[V7C21] The Males Get Dropped to the Cold Bottom of the Cliff
Translated by Jodas 7: To the North“Instructor Hütter, do you have a second? … It seems like someone is following our carriage.”
Those words made Hütter’s heart skip a beat.
He didn’t really have a clue who it could be, but had the intuition to tell that it was going to be a pain in the ass. He was a third-rate con man, after all.
A palpable sense of tension gripped everyone in the carriage.
Sevil supported the motion-sick Wren as she called out to Tia.
“Tia, can you see anything?”
“Yeah, way behind the carriage, there’s some people riding horses. Three of them.”
He was aware that Tia had good hearing, but apparently she had reasonably good vision as well. Hütter’s eyes could only perceive those silhouettes as little black dots… If he was even looking at the right thing.
The Protection Office’s Otto, who tagged along as a guard, grabbed the hilt of his sword as he spoke.
“We’ve only just left the Wedge Tower, so, well… This really strikes me as the work of amateurs. They don’t seem to be Monsters, either.”
Hütter tried to think it through.
The first probability that came to mind was one of the Black Lion Emperor’s men. Second, someone from Darwock.
(At least, I know it’s not Heidi. That girl’s ludicrously talented. If she was tailing us, she wouldn’t get caught in a million years.)
It was hard to imagine the Black Lion Emperor sending an incompetent goon after them… No, he did send a third-rate con man to do an infiltration mission, so maybe he can’t be too confident about that part.
(But, I still think the odds are higher of it being someone from Darwock.)
Hütter straightened his glasses and spoke to Otto.
“…It could be a group from the Queen’s faction trying to link up with Prince Axel, or it could be the King’s faction trying to assassinate Prince Axel. Both seem possible.”
“I agree. We won’t know for sure until we make contact, but…”
When Otto nodded, Tia jumped out of her seat.
Rather than force herself to try walking when the carriage was rocking, Tia crawled on hands and knees across the carriage floor and dug through the luggage.
“Tia, what are you doing?”
“This is my chance, right!? I’m gonna go! Do recon!”
Tia hefted the Magical Flying Device onto her back and dutifully cinched up all of the belts. She used to have to rely on Rukiye to do this, but it seemed like she’d gotten the hang of it by now.
She wasn’t wrong. If she could observe them from the sky using the Magical Flying Device, then she could catch up to those guys even if they tried to flee.
(…More importantly, I bet she’s just tired of riding on the carriage already.)
With the Magical Flying Device on her back, Tia headed for the back of the covered wagon and declared energetically.
“Piyopp! I’m off!”
Just as she sprang off of the back of the wagon, a short pair of wings emerged and she activated the Magical Leaping Device.
She flew high, high into the air, at which point she switched her wings to flying mode and Tia flew off, riding with the wind.
That said, Tia didn’t fly as high up as he expected. If anything, she was dropping in altitude to approach the aforementioned interlopers on their tail.
(…What is she trying to do?)
As Hütter and the others watched, Tia once again lifted up and returned towards the wagons at low altitude.
Tia deftly glided as she folded in the metal wings, landing precisely on the edge of the covered wagon.
Then, her amber eyes spun around before landing on Rukiye.
“Um, it seems like those people want to talk to Rukiye.”
In an instant, Rukiye’s face tensed up.
As a member of the Guidance Office, Hütter had a decent grasp on the household dramas of each of the Apprentice Mages.
With that in mind, he immediately clued in to who those guys following them were.
(…So that’s how it is.)
Every once in a while, the families of one of the Apprentice Mages would show up to try and pressure the Wedge Tower into doing something, just like how Wren’s stepmother tried to have him thrown out.
Rukiye’s family was one such case.
“There were three people on horses, and the guy in the middle said he was Rukiye’s dad!”
‘Of course it is.’ Hütter suppressed the urge to click his tongue.
In fact, he’d come to visit them many times so far. Rukiye’s father had always demanded “Let me see my daughter.”
Rukiye denied every request for a meeting, and the Wedge Tower communicated that to her father, but he was not willing to take no for an answer.
Since then, Rukiye’s father had wandered around the Wedge Tower’s surroundings, waiting for an opportunity to meet with Rukiye.
(This is… a job for the Guidance Office, I suppose.)
Hütter held his forehead in his hand. This became a pain in the ass for a whole different reason than he was expecting.
Since Tia had spotted Rukiye’s father not far from the village they were supposed to stop in anyway, Hütter managed to convince Rukiye’s father to follow them peacefully up to that village.
While the Wedge Tower comes off as a completely isolated organization, they have a surprising amount of contact with towns and villages across the Autonomous Territory.
Small villages without the ability to defend themselves rely on the Wedge Tower’s assistance any time a Monster appears. In return, they’ve made accommodations to lodge such visitors.
While the group traveling to Darwock this time was quite large, everyone was able to secure a place to stay the night.
The other mages worked together to bring the luggage inside the inn. Meanwhile, Sevil carried the motion-sick Wren.
Amongst all of that commotion, Hütter led the Sorge father and daughter into the inn’s dining room. It seemed like they planned to settle their discussion in there.
Headmaster Möbius showed no signs of going along with Hütter, so Tia decided to stealthily follow after them.
Tia had been the one to spot Rukiye’s father and the first one to talk to him, so she couldn’t help herself from being a little curious.
Taking care not to accidentally let a ‘Pyofu, pyofu escape her throat, Tia hid in the shadows along the walls of the dining room.
“As I have mentioned before, Rukiye’s marriage has already been decided.”
She heard Rukiye’s father’s voice. That was the voice of a man who could barely contain his anger. He probably only held it in because the door was left open.
Maybe that’s why Hütter intentionally kept the door open. He must have deduced that Rukiye’s father was the type to care how others perceived him.
Rukiye’s father, Doruk Sorge, was a grown man with a turban wrapped around his pale blond hair.
From his carefully manicured mustache and his finely embroidered clothes, she could tell at a glance that this man looked wealthy.
On top of that, sword-wielding men stood on either side of him. They looked like some kind of bodyguards.
Then, sitting in the seats directly across from Doruk were Hütter and Rukiye.
With a pale face, Rukiye sucked in her lips and stayed utterly silent. After taking one glance at Rukiye’s condition, Hütter began to speak.
“Has the proper paperwork been completed with that marriage partner yet?”
“Of course it has!”
“Hah, I see… I had heard that Rukiye left the house before the betrothal paperwork was formalized.”
“It’s only natural that the parents can file betrothal forms on their child’s behalf.”
They were talking about some pretty difficult stuff.
Tia still only had the vaguest idea of the difference between marriage and betrothal, but she was pretty sure it meant some kind of promise to become a couple.
Harpies would just kill the human males they intercoursed with once they were done with them, but she did understand that there were some creatures out there who cared deeply about couples and liked to form flocks known as ‘families.’
Wolf monsters were like that, as were humans.
(But Rukiye did not want to be a couple or to make a new family.)
While not forming a flock increased your chances of being targeted as prey, thus decreasing your probability of survival, humans had other options for making flocks than just families. The Wedge Tower itself was a great example of one such flock.
In that case, it shouldn’t be a problem if she doesn’t want to restrict herself to a family… However, Tia could also understand what her father was saying about it being a problem if Rukiye doesn’t reproduce.
Reproduction was important.
(But, unlike Harpies who are on the brink of extinction, there’s still tons of humans… If Rukiye doesn’t want to do it, there should be no need to make her reproduce, right?)
Rukiye should’ve been telling her father that, but for whatever reason, she just kept quiet and hung her head.
Even though Rukiye usually had no problem saying when she didn’t like something.
“Anyway, you should go home, okay? Your Mom is worried about you.”
To Doruk’s words, Rukiye kept her head down and responded in a barely audible voice.
“……I’m not going home.”
There was a loud BANG! as Doruk slammed the table with his fist.
“Cut it out already! You’re a daughter of the Sorge Family! Are you trying to put mud on my face!?”
“Now, now, Mister Sorge, why don’t we just calm down for a second?”
Hütter tried to ease his nerves and Doruk drew in his anger just a little bit.
Now that just a little bit of breathing room had been created, Rukiye muttered under her breath.
“…I can’t get married. I’m not suited for it.”
Instantly, Doruk’s brows shot up in anger.
Tia now understood why Rukiye had remained silent this whole time. Every time she did answer, her father would just get unreasonably incensed.
“It’s not a matter of if you’re suited for it or not! I’m telling you to stop embarrassing me, your father!”
Tia’s mouth hung half-open.
She was surprised by Doruk’s way of speaking.
“What’s wrong with a nice man like that? He even generously offered to let you keep doing your hobby, you know? He’s a good person.”
“……”
“Is this how you repay me for so graciously raising you? You know, your sister married into a wonderful house already.”
“……”
Doruk continued to pressure Rukiye as she refused to respond.
The rules were different depending on where a human lived.
In the place where Rukiye was born, the father was the strongest creature in the flock, and it seemed like he was the one who got to decide things like marriage and betrothal for all of the daughters.
And when Rukiye found that unacceptable, she ran away from home and came to the Wedge Tower.
Before she knew it, Tia’s body had already started to move.
She waddled up to the table where they were talking and kicked against the ground, launching herself into the air.
Doing so, Tia landed on the back of the chair where Rukiye’s father was sitting. She had used the chair in the same way she might perch on a tree branch.
Hütter and Rukiye looked on in shock. Only Rukiye’s father hadn’t noticed that Tia was looking down on him.
Tia squatted down on the back of the chair, grabbed both sides of Rukiye’s father’s face, and looked into his eyes from above.
“Mister, have you heard of Harpies?”
“W- What the hell are you…!?”
With someone suddenly staring into his eyes from above, Rukiye’s father’s voice was mixed with a panicked scream.
The Monstrous part of Tia reveled in the sound of that voice.
Aahh, this human probably didn’t even know that Monsters still exist.
“Did you know? Every once in a while, the Harpies actually give birth to a male. Male Harpies have no wings and no talons. They don’t even have the ability to reproduce either. They look just like humans, but they don’t have a belly button, so they’re not human.”
She had a song-like rhythm and a sweet yet venomous tone dripping from her silky voice.
Both corner’s of Tia’s mouth lifted into a wide smile.
In this position, neither Hütter nor Rukiye could see Tia’s expression. The only one who could see was Rukiye’s father.
“Male Harpies cannot live in Breakneck Gorge. So, the moment they’re born, they get dropped off of the cliff to their death.”
Pressing more firmly with her fingertips onto his face, the Harpy made a hideous smile.
“Mister, aren’t you glad you were born in a place where the males were on top?”