Chapter 2: A childhood friend

‘The Holy Knight Who Couldn’t Possibly Save the World’

An academy fantasy ensemble drama unfolding between demons and humans.

It was a mid-tier novel I used to enjoy.

I had been consistently reading it since its early, less popular days, and when the cover illustration was first revealed, I felt proud even though it wasn’t my novel.

The heroine, Serah, was also very much to my taste.

In this era, rampant with crazy yandere and mentally unstable women, a traditional nun-type heroine greatly stimulated my male heart.

Beautifully flowing platinum blonde hair. Long, wavy hair.

And sometimes, when she smiled or joked with the protagonist Chris, she was truly adorable.

She had a kind and self-sacrificing personality.

Furthermore, the occasional glimpses of her darker side were charming in themselves, to the point where I thought she was too good for Chris, the novel’s protagonist.

Moreover, the episodes that deepened as she became entangled with demons were truly fascinating, so I supported the author by leaving recommendations and comments on every chapter.

But then…

– I’m sorry, Chris.

What greeted the protagonist, who had temporarily left the academy for work, was Serah, covered in blood, having burned down everything in the kingdom. She then confronted the protagonist, and the novel was abruptly discontinued.

After getting along well with the protagonist for 200 chapters, a sudden ‘villain reveal!’ crazy development emerged, and I was appalled.

With no prior foreshadowing, the main heroine suddenly betrayed, became a villain, and then the series was discontinued.

I was utterly dumbfounded by these three insane developments, and filled with rage, I wrote an angry comment to the author, and while venting my anger at Serah for no reason.

I felt something strange and looked down to see blood gushing from my neck, and a kitchen knife in my hand.

Thinking it might be a dream, I stared blankly at the wound on my neck, only for blood to start spurting out in sync with my heartbeat, and as I writhed in burning pain and collapsed, a girl opened the door and appeared.

“I got the bread, di—…?”

The girl saw me, her eyes widened, and she ran wildly towards me, as my consciousness faded.

‘Author, you son of a b*tch….’

All I could do was curse the author inwardly.

****

Tere.

Tere.

Tere.

A warm sensation was felt in my hand as I lay there.

It felt as if someone was holding my hand. I felt the soft, delicate touch of fingers.

The warmth of a person could be felt from every single vein in the palm of my hand.

“Ugh.”

I’m alive.

I opened my eyes and glanced around.

What I saw was a ceiling made of old, worn-out wood.

A bed that smelled of mold.

And a girl lying down, holding my hand.

The girl’s hair was platinum blonde, so beautiful it could blind me.

I had never seen such beautiful hair in my life.

I was captivated by her hair. It didn’t matter where I was or who I was now. It was simply beautiful.

“So pretty….”

I stroked the girl’s hair. It was greasy and brittle, as if she hadn’t washed it recently, yet it was still soft.

It was hair that looked exactly like the heroine’s in the novel I was reading.

As I stroked her hair, I saw my own hand. My adult male hand was nowhere to be seen; instead, it was a young girl’s hand.

The crimson bloodstains here and there surely meant that my recent memory wasn’t a lie.

‘My, my neck?!’

Captivated by the girl in front of me, I hadn’t even checked my own condition. The wound on my neck should have been fatal.

But then…

“It’s smooth….”

It was completely smooth, without a single wound.

But the blood on my hand told me that my memory wasn’t a lie.

If so, then this girl in front of me must have healed me. I don’t know what world I’ve transmigrated into, but it must be a world where magic exists.

In fact, I had a guess as to which world it was.

It must be inside the novel ‘The Holy Knight Who Couldn’t Possibly Save the World.’

After all, this was the last novel I was reading, and I had even written a long, angry comment to the author, so the trigger condition was met.

But.

“No, who would have known I’d transmigrate like this, no matter what….”

What kind of twisted intention is it to make me transmigrate the moment after I slit my throat? Having to make excuses to this Serah-like girl was giving me a headache.

‘Surely, it’s not actually Serah, right?’

That’s impossible. I thought that, but deep down, I considered it a strong possibility.

In the novel, Serah was described as a girl with incredibly beautiful eyes and hair, and she appeared that way in illustrations. And the girl in front of me had a face that made me think, ‘If Serah were 6 or 7 years younger, wouldn’t she look like this?’

It seemed I had become the childhood friend of that crazy b*tch who betrayed the protagonist.

Just as my suspicions were turning into certainty, the girl blinked, then her eyes widened as she looked at me, standing up.

“Tere! Are you okay?! Is there anything wrong with your body?”

“Uh, yeah.”

The girl stood up, fumbled over my body, then hugged me tightly.

“Why, why did you do that?! Were you going to say you don’t want to live again?! You almost really died….”

Powerlessly accepting the girl’s embrace, I was simply dumbfounded.

I understood why the girl was sad, but I wasn’t the one who did it.

For now, I should just smile. I didn’t know what was going on, but I thought reassuring this girl was the priority.

Anyway, this girl is the one who betrayed the protagonist and destroyed the kingdom. I don’t know what kind of personality she has. There’s no harm in being careful.

“Mmm, I’m okay now, Serah.”

At that, the girl’s expression hardened.

Of course, anyone would think that someone who just tried to commit suicide by slitting their throat couldn’t possibly be okay, no matter how much they smiled and said they were.

How should I reassure Serah? As I was worrying inwardly, the girl’s mouth opened, and an unexpected remark came out.

“What do you mean, Serah…?”

“Huh?”

I had clearly assumed she was Serah, the heroine from the novel, and said her name, but she wasn’t Serah?

The girl who looked exactly like Serah in front of me wasn’t Serah?

The girl’s expression became even more serious.

This definitely isn’t good.

“Do you remember your name?”

“My name… it’s Tere.”

“Not your nickname.”

I’d been calling her Tere, thinking it was her name, but it was a nickname? I desperately racked my brain. Tere, Tere, the name that would follow…

“Teresa.”

“……”

Her serious face turned completely pale. If it wasn’t Teresa, then what was it?

“You don’t remember anything…? Not your name, not everything that’s happened until now…?”

I was instantly exposed for having lost my memory.

“…Yeah, sorry.”

Telling an awkward lie would only dig my own grave, so I confessed honestly.

“Ha, haha.”

The girl dropped her face and let out a hollow laugh.

“Is it because of me…? Is this why you became like this, Tere? Is it because I couldn’t do anything for you? H-h-h-h-h, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…. Because of me. But I, with you. H-h-h-h-h.”

The girl sat down, clutched her face with her hands, and began to sob.

She was crying so much that anyone watching would feel sorry for her.

I wanted to call her by her name, but since I didn’t know it, it was frustrating that I couldn’t even speak to her without referring to her as “hey” or something similar.

Time passed with the girl crying, and me just watching her.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes, five minutes.

In the frozen air, I remained speechless.

Is that girl not the heroine Serah? But her face looks exactly like a twin. Ah, she’s still crying. What should I do?

After a few more minutes, when the girl’s sobs lessened, I spoke to her.

“Um, you’re the one who saved me, right? You.”

“What?”

No, no, why am I trying to use honorifics? Look at that flustered expression.

“I don’t know who I am right now. I don’t know who you are either. But I do know that you’ve always been there for me when I was troubled and struggling. Not just now, but for a long time.”

The platinum-blonde girl stared at me with blank eyes. Her eyes were swollen, and the bridge of her nose was red.

“You even healed this wound. How did you fix it?”

I pointed to the wound on my neck and gave a wry smile.

It’s embarrassing.

I wasn’t the type to say such things. But I couldn’t just stand there while a girl who looked like my niece was sobbing.

“Having a friend like this, I feel truly blessed. And even if I’ve lost my memory, everything that’s happened up until now hasn’t disappeared. So…”

I’m embarrassed.

Could you please stop looking at me with that touched expression?!

“From now on, will you stay with me?”

With a blushing face, I looked up at the girl and asked her.

A tear rolled down the girl’s eye.

“Yes.”

And then she smiled like the bright sun.

Afterwards, the girl introduced herself as Eliya, and me as Tereze.

She said we were both 12 years old, the same age, and inseparable friends who had been together since childhood.

When I grumbled that it wasn’t much different from Teresa, Eliya chuckled.

I lost my memory, but she still called me Tere. Did that mean I was acting like Tere?

But I had merely transmigrated.

Perhaps I was unconsciously imitating the original owner’s habits.

Well, if Eliya likes it, then it’s fine.

Eliya and my relationship improved, but the situation was still not good.

We were living in the kingdom’s slums, in a situation where it was hard to even get a single loaf of bread just to survive.

That’s why I think the original owner of this body, Tere, attempted suicide.

A young girl would be greatly affected by even the smallest things like this.

Moreover, what would happen to me in the real world if this were the case? I didn’t particularly cling to the real world, but the thought of living in Tereze’s body indefinitely made me feel unsettled.

“Hmph.”

Eliya told me not to move yet, so I quietly lay in bed. Even though the wound was healed, I needed to rest because I had lost a lot of blood.

I had nothing to do lying down. So I was tidying my messy hair. It wasn’t platinum blonde like Eliya’s, but I also had dazzling golden hair.

Even with the slight protrusion of my chest, I realized anew that I had become a woman, but looking at this body, which was only 12 years old and now mine, I felt no lust or excitement.

On top of that, not eating or growing properly meant being skinny and dirty was an added bonus.

Oh dear, what a state I’m in, after living in modern South Korea where you just say the word and chicken gets delivered to your door, here I have to risk my life for a single loaf of bread.

As I was lamenting my fate, Eliya came in.

“Tere, I got some water.”

“Thanks.”

I drank the water from the wooden cup, and it tasted truly awful. Tap water at home tasted a hundred times better.

“Sorry, it tastes a bit bad, doesn’t it?”

She must have seen that I didn’t like the taste. Although I replied, “No… haha,” the distinct aftertaste of bad water lingered in my mouth, tormenting me.

As I shook my head at the bad taste, a sudden doubt arose. Eliya could use magic to the extent of healing a fatal wound on my neck.

But she’s living in a slum like this?

So when I immediately asked Eliya about that doubt, she spoke casually.

“When you collapsed, Tere, I prayed to the Goddess to save you, and then power gathered in my hands with a *whoosh*! So when I used that power, the wound healed?”

“……What?”

The Goddess’s voice. The Goddess’s chosen one.

“So Tere. You shouldn’t do dangerous things like that again, okay?”

The chosen Saintess of Light.

“Of course, even if you do, I’ll save you.”

Her name was different, but this girl was indeed the black-hearted heroine from the novel.

“We’re always together, aren’t we?”

It seemed I had become the childhood friend of the black-hearted heroine, who destroyed the kingdom.

Was it just my imagination that Eliya’s smiling eyes felt eerily chilling and scary?

Cold sweat ran down my back.