I walk towards the hunter's association. It seems I entered a residential area, as the number of passengers has decreased significantly. I can see children playing together with their mothers next to them.

“...”

It is a nostalgic scenery. I vaguely remember seeing something like this outside the windows in my previous life. Looking at the children's cheerful expressions, I used to wonder how it felt like to run around and play like that. Although they are demons, their custom resembles that of humans.

'It's not just their intelligence.' Arachne is the best example of a sensible race that differs notably from the humans.

If the hunter's association also works similarly to the adventurer's guild, I can think of two ways of making money from there : taking requests or selling materials obtained from monsters.

'I doubt small requests would be enough for the amount I want, and better requests should require me to have some kind of rank or reputation to accept them. But I should be able to defeat some strong monsters, and sell the materials from them.'

Even though I am not stronger than all of the beastmen, I have my own methods and experience of hunting monsters. After having observed them for the past week, I came to think that I should be able to defeat monsters that even the strongest ones among them should struggle against.

'Under the conditions that I can learn enough about the monsters before going into a fight.'

I have multiple ways to exploit weaknesses a monster might have. Under proper circumstances, I can beat those far stronger than I am, but it also requires me to create the situation, and that means I need to learn about them beforehand.

'I wonder if beastmen trade information about the monsters?' I have been studying my opponent myself. Thanks to my wind and light magic, I can stay mostly safe while observing them from afar, but it still remains to be a dangerous task. If I can learn from the experience of others, there would be nothing better.

'I can't wait to find out about new types of monsters I've never seen before.' Stories from those who traveled around the world should have all kinds of monsters in them. Maybe there will even be mentions about dragons that I have heard about in fairy tales, or at least drakes, their lesser races.

'Not to mention how the others fight.' Watching the battles in the coliseum was interesting, but the methods of fighting monsters are something else. I'm sure I can learn a lot.

'… But maybe I can't find any of those?' If they end up being different from what I'm imagining, I'd want them at least to share a list of materials I can sell for high price.

'I can find out soon enough.' There is no use to think too much about it, so I hasten my steps towards the hunters association.

 

---

 

'What is this?' In this peaceful area, my wind magic detects something unusual.

The smell of blood, and sound of blunt impacts, most likely someone getting hit. Focusing my detection around the area, I find four beastmen surrounding one... bird girl? Considering that she has bird legs with black feathers, she has the characteristics of a black harpy, with one thing that is missing... I can only find one wing. On her right shoulder where her wing should be coming out from, I can see a huge scar under her clothe. It's a mark of how her wing got cut off.

'She wouldn't be able to fly like that.' I don't know what happened for her to end up like that, but a powerful monster can easily do that much. If she did encounter one, she would be in fact considered lucky to get out alive.

In a narrow back alley with just five of them, the harpy is curled up on the ground and the four beastmen are trampling on her. It seems rolling up is effectively defending herself against the damage, so their intention doesn't appear to be killing her.

“It is such a disgrace that a filthy harpy is among us.” One of the beastmen hisses at her, while the others also spit out cursing words. After continuing that for a while, they leave with satisfied expressions.

She does have dirt all over her, but that shouldn't be what they mean by “filthy”. In fact, I have witnessed this kind of behavior among the monsters.

'It's similar to the way monsters treat their captives.'

Although it was more heavy on the verbal abuse, their look of disdain is the same. And considering that Black Harpies are not part of this country of beastmen, it all makes sense.

Even though they can communicate with each other and their appearances are somewhat similar, those who are from different groups tend to be enemies.

Just like the monsters that live in group like orcs and goblins, they care for each other. But when it comes to those from outside their group, they fight them off them together.

'But it wasn't the case for the Tail Foxes.'

During the time I have spent in their village, I have never witnessed such behavior. It wasn't just for those from their alliance, but also for monsters living in the vicinity. They only hunted when they needed food, but that was all there was to it.

'Persecuting those outside of their group to strengthen their bonds.'

It must be because the Tail Foxes have the power to protect themselves without having to do all of that. Their carelessness would have led to their demise otherwise. Does that mean what I have just witnessed was a necessary trait for weaker races to survive?

'I don't have the answer to that.' But the theory seems coherent from what I know so far. I push the analysis to a corner of my mind, and enter the back alley to walk towards the harpy.

“I'm sorry, please don't hit me.”

Even though the beastmen have left, she is staying in the same posture, and keeps apologizing. She doesn't seem to notice me neither, so I flip her to face me using my feet. It is pretty handy to be so proficient at using my feet!

Her face is completely swollen up from the beating, but I can tell that she is looking at me. Under her tattered clothes, I can see cuts and bruises on both the human body and bird limbs.

“What happened?” As I ask her, she widens her eyes.

“A goddess?”
It looks like she is out of her mind. But it isn't a bad thing that she doesn't see me as an enemy since I'd like to ask her questions. I should return her to her sane state though.

I crouch down and extend my hand. I pour my light mana inside her, and spread it throughout her body. While inspecting to find all her wounds, I also heal them at the same time. She flinches upon noticing the flow of mana, but soon submits herself to it. The wounds on her body close, and the swellings on her face gradually disappear as her human like expression returns to her.

Except that she is still missing a wing, she properly looks like a Black Harpy.

“What happened?” I repeat my question once again. She should be able to respond properly this time. However, she instead raises her upper body and extends her hand towards me.

“Are you the goddess of wind?” She asks me while cuddling my hair.

'I wonder where she got that idea? Do goddesses look like little girls in this world?' I did see that kind of thing in games in my previous life, but that shouldn't be real, I think. While wondering about it, I notice her delightful gaze on my hair that she is fondling.

'I know this light green color represents the strong wind affinity that I possess, but isn't she going a bit too far? To mistake me for a goddess of the wind just because of my hair color... Ah, she started rubbing her cheeks against it.'

Anyways, I should clear this up before she becomes any weirder.

“No.”

“Oops, I am sorry, please don't be mad at me. I just thought it's color was beautiful... Thank you for healing me!” She grabs my hand to express her gratitude.

'I knew it was because of the color' Anyways, it seems that she understood, so I should move on.

“My question.” It was the whole reason why I healed her, so I urge her to continue.

“About that, I was living in my home with my parents and my five brothers and sisters. Even though my brothers were a bit annoying at times, we did get well along, and I really miss those days. My mother used to bring me my favorite food everyday. Like that day...” As she opens her mouth, words come out one after another relentlessly.

This is no good. If I leave her alone, this is going to continue forever.

“Make it short.”

“... When I was practicing flying, I went a bit too far and was caught by the beastmen. After that, I got sold off somewhere and this is how I ended up.”

I feel like the story skipped a bit too many details, especially towards the end, like the part between where she got sold off and right now. At least, she seems to listen to what I ask her, so I'll keep questioning her.

“Who bought you and why?”

“He was a noble with lots of money, I am expensive after all. They said Black Harpies are valuable goods!” Exclaiming as such, she puffs up her chest.

“...” She sure did recover quickly. Even though it shouldn't have been a good memory being sold like that, she can still be proud of it.

“How much did you cost?” Since she seems so eager to tell me about it, I ask her. It's not unrelated to my goal neither.

“Do you want to know? Heheh, it was...” With a smug face, she shows me three feathers.

“Three hundred gold coins! Isn't that amazing.. I mean, ain't I amazing?”

I'm glad that she is happy about it, so I nod to her. Now, about the second part of my question...

“Why?”

“It's because I am a black harpy, and that apparently makes me so valuable. My brothers kept telling me that I was dumb, so I always thought I was worthless...”

I'm not sure what I should say seeing her suddenly discouraged. I gotta change the topic, in fact that wasn't even what I was asking, so I'm just going back to the original question... no, I should see this by myself.

“Where did you get sold from?”

“It... was somewhere at the eastern district. It was fifth district, if I remember correctly...” She lowers her head as she responds.

I don't know what value a Black Harpy has. It could be a material she produces, her magical ability, or anything else. But that isn't important right now.

'It's a place where they trade their captives.' And that involves races like harpies that are so similar to them. But then what about humans? I have sensed some hostility towards me, so I already know that they aren't completely friendly, but it has never surfaced yet.

'I might be able to find the answer over there.' I probably wanted to forget about it, but this is a world where killing makes you stronger. Those who don't want to fight fall off, just to be consumed by the strong.

'I decided to fight, so I can't overlook this anymore.' Remembering the town's map I saw at the plaza, I broaden the range of my detection and turn around. It shouldn't be difficult to find the way.