Comment and thanks to all who gave comments and coupons. 219th session
68. Magical Beasts and the Gryphon of Olympus218 – Magical Beasts and the Gryphon of Olympus #3
━Hee, White One, my tooth necklace, haah… that, that’s mine, huuu….
Leaf was crying his eyes out, snot running down his face, to the point where it was painfully loud on my ears.
━Okay, I got it, so let go of that. No, why are you wiping your snot on me!
Noticing the stares of the crowd, I pushed Leaf away, who was busy rubbing his snot-covered face all over me.
━Why are you stealing a kid’s stuff?
When I protested, Azidahaka cleared his throat exaggeratedly.
“You’ve got a nice necklace there.”
Azidahaka showed me a talisman that resembled a necklace in his hands. It was none other than a necklace with my lower fangs hanging like gemstones.
━But why on earth would you take that?
“Not taken, borrowed. I’ll give it back.”
━How is borrowing something when you keep it for a hundred years? You just snatched it! A hundred years may feel short for you dragons, but he’s a raccoon… you know, a sort of human.
“Cough.”
Azidahaka turned his head away, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed since he had no retort. I had known about his greed for gems and treasures, but to think it had gotten so low that he’d steal from a little kid!
Rustle, rustle.
━This is why dragons are no good.
━Just look at that endless greed for jewels and stuff. It reminds me of how the stone dwarves’ jewel craftsmen were exploited by dragons back in the day.
━Are you talking about that wicked Golden Dragon Demaug? He was a real piece of work.
━But even he can’t compare to Azidahaka! Snatching from a kid? That’s unthinkable for us Gryphons.
All the beasts in the banquet hall started whispering and gossiping, even the well-behaved Gryphon maidens.
I glanced around and shook my head while holding my front paw out to Azidahaka.
━Come on, give it back and apologize.
━Yeah, give it back! And apologize…!
Before I knew it, Leaf, having stopped crying, hid behind me and stuck his tongue out at Azidahaka.
“The one who started this was that kid. I deserve the apology.”
Azidahaka protested, looking wronged.
━What did you do, though?
I shot a glance at Leaf, hiding behind me, and let out a sigh.
━He, he keeps pinching me!
“I just thought he was cute and pulled his cheek. Is it too much to say that’s pinching?”
━And I was going to feed Yingyi, but he fed him first!
“So that’s why you called me a chubby tail? It’s not chubby! It’s a well-maintained, luxurious tail! This is what happens when you deal with humans. This necklace is too much for a human!”
━I’m not human! I’m Chili… no, a princess! Growl…!
Azidahaka and Leaf were gearing up for another round against each other. Meanwhile, Yingyi, who had been floating in the air, landed on my head.
━Guying.
━What on earth is going on? I thought you all would get along… And now it looks like you’re enemies.
━Yingyingaaa.
━You’re all I can trust. But let’s drop this petty squabble and listen to me. We’ve got things to do.
“Four Beasts? Jupiter is giving me a headache.”
After hearing my explanation, Azidahaka briefly shared his thoughts.
“That beast is infamous and strong. Even for me and the other mythical beings like Jupiter, it’s tough to handle. They’re powerful enough to be compared to the forest masters of the World Tree.”
━Yeah, I’ve heard they’re strong. But I already said I’d take this job.
“Why would you? Don’t you hate troublesome tasks?”
At Azidahaka’s question, I imagined sparkling cosmic dust in my head.
━If I had to do it for free, I’d hate it. But they said something about Ambrosia as compensation.
━The Heart of the Star…!
While fiddling with the necklace that was returned to me, raccoon Leaf suddenly shouted.
━The Heart of the Star Ambrosia!
━Do you even know what that is?
━I read about it in the royal library! It’s a star that fell from a place called the ‘Universe’, higher than where dragons and gryphons can fly.
━Wow, that’s amazing.
━Right! Totally incredible stuff!
━Wait, you, a raccoon, read all of that? That’s impressive!
Before I could recover from my surprise at the thought of raccoon Leaf reading books, Azidahaka opened his mouth wide enough to show all his sharp teeth.
“The Heart of the Star…! That secret treasure Jupiter obtained…! You have no idea how many battles I fought to get it. But they said they’d give that to you as payment?”
━Right, it didn’t feel like a lie.
“That’s a legacy left by Jupiter’s wife, Juno. He wouldn’t just give it to anyone…”
━But soon, you’ll be ‘anyone’ apparently…
“What do you mean by that?”
I didn’t explain the diplomatic marriage that Jupiter and I had agreed on, though Leaf was okay. I felt there was no need to mention it to Azidahaka, who might turn into a dragon ready to eat me after hearing about my little night adventure with the snow cat Nebah.
━Well, there are circumstances. Anyway, let’s take it easy today and head off to face those beasts tomorrow as soon as dawn breaks.
Jupiter had set a week for the expedition. Although I didn’t gain the treasures of the Fire Dragon and the Divine Artifact from the desert, I was determined to snatch the treasure ‘Heart of the Star’ Jupiter possessed.
‘Of course, that’s not my only goal.’
It was shockingly surprising how Chino transformed from a magnificent gryphon into a healthy, lively girl.
In my standards of liking strong and healthy women, her transformation could be described as a perfect direct hit.
It seemed like Chino wasn’t against me either.
‘Both Jupiter and I share a fondness for enchanting women. I won’t wander aimlessly like the monkey, but if I ever get the opportunity, I wouldn’t refuse.’
Hehehe.
As I was grinning to myself, Azidahaka suddenly pinched the tip of my ear.
“Right now, you’re thinking of something very inappropriate, aren’t you?”
━What, did you glance into my mind? Don’t read my thoughts without permission.
“You wear your emotions on your face; I don’t even need to open my eyes. It’s just a woman’s instinct.”
━Cough, anyway, let’s all rest today. Have a good night, because tomorrow we’ll be facing the sandstorm.
As I mentioned before, the desert nights are chillier than expected. Perhaps the drastic temperature drop when the blazing sun sets contributes to this feeling.
Plus, the height of this Olympus mountain makes it even cooler, causing my breath to mist up.
━What are you doing?
As I stood outside the palace, gazing at the dark night sky against the horizon of the wilderness, someone spoke from behind.
━Guying.
It was Leaf in a fluttery white dress-shaped pajamas, holding Yingyi, who made a playful sound.
━Why are you out here instead of sleeping?
━Hee, White One, I thought you left me again.
━Ah, I see.
It appeared that my disappearance from the human palace had shocked Leaf so much that he was exhibiting symptoms similar to separation anxiety.
After all, back when we lived in the eastern forest before heading to the human world, he often wandered around searching for me when I went missing.
━With this, I can find you no matter where you are.
Leaf proudly showed me the fang necklace hanging from his neck. The few centimeters of fangs tilted toward me as if they were magnets attracted to opposite poles.
━You could just stay comfortably at the human palace. Why go through the trouble of searching for me here? There are plenty of jewels you love.
Upon my casual inquiry, Leaf looked around nervously as if shivering.
━You couldn’t even imagine. From etiquette training and posture correction to language rhetoric, laws and politics, various ethical guidelines and ideologies… Even how to hold a spoon and the angle of my head. Can you imagine how many things I have to learn?
In the past month, it seems he’d been overwhelmed by all sorts of education.
To socialize a raccoon that had lived in the wild for over 14 years into a human was a Herculean task, especially considering he was now being trained as a princess in the royal palace.
━So, are you not going back?
━If you go, I will, but you said you wouldn’t return to the human world.
━Yeah, if I were to return, it would be that way first.
I looked toward the eastern wasteland, where it felt as though tree branches would be visible against the dark sky.
‘It’s kinda amusing to sleep so comfortably while there are guys out there targeting me.’
If it were just me, I could live comfortably regardless of anyone gunning for me. But after experiencing nearly losing Yingyi, I felt I had to care not just for myself but for others too.
‘It’d be best to get rid of any threats as soon as possible.’
In the World Tree forest, numerous beasts were sharpening their teeth and growling at me. For sure, among the mythical creatures, the notorious O Kong should be high on my list.
‘I owe him one.’
Fleeing from the World Tree forest and wandering into this outside world was all thanks to that troublemaker O Kong.
At the time, I fled in a hurry, worried that my tail might get bitten off, but now that I’m an adult and have gained abilities, it would be a different story.
‘If multiple mythical beings came at me all at once, I wouldn’t know what to expect, but in a one-on-one showdown, I’m confident.’
The powers I acquired, Rolling and Bounce Back, are most effective in one-on-one battles, so ideally, I’d want to create a scenario where it’s me against my opponent.
However, there’s no guarantee that the enemy will fight fair, and I don’t know how many there might be. This means I should gather plenty of allies to help me.
‘If I have many enemies, it’ll get tiresome. The more enemies there are, the more allies I should have to make things easier.’
In that sense, having a good relationship with Azidahaka turned out to be a huge stroke of luck. Both of us escaping from the forest certainly helped.
━Hachoo!
Leaf was shivering while hugging Yingyi.
‘And this kid is more resourceful than he appears. Being a human princess might also be a significant advantage. Plus, it’s a good opportunity to curry favor with Jupiter, who’s effectively ruling the desert in place of the Fire Dragon.’
All Magical Beasts are linked, at least partially, to the World Tree forest, but this western desert holds enormous influence in the world due to being known as the four major Magical Beasts.
Building a good relationship with the ruler of such a place might not pay off immediately, but it will definitely be beneficial in the long run.
‘They say Behemoth is the king of all beasts. Though to me, it still feels far off.’
In five or ten years, I have a baseless confidence that I’ll become something remarkable.
━You’re going back to the World Tree forest?
While I was lost in thought, Leaf, who had been quietly gazing at the wilderness, purred softly.
━Why, don’t you want to go back anymore?
I could have sworn I had seen raccoon Leaf trembling when he was in the human world just the other day. Perhaps he had changed his mind while eating the rich food in the palace.
━Well, there are plenty of jewels, and lots of fascinating things for you there, so I can’t blame you for not wanting to leave. You can choose to return to the palace if you want.
King Solomon will have to relinquish the throne within a dozen years due to the human life expectancy in this world being only a hundred years.
Then the crown would naturally fall to Leaf, the first in line for the royal succession, and I might gain the power to flit around above him.
In that sense, Leaf going back to the royal family was not a terrible option for me.
He shook his head, looking disinclined.
━While there are many good things, it would still be stifling for me. Plus, you and Yingyi, the White One, won’t be there.
━Hey, you’re not serious about giving up all those jewels, are you?
━I’m a bit sad about it, but thinking it over, I guess this one’s enough, heh-choo! Hehehe.
Leaf slyly lifted the fang necklace hanging around his neck, smiling foolishly while shedding snot.
I had been imagining all sorts of futures with Leaf as queen, but seeing that carefree smile made my thoughts clear out.
━Yeah, if you become queen, that kingdom will fall apart quickly.
━What’s with that sudden comment?
━Never mind, let’s go inside. It’s cold.
I patted Leaf on the back and headed back into the palace.
The first thing I’ll hunt tomorrow morning is the Nemean Lion.
[Author’s Note] If you enjoyed reading, please click the recommended button at the top of the mobile screen! In just two seconds, you can make a happy day for a writer!
