Chapter 490: Small and cute Khüch!
Reaching the outskirts, they stopped to exchange thanks for their help and stay, with Benjamin being introduced to some of Khüch’s wives.
The women were beautiful and gracious, their eyes shining with gratitude as they expressed their appreciation for him coming to grace their village.
They also thanked Benjamin for his divine gift, the cliff he had turned into a source of luxury for the village to become a nation in a few years.
The transformed land was already being discussed in hushed, excited tones, plans being made for how best to utilize the incredible resource that had been so unexpectedly bestowed upon them.
He awkwardly received the gratitude, his smile strained and uncertain as the villagers showered him with thanks and praise.
Their words were genuine, their appreciation heartfelt, but he didn’t know how to tell them it was a mistake he didn’t even remember.
The transformation of the cliff, the dark shimmering ground, the wealth that had been bestowed upon them, all of it was a blank space in his memory, a gap he could not fill no matter how hard he tried.
"I learned... a l-lot of things from you, Benjamin," Khüch, now in his male form, blushed a tiny bit, his arms folded at his back in a gesture that seemed nearly shy.
His red eyes darted away, unable to meet Benjamin’s gaze directly. "And I am happy things are back to normal again. Everything can finally return to how it should be."
Lei standing close to him began to tremble at what she was witnessing.
Her eyes went wide, her mouth fell open, and her hands flew up to cover her lips as a gasp escaped her.
She took a step back, then another, her body language screaming alarm and confusion.
Benjamin and everyone who was present began to widened their eyes slowly as well, shock painting their faces: the chief’s voice was beginning to grow smaller and more feminine as he spoke.
The deep, resonant tones that had commanded respect and authority were softening, rising in pitch, becoming something entirely different.
"N-N-N-N-Not like I’m saying I enjoyed that nonsense we did this morning," he continued, not realizing all attention was on him.
His voice was now clearly female, higher and lighter, carrying a hint of breathlessness that had not been there before. "But if I get cursed again for some reason, I would not mind allowing you to go another round on my— Wait, why are you all staring at me? And why are you all... suddenly so tall...?!"
His eyes darted around frantically, taking in the shocked faces of his elders, his niece, his wives.
He looked down at himself, at his hands that seemed smaller, at his arms that seemed shorter.
His voice rose in pitch and panic as he tried to understand what was happening.
"...Mhmmm..." Benjamin knew he had caused something bad to happen, but he didn’t even have the memories necessary to defend himself.
The connection was obvious, the transformation too sudden and too strange to be coincidence. But he could not explain it, could not justify it, and he couldn’t do anything but flee from the consequences of his unintended actions.
So he laid hands on Heka and Maximus, then teleported far away from the village instantly... leaving a gender swapped and confused Khüch who was trying to reconcile why he was a she again, and a "small" she, for that matter!m.
Silver long hair reaching her ankles, her frame smaller now and way shorter, her breasts were bigger than her body suggested, her face cute and adorable, as if his inner cute girl had forcefully surfaced.
The transformation was complete, the burly warrior chief replaced by a petite, silver-haired beauty with big, confused eyes and a figure that seemed comically feminine.
And due to the size difference, her clothes had fallen off, baring her body to her elders in a moment of mortifying exposure.
Neelei and his wives immediately took her away and covered her up, thinking it was a sudden curse, and hiding their secret desires to probe at the chief-turned-cute-girl’s body.
Their hands were gentle but firm as they wrapped her in a spare robe, their faces carefully composed to hide the flickers of interest that danced in their eyes.
But fret not! Khüch later learned how to control the gender swapping, but only switch when flustered or nervous.
It became a part of who she was, a quirk that she learned to manage and even embrace.
In the next decade, the Khairkhan tribe became the Khairkhan empire, enjoying the wealth and natural resources their god-touched visitor left with them for many years more, and his magical energy even grew with time, making them near eternally wealthy.
The land that Benjamin had transformed became the heart of their prosperity, the source of their rise to power and influence.
Neelei unfortunately suffered from the same gender swap and turn into a young handsome boy when she was flustered.
The curse that had bound them together also bound them in this new, strange way, their fates intertwined in ways they could never have predicted.
Apparently, when several hundreds of years passed, Khüch Khan and Neelei remained unchanged and aged not a day since they last saw Benjamin Mark.
Time seemed to have stopped for them, their bodies frozen at the moment of their transformation, a lasting reminder of the god-touched who had passed through their lives.
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[What in Elyndor was that...?] Heka was confused by what happened to the chief, her brow furrowed and her lips pressed into a thin line of contemplation.
But relieved to have finally been out of the village, she let out a long breath and settled her mind, her body relaxing for the first time in what felt like days.
"Now, to Goliathens, yes?" She smiled at Benjamin who was sitting on Maximus’ back.
He turned to her and smiled warmly, his blue eyes glinting with amusement in the morning light.
"Of course...! But we still have to travel there. I’m not teleporting us anywhere, for your information." His tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.
And Heka sulked for yet another potential conflict to occur on their way, her lower lip jutting out in an exaggerated pout.
She had hoped for an easy journey, a simple arrival at their destination.
But Benjamin seemed determined to take the long way, to experience every moment of the journey rather than simply arriving at its end.
[But... it is not that bad, since I’m with the one I love~] she said internally, a warm feeling spreading through her chest as they moved through an open plain of green flat land, where a small group of people were quietly fighting a massive blue dragon.
Completely normal.