Reborn in another world as a Hermaphrodite

After all the water had disappeared, the three of them entered the room again.

"What is this crystal?" Sophia murmured as she picked up the crystal from the ground.

"Probably some consolidated dark element," Alex replied as he cast a dry spell onto his clothes.

"Can I get a hold of it?"

"Sure."

As Sophia handed the black crystal over to Mary, Alex had already started looking for a way to continue the dungeon.

"You found anything yet?" Sophia asked as she joined in the search.

"Nope. Nothing at all."

A few minutes later...

"Where the hell is it?"

Despite all three of them now searching for an entrance, they still couldn't find a pathway down.

Alex even made Sophia walk up the mini-staircase next to the throne, only to find nothing there besides a rock surface.

A few minutes later, again...

Just as the two of them were about to give up, Mary suddenly found a small hole of the same size that matched the black crystal exactly.

"Alex, Sophia! I think I found a way out!"

The two of them immediately ran over to Mary's stand, only to notice the hole right near where they had come from earlier.

"Really? The exit next to the entrance we came from?"

Sophia didn't complain like Alex as she watched Mary put the black crystal in silence.

To their relief, a pathway finally appeared as the throne inside the room suddenly split in half.

Right down the middle was another dark hallway, seemingly to lead them to somewhere unknown.

"Let's go!"

Mary excitedly ran towards the throne, with Sophia and Alex following behind, looking a little tired.

"Slow down, Mary! Why are you so excited all of a sudden?" Alex yelled as he felt something was a little off.

Just as Mary was about to enter the dark hallway, she ran straight into some sort of invisible barrier.

At the same time, an invisible hand lifted both Sophia and Alex into the air, bringing them to the middle of the room.

Next, Mary was brought all the way to the middle of the room as well, allowing the two to notice Mary's eye was now all red.

"What are you two thinking? You can't just touch this kind of crystal with your bare hand."

Katherine's voice appeared behind them before they walked all the way to the front of them with Meiya and Luqing.

Slowly, she let the two go before gently putting her hand on Mary's forehead.

"This kind of pure element crystal can drive someone insane or change them completely.

Didn't I teach you guys to check everything with mana first? And that hole was there at the start.

You three just walked right past it, and who told you to go inside and search with your body instead of your mana?"

As Katherine gently knocked on Alex's and Sophia's heads, the redness in Mary's eye disappeared.

"Ouch! Okay, okay, we forgot about that."

Sophia was first to apologize, as she knew she was in the wrong. But Alex didn't want to admit fault.

"Hey, I was the knight. Why do I need to——Ouch!"

"If you really are just a knight, then why use a water barrier to cover yourself?

You have magic, not just some dumb idiot with armor. Where did your intelligence go when you go in melee?"

"Okay, okay. You're right. Stop hitting my head."

As Alex finally backed down from attempting to argue back, Katherine quickly turned her attention to Mary, who had been standing still.

"Mary, you okay?" Katherine asked as she gently hugged her into her arms.

"I-I'm fine, Mom. What happened to me? Why does it feel like I lost a little bit of memories?"

"You were just running towards the pathway earlier... Don't hold things you don't know next time, okay?"

Mary slowly nodded as Katherine gently rubbed her head with a warm smile that made the two feel jealous.

"What are you two looking at her for? You two, as older sister and older brother, should have known better."

Sophia and Alex both rolled their eyes as they grumpily looked to the side, only for Meiya and Luqing to step in.

"Kate, didn't you say it's time for a break?"

Meiya asked as she pushed Sophia back towards the middle, with Luqing doing the same to Alex.

"Oh right, it's already nighttime outside.Time to go back for the night."

Within a blink of an eye, a black mist began to appeared all around them before everything turned to black.

---

When the six of them could see again, they were in some sort of back ally of a street.

The sky above them was already completely dark, with the moon shining light right above them.

"Come on, let's go back to the Inn already. Don't just stand there."

As Katherine hurried the three kids to move forward, the five of them were still a little stunned by how late it has already been.

"Mom, how long were we in the dungeon?" Alex curiously asked.

"Just a few hour... The daylight here is usually shorter than the one back in the capital."

After walking for a few minute, they were finally back to the front door of the inn.

There was not a single customer inside, with no one at the bar table either as they headed upstairs.

"You guys can go take a shower... Alex, come here. Let me go help you take off your armor first."

As the other four headed back to their room first, Alex and Katherine headed into his room together.

"Alex, sit down first. I need to do something first... You might feel extremely tired, but that's normal okay?"

Katherine's question made Alex a little confused, but he followed her order as he sat down onto the seat.

As she began chanting something deep inside her breathe, a green light suddenly appeared on his body.

Within seconds, Alex could immediately feel the full weight of the armor on his body.

At the same time, he could barely move his muscles, almost as if he ran an entire marathon into a full body workout.

"Ow! Why does it hurt so much!"

Alex complained as he rested his entire upper body onto the table, his brain barely able to process all the pain.

"You kept on running with that armor. Do you think the spell I gave is just free unlimited energy?"

"Couldn't you warn me beforehand?"

Katherine only let out an awkward laugh as she scratched her hair, almost as if she had completely forgot about the withdraw herself.

"The effect is only going to last for a night. It's going to be all gone tomorrow."

The answer reliefed some of Alex's worries, but the soreness all over his body made him not want to move a single inch.

"I'm going to start removing your armor. Can you at least sit up a bit?" Katherine asked as she moved a little closer.

"I can't——Ow! My back! I can barely move."

Seeing Alex in so much pain, Katherine began murmuring something in her breathe before a light appeared on his body.

The pain and sorness finally lighten a little, just enough that Alex could move without feeling pain.

"T-This isn't going to have a side effect, right?" Alex asked in a alerted voice.

"Of course it's not going to have a side effect. It's a completely different spell.

Okay, now sit up and stop complaining. Can my son be a man for a minute?"

Katherine's word seemed to ignited something inside Alex as he straighten up his back and sat up from the chair.

"You can do it now." Alex quietly murmured, holding the urge to complain about the sorness again.

Slowly, Katherine bend down underneath the table as she took off the armor plating on his lower leg.

"Ugh, you are so sweaty underneath."

"What am I suppose to do? I can't take off my armor mid-fight." Alex quietly argued as he clenched his first.

As Katherine threw the armor piece into her pocket dimension, she began taking off the next part of the armor.

Twenty minutes later...

After what felt like a torture session for Alex, all of the armor was finally removed.

Alex's inner cloths were completely soaked in sweat. Even Katherine who helped him take it off was sweating a little from the work.

Some of the armor were completely stuck, refusing to be taken off until Katherine started creating invisible hand to help her.

"Finally. That took way too long... You okay?"

Katherine asked after noticing Alex's face seemed a little red, not realizing that her own cloths had been a soaked in sweat as well.

"Yeah, I'm fine..."

Alex quickly turned his head to the side, finally making Katherine realized what he was looking at earlier.

"You little perv... Okay, time to bring you to the shower."

As Katherine suddenly lifted Alex up from his seat, his face immediately started to blush red.

"W-Wait, let me go. I can go take a shower myself——"

"You sure? You can barely move at all."

The question made Alex fell into silence as what Katherine said was true, he could barely even stand up by himself.

"Actually, let me just wipe your body so you can rest earlier."