Chapter 2 (Part 5)

While she was briefly lost in thought, the communication seemed to have ended as Leonardo took a deep breath and set the communicator down on the table.

Seeing the deep fatigue on his face, Grace apologized, feeling sorry.

“I’m sorry. I, um… didn’t act well…?”

To her unexpected apology, Leonardo shook his head.

Gesturing for her to sit down, Leonardo spoke.

“Caleb Martin is an excellent mage even within the Mage Tower. I didn’t expect to fool him.”

At his words, Grace narrowed her eyes, glaring at him, as if she had been tricked.

Then Leonardo spoke as if he couldn’t believe it.

“You’re the one who’s strange for thinking you wouldn’t be caught just because it’s a communicator.”

Grace felt embarrassed by Leonardo’s firm words.

After all, she had barely paid attention during basic magic theory classes, so she didn’t remember anything.

Grace scratched her cheek with her hand and asked.

“So, what do we do now?”

“We need to wait for the items to be delivered. In the meantime, I will inspect the corpse inside once more.”

With that, he got up and disappeared into the women’s quarters, leaving Grace feeling somewhat idle.

Lying on the table, Grace thought absentmindedly.

On the first day, just seeing Leonardo’s face made her angry, but today, it wasn’t quite that bad.

‘Why is that? Is it because I like his face?’

Leonardo’s face was so handsome that people joked it might be a sculpture crafted by God.

Of course, she didn’t know if his body was like that too.

‘He seems to know some swordsmanship despite being a mage.’

Grace found it most peculiar that a mage would learn swordsmanship.

Typically, mages were said to be gloomy and sinister, obsessed with one thing, according to her master.

Most of the mages she encountered while running errands at the Mage Tower were like that.

‘But a mage who cooks and knows swordsmanship? That’s fascinating.’

Grace found it both amusing and strange to discover this new side of Leonardo in such a situation.

Turning her head toward the women’s quarters where Leonardo was, Grace murmured softly.

“What made him so unpleasant?”

He was so annoying and irritating to look at. Why did he seem somewhat okay now?

Grace found it inexplicably strange.

Meanwhile, Leonardo, who was examining the skeleton in the women’s quarters, felt his ears itching repeatedly and rubbed them hard with his palms.

After rubbing both sides, he felt relieved and resumed examining the skeleton.

“…I’ve seen this somewhere.”

There was a peculiar symbol engraved on the neck of the skeleton.

Seeing it so clearly engraved, Leonardo wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before and took out his notebook.

After carefully sketching the symbol, he checked for any other peculiarities and put the notebook away.

Then he shouted loudly toward the outside.

“Sir Lowell! If there’s a purification potion, please bring it!”

Even though he asked her to bring it, Leonardo wasn’t entirely sure Grace would comply. Of course, she had surprisingly brought it earlier, but that was unusual even for him.

‘If it were the Grace from the dream, maybe.’

In the dream, she had not only willingly spread her legs but also enjoyed it, but that was just a dream, after all.

He sat awkwardly, thinking that if she didn’t come, he would go himself, but then the door opened, startling him.

“Why are you so surprised? You asked for something to be brought.”

Seeing Leonardo unable to say anything even as he took the potion from her, Grace chuckled incredulously.

“What is it with that reaction? Did you think… I wouldn’t bring it? I brought it earlier too.”

“No.”

At his reluctant-sounding response, Grace crossed her arms. Then she gestured with her chin.

“No matter how much I disliked you, I would have cooperated with work-related matters. That’s a bit much.”

Reading the disappointment in Grace’s voice, Leonardo gripped the potion bottle tightly.

Then he bowed his head in apology.

“I’m sorry, Sir Lowell.”

“Well, it’s fine. I would have thought the same if I were you. So, why do you need that?”

At Grace’s question, Leonardo opened the bottle.

As the potion’s distinct smell wafted out, Grace wrinkled her nose slightly.

“Ugh, why haven’t they improved that part? The smell is really strange.”

To her words, Leonardo replied in a detached tone.

“It’s more efficient to make one more potion than to research that.”

“Oh, mages.”

Grace shrugged as she said this.

Though the 2nd Knight Order also pursued extreme efficiency, their approach was slightly different.

“At least we think and act more than knights do. Cover your nose with a handkerchief.”

At Leonardo’s words, Grace looked incredulous.

She was about to retort, asking why he said that here, but Leonardo suddenly poured the potion over the skeleton, leaving her speechless.

Black smoke suddenly rose from the skeleton hit by the potion.

Startled, Grace reflexively pulled a nearby blanket over her nose and mouth, her face filled with shock.

“…What, was it a black magician?”

“It seems so.”

At his confirmation, Grace shouted in even greater disbelief.

“Black magicians are under strict control―!”

“There are always peculiar people in the world.”

His cold response left Grace unable to say anything more.

Not only was Leonardo’s face more serious than hers, but his words weren’t wrong either.

Watching the skeleton with trembling eyes, Grace asked.

“What happens to that now?”

“I plan to contact the Mage Tower and Sorcerer’s Tower to request retrieval and research.”

“…Will you report our situation?”

For a moment, Leonardo flinched at the word “our” that slipped from Grace’s lips.

Not because he disliked or was disgusted by it, but because it sounded sweeter than he expected.

‘I’m not in my right mind, Leonardo.’

Leonardo thought that what he felt just now must have been an illusion and shook his head.

“No. Separately, this skeleton needs to be investigated.”

“Why?”

“Because depending on how deeply it was involved in black magic and its intensity, we need to decide how many kilometers around must be purified.”

At his words, Grace clenched her teeth, recalling the rule that places where black magic was performed must be purified by a priest.

If they had to purify this place.

“We won’t be able to use the women’s quarters.”

“Yes, that’s how it will be.”

At his answer, Grace ruffled her hair in frustration.

Her well-kept blonde hair flew wildly.

“Oh, really… Nothing’s going right.”

“It seems we need to stay here for a while. We need more detailed confirmation.”

At his words, Grace nodded with a dissatisfied face.

Then she suddenly remembered something and asked.

“By the way, when did you, um, go?”

It was indeed an abrupt question, but Leonardo answered sincerely like a student.

“…Oh. Come to think of it, I forgot to go this morning.”

Mages were used to holding back natural bodily functions to focus on research, so Leonardo hadn’t gone to the bathroom often even after entering Grace’s body.

At his answer, Grace grabbed Leonardo’s hand in shock and pulled him outside.

“No, seriously! Are you using this body recklessly because it’s not yours? How can you forget to go to the bathroom!”

At her angry voice, Leonardo replied a bit unfairly.

“Nothing happens just because you hold it a little.”

“It does! For women, it does!”

Surprised by her unexpected response, Leonardo blinked.

But he, too, wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about women, so he didn’t know what was common knowledge for women.

“Not going to the bathroom causes illness?”

“Oh, seriously! Doesn’t it happen to men?”

“…I don’t think so.”

Under Grace’s fierce glare, Leonardo replied in a small voice.

In any case, this body belonged to Grace Lowell, and he needed to return it intact. It was his mistake not to consider that.

“I’m sorry. I’ll correct it.”

“Go right now!”

Grace, pressing his back firmly, pushed Leonardo into the bathroom and leaned against the wall with an annoyed face.

Due to her job, she often couldn’t go to the bathroom on time and frequently had issues.

If it happened again this time, how would she get treatment?

‘I just got over a bladder infection!’

Grace bit her lip nervously.

Leaning against the wall, yesterday’s incident suddenly crossed her mind. The incident where she had an accident because she didn’t know how to go properly.

‘Why am I thinking about that now?’

The door was still attached, albeit half-broken.

The only saving grace was that only the lower part remained, so they didn’t have to show each other embarrassing sights.

Of course, the door had to be fixed.

‘…He should know how to go, right?’

Though she didn’t want to admit it, Leonardo was smarter than her.

Didn’t he loudly declare that men and women had different body structures and needed to go in different positions?

But strangely, the back of her head kept tingling.

Knowing she shouldn’t, Grace couldn’t suppress her unease and slightly turned her body to peek.

“Ah, ahh! Wait, wait a minute!”

Leonardo, who was just about to go, was standing in an awkward position like her, visible beyond the missing top of the door.

And he had only partially unzipped his pants!

“Is this person crazy!”

“Are you insane, Sir! Where is it appropriate to spy on someone relieving themselves!”

Leonardo protested strongly, trying to cover up, but Grace shouted even louder.

“You’re the crazy one! Right now! Pull down your pants!”

“Wha-what should I pull down?”

Startled by Grace’s shocking choice of words, Leonardo hiccupped and asked back.

But Grace ignored him and approached quickly. Then, with swift hands, she yanked down his pants, pulling them to his thighs.

As his lower body suddenly felt chilly, Leonardo’s face turned bright red.

“Grace Lowell! Are you crazy?”

“Sit down! Sit down to relieve yourself!”

“Pulling down someone’s pants! So recklessly!”

“Enough! Women relieve themselves sitting down!”

Shouting this, Grace forcibly sat Leonardo on the toilet.

Even though he had a knight’s body, he was so flustered, and with a man as big as Leonardo pressing him down, he couldn’t do anything.

Just as Leonardo was about to shout something, forcibly seated on the toilet as she commanded.

“―Oh, damn.”

The sound of a strong stream of water was heard.

Feeling an unfamiliar sensation below, different from when he usually went, Leonardo covered his face with his hands in shame.

Looking down at him, Grace smirked.

“What’s this, acting all the same as me.”

Even without hearing the omitted words, Leonardo knew what they were and felt doubly ashamed.

It was truly a moment where a mage’s pride couldn’t help but be greatly diminished.