Ah.
Vincent scratched the back of his head. Was this specifically about the chest-binding last time? That had been purely for safety reasons. Not for any other purpose.
Second — under no circumstances are you to use my body to do anything... inappropriate.
Isn't that the same as the first one?
Oh. Right. It's called emphasis.
Third — when you are eventually able to leave this place and go into the city, please avoid any non-standard physical contact with any person, male or female.
What counts as standard, exactly?
Fourth — do not attempt to use the same method as last time to leave. The reason is simple: I know you cannot use my supernatural abilities, and leaving this island will only create danger — for both of us.
Fifth...
The rules went on. Fifteen in total. The wording varied, but they all said essentially the same thing: don't look where you shouldn't, don't touch what you shouldn't, and certainly don't do anything beyond that.
I thought the Queen Mystic was over a hundred years old. Aren't people supposed to stop caring about this sort of thing at some point? Why is she acting like a young girl about it.
...I know these terms will feel restrictive, and I want to apologise for that in advance. I hope you'll understand.
Reasonable. She'd shown willingness to cooperate while also making her limits clear.
Vincent found he didn't mind it much at all — if anything, knowing her thinking was so similar to his own was something of a relief. He could acknowledge that Bernadette was striking, by any measure. But he wasn't so far gone that he'd develop strange feelings toward himself just because the body happened to be a woman.
...He was reasonably sure about that.
Alright, that's enough from me on that front. What follows are some of my habitual gestures..., my manner of speaking..., the way my expressions tend to shift...
Three pages of it — a broken-down account of her mannerisms, speech patterns, and physical habits. Without video to go on it was less immediate, but by the time he finished, he at least had a working impression.
Then:
I think I forgot to mention information about my world. Use the map on the desk alongside the following.
This world is divided into a Southern Continent and a Northern Continent... Legend holds that a Western Continent also exists, but it remains undiscovered and can be treated as non-existent for now.
The Southern Continent is divided into East and West Bairon...
The major nations of the Northern Continent include the Republic of Intis, the Kingdom of Loen, the Kingdom of Feysac, the Fussing Empire, Lamburg... Each has its own language and culture. Intis is... Loen is...
Beyond the nations, there are the Seven Orthodox Churches: the Church of the Goddess of the Night, the Church of the Steam God...
In my world, the churches hold authority that surpasses even the states. Please keep this in mind.
The next seven or eight pages were a systematic overview of the world — enough that Vincent's mental picture of it sharpened considerably.
Regarding supernatural ability in this world... it requires the consumption of a potion... there are twenty-two pathways in total, as follows... their respective characteristics are detailed in the notebook on the desk.
I am a Sequence 3 Clairvoyant on the Hermit pathway. My primary abilities are... You cannot use them, but it's best you know them.
As for why you cannot use my abilities — I currently have two theories. The first is that your soul is too weak to properly operate my body. The second is that the supernatural abilities belong to my soul specifically, and your soul is simply an ordinary person who has never consumed a potion.
You don't need to worry too much about this. We'll have enough time to investigate properly...
Additionally — because my body has achieved a degree of divinity and vitality following its ascension to demigod, it may, when you are in danger, act on survival instinct in ways that benefit you.
Vincent gave a small nod. He'd suspected something similar during the last swap.
That should be most of what I have to say. If you have questions, leave them for me — I'll answer them when we next swap.
Finally — for both our sakes, do not leave this island. Do not let anyone find out about the swap.
Oh —
The handwriting in the last line went noticeably messier, as if written in a rush.
...After using the toilet. Make sure to... wipe properly.
Vincent stared at it.
He stared at it for quite a long time.
Eventually he processed it. He could see how that would be... a knowledge gap.
Then another thought surfaced, and he found himself genuinely puzzled: Bernadette was a demigod. Half-human, half-divine. So why, when inhabiting her body, did he still have to deal with basic biological functions?
Was that his own issue? Or did the demigods of this world simply not transcend such things?
He set the parchment down and skimmed back through from the beginning, making sure he hadn't missed anything important. Then he closed his eyes and worked through it all mentally.
After a while he opened his eyes and let out a quiet, rueful sigh.
"Didn't expect this, but — I'm still the one with the advantage here."
Bernadette knew nothing about the Harry Potter world. He, on the other hand, might not be a dedicated Lord of the Mysteries scholar, but he remembered enough of the important things.
Like the fact that the single thing Bernadette cared about — the thing she had cared about for the entirety of the story — was her father. Emperor Roselle. Whether he truly died or could be saved.
And knowing that was, if anything, a source of pressure. Because at some point in the future, she — or he, if the timing went wrong — would have to stand against the Loen Emperor to keep Roselle from a permanent death.
If Bernadette was in control when that moment came, fine. That was how it went in the original story, and it worked out.
But what if he was the one in the body?
He could keep his distance. Protect himself. Let it happen.
But if Roselle died because of that — he didn't think Bernadette would choose to be understanding. A hundred years of singular devotion, ended by someone else's decision to stay out of it. Even if his culpability was small, no one came back from that rational.
What happened then?
If I can't have peace, neither can you.
His brow furrowed. He needed to be strong enough before that moment arrived. Strong enough that even in a worst case, he could contribute without getting himself killed.
But Beyonders in this world could only walk one pathway — Bernadette was already one, which meant there was no pathway left for the soul inhabiting her body. And he couldn't use her abilities anyway. A dead end, whichever way he looked.
Which left him with two options: find a way to use magic in this world, or find a way to access her abilities directly.
"What's the current date? How much time is left before the Loen Emperor becomes the Black Emperor?"
He searched the room. No calendar. He instinctively wanted to write the question down for Bernadette — then realised that even if she told him the date, it wouldn't help much, because he didn't know the specific timing of the Black Emperor's ascension.
What he did remember was that Klein had been Sequence 3 by then. That had stuck with him because right after that event, Amon had dragged Klein off to the Land Forsaken by God to play games.
So if he could find out Klein's current Sequence, he could at least estimate where they were in the timeline.
But he was stuck on this island. He had no idea where to find Klein. And even if he found him, how would he determine his Sequence?
Every question led to three more.
He'd assumed the biggest problem going forward would be communication, building trust, working out a way to cooperate. He hadn't expected the difficulty to escalate this quickly.
He rubbed his hair with both hands, frowning.
"Squeak!!!"
A ball of fire appeared from nowhere and hurtled straight at his face.
To be continued…