She's Pretty, But I Want My Dick Back
It was the third day since I’d become a woman.
“Mmm……”
These days, the first thing I did every morning the moment I opened my eyes was grope the empty space between my legs.
One second later, I would wake in despair at the smooth sensation of my thighs.
“Sigh……”
My chest wasn’t exactly heavy, but it was definitely sticking out.
“Still, the performance is fucking top-tier, I’ll give it that.”
It was a shame my dick was gone, but I had to acknowledge what was true.
I stayed lying on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
I needed to organize my future plans.
Astaroth’s Blessing.
Skill Mimic.
Wind Blade.
“Maybe I can even aim for A-rank. Hell, maybe even higher.”
If I played these cards right, it wasn’t an impossible gamble.
Fifteen years of rolling around in the gutter didn’t just disappear.
Ultimately, there was only one goal.
Reaching the deepest part of the Astaroth Labyrinth.
Making a wish there to bring back my lost friend.
…But here’s the thing.
“……Would it really be so bad to keep living as a woman like this?”
This body was now a completely separate person from the original Nyx Grave.
Nyx Grave would soon be declared dead and listed as missing in the labyrinth.
‘Which means I wouldn’t have to repay the debt I owe the Midas Financial Union.’
There was no way to demand repayment from a dead man.
And on top of that?
I sat up and studied my reflection in the mirror.
“……She really is pretty.”
The kind of beauty that would make any man turn his head at least once while walking past.
But my mind snapped back into focus almost immediately.
“Fuck! Get a grip, Nyx Grave!!!”
No. Absolutely not.
I refused to fall into female degeneracy.
To fall in love with someone, build a family, get pregnant, and live out the rest of my days like that?
“I’d rather die.”
Bang—!
The door flew open so hard it nearly broke.
“Nixie~ Want to shower with big sis? You passed out covered in blood yesterday, didn’t you?”
Mina appeared with a towel, giggling.
I sprang up from the bed and yanked the blanket over myself.
“Ah! Please! Stop calling me that!”
The reason I was freeloading at this old lady’s house was simple.
‘Goddammit… If only I had money.’
An inn cost fifty silver coins a day.
Breakfast and dinner were included, but that came out to fifteen gold coins a month.
A monthly rental room in the seventh district only cost about eight gold coins.
It didn’t include meals, but it was far more reasonable.
“I’m a man, you crazy wench!”
“You’re not right now, are you?”
“What kind of bullshit is that, fuuuuck!!!”
Mina approached, still snickering, and whispered.
“Nixie~ A proper young lady must keep her body clean above all else~♡”
“Has this old lady lost her mind? You’re thirty and acting like this!”
Mina’s expression hardened in an instant.
It felt like the temperature in the room had plummeted.
“Oh. Right.”
I had forgotten that mentioning a woman’s age was more dangerous than breaking a labyrinth taboo.
“I misspoke. Please forgive me just this once.”
I immediately dropped to my knees on the bed.
But Mina was already narrowing her eyes and charging at me.
“You’re really dead!!!”
“I said I was sorry!!!!!!”
“………I’ve been defiled…”
“Uhehe. Youth really is the best. Your skin is so firm and bouncy.”
Mina had been sitting in front of me teasing me, but when she looked at my legs her expression stiffened slightly.
“Your legs. Are they really okay? Why don’t you just rest today?”
“……No.”
To reach the fourth stratum I needed equipment, potions, consumables, and party members.
And all of that required money.
“There’s no such thing as free in the labyrinth. Getting stronger requires investment.”
“It’s because of money, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Want me to lend you some? It’s not like I can’t.”
Mina tossed the offer out casually.
I refused firmly.
“My pride won’t allow it.”
“……Pride, huh.”
Her expression sank in a strange way.
The usual sly look on her face had completely vanished.
…I wonder what would have happened if that guy had shown a little pride back then.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Come here, I’ll wash your hair.”
Mina immediately laughed it off and reached for my head.
“……What is it? Just tell me—”
But she was already scrubbing my scalp vigorously with soap.
I couldn’t keep owing Mina forever.
“I guess I’ll have to go on this expedition alone.”
“Huh?”
It was something I blurted out while Mina was drying her hair in the living room.
“Will you be okay going by yourself?”
“Don’t worry. I may not look it, but I’m a fifteen-year veteran explorer.”
“Weren’t you almost killed three days ago doing exactly that?”
“…….”
I had nothing to say.
Anyway, this expedition had two goals.
Earning money and checking the condition of my new body.
And there were two things I needed to confirm.
First, how many times I could use Wind Blade in succession.
Second, how far Skill Mimic could copy monster patterns.
“Yeah. I knew you wouldn’t listen even if I tried to stop you.”
Mina sighed and tossed me a small bag that had been sitting in the corner.
Inside were antidotes, low-grade potions, and a single smoke flare.
“What’s the flare for?”
“Stranded explorers use them on the second stratum. It’s expensive, so use it carefully.”
“…Why give me something this expensive?”
Mina avoided my eyes and muttered.
“If you get stranded I might have to go find you myself. I’m giving it to you because I don’t want the hassle. I’m terrible at search-and-rescue anyway.”
I let out a small laugh.
“If you’re worried, just say you’re worried.”
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m only doing it because I might not get my money back.”
Mina whispered so quietly I almost missed it.
“……Don’t die.”
It wasn’t a joke.
That was the voice of someone who was genuinely afraid.
“Don’t worry. I have zero intention of dying.”
The explorer guild in the second district was noisy today as usual.
I pulled my hood down low, but it was already too late.
People recognized me.
The beautiful rookie who had registered as C-rank on her very first day.
The irregular newcomer who had subjugated a harpy queen.
It would have been stranger if the rumors hadn’t spread.
‘Ugh… This is going to be annoying.’
Becoming famous in Astaroth brought zero benefits.
At best it meant the envy and jealousy of other explorers, or the attention of guilds turning in my direction.
In short, a price tag had just been slapped on my body.
“Nixie Ocelot. Please come up to the branch master’s office for a moment.”
Right then, Guild Master Gallidus called for me.
When I entered the branch master’s office, he set down his pipe and looked at me.
“Have a seat.”
“What is it?”
I planted myself on the sofa.
The guild master studied me with a deeply troubled gaze.
“Your name has spread faster than I expected.”
“It has?”
He spread out a thick stack of documents with my name on them across the table.
They were the results of the harpy queen subjugation report.
“At this rate we might have to classify you as a supernova instead of just a super rookie.”
Supernova. How embarrassingly grandiose.
“Should I take that as a compliment?”
“Half of it. The other half is a warning.”
Gallidus’s voice grew heavy.
“The entire Seven Stars are keeping an eye on you.”
“……Are you serious?”
“Why would I lie?”
I closed my mouth.
The seven colossal powers that divided Astaroth among themselves.
The fact that they were watching me didn’t mean more choices.
“So I’ve become prey for those whale bastards? This is going to be a pain in the ass…”
“As expected, you’re quick to catch on.”
Gallidus stood and gazed out the window.
“Especially Red Star Valak. They’re moving the fastest. They’ve been pressuring me to hand over your report.”
“So you gave it to them?”
“……I’m sorry.”
“Ugh, fuck.”
The Seven Stars guild, Red Star Valak.
The guild that held undisputed first place in pure military power in Labyrinth City Astaroth.
A mega-corporation among mega-corporations with twelve S-rank explorers on their roster.
“How could you just hand it over? That’s cold.”
“…I’m sorry. I had no choice.”
Gallidus looked at me with genuine regret.
I sank deeper into the sofa.
“…Honestly, it’s not bad that those prestigious mega-guilds want to scout me.”
I crossed my arms and continued.
“But at the same time it worries me. Because I never planned on crawling under anyone to begin with.”
“Hoh.”
The guild master tilted his head.
“That’s a recruitment offer any common explorer on the streets would kill for. You’re going to turn it down?”
“The destination I’m aiming for is simply different from theirs.”
“Destination. I don’t quite follow.”
Gallidus slowly stroked his beard as if trying to read my intentions.
“In the end, a guild is nothing but an interest group out to fatten its own belly, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t that the nature of this industry?”
“To put it simply.”
The path I had to walk.
The wish I had to fulfill.
The path to resurrecting my most precious friend.
“I will conquer this labyrinth to the very end and make that wish.”
“……”
At my resolute declaration, Gallidus stroked his beard and began to chuckle deeply.
“Hehehe! To think there are still pure-hearted explorers like you left in this day and age!”
“…What’s so funny?”
“No, it’s not funny. It’s just that I once thought the exact same way you do.”
Gallidus sat down across from me with a satisfied expression and tapped the desk with his finger.
“But most explorers eventually hit their limit and settle somewhere. I’m just one of those defeated men myself.”
“I have no intention of settling here like an idiot.”
I couldn’t keep living as a woman.
“Right now, making that wish is more important to me than anything else in this world.”
Gallidus’s eyes widened.
Then he looked at me with a strangely distant gaze.
“…Forty years ago, I had a friend who said the exact same thing.”
“Who was it?”
“Z-rank explorer. Gridunyx of the Twilight.”
‘Gridunyx of the Twilight.’
The legendary explorer who had mapped the labyrinth all the way to the sixteenth stratum when only nine floors had been known.
To compare me to someone that great…
“Aren’t you overselling me a bit?”
“Well, I’m simply saying such a person existed.”
“Forget it. That kind of praise doesn’t make me happy at all.”
My conversation with Gallidus continued for a long time.
Tales from his active days, warnings about keeping our distance from the Seven Stars—everything.
If nothing else, I could clearly feel that this old veteran was sincerely worried about me.
Just as he was wrapping up and I was about to stand, he asked.
“Have you formed a party?”
“I plan to go solo.”
“I’d like to dissuade you. The labyrinth has far too many variables to travel alone.”
As if I didn’t know that.
The experience I’d gained rolling around in that living hell for fifteen years hadn’t gone anywhere.
The labyrinth was usually like that.
A path that was safe yesterday could become a trap today.
A trivial mob could wipe out an entire party.
‘But that’s exactly why I have to go.’
Before the big guilds could tighten the noose around my neck, I needed to learn the limits of Skill Mimic and Wind Blade.
Only then could I survive in this hellish city.
“I’ll start on the first stratum today. If possible, I’ll try to reach the second.”
“Your goal?”
“Earning money. And confirming my current physical condition.”
The guild master stayed silent for a long time before finally letting out a deep sigh.
“I have no grounds to stop you. You are already a proper C-rank.”
He added in a heavy voice.
“But remember one thing. You are strong. The stronger you become, the fiercer the threats around you will grow.”
“With great power comes great responsibility?”
This time I didn’t laugh.
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
I gathered my dagger and the bag Mina had given me and left the guild.
“All right. First stratum today. Second stratum if possible.”
Earning money, checking my physical condition, and testing my solo combat ability.
Above all, confirming exactly how far I could go by myself.
“Shall we go, then?”
And so I arrived at the first stratum—the Blue Meadow.
Grass rippled beneath the fake sky.
The scent of grass and earth filled the air.
All of it was familiar.
But it was unmistakably different from before.
The flow of mana was crystal clear, and even the direction of the wind brushed against my skin.
“Condition is… not bad.”
There was still some stiffness in my legs, but it didn’t hinder my movement.
That was when it happened.
“Kyaaa! Help me!”
“…What now?”
When I turned my head, I saw a group of rookie explorers far off being cornered by a pack of wolf-type monsters—direwolves.
“Block them, you idiot!”
“You’re the one who should stop standing around and move forward!!”
“I can only move forward if you block them properly!!!”
In the middle of their argument, one direwolf charged.
It looked like its target was the neck of the rookie at the front.
I sighed and drew my dagger.
“Sigh. Chaos right from the start.”