The Second Chance I Wanted, Not a Do-Over of Life (4)
"Why? Why the hell won't it go back to normal?!"
Two days had passed.
My body had shrunk, become petite, and my hands had turned soft and delicate—smooth palms with not a single callus.
It wasn't just my hands.
My voice had grown softer, and even swinging a sword felt impossible now. It had become so weak.
"On top of that."
When I placed both hands on my chest and rubbed it, the once-solid chest that should have been firm now showed a soft, womanly touch, flaunting its femininity.
When I slid my hands between my legs, the heavy sensation that should have been there had vanished long ago.
"What the hell is this doing to me...?"
Even on the blade of the heavy sword that my two hands should be gripping, no matter how much sunlight I reflected it, the delicate, feminine face was reflected.
My hair had grown long enough to reach my shoulders, and it was soft.
Actually, I had accepted that I had become a woman the moment I woke up after passing out on the first day of transformation.
But... but... normally, when someone's appearance changes like this, it should only be from a polymorphed spell or a temporary hallucination...
Those should disappear once the injected mana fades, which usually takes half a day to a full day at most.
Even if I had drunk a polymorph potion I heard about somewhere, it said it would mostly wear off in a day.
"Why isn't it... returning to normal?"
It wasn't wearing off at all.
At this point, even if I was mana-sensitive, I should have felt some change, right?
At least something should have changed in the flow of my mana. Or my facial features should have grown sharper, or my chest should have shrunk and I should have returned to being male.
But nothing was happening. Even after two days had passed, why wasn't anything changing?!
Irritated, I flung the sword I had been holding up to the sunlight far away.
Normally, it would have been thrown hard enough to stick into a tree far in the distance, but it landed with a clank on the ground, not even close.
"Huuu..."
Really, what do I do? If I don't turn back into a man, what then? I've already been here two days...
There wasn't really any particular reason I had spent two days in the forest.
Of course, I figured I'd return to normal after a little time, and this loose shirt and pants outfit wasn't something I could wear into town anyway.
At least I had tightened the belt so the pants wouldn't slip off...
I had bashed my head against trees several times, but all that happened was that the bump grew bigger—nothing changed.
The pain was clear, so I just wiped away the tears running down my cheeks.
Rumble rumble.
I was worrying about what to do when a warning growl from my stomach began to storm inside.
"...I'm hungry."
When I woke up as a woman, there was no carriage and no other people around, of course.
I had walked around the edge of the forest and found the village, but it would have been embarrassing to enter town in this outfit.
I searched around the forest, but the fruits on the trees weren't ripe, and anyway I couldn't eat them.
With this body, even gripping a sword meant that hunting was out of the question. I was lucky if I didn't get eaten myself.
...That's why I ended up like this. My appearance got worse every day, and my body was saying it wouldn't move unless I fed it.
Finally, I had to make a decision. I couldn't keep drinking just water from a tiny stream nearby anymore.
"Embarrassing as it is... I guess I have no choice."
I looked at the village I could see in the distance, where a small settlement had formed.
...I really had to go. No, it was way better than starving to death in the forest or becoming a monster's meal...
But there was no other option. I had to go... what.
Ah, I sighed. It was a sigh so delicate and soft that I was secretly surprised even though it was a woman's sigh.
After tightening my clothes as much as I could, I began taking awkward steps toward the village.
***
Zip zip, zrrrrrr.
I had tied everything as tightly as possible, but the hem of my pants was still dragging on the ground, getting covered in dirt.
Because of the wrong clothes, walking was difficult, but why the hell was this sword so heavy?
Thanks to that, by the time the sun was about to set, I had finally reached the village.
"Hah, haa... this crappy outfit..."
If only I could throw it off. I wanted to throw it off so badly, but how could I?
If I threw it off, I'd be wearing nothing at all.
Luckily, though, I didn't encounter any bandits or wild animals trying to attack me around here. That was fortunate.
On my way through the village outskirts, I met a person, but they didn't care at all. I was glaring with forced killing intent, and my weird outfit made them ignore me and walk past.
"Bakery. There should be one somewhere in every village."
Sweating profusely, I started looking for the bakery in the village.
My legs were losing strength with every step, and my mind was getting hazy—it felt like my body was running out of energy from not eating.
My head was full of stress.
This appearance, two days without proper rest, no food or drink. The uncomfortable clothes, the way they dragged every time I took a step.
Irritated, I wanted to just sit down, but I held on. I endured it again and again.
With half-closed eyes, after a few minutes, the sweet smell of bread baking reached my nose, so I struggled to move toward it.
I opened the bakery door with a trembling hand. The man inside, the owner, looked just like the other people I had met on the way here—startled.
"Welcome. Uh, miss."
Miss? I almost snapped at that, but given the situation, I didn't bother putting strength into it.
Luckily, two warm breads were left inside. Naturally, saliva filled my mouth.
"This one, and this one... could you give me?"
It wasn't about the deliciousness. It was about filling my stomach right now.
I pointed at the big baguette and the dark rye bread with my fingers, and the owner began to put them in a bag and told me the price.
Let me see. My money pouch... I definitely put it in this pocket...
But when I reached into the pocket, all I felt was air.
"...Eh, eh?!"
I frantically started checking every pocket on my clothes.
But all that came out was an empty palm. From the start, the familiar weight of my money pouch wasn't felt anywhere on my body.
Where did I lose it?! I remembered counting the money yesterday.
Panicking, I opened the bakery door, and by now the outside had gone dark. My hope to find the money pouch shattered.
With this appearance and outfit, searching the road guaranteed nothing, and going back into the dark mountains was terrifying.
"...Cough. Hmph."
A clearing of the throat sounded from inside the bakery, and I looked in to see the owner looking at me with an uncomfortable expression.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but if you have no money, I can't give you bread. Our finances aren't great either."
"Ah, that..."
Rumble, rurrrr.
My empty stomach churned, but I couldn't give my stomach anything.
"......"
Helplessly, I nodded weakly and left the bakery.
I couldn't do anything. With this body, I couldn't hunt, and I had no money. I felt completely powerless.
Helplessly, I leaned against the wall of the bakery and could only clutch my empty stomach.
After about ten minutes, a person passed in front of me, but I didn't remember it.
"I'm hungry, really... What did I do to end up like this..."
I'm hungry. I'm so hungry.
Because of this weak body, maybe? It was frustrating that I had only been hungry for two days and my strength had already run out like this.
But it was useless to be frustrated. At this rate, I would die hungry right now, and I couldn't just sit here wasting time.
With my powerless arms, I forced strength to my knees and was about to stand when the bakery door creaked open.
And the bakery uncle poked his head out and looked at me.
"Miss, you're still here... Um, um. Would you like this? Miss?"
The uncle looked at me with worried eyes and handed me a rye bread.
Even though it was a rye bread smaller than my small hand, my trembling hands grabbed it and I met his eyes.
"Th-thank you. Uh, thank you..."
At that moment, tears began to flow from my eyes.
I didn't know why I was crying. I had experienced far worse situations than this many times on the battlefield.
Was it because I was left alone? Or because I felt a powerlessness I had never experienced before?
I didn't burst into tears. Hot tears just flowed from my eyes, and I gratefully received the rye bread he gave me.
"Thank you. Really, thank you."
"No, no. Miss. If you eat this and get your strength back, good. Then I have to go because the kids are waiting."
It was warm. The warmth of the kind man and the warmth contained in the small bread in my hands was so warm.
Until the bakery uncle who gave me kindness disappeared far away, I bowed my head many times and expressed my gratitude.
"Mmm..."
And after he left, I mindlessly began tearing into the bread.
Even though it was never the good bread I ate in the capital.
But the taste of the warm bread I was eating now was something I would never forget for the rest of my life.