Oof.

My head felt woozy.

And my beak was making creaking noises.

Because a goblin was trying to stuff a hearty lump of meat into my mouth.

Pei!

I spit out the meat he'd wedged between my beak.

Greenie falls back on his butt, surprised that I was moving. Turns out I was flat on my back on the stone cold floor, legs faced towards the giant stone doors that were back the way they'd appeared. The ice covering the door was now gone, shattered to pieces where the runes had moved underneath it like interlocking puzzle pieces.

What was that vision I'd seen? It felt so real, like I was there in that moment while the fat man yelled at me.

There was one giant red gem sparkling up high at the top of the doors. It hadn't been noticeable until now, hidden behind long ice stalactites that were now shattered on the ground.

"Kri!"

The goblin looked happy to see me conscious.

I'm fine, Greenie.

Trying to reassure him, I flew up to his shoulder and patted him on the head with my wing. The notification boxes follow me when I move, and I read through each one and wave it away.
Who was this Ildrig person?

And this was a gate? Where would the gates lead..

Maybe the red gem was transparent, and I could see through it into the other side.

Now if I could figure out how to fly..

I had the skill, so I knew I could do it.

Last time, I thought really hard about flying, thinking about how to move each strange wing muscle.

Let's try not thinking about it and try out the skill.

『Flight』 !

My small wings are able to gather the wind, and somehow, I'm airborne!

Don't think, don't think, don't think..

FEEEL!

JUUUUUST DO IT!!

Huff.

Squeezing my small body into the space around the gem where it's embedded into the door, I press one eye to the gem and peer in.

[You do not have the qualifications to enter]

Aw come on, system lady, let me in!

[You do not have the qualifications to enter]

One more time!

[You do not have the qualifications to enter]

Okay.

Fine.

I know when I'm being rejected. I glide back down to where Greenie sits leaning back on his hand, other hand patting his stomach.

Somebody was full of meat.

He better not have eaten the human body parts though. It felt wrong.

Now don't ask me why it felt wrong. Wrong was wrong.

Somehow, I need to figure out a way to bury the meat-

Whoops.

-Remains of the dead humans.

It wasn't good to keep calling them meat.

What do you do to show respect to the dead again? Press F-??

Oh wait. I think you're supposed to bow..
Bowing my head in respect towards the pile, I hope they died easy deaths.

Though they probably didn't since they were like this, ripped apart.

I didn't care about the pig-man creatures. Those tasted good.

"Swei! Skee!"

I call Greenie, who was busy picking at his teeth with a bone shard and fly over to the pile. Time to organize~

Organizing was fun! If only I had some stickies, then I could label each one, though Greenie wouldn't be able to read it. Maybe color-coding would work.

Red for humans, blue for the pig humanoids, orange for the brown-white salamander meat, and green for goblin meat, yellow for others (The ones that were too moldy or shredded with teeth marks to tell what they originally were).

Wait, can goblins see in color?

This wouldn't work if Greenie was color blind.
Standing behind me, Greenie shivers. It was quite cold in the cavern. We would have to head back to our cave soon, before it got dark and Greenie got sick from the cold. 

Crunch.

Also, Greenie kept eating the ice shards mixed in with the meat. I think he liked the crunchiness.

Crunch.

For once, I had the advantage against Greenie when it came to this place. The cold didn't affect me, since I had warm, fluffy feathers covering my body. It might be nice if humans had pretty feathers like mine. They were a shiny ebony color, glossy like an expensive piano, laying against my body in perfect symmetry the way I'd arranged them.

Greenie seemed to like them too. Sometimes I would catch him staring at my feathers longingly, and then back at his little stick. There was no way I was giving him any.

Though I did like you Greenie. You don't weigh me down like my parents or my coworkers did in the vision. Since I'm your master now, I should take care of you. Though you don't expect any help from me. And you'd helped me more than I did you.

....I don't wanna give you my feathers. Maybe once they fall out, but definitely not until then! 

We needed to get to know each other better before I gave you one of my important feathers, too.

Not in a romantic way or anything.

I don't swing that way. The goblin way, I mean. 

Alright, time to try out Appraisal on Greenie.

『Appraisal』

Ding~!

---Status---
Name:
Greenie
Race:
Common Forest Goblin
Title:
Common Bird's Pet
Magic:
N/A
Abilities:
Special Skill [Luck]
Skill [Stab]
Skill [Gross Eater]
Skill [Night Vision]
Skill [Call]
Skill [Escape] 
Resistances: [Poison Resistance] [Rot Resistance]
------

...........Let's skip the part where I'm called a common bird, shall we?

Most of the stats looked fitting for a goblin to have. Except luck.

Well color me surprised!

This goblin had a luck skill!

How did he get that??

Maybe I can appraise the skill..

Ding~!

Luck Skill:
Rarity: Uncommon
Inherent trait. Granted by an unknown god who revels in causing chaos and confusion.
Slightly turns the odds in the owner's favor at random times.

Aw man, so it was true that some people were just born lucky. 

Whatever god granted a common goblin a luck skill was a smart one. To cause chaos and confusion, granting Greenie a skill like this was perfect. Imagine a human adventurer fighting against a goblin and dying because of a lucky hit.

What a terrible way to go. That would certainly throw me off guard.

This skill also explained this closed off cavern that Greenie was using as his personal refrigerator. It wasn't like anybody could just waltz in here. As his master, Greenie's strengths were my strengths. This Luck skill boded well for us.

I wonder what other things this luck skill can bring.. and how much was it able to affect this world?

Welp. No use thinking about it now.

Greenie and I needed to divide and conquer!

『Appraisal』

『Appraisal』

『Appraisal』

Gotta appraise em’ all!

 

{Orc Head}

{Ice}

{Human Arm}

{Drago Salamander Foot}

{Ice}

{Human Finger}

{Flower Boar Innards}

{Ice}

.....

There wasn't much in terms of what I could eat here, only the 2 smaller salamander feet, 1 orc head, 1 orc arm, and the flower boar innards. The salamander feet were in the best shape, while everything else had bite marks and rot settling in.

Using my beak, I peck and separate the jumble of body parts. Not understanding what I'm doing, Greenie copies me by pushing the pieces around. This was great. He was able to achieve the exact opposite of what I wanted him to do.

I wish there was a better way for me to communicate with him what I wanted..

My body couldn't handle the constant pecking and knocking against cold flesh with my head to move it where I wanted it to go. There needed to be a better way, where Greenie and I could work together.

Racking my brain for possible options, I think back on all the dog training videos I'd somehow watched on the train. To train a dog, you needed treats and giving pats on the head to reward good behavior. But I couldn't pat Greenie on the head with my wings. I would lose balance and fall off.

Also the treats wouldn't work. The size difference between the large orc arm and my body was too much. What was I gonna do, roll the arm at him each time he did what I wanted?

Even if I did go to the trouble of tearing off little pieces, it wasn't like I had a bag to hide them away in.

I wanted to do it like those pet owners who had a special bag of treats on their belt, for their pet that they could reach in and offer.

Where would I get the fabric for a bag?

No, that was overthinking it.

I guess I could just offer a piece to him when he did good?

Stupid me. I smack my head with one black wing. Stop thinking and DO IT.

Let's try out some other options.

When I was a kid, I'd had an obsession (one of the many that I apparently had) with that movie where a rat learned to cook, controlling a human by the hair on his head.

This was a fantasy world right?

It might work.

Flying up to the top of Greenie's head, I look down at the pile that Greenie continues to push around with green hands.

When he reaches for a human finger, I pull at his stringy hair with my beak. This was better than pecking at him. Pecks, I would save for when he did something really bad.

Greenie's hand jerks back, and moves to the orc head, pushing it to the left.

Good, edible meat would go there.

Again, he reaches for the human arm that looks withered, with the moisture evaporated away from it. The thicker meat around the bicep area makes me think it was a man's arm.

Pull!

It's working! Greenie turns and picks up the brown salamander foot instead.

 

 

After a few rounds, we've done it!

Diving down to the ground from atop Greenie's head, I rip off a piece of orc meat and drop it in front of Greenie, who eats it with happy noises.

Great job!

Although the hair-pulling control mechanism didn't work exactly as it was pictured in the movie, it was good enough. The human body parts and monster meat was gathered and divided into two smaller piles.

Chatter-chatter.

Greenie's shivering was getting worse. We needed to get back to our cave. The human remains, we would have to take care of later.

The jar Greenie's brought makes scraping noises as I push it towards the mound of monster meat. This would be our food store. Until I could figure out how exactly Greenie was getting this food, it would have to last.

Together, we rip off pieces of flesh and drop it in the jar, and once it's filled, I start hopping back towards the exit. There was no cold resistance on Greenie's status, so I wanted to get him out before he got sick. Hearing the footsteps behind me, I know that Greenie's following me out.

Thanks Ildrig's Gates! Thanks Ice Cavern!

We'll be back~!