[V3C2] A Harpy’s Physical Test
Translated by Jodas 3: The Fateful BrothersThe area enclosed by the Wedge Tower’s outside walls was reasonably expansive, so there were a number of open spaces that were suitable for exercise.
In one such open space, Tia was repeatedly throwing punches at Sevil.
Sevil wore leather gloves on both hands which she used to intercept each of Tia’s fists.
“Pyoff! Hyah!”
“Put some weight into it!”
“Pefupo!”
“Good, that’s the spirit!”
“Pefupo!! …..Ah, it’s Wren!” Tia, who had been awkwardly throwing punches at Sevil, stopped to wave a hand towards Wren.
“Piyopp! Good morning!”
She was so casual, he wondered if she had completely forgotten about yesterday’s events.
Not wanting to be the only one sulking, Wren waved back with a confident pretty boy smile.
“Hey, morning! What are you guys up to?”
“We were testing Tia’s physical capabilities.”
Sevil glanced around at their surroundings.
It wasn’t like there was nobody around, but they were far enough away that those people wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. Confirming that, Sevil continued to speak.
“You are aware of the awkward manner in which Tia runs, yes? I had been curious about that for some time. Such a form is bad for one’s hips. Regardless, if she wants to conceal her identity, it would be best for her to adopt a more natural running style.”
Absolutely, Wren thought.
Whether when walking or running, Tia would stretch her arms out behind her without swinging them, and she would lean forward without bending her knees. She would just waddle.
Her form resembled the way a bird would walk, and considering her true identity, that made sense. A Harpy had the lower body of a bird, after all.
“Then, do you think you can adopt a more natural running style?”
“Pirorororo…….Not right away…”
To Wren’s question, Tia furrowed her brows and made a difficult expression.
“In my current state, it’s like I’m just wearing the skin of a human….”
Searching for the right words, Tia groaned “Pirorororo……..”
He had only recently realized this, but Tia’s ‘Pirorororo……’ was often used where a human might say ‘Hmmm…….’
“Um, so, Wren, Imagine you had a really big bird-shaped plushie, then you took all the cotton out of it. Then, Wren, if I told you to get inside and move like a real bird, you’d have a hard time doing it, right?”
“Ah, I guess that makes sense? Hold on, you know what a plushie is?”
Tia lacked most knowledge about human leisure and entertainment. That was something he’d realized even before learning her identity.
However, it seemed she at least knew about plushies.
Wren quietly wondered exactly where she learned what she knew about humans. As he thought, Tia made a reluctant expression.
“………….Pefuu.”
She said that ‘pefuu’ with a sigh.
That was a sound she made when she was conflicted, despondent, stuck on a math problem, or otherwise generally unhappy.
Especially when she emphasized that last ‘u’ sound, that meant she was very upset. She put quite a lot of emphasis this time.
“I wasn’t trying to make fun of you or anything! I just wanted to confirm where the limits of your knowledge are!”
“…….It’s hard for me to run like Wren and Sevil do.”
(Huh?)
From Tia’s conflicted face, he got the impression that she was desperately trying to change the subject.
As Wren worried whether he had pried too much, Sevil spoke while removing her leather gloves.
“Tia’s physical capabilities are far from poor. That she carried Wren and myself on her back while walking straight through the night was proof enough of that. Her strength and endurance are impressive. That was why I proposed a basic physical test.”
“Uh-huh. And? How did it go?”
“Her upper body is quite strong. Especially her arm and shoulder muscles are extremely powerful. However, her technique is lacking, and her reaction time and instantaneous motion leaves something to be desired.”
Sevil swung her own arm and mimed throwing something.
“She has shoulder strength, but she is poor at throwing objects. She has arm strength, but her punches have no force. Odds are, she hadn’t done such movements prior to today. Am I correct?”
“Yep. I don’t do that.”
Tia nodded.
Well, that should have been expected. She has to use her wings to fly. While flying, she wouldn’t be able to throw objects or punches.
Sevil folded her arms, and spoke like a drill instructor.
“In short, Tia does not understand how to use a human body. That should improve with further training…….However, Tia, do you have what it takes to do that?”
“Nope!”
She answered immediately.
Wren couldn’t help himself from commenting.
“Wait, you don’t? Umm, it wouldn’t be a problem if you could run or throw things, right?”
“You know, all I want to do is fly through the sky. I wouldn’t even be able to do those things anyway once I turn back into a Harpy, so…….”
Those words came as a shock to Wren.
Tia had no intention of remaining in this form forever. Once she learned flight magic, she wouldn’t have any more need to pretend to be a human. She would return to her home, and that would be the end of it.
(For some reason, that sounds so…….)
Wren steamed a bit, but Sevil showed no signs of disappointment, simply responding “Is that so?”
“The time we have to train is limited. You should decide what would be the best use of that time.”
“Yep! Flight magic!”
Tia’s answer was clear.
She really did just want to fly, and that was the only reason why Tia was here.
That fact made Wren feel just a little more lonely.
Wren wanted to learn magecraft, but he had things he wanted out of the Wedge Tower aside from that. He couldn’t express it well in words, but he wanted to interact with his fellow Apprentices, and experience something that was more than just studying.
(I guess Tia has no need for such things.)
Wren hung his head in silence.
As he did, he heard a voice say “Pefufufufu” nearby. Tia was looking at Wren with pride in her expression.
“What now, Tia?”
Wren said it a little too harshly, but Tia nevertheless approached Sevil and Wren and whispered.
“Actually, Sevil didn’t measure this, but my toe strength is pretty good!”
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Your toes?”
Is that the kind of thing someone would be proud of? Wren had no clue. Sevil seemed to be the same way.
“Hmm. Not the grip strength of your hands, but your feet. I hadn’t considered it.”
“The talons on a Harpy’s feet are our main weapons, so our toes are pretty strong! I could grab both Wren and Sevil by my feet and fly off!”
“Pefu, pefu!” Tia proudly chirped.
Could this be just like the way that boys Wren’s age would like to show off their grip strength?
Like bragging ‘I can crush an apple with my hand!’ or something like that?
Wren recalled a question that had been bugging him and asked it to Tia.
“But wait, don’t Harpies have parts that are just like human hands? What are those for, then?”
“I dunno.”
“You don’t know!?”
“Pirorororo…….Do humans not have things like that? Parts that make you wonder ‘what’s this for’?”
Wren thought about it seriously.
He thought as hard as he could, then suddenly his head shot up.
“Oh yeah, I guess I have wondered……. why do men have nipples even though we don’t produce breast milk?”
Sevil nodded. “Hmm.” She declared with confidence.
“So a Harpy’s hands are the equivalent of a man’s nipples!”
“Piyopp! Like that!”
“Hold on, are we just going with that!? Even though I was the one who brought up nipples!?”
Wren couldn’t help himself from shouting, attracting stares from anyone nearby.
That was bad. If a pretty boy started talking about nipples, of course he’d stand out—reflecting on his actions, Wren fell quiet.
While flexing her human girl’s hand, Tia spoke excitedly.
“That’s why Harpies can’t use our hands very well. By the way, the human hands at the end of a Harpy’s wings are like wingtips on our wingtips, so we call them our ‘second wingtips’.”
“Second wingtips.”
Wren inadvertently repeated her words.
Second wingtips— that was a word you weren’t likely to hear often in your life.
Then, when she was in human form, would they no longer be secondary and become just her ‘wingtips?’ No, no one would call their hand their ‘wingtips.’
As Wren seriously considered the implications of wingtips, Tia smiled and kept talking.
“By the way, Mr. Hütter’s wingtips are really cool! He’d be popular with the birds!”
“Guh!” Wren was blown away.
Then Sevil delivered a follow-up blow.
“Certainly, Mr. Hütter’s hands are quite elegant.”
Their assigned instructor, Caspar Hütter was an unremarkable old man who reeked of laziness and shadiness.
—And yet, his wingtips were cool. His hands were elegant.
Unable to take it any more, Wren held his stomach and wheezed.
“You guys, stop it! Now I’m gonna start laughing the next time I see Mr. Hütter’s hands…..!”
Laughing, Wren found himself feeling strangely defeated.
Yep, he was defeated. She really got him. After all that time he spent this morning worrying about how to approach Tia.
(Geez, you got me……..It’s just so fun. Being with these guys.)
He wished they could keep laughing about pointless things like this forever. However, as Wren thought such sweet, naïve things, he saw a tall man come running towards them.
A tall man with brown hair slicked up into spikes—One of Wren’s fellow Apprentice Mages. The self-proclaimed ‘Red Rain,’ Oliver Lange.
It looked like Oliver had been on a run of some kind. Rather than come to a complete stop, Oliver continued to jog in place as he observed Wren and Tia.
“That’s an unusual sight. Are you guys exercising as well?”
Sevil worked out every day, so she probably wasn’t a surprise to him.
“Piyopp!” Tia cheerfully greeted him.
“Good morning, Oliver! Do you exercise every morning, Oliver?”
“Yeah. I’m usually training my magecraft skills, but we’ve got the mana evaluation today, so I’ve decided to focus on running.”
“Mana evaluation?”
Tia was unconcerned as she asked his words back at him.
Oliver answered while still jogging in place.
“Did Mr. Hütter not tell you?”
Of course, they hadn’t heard anything. Not Wren, nor Tia, nor Sevil.
“…….That old man definitely forgot.”
“Well, I would hardly blame him. Yesterday was so chaotic, there would have been no time to mention it.”
Wren spat, but Sevil spoke with an unshaken attitude.
Suddenly, Wren realized something.
Mana evaluation. That meant they were going to measure how much mana was in each of their bodies, but humans and Monsters had completely different mana reserves.
“……Hey, Tia. Will you be okay with the mana evaluation?”
“I’ll be okay!”
Tia brimmed with confidence, but he questioned whether she even understood the meaning of a mana evaluation.
Disregarding Wren’s concerns, Tia spoke to Oliver with a carefree expression.
“Oliver, why are you moving your legs like that? Are you happy about something?”
“When going on a long-distance run, it’s better for your circulation if, instead of coming to a sudden stop, you cool down by walking or stepping in place.”
“And does that make something good happen?”
“It makes it harder for your muscles to cramp.”
“Oh, that’s cool! Oliver, you’re so smart!”
“Yeah, you should try doing it next time.” “Piyopp!”
Wren swore that, if the time came, he would do whatever was necessary to draw attention away from her.