[V10C24] The Sister who Found Love, The Sister who Learned Logic
Translated by Jodas 10: A Job for a Con ManAs she flew about the night sky, Charonlala’s ears picked up on the sound of a song calling out to wind spirits.
It was a whispered song, careful not to disturb the tranquility of the night, but a Harpy’s ears could make it out regardless.
Charonlala immediately called out to her kin.
“Luuuaaaaa—!”
“Aaaaa—!”
There was a response.
Charonlala flew straight towards the source of that voice.
Beside a small copse of trees on the north side of the Wedge Tower, she caught sight of starch-white hair and wings. As Charonlala made her descent, the white-winged Harpy raised her voice.
“Lala!”
“Tia!”
Without a second thought, both Harpies opened their wings wide and wrapped eachother in a tight embrace.
“Oh Sis, thank goodness… You’re alive!… I heard everyone else died and… Pevuvuvu…”
The sound of her little sister’s voice brought tears to Charonlala’s eyes.
All of their other kin were killed by the mages of the Wedge Tower. Particularly the man with the Ancient magical Artifact sword and that spearman from the monster-hunting family. Each time the two of them swung their sword and spear, the dying wails of Harpies would resound and the sky would be coated in a mix of blood and feathers.
Those wounded by that Ancient Magical Artifact sword would not recover from their wounds even if they managed to escape, dooming them to death.
Even as her comrades were falling out of the sky and dying one after another, Charonlala could do nothing but fly away.
“…Yes, Tia, you and I are the only ones left…”
Hearing those words come out of her own mouth filled her once again with rage, frustration, and sadness.
(You damn humans. I’ll never forgive you.)
Swearing that in her heart, Charonlala took a closer look at Folulutia’s face.
Folulutia’s amber eyes looked up at Charonlala with concern. To assuage her sister’s worries, Charonlala put a little more confidence in her voice,
“Tia, come to the Wedge Tower with me. The mana there is as dense as it was in the Crystal Territory. We can live there just fine.”
“……”
“If we wait just a little bit longer, the Western Wall is going to disappear. When that happens, we can fly as far as we like on the other side of the Wall!”
As she spoke to her little sister, Charonlala screamed inside her mind.
(Please, Tia. Tell me you’re on the Monsters’ side… Tell me you haven’t sided with the humans!)
That desperate plea did not reach Tia.
“Um, you know, sis… How about everyone just stops fighting the humans and heads back home to the Crystal Territory instead?”
Charonlala’s throat trembled.
Folulutia addressed her sister with sincerity in her eyes.
If Folulutia was just afraid of fighting the humans and wanted to go home to the Crystal Territory instead, that would have been understandable.
But that wasn’t the case.
“Sis, even if you did make it to the other side of the Wall, there’s no guarantee you’ll find anywhere with enough mana density. Also, there’s a whole lot of humans on the other side of the Wall too. You know, they’ve got these things called ‘armies’ that are like huge groups of people who do nothing but train how to fight, and they’re all gonna show up in a big horde to come kill the Monsters!”
Her little sister was desperate. She was desperately trying to persuade Charonlala.
The same little sister who always used to sing with a smile on her face and without a care in the world.
“Tia. Since when have you started saying such human-like things?”
“Pyofu!?” Tia chirped.
All of a sudden, Tia’s whole body began to convulse. Groans filled the air as she suppressed the wails of pain emerging from her throat.
“Tia!?”
“NGHHH… Uuu… Uuurghh…”
Charonlala was stunned.
Folulutia’s white wings folded in, collapsing into her young arms. Her talons likewise pack themselves awkwardly inside of the skin of a human girl’s feet.
Her wings and talons, the proof of her identity as a Harpy, tucked themselves into a gaping hole in her skin. Then the tear in her skin sealed up.
Tia gasped erratically. Her form, no matter how she looked at her, was that of a human girl.
“Um, Sis… I had my wings cut by a sword, an Ancient Magical Artifact, and I can’t fly any more.”
An Ancient Magical Artifact sword — It had to have been that loathsome blade wielded by that silver-haired swordsman. Countless of their fellow Harpies died to of that thing.
“I really wanted to fly again, so I had the Witch give me a human form and studied magecraft at the Wedge Tower. I couldn’t learn flight magic, but look! I learned how to fly using this Magical Flying Device and…”
Tia showed off the device on her back as she described in detail what had happened to her body.
To imagine a Harpy, who always gave such lackadaisical and imprecise reports, describing something with such varied vocabulary…
“The Witch… Human form…?”
Charonlala muttered those words with a hollow voice, and Folulutia nodded with a huff.
“Yeah. In exchange for my color and reproductive abilities, she gave me a human form!”
In exchange for her reproductive abilities — The moment she heard those words, time stopped still for Charonlala.
(Tia can’t lay eggs anymore? Even though the two of us are the only Harpies left?)
That meant Charonlala was now the only Harpy capable of laying an egg.
If Charonlala didn’t lay eggs, Harpies would go extinct.
(But I…!)
“I got along with a lot of the humans at the Wedge Tower. So I don’t want to fight against the humans.”
“I, too…”
Before she knew it, her mouth was moving like it had a mind of its own.
She should not say this. She should not think this. The words that she had always admonished herself for now came pouring out of her mouth.
“I wanted to be human too…”
“Huh?” Tia stared back at her with wide eyes. Her face made it clear she could not understand what Lala was saying.
Charonlala drew her face into a smile.
“Did you know, Tia? Humans live a lot longer than we do. When the females get old, they become grandmas with wrinkles all over.”
“Y– yeah.”
“I’ve always wanted to live long enough to become a grandma myself. I wanted to grow old with the person I love.”
To Harpies, reproduction was something they did because their species would die out if they didn’t. There was no need for love in such things.
Such actions represented a clear provocation towards humans. It was an act of violence.
There was no appreciable difference between man-eating Monsters consuming human flesh and Harpies capturing human males to reproduce.
“I don’t want to reproduce in a loveless affair. I want to do it as an act of love with the person I love! I wanted to give birth to his children…!”
Charonlala, with feathers on her arms and talons on her feet, could not have any intercourse with the man she loved. He may have been blind, but even he would figure it out.
Yet, if she wore human skin in the same manner as Tia, then that would mean losing her ability to reproduce. The extinction of Harpies would be assured.
—If only Tia hadn’t lost her reproductive abilities! If only she had stayed a Harpy!
She knew her anger was misplaced. She knew it, and yet the intense emotions would not cease.
Folulutia stared at the fuming Charonlala in disbelief and, with a trembling voice, asked:
“Sis… What are you talking about…?”
Folulutia had lived among humans, but nevertheless it was clear she had never desired to actually become one.
After all, while Folulutia could comprehend human logic, she must have had no concept of the sort of passionate romance that involved reproduction.
On the other hand, Charonlala could not wrap her head around human logic, but she understood romance. She’d found love.
Folulutia could not understand Charonlala’s despair. That truth was what would tear these sisters apart.
With dark despair in her eyes, Charonlala glared at Folulutia and declared:
“Folulutia, you have abandoned your reproductive duties and chosen to live as a human… That is a betrayal of the Harpy race!”
“Sis…?”
“Get out of my sight! And don’t let me see you ever again, Folulutia you traitor!”
With those words, Charonlala took to the sky.
Folulutia stared up at her sister in shock, anguish in her eyes.
It pained her to see her precious little sister look at her that way.
It was she herself who had fallen in love with a human. It was she who was wrong. That was precisely why she could not allow herself to betray Harpy-kind.
She had to live as a Harpy should. She had to live as the Harpy her sister, who had fraternized with humans, could not.
“If I ever see you again… I’ll bite you! I’ll tear you to shreds! I’ll kill you!”