Chapter 224

I had been concerned.

Back when I was still inside Shizuma.

Back when my personality was completely separate, and I couldn’t share thoughts with everyone else.

At that time, when Shizuma took my form, he didn’t just inherit my character’s stats and experiences—he was also influenced by my female consciousness, and he became extremely confused.

I judged that overwriting a brain temporarily with a different gender and mindset could be dangerous.

So, to be honest, I had thought that Shizuma taking a female form might be inherently risky.

However… everyone cooperated with Shizuma, and he handed over all his thoughts, so apparently there were no negative effects.

But this time, the problem is different: it’s not just about thoughts—it’s that extreme female experiences will accumulate.

I have knowledge and memories from the backstory of the ‘Hunter’ × ‘Scholar’ combination.

That knowledge kept me as a separate personality.

However, the form Shizuma is about to take—Shizuka, the combination of ‘Dancer’ × ‘Songstress’—is dangerous for another reason.

Though the story isn’t depicted in-game, it’s a female with a tragic past. And to create her backstory, various documents, historical incidents, and even interviews were referenced.

As a result, among the creators, the common understanding was that this was basically a “hard adult-oriented biography.”

Even among users, similar discussions had been made.

I worried that that experience, that knowledge, would flow into Shizuma and have some negative impact.

“Alright, then. The first floor of the dungeon—enemies spawn here naturally, so this is perfect for Shizuka to gain some experience.”

“Um, if I face away from them, enemies don’t appear, right? And when we rest, we form a circle holding hands again, right? Shizuma, will you fight alone once you transform?”

“That’s the plan. Right now, I should be able to handle it to some extent.”

We moved to the dungeon and decided to let Shizuma, as Shizuka, gain some experience by fighting on this first floor.

Even now, Shizuma has a variety of tactics and combat knowledge accumulated through experience, regardless of his current abilities.

The weapons usable by a ‘Dancer’ or ‘Songstress’ are limited—bare hands, knives, and certain special weapons.

With Rue’s knowledge, Shizuma should be able to fight beyond the character’s actual stats.

Furthermore, as a storage character, Shizuka carries various items—extra equipment, unnecessary healing items, stat-boosting items.

With those, I was confident she could fight.

So my real concern was Shizuma’s mental state.

“Alright… transform.”

“Whoa!”

“Be careful.”

Right before my eyes, Shizuma’s appearance changed into a female.

The character concept wasn’t like Seira, a busty woman… but a well-proportioned figure.

And it wasn’t “balanced” in a purely healthy sense.

I’ve gone through various reference materials. Even from my perspective as a woman, Shizuma’s transformed form—Shizuka—had a body that was beautiful, enviable, and touchable.

Breast size, waist-to-hip ratio, leg length, hip line—honestly, it was almost indecent. I even found myself thinking I wanted to see her naked.

Shizuma, now Shizuka, moved her limbs to test her body, drew her knife, and loosened up with practiced motions.

I use the same knives and daggers, so I understood—these were movements of someone who truly knows how to fight.

Shizuma’s accumulated memories were manifesting even in the weak Shizuka form.

But why… something in my mind was raising an alarm.

Why is Shizuka too weak for the monsters? Is there some hidden danger?

“Melt, come here for a second.”

Shizuka called Melt. I tried to follow, but—

“Sheele, stop there. First, only Melt, come here, okay?”

“Understood. Melt, go ahead.”

Was this some sort of test? I watched as Shizuka whispered to Melt.

Though they were talking closely, their backs faced outward, keeping alert for attacks. I also maintained my position so that all three of us had our backs outward.

After a while, Melt returned, smiling mischievously like a child who had thought up a prank. Cute, but a little concerning.

“Melt, what did Shizuka want?”

“Fufu! It’s still a secret! You’ll find out tomorrow!”

“Hmm… I’m curious… but I guess I’ll have to wait.”

Character change complete. Consciousness briefly blacked out.

When I returned, a knife was in my hand, and a plain covered in autumn leaves stretched before me.

Strangely, the feedback of Shizuka’s memories and experiences didn’t hit me. Probably because if I tried to remember too deeply, I’d recall things better left unknown.

I noticed Melt and Sheele were watching from afar.

As long as I don’t turn my back, enemies should approach from the front or sides eventually.

Soon, about ten meters away, a wolf-like monster appeared.

“Oh… right, it said monsters adapt to the external environment.”

It was a Scavenger Wolf, the same we’d defeated in the forest.

Slightly large for a wolf, with dirt-colored brown and dark brown patches—dangerous for humans in the real world.

Shizuka is still weak. Can she fight like this? I was a little worried.

But as if guided, she slowly raised the knife in front of her face, moving fluidly, following some internal rhythm.

The enemy’s actions were clear to her—she could feel the air currents with her entire body.

Her feet danced in steps, her arms wielded the knife like a dance, dodging attacks while steadily dealing damage.

I see… this is the same ability as Hash.

Hash has a sub-class of “Dancer,” meaning he also learned the “Rhythm Step.”

Shizuka, as the female version of Dancer, has some skills Hash doesn’t.

Her equipment is versatile—she wields knives usable by many jobs.

With this, she shouldn’t lose.

“Dance of Death”

• Normal attack after dodging once has an instant-death effect
• Activation chance depends on level (extremely low)

“Blessing of the Dancing Princess”

• Doubles activation rate of weapon’s special effects
• Knife attacks get +1 hit chance
• Barehand and kick critical chance ×1.5

The knife I’m using is rare—low attack but with many special effects.

Purely in damage output, it’s weaker than a high-attack weapon, but in this world, it could be devastating.

“Noble Witch’s Suicide”

• Extremely low attack but causes various status effects
• 5% chance to paralyze or poison on hit
• 10% chance to induce sleep if enemy already has a status effect
• 10% chance of paralysis and poison if enemy is asleep
• 1% chance to deal 2% max HP damage to status-immune enemies

Very situational, but synergizes perfectly with Dancer skills.

Honestly, I made this character because I got this weapon—I thought, “This could make a fun build.”

But realistically, her front-line ability is too low, and normal knives could kill faster. So she was shelved—until now.

“…Now that it’s reality, there’s no need for restraint.”

Shizuka, lightly attacking, could inflict countless status effects, making her almost as dangerous as Still.

Furthermore, the combat knowledge I gained from Rue is reflected in her movements.

I didn’t feel like losing to any of these monsters.

So I spent two hours, measured by the menu screen, repeatedly fighting as Shizuka.

Afterward, I returned to my original form and left the dungeon.

“Shizuma! You can summon Shizuka now!?”

When we left the dungeon, Melt came over, practically buzzing with excitement, asking if we could now summon Shizuka.

Hmm… I could understand why she was so enthusiastic. Even I thought Shizuka’s appearance was… well, exquisite.

Back when the game first came out, if I uploaded her character image to an internet forum, almost everyone in the thread said, “She’s ridiculously cute and sexy!”

“Hmm, Shizuka has been properly added to the ‘Low-Rank Order’ summonable characters.”

I see. Shizuka’s current level is 19, but apparently that still counts as low-rank.

Hmm… then any character I haven’t trained much should be lower level than Shizuka… so I could probably summon all of them.

“Hey, hey, hey?”

At that moment, Melt glanced toward Sheele and spoke to me.

“Um… I want to spend a little time with Shizuka. Just tonight, I want to sleep with her!”

“Eh? You like her that much, Melt? Well… we’re just summoning her for now, not giving her full consciousness, so if that’s okay with you, no problem.”

“Of course! Then tonight, the four of us should stay together!”

“Ah… if it’s like that, one room won’t be enough. Melt, do you want to share a room with Shizuka?”

“Yeah, that sounds good!”

For some reason, Melt seemed a little unusual.

Still, there was no reason to refuse, and perhaps she had something on her mind, so I summoned Shizuka using the low-rank order.

After the rain, the sky was clear. Even though the sun was starting to tilt, Shizuka’s figure in the dappled sunlight seemed to shine brightly just by being there, as if she illuminated the surroundings.

Seeing her objectively with my own eyes… yes, this was a sight that would remain burned into the mind.

“Shizuma, are you going to keep Shizuka summoned?”

“Yes, Melt said she wants to be with her just for tonight.”

“I see… a little jealousy creeping in, huh? Melt, do you like Shizuka that much?”

Sheele spoke to Melt with a slightly mischievous expression.

Hmm… something about Shizuka must have struck a chord with Melt.

“Yes, just for tonight! Okay, let’s go back to the inn!”

She grabbed the silent Shizuka’s hand and energetically walked ahead.

I was curious—what exactly was Melt up to? Did she want to be alone with Shizuka? Was there something she was curious about regarding her?

Back at the inn, I asked the innkeeper, “An old friend joined us—can we add one more person just for tonight?”

Given Shizuka’s appearance—somewhat revealing clothing—the innkeeper blushed, averted her eyes, but granted permission.

Tonight, it would be my room with Sheele, and Melt with Shizuka in the other room.

“All right! After dinner, I’m going to sleep early tonight!”

“Hm? Ah, got it. Yeah… we should sleep early and wake up early to plan tomorrow’s schedule.”

“Right. Since we cleared the dungeon, we need to plan the route to the next destination.”

Though I was slightly curious about Melt’s behavior, more importantly, now that we’d cleared the dungeon, we had to think about leaving this village.

The goal was the port town. I wanted to check on the people I interacted with as “Selene.”

If they hadn’t made it to the port town safely… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.

So, the four of us had what might be our last dinner in this village—delicious chicken dishes—and though it was still early, we went to bed.

P.S. Even without consciousness, Shizuka ate the meal very neatly.

…Even faster than anyone else. Apparently, food tastes good even without consciousness.

The next morning. Because we went to bed early last night, I woke up quite early.

The sun had just risen, and the owls could still be heard in the forest.

Sheele was, of course, still softly breathing beside me.

The window let in only faint light. Even so, her sleeping face, illuminated by that light, would make any man fall in love instantly—not just me.

In this quiet early morning, the silence was suddenly shattered—

By none other than Melt’s scream.

I jumped from the bed and ran toward Melt’s room.

There, she was standing by her bedside table, muttering over and over, “What should I do?”

“Melt, what’s wrong!? I just heard a huge ‘uwaaaaah!’ scream!”

“Ugh… what… what happened? Did you… have a scary dream…?”

Sheele, seemingly awakened by the commotion, entered the room, her voice sleepy.

But Melt, unchanged, was staring at what looked like a letter, her face pale.

“Melt… what’s wrong? And… where’s Shizuka?”

Right—Shizuka wasn’t in the room. She handles biological needs on her own, so maybe she went to the toilet?

“Hey… Shizuma… do you remember the request you made of me… yesterday…?”

“Huh? Request?”

Suddenly, Melt asked me, clinging to me in desperation.

But I had no memory of making any request to Melt. What was she talking about…?

“No way… then… that wasn’t Shizuma…?”

“…Melt, can you explain from the beginning?”

Melt, half-crying, showed me the letter.

“What should I do… Shizuka tricked me… I made her take the medicine!!!”

The letter read:

“Thank you for being so easily deceived, you foolish fox. And to you, the master reading this letter, goodbye. I will live my life freely. Please take care. Feel the suffering of being neglected, the sadness of being abandoned. You too, should experience it to the fullest.”

It was a letter filled with resentment toward me.