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Bam— the wild boar, which had a tree branch piercing its chest, made a heavy sound while falling down. Lifting its huge body, weighing up to two or three hundred kilograms with one hand, I cut open the stomach with trained proficiency and began to drain the blood. I observed as the blood flowed into the hole I dug in advance. When it was fully drained, I used magic to freeze it into a solid along with the surrounding earth. If I just dump it into the faraway river later, that should end it.

“There we go.”

Even though I touched the cold ice with my bare hands, I won’t get frostbite nor would my skin start to peel. It’s only natural. The strength of this body is the same as when I was a hero, and I boasted the same level of physical strength, stamina, magical powers, and so on. Even if I receive an attack from a monster, I won’t get hurt, so grabbing a lump of ice with my bare hands shouldn’t be an issue.

“Even if no one is watching… I’d better check up on my appearance.”

I created a mirror in the air with magic and carefully checked if there was any blood on my body. All right, there’s nothing. I’m the same as ever, a beautiful girl.

My name is Brave, a legendary hero who defeated the demon king set on conquering the world, thus saving it from total destruction. No… I was a hero— or so I should say. The time I was a hero was roughly 300 years ago. For the humans living in this era, my existence should be no different than a character from a fairy-tale.

§　§　§

Three hundred years ago. My allies and I saved the world— then the so-called ‘hero party’ received a grand reception when they returned home. A crazy parade occurred where tens of thousands of people gathered at the main street of the royal capital, with performers and musicians invited, and a prolonged banquet. It was a revelry banquet. I was a late bloomer, so I didn’t put my hand on any girls, but I basked myself in the high-class alcohol and drank as much as I wanted. At that time I thought I was being rewarded for all the hardships that I experienced and that my life would continue like this from now on.

However, the reality was completely different. Initially, the king and nobles cordially welcomed me and flattered me as the brave or the hero, but their attitude gradually became cold. It was natural as I wasn’t working at all, I just ate and drank every single day without holding back and I walked around the castle as if I was owning the place. Contrary to that, however, my fame rose drastically among the commoners, so if the king and nobles made an untactful complaint, I had more than enough power to easily deal with them. If they’re going to do something against me, at most they would either try to backbite or not get involved with me.

As expected, their change of attitude was a bit uncomfortable. I was disgusted by the sly bullying, so I left the castle to live in another town to escape. The residents of the town initially accepted it favorably. They even used to bother me with various things like wanting to shake hands and receiving their gifts. However, that didn’t last long. Those who heard that I didn’t work and that the country was paying me a monthly compensation started to complain that it was unfair. From my point of view, it’s a joke. I literally saved the world by fighting with my life on the line over and over again, so I thought it was reasonable to have that kind of treatment. However, the overwhelming majority thought otherwise.

In the end, I ran away from that town and moved to a remote village. It was there that I met a person who went through similar things, and I was reunited with the wizard after a long time, just as things were starting to become unpleasant. Compared to when she was adventuring, she was dressed a lot better than before and I was a bit surprised.

By the way, my party consisted of the hero— me, a warrior, a monk, and a magician. I was the youngest at the age of seventeen while the warrior and monk were in their forties, and the magician in her early twenties, I think? Different from me, a brat, those guys were skillfully making a living. The warrior was the head of the knight order of the kingdom, the monk the archbishop of the church, and the wizard the court magician.

Not only was I unable to do anything by myself, but I also didn’t have the ability to specialize in anything else, so my voice always fell on deaf ears. No… there might have been another reason, now that I think about it. Something like how I was ignorant of how the world worked, how I could only fight or how I was too strong to be used as a reference for anything in regards to normal people. There must have been many other things as well.

Putting that aside, the magician who I had been reunited with for the first time in a long while, made an astonishing suggestion while speaking words that I don’t know whether they were meant as abuse or to encourage me.

Getting a new body, a new name, and to restart my life all over again. Unable to understand the meaning of her words, I asked her to repeat one more time, to which she calmly said.

“I thoroughly investigated the essence of magic from when we defeated the demon king. If I use that power, it’s a trivial matter for me to prepare a new life for you.”

Naturally, I refused. Why did I have to act like a criminal who committed a crime and run away? However, that woman expected my response. Just like when we were still fighting, she creased her eyebrow and calmly continued.

“There’s no place for you in this world. You’re way too strong and cannot live with other people. I’m telling you this for your own good, it’s better to live quietly somewhere else.”

The mouth that was about to object started moving, but stopped shortly after. Even if she hadn’t said that, somewhere in my heart I had already come to the conclusion that there was no place for me in this world. As a result of possessing too much power, I couldn’t come in contact with anyone, and no one approached me. As for me, who could not find friends or a family that I could trust in, I wondered if living alone would be any different. The people around me were afraid of me, and I was treated like a parasite. Just like what the magician had said, living a life as a completely different person didn’t sound too bad— was what I wound up thinking at that time.

As I reluctantly agreed, the magician happily opened her grimoire that was lying at the table, as if that calmness from before was nothing but an act. This was previously the possession of the demon king, but without me knowing, she had brought it back with her. I don’t know what’s written inside. It’s filled with ancient words that I can’t read. At any rate, it’s certain that something important is written within.

“I discovered an interesting inscription within this grimoire. There’s a magic that is said to be able to redefine someone’s appearance and allows one to be reborn as a completely different person. I immediately wanted to test it out, but I can’t just indiscriminately reincarnate random passers-by, can I? While I was desperately searching for someone, I remembered about your existence.”

In other words, what? This girl here was saying all these serious things up until now, about how my powers are too strong or that I should be living quietly, only to get me to be a part of her experiment? I wanted to complain about this, but I soon gave up. She’s been like this since long ago. She completely lacked interest in other people’s life and death or the world’s fate, and was only interested in her own magic research and experiments. When it concerned this, it was as if she was a different person. I don’t think she’ll stop now even if I complain. Also, it was the truth that I was interested in a new life after all.

“Do you have any wishes? I’ll try to match your request as best as I can.”
“Let’s see……”

I wonder what kind of life would be good? I spent my childhood while training sword and magic, my teenage days consisted of nothing but killing monsters, and my adolescence was spent being treated as a hindrance and shunned by others… thinking back, it wasn’t a good life. If I were to start once again, I’d lead my life with none of that.

“I have decided. I want to live my life the exact opposite way. I’m fed up with this life where I only hack and slash. I want to be a human that can quietly pass his time uneventfully without anyone bothering him.”
“I got it. The exact opposite of right now, right!?”

The magician gradually increased her magical powers as her finger followed the characters that started floating out of the grimoire. While I was uneasy about whether she listened to my request or not, the surroundings became so bright that all I could see was white, and a huge amount of magic power started flowing into my body at the same time.

“Hot!”

It was like my body didn’t belong to me anymore.

“It’s hot!”

Uneasiness attacked me as if every single cell of my body was being replaced. I desperately kept myself together, wondering whether or not I would just disappear like this.

“It’s hot!”

The bones of my entire body were squeaking, and I could feel my hands and feet contracting. My hair started growing and my teeth were replaced.

“Ahhhhhh!”

When I thought my eyeballs were hot enough to start boiling, my tears naturally started to flow, so much so that it’s more than I had ever shed before. The screams leaking from my throat were gradually changing, and I started becoming aware of them changing into a higher-pitch. The pain that attacked me made its way around my entire body, and I started wiggling like a caterpillar. It was a pitiful appearance for someone who was called the hero. However, at that time, I didn’t have the leeway to worry about my dignity.

Exactly how long has it been since this started? When I noticed, I was sleeping on the floor, completely sprawled out. When I was looking outside the window, it appeared to be nighttime. As I was flustered and tried sitting up, the blanket that seemed to have been covering me gently fell down. As I was about to pick it up, I immediately noticed a strange feeling.

“What?”

My hands were small, and on top of that, they were slender. I wouldn’t say that I was muscular before, but my trained arms shouldn’t be this slender. It was as if I was looking at a girl’s arm— and the moment I thought that, I started checking a nearby mirror in a fluster. What greeted me was a peerless beauty, that was completely naked.

“…………”

The smooth golden colored hair reflected the moonlight and gave off a mysterious glow. The blue eyes that were sparkling like a gem transmitted the individual’s great willpower. Thin, well-shaped trembling lips expressed my turmoil. When my glance moved down, I could see a reasonably large and well-shaped chest one could be proud of, a narrow waist, and there was nothing at my crotch.

“A girl? No matter how you look at it, I’m a girl……”

I seemed to be around 15 or maybe 16 years old. Even at the banquets at the castle, I’ve never seen such a beautiful girl. If this was someone else, she would’ve instantly snatched away my heart, but unfortunately, the figure reflected in the mirror seems to be me. Confused, I tried to look for the magician, but neither her appearance nor her shadow was there. Instead, there was a note left on top of the desk.

『I’ve prepared the exact opposite life for you, just as you wished. A delicate body that is the exact opposite of your tough body. An appearance that is liked by everyone, the exact opposite of yours. The opposite of a male is a female. Almost everything is as you wish. There was only one slipup, apparently, your strength and abilities remain unchanged. But it’s good, isn’t it? You’ve changed so much, so accept it and go live your life as a girl.』

My hand holding the note started trembling. I was unwilling¹ but had no choice but to give in. It was good that my appearance changed. Since my gender changed, no one will ever realize who I am. However, if my strength is the same, how would it be any different from the past?² The only thing that changed is that I stopped being a young man and am now a girl. There’s no big difference from up until now! What the 𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴 was she thinking!?

I’ll have you revert it. Thinking so, I braced myself and rushed out of the house, but I couldn’t find the magician in the end. Later, I learned that apparently, she was no longer a royal court magician and had already left the castle, and her whereabouts were currently unknown. Within all the magic she could use, there’s a convenient spell known as transfer magic. It’s a handy magic that allows you to instantly move from one point to another. It’s almost impossible to catch her as long as she uses it to hide. I had no idea what sort of places she would stop by, so I had no choice but to stop searching for now.

After I was wallowing in despair for a while, I left the village that I woke up in after resolving myself. I decided to quietly tend the fields somewhere in the mountains and live a life where humans wouldn’t notice me. That was about three hundred years ago. It seems that this body doesn’t get old, and so I still have the appearance of a young girl.

At first, I was perplexed about my appearance, but now I’ve become accustomed to it. I don’t have any interest in dressing up, but because I became a girl, I at least started caring about my appearance, so that no one could complain.³ Above all, I like cute and beautiful things, so I have no regrets about my appearance.

§　§　§

I started cooling the meat while washing away the blood in the river. Like this, with the way the meat is handled, the taste will change drastically. The internal organs will be removed and mixed with compost and fermented before they are used in the field. I was a little hungry, so I stuck a part torn from it up on a skewer made of wood and grilled it with my flame magic. There was no flavoring, so this was mainly a snack. While I was gulping down several of these, I suddenly heard a rustling sound behind me. If it was a monster, there would’ve already been a surprise attack, so I slowly turned around, and what I saw there was a woman with worn-out clothes standing there with a sword which she used as a supporting cane.

Despite being on guard, I didn’t stop eating the meat. The woman’s line of sight wasn’t directed at me, but constantly following the meat that I was eating.

“I-I’m hun…gry……”

After saying just that, the woman collapsed all of a sudden, as if that sentence used up all of her strength. While looking at that, I completely consumed the remaining meat.⁴

1. Yanga: why are they all shocked?! Isn’t that a dream coming true?!
   Silva: A dream come true indeed for cultured men like us!
2. Yanga: He will soon learn about the different treatment for a beautiful girl and a random macho
3. Yanga: but you’re all alone, right? Lol
4. Yanga: Isnt she a meanie?
   Silva: Brave’s line of thought: I eat my fill first, you eat my remains
   Yanga: “completely consumed the remaining meat”
   what remains?
   Silva: (the bones)
   Yanga: hmmmhmmmhmmm
   now that i think about it, one can make some sort of soup from that, so i guess you’re right