CH 8

“I am exhausted…”

After being forced to replace my bandages and clothes while being buried in shame, I am on the bed, worn out.

One of the nurses was persistently squeezing my breasts for some reason as she bandaged them, and her sniffling gave me the impression that I was having a subtle crisis of chastity. That was exceptionally draining.

At any rate, I would like to sleep like this until supper.

“Well, thanks to that, I have a better grasp of this body…”

I recall the image of myself that was revealed to me via the mirror when I was made to change my clothes.

My complexion is significantly whiter than the average Japoterasu person, like snow, and is the same color of my skin as when I confirmed in the “Maze.”

Even though my skin is solid, it does not appear to contain much fat other than in the chest area. It is oddly gentle to the touch, but I could sense the strength of Ys at work there.

Furthermore, as for my height, I used to be about 160cm, but now I believe I am certainly 175cm tall. I wonder why my chest has expanded and my height has grown as well… This is definitely a bizarre phenomenon.

Continuing on, my hair reaches the length of my waist and, unlike the normal black hue of a Japoterasu human, it is a brilliant white color without a single speck of gray.

As for my face… my right eye is silver and my left eye is a light blue, which means heterochromia and the other parts of my face are also in perfect alignment. I suppose that if someone were to pass by me and glance at my face, ninety-nine out of a hundred people would look back at me.

Anyway, from an overall perspective, I am sure that I am beyond the human realm of what beauty should be.

There are probably numerous gods who are more attractive than I am right now.

“Ah, I should ask you while I’m at it… You’re there, aren’t you? Ys.”

[What is it… I am still feeling slightly sick though…]

As soon as I have finished checking, I call out to Ys, who hears my voice and raises an extremely troublesome look in their eyes and face towards me.

But well, even if it’s a hassle, I have to know what exactly happened to my body.

“So ultimately, how did I take on the form of a woman…?”

[Oh, about that… To put it simply, by bringing my appearance… or rather my physical characteristics closer to Akira’s, the strain of pouring my power into yours is reduced, which makes it easier for you to receive it. However, some parts of your body may have undergone a subsequent transformation as a result of your acceptance of my power, so it is difficult to determine how much of your body was changed by my intention and how much was changed by its own accord.]

“I understand your reasoning, but I don’t suppose you’ve addressed the question of why I became a woman… or more specifically, why I couldn’t have stayed a man.”

[You know, there is a distinct and definite difference between men and women. Which gender do you believe I embody, Akira?]

“Hmm? Isn’t Ys a male?”

In response to my words, I could feel a snapping sound coming from the area around Ys’ head.

Huh? If not, Ys is a…

[I’m a female!]

“Ouch!?”

As the answer dawns in my head, Ys slaps her tail between my eyes while yelling out the answer.

No harm is done to my body since there is no actual physical form, but I feel as though my spirit has been directly jolted, and it hurts tremendously…

But wait a minute…

“But when we were speaking, it was impossible to discern that you were a female due to your tone and demeanor…”

[What did you say!? Look at my body! The base of my tail is different from others! This is precisely why humans are so…]

“Well, even if you said that…”

In fact, I think that it is more unusual for someone to be able to differentiate between a lizard’s sexes.

Or, to put it another way, I have no understanding how the base of the tail varies, even though I’ve been informed that it does.

“By the way, what would happen if my sex wasn’t changed?”

So I am somewhat intrigued, which is why I try to get a story from Ys about what would happen if I were to accept her power as a man.

[…If your gender were to remain male and you were able to accept my power… well, how should I say it… It would be like a six-armed lizard man walking on two legs, roughly the same size as me. However, it is doubtful that even in this case, you will be able to incorporate my power. At best, you will suffer from insanity, and at worst, your blood vessels will burst throughout your body as a result of the power you cannot withstand.]

“What a frightening story…”

[As long as you can understand the situation, that’s good.]

This is even worse than I anticipated.

The six-armed lizard man is a horrible story, but going insane and blood vessels bursting… ah yeah. I should be glad that it was only a gender change.

Would I renounce my manhood? Or cease being a human being? Or stop existing? If so, the first choice is still better.

Incidentally, when I was listening to the reasons for the physical changes, a thought occurred to me…

“By the way, I can grasp the reason why my sex has changed and the transition of my eyes and hair, but what’s with these breasts? Apparently, this saved my life this time, so that’s good, but this size is a hindrance in a fight, and it’s not a component that connects me with you, Ys.”

I ask Ys while lifting up my chest with both hands.

When I hold it again like this, I can tell it’s heavy and shaky and absolutely unnecessary for battle.

There is no way that human sex appeal would work against a monster, and as I just said, I feel that the external characteristics of Ys and me are rather open because of these breasts.

[I have no insight into that. Isn’t there some kind of component in you that makes you that way originally, Akira?]

“What do you mean by ‘originally’?”

I don’t particularly prefer large breasts… but even people who fancy large breasts don’t necessarily want to make their own breasts larger…

[Well, the contract between me and Akira is until those guys are eradicated. When the contract is fulfilled, won’t you be able to return to your original form?]

“What? Is that true?”

[That’s only my prediction until the end.]

At this point, I receive an unexpected piece of information from Ys, to which I involuntarily turn around and ask, but it seems to be true.

How can I say this… I think I have found a spark of hope.

On second thought, I think that the eradication of those guys is…

“That means I have to defeat that woman I met in the ‘Maze,’ right?”

[This is what I’m talking about. Though that being said, if you don’t defeat her, the ‘Maze’ and monsters will proliferate. I don’t have much information about her, but I have heard that she is the main culprit.]

That woman… who drove me to the brink of life and death… the culprit of all…

[Are you okay?]

“I’m not okay, but I’ll get over it. If that thing is the source of all this, then I have to defeat her, not only to fulfill my contract with Ys, but also as a member of the Security Organization, as a human being whose member of the same organization was killed by a monster, but also as a person in my own right.”

As I recollect the fear and the absolute difference in power I felt at that time, my limbs begin to tremble.

My limbs, however, must one day be trained to tremble with excitement instead of terror.

My purpose is set in stone. I shall triumph over her eventually.

And then, just as I am in a serious mood…

[By the way, Akira?]

“What is it?”

[I’m starving, so please share some of your meals with me when supper’s served.]

“…”

A hunger rumbles loudly in the bellies of Ys and me.[i]

Somehow, all sorts of things are already messed up.

—————–

T/N:

The translation release pace is 2-3 chapters a day as I am focusing on Outer World Story: Pumpkin Sorcerer as well

[i] This sentence is sort of a joke. The word used here is 腹の虫. It is a metaphor for the location of one’s feelings or sentiments or empty stomach. The literal word 虫 means bug/insect, a reference to Ys being a lizard