Chapter 26: Happiness Village (Part 2)
The group followed the village's acting chief inside her living place. They were quite many, and thus there wasn't enough space for all of them to sit in. The only ones who sat on the free sofa for guests were Victor, due to his broken leg, and Penny, who was simply too small to understand the shame of sitting somewhere while everyone else was standing up.
"I assume you travelers know what is going on, with the kidnapping and the harpies…" The elderly woman spoke, and Eva replied. "Yes, we have a general idea of what is happening right now."
"Good. I'm sorry that I can't serve you anything at the moment, but the village is quite in a precarious situation and our resources are also thinning out compared to what we had before this all started…" The chief commented before she took a deep breath.
"Anyway, it all started a bit more than five years ago…"
"That long?" Victor asked with a surprised expression, interrupting the woman's story. She nodded and replied back. "Actually, kidnappings weren't that rare even before this mess started. The Harpy Village near us is not as simple as it sounds at first, but it is actually a monster village made up of warmongering Harpies, which is why we were unable to do anything but send a helping request to Iliasburg."
At the chief's words, Victor raised an eyebrow in surprise. The actual Harpy Village was supposed to be much more peaceful than this; the biggest attack you could receive in there is a wave of fluffy feathers coming on your body to tickle every inch of your skin.
Did this actually change? Oh god, not again...
"Is that true?" Luka curiously asked the chief, but Alice stopped the conversation and corrected the situation.
"That is actually the Harpy Village some couples of years ago, guided by the Queen Harpy Refletsia. She is known as a warmongering queen that would declare war on the entire Ilias Continent just to satisfy her need to conquer; even weaker harpies under her rule were much stronger than wild harpies. After local wars, the Harpies would take men away and satisfy their own lust after a long fight.
However, as I said, that had been the case more than five years ago. The ruler has changed figures and now there is a new Queen Harpy going by the name of Lucretia, who is much more peaceful than the previous one. Refletsia died in a fight, after all."
The village chief stared at Alice with wide eyes filled with surprise. "Is that really the case?!"
"That's right." Alice nodded. "You've been staying here for more than five years, hiding like scared cats under the false shadow of a now-dead monster. If I didn't tell you this, it would have lasted even longer… Pathetic."
Victor sighed in relief upon hearing the news. So it was simply the part of the history that wasn't present in the game, huh? He got scared there for a second, since the supposed outcome of this case was the coexistence between harpies and humans.
"Alice…" Upon hearing Alice's disappointed tone, Luka frowned at her. "Even if the harpies are more peaceful than before, they are still monsters. You can't just expect these women to win if they fight back…"
"I agree with her." Granberia, still hiding in her human disguise, commented. "Since they are so much in contact with harpies, they should know already that they are hollow-boned. Anyone capable of wielding a blunt weapon can take on a single harpy, human or monster. You people are not scared of getting attacked back, you are simply too lazy to bother with doing the hard job, and you don't even realize that."
"Gran-..." Just as Luka was almost spitting out her name, he stopped in the middle and closed his mouth. Did he just almost reveal her identity to the village chief? "...Anyway, that isn't something that can be done in one day! It would be too late if they start to train now."
"And what about it? They should have done it before the situation became this urgent." Granberia rebuked, making Luka frown at how childish she seemed. Handle it before? How could they do that? They are not time travelers!
"Can you two shut up? You are making this very awkward." Victor told them off. "Besides, we are here because the situation couldn't be solved with ease."
The village chief sent a small glare over Granberia and Alice before she continued, shifting her glance over the rest of the people. "Anyway, as your friend here has mentioned before, this kidnapping story was going on even before we arrived in this situation. However, in that case, only a few people would get kidnapped every one or two month; and in those cases, the men would return back to our village, although a bit… traumatized.
In these years, things have changed however. They are now getting kidnapped in a constant time instead of once in a while, making every preparation useless. And besides, now the Harpies seem to be keeping our men and not letting them go anymore. Not a single kidnapped man or traveler has returned here."
Alice raised an eyebrow at that. According to what she knows, the current Queen Harpy is a pacific person who wouldn't assault anyone without being offended first. Even for Queen-class Monsters, who are known to be easily angered, she is incredibly gentle.
However, she didn't mention anything and continued to listen with everyone else.
"Without men in our village, there is no one who can transport the honey between the beehives and the village, and we couldn't profit from it anymore. The only males we have in the village are too young to work, and now we can only think about how to adapt to this situation before it is too late… Please, traveler. Can you save our men and bring peace to our village?"
"Hmph." Alice scoffed. "What's the point of bringing peace if you can't do it yourselves? If something happens again, will you go to ask the next unlucky guy to come here to fix your problem?"
"..." Victor stared at Alice with a frown on his face. "What the hell did I say before?"
"And what are you going to do about it?" Alice rebuked Victor with her arms crossed together. "I'm just stating the truth. They can't expect that every problem will be fixed if they pray hard enough to their Goddess. If they can't even fix their own problem, they don't even need to stay in a separate village."
Victor simply rubbed the spot between his eyebrows. "I fucking know that, dammit. I already know that, I'm not rebuking you on that; I'm just saying that we are not in the situation to lecture them on how to be a better community. We are all here because we have to fix a problem they can't do by themselves, not to be their parents."
Alice didn't say anything back at him and simply stared at him with a bad look from the corner of her eyes. Victor turned towards the village chief, who was holding an exasperated face at being told that she was wrong on everything she did until now.
"Anyway, we'll fix the problem as best as we can. However, everything that comes after that will be your own responsibility." Victor told her, making the chief sigh in relief.
"I'm grateful for your support, travelers. If you wish to go now, the Harpy Village is in the forest in the east of this village. Otherwise, the village can offer you as much hospitality as possible for you six."
"Very well, we can even begin now!" Luka claimed with enthusiasm.
"Good, I and Penny will be waiting here for you all." Victor said as he relaxed on the sofa.
"Yes-Wait, what?" Luka's enthusiasm was curbed immediately after as he stared at Victor with surprise.
Victor glanced at him and elaborated. "I'm crippled, don't tell me you have forgotten that. Besides, someone has to take care of Penny."
"..." Luka hesitated upon hearing that and sighed. "Fine, I and the others will deal with it."
However, Alice had been in the group long enough to know that Victor was just being lazy. Crippled? This guy did more than Luka while sitting on a wheelchair most of the time. He could even bullshit his way through the Harpy Village by himself. Even knowing that, though, she didn't say anything and merely joined the other three walking away.
Victor and Penny were left alone with the village chief. The old woman sighed and shook her head. "It must be hard."
"You have no idea." Victor replied with a somber tone. "Do you mind if I take a nap here on the sofa? I slept very little yesterday."
"That's the least I could do for you travelers, please do so." The chief replied, and in response to that, Victor placed his head down on the sofa and extended his body across it, while Penny jumped off the sofa and looked at Victor.
"Victor, can I go with them?"
"Okay." Victor gave a strained answer as he shifted his body to reach a comfortable position. While he finally closed his eyes, Penny began to walk away from him and leave, followed by the village chief who didn't have anything to do for the moment.
As Penny stepped out of the door, she was immediately greeted with the presence of the four party members who were just walking off. They casually turned around and saw Penny approaching them.
"Oh, Penny! Weren't you supposed to stay with Victor?" Luka asked with a curious tone.
Penny simply joined with the rest of the group and replied. "Victor is sleeping now, he is tired."
"That lazy ass, he had been driving for two hours and rolled on a wheelchair for the rest of the time." Alice snorted upon hearing about Victor. "He simply doesn't want to do anything at all and leave the work to us."
"But he is crippled…" Luka spoke in Victor's defense, but Alice quickly rebuked.
"He was able to stall enough time for Eva to recover and deal with Granberia. Even if he had both of his legs snapped in half, I will never believe you if you tell me that he can't do anything."
"He did sleep very little, though." Luka commented, making Alice scoff at him.
"Anyway, if you want to rescue the men so much, you will have to deal with the Queen Harpy first. For whatever reason they aren't returning to their families, the Queen Harpy certainly won't let you bring them away from the Harpy Village without saying a word."
Luka glanced at Eva and Granberia, replying to Alice's point of the situation they are currently in. "Well, can't they stop her while I bring the men somewhere safe?"
Granberia simply crossed her arms. "Even with a disguise, I would be recognized anywhere within the monster community. My presence and my lord's will certainly raise many confused gazes among the harpies and their queen, so we will stay outside this mess."
Luka shifted his glance to Eva, who hesitated a bit before she sighed. "Well, I guess I can help out with this once. It would be embarrassing staying here doing nothing but watching these two. I can kill the Queen Harpy while you deal with everything else."
"..." Luka frowned at her choice of words. "...Can't you just… defeat her?"
Eva's guilty expression shifted into a cold face as she looked down on Luka. "Luka, I genuinely appreciate you when you say you want to do things like achieving coexistence without spilling a drop of blood. Although this sounds too impossible to be a goal, you are actually working hard for it, unlike the other Heroes who say to become great men while lazing around on a couch for their entire lives.
However, you have to understand that, no matter who the Queen Harpy is, she did something extremely bad against Happiness Village. I doubt that she is stupid to not realize the aftereffects of emptying out a village from its men, and she is almost succeeding on her task. Even now, I can't go all out without the intention of killing someone, and I certainly can't hold back against a queen-class monster."
"Can't you use Angel Halo instead? You even fought against Granberia, so you shouldn't have problems with the queen…" Luka asked, but this time it was Granberia who interrupted him.
"If you really think that, then you should just give up on being a fighter!" Her powerful voice attracted the attention of almost the entire party, except for Alice who simply sighed in exasperation.
"You are still too weak to perceive it, but this Heroine didn't fight against me with merely her physical strength. Just like I am a swordmaster with the ability to merge my intent with my sword, Eva is a spearmaster capable of doing the same.
Giving her a weapon she is unfamiliar with is like chaining her legs on a heavy iron ball. Giving her Angel Halo is no different from letting her go barehanded."
"Oh… Oh! I see." Remembering Alice's sword lessons on the first camping night, Luka finally understood what Granberia was talking about. However, his expression turned gloomy little by little. "...Is there anything we can do to solve this without killing anyone, then?"
"*Sigh* Monsters are not entirely alien people." Suddenly, Alice started to speak with a passive tone. "Many of them take after the creatures they are based from. Lamias are weak against the cold, Sea-Dwellers have problems staying out of the sea.
Harpies are based on birds. Some of them will sleep early, and others will wake up late. If you go to deal with the Queen Harpy in the twilight, between day and night, not only will early harpies start to sleep at that time, but night harpies will be still sleeping for a bit. Also, if you take out the Queen Harpy, dealing with everyone else will be an easier task."
"Huh?" Alice's useful tip made everyone, including Granberia, stare at her in surprise.
"My lord, why would you…" Granberia tried to ask, but Alice interrupted her with a scoff.
"I simply don't wish for any death to happen if it is possible. If Eva can incapacitate the Queen Harpy, Luka can use the Angel Halo on her and seal her in a harmless form before they can go to rescue the men." Alice suggested.
Upon hearing her tip, Luka let a genuine smile appear on his face. "Thank you, Alice! We can solve this without any casualties with your help!"
"Hmph, that was a simple suggestion. Anyone with half a brain could come up with that in some time… Anyway, why do you even want to do this?"
"Hmm?" At Alice's question, Luka tilted his head in curiosity.
"They have nothing to do with you. Both of you live in different villages, you are not related by blood or friendship, and you certainly don't owe them any kind of favor. Do you want to risk your life just to be recognized as a 'True Hero'?"
"I just want to help them. It doesn't matter what others think about my actions, or whether or not I am baptized. That won't change what I believe in." Luka answered with an unusually determined and serious tone.
Helping the weak was something ingrained in his brain from hearing the many stories and legends of Heinrich Hein, the legendary Hero of 500 years ago. No matter what will happen, he will help the people who need help, even if they don't thank him later. That was both his belief, and the promise he made to his mother...
Alice raised an eyebrow at his unexpected words, but she continued to speak. "Humans are selfish, and will trample the weak if it benefits them. Putting their desires above all else, they're happy to oppress others."
Instead of being offended, Luka simply chuckled at her words. "If Victor was with us, he would still come up with some speech to turn that from bad into good…"
"He is the prime example of what I am talking about, though. He is selfish, and back at Iliasville, he had stolen an hypnotized guard's armor and spear for himself. It would not surprise me if he says that he had been using you to get to the treasure cave in the north from here."
"Well, that's all he can do now. If he goes alone, he will be assaulted by a strong monster and lose his opportunity, so he can only stay with us until we reach that place." Luka replied.
Alice merely sighed and shook her head, while Luka continued. "Besides, what's the deal with you two? There is no need to be so hostile between each other…"
"Hmph." Alice scoffed at his words. "If you are suggesting that I should be his friend, you will have better luck accomplishing your dream. That guy is always irritating, I doubt that even people like Succubi can stay with him for more than ten minutes before screaming their lungs out from the stress."
"But you carried him here by force…"
"So making sure that I'd have a peaceful journey without pitchforks and torches aimed at my general direction makes this case my fault, I understand." Alice asked back in a sarcastic and annoyed tone. "I am merely doing this for obligation, not because I want it. I'd rather not have known him at all rather than doing this."
"Don't talk bad of Victor!" Penny shouted at Alice with a pouting expression, but Alice's reaction to that was a twitching eyebrow.
"And now I am the bad guy here? You know what? Fine then, go deal with this yourself. I don't want to have anything to do with this matter." After announcing that, Alice walked away from the group.
"Hold up, Alice!" Luka tried to stop her, but Alice ignored his voice and hastily walked away with her long legs, making her unreachable for someone as short as Luka.
Luka and the others could simply watch Alice's back going further and further away. Some held neutral gazes while Luka was wearing a saddened expression.
Did he commit a mistake somewhere?
He could simply sigh and shake his head. "...Let's just get over this…"
…
Victor Luis' (future) Trivia Book: Harpies
'Harpy' is a pretty general term that categorizes every monster who looks almost entirely human except for feathered wings in the place of their arms in a single term. Thanks to their wings, of course, they can fly--obtaining an advantage over many land creatures.
Despite there being so many variations of Harpies, you will rarely encounter malevolent ones. They are almost always cheerful and in a good mood.
Harpies generally live together and have a strong sense of community, often having siblings and even sharing their mate; that is kind of weird considering that normal birds get thrown out of the nest so that they can learn how to fly…
They generally sport brown feathers, or a variation of that tint. That isn't a matter that depends on the Harpy's species, but it is more of a 'neutral' characteristic; no matter which kind of harpies you have seen in your life, you would notice this feature among normal harpies. However, because of this, it is easy to recognize important members among the harpy community thanks to their more colorful feathers.
Because of their less monstrous features, cute appearance, and social behavior, the harpies are one among the monster species who have the greatest chances to form a hybrid community with humans without severe repercussions.
Although their bodies are as light as children, they are ultimately monsters, and thus they must be able to surpass the average human in some way. By losing their weight and thus have a weaker constitution due to their empty bones, the flying speed of the Harpies--I quote--it's absolutely fucking ridiculous.
You'd think that being limited to having a single pair of bird wings would make their movements straight forward. I 'saw' it with my own eyes how fast they can get, I was trying.
They got as much mobility through the sky as a slime in her most favorable habitat. They can fly left, right, up, down, forward, back… They can even pull out very acute curves that you thought would be impossible to do.
The Harpies are also uniquely capable of using their talons for a multitude of things. Their hands are replaced by wings, and thus dexterous works are made through their feet. They can grab bows, use spears, twist handles, open windows, eat food… Yes, a handjob is totally doable, too. Although they aren't as dexterous as us with our hands, their feet are certainly superior to ours.
There are many species of Harpies out there, so I will be writing each popular variation in the future pages.
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