Chap 2-The Road to the Capital 2

 

Okay. Until just now, I thought I was in bad shape because my body was relaxed.

It’s different.

Even though I’m coming to my senses, it’s still like this.

I lower my head at the weight I feel in my chest.

I can see it. Something big.

Something that shouldn’t be there for a man is swollen and revealing its presence.

Besides, the high-pitched voice from just now.

My hair seems long too.

No. Wait a minute.

Who am I? A thief who spent those hard days in the hero’s party.

Even if I don’t know anything else, I’ve been a thief, so my intuition is great.

Looking at my hair, this voice, and my body, it’s obvious that if I take off my robe, a woman’s body will greet me.

“Shit.”

Damn it. Did my body become a woman?

Where? Where? How?

Did the Succubus Queen, who used to get beaten by me, do this?

No. There’s no way I wouldn’t know about Succubusification, and she’s not strong enough to touch me.

Then did Helia steal the Holy Sword as revenge? She wouldn’t be able to do that.

She didn’t even approach me in the first place, unless she’s a curse caster.

Saint Yuni is not even worth discussing. And the elves wouldn’t use such ominous magic.

Something turned my body into a woman’s body.

I don’t even know what that something is.

“Hey, miss. Hey. Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes.”

This is not the time for this.

I shouldn’t just take the Holy Sword to the capital, I need to make a new plan.

“I didn’t expect the miss to be this strong. Let’s go quickly. The capital isn’t far, so we should inform the nearby Imperial Army garrison.”

Leaving the worried coachman behind, I got back into the carriage.

I didn’t want to meet her if I could help it, but I think I need to see my master.

That terrible woman who brought me here from the gutter.

She knows everything, so maybe he knows.

-You? You’re in the hero’s party? Puhahaha. Aren’t the nobles you robbed sending petitions?

When I joined the hero’s party, she laughed a lot. She said that the hero’s party would abandon me anyway. She told me to just stay in the gutter and take over the Thieves’ Guild in the capital.

Looking back, it all came true.

I ignored her, saying why would a royalist take over the Thieves’ Guild.

Now I desperately need the help of that Thieves’ Guild.

The Thieves’ Guild operates more in the shadows than the Adventurers’ Guild, which handles requests, so unlike what is known to the public, they can obtain deeper and darker information that can be embellished with all sorts of rhetoric.

I have no choice.

I don’t want to get help from that woman if I can help it.

It’s obvious that she’ll make fun of me, but I can’t not go.

“How about we stop by Torino nearby for a while? The carriage wheel is in this state, so we need to go and fix it.”

The carriage wheel is broken at the right time. I need to visit the village to contact my master.

“Let’s do that.”

Trade City Torino

Located near the capital, Torino was a city for trade in the middle of the capital and other territories.

I’ve been there a few times before.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been here in this form.

And.

I am being held at the Imperial Army outpost in Torino with the coachman.

Why?

Because of the bandits.

Unlike before, I am a woman now, so there are many things to worry about.

“What is the size of the bandits?”

“Ten people.”

“Are you saying that a woman alone caught them all?”

The Imperial Army narrowed their eyes and scanned me up and down.

I feel very bad because they look like they don’t believe it.

The good thing is that this coachman seems to have some connections, and he is treating the Imperial Army quite friendly.

“I’m telling you, you guys. Why don’t you believe me?”

The coachman’s wrinkled face contorted and he pounded his chest as if he was frustrated.

I quietly examined my body.

Delicate and snow-white skin that doesn’t seem to have suffered at all.

Uselessly thick chest that doesn’t help in battle at all.

Soft belly with no muscles, and a slender waist that seems like it will break if I bend over a little.

The shape of my legs is different from when I was a man.

Hmm.

Okay. Let’s be honest.

Honestly, I wouldn’t believe it either.

How can it be possible to catch bandits with this body, with no muscles?

Even the few muscular women in the Adventurers’ Guild would have difficulty catching a dozen bandits.

“It’s not that, but recently bandits attacked the village and killed the squad leader stationed in the village. There was actually a case where we sent a woman whose family was taken hostage to scout, so we would appreciate your cooperation.”

Squad leader. The commander of about ten Imperial soldiers.

What a bold guy.

Are bandits running rampant near the capital?

I hope my master didn’t move the guild.

That’s not possible.

Wasn’t the Thieves’ Guild only handling requests from high-ranking officials?

“Are bandits running rampant even though this area is close to the capital?”

“Why are you curious about that?”

The soldier narrowed his eyes and glared at me.

Normally, I wouldn’t even receive such a request.

It’s so shitty to be treated like this as a woman.

In the end, I took out something I didn’t want to take out from my pocket.

“Will this be enough?”

As if showing something precious, what I held out was a pendant, an identification card only given to members of the hero’s party.

If you ask where to use it, it’s exactly for times like this.

Yes. When things are blocked like this.

Since the hero’s party is not a regular adventurer party but a party that saves humanity from the Demon King’s Army, it can be seen as a privilege of the clan.

Of course, it’s a pass because you can’t hinder the Demon King’s Army from being driven out because they don’t recognize the hero’s party.

For example, when you have to go to a place where the Demon King’s Army is dispatched or to deal with executives or the Four Heavenly Kings, there is a sudden inspection.

Or when you need to get necessary supplies but you don’t have money.

It means that it is a pass that works in foreign countries that have trade relations with the kingdom.

Honestly, I never dreamed I would use it like this.

“This is a pendant owned by the kingdom’s hero’s party? Were you in the hero’s party?”

“What about the bandits? Are they from the Thieves’ Guild?”

“There’s no way they would do that. It’s because the security has become poor. The Demon King’s Army led by the Four Heavenly Kings is putting large-scale pressure on the front lines, so the main force led by Duke Habel, the commander of the Eastern Army, has gone to support the 3rd and 4th Corps.”

The 3rd and 4th Corps are the imperial armies that guard the front lines.

At least when I saw it before, there was no problem, but they need support?

“Why? Haven’t they been holding out well until now?”

“Isn’t it all the fault of that damn hero? He went to beat up the Demon King and turned all the Four Heavenly Kings to our empire.”

-What if you don’t have a sure chance of winning and you get attacked by the Four Heavenly Kings?

-Don’t worry. I’ve already taken care of that.

Was that the reason why that idiot hero said he would buy some time?

He probably asked the empire to move the army to the front lines to catch the Demon King.

From the empire’s point of view, if they didn’t listen, the hero would say, “Oh? The empire is siding with the Demon King!” and the world would turn against them in an instant, so they couldn’t refuse.

And the Four Heavenly Kings would have been excited and rushed in like fish in water.

There’s no answer.

“Ha, that bastard is a real son of a bitch.”

I’ve done thieving, but I can’t do that.

He did this kind of dog shit because he wanted to finish the Demon King quickly.

And now he planned to stab me in the back too, and take all the credit for slaying the Demon King.

He probably heard the dogmatic logic that the hero’s the Hero’s Holy Sword could definitely kill the Demon King just by looking at the records and tried to do it.

And innocent people died.

“Yes?”

“It’s nothing.”

It’s not my business anymore anyway.

They can’t kill the Demon King with that kind of mindset and determination.

It’s better to start from the beginning.

Stealing the Holy Sword was a good thing after all.

Seeing the pendant, the Imperial Army, who had been tense, let us pass.

I never dreamed that something I hadn’t used well until now would be helpful.

Thieves can hide secretly without needing that kind of thing, and if they get caught, they can just bribe them.

During the hero’s party days, the hero and other women showed off their pendants in front to show that they were in the hero’s party. There was no reason to use it directly.

“You must have been a pretty high-ranking person. Hahaha! Well, that’s why you caught the bandits.”

The coachman laughed heartily as we came out.

Now that I’ve informed the Imperial Army,

I should move now that I’ve contacted my master.

“But are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t think that girl’s outfit is appropriate.”

“Ah, I have someone I know in the Thieves’ Guild. I’ll be fine until then.”

No matter what, it might be a short time, but I can’t wear women’s clothes.

The capital is coming soon.

Thieves’ Guild

The Thieves’ Guild in the slums of the capital was like a sanctuary for thieves.

Of course, the thieves belonging to this guild were not ordinary thieves.

They are composed of talented people who work in a wider field, and the thieves belonging to this place carry out missions in the form of requests, like the Adventurers’ Guild.

However, the difference from the Adventurers’ Guild is that they take on all kinds of dirty work.

From small-scale general thieving to large-scale stealing of national treasures or assassinating key figures.

But.

In an office that is too neat and antique to be called the guild building of a force that exists in the shady shadows, a woman sat by the window and sipped tea.

After staring at me up and down for a while, the woman looked at me up and down again as if she couldn’t believe it.

Yes. This woman is my master.

Shadow Queen Katarina, the guild leader of the Thieves’ Guild, who also holds the title of baron.

Her jet-black hair, blood-red eyes that see through people, and noble attire that doesn’t seem like the head of the Thieves’ Guild are still the same.

She scanned my appearance up and down with the same emotionless eyes.

Again and again.

She doesn’t have any change in expression, but I could feel the embarrassment on her face.

“So you’re my disciple.”

“Yes.”

“The ugly disciple who joined the hero’s party claiming he’d left his past behind and was only used to the fullest?”

“Yes.”

“The disciple who got stabbed in the back and stole a fortune on the way out?”

“Yes.”

“But you fell asleep in the carriage and woke up to find that your body had become a young lady?”

“Yes.”

After answering all the questions, my master nodded and calmly placed the teacup in her hand on the table.

Then she stared at me quietly.

I could feel the emotion of being seriously embarrassed.