What the hell is going on?
Age at death: 34. Killed in the line of duty, shot by a criminal I was pursuing.
Having died so young, I should’ve at least departed for a heaven full of dreams and hope, bearing a shining title of honor.
“Foolish thing. I said you were lacking—did you decide to prove it by actually being lacking?”
So where the hell is heaven, and why is there some middle-aged man I’ve never seen before yelling in my face?
This is supposed to be my heaven?
“I told you, if you’re going to die, die in the Grand Temple! And yet you keep returning to your family? What the hell will it take for you to get your head on straight?!”
BANG!
The man, who was shouting things I didn’t understand, slammed the table with terrifying force.
The lavish food laid out before him trembled on its plates.
So… I’m sitting in some kind of dining hall right now?
A chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A long table draped in white cloth. Ornate candleholders.
All of it looked like something out of a movie.
Even the man cursing at me and the people watching from behind him were all dressed in luxurious suits and elegant gowns.
What is this place? The afterlife… or some early-modern romance fantasy world?
“I can no longer tolerate your insolence. Take her away, lock her in her room, and don’t give her even a sip of water! At sunrise tomorrow, drag her back to the Grand Temple!”
…Okay. At the very least, I now know for sure this isn’t heaven.
Before I could fully absorb that realization, a couple of women grabbed me by both arms and started dragging me away.
“W-Wait a second!”
Thud!
…Huh? What?
Putting aside the fact that I’m wearing a maid outfit—whether it’s cosplay or not—why the hell am I getting dragged away so easily? By women who don’t even look that strong?
That can’t be right.
Do you lose muscle mass when you die?
“You’ve completely ruined my appetite.”
While I was frozen in the chaos, someone sneered at me. A young man seated in front of a table loaded with luxurious food.
“Do I seriously have to look at your face even here? You don’t belong in this place, Ordell. Get lost.”
Even though he looked way younger than me and was acting like a total little bastard, I couldn’t say a single word in response.
Ordell. Ordell. Ordell.
What is this? Why does that name sound so familiar… and so goddamn ominous?
And why are they calling me that—as if it’s actually my name?
Ping—
【Welcome, user ■■■! I am the AI system responsible for managing dimensions.】
That’s when a strange window popped up in front of my dazed eyes.
It looked just like one of those system message windows you see in video games…
【You have now possessed a body in the world of <Holy Idella>. From today onward, your name is ‘Ordell Kiris’.】
【To ensure a smooth possession experience, I will support you with utmost sincerity. I look forward to working with you.】
“What the hell is this…”
Bullshit.
I closed my eyes expecting a peaceful path to heaven, and instead—
They just went and started my second life without even asking me?
What the hell. Give me back my heaven.
* * *
I was a civil servant.
More specifically, I was a police officer who caught bad guys.
The pay was crap, and if a case blew up, overtime was guaranteed.
Sometimes I had to go undercover for months. There wasn’t even a speck of work-life balance.
My one and only comfort was webnovels.
With my irregular schedule, it was nearly impossible to spend time with anyone, but I could still enjoy webnovels without any trouble.
And among them, my favorite was Holy Idella.
“…But I think I’m going to start hating it now.”
Holy Idella is a romance fantasy about a heroine who becomes a saint and saves the world.
Did I possess her?
As if.
No—I ended up in the body of the one who causes chaos all around her, is consumed by jealousy over the far more capable heroine, torments her obsessively—
—and eventually gets what’s coming to her when the male leads crush her.
The typical worthless villainess in every romance fantasy.
I possessed Ordell Kiris.
“On top of that, her family situation is a complete disaster.”
The way everyone kept screaming at her, I thought maybe she’d wandered into some enemy house by accident.
Turns out, this was actually her family’s estate.
And that middle-aged man who just ordered me to be starved? He’s her father—the Count of Kiris.
Ordell is the family’s punching bag.
You can tell just by looking at the room they threw me into.
An attic shoved into a dark corner, where sunlight barely reaches.
Dust piled up everywhere.
Furniture with clear signs of rat bites, and a blanket still stained yellow.
If someone asked me which character in Holy Idella I’d least want to possess, Ordell would easily take the number one spot.
“Seriously, of all people—why did I have to end up in Ordell’s body?!”
Ping—
【Your question has been received by the AI system.】
As I slammed my fist on the floor in frustration, another notification dinged and a system message floated up before my eyes.
I grabbed that damn window on reflex.
【Your soul has been selected as an apostle of the Sun God by overcoming the incredibly rare odds of 0.00018%.】
What a perfect number to cuss at.
What, is this asking me to yell at it?
【Originally, you were supposed to reincarnate. However, due to the Sun God’s insufficient power, possession of an existing body was the only option.】
“…Insufficient?”
What—are you saying the Sun God is stupid?
【Correction: The Sun God currently lacks sufficient divine power to facilitate full reincarnation.】
【This is also the reason why the Sun God summoned you to this world.】
All right, let’s hear it.
What monumental reason could possibly justify yanking a good soul out of their well-earned heaven?
【<Quest> “Revive the Sun that Crawled Back from Death”!
The ‘Sun that Crawled Back from Death’ is on the verge of extinction due to a critical shortage of followers.
Become the saint who inherits this god’s power. Increase the number of believers. Build up divine power.
Save the dying god and this world from obliteration!
Reward upon success: Wealth, fame, and authority as a saint.
Penalty upon failure: The eternal disappearance of the ‘Sun that Crawled Back from Death’ and the collapse of the dimension.】
So not only did they toss me into a saint-themed novel without permission, they’re demanding I become a saint?
“I’m going to lose my damn mind.”
I let out a hollow laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
Then I caught sight of a dusty mirror.
Long pink hair flowing in curls.
Golden eyes shining brightly, even in this filthy room.
Sharp, upturned eyes and a face so beautiful it gave off an icy, haughty aura.
If we were on Earth, this woman’s looks alone could’ve conquered the entire entertainment industry.
But so what?
She’s stuck in a horrible family, burdened with crushing inferiority, and behaves like an absolute menace. Ordell is a fake saint.
And they expect me to become a real saint in the body of someone with barely a speck of divine power?
Why didn’t they just stick me in the heroine’s body from the start?
In the original story, the impoverished Grand Temple is miraculously revived thanks to the sudden arrival of the heroine, and she goes on to save the world in a period of great prosperity.
I never imagined the Sun God would have a gross, ominous name like “The Sun that Crawled Back from Death,” but whatever. If left alone, everything would’ve worked out anyway.
So why the hell did they waste what little power they had to drag me, a soul that was headed for heaven, into this fake saint’s body?
【That question falls under divine secrets. You must reach at least 40% divine power to access the answer.】
So they possessed me against my will and now won’t even tell me the truth?
How is someone weak like me supposed to live in this world?
“How much divine power do I even have right now?”
Even though Ordell is a fake saint, she does have divine power.
In the novel, it’s described as “barely enough to scrape by,” but she managed to act as a saint until the heroine appeared. So I figured maybe at least… 20%?
【Current divine power: 2%】
“…?”
I rubbed my eyes and looked again. But no miracle happened—2% was still 2%.
【To achieve full saint awakening, you must reach 100% divine power.】
So they shoved me into a body with only 2% divine power and expect me to become a saint and restore the Grand Temple?
No matter how I look at it, the Sun God really is lacking in the brains department.