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Chapter 16
Meanwhile, as Bice took out a large pile of food, the father griffin asked:
— Human hunted it yourself?
The father griffin’s yellow eyes stared at her. A creature that didn’t even have wings properly—let alone beak or claws.
— Such a small, weak, fragile human?
The words were rather critical, but his tone was soft and moist, almost emotional.
It felt like a tiny kitten bringing back a whale from the sea for a tiger—something so absurdly touching that it moved him deeply.
— No! The Magic Tower—other humans I saw there gave it to me!
Bice quickly explained.
— I only brought it here!
— Human obtained food from inferior humans below?
— Uh…?
It wasn’t wrong, but it sounded strange. Bice rolled her eyes in confusion. Meanwhile, the father griffin, moved for reasons unknown, nodded with moist eyes.
— Human, griffin pack.
— …Right.
— Human, griffin family.
— Y-yeah.
So I got promoted from “pack” to “family,” huh…
The monsters inside the Magic Tower were managed for research and magical material collection, but she obviously couldn’t explain that to him. So Bice simply nodded along.
— I’ll cut the apples for you.
Bice lifted the baby griffin, who was struggling to peck at a whole apple with its beak, and sat it on a small rock inside the cave. Then she took out a small knife from her bag and sliced the apple into tiny pieces, feeding them one by one.
— Nham-nham! Apple good!
The baby griffin flapped its wings happily as it swallowed the apple pieces.
— Yes! Apple good!
— Eat a lot, okay?
— Kiki.
— Hm?
— Baby Kiki. I’m Kiki.
The father griffin, who had suddenly revealed the baby’s name, walked over and sat down beside Bice.
— I am Kurke.
— So Kiki and Kurke. I’m Bice. Short for Beatrice Adelheidis.
— Ke-ke?
— Bice.
— Bike, Biket, Kika?
— Kiki is Kiki! Bice is Bice!
Unlike the father, who struggled to pronounce her name, the baby griffin Kiki pronounced it perfectly and laughed brightly.
Seeing the adorable scene, Bice also laughed, and Kurke rolled around making a rumbling sound. Pure white feathers scattered everywhere inside the cave.
— Ah, I should collect those feathers.
Bice quickly stood up and gathered the feathers rolling on the ground. Seeing this, Kiki followed her and eagerly helped collect her father’s feathers, handing them over.
Watching the two of them collecting fallen feathers, Kurke bit a handful of his own feathers and offered them to Bice.
— Take.
— Are you sure you can give me this much?
— Bice, me, baby family. Feathers are nothing.
Looking at the top-grade magical materials so easily obtained, Bice let out a sigh.
“It would be great if I could get all materials this easily.”
— Bice worried?
— I was just thinking it would be nice if other monsters were as kind as you.
— Shall I punish them all?
Kurke clicked his sharp beak threateningly, as if he believed Bice was being bullied by other monsters. His intimidating aura made it look like he could rip the forest monsters apart at any moment.
Bice hurriedly corrected him.
— No, no! I mean I need to collect magical materials from them, and if they could talk like you, it would be easier—
“Wait… I can talk to monsters, can’t I?”
She had been thinking of them as “monsters to manage,” but she actually could communicate with them.
“And with my blessing… I could even ask for what I want…”
“I could totally take advantage of this.”
— Bice, strange face.
Kurke tilted his head as he looked at her greedy expression. Meanwhile, clueless Kiki simply celebrated her happiness along with her.
After this realization, the first monster Bice visited was a dryad, known as a spirit of the trees. Before transforming, the dryad was just a glowing mystical green tree.
Looking up at it, Arrel asked:
“Why a dryad of all things?”
“I’m not confident I can talk to a hydra yet.”
What she needed this time were branches, leaves, and vines of the dryad—like hair for a human.
Since these parts regrow, harvesting them wouldn’t harm the dryad much… but—
“I feel like they’d hate it if someone just cut off their hair.”
“Low-level monsters’ branches… just not breaking them all already—ow!”
Thud!
An acorn dropped from the dryad struck Arrel directly on his round head.
“This disrespectful tree! I’ll burn it down!”
Before he could escalate, Bice grabbed Arrel and stepped forward.
“Um… Dryad… sir?”
“……”
“Hello?”
“……”
No response. Naturally.
“Why are you speaking human language?”
“Because I don’t know how to speak dryad language.”
Until now, it had come naturally. But now that she was trying to initiate conversation, nothing came to mind.
“How did I even communicate with monsters until now?”
While Bice panicked, a vine suddenly extended from the tree, hanging flower clusters as it reached toward her head and began brushing through her light-brown hair.
“W-wait!”
— giggle giggle —
A sound like rustling leaves—or a child’s laughter—came as the vine grew more playful.
“I’ll save you soon, Bice!”
“It’s fine! These monsters are my responsibility anyway—ahh! That tickles!”
Arrel froze just as he was about to breathe fire, and the vine began tickling Bice even more.
— Fun.
The giggling sound clearly meant laughter.
Then Bice shouted:
— Stop!
— …!
The vine immediately froze.
It was clearly shocked that she had spoken their language.
But Bice was equally shocked.
“I… I can speak dryad language?”
While she was confused, the vine gently poked her hair again, testing her reaction.
— Don’t do that or you’ll get scolded.
The vine drooped sadly. Even without a face, its disappointment was clear.
Bice softened her tone.
— I won’t scold you, so can we talk face to face?
— Okay.
At that, the scattered vines gathered together and formed a humanoid shape.
— Wow!
She had expected something childlike in personality, but the dryad took the form of a beautiful woman with long, lush vine-like hair and green skin.
— You’re really beautiful!
— I am beautiful?
The dryad smiled brightly, and flowers in her hair bloomed, scattering glittering pollen. The scene looked like something out of a painting.
— It’s so pretty… and I still have to cut it…
At Bice’s unintended sigh, the dryad tilted her head.
— Cut?
— Ah… well…
The truth is, I need to cut your hair.
It had already been awkward when she was just a tree. Now that she looked like a human, it felt even more uncomfortable.
Maybe I should’ve just talked to her in tree form…
At that moment, clueless Arrel fluttered forward.
“So can we just chop off this tree monster’s head?”
“Not the head—just the hair.”
“Then why not just cut it already?”
“How can you say it so casually?!”
— …
Hearing their conversation, the dryad extended a vine and wrapped it around Bice’s arm.
— With me.
— Huh?
The dryad pulled her closer.
— You said you’d talk with me.
At that moment, vines spread in all directions.
Like waves of a giant serpent, they surged and surrounded Bice.
“Bice!”
— Go away.
Just as Arrel prepared to unleash fire—
A butterfly born from the dryad scattered glittering pollen into the air.
In that instant, Arrel’s golden eyes dimmed.
His small body dropped helplessly to the ground.
