Chapter 14
For the first time since I was born, I doubted my own ears.
What had I just heard?
“...What did you just say?”
As I desperately tried to calm my trembling body, I asked Carol,
she smiled brightly and opened her mouth.
“Did you say I’m really adorable?”
“Not that. Before that.”
“Oh, the little fledgling who hasn’t even laid an egg?”
“I’m going crazy. Seriously.”
So I really lay eggs? Me?
…No way.
“I was human to begin with.”
“Oh my?”
Three months had passed since I became this body, but I hadn’t noticed anything unusual yet.
So I told Carol about myself.
“Hmm, now that I hear it, that is strange… With that level of development, you should normally be laying an egg once every two weeks….”
Carol thrust her nose toward me again, insisting that couldn’t be true.
She sniffed me several times as though checking again, then tilted her head, saying it was strange after all.
“Can bird beastkin tell things like that?”
“Judging by Ren’s reaction, perhaps Ren is special.”
Luciela answered Huey’s question for him, as he had been watching the whole exchange.
Then Carol spoke up in response to Huey’s question.
“Hehe. There are ways of knowing these things.”
“Back off. What are you trying to cling to?”
As Carol slyly tried to hug me, I batted away her wing and rose from my seat.
“Aww, don’t be so cold….”
“Enough. There’s something I want to ask.”
“If you let me hug you one more time.”
…Should I just leave?
When I looked at Huey and Lucy, intending to get up and leave,
they were openly watching us with expressions of great interest.
“Tch.”
It couldn’t be helped.
“If I like your answer.”
Since I was lending her my body, I’d only get annoyed if I got nothing out of it.
I decided to set a condition of my own.
“Of course! So, what are you curious about, little fledgling?”
Being treated like a child was irritating, but
“…Teach me how to fly.”
“Pardon?”
“I heard bird beastkin can fly.”
“Ah, yes. That’s true, but….”
It didn’t seem like a particularly strange question, yet Carol even broke into a cold sweat, apparently flustered by it.
“For us, it’s as natural as breathing, so explaining it in words is a little difficult.”
Figures.
Apparently, it wasn’t as simple as just flapping my wings.
“Hmm… How about I show you directly?”
Carol scratched her head with a wing, looking troubled.
Apparently deciding it would be faster for me to experience it directly, she led the way outside the shop.
“I get to see you fly with my own eyes.”
“Master… Does anyone with wings automatically appeal to you?”
“Ahem. No, they don’t.”
As I followed Carol outside, I heard Huey and Lucy’s voices behind me.
They were both having way too much fun.
“All right, then. I’ll show you, little fledgling.”
“I know, so could you stop calling me that?”
“Ohoho.”
…She really had no intention of listening to me.
Anyway, Carol took up a position by the roadside in front of the general store.
“Hmm… Little fledgling? Have you ever tried to fly?”
“I’ve hit my head plenty of times.”
“Then you know very well that we aren’t light enough to fly simply by flapping our wings.”
Indeed. No matter how hard I flapped my wings, the most I could do was blow away the piles of papers on the captain’s desk.
Instead of answering, I quietly nodded.
“So, we get help from the wind.”
-Flap! Whoosh….
As Carol gently flapped both wings,
the wind that began at her wings started gathering around her.
“Wings are merely a means of supplementing the wind we lack.”
“Wow.”
“She’s floating….”
Ignoring the voices of the two behind me, I examined the area around Carol as she rose into the sky, but…
…I don’t understand what you mean by getting help from the wind at all.
Mana hadn’t moved.
I couldn’t even sense the presence of spirits.
All I could feel was wind blowing naturally, as though this were simply the way of the world.
“Well?”
As I tilted my head, unable to make sense of the sight,
Carol had already descended to the ground and approached me to ask.
“Not at all.”
“How about you try it once?”
“Since Ms. Carol is right here, after all.”
Gnn.
I couldn’t even picture it working.
“Whew.”
First, I took a deep breath.
Then I flapped my wings as hard as I could.
-Flap! Whoosh!
The wind definitely moved with considerable force, but
no matter how intently I focused, the wind stirred up by my wingbeats merely scattered along with the current.
“How about trying to imagine the wind wrapping around your body?”
This time, I flapped my wings again while following Carol’s advice.
-Flap!
The image of the wind wrapping around my body… The image of the wind wrapping around my body….
-Whooosh.
“…Tsk.”
“Don’t be too disappointed, little fledgling. You’ll definitely be able to fly soon.”
Saying that, Carol slyly hugged me again.
It was irritating, but being covered by her wings felt nice, so I decided to let it slide.
Still, they weren’t as good as my own wings.
“Where are you headed next?”
As I tried to escape her embrace, she hugged me tightly,
and Carol asked Huey.
“Ah, actually, we were on our way to Swinford….”
“Aha. You were planning to cross the bridge.”
“Yes.”
After hearing Huey’s answer, Carol rested her chin right on top of my head.
…I wish she’d let me go soon.
“Then you’ll have to stay here for about two days.”
“Huh?”
Just as I was about to move to escape Carol’s embrace, she dropped a bombshell.
“Apparently, the road to the quarry was flooded by the torrential rain that fell until yesterday, and it’ll take about two days for the water to recede.”
Apparently, the quarry workers were taking a break for now because of it.
No wonder there had been so many men at the village entrance earlier.
“What about another route?”
“Even the nearest bridge should be a three-day detour from here, I think.”
“…Let’s just wait, Master.”
“I agree with Lucy.”
It would be better to rest here for two days before moving on.
Taking a three-day detour would be a waste. A huge waste.
“Sigh. Fine.”
“Hehe. I could even let you stay at our house, little fledgling.”
Carol tightened the wing wrapped around me, saying she had been feeling lonely since her husband had left not long ago.
…Gnn. I’m weak to this sort of thing.
“Then I’ll stay with Carol.”
“Are you sure?”
“…What else can I do? I’m like this.”
“You’re surprisingly weak to that sort of thing, Ren.”
I did my best to ignore Lucy and turned my head away.
“Then we’ll go find lodging first.”
“Rest well.”
“Yep.”
It was just as Huey and Lucy were about to leave to find lodging.
“Oh, everyone? If you’re looking for somewhere to stay, could you come back here? Since this is fate, I’d like to treat you to dinner, at least.”
“Yes. Then we’ll see you later.”
She said she would prepare a traditional meal, since today was a happy day when she had met one of her own kind after such a long time.
“All right, shall we go inside too, little fledgling?”
“I said, stop calling me that.”
“Hehe. Don’t be shy.”
Carol led the way with a buoyant step.
“But can you actually do anything properly with arms like these?”
“Once you can fly properly, little fledgling, you’ll be able to do far more than you think.”
“…Really?”
“Of course. You’re a much more amazing person than you think, little fledgling.”
I had heard that bird beastkin were a race that even most adventurers or merchants might never encounter more than once in their entire lives.
But were they really a race impressive enough for people to call them amazing?
“Hehe. It’s only natural that you don’t know that yet. For now, rest comfortably in the room. You can look around if there’s anything you want to see. I’ll prepare the meal.”
“Okay. Then I won’t hold back.”
After watching Carol head toward the kitchen for a moment,
I was looking around at the goods inside the general store when
“Oh! It’s the red bird lady!”
“What, a little brat?”
“Yep!”
A little kid came in as the door of the general store opened.
“Did you come to run an errand?”
“Mom told me to come get the basket!”
Hmm… I should call Carol, right?
“Carol! You’ve got a customer!”
I opened the door behind the general store’s counter and shouted for Carol, but
there was no answer.
…She must be busy. It couldn’t be helped.
“The general-store lady seems a little busy. Want to wait a bit?”
“Hmm… Okay!”
After thinking for a moment, Martin’s eyes lit up as he looked at my legs.
Well, letting him use my legs wasn’t going to get my feathers plucked. It was better than my wings.
“Here.”
“Wow!”
I sat down in a chair and held out my legs, and he immediately came running over.
“Hey, kid. How old are you?”
“Me? Seven!”
Seven, huh.
When I was that age, I was going around the city picking pockets.
…Then I got on my master’s bad side. Sigh.
Anyway, as I continued chatting with Martin about this and that,
“Oh my, I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize we had a customer.”
“Sis!”
“Hehe. It’s Martin. Did you come to get the basket?”
“Yep!”
Right afterward, Carol casually swept one wing.
The wind that began at her wing flowed as though it possessed a will of its own,
then lifted the basket from the display shelf on the opposite side and began moving it.
“Here you go.”
After carrying the basket over to where Martin was, the wind dispersed.
…So this was what she meant when she said I’d be able to do many things.
“Thank you!”
“Be careful on your way home.”
Carol waved a wing at Martin as he left with the basket in his arms, apparently unfazed as though this were routine.
“See?”
“Yeah.”
“For the next two days, live with me and see for yourself, little fledgling.”
For now, I decided to give up on correcting the way she addressed me.