Case #3: The True Conclusion

Two weeks after the incident, the Order of Valkyrie was finally returned home, with the entire Kingdom celebrating their achievements from Cremonia. 

"It's truly a peaceful day, isn't it?" Haruno muttered, looking up into the bright blue sky as she sat on a wooden bench in the plaza. "It's truly a shame you couldn't see it, Leo," she muttered, slowly zoning out. 

"Wait for me!" a little girl yelled, before falling onto the ground. "OWWW!!!!" she cried, scraping her right knee. 

"Let me see your wound," a tall, beautiful, brown-haired woman requested, picking up the little girl off the ground and wiping the wound clean with her handkerchief. "It's just a small scratch, see?" she assured the crying little girl as she stopped, thanked the lady, and ran back to play.

"May I have this seat?" the lady asked Haruno, sitting next to her. 

"Go ahead," Haruno answered, with the tall, beautiful lady proceeding to sit next to her. The lady was wearing the Adventurer Guild's receptionist uniform with her long, beautiful brown hair braided into a loose ponytail. "Don't you have work today?" she asked.

"I'm on lunch break," the tall lady answered, "Lucy went to buy some lunch for us. Do you care to join us, Haruno?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm good," Haruno replied, "How are you adjusting, Leonia?" with a large gust of wind blowing by, breaking the broken hairband and unravelled the tall lady's ponytail. 

After the Order had left for Cremonia, Haruno went to see Leo and questioned him about how she became a he. 

Leo's natural response was, "Are you feeling okay? Did you eat something bad?" he asked Haruno. 

Haruno explained that in some of the BeastKins' written testimonies, there were a few that addressed Leo in a feminine tone instead of masculine. At first, she dismissed it as a writing error, but realized that there were a total of six testimonies containing the same grammatical error. Another common denominator was that all six individuals were Wolf BeastKins who possessed an acute sense of smell.

Haruno took the bloody handkerchief she had used to wipe Leo's head and received a detailed chemical report from Emila's unique skill, Hohenheim's Wisdom. 

Leo's blood showed an estrogen value of three hundred and fifty-five pg/ML, where the average man shouldn't have exceeded past eighty pg/ML. For a man, anything past eighty could lead to bone cancer or thyroid illness, but Leo showed no signs of it.  

The only conclusion Haruno thought was that Leo was born a girl, but is currently under some sort of curse that swapped her gender. This would also explain why the Wolf BeastKin were addressing him as her due to the estrogen-filled pheromone that was released from his sweat. 

After being faced with all the facts, Leo revealed that Leo was short for Leonia, the name her mother had originally given her upon birth.

When Leonia's father, Rex, found out he was framed and was destined to be executed, he quickly rushed home, woke her up, and forced an unknown potion down her throat.

The unknown potion turned out to be a long-lost Gender Potion created by a famous alchemist a few hundred years ago, which turns the drinker into the opposite gender permanently. 

Rex discovered the extremely rare potion after finding a hidden wall compartment in an abandoned workshop he had just bought. He kept it a secret, hoping it would serve as collateral in the future if needed, as it was worth tens of thousands if auctioned off.

Rex was afraid of what would happen to Leonia if the Prime Minister found out that Leo was discovered to be a girl. Leonia might end up being used by the Prime Minister and eventually end up as a hollow, empty shell.

Luckily, everyone at the time had already assumed Leonia to be a boy due to her tomboyish mannerisms and the fact that she was always called by her nickname, Leo, instead of Leonia in public. 

After Haruno confirmed her suspicion, she began to work on a way to save her, knowing Leo intended to kill herself as soon as the issue with the Prime Minister was resolved. 

Haruno went on to visit Merrisa to request some advice regarding the Gender potion and how to reverse it. Merrisa declined to assist with Haruno's request, stating the potion effects are permanent. After being bribed with sweets from the Raul Bakery, Haruno obtained some valuable information from her.

The Gender Potion effect is truly permanent, but the one that Leo drank was heavily degraded due to time, and its effect isn't permanent as intended. This is backed up by Haruno's discovery of a high level of estrogen inside Leo's blood and the fact that the Wolf BeastKins can smell the difference. Merrisa went on to provide Haruno a dispel recipe that should work to revert Leo's gender and forcefully send her back home. 

Haruno immediately began to forage for the remaining material for the dispel potion with the help of Mio's children and started to brew the extremely difficult potion, failing multiple times. Haruno was barely able to complete it right before Emila & Ana's return the following hour. 

Once Ana & Emila had returned and informed Leo of the decision from the New King, Leo was satisfied with the ending. Leo would end up taking the poison pill Haruno had provided him to kill himself the following night, leaving behind a dead venous centipede as the cause of death. 

Haruno had made a deal with Leo that he would not try to kill himself until the issue with the Prime Minister was resolved. After it was resolved, Haruno would provide him a poison that would end his life peacefully, allowing her to finally be reunited with her father, or at least that was the agreement.

The poison Haruno gave Leo was a strong anesthetic, capable of slowing down a person's heartbeat and making it undetectable without a heart monitor. 

Haruno's main concern was that Emila could detect the faint heartbeat due to her medical expertise, but due to her emotional state, she wasn't able to properly focus and confirm Leo's death. Leo was immediately moved to a private morgue meant to cremate fallen soldiers & knights and scheduled for cremation that following night. 

Later on that night, Haruno snuck into the morgue, recovered Leo, and replaced his body with a hoboglobins body and pushed it into the crematorium to prevent inspection from the mortician.  

From there, Haruno met up with Mio and proceeded to carry Leo into the woods and to the Fenrir's home under the cloak of darkness. Haruno proceeded to place Leo on a flat rock surface and began to force the dispel potion down his throat, reverting his gender to female. She then proceeded to wake Leonia up with some strong-smelling salt. 

When Leo, or rather, Leonia, woke up, she was very pissed off, yelling that Haruno broke her promise. Leonia proceeded to grab a sharp, flat rock off the ground and declared she was going to slit her throat, aiming it at Haruno.

At that moment, Haruno stated, "I never broke my promise to you. Your life as Leo is now dead, but your life as Leonia has only just begun," she declared, with Leonia finally realizing she was back to being a female.

Leonia began to cry her eyes out that night under the beautiful full moon on Haruno as Mio watched nearby with Fubuki resting on her back. Leonia would later get upset that all the clothes Haruno had prepared were too small for her, especially around the chest, as two large full moons also appeared.

Haruno would later introduce Leonia to Ana & Emila as a person looking to apply for a job at the Adventurer Guild, only to be immediately busted by Ana.

"A person's mana color can never be altered as long as they live," Ana explained as she continued to scold Haruno for taking action without informing them. 

After Ana's hour-long scolding, she proceeded to welcome Leonia with open arms and exited the Guild Master's Office to find Lucy for some training. As Haruno attempted to stand up, she was pushed back down onto the ground to receive Emila's lecture for not informing her about it. 

"I'm getting there," Leonia answered. "If I'm not careful at night, I'll end up peeing while standing," she whispered, with Haruno chuckling.

"I honestly cannot believe how gorgeous you ended up being!" Haruno exclaimed in envy, "Especially how large your breasts are!!!", staring at Leonia's F-cup chest. 

"Don't worry about it! You are still growing after all," Leonia reassured Haruno. "I'm sure you will end up with bigger ones than mine," she proudly puffed out her breasts as they stretched her uniform. 

"Yeeaahhh, I don't think so," Haruno answered, knowing her size is stuck due to divine intervention. "I see Lucy over there!" she pointed out into the distance, with Lucy looking around for Leonia.

"I'd better go to her," Leonia stated, standing up, "Otherwise, she will chew me out and accuse me of getting hit on again.", slowly walking away. 

"I truly hope you will try to live your life properly this time and not dwell too much on making amends for past actions," Haruno stated, "Remember, your life currently is as Leonia not Leo. You have committed no sins that you should feel obligated to carry," she assured Leonia, knowing there is a mass of guilt lingering inside her heart.

"Is that the same for you, too, Haruno?" Leonia asked, turning around and facing her, "When we first met, you had the same eyes as someone trying to live her life atoning for something you did, am I wrong?" she asked with no response from Haruno, as her head was tilted backward on the bench, looking up towards the sky. 

Leonia turned back around again, taking a single step forward, and suddenly felt a heavy, cold chill running down her spine as she froze in place.

"Watch yourself, little girl," a threatening voice warned, "Don't get too cocky, otherwise your second life might end sooner than you expected," as a person looking like Haruno quickly brushed by her and disappeared into the crowd.

"W-W-What was t-that?" Leonia stuttered, falling to the ground, as a warm puddle appeared, "Was that really Haruno? Or was that someone else?", unable to turn her head to verify if Haruno was still sitting behind her.

"THERE YOU ARE!!!!" Lucy yelled, startling Leonia, "What are you doing now there? We are going to run out of lunch time!" as she looked down at Leonia sitting in a puddle of pee. "Don't tell me you managed to slip on a dog's pee and ended up landing in it?" She offered her free right hand while holding their lunch boxes in the other hand.

'YES! That's what happened," Leonia answered, as tears started pouring out.