The moment we heard the sound of voices, Greenie was already diving head first into a nearby bush.

I'd gotten off his shoulder when he started heading in the opposite direction from the lake.

Wasn''t that a bit of an overreaction, Greenie?

'Come on, Greenie, let's go!' Pointing my wings towards the lake, I croak in the usual signal.

No response.

Going right up the bush he was in, I stuck my head in as far as I could go so I could lightly tap on his knee with my beak.

"Kie."

This time he responds, but with a sound that sounds a lot like a no. An increased level of intelligence, and he was disagreeing with me.

If it was before his evolution, he might have abandoned me like that time with the wolves.  But he had stayed.

Even though he was scared. I could sense it, through the strange link we had.

I was proud of his growth, though the timing was a bit bad. And he may be right. I was getting ahead of myself. Whoever was out there wouldn't be happy to see a monster suddenly appearing before them in this forest that was filled with other scary creatures.

But maybe this was a fantasy world where goblins were accepted, or at least tolerated? After all, Greenie had been so kind when he'd healed me with that potion when we first met.

A soft gust of wind blows over to where we were, carrying with it the scent of baked goods.

MMmmmm!

Greenie smells it too, his nostrils flaring wide as he takes in the scent. But he doesn't budge when I tap him on the knee again.

Why??

Why can't you come with me to go take a closer look?

There were so many unanswered whys when it came to Greenie. Why he was all alone by himself in these woods. Why he was scared of me, of all the creatures that we saw. Why he'd chosen to heal me.

Please Greenie? Tilting my head up at him, I try to send him feelings of a full tummy, comfort, happiness, and point my beak towards the source of the sound.

My parents had taught me to never enter any relationship, even friendship, with someone while holding a preconception of them from their appearance or from what you'd heard about them. Treat everyone you meet equally, no matter if it was a homeless person on the street or a CEO of a large conglomerate, Dad had said.

Then, over time, you could judge for yourself what kind of people they were by their actions, and their actions only.

Dad's job as a high-profile lawyer had turned him into a cautious being. It was better to have as few enemies as possible, and not being an ass to other people had already taken him a long way.

Dad was also obsessed with fairness in his personal life. Maybe it was an effect of his work where he was surrounded by a lot of injustice. Most of his work was spent on winning the cases of privileged clients that were clearly guilty of their crimes, but had paid him an exorbitant amount to get them out of it.

It was a strange, hypocritical way to live that I'd never understood. But I'd taken the principle of not judging a book by their cover for myself. It had helped me when I was struggling to find out the information I needed for a project, giving me a connection from the unlikeliest of places.

So don't be scared, Greenie! There might be good people over there.

And there were other possibilities too!

They may be non-humans! Like dwarves! Or some other cool race! Actually, I didn't really care what they were, either way, as long as they had food. Real food that I could nibble on.

Bread sounded really good right now. Soft, fluffy, fragrant bread. YUM.

Meanwhile, the voices continue their conversation,

"sghjkdso sfjh, adshj"

"jeckn"

It was too bad I couldn't understand any word that was being said. I didn't bother trying to focus on the words they spoke. It didn't matter when I was a bird that couldn't speak to them.

Anyways, I'm a bird, so let's be casual and get a drink of water. Gotta quench my thirst first.

With a hop and a skip, I fly towards the lake, landing on a rock right by the edge of the water, and take a deep, long drink.

Well I tried to take a deep, long drink. My beak was in the water, and I could feel the coldness against my short tongue, my butt stuck high up in the air...But there was no swallowing motion to trigger, like the usual human way.

I hadn't realized birds couldn't gulp like a human could with their throat. Hahhh. My wings sagged, as I collected water in my beak and tipped my head back to feel it course down my throat.

It's been a long time since I drank some water. I think the mixture of dead animals that Mother had been feeding me was also my source of liquid before. I couldn't tell, since she'd been sticking her beak down my throat to feed me. Blegh.

Anyways, back to the water.

Ahhhh. That was nice.

I drink till my belly feels full.

And for the first time, I see my own reflection. A round ball of fluffiness, with a patch of white in the center, stares back from dark blue round eyes. Quite cute, if I did say so myself.

Much shapelier than a crow's, my beak was wider and more curved. But my feet…they made me a bit self-conscious...

They were huge! It was like seeing a little kid trying out a pair of their mother's high heels. The legs were long and strong looking, with a pair of sharp talons that curved into a wicked point. And I looked very different from a crow. I had a little tuft of hair that grew atop my bill, waving at me from my reflection as the wind blew.

Also my soft feathers were much shinier, with a dark, wet, blue-black sheen.

Totally different from a crow and their grey/black, dull feathers..

I take the time to admire my reflection, preening myself. First impressions were everything. This one especially, when good food was on the line.

Out of the corner of my eye, I observe the group chatting on my left.

It was a group of 3 men, human men, it seemed they were, lounging against the trees as they talked with each other.

Were they a part of some sort of cult?

It would be a very rich cult, from the looks of it.

2 of the men were skinny, young and handsome as they each held a golden staff, sitting on white squares of cloth that laid over the ground, keeping their long robes from getting dirty.

The other man, with a strong, set jaw and a clean-cut look was wearing heavy-looking, ornate armor that looked more artistic than it did functional. It was gaudy, the way they were dressed, especially in contrast to the simple background of the woods surrounding them.

They were all dressed in a pure, blinding white. Even the armor that the bigger man of the group was wearing was pure white, embossed with gold trim.
Very nice, the armor was. Very, very, nice and shiny.

The shield laid across his lap had the same design, except with 3 sapphire blue gemstones embedded into it as part of a larger design, though I couldn't see what the design was. They sparkled under the sunlight, and I was mesmerized.

I want one of those gems…

And-

Water drips out of my beak when I look more closely at what they were doing as they talked.

Wait, was that-

FOOOOOOOD!!

They don't seem to have noticed me yet. But they were eating!

While keeping 『Hide』active, I fly up high above the clear, still waters of the lake and back down into the tree one of the men were leaning against.

Yep, that was a sandwich all right. A nice, juicy, ham? Sandwhich.

The bread looked wonderful too!! I could tell it hard, like a baguette, but with a white fluffy inside and a hard crispy exterior. The way the warrior guy was biting into the bread was a sight to behold. His jaw working to crunch into that bread, I could just imagine the delicious sound it made.

The younger two were eating small brown cookies from a handkerchief in their lap. Oooooh! So that was what I smelled when I was trying to convince Greenie.

I wanted a piece of that so bad.

How did the pigeons do it on the train platform? Was I supposed to stare at them with wide, watery eyes, and trigger their sympathy?

Wait, did pigeons beg for food or was it dogs that did that?

I'd never bothered to observe any pigeons when I was outside. Not when I had the option of surfing the internet on my phone. If I remember correctly, they would wander around by people that were eating, and wait for the crumbs.

Never in my life would I have imagined that I would be doing what they had been doing.

Oh well. I needed to make do with what I had.

Doing it pigeon-style sounded like a plan as good as any. Okay, that came out sounding wrong. Let's ignore what I just said.

Turn off『Hide』!

And let's go say hi!

HI!

"Aaark!" I let out a deep-throated croak with jubilee.

Spreading my wings, I flutter down off the branch, right towards the middle of the 3 men who were facing each other as they sat and ate.

ZAP!

Ow!! That hurt!!

One black raven bounces off an unseen barrier and falls onto the ground outside the copse of trees towards the lake.

Something like an electrical current had hit me the moment I got within 3 meters of them.

"Afjhakf!!"

"Sfhj!!!!"

"Mncvmnx!!!!!!!"

The warrior guy jumps to his feet while the two other skinny men look up in alarm.

All three pairs of eyes widen when they see me.

Yeah, you should be shocked, getting scared of a small thing like me.

What is wrong with you people!

Couldn't you let a little baby bird like me share some of the yummy-looking food??

One of the priests starts speaking frantically, holding his golden staff out in front of him.

A force field that prevented birds like me from entering was such overkill. Were they going to zap every little butterfly that flew by too??

Shaking off the pain from the shock, I hippity-hop forward again, trying to look as pathetic and sad as possible.

Won't you please share some of your food with me? Was the message I tried to get across as I looked at them, hopping up and down in the tall grass.