AN: traveling, no computer, excuse any weird formatting. I'll fix it in time.

Envious of those blessed by fate, I did my best to casually hang around the disciples that wandered the city. Using this method I gradually learned...very little.

Nearly an hour had passed, and I wasn’t much better off than before, learning only of gossip. Lacking even malcontents, it was hard to find discussions relating to the church and its policies. Since the culture apparently remained fairly homogeneous throughout the country, there really was little purpose in expending resources to explain it either.

It seemed my best option going forward was to make my own ‘coincidental meeting’.

I’d not done so earlier due to the rather duplicitous nature of it. Sure it might not be lying, but it sure wasn't being straightforward. In a sense, most of what I told the villagers was based on a lie, but somehow world crossing felt like it fell under ‘lies heroes are allowed to tell’.

First step, establish a character. Since I could run into people I met in Glaucen in the future and lacked a disguise, I couldn't just make a throwaway character. Aspects of my current personality were foreign, magical, curious, helpful, polite, and rambling. Foreign would be the best base attribute, followed by another that complimented the other party.

Second step, find a mark. Rarely had I used the skill to gather information; instead finding groups or individuals to let me join their party. Although the mentality of those I was looking for didn't center around ‘need cleric for heals’, I’d been around enough people to know how to judge at a glance.

The hour was a little early for finding a TavernBro, so foreign/rambling over drinks was out. I walked through the streets on a slightly varying path to survey a few different individuals. I saw three female and one male disciple who looked like they would be amicable to the foreign/curious combination, and I spotted a magic-user who could be receptive.

Lacking knowledge about the restrictions wizards faced, I ruled against that. Upon reflection, speaking to a member of the church as a necromancer, probably held its own share of risks. I suppose I just judged it less likely they would detect a specific branch of magic, as opposed to them having a system to report rogue mages.

So of the four disciples, I chose one of the females who looked to be around my apparent age, and had dark hair as I did. Stepping through an alley, I magic’d my hair clean and got rid of my scruffy facial hair. Attractiveness is a vague thing, and it’s never been clear to me how to attain it. Still, I realized that my new body would be better off focusing on my now fairly bishounen attributes.

At the very least, my body was something created with aesthetics in mind. Even with a slightly poor sense of style that fact let me surpass the organically grown.

My hair now drawn back into a ponytail, a style no man here wore, I felt suitably foreign. For good measure I rolled up my left sleeve. Putting on a confused face and looking around quickly as if trying to understand the place, my pace grew erratic.

Third step, enter the environment. Coincidences are not forced, and when something unnatural happens, people become suspicious of how it came to be. The character can't just come ex nihlo, as soon as you step up to the mark.

In places where the disciple could see me, I began asking questions. Simple questions to busy people, so they could answer and brush me off. I exist before we bump into each other, although possibly a rare sight, I am not unusual.

Step four, casual encounter. Crash-into hello and asking a question were both viable options, but questions are a much more common affair. And the more unique the situation, the more indelible the memory. Luckily for me, the busy streets and a lack of glass doors made setting the process up much easier.

“No, please, I only have a few questions.” Standing near the outside of some trinket shop where the disciple was currently browsing, I ‘tried’ gaining the attention of a man carrying a load far too heavy to stop and chat. He spoke only a few dismissive words only barely slowing his stride.

“Ai, yareyare…” Letting out a soft verbal complaint, I let my head hang. Remaining that way for a few moments to regain composure I turned around and started moving as the door to the shop open. With a to hinder her dexterity, and the fact I was setting up the farce, to the observer I had stopped in time and the disciple’s fumbling that caused the collision.

“Keh!” Perhaps I shouldn't have set up the situation so eloquently, because my new body was weak. Hitting harder than expected, a few hit points disappeared upon crashing onto the pavestones, and I felt my Stamina enter a non-regenerative state as the disciple knocked the wind out of me with her elbow.

The accursed Level 1 body was too damn feeble! Please pity me, kind disciple, at the very least this pain isn't an act. Even so I must take initiative.

“I'm sorry for the collision…that was my fault in totality.” Apologizing profusely, my dialect slipped a little. Well, normally I take several days to establish a new character, 30 minutes to fully dive into a personality exceeded my skill at the moment.

I couldn't exactly make any movements, being half pinned down. At least I kept her from hitting the ground too hard, that was a fairly trope-like occurrence. As if in pain, I wrenched my eyes shut and grimaced, listening in on the surroundings. After a brief moment of analysis, I could hear worry and traces of fear in the exclamations.

“Keh!” Only observing for a moment, because the next, air was forced out of my lungs again. It seemed my torso was a much more appealing spot to use as leverage than the gritty ground to push herself up.

Had I chosen wrongly? This was not the act of a considerate person!

“Oh, I’m sorry! Sorry!” Oh, an apology? That’s-

“Ack!” In shifting her hand off my chest, she ended up kneeling on one of my legs. Hit points wasted away as my bones strained.

“Oh no! I didn't mean to!” Is this the clumsy girl archetype? Was that the unknown variable that acted as a force multiplier to my pain? Really, tripping someone already prone to collisions, but how was I to-

“Gah!” While trying to get up, she lost her balance and flopped onto my chest, her right elbow smashing into my face.

Okay, this has to be a devil in disguise doesn't it? For even a clumsy person to repeatedly harm as if it were a slapstick comedy! It can’t be that this would be the only coincidence I can find in-

Crushing half my ribs as she tried getting off of me, I could sense my health had been reduced by one fifth, and my Stamina had fallen to half. She apologized profusely as I shakily began breathing again, working to sit up.

God of Fate, what trials you set before those who trespass on your domain. But this…

This was true coincidence! I had not predicted the archetype of bumbling girl in this situation. Indeed, it became honest as my original plans unraveled, bought with pain, but such a price I am willing to pay. It is a much more entertaining matter to come up with plans on the fly anyhow! Readjusting my character,I rose to my feet, interrupting her apologetics.

“No, it’s alright; the collision was my fault in any case. I’m perfectly fine.” I covered my mouth as I coughed several times. Oh. I seemed to be leaking. Since my hit points weren't decreasing any further I waved it off.

Taking me to be someone of a realistic constitution, the disciple was rather alarmed. Not that she could possibly know I possessed a body with an arbitrary scaling of health.

“You're bleeding! Oh, things have never gone this badly before. Just hold on, I can fix this.” Moving behind me, she put her hands on my shoulder and began to chant. Despite having never the incantation before that moment, it was easy to tell she recited it perfectly. So she was one of those that were clumsy but highly skilled, it seemed.

“E, we call to you Guardian of Man,

Patriarch who has given himself.

Please lend thy strength once again,

Sing Tian Meng, sing Tian Meng,

Life beseeches you for Health.”

The translation doesn't really do it much justice, but in Derrian the cadence sounded melodious. For a second, I felt a warm glow spread across my back. It didn't have a great presence, she was still only a disciple after all. Even so, it was a great relief to my injuries.

“Guek!” The sensation vanished and changed lightning spreading across my back. I made yet another strange noise as I spat out half a liter of blood, ruining the tunic I’d been given for the trip. Health dropped by another fifth, leaving me with about two thirds.

If I die from this, it may be my fault, but not due to any miscalculation on my part; this is a total anomaly!

The disciple withdrew her hands, as the crowd around us was beginning to disperse out of nervousness. Trembling like dry leaves in the wind she looked about ready to fall apart, her tone growing more frantic.

“I-I don't know what happened! I'm sorry, but, it’s, why didn't it work? Even if it d-does fail, there shouldn't be re-, any rebound!” Wanting to run, but restrained by the tether of her conscience, she hovered at a distance from me. Things sure spiraled out of control, but it would be fine. I just needed to try and calm her down a little.

“Take a deep breath, I'm not close to death.” My hit points weren't falling but I silently cast to try and double check myself. “I’m fine, there is nothing wrong with my body.”

“N-no, you really need seen to. A first order disciple or one of the Altar disciples even, you should head to one of the temples right away.”

“I am afraid I do not know the walking path to the temple. This is my first day within Glaucen, so you see. Besides, my body is well.” It wasn't exactly forced, but I ended my sentence coughing up some additional blood. I think she paled more than I did.

“Are you sure? It looks...you really need to go see someone.”

“I do not know how this city heals those who are common. It is probable I will live, so I shall rely on my body to restore itself.”

“I will… take you to the temple.” Breaking under some pressure, she suddenly offered, or more accurately, demanded, to guide me. Why she was so reluctant to take me to the temple when she was so eager to try and heal me earlier was a mystery. Still, progress.

“If you would, then I would be ever grateful.”

The temple reminded me of the Acropolis, containing a great deal of marble and pillars. While the main building looked to be a radiant cathedral atop a propylaea, there were many other smaller, yet no less elegant buildings scattered about a primarily stone plaza.

In fact what ‘the temple’ seemed to actually refer to was the entire grounds of the religious compound. Each building had a proper name, a sort of architectural nomenclature without translation, while the interstitial space was merely referred to as the courtyard. The courtyard and common church(or Heirga Yoll) were both open to public access, so up to that point, we didn't draw much attention. Well, drew about as much attention as I thought being covered in blood would be.

However, we, or more precisely she, was questioned once we reached the doors to the Varansterm(or infirmary). The young fellow with light hair spoke first, in a rather sarcastic tone.

“Kella, what’s this, you've actually brought one of your victims back with you? Really, you're making him walk by himself; that's quite cruel.”

“Hold your tongue Mans! Watch the door, I'll escort him in.” A broader young man snapped at his compatriot. He glanced at Kella, before quickly looking me over, then back to Kella again. “Go find one of the second order aides. As for you, you've managed to walk here, but clearly lost a great deal of blood. Are you feeling lightheaded?”

“Yes, my mind does feel lighter than usual.” My mind retains perfect clarity no matter what the situation, but I could still feel a difference. Saying there were no symptoms after losing so much blood would be strange in any case.

“What is it that happened?”

“I wouldn't say it was any major event, my luck just seems to have taken a nosediaaah!”

I must have been under some terrible jinx that day, as my head rapidly approached the floor.