Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 176

At the same instant, her chest and abdomen were mercilessly pierced by sharp claws.

Text: 277. Mayumi Haga and the Yu Clan

Ten years after Mayumi Haga became a Guardian, she embarked on a mission alone.

This time, she needs to visit the most mysterious area on this continent—the village inhabited by the Feathered Clan.

These bird-faced, human-bodied, winged intelligent beings, capable of transforming into giant eagles and soaring through the sky, are quite different from the aquatic creatures.

They are more peaceful in nature, and their diet is similar to that of humans, except that they like to supplement their protein intake by eating insects.

For humans, the Winged Race is a friendly race with whom diplomatic relations can be established.

The same is true.

Because they possess wings that allow them to fly, these bird-people are unwilling to spend their entire lives confined to small villages. Most of the winged race will venture out of their villages after reaching adulthood.

Many messengers are from the Feathered Clan. These diligent birds travel between major towns and post stations, delivering messages from relatives and friends to recipients with the speed of a whirlwind.

The main force behind logistics on the continent of Alamo is the Winged Clan.

Unfortunately, the lifespan of the winged race is shorter than that of other races, roughly half that of humans, so they can only work for a short period of time.

The Feathered Race are the most sought-after messengers on this continent.

The reason why Yuga Mayumi crossed the Twin Star Mountains in the middle of the continent to come to the Gale Valley in the north was for the sake of the Feather Clan.

This year marks the Winged Clan's once-in-a-century selection of warriors, where the strongest and bravest warriors will be chosen from among the most robust and vigorous young men of the Winged Clan.

The title of warrior of the Feathered Clan is not merely a nominal one. Generally speaking, after a warrior's duty of protecting the village ends, he will become the clan chief.

The chieftain of the Feather Clan can inherit the feather headdress passed down through generations. The treasures blessed by the Long River can prolong the chieftain's life, allowing him to protect his people for a longer period.

The previous clan chief was nearly a hundred years old, which was considered extremely long-lived among the Feather Clan, whose average age was forty. Even with the protection of his hair ornaments, he was already on his deathbed, and his feathers had lost their luster.

So, sensing that his lifespan was coming to an end, the chieftain summoned his people from all over the world back to choose his successor.

The reason why Mayumi Haga is here is—

—As a guardian, that is, a messenger of the River of Life, she must oversee the entire selection process and finally bless the new clan leader.

In other words, she is a witness to this selection process.

This was a task assigned to her by the River of Life; she needed to reach the Feather Clan's village located in the Deep Valley of Gale within five days.

but……

"Sir, do you wish to continue north?" The innkeeper scratched his head, looking somewhat troubled. "Listen to me, your horse cannot go any further; there is no road ahead."

Yuga Mayumi stood in front of the counter, thought for a moment, and pushed her post station voucher over: "Then I'll deposit my horse here."

"Hey, it's not a problem with horse storage." The receptionist was a little anxious. He said sincerely, "Only winged creatures can walk on the road ahead. We humans can't get through it."

The Feathered Clan's settlement is located on a giant stone platform rising in the center of the Gale Valley. The surrounding terrain is a circular depression with a height difference of about ten kilometers.

Updrafts form at the bottom of the valley, allowing the winged creatures to easily take flight and glide to the village. This is why there are no wooden bridges for walking across.

Mayumi Haga looks like an ordinary human, and she doesn't have wings, so there's no way she could get there.

Mayumi Haga fell silent, her face hidden under her hood. The warm candlelight only shone on her chin, revealing her lips pressed into a straight line as she pondered.

The receptionist, thinking she had taken his advice to heart, breathed a sigh of relief: "Sir, I think you'd better give up the idea of ​​going to the Feathered Clan village. While these birds don't object to interacting with humans, they never allow other species to visit their villages..."

As they were talking, they saw the guest in front of them suddenly raise his hand and take off his hood.

Her silvery-white hair seemed to glow in the dim light of the few oil lamps that illuminated the inn. And her gleaming golden eyes were even more captivating.

Those eyes...

The receptionist remembered that when he was a child, he had heard stories from his grandfather about the mysterious people who had lived in this post station for generations.

Legend has it that every hundred years a guest with golden eyes comes to stay, and each time he drinks the inn’s most distinctive strong liquor, leaves behind a large amount of money, and finally disappears into the end of the raging wind before dawn.

Sure enough, the next second, the customer pulled out a handful of gold coins from his purse.

Yuga Mayumi ordered somewhat awkwardly: "Please bring out all the specialty dishes, and two barrels of sake."

Remembering Urzana's advice, he added, "Get the most expensive one."

Before this trip, Urzana advised her to spend more money at this inn where there were few customers.

Guardians are never troubled by money; anything they sell can attract the attention of merchants. However, very few people are willing to be ripped off.

The reason for spending more money at this post station is that it is the closest post station to the Feather Clan, and there are usually not many guests. It would be inconvenient if it closed down.

To be honest, this post station is basically set up here to serve the guardians who come once every hundred years.

The Feathered Tribe generally doesn't stop here. This inn has little food and drink, and the horse storage service is unnecessary for them.

Urzana was quite familiar with the ancestors of the current innkeeper, and each time she would leave a large sum of money to prevent the inn from disappearing due to mismanagement.

This time, when it was Mayumi Haga's turn, Urzana reminded her to give her more money, and Mayumi Haga obediently did so.

Mayumi Haga doesn't really like drinking, but she still ordered some.

Alcohol had no negative effects on her; it just made her feel warm. However, the taste wasn't to her liking.

She didn't like drinking this spicy and smelly beverage.

However, since it was something he had paid for, Haga Mayumi didn't waste it and quickly finished it off.

...Why is there something black at the bottom of the bucket?

Looking down into the barrel in the dim light, I saw a thick layer of various insects used for soaking in alcohol.

Haga Mayumi:......

She felt like there were insects' feet in her mouth.

"Here it is! This is our inn's newly launched specialty dish: Spicy Insect Skewers!" The receptionist excitedly brought over the plate of dark-colored things. "This dish was developed to attract winged guests, and humans can eat it too. It tastes pretty good!"

It seems they chose new dishes to attract new customers.

Well done, looks like we won't need to pay extra.

While expressionlessly trying to push the insect leg out of her mouth with her tongue, Mayumi Haga thought coldly.

Text: 278. Raven Feathers

Before dawn, amidst the howling wind, Mayumi Haga, who had spent the entire night sitting at her desk, packed her belongings and prepared to set off.

She was the only customer in the inn, and it wasn't open yet, so the receptionist was still sleeping on the floor behind the counter.

The fireplace burned all night, and before leaving, Mayumi Haga threw in a few pieces of firewood.

Lifting the heavy felt cloth used to block the wind at the door, the sound of the wind outside suddenly changed from muffled to sharp. Mayumi Haga stepped out, then carefully covered the door with the felt cloth again.

On a windy day, her cloak was pulled parallel to the ground, as if a large hand was grabbing her shoulder, so she took it off and put it in her backpack.

If it were Ulzana-senpai here, she wouldn't feel much of the strong wind, but Mayumi Haga is a relatively light human, and she already feels like she's about to be blown away.

Every step forward was met with increasing resistance; her hood had long been blown off by the wind, and the wind was tugging at her collar.

Her hair was blown back, and the bangs that originally covered her forehead were all lifted up, making her temples look a little tight. Without the bangs to cover her face, her beautiful and spirited eyebrows and eyes appeared even sharper.

Yuga Mayumi donned the armor she had prepared beforehand, which was heavier than her original one. Metal blocks were stuffed into the leather armor, adding considerable weight so that she wouldn't be blown away and unable to move.

The weight that would make an ordinary person shudder was nothing to Mayumi Haga. After getting used to her body for a moment, she continued forward against the wind.

Previously, the selection of warriors for the Feather Clan was always done by Senior Urzana, but this year Yuga Mayumi is chosen, perhaps with the intention of training her.

Mayumi Haga is the least senior guardian, so there's nothing wrong with her taking a look at places that ordinary people can't reach.

Soon, she arrived at the edge of the cliff in the deep valley of the raging wind.

Once you cross this cliff, Yuga Mayumi will be able to reach the village of the Feathered Clan.

Mayumi Haga has a paraglider and can take off smoothly in this updraft, but the only problem is that she is not sure if she can glide there.

Paragliders are not very common among the Guardians. For one thing, even Urzana, who gave the paraglider to her, can't fly herself.

Mayumi Haga only uses a paraglider when necessary, and she hasn't been able to use it many times over the years, since the occasions suitable for paragliding are quite limited when there is no updraft.

Speaking of which, how did Ulzana get through without a paraglider?

Mayumi Haga was a little confused, but now was not the time to hesitate.

There were no other living beings around, which meant that Mayumi Haga had no one to turn to for help.

Although she herself is not used to asking for help in this situation, even if there are people around, she will not talk to them.

While thinking, Mayumi Haga did not notice the shadow flying overhead.

After all, it was so high above the ground that even the guardian, Mayumi Haga, had to squint to see that the little black dots in the sky were actually living things.

Moreover, it's even more difficult to open your eyes wide in such wind.

Unaware of the gazes from above, Mayumi Haga leaped off the cliff.

Her figure disappeared at the edge of the cliff.

The dark figure in the sky: "?!"

Waaaaah—why would someone come to the village gate to commit suicide just days before the selection process starts?!

Before the winged creature could react, Yuhe Zhen Gong suddenly plunged down, and the former's body moved on its own, adjusting the angle of its wings and diving down as well.

Waaaaaaahh ...

The Black Feather Clan member plunged into the eye of the storm where Yuga Mako had jumped in, frantically flapping its wings and searching for a long time, even running down to look around twice.

It's not here... and it's not here either?!

Where is it?!

Just as the Black Feather Clan turned their attention to searching for the body of the fallen human, a voice faintly appeared above her head: "Who are you?"

The Black Feather Clan was startled and turned around abruptly.

She saw the white-haired girl, whom she thought had been smashed to pieces, clinging to the paraglider, adjusting her balance while looking at her in confusion.

Black Feather Clan: "...(Alamo curses), you can fly."

Mayumi Haga: ? Why are you suddenly swearing?

Seeing that Yuga Mamiya was alright, the Black Feather Clan was relieved.

She scratched her head—a gesture that nearly made her lose her balance in the wind—and asked, "You can tell, right? I'm from the Feather Clan. You can call me Raven Feather... Hey, what are you doing here?"

Ravenfeather has the typical appearance of a feathered creature, entirely black except for a few white feathers on her forehead. Her hair ornaments are two strips of triangular patterned cloth pinned to either side of her head.

They wear simple, coarse cloth clothes. The winged race has thick feathers covering their bodies, so they don't need to wear many layers of clothing like humans.

Mayumi Haga said, "I'm going to watch your warrior selection."

She was actually in a bit of a dilemma.

The wind in the deep valley was too violent; she couldn't find the knack for gliding and spun around for several minutes.

"When did the Warrior Selection invite guests from other races?" Raven Feather was only ten years old and didn't know any of the rules of the once-in-a-century Warrior Selection, so he couldn't help but be suspicious of the human in front of him.

It's not her fault. After all, it doesn't make sense to invite a suspicious outsider to an important selection within the Feather Clan.

She was unaware of the Guardian's existence.

With both hands gripping the paraglider, Mayumi Haga found herself in a dilemma, lacking any evidence to present.

Fortunately, Crow Feather was a kind-hearted member of the Feather Clan, and she saw that it wasn't a good idea for Yuga Mayumi to keep hanging on the paraglider like that.

After weighing the cost of a human life against the village, and deciding that he could keep an eye on the guy in front of him even if he brought Mayumi Haga to the village, Karasu said, "I'll take you there, but you can't move around too much."

All you could see was her spreading her wide wings, her two claws gripping the ribs of the Haga Mayumi paraglider, and she cheerfully exclaimed, "Hold on tight, or I'll shake you off!"

Mayumi Haga instinctively gripped the handle, and then heard the sound of the wind gathering.

The Feathered Clan can manipulate the wind to propel themselves into flight, but the Raven Feathers seem to be even more powerful. Yuga Mayumi was propelled upwards by a tremendous gust of wind!

The turbulent wind rushed into her clothes, trying to shred her, but Raven Feather only needed to flap his wings gently, and the wind became exceptionally docile, pushing the two of them upwards.

Then, the two flew out of the deep valley.

The moment it broke free from the chaotic storm, the sun rose on the horizon, and it was already daylight.

Mayumi Haga fell into the bright, clear sky.

Text: 279. So old?!

"Isn't this Ya Yu? You're back so early?" A thirty-year-old villager greeted Ya Yu with a smile.