16 Chapter 15
At the top of a mountain, it's possible to see a plain full of green trees, with one in the middle of all that is much larger, at least 50 meters high. In its galls that seem to touch the skies, I see a giant nest with some harpies flying around.
"Master," whispered Kurumi in a purring voice as she hugged my arms and said again, "The trail is kind of difficult now. Can we carry you?"
"Hmm, sure."
A group of three harpies holds me by both arms, with Kurumi hugging me from behind with her legs as they fly with me.
So soft, I thought as I felt Kurumi's breasts pressing into my back.
This mischievous harpy is doing this intentionally.
Ugh. A little longer, and I would probably suffer from blue balls. In the future, I will make sure to discipline her.
"UH? Aren't we going to climb to the top?" I ask seeing that the direction of flight was not towards the nest.
Still flapping her wings, Kurumi puts her lips to my ear and says, "That's just our lookout post. The real nest is well hidden."
She made sure to touch her lips for a long time against my earlobes.
"I see."
Our flight takes us further afield, closer to a slope and mountain ranges to be specific. As we enter a large crevice in the cave, we continue descending...
There was the scene. A subterranean world lit by stones that gave off light instead of the sun, glued to the ceiling made of rigid stone. Harpies fly happily in the place that still had a good flight space, carrying some baskets in their claws when doing their routine work.
To my surprise, at the center of it all is that same tree I had seen out there, or rather, its trunk extended right here, and its true root was in the ground of this place. And around it are several tree houses made of wood building around the trunk.
Other smaller houses are also seen along the grounds, on top of smaller trees that also grow here.
Close to the trunk.
"Sister," said a pink-haired harpy, happy to see us landing on a walkway attached to the trunk.
"Older sister, my name is now Kurumi. Please, call me that," said the blue-haired harpy with a big smile.
"And mine is a golden feather," said the other Harpy, who had been carrying me before, soon followed by the other...
"Mine is spotted feather."
What? After naming so many of them, I ran out of ideas and choose any trait I could use.
"I see-- umm, wait -- what?" The pink-haired harpy doesn't understand the reason for their new names, before turning her eyes to me and asking, "What's going on that this human hasn't been tied up so far? Quick, before he tries to run away. Take him!"
Before Kurumi and the others could explain...
She transforms into her animal form and lets out a great battle cry, "Schreeechhh!"
Kurumi and the other two stand in front of me protectively, but they didn't even have to do anything.
From above us, ten figures swoop down in a bolt of lightning towards my attacker, yelling, "Schreeeechhhh!!!!"
After the collision.
The eleven harpies roll on the ground and successfully restrain the pink-haired one, who has reverted to like-human form.
"Let me go. Let me go. W-What got into all of y-you? Have you girls been eating wyvern shit?" She screamed as two harpies embraced her with their wings, holding her.
In the air above us, a giant group of harpies flew in circles, watching my every step to protect me.
There are more than two thousand pairs of eyes watching in real-time, some closer and some farther away. But what she all had in common was her jealousy and care for a certain someone.
To them, I was too precious a possession to risk being lost.
"Stop!! What are you doing to her?" Lya landed with an enraged face when she saw them holding the pink-haired one. "You are attacking our own people."
"She threatened our--," before one of the harpies could explain.
"You're doing all this for that stranger. Please get some sense into your heads. You can't d-"
I sigh and decide to intervene.
"Do as Lya says. Let her go," I order the two harpies and add, "My purpose here is not to see beautiful ladies fighting each other. I apologize for my subordinates."
Shit, I made a mistake...
The harpies who have come to my rescue have blushes on their cheeks and their hearts beat faster at my declarations.
High in the air, conversations mirrored each other like an endless avalanche.
"Kyaaa!! Lord Motohama cares about us so much. Ahhhhh!!!! He doesn't want to see us hurt," said a harpy like a high school girl in love.
"Hey, he called us beautiful ladies, is that right?" asked another harpy b with a gigantic smile.
"I wouldn't mind having Lord Motohama alone to myself every night," said a harpy c.
"Shhhh!!! We are missing our master's words. Please be silent," scolded a harpy 'd' before returning to look at my back in adoration.
A shiver ran down my spine, feeling that I was somehow in danger. It was the more than two thousand pairs of eyes that looked at me with lust.
"Take him to meet our mother," Lya said with an obviously condemning look.
"Er -- Yes," said some pink-haired Harpies in unison, who were standing nearby watching.
Interestingly, I noticed that most of the harpies that stay in the nest had pink hair. Later I would ask Kurumi if there was any reason for that.
Following their steps, I enter one of the main houses, which is the size of a small palace and is connected to the giant trunk.
As I walk through the wooden halls, I lean to the side slightly and whisper in Kurumi's ear, "How do you girls build these houses? Er--I don't mean to be unkind, but --- You don't have hands! How the hell did you build it?"
Kurumi points the tip of her wings toward the two pink-haired harpies leading us and said, "It's because of the older sisters."
"The pink-haired ones?" I asked again to be sure.
"Yes, the pink-haired ones as you say---are the privileged ones to be born with the gift of telekinesis. They are the main caretakers and responsible for the nest. The Older sisters are also the ones who build our houses and clothes. That's why they barely leave the nest and are considered important resources for our race."
"Oh?" telekinesis? I would like to investigate the skill of these 'Older Sisters' later.
With a thud, the double doors open, drawing my attention out of my thoughts
"For you who come in search of the wisdom of the great mother, kneel," shouted a pink-haired harpy loli from the side of the throne.
Lya and the other servants who had guided us here knelt.
Only me, Kurumi, Akemi, and six other harpies remained standing.
"Er --- Didn't you hear me? Get on your knees," repeated the harpy loli, thinking we hadn't heard correctly.
I silently stare at the person sitting on the throne in the center. I had to confess that of them all, this one was by far the most majestic and elegant among the harpies I had seen.
White hair, white wings, a slim figure like all harpies, but good breasts. And she wore a white kimono with some drawn details and tights.
"Hey, will you disobey?" said the loli annoyed, but before she took any action.
"Enough, my daughter. Leave it to me", sounded a melodious and serene voice.
From the throne she stands up and looks in our direction, "I must assume this mess has something to do with the free human in this room, is that right?"
The harpies on the throne side look at me wide-eyed, having just ignored my presence at first.
"We can arrest him right now, mother. We'll make sure he serves you diligently for this disrespect," said the harpy loli before yelling, "Arrest him! The human will be the mother's personal toy."
"Who said I need a toy?" she scolded before turning her gaze to me.
Experience dictates her choices, the white-haired harpy had lived a long time and has many years of accumulated wisdom. It made no sense to be hostile without understanding why that human managed to create what looked like a rebellion. Could he be so powerful as to subjugate the will of her daughters?
She needed to first understand the situation before taking any action.
The consequence of underestimating the unknown is death. That human was in the category of the unknowns.
"And you are?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Why don't you do the honors and introduce yourself first? After all, it's impolite to ask people's names without saying yours," I say fearlessly as I look into her eyes. [Mirror of Adonis] was a good trick to keep my own emotions in check.
"Okay then," she has a tight smile before saying with a hand over her chest, "I'm known as 'mother', but I don't think that name will be very comfortable for you humans. You can call me the witch of a thousand blades, or just witch if you prefer."
A thousand blades? I take a good look at her kimono and cleavage, and I don't see any blades on her. Yeah, I looked at her cleavage just to make sure there weren't any blades there.
"Mother, this guy is dangerous and a deceiver. He uses weird magic that I can't detect. That-That-That person," Lya points at me with a mixture of anger and shame. "He does perverted things. He is perverted."
Kurumi and the other harpies had perverted faces upon hearing Lya's statements.
"I'm not the only pervert here," I say sideways at her, and Lya shudders.
The witch frowns at her daughter and says, "And what's wrong with doing perverted things? Frankly Lya, it's in our blood to be the reincarnation of pleasure. There's no shame in admitting it. But the question is -- -," she looks at me curiously and asks...
"What is this human doing that he hasn't been dominated? We harpies take what we want and make men our survival resource."
"Simple." I fold my arms and say, "I who dominated your daughters and my name is Motohama, save that name before you also obey me."
My answer was followed by silence.
The harpy witch scowled and said, "You have a lot of nerve to say that in front of me. Strong words indeed -- but let's see if you have the strength to back them up."
"Fighter on," I say.
The witch disappears from my range of vision.
So fast, I thought as I felt a presence at my back.
At the tip of her wing, a feather the size of a dagger has grown and she tosses it toward me like a kunai.
My battle senses have improved tremendously after spending hours and hours dodging several deadly attacks.
In slow motion...
The witch smiles as she sees my back which is a few thousandths away from being hit, but to her surprise, behind my image, another me appears jumping in the air and yelling, "Firebolt."
Two of them? wondered the wide-eyed witch. No, one of them is an illusion, she concluded in milliseconds.
With surprising grace, she spins her body as if in a dance and the feathers of her body become like flexible blades. In her graceful spin the flames were absorbed.
"Mother, you can't," shouted Kurumi in front of me.
"Yes. Don't make us fight," said Akemi as she also stepped in front of me.
"Eh? My daughters have barely left the nest and they already want to rebel," she said with a cold smile, before adding, "Too bad it's too late."
She flutters her wings at herself, and the feather/dagger she had thrown at the beginning of the fight rises from the ground floating and pierces my back.
"Master," shouted Kurumi and Akemi in horror.
"Cough, cough," I drop to my knees on the floor coughing up blood.
The harpies prepare to take revenge for hurting me, but suddenly, their bodies start to feel heavy.
"Huh? What happened to my body?" Kurumi wondered looking at her own trembling wings.
"The herbs must already be working," said the witch as she lifted a vial from the hems of her kimono. "This is the eagle's weed, potent paralyzing for our kind. Fortunately, I've already trained my body to resist it. Small droplets of it in the air and you, my dear daughters, won't be able to move a feather."
"Nooo," shouted Kurumi, wide-eyed at the sight of the witch slowly approaching me, "Please, mother, don't do this."
Ignoring the pleas, the harpy in the white kimono slowly approaches, my body falls to the floor and the blood loss was enormous.
Standing next to me, she sees me dying on the floor and says, "It's too bad you weren't strong enough to sustain such arrogance."
Contrary to your expectations...
Instead of begging for mercy, I smile at her with blood running down my chin.
She frowns at this and moves closer to examine my face, "What? Has the blood loss affected your head?"
I slowly lift my hand as if I want to reach for her cheeks, but I stop halfway and point my fingers in the other direction.
She follows the pointed direction without understanding and...
Sitting on the throne was I, unharmed, to the astonishment of everyone in the lobby.
"Master," shouted the harpy with twinkling eyes.
The witch looks back at my body on the floor, which starts to look blackened; the mouth opens and from inside a crow comes out, soon followed by my image breaking up into a group of them who scream, "CAW, CAW, CAW."
The witch straightens up and looks silently at me on the throne.
With the roar of crows and the image of me sitting on the throne, without the glasses, and with a slightly amused smile...
The witch accidentally blurted out in a whisper, "Handsome."
