A request to throw oneself, sent by a stranger tied to an owl. I didn't entirely trust it, but there was no particular reason to refuse. Whatever the treatment, Syei and I were in custody. To break free of this situation, jumping down was a risk worth taking.
"How about it, Syei? A note like this came."
"Let's go."
Syei answered immediately.
"Even if we escape, Nebida won't kill you. If so, it's worth trying. It's also good to find out who here will be my ally and who my enemy."
"Syei, you could die."
"Hughes. It's fine if I die. I'm a regressor, after all."
Which means you absolutely must not die. If you do, the world goes mad.
"That's a bit hard to understand."
"It's fine. I just mean, don't worry too much about my death. I'll try my best to live, but if I can gain something even in death, that is enough."
Leaving only those words, Syei immediately moved toward the owl. Then, realizing her arm still wouldn't move, she made a demand of me.
"...Hold me."
"How should I hold you?"
"Why are you asking that! Just hold me however you like!"
"No, I have to hold onto the owl too, so I don't have a free hand to hold you..."
When you lack hands, you must use tools. I wove vines together to fashion a carrier. After securing Syei tightly to my body, I approached the owl. As if it hadn't expected two people, the owl opened its eyes wide and let out a hoot.
"Hold on tight so you don't fall."
The moment I grasped the owl's leg while hanging from the window frame, it spread its wings and leapt as though it had been waiting. In an instant, my body was pulled taut with a whoosh. I wondered if it could endure, but the owl, unfazed by my weight, gained even more speed and steadied its posture.
Whooosh. The wind grazing my face grew fiercer. It felt like invisible feathers were flying in and tearing at my body.
We had fallen quite a distance, but the speed did not decrease. A little frightened, I stared at the owl, but it showed no sign of trying to overcome the situation.
"This isn't flying, it's just falling! Could this be a suggestion to commit suicide?"
"...Hughes. See you in the next cycle."
"You've already given up on life?!"
Should I seriously brace for impact? It was while I was anxiously scanning our surroundings. Something passed the owl from beyond my field of vision. Then, from behind, they began to slowly approach, matching our speed.
"Owls."
Syei murmured.
As if by promise, the owls that had drawn near flanked me on both sides. And coordinating together, they seized my shoulders and arms. One might have been slightly lacking, but with three of them now gripping me, it finally felt as though my body was lifting.
The wind gradually subsided, and the ground drew sufficiently close. The owls tilted their path upwards and set us down gently.
"Hoo-wee. Hoo-wee-."
A short whistling sound was heard. The owls spread their wings and headed toward the source.
A group of people with cloth wrapped around their arms welcomed the owls. The owls, alighting lightly on the cloth, rubbed their heads affectionately and were rewarded with morsels of meat.
While I was setting Syei down, a girl with an owl perched on her shoulder approached. Her long hair was twisted up and pinned with a hairpin, and dyed cloth was wrapped around her shoulders and arms. Though dressed more for practicality than beauty, her efforts to be plain were in vain; she gave off an air of elegant grace.
With her eyes fixed on my face, the girl raised her arm to her face level. Without lowering her head, she greeted me in an old-fashioned manner.
"It is deeply regrettable to meet you, King of Humans."
"Regrettable? That's no way to greet a first meeting. But I appreciate the honesty."
I showed the note I'd taken from the owl's leg and asked.
"Did you write this?"
"Indeed I did, sir. Time is of the essence, so let us depart at once."
"Wait a moment. I must hear who you people are. I can't simply trust and follow you without anything to go on."
"Let us negotiate as we go; I shall speak to you en route. I will answer faithfully, so if you find it displeasing, you are free to jump off."
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She's refreshingly straightforward. In the end, it turned out as they wanted, but it was true we had to get away as soon as possible, no matter what.
"Well, as long as you answer me."
"Please let your companion continue to be held. It will be better to rest in a familiar embrace."
"It's not exactly familiar..."
Syei grumbled, but she readjusted her position. Soon after, a man with antler-like branches attached came leading a large deer. The great-horned deer with gray fur had a saddle strapped to its back.
"Is it a familiar?"
"It is a tamed beast, sir. A gentle creature; so long as you do not tear out its fur, there will be no risk of falling."
When I mounted the deer, it set off without any special command. I thought the large antlers would hinder our movement, but instead, the antlers broke branches and pushed aside blades of grass as it advanced.
While we were riding, the girl with the owl drew up beside me.
"If you have anything to ask, please speak, sir."
Now then, let's see. What should I ask? First, I'll use mind-reading to assess her, then calculate what question would justify my using mind-reading.
"Nenya-peu, the Watcher. Nebida's disciple. And the druid of the fallen Many Nations, as well as the Forestkeeper of the Forest of Knowledge. Is that right?"
Just then, Syei suddenly spoke up. It seemed she was a one-sided acquaintance typical of a regressor. I had a rough idea of what that felt like, but for the sake of reaction, I lowered my voice and whispered.
"What's that? Do you know that from regression too?"
"Yeah. She appeared briefly every time I fought Nebida."
Perhaps not expecting her identity to be discerned right away, a light stir arose in Nenya-peu's heart.
"...You cannot possibly know who we are. The gods of heaven and earth must be astonished. I had meant to answer your questions, but now I am the one compelled to ask."
"Well, it's good for both sides to have questions. More importantly, introductions... Syei already handled that. What is your purpose in taking us away?"
"It is to protect you from Nebida's hands, sir."
"No, not the process. I'm not asking what you'll do with us, but rather the intention you have that is achieved by having us escape."
Like any secret organization, Nenya-peu was also hiding her plan to some extent. However, thanks to Syei piercing through Nenya-peu's identity, she revealed her intent to a degree.
"The druid's purpose has ever been one, sir. To tend the World Tree, and to safeguard that all creation moves according to the order of nature. We have been observing the Tree of Depravity and preparing for that day, lest the sins of the past repeat themselves."
"Sins? Ah, the thing I heard about from the Great Witch?"
At that, Nenya-peu reacted. Recalling the Great Witch with small longing, a touch of guilt, and considerable resentment, she asked.
"Did the princess speak of it? What did she say, sir?"
"That the druids burned the World Tree, and that she can never forgive you."
"...Did she say so."
Nenya-peu murmured bitterly, still holding the earlier emotions. Then, suddenly sensing a presence, she raised her head and surveyed the surroundings.
Caw-aaaaah--.
Wind rarely blows in a jungle dense with trees. Even a fierce typhoon, upon striking ancient trees that have endured hundreds of years and countless leaves, is split and scattered into mere whispers of wind.
Yet now, a mysterious wind was blowing from the tree at the origin.
It was as if the exhalation of the World Tree was spreading across the entire jungle. A damp, ominous air pressed in from behind.
As the strange energy surged forth, the deer grew frightened and began to kick up its hind legs. While the procession grew disordered, Nenya-peu vigorously swung her arm to send the owl flying.
"...It is the princess."
"Are you speaking of the Great Witch?"
"Indeed I am, sir. The child who was more brilliant and wise than any other, now entrusts herself to rage and sings of revenge."
Through the trees came dozens, hundreds of beasts. The sight of the beasts charging through the night, consumed by fury, was nothing short of a pandemonium. Dozens of pairs of eyes flashed, fixed on this direction.
Amidst this, an unfamiliar parrot's voice rang out.
[You wretches...! Daring to kill Poli?! I'll gnaw the flesh from your bones!]
"It seems she's angry because the owl killed her parrot."
"If you truly cherished beasts, she should not have shared her cursed blood to make them into familiars. That parrot should have died decades ago. The owl merely followed the order of nature."
"No, it was your owl that killed it."
Order of nature or not, of course you'd be angry if someone killed your familiar. And yet you have the nerve to be brazen about it.
Though surrounded by beasts, Nenya-peu calmly drew her bow. The bow looked as if it had been hastily crafted by breaking off a nearby branch. Even on the deer, she was as still as an old tree as she drew the bowstring.
"Lower your heads."
I seized Syei and swiftly lowered my head.
Thwip. Nenya-peu released the arrow. Flying in a near-straight line, the arrow embedded itself in the neck of a beast running far ahead. The shadow running on four legs lost its balance, crashed to the ground, and rolled several times.
Destructive power to pierce tough leather. It was the archery of a druid, loosed by adjusting the elasticity of the wood.
With Nenya-peu's attack as the signal, the other druids followed and fired all at once.
"Loose!"
Arrows poured down like a torrential rain. Even while riding the deer, the druids displayed astonishing concentration and precisely struck the beasts' vital points. Fallen beasts tumbled and rolled, blocking the path of others. Archery befitting forest keepers.
However, most of the beasts struck by arrows soon rose again and resumed the charge. The druids were noticeably flustered by the unyielding onslaught.
"Forestkeeper! They won't fall!"
"They harbor a strange power! It must be so!"
Nenya-peu selected an arrow and murmured.
"The princess's children..."
[Nenya-peuuu!]
A giant bird appeared before me as I dashed through the darkness, its wings flapping. A golden eagle, with wings that seemed to cover the world and a beak curved like a hook. The noble raptor, which should gaze down upon the earth as sovereign of the skies, was staring with wide-open eyes at me—no, at Nenya-peu.
Clutched beneath its talons was a single dead owl.
After sending a brief moment of mourning to her owl, Nenya-peu spoke.
"Princess, have you been in good health?"
A single parrot alighted on the golden eagle's back. The parrot, with plumage different from Pero's, shrieked as if filled with fury.
[How dare you show your face here, you shameless wretch!]
"I have come to escort the King of Humans. Please let us pass."
[Ha! Did you think you could show yourself before me and leave unscathed!]
The deer, which had already been slowing, finally came to a halt. It was not merely from fear. It was because it had reached a point where it could go no further.
Before our eyes, the Great Witch's familiars gradually revealed themselves. A pack of predators with sharp fangs and claws had at last outflanked us and blocked our way.
Even against true beasts there would be no certain victory, but these are the Great Witch's familiars and followers. The Great Witch, having been granted the blood of the Progenitor, had created her own hands and feet in place of blood relations. Even for a druid, victory could not be guaranteed.
Yet, Nenya-peu calmly dismounted from the deer, looked at the parrot, and offered a greeting.
"Princess, do you intend to repeat the events of that day?"
[What? You dare speak of that day? You, who betrayed me and forsook our country?]
"I may have forsaken the country, but I did not abandon the laws of heaven. And did not you, Princess... in the end, unable to abandon the laws of heaven, choose to aid us?"
'She helped them? The Great Witch, the druids?'
Even in the midst of this pandemonium, Nenya-peu was composed. Druids who befriend nature tend to go with the flow and live accordingly, but Nenya-peu was different, brimming with certainty.
As if holding someone's weakness.
Nenya-peu glanced at me and opened the topic.
"It seems the Princess told the King of Humans only one thing, and concealed the rest."
[What more is needed? You burned the World Tree, ruined my country, killed my mother!]
"...Did you, Princess, not speak a single word of why we burned the World Tree, why so many tribes of the Many Nations rose in revolt, and what sins the late king... committed?"
[That was no sin! Nowhere in this world is that a sin! Moreover, you who partook of the country's bounty! You have no right to judge the acts of the late king!]
"It has nothing to do with the position of Grand Master. Nor with the fact that I am a druid. Had I been but a single human, then to keep my dignity from being defiled, I had no choice but to rise against the late king."
Leopard, hyena, jaguar, parrot, hawk, owl, cat, squirrel. Dozens of beasts stare this way as if bewitched. Even with their predators nearby, they show no sign of fear or wariness, and Nenya-peu continued speaking.
“Do you not know? Did you not see it yourself? Is that not why the princess can no longer face humans directly?”
[Y-you…!]
While the parrot gaped its beak, unable to finish its words, Nenya-peu now addressed me.
“King of humans. Do you know how the beastmen were born?”
Suddenly put on the spot, I answered.
“Yes. They say Agartha gave birth after lying with the beast king.”
“The Muhu inherited the ruler’s authority through the generations. That authority is the power to commune deeply with humans… The Muhu, who captivates all, could deeply connect even with the beast king in human form. By that power, the late king conceived children not of humans, but of other beasts.”
I had heard it in Ende, and learned more here. Reading the Great Witch’s mind, I also came to understand to some extent. Honestly, it was truly shocking and bewildering, but it seemed merely a strange taste. It is common, after all, for those in power who enjoy so much to grow eccentric in pursuit of new thrills.
“If that were all, it would not have been against the natural order.”
But Nenya-peu was not speaking to me. She merely took the form of speaking to me in order to dig into the Great Witch’s painful memories.
“Only one gives birth. The Muhu bore a handful of beastmen over the generations, but such numbers are like mutations that appear suddenly and vanish. They do not survive, or they disappear by mingling with other humans. Perhaps they could form a small tribe.”
There were beastmen who could barely survive, like the centaurs who clung to their progenitor to preserve their kind. As for those whose lines have ended completely, one cannot even know if they existed.
Yet unlike them, some beastmen thrived.
Far too much.
“But the Muhu’s intent was not that. The Muhu intended to make the beastmen… into a single race. To become the king of beastmen.”
The beastmen are numerous. They are becoming a humanity of their own, beyond tribes and races. A number that defies common sense. It is not a count increased over thousands of years, nor do they bear many young at once like real beasts. Too many to have stemmed from a single human.
“The meat fruit the princess created with good will. A discovery meant to feed the multitudes. The Muhu stole the World Tree’s essence, and upon that immoral fruit… she bore people.”