Chapter 64: The Hawk and the Green bird

After handing the Golden Goats over to Jaeger, I told Nanga and the others that I was heading out to hunt from the capital’s North Gate. So once I passed through the gate, I went straight toward the forest.

Even after entering the forest, I kept heading north, hunting a few elk and wolves I encountered along the way. After that, I casually captured some birds and tossed them into my magic bag.

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After choosing a campsite early, I took out a bottle of liquor for the first time in a while and slowly sipped it, all the while sensing the presence and movement of spirits.

When I release my mana, it feels like they gather around the emitted mana, but it doesn’t seem as though they’re absorbing it… or at least, I can’t sense that they are.

They cluster around areas where mana has been released, but some leave quickly while others remain. They’re still an existence I don’t fully understand.

Lately, it seems that the spirits have been making me stand out in a bad way at the guild, so I’d like to do something about it.

Back when one appeared inside my mug of ale, I thought it was in the way while I was drinking, and its presence vanished. The same thing happened when I thought it was annoying for them to appear in front of my face or in my field of view—they stopped appearing there.

I wondered if that was why the number of presences had decreased, but it doesn’t feel like the number of flickering presences has gone down at all.

As long as the spirits aren’t bothering me, I don’t really care about them, so I strongly wished they’d hide themselves—or rather, their presence—but it didn’t work like when they disappeared from my ale mug.

I thought about what was different between now and those times when I’d thought they were annoying around my face or in my line of sight.

I came to one conclusion: when I specifically told them, individually, not to appear where they were a nuisance—when I thought that—it worked, and they stopped appearing in those places.

If that’s the case, then maybe if I ask them one by one, they’ll keep their presence hidden?

They won’t die if they hide their presence, right?

For now, I directed myself toward one of the presences that had appeared and asked it to hide itself because it was in the way.

Heh, heh, heh, heh.

I almost felt depressed wondering why I hadn’t thought of something this simple sooner.

Getting carried away, I kept asking the presences I could feel one after another. But then I suddenly worried—what if I’d killed them?—so I called out for them to come back.

At that instant, the presence of spirits burst forth all around me, and I was startled once again.

Or rather… doesn’t this mean we’re actually communicating? No, no—this is probably one-way communication, so it’s hard to call it true mutual understanding.

Still, I’ve learned that they seem willing to listen to requests.

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When I woke up, it seemed I’d fallen asleep with the liquor bottle and cup still out, and I could strongly sense the presence of spirits all around me.

“Oh, this is annoying,” I thought, and asked them to disappear. One by one, their presences vanished.

That confirmed yesterday hadn’t been a drunken hallucination, so I released some mana and went back to sleep.

By the time I fully woke again, it was already bright outside. After breakfast, I hurriedly set off.

After checking the surroundings and confirming no one was nearby, I created a [Perforated Balloon!], rose above the forest using [Updraft!], then checked my surroundings again before starting to ascend.

Since I’d left through the North Gate and headed north, I could see the royal capital to the south. To the right—westward—along the Brange Highway, I could make out the towns of Billing and Renand.

Farther beyond them, faintly visible, was the city of Zandra. I headed in that direction.

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From the sky above Zandra, it’s about an hour on foot to the west—but how many minutes would that be if I flew?

A wind speed of 5 meters per second means 5 meters per second… that’s 300 meters per minute, 18,000 meters per hour—18 km/h.

But there’s no point calculating when I don’t know how fast I’m actually flying, nor how many kilometers separate the towns.

Back then, I came out of the hole, headed north, reached the Blange Highway, then walked east for about an hour before arriving at Zandra.

If I don’t know the distance, then flying along the south side of the highway—where the grassland meets the forest and the trees are sparse—should let me spot the landmark tree.

I flew slowly a bit toward the grassland side, searching for the mystery circle made by the tornado, but it’s been eight… maybe nine months since then. I’d underestimated the vitality of grass. 

After going back and forth over the grassland several times, I finally found a single tree.

All the branches had been broken except for the upper quarter, which was still covered in leaves. It stood out well as a landmark from the ground—but I learned that it’s hard to spot from the air.

Landing directly here would be risky, so I moved to the north side of the highway and reduced the strength of the updraft above the forest.

A sudden steep descent began, but I adjusted my falling speed by enlarging the perforated balloon, then expanded it again just before touching the treetops to soften the impact.

Using search detection, I checked below the forest. After confirming it was safe, I shrank the balloon, slipped between the branches as I fell, and rolled onto the ground with the balloon still small.

Even though the balloon absorbs some of the impact, it’s extremely thrilling, so unless I’m in a hurry, I should look for gaps between the trees and descend more safely.

Wiping away cold sweat, I searched the area again to confirm no one was around, then released the mana from the balloon and started walking south toward the Brange Highway.

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Flying is fast, but walking takes time and is exhausting.

Even so, it took quite a while just to reach the highway, and by the time I crossed it and entered the forest, the sun was about to set.

It takes a day and a half by carriage from the royal capital to Zandra, but a full day even when flying—talk about inefficient. I really need to carefully choose takeoff and landing locations.

For now, I decided to stay one night before entering the forest, then head toward the location of the hole once it got light.

I went to bed early, woke up while it was still dark, and waited for dawn—only to be startled by an overwhelming chorus of bird calls.

Judging from the cries, they seemed to be Greenbirds. Are they flocking together?

My search detection only caught a single beast, so there shouldn’t be anything to make the birds this noisy, but it bothered me.

My presence detection was somewhat disturbed by the Green birds’ clamor, but something was clearly making contact with them, and each time it did, an uproar broke out.

As the sky began to brighten, birds danced wildly through the air, and among them was a fast-moving bird plunging straight in.

It seemed about two sizes larger than a Green bird. Folding its wings, it dove sharply and, as it passed by, delivered a powerful kick.

Feathers scattered as a Green bird was knocked down.

A hawk attack?

So hawks exist in this world too, I thought, as I hurried out of the dome to observe.

The hawk grabbed the fallen Green bird with its talons and carried it away, and then another hawk took its place.

Curious, I wrapped one of the diving hawks in a small [Balloon!], inflated it to knock the bird unconscious, and pulled it in with a whirlwind.

Up close, it clearly had the hooked beak and thick legs typical of hawks. Its flight feathers were beautiful—brown mixed with deep crimson in a hawk-feather pattern. But since I inflated the balloon, it seemed to have died from lack of oxygen.

In terms of size, while a Green bird is about twice the length of a chicken, this one was another two sizes larger. With its wings spread, even a single wing looked like it would exceed two meters in length.

I threw myself flat at the sudden chill that ran through me, and a sharp slicing sound of air rushed past.

When I looked up, it seemed to be one of the hawk’s companions. It climbed, circled, and then dove again—no way…
And it wasn’t just one or two starting their dives!

I immediately formed a [Dome!] and looked around. Including those circling, there had to be more than a dozen of them.

With a thud, a hawk came tumbling down—having smashed into the dome and gotten dizzy.

Another one came charging in, but when it saw the first bird rolling on the ground, it made a sharp turn and pulled away.
The one that had crashed into the dome wasn’t moving at all… maybe it was dead.

The others that had pulled back, along with the remaining hawks, began circling high above my head.

Angry at seeing one of their own taken down, they’d apparently decided I was their next prey—but that was foolish.

Not knowing I was protected by an invisible dome, they charged in again. So for the first time in a while, I raised a thick, tall [Ring!] and spun it at high speed.

It was originally made as a defensive barrier; spin it fast enough, and it becomes a deadly weapon.

They attacked from the front, back, left, and right, but about five meters in front of me they touched the ring, were violently repelled, and slammed into the ground.

Having struck a rapidly spinning object, they were flung away with tremendous force. Some collapsed from the shock, others had broken wings and were crying “pii, pii” in pain.

When the following hawks saw their comrades knocked out of the sky, they made sharp turns at the last moment and fled.

Once the hawks were gone, the Green birds that had been making such a racket also disappeared.

I snapped the neck of the one still chirping with the butt of my short spear, then broke the necks of the others lying around and tossed them into my magic bag.

I make my money hunting birds, but this was my first time hunting hawks, so I’m curious how much they’ll fetch.

Since it was already fully daylight, I ate breakfast and then set off toward the spirits’ hole.

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I eventually reached a place that felt vaguely familiar, walked around the area, and found the hole beyond the tall grass.

The spot that had looked so disturbed before—when leaves and dead branches were blown out as I fell into the hole—was now lush and green with spring growth, to the point where I almost mistook it.

This time, I created a [Balloon!] about five meters in diameter, gently lifted myself with [Updraft!], moved above the hole, and gradually reduced the wind’s power.

Even while suppressing it, the wind was still strong. Inside the hole, leaves were whipped into the air until it grew dim, so I took the opportunity to secure visibility and clean things up.

I created a long, vertical whirlwind and, like a vacuum cleaner, sucked up the fallen leaves from the ground and expelled them outside the hole. Finally, with a slightly larger [Whirlwind!], I blew away the remaining dust and debris, leaving everything clean.

After releasing the balloon, I checked the presences again. Just like before, it felt as though the presences I had seen—no, sensed—were gathered there.

With the ground now clean, I approached the spot where the presences clustered and shone my light into every corner, but there was nothing unusual to be seen.

I don’t know why spirits gather in a place like this, but there must be something here that only spirits can perceive.

In the end, I still learned nothing—but perhaps, as the elf from the Alchemists’ Guild said, it’s something I won’t understand unless I ask the elder of the elf village.