Chapter 86
I and Mea huddled together, hiding behind a tree trunk .
A short distance away, there are gold coins scattered around . The one I had just thrown .
“Baaah! Baaah!”
A bird with blue-green body hair appears from the sky .
It has a large bill and scurrying eyes .
It is a monster known as a balm bird .
The danger level of a single one is F-cla.s.s, but because it’s nimble that its subjugation difficulty level is two times higher .
It is a cowardly beast, and once it is alerted, it is said to be impossible to hunt for a day .
Many restaurants are coveting them because of their fatty flesh, so it is very important to hunt them, so It is a good magical beast .
There are three patterns of balm bird’s behavior that adventurers should remember .
The first is patrolling .
They patrol alone and look for prey .
A female with hatchlings will fly around the nest, sometimes for the purpose of early detection of foreign enemies .
The second is the alert stance .
This is what a balm bird will do if its life is in danger .
It will make a high-pitched, unusual sound as it runs away .
When a balm bird sees the balm bird in this state, other balm birds will also go into an alert state .
The third is the mating season .
The female spreads her wings like a madman and flies about with a shrill voice .
Caught by their voices, the males come together . At the same time, adventurers also gather there .
If this happens, they would be perfect ducks, but it’s not the right season, so it seems unlikely .
That balm bird is on patrol .
The patrolling balm bird has a habit of holding gold coins in its mouth with its beak .
So, if you hide and scatter gold coins, they will come down to the ground like this .
It can succeed even with silver coins, but the success rate is higher with gold coins . Copper coins would not be looked at .
For this reason, adventurers call them golden birds and gold birds .
The adventurer who failed to kill the bird with what little gold he had left was called a “gold bird” in the column of the Adventurer’s Newspaper .
This was probably a habit of attacking the eyes of the outside world .
Something small and light-reflecting . In that aspect, gold coins and eyeb.a.l.l.s are identical .
I am glad I bought a newspaper after all .
It would have been completely different without it .
It was almost enough to gather information .
“You-, you’re really going to do it? The gold, will they take it?”
“It’s fine . It’s fine . Go ahead, Mea . Go kill that stupid bird . ”
“Ah, yes!”
Mea nodded twice while shouting loudly and persistently .
…… I don’t think it noticed us, but I would like her to be a little more careful while we’re hunting .
She was so nervous that her voice just rubbed upwards .
Mea readied her bow and halfway out of the tree .
“A little more…… lift it up to your shoulder and then tighten, like this, stretch your arms out, like this . ”
“Ah, yes…… I’m counting on you, Shooting Wyvern……”
In case you’re wondering, I’ve used a bow a few times in the Marren village, too . A few times .
I thought sorcery was faster, and I didn’t get any distance at all, so I immediately abandoned the practice .
When the arrow flew, the balm bird had just lifted the gold coin into its mouth .
The arrow flew to the left, well off the balm bird .
The balm bird noticed us, kicked the ground and took off .
“Baaah!”
“Ahhh! Ah, ahhh! The gold! Ahhh! Give it back! Please give it back!”
“Baaah! Babaaah!”
Mea fired a second and third shot but didn’t even graze it .
She hung her arms in disappointment and stared at the back of the balm bird with an exhausted face .
You shouldn’t be that disappointed for a single gold coin……
“Baaaaaaaaah! BAHHHH!”
A balm bird cries out in a high-pitched voice .
I see, so this is the alert stance .
The frequency is completely different from the previous one, and it also sounds strange .
It seems that magic power is contained in the voice in order to make it sound far away .
“Ahhh…… already, so far away…… I-, I’m sorry…… Because of Mea, your precious money . ”
“Oh wind, form, blade”
I waved my wand and shot out a blade of wind .
It sliced through the branches of a tree that was an obstacle and hit the back of a balm bird .
“Bahaaann!”
The balm bird fell with a splattering of blood .
Scattered feathers fell after the body .
The balm bird is…… still alive, alright .
I tucked my wand away in my pocket .
“Alright…… What did you just say, Mea?”
“N-, no……”
Mea looked relieved and somewhat disappointed as she put the arrow she was clutching back into her quiver .
After all, in archery and sorcery, it’s not all practice, it also has to be put into practice on field .
I picked up the gold coins that I had scattered in the balm birdcage, and Mea ran to the balm bird that fell far away .
Mea grabbed the balm bird by the neck and lifted it up, smacking it on the head and making it spit out gold coins .
“Baah……”
The balm bird lets out a whimper .
“Oh…… this bird is still alive . I’d better give it the finishing blow……”
“Ahh, please just keep it up like that . I have a little something I want to try . ”
“Something you want to try?”
Mea tilts her head .
“Yeah . If that balm bird is a female, it should have a unique call for a male during the mating season . If it’s the kind of call that is made with magical powers, maybe you can force it to come out with a little physical manipulation . It’s not the right time, but if the female calls, the male will probably come around . If it goes well, we can round them up . I have a magic stone in my pack for times like these . ”
“Eh, what’s that? It’s scary . ”
Mea turned a straight face .
She immediately shook her head and returned her expression .
“Ah, well…… but it’s weak…… and it’s probably going to die right away if I mess with it……”
“That’s why I’m going to heal it and bring it back to life . I’m going to wriggle it’s wings so it can’t escape . ”
“Eh, ehhh…… is that okay? That’s bio-magic, right? You’re going to get caught in an ordinance or something……”
“It’s okay . These rules are all about not letting them out into the wild and messing with the ecosystem . If you dispose of them properly, they won’t get angry, probably . ”
“I-, I see…… so…… it’s okay, right?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to . ”
I asked Mea to push the balm bird onto a nearby stump .
“Baaah! Baaah! Baaah!”
As if the balm bird had figured out something, it showed it’s last bit of energy to resist .
Mea says as she held it down, “I’m sorry……” lets out in a whisper .
“Sleep . ”
“Baah……”
The balm bird went quiet quickly .
I close my eyes slowly .
Alright, let’s start the modification then .
For now, the first step is to investigate the flow and nature of the balm bird’s magic power .