Anything But Saintly 3 (Patreon)

Dad didn't take long to drop on his knee, crouching in front of me, placing both hands on my shoulders with the biggest, brightest grin you would've ever seen, so much so that it was blinding me really - luckily, I have resistance built up in this body of mine.

"That's wonderful!"

"It's terrible!" 

Dad was... a lot more enthusiastic about my newfound powers than I could ever hope to be. Magic was a gift that many possessed, but very few could ever hope to use. Most people only had a wisp of mana in their being, only the sufficient amount to be susceptible to magic and to be capable of interacting with it.

Some thought all magic to be holy, but I, a former Saint, knew very well the difference between a regular magic user, and a true Saint. Tiara had made the difference between the two of us clear more than once, and most of the time, she wasn't even aware that she was showing off, she was just that powerful.

What was the biggest, greatest and most important difference between a Saint and a regular person?

When a saint prays, God answers. No ifs, no buts, no questions asked. You pray for a lightning bolt from the skies to fall upon and split a tree in twain, then by all that is holy, a lightning bolt will split a tree in twain before you! Even if there isn't a single cloud to be found in the skies, and the tree had to spontaneously grow from the green grass! 

I exaggerate only a little, throughout history Saints have had incredible power bestowed upon them by the Divine, and some even left writings about how they would meet an angel that would change their life, and from that moment onward, they would lead a blessed life.

I read those books many times, I had based most of my public facing personality off of them!

No angels were involved here, I hadn't ever spoken to God, in fact one of the most terrifying acts I had to perform as a Saint in my previous life was prayer, simply because I knew it never would be answered.

"How could it be?" dad asked, earnestly confused. "With this, you could be taken in by the church, and live a much better life than as the daughter of a nameless peasant!" dad reasoned. "Your mother would surely agree with me, and your brothers would be ecstatic!"

Yeah, well, what if I don't want that, dad? "What if I don't want that, dad?!" 

Oh, right! I don't have to just think things now! I can speak my mind freely, because I'm a kid again, and nobody expects me to be socially conscious! Even better, I'm a peasant, so I don't have to worry about offending some overly entitled twat of a royal by forgetting the name of his third uncle fifteen times removed! 

"I don't wanna go live in the church and do nothing but sit there all day while they parade me around!" I spoke more harshly than I intended, a little bit of the edge of the bitterness I felt from my previous life slipping through, unwelcome as it was right now. 

"I- but you'd get to have all the tasty food you want, and all the pretty clothes you could ever wish for, you'd be- you'd live and not have to worry about money ever again, or, or work, or-"

I huffed. "Daaaaaaaad! Nobody gets to live without work!" I said. "He who doesn't work, neither shall he eat, right?"

I'm sure I butchered that. Rather work as a butcher than as a saint again.

Dad sighed. "Well, yeah, but-" he shook his head. "Sweetie, this- this power of yours..."

I tried not to let the fact that it hurt, when I realized that my father was genuinely not considering whether I wanted to be a saint or not. It felt disturbingly like my first life, except at least this time, my father's making an effort to convince me that I chose it for myself, rather than me doing all the fooling on my own.

If it's like this, then I can just run awa-

"It's going to be really hard to hide," Dad said. "And if the church learns about it, there's not much I can do about them coming to take you," he said. 

Wha- "Dad?"

"Well, if you really don't want that, then I won't force you," he said, patting my head gently. "I'm glad you told me," he said. "But- your powers, sweetie, what are you going to do with them?" he asked. "I- if you really want to hide them, then I wouldn't reproach you, but-"

I shook my head. "I don't think- no, I don't think hiding my powers is gonna be a thing dad," I said, sighing, scratching the back of my neck. "I think I'd feel pretty lousy if I just let people around me suffer with injuries or sickness if I can do anything about it," I admitted.

Doing good feels good, I can't help it. It was one of my few joys in my life as a saint, when they let me just... do my thing. Just go to a plagued village and apply what little knowledge of medicine I had, what little magic I could utilize, what little aid I could provide... when they let me just be the person I wanted to be, it was great!

Too bad most of the time was spent with political bullshit.

"I guess that's why you don't want to join the church, considering how jealously they guard their priests and mages," dad joked, "the life of an independant's a harsh one sweetie, you'd have to hide the, uhm, the source of your power I guess? You think you can fake magic?"

Oh, easily! "Sure!" I said. 

After all, I used to fake holy power using magic, how much more difficult could the inverse be? I just need to pretend I'm casting Heal instead of praying to God for His hand to descend upon us and do away with our plight and malady-

Golden light washed upon us, and dad gasped, running his hands over his chest, going under the brown leather vest and rubbing along his side. "Oh, woah, wow, just, just wow, that was- that was nothing like I thought," Dad said, blinking in surprise and shock. "Was that-"

"Oops?" I shrugged. "Uhh! I think this might be a problem!" I added, offering dad my best innocent smile.

"Yeah... because Heal doesn't remove old scars, and you just did," Dad said, grabbing at the hem of his shirt, a little ragged though it was, and raising it to show a surprisingly well muscled torso, that more importantly, was free of an old scar dad had, from when he had tried to become a soldier or town guard only to find he wasn't suited to fighting. 

We both looked at each other.

"Oh!" I blinked.

High Heal could restore even old scars, but I wouldn't blame dad for not knowing High Heal is a thing this far out in the boonies, but soon, soon we would be spreading literacy and knowledge even more! There are parts of my legacy I'm proud of, and being part of the push for a more educated populace is one of them!

"I'll try really hard not to pray by accident," I offered, nodding with a smile. "It's okay since I can just say the words in my head, I just checked!"

"That's good, great even, amazing," Dad said, "but you think you can do anything about the golden glowing mist?" he asked, gesturing around us. "Because explaining this to your mom and brothers is going to be really difficult as is... Also where my all new clothes come from."

"New?" I asked, blinking. "But these are old!"

I gestured at his cheap and simple clothes, they were... old. Ratty even!

"Old, threadbare and nearly falling apart, yeah- or at least, they were," Dad explained. 

Oh.

Right.

These were low quality low cost clothes, made with makeshift means and materials, that a baker used in his everyday work. It's not that they were falling apart, it's that they were made by someone who was doing the best they could with what they had... which means-

"Ohhhh... so I didn't just heal you, I healed your clothes as well?" I asked.

Saints could do stuff like this?

I never read anything about this. I mean I know a few blessed weapons and shields, and armors, there was a blessed armor enshrined in the Central Cathedral that I remember copying off of to make my own blessed items, but I've never heard about just... repairing things.

As for the golden mist... "It should disappear on its own I think?" I said, waving my hands around me, the mist swirling and then seemingly getting the idea, gathering up in front of me into an ever shrinking ball that, with a humorous pop, disappeared instantly once it became too small to see. "I guess it's nice like that!" I giggled. I wonder if it would obey other kinds of commands too?

"Alright," Dad said, giving me one final smile before he stood back up to his full height, reminding me that I'm a shrimpy little kid now, "I think- we can probably do this. I don't know how, but, maybe your mom knows someone, hunters sometimes do odd jobs for the big name adventuring guilds... she's done a few so maybe she's got a friend or something we could hire to teach you magic, and if you know magic, you could disguise your powers as magic!"

I nodded.

Learning magic would be... well, easy! I've forgotten more about magic than most people will ever learn! Which is why I think it's probably a good idea to have a refresher course, especially because I can't remember how to actually get my body ready to use magic anymore. It's been so long since I've had to go through the beginners' exercises that I cannot for the life of me remember them at all!

Seriously, I only ever taught advanced courses as a guest lecturer too, I'm ashamed to think that I've forgotten so much of the basics!

Therefore, I was entirely truthful in my joy! "Yaaay! That's a great idea Dad!" I said, "If I become an adventurer at a guild, I can help people aaaaall over the place, without someone trying to tell me who I can and can't heal!"

"That's right, sweetie! And more importantly, having the security of a big organization just in case helps!" Dad said with a smile. "Guilds are always looking for capable healers, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble at all finding someone to take you."

And the best part of this is, I don't even have to fake being interested in the structure of a guild, and don't have to pretend that I don't already know it, because this is all new to me! I have no idea how a guild works, only the vague knowledge that Mom has imparted on me in this life while telling me an odd story or two.

Honestly this is really the best! I knew trusting Dad was the right decision! 

Take that, Duke! This is what a Dad is supposed to be like! 

"Alright, so I guess the first thing to do is tell your mom and siblings, huh?" Dad said, ruffling my hair. "How about we wait until after the festival, though? Everyone's gonna be super busy until then."

I suppose that's fine; there's no urgency to this.

Short of an urgency that required me to reveal my powers to everyone before I was even remotely ready to do so, we would be absolutely fine!