Chapter 159 - W-what on earth is that sound…?

That was indeed a huge bird, just as Yuri had said – an enormously large bird. However, something about it was a bit odd.

Other than having an extremely long and sharp beak, it somewhat resembled Fedor’s dimwitted canary. However, it had four legs.

But the hind legs didn’t look like bird legs at all. Wait, is that its tail?

It looked as if someone had cut a hybrid canary and a spotted cat in half and put them together, enlarging their size.

And this strangely large bird seemed incredibly angry for some reason.

“Wow, it’s a big bird!”

As Yuri shouted foolishly, the large bird suddenly lunged at us!

We screamed and jumped into the midst of the eggs without thinking.

A strong wind blew over our crouched heads.

“Screeeee-!”

The large bird let out an enraged screech. Its voice sounded like bubbling sauce, which was a bit comical, but we were too scared to find it funny.

After briefly circling above, the large bird aimed its terrifying beak and charged again.

It seemed determined to peck my head off.

“Aaaah!”

We rolled away almost as a single unit and tumbled out of the nest.

In reality, it probably didn’t take us far away.

However, just then, a loud noise echoed from above, and the large bird attacked again.

“Screeee!”

“Aaaah, an even larger bird!”

Yuri exclaimed as if he were going crazy, but this time, it didn’t feel foolish.

The unexpectedly larger bird that suddenly appeared was different from the dimwitted canary-like large bird we had encountered!

Its appearance was like a combination of the majestic eagle and the leopard I had seen in books.

Anyway, after colliding with the other large bird, it spun around in the air like a swallow before crashing towards one side of the nest.

The larger bird seemed a bit disoriented.

After struggling to stand, it looked around with an air of determination, as if it wouldn’t leave anyone in peace if spotted.

The larger bird descended in front of it, looking at it politely.

Eventually, the larger bird regained its senses.

“Grrrr!”

“Sccraaa…”

“Grrrr, qrkrk!”

“Screeee!”

What were they doing?

Even though we didn’t know their true identities, judging from their current behavior, it seemed like the large bird was confronting the even larger bird.

Strangely, they didn’t really engage in a fight.

“What are they doing?”

I asked.

“I, I don’t know. They don’t seem to be on the same side…”

Taking advantage of the odd squabbling between the peculiar monster birds, we slowly got up and cautiously took a few steps backwards.

Though I hadn’t realized it before, now I could see that a path had burst open towards the forest.

Screeee!

The large bird’s strong condemnation echoed as a signal, and without looking back, we dashed forward and leaped into the dense bushes.

“Over there!”

Breaking through shrubs that were almost our height, we emerged and spotted a cracked hole in a massive tree trunk.

Without hesitation, we entered the hollow of the tree and caught our breath in the dim space.

My heart still pounded heavily.

In the dimness, we all sat huddled together, catching our breath. During that time, no one said a word.

To be honest, I didn’t even have the energy to speak.

I was exhausted, frightened, and hungry.

And I really wanted to see Mother.

“Hey…”

Boom!

Just as I was about to say something to Danyl, an earth-shaking thunderclap echoed from outside.

It was so sudden that we were momentarily frozen in place.

Oh, here comes the downpour!

No matter how treacherous the path of adventurers might be, this was really pushing it.

Danyl, who was huddled closely next to me, whispered something softly.

“Prince, it’s raining.”

“It’s just a passing shower.”

“Will it really stop soon? What if it doesn’t?”

What could we do? Even if I were a prince, could I bargain with the rain god? I was too tired to feel annoyed.

Yuri kept complaining non-stop, getting on my nerves.

Then Danyl suddenly sniveled and scratched his head as if something had brushed against it.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know how, but there’s blood.”

It was too dark to see clearly, but Danyl’s head seemed perfectly fine. Besides, minor cuts and scrapes were just something that happened sometimes while playing.

We were all past the age of crying over such things.

Danyl was, without a doubt, the biggest complainer.

Yuri kept wailing as if he were waiting for attention.

“Hey, seriously, stop fussing. Why can’t you stop lying?”

“I’m not lying, and it’s the Prince who’s bleeding!”

“What?!”

Caught off guard by Yuri’s sudden attack, I nearly fell backwards. He had just screamed that he wasn’t lying and that I was the one bleeding.

“I’m hurt? Where?”

“Here, here, touch it!”

“If this is a joke, I’m go— Wait, huh? It’s true.”

When I touched my right temple, it felt wet.

As I peered at my finger, I saw that there was indeed blood.

Most likely, when we had been fleeing, I’d gotten scratched.

However, I couldn’t figure out why Yuri and Danyl were acting more dramatically than I was.

Yuri clung to me, whimpering and claiming that he shouldn’t be the first to go out because if he wasn’t there, who would be the rival that stood against me?

Danyl sobbed as he always did, sniffling and wiping his nose.

What was I about to say? It seemed that they couldn’t hear me.

In the damp and stuffy hollow, I felt as if my eyes were spinning.

Had something gone wrong with everyone?

Suddenly, I remembered a verse from a song that the old nun had hummed by the window on a rainy day.

*In the forest where rain falls, the madmen dance; when the rain falls, they all turn crazy and spin around.*

I went to my aunt and asked her what “madmen” meant.

She refused to tell me. Instead, she stood in front of me and sang that song before delivering a powerful blow to the old nun’s back…

Wait a moment, what is this noise?

“po, po, po, po…”

“We know, we can’t die, Prince! Without you, we…”

“Oh, stop it! Both of you!”

As I scolded, they both suddenly stopped wailing and looked at me with wide eyes.

I signaled for them to be quiet.

“Po, po, po, po…”

“Can you hear that…?”

“W-what on earth is that sound…?”

“I don’t know.”

“Popopopo, po, po… Po, po…”

An odd voice amidst the heavy rain.

It sounded a bit like someone humming a tune, or maybe a small animal making a noise, or perhaps something completely different.

Listening closely, I heard it growing closer. But suddenly, it abruptly stopped.

Gone? What on earth was that?

“Po, po, po…”

“Eek!”

Someone suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hollow, and we were so startled that we forgot our embarrassment and clung to each other.

Suddenly, a huge figure appeared, staring at us as if we were quite interesting.

We stared back at it in fascination.

“Ahhhh, it’s a raccoon…”

“No, it’s a rabbit…”

Both Danyl and Yuri were wrong, in my opinion.

It seemed to have a bit of a raccoon’s appearance, and also a bit of a rabbit’s, but the lack of fur was the difference.

Moreover, it was quite chubby.

It seemed to have a much rounder belly than Anton the chubbiest.

Holding a large leaf umbrella in one hand, everything about it was wet except the top of its head.

Honestly, compared to those large birds from earlier, it wasn’t that menacing.

Ignoring Danyl who was tugging at my clothes, I inched my way forward and half-extended myself outside the hole.

From up close, I could see that its mouth was really big.

Were its teeth big too? I had a feeling it didn’t have teeth.

“Po, po, po…”

Shaking the leaf umbrella, the creature smiled widely with its big mouth.

Then, it pointed to me with its other arm.

I stared at it intently, wondering what it wanted to say.

But suddenly, it stumbled backward and slapped my forehead.

“Ouch!”

“Prince!”

Honestly, it didn’t hurt at all, but I was taken aback.

Yuri let out a surprised cry and rushed to my face, then started scratching his own head in a frenzy.

What was this? I reached up to touch my forehead.

“What’s stuck here?”

“It’s… a leaf bandage? Maybe it’s some kind of special leaf? Maybe it was given to stop your bleeding.”

I wasn’t sure if it was a special leaf or not, but it was a pretty considerate gesture.

Maybe I had been too scared for no reason earlier.

I tried to look apologetic as I stared at the chubby raccoon-rabbit.

I couldn’t tell if it understood our words or not.

“Thanks, by the way.”

“Po, po, po…”

“But who are you? Are you the owner of this hole?”

“Popopo…”

The creature wobbled its body back and forth.

Was that a yes, or a no?

“Popopopo, popo, po!”

It continued, trying to communicate something, its expression filled with determination.

The chubby raccoon-rabbit seemed oddly excited. It alternated between pointing at me and itself, mimicking our earlier interaction. Then, it suddenly spun around in place, flapping both arms as if dancing.

Considering its size, it was quite an amusing sight.

We watched in a daze as it went through these antics. This time, it performed a gesture of flapping one arm into thin air, a rather incongruous action that looked comical.

Suddenly, Yuri exclaimed, “I think I know what it’s doing!”

“What? What is it?”

“This, this!”

Yuri made a triumphant expression and abruptly fluttered both hands over his shoulders.

It looked somewhat similar to someone flicking their hair out of their face.

“But it doesn’t have hair, you know?”

“That’s the point. It’s mimicking someone. Maybe it’s pretending to be someone we know.”

His explanation sounded plausible.

But who could it be imitating? I couldn’t guess.

I was about to apologize to the chubby raccoon-rabbit when Danyl chimed in.

“Could it be the Queen?”

“What? Come on, don’t be ridiculous. It’s probably your mom!”

Annoyed, I shouted at Danyl for joking, but he mumbled that he had never seen his mother dance like that.

Yuri chimed in with a similar story about his mother, but he quieted down when he saw me glaring.

Of course, among the adults we knew, only Umama could stand on one leg and spin elegantly.

But how did that relate to what just happened?

And I had never seen Mother flick her hair like that.

While I was pondering, Danyl apologized, saying he might have been mistaken.

Amidst this, the light rain stopped.

We quickly exited the burrow.

The chubby raccoon-rabbit joyfully tossed aside the leaf umbrella it was holding.

“Popo!”

“Wow…”

Above the tall trees, a colorful and massive rainbow appeared.

It was so close that it looked truly beautiful and mesmerizing.

As I gazed at the rainbow alongside the chubby raccoon-rabbit, the forest that had felt so intimidating just a while ago suddenly felt friendly.

Although my stomach still grumbled.

Hearing my stomach rumble, the chubby raccoon-rabbit looked at me.

“U-um, I didn’t have much for lunch, so…”

“Oh my!”

A vibrant and gigantic rainbow stretched across the sky above the tall trees. The scene was so mesmerizing that it turned the once-scary forest into a friendly place. However, the mention of lunch triggered my rumbling stomach, and the chubby raccoon-rabbit looked at me with an understanding expression.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Popopo.”

The creature patted its round belly in a reassuring manner.

“Popo!”

Then, it pointed toward the direction of the rainbow and gestured for us to follow.

“Popopo!”

It enthusiastically encouraged us to follow the rainbow.

So, we followed the enthusiastic creature towards the vibrant rainbow, feeling the atmosphere of the forest change from intimidating to enchanting, all thanks to the colorful spectacle above us.