The next day Arthur woke up with the same sensation of skin that was too smooth and the same light sweet scent that seemed to come from under his shirt.
He checked the Status even before getting up.
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[Curse: Gender Transformation – Blood of Lysara] Phase: 1/4 Progress: 3%]
It hadn’t risen during the night.
At least that.
He dressed with slow movements, avoided looking at himself in the mirror for too long, and went downstairs.
In the shop the air was already warm.
Brandt was working on a long piece of metal, Ysolde was arranging the orders on a side counter, and Tessa, as usual, was chatting while helping sort the smaller nails.
Arthur took his place without saying almost anything.
He sharpened, checked the handles, organized.
Every now and then his hand went by itself to touch his neck or his wrist, as if to check whether the skin was even smoother than yesterday.
It was.
A little, but it was.
Toward mid-morning the bell above the door jingled.
A girl of about twenty walked in, dark brown hair tied in a high ponytail and light leather armor on her shoulders.
She had the look of someone who had already seen a few dungeons, but not enough to seem hardened.
She carried a short sword still in its scabbard.
“Good morning.
I’m looking for Brandt, the blacksmith.”
Brandt lifted his gaze from the forge and nodded his head toward Arthur.
“Talk to my son.
I’m finishing this.”
The girl approached the counter where Arthur was working.
She leaned slightly to get a better look at the blades on display.
“I need a sharpening and, if possible, a small reinforcement on the handguard.
I used it a bit too hard yesterday.”
Arthur nodded and held out his hand to take the weapon.
She passed it to him, and their fingers brushed for a moment.
Nothing special.
Just a brief contact.
And yet Arthur felt a small shiver run up his spine.
The girl tilted her head slightly, as if she had noticed something.
“You have a strange scent,” she said suddenly, without any malice.
“Sweet.
Like… flowers?
Or expensive soap.
In here it usually only smells of iron and sweat.”
Arthur stayed motionless, the sword still in his hand.
“It must be… the soap from home,” he managed to say, his voice a fraction higher than usual.
She smiled, amused.
“Well, it smells better than most of the men I meet.
Anyway, how long for the sharpening?”
“Half an hour.
Maybe less.”
“I’ll wait.”
She sat on a bench near the wall, crossed her arms, and began watching him work.
Arthur tried to focus only on the blade, but he could feel her gaze on him and, worse still, he could feel his own scent suddenly becoming more noticeable in his head.
As if the mere fact of being aware of it made it stronger.
His hands trembled slightly as he ran the stone over the edge.
Don’t think about it.
Don’t think about it.
Don’t think about it.
When he finished, he handed the sword back to her.
She took it, examined it, and nodded in satisfaction.
“Excellent work.
How much do I owe you?”
She paid, thanked him, and left with a wave of her hand.
Before disappearing beyond the door, though, she turned one last time.
“Ah, and… if you keep smelling like that, someone might mistake you for a girl from a distance.
Be careful.”
She said it with a smile, almost as a joke.
Then she was gone.
Arthur remained still behind the counter, his heart beating too hard.
He waited until no one was looking at him and opened the Status again.
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[Curse: Gender Transformation – Blood of Lysara] Phase: 1/4 Progress: 7%]
It had risen by four points.
Just from a touch of fingers and a few words.
He ran a hand over his face, still feeling that skin that was too smooth under his fingers.
And the scent.
Now he could clearly smell it too—sweet and light, like a warning.
Tessa, from the other side of the shop, called to him without raising her voice too much.
“Brother, are you okay?
You’ve got that weird face again.”
Arthur shook his head.
“I’m fine.”
But he wasn’t fine.
For the first time he had concrete proof that others could notice something.
Not the changes in his body, not yet.
But the scent, yes.
And if the scent grew stronger as the percentage advanced, how much time did he have left before someone started asking serious questions?
He went back to work, but his hands were no longer as steady as before.
7%.
And the day was still long.