Chapter 8 – The Intruder’s Story (1)

Chapter 8: The Intruder’s Story (1)

A week had passed since Blue Sky came by.

The appearance of an unexpected guest had changed many things. First and foremost, my home had been completely destroyed.

It was a common cave that could have been found anywhere in the mountains. But to me, it had been an incredibly special place. I had lived there for over a hundred years. It had been a place I had grown quite fond of.

That place had been destroyed by Blue Sky’s lightning. It would have been nice if only the entrance had been broken, but it had completely collapsed. Thanks to that, I had spent the day flying around the sky with nowhere to stay.

It had been extremely cold. Ice storms had been raging. Whether it had been because of the cold, or because I had used too much power. My body reflected in the ice had become even smaller than before.

For a moment, I had considered raising an objection to Blue Sky. But I had given up. From her perspective, I was an uninvited guest. I should have been grateful that she had treated such an existence with reasonable restraint.

“It’s a monster!”

“Isn’t that a Phoenix?!”

A few days later, I encountered humans divided into two groups. As soon as they saw me, they called me a monster or a Phoenix.

The monster understood. Where in the world would there have been such a large bird? But the word Phoenix somehow made me feel unpleasant.

That thing’s limit was burning its own body and being reborn again. I was different. I was a completely different concept, a different existence from a Phoenix. I was Jujak. In the world beyond, I had been called a Death God.

‘I wish they would all just disappear.’

I hadn’t been in a good mood because my home of a hundred years had been destroyed. And then they had been mistaking me for a Phoenix, which had made me slightly irritated. So without realizing it, I had shown a somewhat excessive reaction.

“Ah, AHHHHH!”

“Please spare us. Oh great being…!”

Then they had stopped calling me a monster or Phoenix. They had knelt on the ground, busy pleading for mercy. Watching from the sky, I suddenly felt sorry for them.

When I thought about it, this behavior had been nothing more than venting anger. Blue Sky had been the one who had destroyed my home, but these had been humans. I had quickly flown up before causing any bigger misunderstandings.

But unfortunately, an ice storm had struck from that very direction. I had raised my feathers and had flapped my wings vigorously to barely escape. Afterward, I had briefly landed on the ground to check my physical condition.

“…I’ve gotten smaller again.”

My body had been shrinking to a visibly noticeable degree. At that rate, I had wondered if I would shrink down to the size of a hummingbird.

At the very beginning, I had an enormous body. It had been on the level of those huge dinosaur models I had seen before.

Then, as time passed, I gradually became smaller. Not long ago, I had been slightly larger than an ostrich. After using my power a few times, I had shrunk and had shrunk again to reach that point.

From then on, I needed to be more careful about spreading my feathers. I might not have just kept shrinking, but might have completely disappeared altogether.

As I had adapted to this bird’s body, I had begun to want to live. It had been sad that I wasn’t human, but this had been pretty good in its own way.

Not needing to eat. And being able to fly in the sky. Being able to rekindle my extinguished life according to my own will. Of course, the last one had come with a burden, so I should have restrained myself in the future.

The next day, I found a new home. I had quite liked that it had been more spacious than my previous cave. Plus, there had been no notable villages in the surrounding area.

‘I’ve been flying around for a while and used my feathers too. I should get some good sleep.’

I had curled up my body, using my wings as a blanket. As warmth had enveloped me, drowsiness had slowly crept in. I had closed my eyes like that. I had fallen asleep like that.

---

“Mm.”

Finally, the drowsiness had lifted. I didn’t know how long I had slept. It could have been days or it could have been weeks. What had been certain was that my condition had improved somewhat compared to before.

This body hadn’t particularly needed to eat anything. But it had been good to drink water in moderation.

There had been plenty of clean water around there. With the intention of quenching my thirst. And while I had been at it, thinking about spreading my wings a bit. I had left my home and had flown up into the sky.

And what had caught my eye hadn’t been a lake or melted ice water.

‘What are those people doing there again?’

I had flown to the opposite side to avoid the people who had called me a monster or Phoenix. This had been a place where even the northern people hadn’t come and gone due to the rough mountain terrain. I had been certain of this because I had surveyed the entire area before establishing my new territory.

In such a place, people wearing unfamiliar clothing had been entering.

The people of this region had mainly used animal hide. In contrast, those people had been wearing thick clothes padded with cotton. These had been things that were hard to obtain in the north. I had never seen them before.

Next, what had been suspicious had been the number forming the procession. Even for hunters, it would have been normal not to exceed a dozen or so. But the people over there had numbered at least several hundred by rough count.

“Were there any villages nearby…?”

Just in case, I had taken a look around the entire area once. The result was that I hadn’t been wrong. There had been no villages in the area. Far from villages, I hadn’t even been able to see any hunters.

Then who exactly had those people been? Could they have been bandits? But even for bandits, there had been too many of them.

‘Wait a minute.’

It had been just for an instant, but I had seen it. No matter how far away, nothing could escape my eyes. All sorts of cargo covered with white cloth that they had been loading onto carts. The metals that had protruded from between them had glinted and had shone.

Bandits also carry weapons around. But they aren’t in good condition. Everything is precious in that place. Even if all the teeth were chipped, they used them until they broke. The weapons those people had been hiding and carrying hadn’t had the sharpness of life like that.

I had landed on the mountainside for a moment to organize my thoughts. When I had come to think of it, something Anne had told me had come to mind.

The northern part of the Empire. Not only Empire citizens lived in that Nosland. Though it was far, there had also been people from other kingdoms that had bordered that region.

Because it had been such barren and vast land, the boundaries of the borders had been weak. Rather, the passages leading to Nosland had been more like borders. So there had been several occasions when military forces from other countries had entered.

“…”

The fights between countries had been none of my business. I hadn’t been an Empire citizen and the Empire had done nothing for me. Not caring about it wouldn’t have been a problem.

However, Anne’s village had been in the direction those people had been heading. If those people had really been military forces from another country, the story would have become different.

The north had been harsh. It had been a barren place where everything had been precious. What would have happened if they had discovered a village in such a place?

I hadn’t been human then, but I had once been human too. So I had known the cruelty of those humans better than anyone. Nine times out of ten, Anne’s village would have been turned into ruins.

‘It’s a place that hasn’t even been a few months since recovering from bandit attacks.’

Once my mind had been settled, I had slowly spread my wings. Perhaps because I had slept well in a warm place, my body had grown slightly larger. Rather than having grown, I should have said it had returned to its original size.

First, I had decided to get a more definitive look at that procession of hundreds. The possibility that they had been military forces from another country might have just been my assumption.

‘Fortunately, there are no ice storms today.’

My wings felt light. There had been no feeling of my feather tips freezing. The refreshing feeling of flying in the sky had filled me after a long time. I had flown straight toward the humans passing through the mountain terrain.

***

“Once we pass through this place, there will be no more mountains. From then on, though it’s said to be barren, most of it will be plains. If we go straight down, we can perfectly ambush the Empire.”

A general with an eyepatch over one eye had encouraged his followers. The weary soldiers had regained their strength at those words and had moved forward again. These people’s true identity had been the army of the Lind Kingdom, which had bordered the Empire.

The Lind Kingdom had long sought opportunities to attack the Empire. However, border surveillance had been strict and they hadn’t been able to find the right time for a surprise attack.

So this one-eyed general, Cannibal, had come up with a scheme. The northern part of the Empire. Nosland. Let’s pass through there and attack from above.

Conveniently, their Lind Kingdom had been adjacent to Nosland. The Empire had been neglecting the defenses of that place for various reasons. They had just needed to exploit that gap, pass through quickly, and launch a surprise attack.

Opposition had followed. The reason had been the cold and barrenness of the north.

To launch a surprise attack, they had needed to bring at least several hundred elite soldiers. If they were to meet with an accident in the north, it would have been a great loss. If by any chance there had been an Empire ambush, they could have been completely annihilated.

But Cannibal had pushed his argument to the end.

“There will be no better opportunity than this. The Empire has practically abandoned the north. The garrison is also positioned at the border facing north, not in Nosland itself. We must not miss this chance.”

Eventually, the Lind Kingdom had decided to accept Cannibal’s strategy. They had provided over several hundred elite soldiers and quality weapons and armor. Their job had been one thing. To shock the Empire with a surprise attack.

Two months since departing the kingdom. Cannibal had almost finished the mountain march. It hadn’t been without casualties. There had been over dozens of deaths. They should have considered it fortunate that they hadn’t encountered Empire forces.

And that day. Finally, they had escaped the tiresome mountain terrain. It had seemed as if the goddess of fortune had been impressed by their efforts. Getting through the north with only that much damage had been a miracle.

Up until then, that was.

“Mm?”

A commander of troops had needed many things. One of those things would have been excellent instincts. Those instincts had made Cannibal look up instead of ahead.

“What is that…”

At first, he thought he had seen wrong. He had unconsciously denied it. It had been something that shouldn’t have been there. An opponent they absolutely couldn’t fight.

“General?”

A soldier marching right beside him had tilted his head in confusion. Then he had looked up and had immediately begun screaming.

“A Red Wyvern!” “What?”

“It’s real! Damn it! It’s a flying monster!”

“It’s a red wyvern!”

“AHHHHHHH!!”

Wyvern. A flying monster that dominated the skies. Usually it stayed in the sky where humans couldn’t possibly reach. Then when it decided on prey, it swooped down like lightning to snatch it.

If these had been ordinary regular troops, resistance would have been possible. But not then. They had only prepared for a surprise attack. They couldn’t respond to a monster attacking from the sky.

“G-General! What shall we do?! We cannot face a wyvern!”

“Damn it…!”

They had passed through the rough mountain terrain. Then only easy paths had remained. Just a little more hardship and they could have executed the surprise attack. Though such regret had welled up, Cannibal had made his decision.

“Red Wyverns are naturally fond of flames. Immediately set fire to the carts and evacuate this place.”

A wyvern’s attack didn’t end just once. According to what was known, they sometimes killed people for fun. Just flapping their wings would send people flying to crash and die.

The wisest method was to quickly leave that place. They couldn’t lose elite soldiers there so futilely. Though the journey there had been regrettable, returning would have been a hundred times better.

“General! The creature is beginning to dive!”

“It’s looking for prey! Set fire immediately and retreat!”

The Lind Kingdom army had no other choice. Following the general’s orders, they lit fires and scattered in all directions.

***

‘So it really was an army.’

Disciplined movements. Weapons emerging from wagons. When I had descended a bit closer to the ground, they had been busy running away at the sight of me. It had been rather fortunate. I hadn’t had to take their lives.

But they must never have come there again. After wondering what to do, I had decided to leave the best warning.

I had flapped my wings widely to set fire to the wagons they had left behind. It would have been understood as a message not to approach any further. If they had tried to come again, then I could have descended closer at that time.

‘I should avoid clashing with gods over human lives.’

Thinking I had done enough, I had returned to my home.