kscans

Chapter 125 - The Secrets of the Claudia Kingdom and Little One

"Is that it.....?"

Leaping from the flying Honeybee Carriage, Little One held onto Pochiko-san and stared at the forest on the plains visible in the distance. It was not so much a forest as a giant bird’s nest, a fortress-like structure of massive, dead trees tangled and overlapping one another.

"That’s not a forest.....? What is that?"

A strange forest with only a pitiful amount of green clinging to it. Seeing that mountain of withered trees, a small, sharp pain, tsukin, ran through Little One’s chest.

It is a forest. That is a forest.

The overlapping dead trees were the tragic remains of what was once a forest. A vast sea of trees had decayed and collapsed inward from the outside.

Little One and the Honeybee Carriage landed at its edge, their occupants looking around with stunned expressions.

Is this the end of a forest?

This is likely what happens to a Lord’s forest when it loses its power. It must slowly decay, collapse upon itself, and eventually return to the earth. A baby penguin dashed through a gap between Dorfen and Chihaya, who had emerged from the carriage, dumbfounded. The penguin ran peta peta between the trees, letting out a cry of, "Kyuaaa."

As if drawn by its voice, baby penguins began to appear from all over.

Wow, they’re so cuuute!

There were penguins ranging from the size of a toddler to the size of a hand. But they merely glanced at Little One with weary faces before turning their gazes in a single direction. Following their line of sight, Little One’s eyes widened at an unbelievably enormous creature.

"Nghh?!"

There was a penguin with only its neck and head visible. Its head was slumped over, limp and powerless. The head alone was likely a meter long. Such a massive body. This penguin had to be the Lord of the Plain Forest. Little One hurriedly placed her hands on the ground and unleashed her magic with all her might.

《I am ashamed.....》

Dug out by the plants that sprouted from the golden magic, the giant penguin lowered its head, breathing faintly. It was a giant penguin with magnificent yellow eyebrows.

That’s it, a rockhopper penguin from Earth.

Its eyebrows, thick enough for Little One to sit on, twitched as the penguin stared intently at the little king.

《I regret that I could not fulfill our promise.....》

The penguin, weeping softly, introduced himself as Lean and told Little One what had transpired.

It all began about three hundred years ago.

When the previous Golden King visited, the beast-humans were apparently already on the brink of extinction. Taking pity on them and seeking to save them, the previous Golden King had made a plea to the Lord of the Forest on his deathbed.

He asked them to protect the beast-humans.

The words were akin to a last will and testament. The Lords of the Forest took this to heart and had protected the beast-humans ever since. They fought desperately against repeated slave hunts, but since many beast-humans had already been sent to the battlefield as slave warriors, the King of Claudia had a large number of them in his possession. Using them as hostages, the former King of Claudia plotted to neutralize the Lords of the Forest.

Above all, Claudia held the remains of the Golden King. The former king blackmailed the Lords, telling them to obey if they wanted the body returned safely to Frontier.

This was the reason the Lords of the Forest surrendered completely to Claudia.

Originally, the penguins had lived in the Seaside Forest, and the swallows in the Plain Forest. They were forced to switch places, sapping their strength, and were slowly weakened over many long years. The Lord penguin was buried in the earth, and the Lord swallow was forbidden from leaving its cave.

The fact that the Golden Ring had been completed, allowing the Lords to be moved, also contributed to this tragedy.

However, each forest is fixed to its Lord. While it might accept the Lord’s successor, a forest cannot function properly with a Lord of a completely different species. Whether he knew this or not, the King of Claudia, holding the beast-humans hostage, committed every atrocity imaginable, pushing both the beast-humans and the Lords to the brink. With so many beast-humans held captive, the Lords had no way to resist. The swallow, confined to its cave, was said to be pitifully weakened and had fallen into a state of paranoia.

《Dark, who has lost the sky, is in greater distress than we who have lost the sea.》

And it was all because of the Golden King’s last wish..... Dark, forbidden from leaving the cave for hundreds of years, had her mind slowly eroded and now, it was said, she no longer even responded to Lean’s voice.

So that was why the Seaside Forest reacted the way it did when it saw me. The Golden King has come again. This will mean trouble.

The look in the swallows' eyes was akin to terror.

Swallows, who should soar through the great sky, were born and died in a damp, gloomy cave. There could be nothing more terrifying. Because of the Golden King's last words, they were threatened by the King of Claudia and could not resist.

Mārya’s loud voice rose up beside Little One, who had bitten her lip and hung her head.

"According to what I just heard, does that mean the previous Golden King left word with you, the Lords of the Forest, to protect the beast-humans?"

Mārya could not hear the Lords’ voices. She could only guess from Little One’s conversation, but she understood the main points.

"We are so grateful. Please, rest assured. It has been decided that we will be relocating to Frontier. It seems we will be able to live healthy lives in a safe country."

Seeing Mārya press her hands together as if in prayer, the penguin’s perfectly round eyes widened.

《Oh..... oh, is that so! Then we have fulfilled our pact? Now we can face the previous Lord! I..... what a blessing this is!!》

The penguin and the wolf wept and sobbed.

A low murmur that seemed to pierce the earth cut through the air.

"Well..... what can I say....."

Such a vile method, taking advantage of the deep affection of the beast-humans and the Lords. And using the Golden King’s remains for blackmail, that’s so inhuman it makes a dry laugh wither.

"For now, Dorfen and the others, head to the border village as planned, okay?"

Little One swiftly threw off her dress and slipped on her usual poncho. Then she leaped into the air and firmly grabbed Pochiko-san’s legs.

"Chihiro-sama?"

Looking down at the startled crowd, Little One flashed her usual cheerful smile.

"I’m just going to go give them a light little talking-to. Lean?"

《Huh.....?》

Little One shot a ray of light toward the penguin, who was regaining his vitality, filled with golden magic. A paan sound echoed, and as golden powder danced in the air, the penguin’s left eye took on a solemn glow.

《A pact..... I am most grateful!》

"I permit it. From this day forward, there is no reason to bow your heads to the Claudia Kingdom. In fact, you should teach them the terror of a Lord of the Forest."

Shattering the yoke that had bound the Lords, Little One twisted her lips into a smirk. Then she shot off in a straight line toward the Claudia Royal Palace.

"Hero!"

Chihaya, having predicted his sister’s actions, quickly grabbed onto Tarō-kun and chased after Little One.

"I’ll bring her back!"

Leaving those words behind, the twins disappeared into the far distance. Dorfen also hurriedly boarded the Honeybee Carriage.

"We depart at once! We’ll pick up the knights from the border town and go to Chihiro-sama’s aid!!"

No one noticed the single penguin that had deftly clung to the edge of the carriage as it hastily took to the air. The penguin gave Lean a small wave and journeyed into the sky with the carriage.

《Be careful.》

That penguin was Lean’s son, who had been held captive. He was the next Lord of the Plain Forest. In place of his parents who could not defy the Claudia Royal Palace, he had spiritedly charged the palace to rescue the beast-humans, but after a valiant fight, he was captured and had not been heard from since.

There are always those who charge off at a wild tangent. Yes, even among spirits.

Finally breathing a sigh of relief in the newfound peace, Lean led his clan toward the Seaside Forest. With the forests now connected, a golden ring, though misshapen, had formed in the borderlands. With the exception of the northern third, magic was beginning to fill the continent of Arcadia.

《Dark? It has been a long time.》

《..........》

The giant swallow said nothing.

《The current one seems to be quite an energetic young lady. She will return the sky to you.》

Suddenly, Dark’s shoulders, which had been hunched over, shook.

《.....Too late. Humans do nothing but evil.》

《Now, do not say that. The Golden King is human, too, is she not? I understand your resentment, but in that era, it was the best that could be done.》

Lean whispered placidly, as if to soothe her, but when he saw Dark’s face, he was at a loss for words. He looked around in dismay and saw that the eyes of every swallow there were glowing a sinister red.

Innumerable eerie gleams of light floated in the gloom.

Dark narrowed her red eyes with amusement, and her high-pitched laughter echoed through the cave.

《It’s too late! I’ve had enough of this miserable life. So, someone has to teach humans a lesson so they don’t do stupid things!!》

Drool trickled in a thread from the side of Dark’s beak. Lean remained frozen, unable to look away from those crimson eyes.

.....Madness? Impossible. I have never heard of a Lord of the Forest going mad.

The furious, cackling laughter reverberated in the cave, and the despair contained within it seeped into Lean’s very mind.

This is bad!

Sensing his life was in danger, Lean dove into the sea without a second thought. The young swallows flew around the cave as if on a rampage. Bobbing on the returning whitecaps, the penguins exchanged uneasy glances.

What in the world had just happened?

Little One was soaring through the sky, intending to blow the Claudia Royal Palace to smithereens.

Little One did not yet know of the future that awaited her, a future where she would stand dumbfounded as the situation took an even darker turn a short while later.

"Why did it turn out like thiiis?!"

A future in which, a little later, she would let her all-too-familiar phrase echo throughout the Seaside Forest was waiting for Little One ♪.