3. The Sacrifice (3)
“Hmph. The chest is too big. With this, it will be difficult…”
When Carlo bounced his plump breasts with his palm, it was incredible to think that such size and weight could possess such elasticity.
Until now, Carlo had solely pursued magic and knew nothing of the female body.
“It will be hard to coordinate continuous attacks in close combat.”
Carlo, wearing only his underwear after stripping off his clothes, scrutinized his new body from all angles.
Unable to emit magic externally, this new bodily transformation was far from welcome for Carlo, who relied on weaving magic into close combat.
Carlo understood that this chest size was an important criterion for beauty. However, as far as he was concerned, they were still nothing more than unwanted lumps of fat. And the overly long, cumbersome hair…
“Hmph, I’ll manage somehow.”
Yes, if it’s the price of power, it doesn’t matter. It mustn’t matter.
Just as Carlo thought this, he suddenly paused and strained his ears.
– Father, I heard Carlo did something stupid and turned into a woman.
– …That’s right. You should watch your words too, Fabio.
– I see. But I want to see this spectacle for myself.
Footsteps were getting closer. Definitely Fabio’s voice – and also the sound of approaching footsteps through the door he had forgotten to close.
Carlo picked up his discarded clothes. He slowly donned his pants and was just reaching for his shirt when Fabio’s voice rang out.
“Carlo, I heard you did something stupid.”
With those words, Fabio poked his head through the doorway. Their eyes met…
Thankfully, Carlo was wearing pants. His torso however, was only covered by a coarse cotton bandage, clinging tightly to his body and revealing every curve of the female form. Despite the bandage, the impressive size was undeniable. Fabio instinctively took a breath and stepped back out of the room.
“You’re despicable, young one. Get lost.”
Still without a full grasp of his new body, Carlo didn’t consider how his current appearance would affect Fabio, five years his junior. With his usual cold and biting tone, he mocked his younger brother.
Your voice and appearance may be different, but that attitude confirms you’re still my older brother, Carlo – with this certainty, Fabio didn’t dare enter the room. Instead, he shouted from outside the door.
“How embarrassing, the eldest son making such a wish! Aren’t you ashamed?”
There was no response to that remark. Before Fabio knew it, Carlo appeared before him.
“Ugh.”
The pants were too large in the waist, hanging off Carlo’s hips and accentuating the feminine curves even more. The upper body was only modestly covered by the cotton bandage, revealing every contour.
Unable to meet Carlo’s gaze, Fabio looked down, while Carlo glared at him and spoke.
“Young whelp. I know you’ve been praised a lot because of your unique magic, leading to your current childish behavior. You naive fool.”
Carlo grabbed a handful of Fabio’s hair and yanked his head up. Fabio’s eyes met Carlo’s against his will.
“Because of your rare constitution, you grew up hearing you’d become a great mage someday – but if you die here and now, it’ll be meaningless. If I, who obtained power through unconventional means that you mock, were to genuinely punch you in the face right now, you’d die without being able to resist.”
“Y-you madman…”
Was he joking or serious?
Fabio swallowed anxiously as he caught glimpses of static electricity crackling next to his face. Perhaps Carlo really would do it…
“Do you still not understand what ‘magic wills it’? For the sake of becoming stronger, even slightly so, the Cascata family doesn’t hesitate over means. If you’re going to spout nonsense, get lost. Before I kill you here and now.”
Carlo roughly let go of Fabio’s hair, throwing him aside. Watching his younger brother fall in the hallway, Carlo gave him one last cold glare and turned away.
“You idiot.”
The sound of Carlo’s door slamming echoed through the corridor. Fabio glared at the closed door for a long time, gritting his teeth.
The Cascata family consisted of three members:
The family head Enrico della Cascata.
The eldest son Carlo della Cascata.
The second son Fabio della Cascata.
Even late at night, they gathered for dinner. During the meal, there was absolutely no sound, adhering to proper etiquette. However, this also led to a somewhat cold and silent dining experience.
“Carlo.”
Carlo only turned his gaze toward Enrico in response.
“You still have some time before Academy starts. Try to resolve this in the meantime.”
“I already know that. The waterfall took its price and I must return it. But I have no intention of doing so.”
Enrico remained silent at Carlo’s answer. After cutting his heavily peppered roasted meat into small pieces and chewing slowly, Enrico finally spoke.
“You’ve always been like this. Stubborn and unyielding.”
“Call it having strong principles. If you really want me to hide it, I could just disguise myself as male.”
“Can you actually do that with that body?”
Clearly impossible. The body was already female, and there was no way simple disguise could resolve it.
“What about applying transformation magic to look male?”
“No one in our family can do that.”
“Not yet.”
“Then we’d have to hire an outsider. If you’re not willing to expose one of the Four Pillars’ magic circuits to outsiders, stop suggesting nonsense.”
Ignoring Fabio’s protest, Carlo resumed eating in silence.
“If you really don’t want to return, Carlo, I cannot pass on the family heritage to you as a woman.”
Enrico’s words made Carlo’s fork and knife pause mid-motion. At the thought of continuing the family line, Carlo chuckled.
“I never considered that anyway. You never intended to pass it to me. Everyone will flock to this young one over here when his magic’s revealed after your death anyway.”
“Excuse me, Carlo. They’d be wise men, not fools.”
Fabio chimed in at that moment. Eventually, Enrico furrowed his brow and banged on the table.
“Both of you, stop it! There’s nothing that can be done. You can’t tell the Academy about the waterfall, so we’ll say you were always a daughter, living as a male mage for family reasons.”
It wasn’t unheard of for the heir of a noble family like Cascata to be cursed by rivals. In fact, the Cascata family had many rivals, so claiming their eldest was actually a disguised daughter to protect Fabio wouldn’t be entirely unbelievable.
“I’ve never been ashamed of anything, so I don’t understand why maintaining appearances matters so much. This meal’s lost its flavor.”
With that, Carlo loudly placed down his utensils. Enrico glared at him and raised his voice.
“Can’t you see I’m meeting your outrageous demands as much as possible? What kind of upbringing did you have?”
“Just watch and see if I’m right or wrong. I’ll show you.”
Carlo turned away as if there was nothing more to say and left the dining room. Watching his retreating back, Enrico pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply.
“Where have things gone so wrong…”
On the day of the enrollment ceremony a few days later.
Following the previous instructions, Ivan headed toward the Academy.
Though residing in the Cascata territory, Ivan, living outside the city walls, had rarely seen a proper city. Even so, the Academy that unfolded before him was like its own massive city, leaving him initially overwhelmed.
The number of students wasn’t large. This time there were only two classes, with a total of ten new students, and even all the Academy’s students combined wouldn’t exceed fifty.
Still, with many mages gathering to research magic, the Academy’s scale was impressive enough to be called its own city.
Ivan was wandering around the various buildings, taking a look before heading to the designated classroom for the assembly. However, all the buildings looked the same to him, so he decided to ask for directions.
“There.”
A student wearing the same uniform as Ivan approached. The brown-haired boy was shorter than Ivan and had a gentle appearance. Upon seeing Ivan approach, he looked curious at first but then grinned upon noticing they were wearing the same uniform.
“Ah, are you a new student?”
Ivan was glad to be approached. He nodded awkwardly in response.
“My name’s Emil von Aufschtik. Nice to meet you.”
“Um…the noble family…”
Ivan hesitated to shake hands, knowing Emil was from one of the Great Four noble families while he was just commoner.
“In the Academy, no one cares about such distinctions. Be at ease, alright?”
“Ah, o-okay…I’m Ivan. Ivan Kontadino…”
“Ah, you’re the top-ranked student?!”
Emil exclaimed in surprise.
Was this okay? Ivan thought he might have become too famous too quickly.
