Milia emerged from Chief Kimika’s building, excited, followed by Lilaca, and Ronica. Iris and Harmony had left ahead of us. The twerp had a gift bag, and a servant following her with a silver platter of assorted finger foods. She ate happily. I gave her a blank stare. She smiled victoriously.
“I take it everything went well?” I asked Milia.
“She was tougher than she led on,” Milia said proudly, “but they’ve agreed to shop with us almost exclusively. If they don’t send any… flyers, they’ll pay for deliveries. And look, they gave us this.”
She pulled a gold medallion juiced with mana. Etched on it was the symbol of a bird and a feather.
[Harpy Medallion of Honor. Item rank: S. Item quality: Extraordinary. Reveal this to any harpy and they’ll be more than happy to show any hospitality. This is a symbol of harpy pride and can only be rewarded by a chief or above.]
“This isn’t something they normally gave to people—”
“She was like, well, since you’re not human, I can bend the rules and give you the medallion,” Ronica interrupted Milia with a voice that was a surprisingly good impression of the chief.
“With this, we should be able to establish a dialogue with any harpy,” Milia said.
The proud smile on my face was definitely there, because damn. She not only pulled this off in just an hour, but got everyone a bonus out of it.
“Honestly, I was expecting us to be here a lot longer, given the nature of negotiations,” I said. “Good work.”
“Are you leaving already?” Lilaca asked, a little sadness in her voice, which either revealed her lack of friends or harpies were beings that got attached to people very quickly. We hadn’t known her for more than a couple of hours.
“We are,” I answered. “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us and can’t afford to lose more time. Feel free to get acquainted with Kyushu. We’ll be back in a couple of weeks or so.”
“Short stay as it was, we were glad to have you here,” Lilaca said. “I’ll take you up on that offer. Your potions are of a quality that shouldn’t exist, and I’d like to buy more for my personal inventory.”
She bowed to Ronica first and then to us. “Please have a prosperous journey and visit again.”
She smiled at Lucas before turning around to walk away. The half-dwarf boy blushed, scratching the back of his head.
A lot hit at once, my smile only growing, putting aside the questions I had for Ronica for now.
“I know I don’t say this enough, but damn, I appreciate all of you,” I said, then laughed. “I still have to practice and study up on negotiating business deals, but I’m lucky enough to have you, Milia. And heyyy, guess what? Lucas has volunteered to do our first delivery here.”
“Hey,” Lucas said, his voice a mix of playfulness and annoyed, prompting a chuckle from everyone.
“You did something, Ronica,” I said. “I don’t know what, but thanks anyway.”
“Whatever could you be talking about?” Ronica said, her voice playful, but also strained, as if holding back something. Her cheery tone fell a bit. “I’m only existing here.”
“We were actually getting to that,” Milia said. “But I only guessed. It is something she should tell you herself someday. I could be wrong.”
“It’s none of my business,” I said. “As long as it’s not something that will get your fellow clan members hurt, who cares?”
The darkness that momentarily appeared in Ronica’s eyes when Milia mentioned guessing a potential secret vanished, replaced by a smile and a hug.
“Thank you… Nate,” she said softly.
“Yeah, yeah, twerp,” I said, patting her back. “You just keep smiling, okay? Oh, and you owe Milia a hug too.”
“Goh!” Milia grunted as Ronica hugged her suddenly. She smiled.
Whatever happened in her past would probably change the way we looked at her forever. I already guessed she bottled something up deeply. I also noticed this wasn’t the first time that mask slipped.
One day she’d probably tell us. Or we’d help her forget. Either way, the twerp was my disciple, so I’d deal with the issue when it emerged. Hopefully over booze and the will to move forward in life.
When we returned to the others outside of the gate, we found them sitting at a large table drinking, eating, and laughing with harpy guards. Chenzu strummed a few notes on his lute.
Beakwing was asleep, a large pile of fruits and even those treekins next to him. A harpy guard slept next to him peacefully.
“I hope you guys aren’t having too much fun,” I said when we reached them.
“Perhaps a little,” Kelvin said. “Our new friends here are just hardworking people like us. We invited them to relax a bit.”
The harpy guards nodded. One of them, seeming to be in her forties and looking like she fought for years judging by the scars, smiled. “We’ve heard what you’ve done out there. They had tools and spells that distorted our senses. Sniffing them out and then allowing us to take our revenge, that is a sign of the highest declaration of friendship to us, so be sure to actually use that medallion. The chief’s been wanting to award one for years. Now she’ll finally close her trap about it.”
I laughed. Let me say, these were the most competent guards I’d dealt with so far. To think they actually did their job and completed the quest for me, although it made we wonder just what the hell kind of bandits were their attackers. Deadly arrows and anti-harpy gear. The only reason why they didn’t charge right away was because harpy lightning killed in one strike.
The reasoning of the disciples not wanting to piss them off truly sunk in. But despite being strong, they were only mere citizens of the kingdom. Fewer in numbers and quite kind, despite the stories. Being a seductive race probably brought in more problems than I could even begin to comprehend.
“It’s been fun, but we’ve got to take off on our journey again,” I replied. “Thanks for having us.”
The harpy guard saluted us, sticking a wing in the air, and then bowed. She passed what appeared to be candy to Alexander before walking off. He glared at her, but still ate it right then and there, bringing smiles and laughter to the entire party.
One thing I found interesting about this ordeal were the two harpy types. Those with wings on their backs, giving them the appearance of angels, and then those with strongly foldable wings on their arms. It appeared to be a random trait and didn’t impair their flying. Also, none of them seemed to really care. I decided to not allow my mind to wonder how they dealt with clothing.
“Thanks for visiting us, even if it wasn’t intentional,” the guard said, laughing. “Have a prosperous journey.”
“Did I miss out on any fun?” Mandi asked while we were making our way back to Beakwing. The disciples mounted their horses. I heard Iris snap at Ramon for drooling on her horse and stifled a laugh. Milia giggled.
“No, you didn’t,” Harmony replied to the redhead. “We also didn’t participate in any fighting.”
“Not that we came here for that,” Chenzu said. “By the way, I secured some help to rank up the town in the entertainment sector. Some harpies are angelic singers.”
I nodded. “We’ve only heard just a single note and I wondered if I had them mixed up with sirens.”
Chenzu laughed. “You can’t mistake harpy kindness for the icy hostility of sirens. Thankfully, they all live deep in the southern reaches of the Astral Empire, keeping to themselves like ancient elves.”
“Ancient elves didn’t keep to themselves,” Milia interjected. “They were obsessed with… forest worship back then.”
“We must’ve studied two different history books, because that’s not how I recall it,” Chenzu said.
“So where to next?” Mandi asked, changing the topic while glaring at Milia and Chenzu. “We accomplished far more here than one could expect, right?”
“A business deal, new customers, help with a town upgrade, a special medallion and…” I paused as the prompt appeared in my mental headspace.
[You clan has received +2% crafting fame. Somehow the harpies had come to a conclusion that you were a clan and see you very favorably. Your clan were the ingredients of peaceful visitation that they needed.]
[+10,000 spirit coins. Total number of spirit coins: 155,100. Heavenly spirit coins: 10.]
I danced… in my head, of course. Finally! I now had enough to purchase the magic lab. I couldn’t wait to get home and create something in it. This would be by far my most expensive buy yet from the red cube. New lab, new me!
Although this did serve as a reminder of just how few spirit coins I had to get some of the more promising tools, buildings, and devices. Don’t get me started on not being able to purchase a garden.
I got it. God probably wasn’t willing to just part with the Garden of Eden, but having that in my backyard would certainly make my neighbors jealous of me. Okay, so it probably wasn’t that Garden of Eden, but someone came up with that naming scheme.
When we were off and moving again, having stored Beakwing’s fruit in a ring at his request, the apprentices returned to either their meditation or, in Alexander’s case, inventory logging. He also read on the side.
Did you know one of the toughest pirate kings in history loved romantic dramas? You do now!
As late afternoon rolled in, I woke up from meditation only to see Milia asleep in my lap. The teenagers gave me varying looks from playful, smirking, and mildly amused. The dryad rarely allowed herself to be defenseless, other than back at home with me. But that didn’t count.
I changed the topic to something more serious.
“It’s probably about time we let Beakwing and the horses rest,” I said. “I also promised the big guy some belly rubs.”
Beakwing snorted his agreement, prompting a laugh. Cheetara meowed in what seemed to be an amused tone, though I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure. I’d probably find out when she became a full cat. She was growing and I knew it was only a matter of time before our adorable kitten evolved.
Cats were still adorable, but I’d be lying to you if I didn’t mention the fact that they were mostly assholes to me until wanting something. Dogs stole my heart. Except for chihuahuas, evil things. My sister’s best friend, who probably planned my murder on a daily basis, had a chihuahua named Pookie who felt the same way. Okay, the chihuahua probably hated almost everyone, but especially me and for no reason. I will not get into how many times it attacked or tried to attack me.
Beakwing selected a nice clearing to land in. In the distance, I noticed other travelers on a carriage, moving in the same direction as us, though whether they were headed to the city, or some town in between would forever be unknown.
As we began setting up a rest camp, a horned, two-story tall black horse suddenly leapt into the air from maybe fifty to sixty meters away, or half a football field, unveiling wings twice the size of Beakwing’s. It wasn’t there a moment ago. My mouth hung open as we watched it disappear into the clouds, a giant rainbow briefly appearing behind it. Pleasant mana millions of times greater than my saint aura blanketed the land for a few seconds.
“Was that… was that a freaking unicorn?” I asked nobody in particular. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised they were real too. Spellcasters, dragons, elves, you name it. I just wish I caught it on film.
Iris shook me furiously, her excitement wild. “Nate—Nate, they’re legendary, almost never seen. In my homeland, to see them is a warning of a prosperous and happy life.”
Opal and I gave her a skeptical look. The pixie landed on my shoulder to glare at the elf.
“That’s just some myth,” she said, folding her arms. “Unicorns are just shy and timid.”
“I do not think it is a myth,” Iris defended, her voice stubborn. “Unicorns are partially divine beasts. Also, they’re connected to something called the winds of fate. Every life elf worth their ears knows that creatures connected to it have the potential to reach divinity.”
“I’ve never seen you this hyped before,” I said as I petted Wolverine.
“H… hyped?” Iris asked and once again, I mentally cursed the system for not translating that for me. At this point, I needed to drop as much of the Earth terminology as possible, or everyone here would drive me crazy.
“Excited. I’ve never seen you so excited,” I corrected. “Do the life elves have a history with the unicorns?”
Iris’s eyes sparkled. Ramon snorted while feeding the horses with Kelvin. Nuwa spoke with Alexander, though she was probably annoying him based on his barely contained glare. The kind blonde girl was likely oblivious to it, as she was to many things.
“Just a small history,” Iris said. “Like I said, they’re rare and witnessing them like this is a sign of happiness.” She looked at Opal. “I know you’re skeptical. But I’m sure there was a time people were skeptical about fairies and pixies, back in the time where pranks were commonplace.”
Opal glared at the elf. “Don’t compare us to the childish ancients.”
We looked at her.
“Opal, how many times have you crashed into my face?” I asked.
“That is but excitement, and I do apologize for it,” Opal scoffed. “You must understand the world of gadgetry to appreciate what it means to make breakthroughs, combining it with mana.”
She seemed like she would drool just thinking about making gadgets. I shook my head, smiling at the tiny woman. I summoned Yukihara to keep her company, though they still ended up flying to Mandi’s shoulders.
“This has been one of the most eventful starts to a journey I’ve ever been on,” Maxus said to me. “Harpies and then a massive winged horse.”
“A unicorn,” Iris said, hands on hips. “I will not have you degrading its magnificence.”
Maxus, still wearing his cloak, hood up, gave her a blank stare.
“Wanda’s ass, I understand that you’ve never seen a big horse. Neither have I. That doesn’t mean worship it,” Maxus said and of course we all burst out into laughter at the expense of the two bickerers.
Iris glared daggers at him, but it was no use. The rogue saw the unicorn as nothing but a giant ride or even pet and nothing else. He probably didn’t believe in miracles.
After a half hour, we headed back onto our mounts and took off.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this so early, but I’m having fun,” Harmony announced cheerily.
I glanced at her. “Me too. This is a first for me. The long A-ranked dungeon crawl doesn’t count.”
Milia giggled. “It never counts. It is like a death march to battle, while a journey like this serves as a window to immense opportunities.”
“I’m having fun too,” Lucas declared.
“As am I,” Mandi said, smiling.
Alexander chuckled. “I’m not familiar with land adventures, but even I could appreciate it from time to time.”
Chenzu gave the kid a playful grin. “My friends back home will not believe me if I tell them about a pirate that has something positive to say about land.”
Alexander chuckled. “Perhaps. But don’t get used to it, lad.”
