He trudged past me angrily.

 

"Was it something important?"

 

I pretended I didn't hear it.

 

"No, just stupid stuff."

 

The tunnel ended less than 30 meters after entering.

 

In front of us was a kind of dome-shaped roof, which in turn had a massive hole in the center. At one point, a small stream fell from above. Here was a real village, the houses were made of wood.

 

I estimated how many houses had this village. I stopped after counting more than 60 homes.

 

Sixty houses... to find the noble...

 

"Come on. I'll show you where to sleep."

 

He pointed to one of the slightly larger houses.

 

*Knock* *knock*

 

He knocked on the door of the house.

 

"I'm coming."

 

A woman's voice answered his knock. A moment later, the door swung open, and a woman in her mid-twenties was standing in front of us.

 

"How can I help?"

 

"This is Erika, and she has no place to sleep."

 

"And you thought, "Hey, they have enough space!?" Sim!?"

 

"Uhm... correct."

 

"Pah! Erika, was it?”

 

"Yes, ma'am."

 

“Please, you don't need to be so formally. Sim, just one night! ”

 

"Perfect, thank you!"

 

He sprinted away and left me with the stranger.

 

“Come in, Erika. Please close the door behind you.”

 

I stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind me.

 

“By the way, my name is Relena. Besides me, my grandfather and my little brother live in this house. Both are up in the living room. Here on the first floor are only our bedrooms, by the way, you have to sleep in my room.”

 

"...is that OK?"

 

"Yes, no problem. Come with me. I'll introduce you to both of them.”

 

She led me down the hall, then up the stairs and through the first door on the right.

 

"Taaro! Grandfather! We have someone who will stay with us for today. This is Erika.”

 

"Hi there."

 

I greeted them and made a slight bow.

 

"~Hello~! I am Taaro.”

 

Relena’s little brother jumped off the couch and ran to me to shake my hands. He was a little bit taller than me and had to be something between 10 and 12 years old. His eyes sparkled, and he smiled all over his face.

 

"Taaro! Erika is not a playmate, but a guest! Besides, she is older than you!”

 

"Uhm, I'm actually twelve."

 

"Uh!"

 

"I said I'm twelve."

 

"Yes, I understood that, but you were out with Sim this late..."

 

“Relena, please put your brother in bed. I want to talk to our guest alone.”

 

"Y-yes, grandfather."

 

"But…!"

 

"Come on, Taaro!"

 

Taaro struggled, but Relena pulled him out of the room.

 

The older man had never once shown an expression on his face so far, but after the door closed behind his grandchildren exited, his expression changed.

 

"What do you want from us?"

 

"What do you mean?"

 

I didn't understand his question.

 

“You are obviously not one of us, but nevertheless, one of the fanatics brought you along. So you are valuable to them, or you have tricked them.”

 

"Touche."

 

"What, please?"

 

“I agree with you. I am not one of you, but that also doesn't mean that I am your enemy.”

 

"Right, but that doesn't change the fact that you're here, and I want to know why?"

 

“The group around Sim(?) kidnapped a nobleman from Egoss, and I'm a member of the search party. On the way to the nearby watchtower, three shapeshifters tried to lure us into a trap, but I was able to see through their cunning and prevent it.”

 

"You killed them?"

 

"Yes, we killed them!"

 

He lowered his head.

 

"I think they deserved to be punished, but still... I know everyone in the village with all their quirks... may they rest in peace."

 

"If not everyone in the village is involved, can I assume that the prisoners are not here?"

 

"That's right, our elder is peaceful and wants to avoid conflicts, but his third son Darwas has many followers among the younger shapeshifters, and they follow him no matter how ideological his ideas are."

 

"Then why did one of them bring me to you and not to hide me?"

 

"You are a girl, that's the reason. Darwas's views are extreme... He looks down on other races or the opposite sex. He could be a king in some human country with this kind of personality, but still, young men and women of our village follow him. In short, he's a monster with great skills to manipulate the people.”

 

"The more I hear, the more I want to polish his feet."

 

"So…!"

 

He got up and looked at me.

 

“...we should sleep. Tomorrow is also a day."

 

"What about Relena?"

 

“She's putting her brother to bed, so she's already down there. Just come with me.”

 

"OK."

 

We were walking down the hall when I remembered something important.

 

"Is there unguarded access to the village?"

 

"Do you want to raid our village?"

 

"Ha!? No, but my team is in the nearby watchtower. I want to send them a status report. Please, any information helps me, should I not come back to report to them, it could be that if they find this village they will kill everyone here.”

 

"Oho... So you're just blindly trusting the words of an enemy?"

 

“Well, I take note of it. My intuition tells me that you are not an enemy or your grandchildren.”

 

"I feel the same."

 

A grin spread across his face.

 

"Let's take a "secret path," I will show you the way."

 

"Are you sure? You wanted to go to sleep.”

 

"No problem. Follow me."

 

He went down the stairs and stopped at the door.

 

"Relena, I will do something with our guest, please go to bed early too."

 

"Good."

 

He turned to me and signaled to follow before moving again.

 

We left the house and approached a nearby shed. He stopped in the shadow of the shed.

 

 "Wait a second."

 

His body shimmered for a moment, and a short time later, a pegasus stood in front of me.

 

"... you can take absolutely any shape."

 

--Not everything--

 

"Huh? You have (telepathy)?”

 

--But only because it is a special ability of a Pegasus.--

 

“What does "not everything" actually mean?”

 

--The most significant limitation is that a shapeshifter can only mimic people and creatures of their gender. I couldn't take the form of a dryad, and Relena can't take the form of an Ent. There are, of course, strange subraces that overcome our rules of transformation. Another limitation is that you need to know the creatures you want to mimic. The more details you know, the better the copy.--

 

"Then... what do you look like? Your default form?"

 

--Like everyone else?--

 

"..."

 

--We look like normal humans or do you think we are walking in our village around transformed?--

 

"I don't know."

 

--Come on, let's go.--

 

He sat down in front of me.

 

--Jump on--

 

"Oh, ok."

 

I climbed up on his back.

 

--Hold on tight.--

 

He pushed off the ground and flew up with rapid wing beats. He headed towards the hole in the ceiling.

 

"Isn't that "secret path" too flashy!?"

 

--It will work. Hardly anyone is out so late.--

 

"..."

===

We were flying high up in the air, and I could take a look at the huge forest around us from his back.

 

--Isaak.--

 

"Isaak?"

 

--That's my name.--

 

"Eris."

 

--Not Erika? -

 

"No, Eris."

 

--Nice to meet you.--

 

"Likewise."

 

--By the way, we're almost there. I'm going to descend.--

 

"If you don't mind, I get here out because I want to practice flying with my wings."

 

--Huh? If you want to.--

 

I dropped back from his back. At first, I fell almost vertically towards the ground before I opened my wings and started to glide in the air.

 

Wings are something incredibly great...

 

The tower was not far away, it took less than 5 minutes, and we had reached the tower.

 

"Are you coming with me, or do you want to wait outside?"

 

--I come with you! I want to know what kind of people travels with you to get a better picture of them myself.--

 

"As you wish."

 

We landed a few meters from the tower. The guard had noticed us and immediately dispatched a patrol.

 

"Eris?"

 

"Oh! Dario."

 

Of the five approaching people, 3 were guards from the living room, as well as the ax fighter from Viktor's team and Dario. I just remembered that I still didn't know the name of the ax fighter.

 

"How did a-."

 

Dario wanted to walk over to me, but when he saw the defending Pegasus next to me, he stopped.

 

"What is a Pegasus doing here?"

 

"He is helping me. Isn't that cool? ”

 

I stroke the neck of the Pegasus, when I said that.

 

I didn't see the need to inform Dario of the true identity immediately. Isaak could do this himself.

 

"Uh. yes, cool?"

 

--Nice to meet you, Dario?--

 

Dario's eyes widened.

 

"Y-yes, me too?"

 

--Isaak.--

 

"Good, Isaak, me too."

 

“We should all gather and discuss something. Dario, can you gather everyone in front of the tower? ”

 

"Of course, should everyone come?"

 

"Yes, without exception, if possible!"

 

"Ok, I'll let Sarna and Daria know."

 

The ax fighter approached me.

 

"Hey..."

 

"What's happening?"

 

"I-it's about Viktor."

 

"Something happened?"

 

"Well, yes... He... how should I put it... he was badly injured fighting the shapeshifter."

 

"Is he…"

 

"No, no, no! He is still alive, but he can't walk anymore. Several bones are broken, and we don't have a doctor here to check if the damage will be permanent.”

 

"Sh*t! I should have stayed with you.”

 

"Don't blame yourself. We defeated him, and that's the most important thing.”

 

--This shapeshifter, what kind of shapes did he take?--

 

"I wasn't there, but what I heard from the others that it was a vampire, a burning lizard, a bird made of ice, and... a shadowy figure."

 

--This figure... Eris, that was...--

 

"Isaak? Isaak, what's going on? ”

 

--Eris, this shadowy figure was a void digger. In our village is only one person who came into contact with a void digger.--

 

"And who is it?"

 

--Tisso, he's the younger brother of our elder... He should be imprisoned. Three years ago our eldest sentenced him to a lifetime imprisoning after he tried to massacre a human village.--

 

"What does that mean for us?"

 

--If he is still alive, it means that there are far more involved from the village than I would like to.--

 

*Ahem*

 

The ax fighter cleared his throat and spoke.

 

"I could only hear half of you, but what I heard was that we had a problem?"

 

--There are unexpected difficulties.--

 

As Isaak answered him, I turned my gaze to the entrance to the tower.

 

Sarna came out with Viktor. He was sitting on an improvised version of a wheelchair that she was pushing forward. It also gave the impression that almost everyone already gathered.

 

Sarna and Viktor came up to us.

 

"Back already, little one?"

 

"Welcome back, Eris."

 

"Yes! I'm back. How... how are you? I heard that with your legs.”

 

"I live, what is more important? When we are back in Astel, a healer should be able to heal my legs, so don't worry."

 

--And how do you want to travel so far with this leg? With your leg, someone has to push you permanently, and you and this person who drives you are easy targets.--

 

"That may be, but there will be a shift change by tomorrow, and a carriage will come to bring the new guards here and take the old ones with them."

 

"Guys, I don't want to disturb, but it's late, and everyone is already here."

 

"I'll start then. What about you, Isaak?"

 

--Up to you.--