Chapter 4

Episode 4: If it’s a Beautiful Girl, She Can Get Away with Selling Things She Found

Explorers who conquer Dungeons always equip a device called Dive Gear, which is in the form of a bracelet.

This is an absolutely necessary tool to stabilize the presence of the equipped individual within the “Other-Dimensional Deep Realm,” which is the formal name for what’s commonly abbreviated as Dungeon.

Without it, you might end up becoming one with the monsters of that Dungeon. Scary, huh?

Simultaneously, this device is also used to summon weapons.

Weapons summoned using magical power vary entirely depending on their user.

Many are imbued with effects akin to magic.

Na Takikai is no exception; his weapon carries a special effect.

That effect being poison.

The venom dripping from the tip of his small dagger has the ability to paralyze the opponent. It’s rather underwhelming.

But since he was using it to stab and kick the protagonist while they were paralyzed, it served its purpose perfectly as a setup role.

“From my perspective, this weapon with such a short reach is incredibly hard to use!”

In the beginner’s Dungeon, I slash through targets that merely float around.

This space, modeled after a forest, appears fairly vast, and according to Mizuki Senpai, there’s a risk of getting lost.

“Anyway, these virtual targets aren’t affected by paralysis. Damn, I want a specialized weapon too.”

For each Dive Gear, only one weapon can be registered.

Since Na Takikai registered this useless weapon, nothing else can be summoned. By the way, Dive Gear isn’t something you can casually buy—it costs at least a million even for the cheaper models. What? You’re asking if I bought cross-dressing gear instead? Shut up.

“If I could qualify for Dungeon rescues, I’d probably earn more. But for that, I need to get stronger.”

My ultimate goal is to acquire the TS Dungeon within a year.

By defeating the boss inside a Dungeon and obtaining its core, you gain ownership of that Dungeon.

To achieve this, I first need to get my hands on new Dive Gear.

And beforehand, I need the skills.

“This outfit advertised as ‘combat-ready Gothic Lolita’ really is easy to move in… though the mask makes breathing difficult.”

Every time I swing my dagger, the costume swirls into view, making it fun. With my skirt flaring, I fight gracefully. Hmm, this feels like a beautiful girl.

“You don’t have the time to deal with someone as insignificant as you—what!?”

I cut down the target and strike a pose while delivering my lines.

Even normally, this body has a somewhat androgynous voice, so when I strain my throat, it produces an incredibly cute tone.

Though, maybe a slightly downer-like voice would suit this appearance better.

Hmm, thinking about these kinds of things is when I feel most alive.

“I feel like I can fight endlessly today. My soul is shining brighter than ever before!”

It seems the source of an explorer’s strength is something called magical power—an invisible energy deeply tied to the soul. Right now, my magical power is surging.

There’s no magic in this world, so magical power is mainly used to enhance physical abilities, meaning that during cross-dressing, it feels like a buff is applied.

If cross-dressing alone grants buffs, it’s quite the bargain.

“Cut, cut, cut some more!”

With a swift swish, the targets are cleanly sliced apart.

At this point, there’s no stopping me.

With the body meant for setting up others and a soul that shines brighter than the sun, I might even be able to defeat a boss right now.

“Mizuki Senpai said that Dungeon bosses are just humanoid grunts with large bodies and a bit creepy. Let’s swiftly slice them down, then play pretend with a beautiful girl beside their corpse. That sounds nice.”

There’s nothing strange about that.

Considering various possibilities, I noticed a cave at the edge of my vision.

In the middle of the forest, there’s an area where the rock face is strangely exposed, with a gaping hole right in the center.

Even a super-genius like me immediately understood what it was.

“The boss’s lair…”

Dungeon creatures, aside from needing magical power to survive, are basically no different from ordinary living beings. The textbook mentioned that some sleep at night.

Based on that, the boss should be asleep right now. I’ll take them straight to heaven.

“One hit to the sleeping neck should do it… nah, that wouldn’t be good practice, would it?”

While holding my dagger, I step into the cave.

Within ten seconds, I hit a dead-end wall.

“Wrong place? How misleading… huh?”

Wait, this isn’t a wall but a massive door.

I illuminate the door with the light from my Dive Gear.

Despite being discolored by rust and dirt, it’s clearly a mechanical double-door of enormous size.

“What is this?”

I try pushing the door.

Of course, it shouldn’t open—but…

“Ah, it opened.”

The door crumbles away from where I touched it, eventually leaving a hole big enough for me to pass through easily.

Rather than opening, it broke, didn’t it?

“Excuse me~”

I crawl through the hole and enter.

By this point, I already knew the boss wasn’t here, but the room was obviously hidden and intriguing.

Inside, there was a spacious semi-circular area.

Perhaps to let in natural light, the ceiling was covered with something like glass, allowing the stars to be seen.

In the center of the room, bathed in the light of the moon floating in the Dungeon sky, lay something.

A black scythe exuding a somewhat biological aura.

A giant scythe, nearly as tall as me, rested on a pedestal.

“What is this… never seen it in the original story.”

Avoiding countless tubes connecting the room’s sides to the pedestal, I approach the scythe.

Clearly, it’s not in a normal state.

“It’s probably a relic, right?”

Relics, treasures born from condensed magical power, sometimes appear in Dungeons. They come in countless varieties, and the protagonist Tourak also obtained an unfair relic… Hmm, this is truly unknown knowledge.

“A weapon-type relic should be quite rare… but does something like this exist in a beginner’s Dungeon?”

I quickly realized the possibility that this item might be special to Factom General Academy, but I dismissed it simultaneously.

There’s no way Factom General Academy, which struggles financially, would leave such an obviously valuable relic untouched.

Judging by the condition of the door, it seems it’s been abandoned for a long time, and no one knows of its existence.

If no one knows about it…

“Let’s sell it☆”

It’ll fetch a good price, and Mizuki Senpai and the others will be happy too.

Those guys mostly eat bean sprouts.

I entered the academy solely for TS purposes, but unexpectedly, those three are decent people, so if I can help them when I have spare time, that’d be nice.

When I become a woman, I’d like them to accept me as a companion.

TS lilies do exist (radical faction).

“Well then, let’s claim it immediately, shall we?”

I tiptoe closer to the scythe.

I don’t want to touch it bare-handed, so I’ll use the black lace gloves from my Gothic Lolita costume.

“Tomorrow, I’d like to eat some meat~”

Just as I grabbed the scythe, an unprecedented intense pain surged through my body.

“Guah!? Wh-what is this…!?”

An instinctive discomfort and pain, as if my internal organs were being flipped from the inside, relentlessly overwhelmed me.

It hurts 0.5 times more than being run over by a truck!!

…So, it’s bearable.

“Hmph! Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!”

Waves of pain, as if the scythe itself was rejecting me, took over my body.

But there was no way I could let go.

I’m selling this! Turning it into money, getting praised by the seniors, and later joining the lily party!

Did my noble determination get through, or did the time simply run out?

Suddenly, the pain vanished.

Good job. Good boy. I’ll take proper care of it and sell it off.

“Alright! Rare item acquired!”

I pull the scythe from its pedestal and hold it aloft. I’m delighted.

“Okay, the boss doesn’t seem to be here, so let’s head back quickly… huh?”

It continues further inside.

There’s a corridor ahead without any doors, its mouth wide open waiting for me.

“…Shall we go?”

There might be more relics deeper inside.

I decide to proceed further.

The moment I hoisted the scythe onto my shoulder, the weight disappeared.

“Ow!”

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my left arm.

A strong pain, similar to a harsh flick, lingered in my left wrist.

Looking closely, the scythe had vanished, replaced by a dark red bracelet encircling my left wrist.

“Eh…”

After staring at the bracelet for a while, it seemed to dissolve into my wrist as if being sucked in.

“Eh!?”

Now, there’s only a faint red mark left, and neither the bracelet nor the scythe exists anywhere.

“N-no! It’s gone!? Did it… consume itself!?”

That can’t be true, yet it genuinely felt like it was absorbed into my body.

No matter how much I shake or pinch my left wrist, neither reappears, leaving me helpless. Oh… I’m sorry, Senpais.

“In that case, I must find more relics deeper inside.”

Having lost valuable items once, I’m driven further inward.

Just as I stepped forward to advance down the corridor, which resembled an abandoned hospital hallway…

“—Huh!?”

The sensation of the ground collapsing beneath me.

Ah, the corridor was deteriorating. Somewhere in my mind, I calmly analyzed the situation.

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