Taking Over the Villainess’ Body: 365 Days Left to Live?

“Pardon me, Elder Matthias… But are you not mistaken? Sure, the bird is peculiar but I don’t sense any great power inside her tiny body… Just that she’s cute,” Debienne’s voice trembled as she asked.

No way! She’s got a good grasp on her power and will be able to sense if the bird is something that great. The saintess also should be able to sense it… She can’t accept this kind of explanation!

There’s only one logical explanation in this case… The Elder Priest Matthias has really gone senile and is spouting nonsense!

…Right?

Debienne’s facial muscles twitched as she looked at the small pink ball of fluff that was 100% proud of herself.

 

Hearing Debienne’s words, the others in the room nodded in agreement, including Ann who was with Birdie most of the time… or more like Birdie was attached to her like an accessory would…

“...Do you all take me for a senile old man?” 

Elder Priest Matthias asked with a domineering tone, his eyes were very clear as he looked into everyone’s eyes.

All of them–who had their minds guessed–found themselves having goosebumps and were scared.

Can this old man really read minds?!

 

Elder Priest Matthias clicked his tongue as he shook his head.

“Young ones these days are really close-minded…”

Ann and Laura felt the most chills, as they were so proud of their open-mindedness before… Compared to the people of this world, the two of them had experienced the modern world and had their minds open the most, but… The elder priest’s words acted like an arrow that mercilessly pierced their hearts. 

“You there, you’ve seen the page of the book I was reading, yes?” Elder Priest Matthias suddenly turned to look at Ann, and Ann reflexively tensed her body as if she was being interrogated.

“Uhhhh… Yes?” Ann wasn’t sure where this elder priest was going…

“Did you understand the content?” Elder Matthias asked.

At his question, Ann felt like roaring…

Elder Priest, please! If you’re that awesome, you must’ve already known who I am and my origins! How can you suddenly ask if I understand the content of a very old book… not to mention that the writing isn’t that clear, the writing’s not even in a language I understand!! It’s like reading a Chinese textbook in the modern world! How am I supposed to understand the content when I don’t even recognize the language of the writing?!

 

“Oh… I guess you don’t,” Elder Priest Matthias didn’t even have to be able to read minds or wait for Ann’s answer. Ann’s expression alone was enough for him to surmise that, and so he turned away from Ann in a tone full of disappointment.

“...”

Hearing the elder’s disappointed tone, Ann’s face twitched.

Elder, I am not the saintess who’s been educated in the temple! Why are you disappointed in me, hey?

 

Elder Priest Matthias then turned to Laura and without saying a word, he passed the heavy, old-looking book to her. Laura was in her ‘good child’ and ‘exemplary saintess’ mode in front of the Elder Priest, so her body moved on its own to receive the book that was being handed over to her.

The book’s weight was unexpectedly heavier than what she had guessed, she almost didn’t have a good grip of the book and let it fall to the ground…

Elder Matthias was carrying the book and made it seem like it wasn’t as heavy as it really was!!

When Laura had realized that her body had moved on its own, she could only smile wryly as she quickly took a look at the book’s page, under the Elder Matthias’ impatient gaze.

 

When Laura saw the page, her focus immediately went towards the drawing of a bird and the entry of the beast that she had peeked at before… Is it Phoenix? 

The bird depicted in the drawing was majestic and had resemblances to the legendary bird, Phoenix, but it wasn’t fiery like one would expect a Phoenix who had risen from the ashes would be. There was even a gem embedded in the bird’s heart. 

Laura saw the illustration and turned to look at Birdie.

Now that she could see the book clearly, it was clear that… Yeah, Birdie still looked nothing like this majestic bird. The book was drawn in monochromatic color, so she couldn’t tell the color of the bird. The shape, however, made her sure that Birdie was definitely not of this species! 

The only similarities they both had were that they were both birds and there was a gem embedded in their body. But there were also many beasts with gems embedded in their bodies, yet depending on their shapes, gem characteristics and locations, they were different species altogether and Laura knew it. 

 

“Read,” Elder Matthias seemed to notice that Laura was only comparing the images, so he ordered Laura to read the entry.

Flustered, Laura quickly lowered her gaze and started to read what she could.

“...Bird…,” Laura stopped and started to sweat bullets as she glanced at the Elder’s piercing gaze towards her.

It was hard to read because the writing was also damaged due to the passage of time, and the ancient writing used in it was so hard to read! This book seemed to be very old that the writing wasn’t printed, but was definitely hand-written by the author with a handwriting that was so spectacular it was hard to read!

Plus, it seemed to be very ancient that it also used the very old ancient language that was on ‘Extreme’ difficulty level to Laura.

This time, Laura knew she was doomed. 

But, the elder didn’t seem to leave a leeway for her, so she could only read like an elementary schooler that just learned to read, no, like a toddler that was still learning to read!

 

“......Bird of ….dence.”

“According to a legend passed down in the … tribe, these birds are … …. … … the world. The gem embedded in their body is the … of their … The bird can … members of ... tribe or very rarely, … … to … and when their … companion’s … was … … end, a … can be … in order to … a new … to the … by … … … the bird. The bird … … someone of the … … … to have … … … …, and in most cases, both … … … of … … … … … the bird’s…. A little is known of this bird and its …, but the … tribe believed that the mythical bird finds … … … … and wants … … … … by experiencing a … … … … … and … the … … … and …”

“It’s believed that there were a lot more of these birds in the past. But the … … … … … as they … a … to … … …, … the bird, … the gemstone, and … … … … … life. Whether this species decided to … … … … … the … … or their species … … … … to the … … is unknown.”

By the time Laura finished reading, she almost wanted to burst into tears.

Oh, how horrible!

She doesn’t even have the slightest clue on what she’s reading!

And there are just a lot of words she can’t read that she stuttered way too many times!!

Just when she thought she could finally read a lot of the words, she suddenly drew blanks for the continuation of the sentence that she’s crushed… 

She could only read one full sentence that’s the easiest and the most useless information on the page. 

 

When she looked at the others’ expressions, she wanted to crawl in a hole more…

Ann was clearly dumbfounded, Allen’s eyebrows were scrunched, Faye was tilting her head in confusion, the young priests had blank looks, Debienne was looking at her with an expression that seemed to say, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”, Elder Matthias had his expressions changing from exasperation to disappointment then to a shocked look… the little pink bird even had a very harsh judging look on her face despite being just a little bird!

“R-read this yourself, Priest Debienne! This is basically unreadable!!” Laura quickly shoved the book to Debienne, who took a look at the book and went silent. 

“...” It really is hard to read!

Debienne then looked at the Elder Priest in wonder. How the heck can this old man read this text that’s basically unreadable?!

 

“Fool! A bunch of fools, you are!” Elder Matthias scolded Laura and Debienne, who could only be resigned to their fate of a scolding…

“.........” 

“......Go and study ancient language more intensely for the next ten years!” Elder Priest Matthias concluded his scolding.

Whoa, that’s harsh!

Even Ann paled when she heard those words, let alone Laura and also Debienne…

Damn it, the old man must’ve lived a very long life if he could read this old ancient handwriting! It’s like how modern world people can’t even read the handwriting of an ancient person in an ancient text, even when they both speak the same language… Spare me!!

Laura shouted in her heart, but when she looked at Debienne whose expression was worse than her, she felt consoled somehow.

Okay, let’s just say that Elder Priest Matthias is out of the world, since even Priest Debienne had an expression that seemed to say that the elder was asking for the impossible!

 

“And you, over there!”

Elder Priest Matthias suddenly turned to Ann, who almost jumped in fright and surprise.

F-father, I mean, Elder Priest! Can you please not surprise me like that?! I am so fragile, I was about to faint!

“Yes, Elder Priest?” Ann asked awkwardly.

“How can you not be aware of this mythical bird’s magnificence when you’re under contract with it?!” Elder Priest Matthias scolded.

G-great… Just now I was relieved that the scary old man didn’t scold me, but now here I am!!

Ann could only hang her head down, akin to a child who was just scolded by their parent after being a bad kid.

“……” The others tried so hard to display their poker face, afraid that the elder would suddenly snap at them due to their wrong expression…

 

“Uh, Priest… You are aware that Birdie can’t talk, right? And so far, she has never displayed anything that indicates she’s a legendary mythical bird with great power…,” Ann scratched her head.

Birdie did help her once, based on what Faye had told her too… But that kind of help wasn’t that grand, and she was on par with not-so-strong-but-not-that-weak-monsters out there, so…

“Tell me, young girl. Is your contract a master-servant contract?” Elder Priest suddenly asked.

“Uhm…,” Ann had a foreboding feeling as she nodded, “Yes…”

“Then, who is the master of the contract?” Elder Matthias asked.

His question jabbed at Ann’s insecurities at a point-blank range.

That’s right! Birdie forcefully made the contract with her, and…

Actually, she had forgotten about it until now, since there were many more pressing matters at hand…

Being reminded so suddenly in front of many people like this, Ann was feeling down once more. Her pride…!

 

“Why, can’t answer me?” Elder Matthias asked as he chuckled.

“Uhh… Elder, you know, don’t you?” Ann sighed.

Allen furrowed his brows.

Why does he feel like he dislikes it when this old man knew something that he might not even know?

“You foolish girl…,” Elder Matthias clicked his tongue and shook his head again. He heaved a deep sigh before saying, “How dare you underestimate your own master?!”

 

1… 2… 3…

“WHAAAAT?!”

There was a deafening silent for a few seconds before the room exploded.

 

“Ann, is it true? The little bird is your master?!” Laura asked as she tried to hold her laughter back. Her face was so irritating Ann wanted to smack her in the face…

“Birdie is Ann-sama’s master?! She’s my grand master?!” Faye’s beautifully ringing voice somehow managed to prick Ann’s heart this time…

“You…? Seriously?” Even Allen looked at her wide-eyed.

Debienne’s mouth already formed the ‘O’ alphabet, while the young priests muffled their laughter.

Ann felt like crawling into a hole…

Her life’s done for!!

As she turned away from the others’ look of disbelief and ridicule, Ann met with Birdie’s mocking eyes.

Not you toooooo!!

Ann wanted to strangle Birdie lovingly…

 

“Master—I mean, Elder Priest Matthias, please! Can you help me with this?” Ann pleaded to the elder.

“You fool! You should be honored being chosen by such a majestic creature!” The elder made a smacking gesture in the air…

“Noooooooo!!” Ann was surprised when the elder made that smacking gesture that she reflexively covered her poor head…

Please don’t smack it! What do I do if I get dumber from the smack?!

 

“E-elder priest Matthias… It’s true that I still need to study a lot more… But can you please help enlighten me as to what the passage actually says?” Laura managed to calm herself down after laughing to her heart’s content. She managed to say with what little sanity she had left…

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… It can’t be helped,” Elder Priest Matthias said as he took the book back and started to read it aloud for everyone to listen.

 

The moment the elder held the book again, all of the audience present unconsciously held their breaths in suspense.

Their eyes sparkled; their ears perked up…

As the elder opened his mouth…