[V6C3] The Ones on the Boundary
Translated by Jodas 6: Secrets of the Wedge Tower“Then, when I woke up, I was in the Witch’s house.”
Wren groaned at Tia’s explanation.
“Hold on, I think you skipped a few steps. Who in the world is this Witch?”
“Um… Well, that’s what Kai called her. ‘The Great Witch,’ he said.”
Tia squeezed her eyes shut and tried to remember as much about that time as she could.
Harpies were forgetful, but they were great at remembering sounds.
That was why she could remember. Kai’s grumbling and sarcastic way of talking. The Witch’s rarely-heard but beautiful voice.
When she woke up, she found herself in a small room. But it was different from that girl’s room.
Used furniture showed tangible signs of aging. An old wooden shelf held rows of dried plants packed into bottles, and countless books piled up on the floor. Maybe they couldn’t find a place to put the books away because the shelves were all taken up by the bottles.
Tia had been laid to sleep face-down on the bed. Harpies had wings, so they weren’t suited for sleeping on their back.
“Hey, you awake?”
She heard a voice to her side, and Tia jolted awake and made a noise.
Her body could move. Her throat could make a voice without issue. Aside from the lack of flight feathers rendering her unable to fly, she was back to normal.
(There’s no shackles.)
Tia had only been able to destroy the collar. She ran away with the shackles that drained her strength still hanging from her legs.
Yet, before she could think about why she had no shackles, Tia raised her voice to threaten the man in front of her.
“Luuuaaaa!”
She stretched out her throat, prepared to start singing at any moment. Such vocal exercises were her way of preparing to engage in battle.
The man standing next to the bed didn’t move, even under Tia’s intense gaze. He simply showed a faint smile.
It was a blond man. He looked like a human. Age-wise, he would have been around his late twenties.
He wore clothes that were not too shabby, and had a wide-brimmed hat on his head. He had a flower decoration in the shape of a crimson rose on said hat.
The one other thing that caught her eye was the white, thin cloth wrapped around all parts of his body. It must have been some kind of fashion accessory.
“No need to be so nervous. I’m the one who carried you all the way here. I don’t intend to demand your gratitude, but I’d appreciate it if you at least didn’t show such hostility towards me.”
“You… carried me here? Why?”
If it was a fellow Harpy in front of her, she could understand the desire to bring a wounded ally home.
But the man before her looked, for all she could tell, to be a human. In that case, wouldn’t it be natural for him to see those guys who captured Tia as his allies?
Even if the man in front of her was a Monster, there was no reason to go out of ones way to bring home a Monster that was neither your species nor your thrall.
Tia remained wary, and the man smiled.
He smiled by moving only the skin on his face in a way that only made it look like he was being kind. His eyes continued to coldly observe Tia.
“I’m Kai. I thought you looked so pitiful, I just had to save you, so how about it?”
“…?”
When he took pity on her, she felt no anger nor resentment. She only thought of it as a word she didn’t understand.
If she was a Greater Monster who reveled in taking pity on humans, perhaps she would have understood.
Pitiable, pity — those were words she knew as lyrics to songs, but not a feeling she could place as a Harpy.
Thus, Tia simply thought this:
(The weird human is saying weird things.)
“You’re a Harpy who has lost her flight feathers. With your wings, you’ll never be able to return to Breakneck Gorge. So, why don’t we put our minds together and think of a way to save you?”
To save her. Those were words that girl would use.
Tia grumbled ‘vuvuvu’ and flapped her wings.
Just as her hair was a vibrant rainbow of color, Tia’s wings were a strange mix of red, orange, yellow, and pink with spots of chartreuse and a faint blue feathers mixed in.
As she spread them out, her vibrant wings that intimidated her enemies were now noticeably shorter.
As a Monster, Tia’s body was resilient, and although she still felt a little lethargic, there were almost no injuries left on her body.
Regardless, Tia’s flight feathers, severed by that silver-haired man’s sword, never regenerated despite the time that had passed.
(Now that I think about it, this room… the mana density isn’t thin… so we must be near the Crystal Territory?)
Suddenly remembering the importance of understanding her location, Tia assumed a battle-ready stance as she questioned Kai.
“Where is this place?”
Kai answered flatly and disinterestedly.
“It’s apparently called the Forest of the Boundary. As the name implies, we’re in a forest on the boundary between the Crystal Territory and the territory of men.”
Certainly, as Kai said, there was a place called the Forest of the Boundary on the line between the Crystal Territory and the territory of men.
The Forest of the Boundary had wildly varying mana density. Some parts were reasonably dense, albeit not as dense as the Crystal Territory, while other parts had low enough mana density that Monsters found it hard to breathe.
Kai looked around the room before his eyes rested back on Tia.
“The mana density is high in this house and the garden around it. You shouldn’t feel any discomfort, no?”
‘So you’re fine to live here’ was something Kai left unsaid.
Tia, similarly, did not say ‘I’d like to stay here.’
After all, Tia wanted to go home. To Breakneck Gorge, with her sister and the others.
Yet, to that end, Tia quickly realized that she had no choice but to rely on Kai.
Only, before she trusted him, there was one thing Tia had to confirm. The same question she had asked Kai to begin with.
“Why did you carry me here? You didn’t answer my question, Kai.”
“Because you looked so pitiful, I reached out to you out of the goodness of my heart.”
The skin on Kai’s face twisted into the shape of a sarcastic smile.
“Isn’t that the human thing to do?”
“I don’t get it.”
Tia answered honestly and Kai responded with a warbling laugh.
He had a mocking, cold way of laughing. Was he laughing at Tia’s ignorance, or something else entirely?
Tia remained silent as Kai narrowed his eyes at her. It looked like he was trying to confirm something.
“Yes, you are very much monstrous. Truly, a Harpy among Harpies.”
Tia wondered why he bothered to say something so obvious.
Kai really was a weird human. Tia didn’t know very many humans, but that was just her feeling. He wasn’t very human-like.
That said, while he struck her as being a weird human, Tia wasn’t all that interested in who Kai was.
All she wanted to know was how to fly again. That was it.
“What do I have to do to fly?”
“Have you heard of magecraft?”
“The thing humans use!”
“Yes, a human technique for utilizing mana through magical formulas.”
Upon hearing Tia’s simplistic answer, Kai’s smile deepened.
Tia couldn’t tell what was so funny about it, but Kai seemed to be enjoying himself.
This was different from the smiles he made earlier by just moving the skin on his face. Kai enjoyed this from the bottom of his heart and allowed his unconstrained elation to seep through his face as he proposed a solution.
“Within that magecraft, there is a means to fly. It’s called ‘flight magic.’ If you learned that, you’d be able to fly once again.”
“So how do I use that flight magic thingy?”
“Humans need money to learn magecraft. On top of that, you’d need a way to prove your identity… that said, I do have one idea for an institution where you could learn magecraft without either of those things.”
Kai bent over at the hip to stare directly into Tia’s face.
Amidst his face wrapped tightly in those narrow white cloths, Tia saw her own reflection in his dull yellowish-brown eyes.
“To the south of here, inside of the Wall, there is a tower known as the Wedge Tower. Once every three years, they recruit new Apprentice Mages. So long as you can pass their entrance exam, anyone can become a mage.”
“And they let Harpies go there too?”
“Nope. That would be unthinkable. But, all you have to do is wear a human skin.”
Tia let out a conflicted “piroro…”
If, for example, Kai in front of her were to take off his skin and she were to try wearing it, it just wouldn’t work. Their bodies are different sizes, and her talons and wings would still end up sticking out.
Tia radiated an air of ‘I can’t do that,’ to which Kai spoke with pride.
“Are you nervous? It’s okay. I’ll take you to meet the master of this house — the Great Witch who creates miracles.”
“If she can make miracles, then I want her to fix my wings.”
“Miracles require a price. If the price for fixing your wings costs you your life, then there’d be no point.”
Meaning there was a chance Tia would have to accept some price other than losing her life.
Regardless, it was still much better than being tossed out into a place with no mana and dying in the cold.
Kai opened the door leading to a hallway and stepped out.
Tia waddled after him. Her talons dragged across the floor, making a ‘clack, clack’ sound with every step.
Suddenly, she realized something. Both the room they were in and this hallway had windows that let light in.
This wasn’t like the windowless room where that girl was.
Just as in the room earlier, potted plants were placed all over the hallway and dried plants hung from the walls. When a wind blew it, it carried the scent of plants and soil. She didn’t hate this place.
Eventually, Kai stopped before a certain door.
He took off his hat and held it over his chest, then bent into a bow.
“Great Witch, Great Witch, I implore you to show me your face.”
He whispered, as if only talking to the flower ornament on his hat, then he opened the door.