“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 Mik.u.ma 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 Mik.u.ma 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?”
Mik.u.ma 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… “
Mik.u.ma 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 a.s.saulting 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?
But she was still sleeping for a while after we arrived at Bird Lake.
Kaiser Maru…
Is it Kaiser Maru!
That"s right. Kaiser Maru came back because of the cries of the Chunchu who were surprised by Koji.
Defending the flock as the leader.
Maybe you"re terrified of Kaiser Maru who felt the Chunchu"s cry.
I held Nana again and shifted my eyes to Kaiser Maru, where the great bird war was currently unfolding.
“Hey, Mik.u.ma.”
“What is it?”
I asked Mik.u.ma without moving my head.
Mik.u.ma, who was pondering over something, raised her head.
“It seems like Nana are controlling the Chunchu and the other birds.”
“Un. That"s what it looks like from the current situation. Otherwise, I don"t see a reason why the birds other than the Chunchun are gathered here.”
It"s also strange that the Chunchu, who are afraid of the leader so much that they can"t even let go of their chicks, are facing Kaiser Maru without stopping.
“Then, does Kaiser Maru appear to be manipulated?”
“That"s…”
Mik.u.ma also looked at Kaiser Maru.
“It doesn"t appear so.”
That is also a bird. But it doesn"t appear so.
“Hmm?”
As I continued to look at the raging Kaiser Maru, I noticed something I was concerned about.
Small enough that you wouldn"t notice if you don"t look closely, there were several shining green objects flying around Kaiser Maru.
They were fluttering particles revolving around Kaiser Maru.
They were b.u.t.terflies.
A green spirit, like the one seen with Yule.
“… Aoi, the heavenly spirits are in the shape of a white b.u.t.terfly, right?”
“Heh?”
Aoi let out a surprised voice.
“Y-yes. All the spirits that were born in heaven shine white. I don"t know about the spirits of the earth and the sea, but I heard that they look different. The spirit of the earth is red and the spirit of the sea glows light blue.”
Hmm?
So what kind of spirit is that?
Why am I seeing that spirit right now?
“Kunpei-san, do you perhaps see the spirit from that time?”
“Ah, yeah. Just around Kaiser Maru. And only a few.”
“… If it is a spirit, it"s weird. It"s not a big deal if it"s just one spirit, so it"s rare to get together with just a few. There are only a few heavenly spirits, so they can at most make a couple drops of rain.”
Then, what is that spirit…
“Uuuuuh”
“Oops, Nana? There"s nothing to be afraid of, papa"s here, okay?”
Nana who continued to cry is still lovely, but it"s sad to let her cry.
“Ah! Kaiser Maru! It"s too much for you alone! Why don"t you run away!”
The stablehand"s voice contained concern towards Kaiser Maru.
That"s right.
That guy came rushing over after he heard the cries of the flock.
As the leader, he must have been worried.
As this rate, I think it"s hopeless.
It"s no good.
The Chunchus were not seriously opposing the flock leader.
The other brids were also gathering for some reason.
The frightened Nana unconsciously summoned them and their body was moving of its own accord.
No matter how you look at it, it"s too much.
It"s like their slaves.
I looked at Nana.
Although she calmed down more or less, there was still some fear.
Since I"m slow, I could only think of one solution.
It wasn"t anything difficult.
This is what I should do as a “papa”.
So I just have to do it.