Chapter 69 - Bird Lovers (7) (1/2)
“Chuuuun!”
Kaiser Maru’s deep roar echoed throughout the twilight skies.
Its short wings were fully spread out, and it charged straight forward with the ground gently rumbling with every step it took.
“Chun!?”
“Chun chun!?”
“Chuchuchu!”
The Chunchus jumped over the fence one after another, raising a confused cry.
“Ah, you guys! No!”
The teary-eyed stable hand miss, placed her right hand over her mouth and saw off the Chunchus.
“Kunpei-san! Nana! Shouhei-san!”
“Are you alright!?”
The Chunchus disappeared from around us, and Aoi and Mikuma rushed over.
“W-we’re fine.”
“I-I was startled.”
Shouhei leaked a relief while clinging to my waist.
“Feeeah, baaaaahh!”
“Hey, Nana, it’s all right.”
I held Nana and patted her back.
Nana, who stopped crying for a bit, gripped my clothes tightly with both hands and pressed her face against my collarbone.
“Is it true that Nana was gathering the birds?”
Aoi gently stroked Nana’s head with her right hand.
Jaja, who was held in her arms, was watching Nana while sucking her thumbs.
“I think so… look, her horns are still shining.”
“Is it…?”
“It doesn’t look like it’s shining…”
Aoi and Mikuma tilted their heads.
“Eh? It’s such a clear light.”
“… Ah, it’s shining. But it’s only to the point where I wouldn’t even notice if I don’t concentrate on it.”
Aoi squinted her eyes and stared at Nana’s horns.
“Is it clearly shining for Kunpei-kun?”
I nodded silently.
What’s going on?
I could tell that Nana’s white curved horns were flickering just at a glance.
A pale light that flickered along with Nana’s cries and sniffling.
“…No. For the time being, there are quite a few legends of monsters and divine beasts that manipulated birds in this world and that world. But stories of dragons manipulating birds is not clear.”
“Not clear?”
Mikuma rested her right hand on her chin while thinking.
I nodded my head lightly.
“Virtually all the creatures that are said to actually manipulate the birds took the shape of birds. The vermillion bird, Suzaku, the thunderbird of South America. One of the theories is that locals saw surviving pterosaurs… “
Mikuma shifted her line of sight towards Kaiser Maru.
A frightening number of various birds were dancing around it, using their sharp beaks and attacking Kaiser Maru one after another.
At its foot, the Chunchuns that he should have lead were repeatedly assaulting it, and Kaiser Maru swung his short wings to push them aside.
“Does rat-san know anything?”
It’s annoying to rely on that fluffy grey rat, but it can’t be helped.
“None of the sky dragons can manipulate birds, at least none of the dragons that I have ever met or have heard of can.”
“Is that so… well”
I looked at the back of Nana’s head, who was still acting like a spoiled child.
“… Maybe Nana has been scared of something ever since entering the ranch. She had been in a bad mood the whole time and has been unusually acting depending on me.”
“That’s right. Isn’t she thinking that papa will protect her?”
What are you scared of? I’m sure that there’s something that can even frighten you from a distance.
Something that is in the ranch but not in town.
Something that wasn’t here before and is now…
Is it the horse?
But she didn’t wake up or display and dislike when it was nearby.
The sheep?
No, she wasn’t scared of the sheep that was in the vicinity of where we had lunch.
Is it the Chunchu?