Chapter 261: Harpy Kingdom Revival 1

The flapping of the wings quieted down as the harpy girl and Irene engaged in conversation.

Irene soothingly calmed the agitated harpy girl, showcasing a skill so adept it bordered on beautiful, as if to claim there are specialists even in the art of pacification.

Anyone with a hint of empathy would feel the humanity in this scene, while those more sensitive might find themselves moved by a conversation that broke down distrust and fostered trust between different species.

Many viewers felt something else from the intimate interaction between the slender, unclothed exotic beauty and the nun, whose habit was stretched tight by flapping wings, revealing her figure.

The arrival of a talking harpy from the sky was surprising, but it naturally drew attention to her body due to viewers being more interested in physical appearances.

However, my interest wasn’t in her immature physique but in the jewelry adorning her small body, including a necklace with a jade-like pendant and various bracelets and anklets crafted from twisted materials.

“This harpy wears jewelry, different from the ones in the Kingdom.”

“They’re far inferior to the craftsmanship of stone dwarves. They look like clumsy toys made by children.”

Of course, having a lot of jewelry doesn’t necessarily mean it’s beautiful.

The large gold pieces worn by the Harpy Queen could be museum pieces or command high prices in a jewel shop, marked with several zeroes.

But the jewelry worn by this harpy girl was merely shiny stones strung on worn thread.

The difference was like comparing perfectly cut diamonds to cubic zirconia[1] from a local stationery store.

Still, the fact that she wore any jewelry at all distinguished her from other harpies who fluttered about without any, suggesting she might be intelligent, wealthy, or powerful among harpies, perhaps even like a large-scale rancher who raises hundreds of mountain goats.

“Human? Oh, you don’t have feathers? Hmm, wings without feathers are kind of creepy.”

“These aren’t featherless wings; they’re hands. Hands and fingers, which can’t fly but can delicately use tools… like this.”

“Wow! It’s wriggly like a worm, that’s really amazing!”

Amid the provocative scenes that inadvertently triggered some viewers’ instincts, Han Se-ah chastised the viewers, while I, along with Grace and Katie, kept our hands on our weapons, worried Irene might get hurt.

Regardless of what we were doing, the two of them had slipped into their own world.

It was frightening how effortlessly Irene, skilled in handling children, won over the harpy girl.

It took her less than ten minutes.

After tidying up her feathers and untangling her necklaces, Irene wiped a sparkling stone, which was either a jade or a crystal, on the edge of her habit.

She had completely won the harpy girl over.

“Me? I’m the ruler of these mountains. I have lots of subordinates!”

“You… you’re a bit dumb, aren’t you? How can sheep turn into stone? Sheep are made of meat, not stone.”

There are superior beings among the red harpies, just as there are named, giant harpies among the black harpies.

While black harpies, with bodies of eagles, are distinguished by size, red harpies, with human bodies, are differentiated by intelligence and magical ability.

After all, in a world with mana, most living beings are like that.

Even the simplest goblin is divided into regular goblins and goblin shamans, and orcs have sorcerers.

Superior monsters all possess mana.

Even humans, regardless of their origin, are treated like nobility if they are exceptional mages or knights.

In essence, if the Harpy Queen is the ruler of a newly formed ancient kingdom, then this small harpy girl in front of us is like the chieftain of a tribe.

Or perhaps, she could be likened to a rural landlord or local lord.

…So, should we just kidnap her and send her to the kingdom?

“It might sound a bit cruel to say this given the situation… but shouldn’t we capture a harpy with such influence and send her to the queen?”

“To subdue the surrounding villages, it’s correct to capture the village chief…”

Han Se-ah and Katie murmured something along those lines, sharing a similar thought.

Grace, though silent, nodded slightly, indicating she was thinking along the same lines.

However, even for a party of heroes on a journey to confront the Demon King, they are still human at heart.

Seeing the harpy girl comfortably nestled in Irene’s arms and smiling brightly made us hesitate to knock her out and take her with us.

“It’s uncomfortable to keep standing and talking, shall we go together and talk more? There’s a big mountain peak where hundreds of goats gather, and stone dwarves carve beautiful jewels into necklaces.”

“Really? I want to go!”

And with that, our hesitation was easily resolved.

Thanks to skills befitting of a 5★ ‘Saint Candidate’.

Like a child, it was easily lured by candy.

The harpy girl, forgetting her ability to flap her wings, nestled comfortably in Irene’s embrace, chattering away like a pet bird.

I remembered she was herding over a hundred one-horned mountain goats, but she left them to wander off on their own, enjoying the soft and squishy feeling in Irene’s embrace, giggling happily.

Ignoring the harpy subordinates struggling to round up the sheep, her carefree attitude left us speechless.

Isn’t her lack of wariness, for a creature living in the wild, too low?

I wondered if her red feathers were not of a bird of prey but of a lovebird.

“It feels like we’ve become bandits kidnapping an innocent child.”

“Don’t say it like that…”

Seeing everyone else flinch at Grace’s murmur, it was clear they were all having similar thoughts.

Except for Irene, who comfortably held the harpy while walking the mountain path, everyone else wore a guilty expression.

While the viewers were busy teasing Han Se-ah, calling us kidnappers and human traffickers, an unavoidable story popped up.

“Did you know? There’s a huge monster living under the ground. But if there are stone dwarves underground, are they being raised by the monster?”

“…A huge monster underground? Have you seen it?”

“Of course!”

The story came out while the harpy girl was explaining her daily life to Irene, including cloud shapes resembling animals, necklaces and bracelets, feather grooming, one-horned goat ranching, and feeding the black harpies.

A large tentacle shooting out from a hole on the mountainside, snatching one-horned mountain goats and disappearing.

She mentioned she was herding a hundred goats because of this.

Setting aside the harpy girl’s inability to count past a hundred, the information was critically important.

Her statement gave us a rough idea of the boss monster’s habits.

“The tentacle coming out of the cave means it could target not just stone dwarves but also harpies and adventurers on the surface.”

“Eating one-horned mountain goats means it likely consumes mana stones.”

“A monster that eats mana stones usually becomes an uncontrollable disaster if left alone…”

First, the problem starts with a creature large enough to crush underground cities stretching its tentacles to the surface.

The fact it comes out through caves means not all caves are safe havens.

Imagine taking a break, lighting a campfire, and dining, only for a B-movie horror scene to unfold with the cave collapsing and tentacles snatching people.

Furthermore, eating one-horned mountain goats implies it consumes stones and possibly mana stones.

It might have a mana pool befitting its massive body.

Or its shell could be imbued with magic.

“If the creature used its tentacles to snatch sheep here, doesn’t that mean it’s currently on the 43rd floor?”

“…We should head back to the underground city right away, shouldn’t we?”

And the most crucial point was that the creature that collapsed the entrance to the 44th floor is currently feasting somewhere on the 43rd floor.

Granny Pipi’s city could be in danger.

BB Games was a game company that took time attacks very seriously.

[1. raei: cubic zirconia is a cheap, mass-produced stone]