Isn't the Measurement Stone Broken?
“Kid. Take your jokes somewhere else~”
The door creaked—
“It’s me, damn it! It’s really Nix!”
I shouted, grabbing Mina’s wrist as she tried to slam the door shut.
Mina scanned me up and down with a dumbfounded look. The stench of alcohol rolled off her, but her eyes were razor sharp.
“…Prove it. If you’re really Nyx Grave, there should be a secret only the two of us know.”
“……Do we really have to do this?”
“Guess I’ll have to call the guards. Some imposter’s trying to break into my house.”
Mina frowned and tightened her grip on the doorknob.
I had no choice but to open my mouth. These were filthy, shameful memories I’d planned to carry to my grave. But this wasn’t the time to be picky about what I dug up.
“Nine years ago. When I confessed to you, you told me we were better off as friends.”
“……Something else.”
“Six years ago. You borrowed money from Midas Finance to buy that expensive cosmetics set. I was the one who co-signed as your guarantor.”
“…You’re really Nix?”
Doubt still flooded Mina’s face. I finally dropped the killing blow.
“Four years ago. That night you said you felt lonely, so we drank together and—”
“Aaaaah!!! Stop! Stop!!! I believe you!!!!”
Mina’s face flushed crimson in an instant. The Mina from that night had been surprisingly warm. She clapped a hand over my mouth and glanced around nervously. There was no one else nearby, but she looked genuinely panicked.
“……I don’t want to believe it, but I guess I have no choice.”
Mina stared at my face for a long time, as if trying to force herself to find any trace of the old man in the beautiful girl standing before her.
“……Fine. I accept it. Just stop talking about that.”
She pressed a trembling hand to her forehead. A man in his mid-thirties had come back as a beautiful girl. Even I still couldn’t believe it, so it had to be even harder for a friend of fifteen years to swallow in one go.
“…For now, come with me.”
She led me into the examination room at the back of the shop.
+++++
Mina Ocelot was a friend of fifteen years who had registered as an explorer at the same time I did. She was now a retired C-rank explorer.
The reason for her retirement was simple: she had awakened the unique skill Precise Appraisal.
Precise Appraisal was a special type of magic that could read information from artifacts, engravings, and curses. In this labyrinth city, people with that ability were extremely rare, and because the skill was so valuable, the pay was excellent.
Thanks to that, she now ran an appraisal shop called Ocelot Appraisal with a fully booked schedule.
I lay down on the hard bed. Mina pulled on thin gloves and activated her unique skill Precise Appraisal. Her eyes glowed golden.
Right after, she started touching my body—thighs, forearms, face, and……
Squeeze. Squeeze.
“Let me ask one thing.”
“What?”
Mina was openly kneading my chest with her gloved hands. It never felt like this when I was a man, but now it was strangely painful.
“Is this really necessary?”
“Not at all? I’m just touching because it’s interesting.”
“You fucking wench, do the measurement already!”
I sat up with a roar. Mina casually withdrew her hands and flipped a page on her chart without a hint of remorse.
“Oh, I finished that ten minutes ago.”
“Then why the hell were you still groping me!”
“It’s fascinating.”
“That’s enough…!!!”
I straightened my clothes, got off the bed, wrapped the ragged cloak around myself, and sat on the nearby chair. A moment later, Mina’s expression turned deadly serious. She stared hard at the parchment containing the appraisal results, biting her lip. The situation clearly wasn’t good.
“I’ll give you the conclusion first. Even my Precise Appraisal can’t measure you.”
“What? Are you serious?”
Mina’s appraisal ability was famous even among former C-rank explorers. Nobles literally lined up to request her services.
“It’s not a curse, and it’s not an artifact effect either.”
“Then what is it?”
“There’s no reading at all. It’s as if… your body was originally ‘like this’ from the start.”
A chill ran down my spine at Mina’s words. No reading at all? Then what the hell was that Astaroth’s Blessing I heard?
“Originally like this…? In other words…”
“Yeah. I don’t think any purification potion on the market can turn you back.”
Fuck.
I could almost hear my last shred of hope shattering. If even Mina had no answers, no one in this city could fix it.
“No, this can’t be…!!! You’re saying I have to live like this for the rest of my life?!”
“There are plenty of ways. You already know that, don’t you?”
Mina gazed out the window. At the end of her line of sight stood a massive structure with a huge black door—the entrance to the labyrinth.
“Haven’t you forgotten because you’ve only ever done survival-type exploration?”
Mina looked me in the eye.
“For an explorer, the ultimate goal is to reach the end and have one wish granted. Right?”
“…….”
Astaroth’s Labyrinth. An insane structure supposedly built on a whim by a great mage who appears only once every few thousand years. Whoever reaches its deepest floor can have one wish fulfilled.
Believe it or not, explorers bet their lives on that nonsense. I was one of them.
The wish plaques hanging beside the black door at the labyrinth entrance were notes where explorers had written their desires in advance—like a wish repair box.
“……You’re right. It’s been so long I completely forgot.”
There was only one path left.
“Completely clear the labyrinth and wish to be turned back into a man.”
Which meant I had to crawl back into that hellish place again.
Mina looked at me with worry. “That means you’ll have to work as an explorer again.”
“…Yeah.”
“But there’s a problem. You can’t register with your current identity.”
“…I know.”
Nyx Grave. Male. Mid-thirties. D-rank explorer. But right now I was a beautiful girl in her mid-teens.
“If I went to the guild and told the truth, they’d just call me a crazy bitch.”
“Exactly. And that’s not the only issue.”
Mina raised her index finger. “The Seven Stars. White Star Arcana. They’d definitely use you as a test subject.”
“……That’s pretty creepy.”
The Seven Stars were the seven massive guilds that ran the city. White Star Arcana was one of them, specializing in researching labyrinth mutations and rare engravings. If they learned about my condition, I’d spend the rest of my life as a lab rat—just like Mina said.
“You’ll need a brand-new identity. As a completely different person.”
A retired C-rank or higher explorer could serve as guarantor for one new registrant. In this city, identity ultimately came down to who would take responsibility.
Mina picked up a pen and pulled out a form. After a moment’s thought, she wrote a short name in the name field.
“Nixie. What do you think? It’s cute and girly.”
“You just added an ‘i’ to Nix. You call that a girl’s name? Are you joking?”
“Simple is best. And it’s completely different from your original appearance, so no one will suspect a thing.”
“Sigh… I don’t like it, but…”
There was no other choice. To become a man again I had to enter the labyrinth, and to enter the labyrinth I needed to register.
“We’ll use the same last name—Ocelot. You’re my cousin from a rural village who just came to the city. That should be enough to pass any identity check.”
I eventually accepted Mina’s proposal. But the real problem came next.
Mina pulled something out from the depths of her closet. It was white. It had lace.
I instinctively took a step back. Mina stepped forward with a mischievous grin.
“Come here.”
“Please, for the love of god, don’t say what I think you’re about to say.”
“Put it on. Your clothes are complete rags.”
“Are you insane? Why the hell would I wear that!”
“Then you’re planning to walk into the guild wearing nothing but that baggy cloak? You’ll get arrested for public indecency before they even measure you!”
Mina ignored every protest and started forcibly dressing me.
“Let go!!!”
“Kehihih—! Hold still!!!!!”
Mina might look like this now, but she was still a former C-rank explorer. These frail arms had no hope of resisting her strength.
“Fuuuuuck!!!!”
+++++
I walked with Mina toward the second district where the explorer guild stood.
“Oh my♡ It looks so good on you. Don’t you think, Nixie-yang?”
Mina giggled behind her hand as she looked at me. The sensation of wearing the dress could be summed up in one word.
“…Ugh… Uuuugh…!!!”
The constant breeze blowing up between my legs. I never realized how terrifying it was to not be wearing pants. I kept pressing the hem of the skirt down as we reached the outskirts of the second district, where every nearby gaze locked onto me at once.
“Who is she? She’s insanely cute.”
“Looks like a noble’s daughter. She really is beautiful.”
“Ooh… I just want to hug her once.”
Every whisper made curses rise in my throat.
“Nixie-yang, that guy says he wants to hug you once.”
“Motherfucker.”
Mina kept snickering beside me, clearly enjoying every second of my suffering.
The guild was as noisy as ever when we arrived. The smell of sweat, blood, and rough men cursing. It was more familiar to me than my own home, yet today it felt strangely alien.
The moment we opened the door, all sound inside cut off. Dozens of eyes snapped toward me at once—eyes like a pack of wolves that had spotted prey.
“Hey, look at that. A flower just walked in.”
A group sitting at a corner table started laughing. They looked like low-rank D-rank explorers. The biggest one staggered over.
“Hey, missy. The labyrinth isn’t a playground for little girls.”
“……Get lost. I’m in a bad mood.”
The men exploded with laughter. My thin voice apparently didn’t sound threatening at all.
The big guy tapped my shoulder and leaned in close. “Looks like the noble lady took a wrong turn. Want your big brothers to show you the right way?”
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing!”
Mina tried to intervene, but I shoved the guy aside and shook my head.
“Don’t interfere. You know first impressions are everything here.”
“…Got it.”
Mina stepped back with clear reluctance, but she didn’t stop me. She knew how important first impressions were in the explorer guild—especially when your body looked as fragile as mine did now.
I met the man’s gaze head-on.
“Big brother? Even your mom wouldn’t call you that.”
The fifteen-year veteran explorer profanity made the man’s face stiffen.
“And noble my ass. Are your eyes just for decoration? Where the hell do you see a noble in this appearance? When you have time, pour some purification potion in your eyes.”
“…Miss. You’ve got quite the mouth.”
Angry now, he reached out with a rough hand to grab my shoulder. I instinctively lowered my stance and read his center of gravity.
Amateur.
Shoulder movement, foot spacing, line of sight—everything was sloppy. I lightly dodged his hand and drove a counter into his side.
Perfect.
Tap.
“…?”
There was only one miscalculation. My current body weighed around forty kilograms and hit like a cotton ball. That strike would have broken a rib in the old days, but the guy only flinched.
He snorted in disbelief. “Ha, that tickles!”
The moment he swung again—
Blessing activation condition met.
Cross-referencing recorded combat experience.
Optimizing for current body.
A mechanical voice rang inside my head. At that instant, hot mana surged through my entire body.
…I can do this.
I snatched his wrist, twisted it downward, and hooked his leg using the principle of leverage. My small frame, short reach, and light weight—all the weaknesses from moments ago suddenly became strengths.
Crash!
“Graaaaagh!!!”
The hulking man slammed into the floor. A faint blue mana swirled above my palm.
The entire guild fell deathly silent, as if someone had dumped cold water over everyone. They stared at me in disbelief.
“Mana Coating? At that age?”
“No way. That’s a technique only B-rank vanguards and above can use.”
“Never seen her before?! Is she some famous explorer?”
The murmurs spread like a wave. Mina narrowed her eyes and stared at my hand.
“What? Mana Coating? You could do that?”
“…Yeah. First time for me too.”
I was just as shocked. This body had far higher mana affinity than I expected.
“What’s all this noise?”
A deep, heavy voice came from the second floor as a man slowly descended the stairs.
Gallidus, Guild Master of the Astaroth Explorer Guild branch. A former A-rank explorer with forty years of experience.
“You do know that using force inside the guild is strictly forbidden, yes?”
He looked back and forth between the man rolling on the floor and me, not missing the faint traces of mana coating still lingering on my fingertips. A spark of interest flashed in his sharp eyes.
“Your skill is far from ordinary.”
“I came to register as an explorer,” Mina said, stepping forward. “Ah, Mr. Gallidus! Long time no see! Have you been well?”
“It has been a while, Mina. How’s business these days?”
“Ahaha. Same as always, really.”
The guild master greeted Mina warmly before turning back to me. “And who is this child?”
“My cousin, Nixie. Nixie Ocelot. Even I, a former C-rank explorer, can see she’s overflowing with talent, so I called her from our hometown not long ago.”
“…Is that so?”
Gallidus looked at me. “Then how about taking a measurement, Nixie?”
“Gladly. That’s why I came here in the first place.”
He guided me to the measurement stone—a massive crystal pillar in the center of the guild that quantified an explorer’s strength, agility, stamina, and mana to determine their rank.
I placed my hand on it with quiet expectation. With the mana coating and the power of Astaroth’s Blessing I had just shown, something amazing should happen. At the very least C-rank—maybe even B-rank was possible.
The measurement stone began to emit a brilliant light. Every adventurer’s eyes focused on the rank that would appear at the top of the pillar.
And then—
A hollow laugh burst from Mina’s lips.
“Uhaha. It says all E-ranks?”
Gallidus’s eyebrows twitched violently.
“……What is this? Strange.”
I stared at the result window in stunned silence before finally speaking.
“…Isn’t this thing broken?”