Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
The first thing Luke had to do upon returning home was to take a bath.
Not only was he feeling sticky from all the sweat he had accumulated, but he also didn’t want to think about what Yerna, the Forest Keeper with her sensitive sense of smell, would say if she caught a whiff of the corpse-like scent emanating from his body.
As Luke stripped off the clothes that were restraining him and took a deep breath, he felt a sense of liberation as the air filled his lungs.
The fabric that had been pinching his chest was now gone.
“Phew, I’ll cook you a meal after your bath, so just hang on a little longer.”
“Okay!”
With the help of Liv and Pyris, Luke managed to get his school uniform off, cast Clean on it, and set it in the basin before stepping into the shower room.
Click.
Once inside the shower room, everything felt awkward to Luke.
“Was the shower room this small?”
Ah, it wasn’t that the shower room had shrunk but that he had grown.
However, for Luke, who had spent most of his life looking up at things, the current perspective of having to look down felt unfamiliar.
“……”
What felt most awkward, however, was the gaze and expression of the woman looking back at him in the mirror.
It was obviously his own reflection.
“……I walked around in this body?”
Luke sighed as he looked at his reflection in the shower room mirror.
When he was a child, his physical form had been so similar to that of a boy that he hadn’t paid much attention to it. But now, it was clear that this body was unmistakably female.
“In many ways, I’ve grown, but…”
At the same time, it was also incredibly troubling.
He had hoped to mature quickly to avoid being treated like a child, but he had never wished to grow this much.
He had grown to the height of a typical adult male, and even the symbolic areas of a woman—his chest and hips—had grown significantly, making him feel awkward.
It was hard to adjust to the new center of gravity in his changed body, and the view from below was frustratingly obscured.
What to say, he suddenly found himself pondering things he never thought about during his childhood body.
However, this was a mild concern compared to the other changes.
“……Hah.”
Luke sighed again, fiddling with the two pairs of horns—four in total—that had sprouted from his head.
Not only had the horns grown larger, but their number had increased.
This caused him a lot of trouble when trying to take off his vest.
It was only after both Liv and Pyris worked together, pulling from either side, that he managed to get it off.
Luke recalled the little scene that had just taken place.
——
“Can you no longer take off your clothes by yourself, sister?”
“……It seems that due to my current body structure…”
In response to Pyris’s question, Luke hung his head and muttered an answer.
It was because the suddenly enlarged horns made it exceptionally hard to remove his vest.
Typically, children don’t grow horns small enough to prevent them from wearing a vest, and when they do grow too large, they usually switch to button-up cardigans ahead of time to avoid such discomfort.
Luke had rarely ever experienced this kind of inconvenience.
Moreover, he had grown accustomed to living without horns for quite some time now, making the current situation even more awkward.
But what could he do? To take a bath, he had to remove his clothes, and the Tigr Academy uniform was not only complexly enchanted for temperature control, convenience, and durability but was also made from expensive fabric.
Moreover, since it wasn’t something he had purchased himself but rather a gift from Shirud’s mother, Serena, he had to handle it with extra care.
“Hey, isn’t there a place where the horns might get stuck?”
Worried as his view was obstructed by the vest, Luke asked while unbuttoning his shirt, to which Pyris cheerfully reassured him.
“It’s alright! Liv, are you holding up well over there?”
“……”
Nodding as if she understood, Liv’s expression was concealed by the vest, leaving Luke uneasy since he couldn’t confirm it.
“Is everything really alright? It can’t tear, right?”
“I told you it’s fine! One, two….”
Finally.
With some effort, the vest came off, and at last, clear visibility returned to Luke’s eyes.
Fortunately, he felt no sense of fabric getting snagged or tearing, and he sighed in relief.
“……Thank you.”
“…….”
“Yeah! It was fun.”
Only then did Luke get up from the spot where he had laid down on the floor, accepting the vest.
“……”
To have to go through such humiliation for just removing one article of clothing…
——-
Fortunately, the vest he had taken off was only slightly stretched.
As far as Luke knew, horns were a symbol of reaching the dragon level.
Typically, ordinary dragons have about two horns, but when they mature, they grow four, and when they reach the ancient level, they can have six to eight.
Indeed, Parvati was originally the offspring of Sigarmata, the holy dragon that wielded holy light.
So he had anticipated that there would be some degree of divine compatibility.
In fact, it was the very reason that the dragon heart was used to contain the goddess.
However, he had never imagined that this compatibility would cause such issues.
“Could it be that both the goddess’s and Parvati’s influences have simultaneously increased?”
Until now, situations had always allowed for magic and circle to grow first, preventing any changes like this, but now, things were different.
The circle was barely clinging to the edge of 5 circles, and having drawn half of the divine power left in Arinseia into his body, the balance couldn’t help but collapse.
“I’m such an idiot…”
Luke covered his face with his hands.
At the time, he thought it might work, but reflecting on it now, it seems to have been a reckless act.
However, he couldn’t wallow in self-loathing forever.
He quickly resolved to wash himself.
———–
The bath taken with his grown body was not particularly satisfying for Luke.
Washing in a female body proved to be more uncomfortable than he had anticipated, and as he attempted to wash his hair, the larger horns kept getting in the way, causing him to scratch himself repeatedly.
Both his hair and his tail had grown longer and larger, making the effort feel like double duty.
Additionally, he had not calculated his enlarged body properly, resulting in most of the water in the tub overflowing and going to waste.
“……”
Yet, after such a difficult bath, Luke found he had another hurdle to overcome.
He realized he had no clothes to wear.
“Ah.”
Only after mindlessly grabbing his pajamas did he realize this.
It felt as though the somewhat brightened positive feeling he had experienced after bathing was evaporating along with the moisture on his body.
Luke sifted through the clothing, hoping to find something of Yerna’s that he could wear, but ultimately gave up.
No matter what he tried, his chest and hips made it impossible to wear anything properly.
“……Of course not.”
Yerna was more of a compact and petite type than a curvy and voluptuous one, and there were only two other small and young girls living there.
Clothes of such a physique were certainly nonexistent.
Why did he even think there would be something that would fit him?
Luke felt a bit foolish for having entertained that idea.
Yet, it was impossible to just go out and buy new clothes now.
He put on the bathrobe he had just taken off.
It seemed like this was the only thing resembling something that could somewhat cover his body in this house.
At this point, Luke couldn’t help but think.
‘How long do I have to stay in this body?’
If this form lasted for a long time, it would be tremendously problematic.
Firstly, going to the academy would be an issue (luckily, there wouldn’t be any academic schedule requiring his talent for the time being), and there would also be complications regarding the paperwork for the magic competition.
Though Beriton was close, it was still a foreign country that required airline checks to enter.
Thus, he had prepared some documents, all of which detailed his features as a child in this form.
But who would possibly believe him if he were to go in this body?
The customs officials would undoubtedly raise suspicions, and it was common knowledge that approval would not come through easily.
Consequently, he would surely miss the international magic competition, making placing in it impossible.
Reflecting on this, Luke considered how much divine power remained within him and how long until it would completely dissipate.
‘With no additional intake and based on my natural recovery and consumption rate…’
Roughly half a year would pass.
“My God.”
Half a year?
The gravity of the situation struck Luke so strongly that he momentarily felt dizzy.
While it would be great to burn it all up and discard it all, divine power grows stronger the more it is used, unlike mana.
Divine power stems from faith, and faith deepens as one believes.
Sitting in a chair while pressing a hand to his forehead, Luke began to ponder.
“What am I supposed to do…?”
Then, suddenly, a clear thought came to Luke.
‘Increase the circle.’
Reaching 5 circles as soon as possible.
That would surely speed up the rate at which the balance could be restored, right?
With a bit of effort, he might even reach 5 circles by tonight.
Not to mention, if he reached 5 circles, he would at least be able to use basic ‘Self-Polymorph’ magic.
If not, it could also allow him to temporarily conceal his form using polymorph.
‘……Well, if that works, I won’t have to specifically tell Yerna about my condition.’
With that in mind, Luke immediately began meditating in his seat.
———-
The next morning.
Click.
“Luke, I’m back!”
Yerna opened the door with a cheerful expression despite her fatigue.
She was quite excited to share with the children the events that had transpired after she was suddenly sent for backup upon detecting an abnormal energy flow in the Rienne Forest.
Numerous victims from a recent missing persons case had been discovered in significant numbers.
Most were found naked, however.
Moreover, it seems they all had no recollection of what they were doing there without proper clothes.
They even spoke strangely.
Something about wings, and light.
Eventually, it was said they judged the wicked and ascended to the sky with a young angel.
Interestingly, this wasn’t the claim of just one or two people; most of them asserted they had witnessed the same bizarre sight.
Angels? Where could one find such things in today’s world!
Was it a new kind of cult?
However, since Luke enjoyed talking about fairy tales like angels and spirits, he felt he would find it pretty interesting.
However, the house remained still.
“Luke? Are you perhaps sleeping?”
Luke wasn’t the type to sleep in this late.
Upon noticing that the lights were off…
‘Could he have gone to the academy?’
But there hadn’t been any word about him hanging out with friends after the exam.
And most importantly, while organizing the shoes just a moment ago, she hadn’t seen Luke’s usual shoes.
He always wore those shoes unless there was something special when going out, so it was unlikely he had gone out.
Just to check, she looked for other shoes, but nothing seemed to be missing.
“I guess he’s here, but this is odd…”
Just as Yerna pondered this, she looked toward the living room and spotted something.
A strange woman she had never seen before, adorned with bizarre horns, was slumped in a bathrobe, head bowed as she sat in a chair.
‘Illegal intruder? No, a robber? No, if that were the case, she wouldn’t be wearing a bathrobe. What in the world is going on?’
Determined to subdue her if need be, Yerna slowly and very cautiously approached to check the woman’s face.
However, as she drew nearer, a strange sense of déjà vu washed over her, and she suddenly gasped, recalling someone.
“You, is that you, Luke?”
“Uwhaaa… Um, yes, Yerna…?”
Luke’s eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Yerna’s face.
