Vol. 11 - Chapter 595 - Shea's desire
"It\'s so helpful to know he\'s gathering them for us. We should give him some of these eggs."
They continued flying above the Paradise of Primordial Beasts without much change, until Shea spotted something approaching rapidly.
"Hm! Is that an enemy?!!"
\'Cawwwwwww!!\'
Two enormous crows of blue fire approached them, so Shea got ready to fight them;.
"Hmph!!"
One of the ghosts tried to attack Shea, but her fist broke its beak, and then she punched the other one in the throat, killing them before they could make a noise. Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground, but Allen\'s group continued traveling without collecting their items.
"I guess bird ghosts nest around here… We should go higher to shake them off, Griff, use Soar!!"
\'Gururu!!\'
After using the Bird E summon\'s Awakened Skill [Clairvoyance], Allen saw that the sky was filled with bird ghosts that did not exist around Albahar Village, so he began flying higher. The Paradise of Primordial Beasts\'s ground was largely dry and arid, but there were tall trees without leaves dotted around, and perched on them were hundreds of bird ghosts 10 meters in size, which began to fly into the air as they saw Allen\'s summon overhead. The Bird B summon had Growth maxed out and also had Command applied, so it quickly flew much higher, leaving that place behind.
(Actually, this reminds me…)
Allen recalled something Merus told him not too long ago when someone spoke to him.
\'Allen, the Mythical Beast Rame\'s nest is ahead, it should stand out as it\'s rather large.\'
(I see, thanks for telling me. I guess it\'s Rame from Rameciel?)
Luvanka had spoken into Allen\'s mind, and he replied to him. The Mythical Beast Rame was largely venerated by the birdman country of Rameciel. Rame was way older than Kuwatoro, and seemed to live in the divine realm now. There was also the Demigod Rank monster Albaheron Legend that was venerated in Rameciel, though as that one was a monster, it was more appropriate to say they feared it. Albaheron Legend had started as a D Rank monster, but it grew into a demigod, making it well-known even in places like Albahar. Its success story was also an inspiration for many adventurers.
[Albaheron monsters and their Ranks] -D Rank: Albaheron -C Rank: High Albaheron -B Rank: Albaheron General -A Rank: King Albaheron -S Rank: Albaheron Emperor -Demigod: Albaheron Legend
"It seems we\'ve stepped into the Mythical Bird\'s territory, let\'s get away."
"The Mythical Bird? I wonder how long it\'ll take for the Mythical Bird Rame to become a God."
"Hopefully soon. There\'s a chance a Bird God\'s feathers work like a Phoenix Down after all."
(I hate only being able to revive once.)
Summons seemed to be designed after Gods, like Isiris was the base for the Wraith A summon. Maybe Kuwatoros\' Awakened Skill Phoenix Wings was based off a Mythical Bird.
\'You\'re still in the Mythical Bird\'s territory… You should get further away.\'
Luvanka told Allen that, so he steered the Bird B summon away. Once they were out of Rame\'s territory, Allen checked if any ghosts were following them. He also tried to focus on using his Generation Skill again, since the ghosts had distracted him.
"There seem to be a lot of flying enemies…I guess we have no choice, Shea, we\'re switching places."
"I appreciate that."
Cecile and Shea switched places, since Shea had no long range attacks, while Cecile\'s magic would let her strike many enemies without disturbing Allen.
(Though with this much Intelligence it\'s not much of a bother.)
Thanks to Allen\'s overwhelming Intelligence and Sharing, he could give the Bird B exact directions so its back would not shake even with harsh movements. Still, Shea came and sat in front of Sophie, helping with Allen\'s work.
"Just put the finished Golden Eggs in the hole here."
Allen told her to place the finished Golden Eggs into the open Grimoire.
"Got it. Oh, oops."
A Golden Egg slipped from Shea\'s hand and rolled off into a fall towards the ground.
"Hm? Hawk, pick it up!"
\'Pii!!\'
A Bird E summon that was flying with them quickly picked up the egg and put it in the Grimoire.
"Whoops."
Another one fell from Shea\'s hand.
"Hawk."
\'Pii!\'
"Sorry."
Shea\'s voice did not sound sincere at all, like she did not really care about it.
"I guess you\'ve never helped out with things?"
"Hm? That\'s not true."
"Really?"
"Mhm. I\'d always thank the maid who came to clean my room."
Shea had grown as Albahar\'s princess, and she said that with a proud voice.
"That\'s not exactly helping out. Still better than Cecile going berserk when I did her bed though…"
Thunk
(Ouch!)
Just when Allen wanted to say Shea still acted better than Cecile, he felt a sharp pain in his side, where Cecile\'s elbow had dug itself into his body.
(Now that I think about it, there\'s two princesses and a noble here. I\'m the only serf.)
Allen smiled for a second, realized he was surrounded by 3 people from good families.
"...Did Zew say anything?"
Allen\'s comment seemed to remind Shea of something, so she brought up her brother Zew.
"Hm? He just said to take care of you."
"So he still thinks of me like a child…"
"You\'re his dear sister after all."
When Allen asked Zew for help, he had only one question in return.
\'Will that help Shea?\'
Zew had been working hard to let Albahar join the efforts to fight off the Demon King\'s Army, which led him to the Academy City as a royal representative. Being there gave Albahar a lot more credibility in its efforts, but as soon as Allen said that coming to the divine realm would help Shea, he left everything behind.
"Do you think I look small?"
"Hm?"
Shea\'s voice changed a bit, so Allen stopped working to look at her. She was looking straight into his eyes.
"I\'m not fighting to help my people like Sophie or Luck. It\'s all my own desires."
"Hmm."
"I just want to become the first emperor to rule over all the beastmen countries."
Shea repeated the dream she talked about so often.
"You just want to stop the Beast Kings from killing each other to claim more land, right?"
"...Yes, I don\'t want to see a repeat of what happened to Bek."
Allen knew some of the Beast Kingdom of Albahar\'s history. Bek had always been an excellent prince, fighting other princes from taking their land. But when Shea was small she had also seen him bathed in blood, which was the price of his duty. The beast kingdoms were almost like lion prides, where everyone followed the alpha male, who others had to challenge if they wanted to take some of their land. The previous Beast King, named Yoze, was a fierce warrior that won many Beast King Martial Arts Displays, which was how Albahar had grown so much. But that had also left a big grudge in the other countries.
Allen felt that Shea\'s desire to unite all beastmen kingdoms came from a wish to stop that bloodshed.
"Your friends and family are important, but your own heart is the most important. It\'s fine to have ambition, I don\'t need some idealistic idiot in my party. Not to mention that selfishness is a core part of anyone born into royalty. In a way, Zew is too kind, as you mentioned before."
(Judging from my past life\'s memories, Zew is actually admirable though. Then again, he\'s trying to become Beast King so his wife can be Beast Queen, so I guess that\'s a form of selfishness.)
Zew was a devoted husband, even though he was married to Brysen\'s princess, whose brother had been killed by Bek.
"I guess so."
"I have to say Luck can be a bit naive at times though."
Cecile and Sophie also agreed with Allen. Luck was the youngest in mental and physical development, and was the least ambitious of the party, while also being the most devoted to his people. Sophie was fighting the Demon King to better take care of the issues plaguing the elves, so Luck\'s innocence was a bit painful to watch for her.
Either way, Allen wanted everyone in his party to have some sort of ambition.
(There\'s nothing more lifeless than a speedrun without a goal, passion, or excitement after all.)
There were games he had been playing for thousands of hours, where he would suddenly get pulled out of the game. Trying to beat the game by brute force and no passion felt incredibly unrewarding.
So Allen wanted his party to have some sort of drive, no matter how selfish it was. As long as they had that, Allen would accept them in his party.
"That\'s true. I can relate to this more than your usual story of wanting to defeat the Demon King because the world is suffering. I get it now!"
All hesitation vanished from Shea\'s eyes. Now she had her eyes firmly set on her goal, which seemed to loom just across the horizon.