[V7C5] Flying Like a Bullet
Translated by Jodas 7: To the NorthAfter hearing an explanation of the situation in Darwock from Hütter; Tia, Wren and Sevil made their way to the garden gazebo that has quickly become a familiar haunt for them.
Autumn flowers still bloomed beautifully in the same garden where they’d encountered Julius the night before.
Suddenly, Tia realized something.
All of the flowers in this garden were flowers that Tia had seen before. There were no wildflowers in sight, only beautiful, manicured plants. The same flowers that decorated that girl’s — Fiene’s — room.
If Fiene truly lived underneath this garden, then that would be only natural.
(We ended up cutting our search of the garden short, though…)
She didn’t want to force Sevil and Wren to tag along with her too many times, so maybe she should try investigating by herself tonight.
On the other hand, if anyone else figured out that she was sneaking out of the dorm, Tia understood that would make it harder for her to make such moves in the future.
If a person is walking around at night without a good reason, they get yelled at.
Tia tweeted “piro-piro” as she pondered what would be best to do next, when Sevil spoke up in a stiff voice.
“Tia, Wren, regarding the discussion about Darwock earlier… there is one detail I couldn’t bring up back there.”
Monsters had appeared at the Darwock Royal Palace.
Were those Monsters always hiding somewhere in Darwock to begin with? Or, did they travel North from the Crystal Territory? … If it was the latter, how did they cross the Mountains?
(If they were Harpies, maybe they could have gone around by flying over the sea…? But, by the time they made it to Darwock, I feel like the mana would be too thin and they’d just end up dying…)
“According to what the Sixth Prince, Axel, said, there were apparently three Monsters who came to the Darwock Royal Palace. First, a blond young man with elegant clothes. He said this man attacked their soldiers with unbelievable combat prowess, then drank their blood.”
A Monster with a human-like appearance that drank blood, she’d heard rumors about him. That was probably a Greater Monster who lived in the Crystal Territory.
“Second, a man wearing a hood. Not much is known about this one. However, it appears the other Monsters referred to him as ‘Chancellor.’ He was the primary negotiator, and it was him who communicated the King of Monsters’ intent to cooperate with Darwock’s change of religion.”
As Sevil explained the ‘first’ and ‘second’ Monsters, she held up the corresponding fingers.
Then, as she raised her third finger, Sevil spoke slowly.
“Third… A Harpy with orange wings.”
For a moment, she felt as if all sound had disappeared from the world.
A Harpy’s wings differed from individual to individual. Tia had rainbow wings with all sorts of colors, but most Harpies only had one to three colors in their wings.
Tia’s sister, meanwhile, had orange wings with bits of scarlet mixed in, like a brilliant flame.
Obviously, there were other Harpies out there aside from her sister who had orange wings. Regardless, it was her sisters wings, shining like a beautiful firework, that occupied Tia’s mind.
As Tia spaced out, her body stiff and her eyes unblinking, Sevil spoke to her.
“After conducting negotiations relating to the change of religion, it seems that Harpy asked the King of Darwock one question: ‘Have you seen a large bird with rainbow-colored wings around here anywhere?’”
“Pefu…” A heavy breath escaped her throat.
She was looking for her. Even though, in Harpy years, so much time had passed.
Her sister hadn’t given up; she was still looking for her.
“As far as I’ve seen, your wings were white, but… If I recall correctly, you mentioned that you had lost your color at some point, correct?”
“Yeah, my wings used to be all kinds of colors…”
The words coming out of her mouth suddenly faded away. All sorts of emotions were welling up from deep within her chest, and she couldn’t talk straight.
Tia’s face welled up with tears and, due to more emotions than she could count, she whispered her sister’s name.
“Lala…”
Tia unconsciously clenched her fist. — She was surprised to realize that she had more strength put into her hands than her feet.
Harpies weren’t supposed to use their hands very often. They were basically just decoration. If she wanted strength, she should use the talons on her feet.
Reminding herself of that principle, she curled her toes tightly inside her boots.
(My sister is in Darwock? Why? Could it really be that she’s there to look for me?)
After Tia disappeared, her sister might have gone back to Breakneck Gorge and searched the area around there. Or, potentially, she might have recognized the danger and tried to look around the Wedge Tower… But there was no way she could have found her. Tia was locked away, after all.
Even after running away from Fiene and being picked up by Kai, she’d spent the whole time in the Witch’s house studying about humans. Apparently that house was designed to be difficult to spot from the outside, so it still must have been impossible for her sister to find her.
Then, after searching the area to the West and South of Breakneck Gorge, perhaps she headed North to Darwock with a faint hope in her heart?
(What do I do… I’m all the way over here now.)
When she hung her head, she felt someone holding her hand tightly. It was Sevil.
“Tia, assuming the Harpy who appeared in Darwock was your sister… Would you want to go see her? Even if you haven’t learned how to fly just yet?”
“……see her.”
The hand that was held steadily warmed up.
Surely, because humans could not warm each other up with their wings, they held hands like this instead.
“I… want to see… my sister…”
Even though she still could not fly like she used to, she would surely figure out a way to fly and make it back to Breakneck Gorge.
Therefore, she wanted to let her sister know to wait patiently for her.
“Very well!”
Sevil raised her voice. Her enthusiastic voice was like a wind on the grasslands, blowing all of those hazy feelings away.
“It’s a good thing to have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, Tia! In that case, you should head forth to Darwock and go meet your sister!”
Wren seemed skeptical of Sevil’s declaration.
“Are you telling her to… Sneak out of the Wedge Tower?”
“I had considered that, but if possible, do you believe there is a way to travel to Darwock under the guise of official Wedge Tower business?”
“…You’re just leaving everything to the brainy pretty boy to figure out, aren’t you? Dammit, alright, give me a sec. I’m thinking about it. Do you have any more info for me to go on?”
With a great “Pefun!” Tia stood up from the bench and stepped in front of Wren.
“What’s up Tia? Have you come to give your local pretty boy an emotional embrace?”
“Pefuuuuu…”
Tia bent over and squished her head into Wren’s stomach.
Wren shouted “Ouph!?” in surprise.
“Wait– that hurts… Actually… it tickles? Hey, what kind of emotion are you trying to express here?”
Tia spoke, still rubbing her head against Wren’s stomach.
“An ‘I like you a whole, whole lot’ feeling!”
Once she was satisfied with how much she’d rubbed Wren, next, she looked to Sevil.
Sevil opened her arms wide, saying “Come here!” Tia thrust her head into Sevil’s stomach.
“Thank both of you so, so much! ….Pefufu… I like you a lot!”
As Tia rubbed against her, Sevil patted her on the head. Tia really liked the way her hands felt.
“I remembered something. This has yet to be shared with the Apprentices, but the higher-ups at the Wedge Tower are already making preparations. Centered around the Investigation Office, those who can use flight magic have already been dispatched all around.”
While it was easy to think of the Wedge Tower as a completely isolated environment, they actually had small bases dotted across the Eastern reaches of the Empire. There, they kept a close watch on the movements of Monsters.
Some people would go to those bases and ask for the latest info on the Monsters’ whereabouts. Some would go to call back those who’d headed out on extermination missions such as Headmaster Möbius. Some would go to inform the Mage Association. For all of this, they needed tons of people to serve as messengers.
It seemed that those who were skilled with flight magic such as the Extermination Office’s Frederik Lange or the Management Office’s Winston Barrett were already flying around on such missions.
Wren hummed in thought.
“Certainly, Tia could be useful as a messenger or for observation. If she joined on to scout out Darwock, then it wouldn’t be weird for her to go there… That said, the Magical Flying Device only works for so long, and I doubt they would let an Apprentice do such an important job…”
Once Tia had rubbed Sevil to her heart’s content, she stood straight up and looked to the sky.
Simply being able to fly was a strength all on its own. If she emphasized that point, maybe they might let her take the mission to investigate Darwock?
“……Piyo? Pyowawah…!?”
As she looked to the sky, Tia caught sight of an unbelievable sight. Her mouth hung open in a diamond shape and her eyes bulged wide.
Wren looked at Tia and asked with suspicion:
“What’s up, Tia? You’re making a weird face.”
“Just now… From there to there… Nyoom!”
Tia held up a finger and moved it vigorously from right to left as she described the shocking spectacle she had just witnessed.
“Oliver was flying — horizontally!”
Indeed, Oliver Lange, the man who could only ever fly straight up like a wild hare, had just flown parallel to the ground. And at great speed, no less.