The gate is dedicated for Holy Knight's use, so not many people passed through there.

When the gateguards noticed us from afar, they immediately unlocked and opened the gate. Me and Roxy were from the Five Great Families after all, so the soldiers had already memorized our faces.

As Aaron said, I must not undermine Roxy's integrity as a famous figure. Thus when we passed the gate, I took time to greet the soldiers in a friendly manner, like Roxy always do.

At that point, their eyes turned into heart symbol and their countenance became mellow. What a power....nothing less from Seyfat Kingdom's goddess.

While seeing the response, I glanced at Roxy who was walking behind me.

She greeted the soldiers with a big smile as she usually do, except that she's still in my appearance.

[Everyone, please do your best as per usual!]

Of course, since she's still inside my body, the soldiers were looking at her with questionable look.

I'll let Roxy know later.

[Let us go!]

[What is wrong?]

[You are not Roxy at the moment, you are me.]

[Ah, right. Now that you mention it, I almost forgot. I am Fate Barbatos at the moment.]

That said, Roxy tried hard to act like me. It's a bit awkward, but passable. Especially if compared to before.

Thinking that she's been doing well, she said.

[How about it? Very close resemble isn't it? I have always watched Fai. You always walk like this]

[That's not how I always walk.]

[So this is how it feels like to have this]

[EEeeeee]

I thought that she was being serious, but Roxy's face said it all, she's just teasing me.

I was tricked, once again. But I didn't feel bad, it made me feel happy instead.

There's not much anxiety despite the fact that we've switched body. Perhaps, I could keep my calm because I switched with Roxy.

As we moved on while talking to each other, the lab where Raine was staying in became visible. I just hope that Raine had some good information to offer. Otherwise, if I returned home still in Roxy's appearance, Aisha-sama would surely force me to take a bath with her. That would be absolutely outrageous...