Chapter 49 – 50

Chapter 49 – There was a white pigeon!

"A-a bird!?"

It had appeared on my shoulder out of nowhere, and was currently licking and pecking my cheek.

"A seagull… No, it's too small. Well, it's probably a baby."

Just like Kamyu, I had also thought it was a seagull at first.

It had a white body and a yellow beak…the same traits of a seagull.

However, seagulls had black or gray in their wings. But this bird's wings were pure white.

On top of that, it had eyes that were red like rubies…

"It's not exactly like a seagull… But it does seem familiar."

Seagulls were common on this island.

And this was no seagull.

Besides, since when were seagulls this friendly?

And so I gently grabbed the white bird that was rubbing against my cheek, and held it towards my chest.

Ril suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to play with the little bird.

Hmm… It was very cute. I could feel my face contort into a silly smile.

Just then, Ashton, who had come to see the ship, noticed the little bird.

"Ah! Lord Heal. You caught a pigeon!"

"A pigeon… Oh, I see! It's a pigeon!"

As a kobold, Ashton was a veteran when it came to hunting.

And so he knew a lot about birds and fish. He knew immediately that the little bird was a pigeon.

The little bird had the same puffed out chest that pigeons were known for having.

However, it also looked a little fat compared to the sleek shape of most pigeons.

"Still, we are so far from the continent. Why is a pigeon suddenly here…"

Ashton said with a tilt of his head. Kamyu looked like she had just realized something.

"Indeed. It is rare to see pigeons at sea. Perhaps it is lost."

"That may be the case. But, it would be amazing if something so small was able to fly all of the way here."

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen a single pigeon since I came to this island.

As the others had said, the only birds that seemed to visit us here were seagulls or Killer Birds.

That being said, I sometimes did see migratory birds recently.

Haines was also with Ashton, and he now opened his mouth,

"Still, I have rarely seen a pigeon that is this white."

"Haines. I don't know a lot about birds. But are there white pigeons?"

"Yes. Not just pigeons, but most kinds of birds. However, it's rare to see any that are this white."

Haines answered me. Then he turned to Ashton.

"A pigeon, eh? Well, it's no chicken, but it could still be a decent source of food."

"Hmm. But it's too small to get much meat from it. And it won't lay any eggs by itself…"

'That's true,' agreed Haines.

They saw birds as food… Well, they weren't exactly wrong.

However, when it was this small, I couldn't really associate it with food.

After all, it looked especially adorable as it pecked at Ril's cheek.

The two fluffy things felt warm against my chest… Had I ever seen a happier sight?

"You two! You're always talking about food! As if we could eat such an adorable thing! Isn't that right!?"

Kamyu said as she offered her hand to the white pigeon.

However, the little bird just hid inside of my shirt.

"Oh, it's so young, but already bashful because of my charms!"

"Uh, Miss Kamyu, I don't think…"

'What!' Kamyu roared back at Ashton.

As for me, I was shaking.

This was because it tickled when the white pigeon moved around in my shirt.

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"Hey! That tickles! …Ah."

As I held back my laughter, I noticed that there were some white fragments on the ground.

They looked like they were from a cracked egg…

"Could it be… Ril. Where's your egg?"

When I asked Ril, she pulled the bird's wing so that it stuck its head out of my shirt again.

Then she patted it on the back as if she were introducing it to me.

"You're telling me that it hatched from that egg? Uh, I don't know. That seems a little…"

Who knows how many years it had been buried there?

It had to have been longer than a few years.

And as far as I was aware, eggs went bad in less than a month.

I was very confused, but then the white dove rubbed up against me again. And then I heard a voice echo in my head.

<<There is a tamable monster. Will you tame it?>>

"…A monster?"

I looked around.

Ril had already been tamed.

The only one here that hadn't been tamed was the bird.

Not only that, but I sensed magic power in the bird that was higher than the orcs that were here.

If it was a monster's egg, that might explain why it was able to survive so long down there… No, not really. However, it clearly wasn't an ordinary pigeon. So there was a chance that it had survived somehow.

Both Ril and the white pigeon were looking up at me quizzically.

Apparently, I had made them anxious.

And so I petted them in order to calm them down.

"Sorry, sorry. …Uh, a name."

I didn't know if this white pigeon would be able to talk.

However, judging by how friendly it was, it seemed to have recognized Ril and me as its family.

And so it was probably a good idea to tame it and watch it grow.

"Alright…uh…"

…What was a good name?

Seeing them together like this, they were like siblings.

"…Ral. No, something that sounds softer… Mal, Mel… Yes, let's go with Mel!"

Upon hearing this, the white bird spread out its wings.

Apparently, it liked the sound of that name.

"It's nice to meet you, Mel!"

Mel moved up to my face and started gently pecking me again.

And like that, a new friend had joined the island.

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Chapter 50 – It ate a lot!

"Wait a minute…I'll give you some food."

I was currently sitting in front of the bonfire and breaking up some fish into smaller pieces on a plate.

Ril the kobold baby and Mel the baby bird, that had just hatched, were perched on my knee and watching with deep interest.

It wasn't actually dinner time yet, but I thought that Mel might be hungry, and so I ended my mining early today.

"…Alright, it's ready! Look, Mel. Eat up."

I put the small flakes of fish on my hand and offered it to Mel.

Mel started to peck at my palm with its beak.

However, it didn't eat any of the fish.

"Huh? Is it too early for you to eat fish?"

I muttered. Just then, Rienna came with a bowl of soup.

"Maybe it can't eat fish yet."

"Now that I think about, I've never seen pigeons eating fish…"

"I've never seen it either. They seem to only eat beans and grains. In any case, maybe it will drink this soup."

Rienna said as she sat down next to me. Then she started to blow on the soup.

Mel watched her curiously.

"Mel. I'm cooling it down now, so just wait a while."

Rienna tasted it a few times to check the temperature.

"…Hmm. I think it's fine now. Okay, Mel. Come over here."

Rienna placed Mel on her lap and in front of the soup.

And then Mel hesitantly dipped its beak into the bowl.

However, it seemed to quickly understand that it wasn't dangerous, and started to drink it greedily.

"Oh, it's drinking. So it can drink soup."

"Hehe. You don't need to drink it so fast. There's plenty more of it."

Rienna patted Mel gently on the head.

Rienna really was so reliable..

It was the same when we got Ril. She knew how to treat babies.

As for Ril, she was busy eating the fish in my hand.

She was able to eat fish that still had bones, but I suppose she didn't want it to go to waste.

Just then, a man with ash-colored skin and black wings approached us from the other side.

He looked like a devil, but he was Baris, a former goblin.

"Oh, is this the baby pigeon that Ashton was talking about?"

"Ah, Baris. That's right. It's Mel. Please be nice to it."

"Ho ho, Mel, is it? Still, it's rare to see a pigeon that is so white."

"That's what Haines said. Oh, by the way, Baris… Can pigeons eat fish?"

"Fish? I never heard that they do… And I've seen pigeons around dried fish, but they did not try to eat it… Wait…"

Baris stopped as he looked at my knee.

"Huh? What is it?"

I looked down and saw that Mel was now there…eating the grilled fish.

It had joined Ril at some point and they were nearly finished eating it all.

"…Hmm. Who knew that there were pigeons that also ate fish. Lord Heal, I was wrong."

"I didn't know either…"

That being said, the way that Mel ate… It was not what you'd expect from a baby…

The fish in my palm was now gone, but Ril was clearly not satisfied, as she went to the bonfire and grabbed one of the fish that was on a skewer.

Upon seeing this, Mel also jumped off of my knee.

"Hey. Don't go too close to the fire. It's dangerous… Huh?"

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Mel didn't go to the fire, but stopped in front of Ril.

And it was looking straight at the fish that Ril was holding.

Ril's head tilted to the side at first, but then she offered the grilled fish to Mel.

Apparently, she was asking if Mel wanted to eat it.

"Uh, Ril… I don't think that's… What!?"

It wasn't just me, but even Baris and Rienna were surprised.

This was because Mel had bitten into the fish that Ril was offering.

"Me-Mel! It has bones in it!"

However, what we then heard were the sounds of small bones being crushed inside of Mel's throat.

"Uh…"

While I watched in stunned silence, Mel seemed to really enjoy the fish, and continued to gobble it down.

Did pigeons really eat like this?

Not only that, But Mel had only just hatched a moment ago…

Baris also thought that it was very strange.

And so he opened his mouth as if to speak for me.

"Hmm…This Mel. Perhaps it is not a pigeon after all."

"But Haines said that it was a pigeon."

"Yes. It definitely has the shape of a pigeon. But perhaps it's a different kind of bird that happens to have a similar appearance. Wasn't the egg buried under ground?"

"That's true… There's no way that it was a normal egg."

I didn't know how long that it had been down there.

However, if I had been there for many years… How could it possibly have gone undamaged?

It was true that there was no way that it could be such a common bird.

Once Mel had eaten to its hearts content, it immediately lay down and started to sleep with a satisfied expression.

And so Rienna picked Mel up.

"Does it really matter what Mel is? A baby is a baby."

"…Uh, you're right. Mel is our friend and an important part of this island now."

Yes, it didn't matter what it was.

This was a place where former enemies now lived together. There were humans like me and some weird little old man… That's the kind of place this was.

Upon hearing Rienna and me say this, Baris smiled gently, which was not exactly something that matched his intimidating appearance.

And so we talked about Mel's future while eating our dinner.