HMWD 06

Chapter 6

The Identity of the Suspicious Parrot

The bird raised its sharp talons and clawed violently across her face in a flash.

Still boiling with fury, it lunged at her once more with ferocious momentum.

“What do you think you’re doing!”

Coming to her senses, Ente waved her hand and batted the bird away. A stinging pain flared across the bridge of her nose.

Flung some distance away by her swipe, the bird wasted no time darting right back in to peck viciously at her head.

“Agh!”

A scream ripped from her throat. It felt as though her scalp was being torn straight off by that powerful beak.

How dare a familiar attack its master?

Unable to contain her boiling rage, Ente chanted an incantation. “Cesatio.”

Hollolla.

With a piercing shriek, the bird froze dead in the air. Trapped by the binding magic, it hung suspended mid-flight with its wings folded tight against its body.

Huh? It actually worked?

That was not the kind of spell that could be cast so easily.

Tilted her head left and right, Ente pondered in bewilderment.

Do I actually have to be genuinely angry to use magic?

“Kweeeek! Kquek! Kquek!”

Stuck and utterly unable to move, the bird let out another string of shrill screeches.

With an annoyed grimace, Ente wiped at the bridge of her nose. Her fingertips came away stained with blood.

How ungrateful. Crossing her arms, she glared coldly at the bird.

Picked the wrong familiar, that’s for sure.

A familiar’s pact could not be forcibly broken unless one of the parties died. She deeply regretted acting on impulse and forging a pact with the creature just because she thought it was clever.

Killing it just for having a bad attitude is a bit much, though. What should I do… 「What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Release this right now, you thieving wretch!」

The bird shrieked at the top of its lungs. Raising an eyebrow, Ente sneered back.

“Looks like my magic is still incomplete. Oh, my dear, I should have sealed your trap shut too.”

「You wicked witch! Stealing my body and standing there acting all high and mighty!」

A voice dripping with malice struck her ears. While she initially thought about ignoring it to save time, Ente suddenly stopped and chewed over the bird’s words.

Stealing my body? My body? Body…? Come to think of it, it said the exact same thing earlier.

With a suspicious gaze, Ente asked the bird,

“Did you just say I stole your body?”

「Yes! That body belongs to me! Why on earth are you walking around pretending to be me?!」

“You’re claiming you’re the owner of this body?”

「That’s right, you thief! Of all things to steal, you dared to steal my body?! Give it back right now! I said, give me my body back!」 If someone who had possessed Melissa Tiony was demanding her own “body back,” there could only be one explanation.

Unable to believe her ears, Ente asked once more.

“Are you Melissa Tiony?”

「Yes! I am Melissa Tiony, not you!」

Faced with such a confident, certain declaration, Ente stared blankly at the bird.

“You’re… the real Melissa Tiony…?”

Something was terribly wrong.

Staring at the bird claiming to be Melissa Tiony, Ente sank into a deep, heavy state of thought.

I became Melissa Tiony, and Melissa Tiony became a parrot?

Though she had found it strange that she hadn’t died and instead woke up inside Melissa’s body, she had never once stopped to wonder what might have happened to the original soul that lost its vessel.

Why did I just assume she must have simply vanished into thin air?

A human soul possessing an animal was an event unrecorded even in ancient magic texts. Since it was a phenomenon she had never once seen or heard of, it was only natural that she hadn’t suspected it.

Wait, could this bird possibly be lying?

Even so, there was still something deeply unsettling about dismissing it as a lie.

“What proof do you have that you’re Melissa Tiony?”

「Proof?! I’m telling you I’m me, what kind of proof could I possibly need?! Stop babbling and give me my body back!」

“You expect me to just take your word for it when you have zero proof?”

「Ugh, you are endlessly suspicious, aren’t you! Melissa Tiony, twenty-two years old! My father is Marquis Alberto Tiony, and my mother is Angela Tiony. Satisfied yet?!」

At the self-proclaimed Melissa Tiony’s indignant outburst, Ente merely shrugged her shoulders.

“You could have easily picked up those basic facts by lurking around the estate.”

「If you don’t believe me, take me to my mother! She’ll recognize me instantly! Let me go right now! I’m going to my mother!」 “The Marchioness wouldn’t be able to understand a word you’re saying anyway, so how do you expect to make her realize anything?”

Ente retorted with a sarcastic edge. The angry cries of the bird echoed wildly across the garden.

「You wicked witch! You chased me out and stole my body for yourself!」

The parrot claiming to be the young noble lady possessed a remarkably diverse and colorful vocabulary of curses that felt entirely unfitting for an aristocrat.

Accused of being a body-snatcher, Ente scratched at her ear and nonchalantly replied,

“If I was going to kick someone out and steal their body, I would have chosen someone a bit sturdier with far stronger magical aptitude, not you.”

If she had possessed a proper body, she wouldn’t be struggling to cast a basic binding spell right now and getting an earful of shrieking from a parrot.

「Then why the hell did you end up in my body instead of someone else’s?! How did this even happen?!」

“How am I supposed to know how this mess happened? Well, my condolences, little one.” 「Drop the act and give me my body back, you witch! If you don’t, I’ll kill you!」

The parrot violently snapped its beak shut. Its entire body trembled so hard from rage that it looked ready to break apart.

Getting threatened by a parrot—now this is a genuinely refreshing experience.

It was a first in all her 300 years of life. Deciding it was enough, Ente chose to release the spell.

“Integratio.”

Without a moment of warning, released from the restraint, the bird dropped straight to the ground before it could even spread its wings.

Watching it roll awkwardly across the soft lawn, Ente offered a thoroughly insincere apology.

“Ah, my bad.”

「Kyaaaaagh! You ignorant human!」

Leaping straight back up into the air, the bird fluttered its wings frantically right above her head.

“Are you planning to commit self-harm using your own body?” The chaotic flapping came to an abrupt halt. Sensing the sharp ache in its overworked wing, the bird dropped back down to the earth.

A sudden wave of pity stirred within Ente as she looked at the thoroughly bedraggled creature. She asked gently,

“Let’s try talking this through calmly. How on earth did you end up inside that bird’s body?”

「I don’t know either! I lost consciousness after taking that medicine, and when I woke up, I was like this.」

“Medicine? What kind of medicine are you talking about?”

「The stuff George brought me. I don’t know what it actually was, but it was pitch black and smelled repulsive.」

It was undoubtedly the cheap paralytic drug circulated in the dark alleys.

“Why did you take it?”

Trials and hesitation hung in the air. 「Because… George told me that if I drank that medicine, I’d get to see Lorenzo…」

Her voice was vastly more subdued than before.

How utterly devastating that must have been.

Filled with the soaring anticipation of finally meeting Lorenzo, she had lost consciousness, only to wake up transformed into a bird. Hearing this, Ente couldn’t help but wonder just who this Lorenzo fellow was that she was willing to risk her life in such a dangerous gamble without even blinking.

“Foolish girl. So you blindly drank poison without a shred of fear.”

「But… if I didn’t, Lorenzo would never come see me.」

The parrot mumbled with a profoundly dejected posture.

Ente couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that a bird was capable of displaying such rich, expressive emotions.

Hard to believe as it was, the fact that the creature accurately knew the exact circumstances of Melissa’s demise made it all but certain that this truly was Melissa Tiony.

“Such a simpleton. So, what do you want to do now?”

「What do you mean, what do I want? I’m going to get my body back and marry Lorenzo.」

At the answer, which was innocent to the point of being entirely brainless, Ente let out a soft click of her tongue and asked back,

“And you expect that fellow to actually marry you?”

「O- ovviamente! Of course he will! Not after I went to such lengths! By now, Lorenzo must be feeling terribly regretful, too.」

There wasn’t a single trace of such sentiment in his letters, though. Shaking her head, Ente gazed steadily at the parrot.

「Why are you looking at me like that? You didn’t actually go meet Lorenzo, did you?」

“I don’t even know who the fellow is, so how on earth would I go meet him?”

「What? Are you telling me you don’t even know who Lorenzo is? That’s ridiculous! How could anyone possibly not know the most handsome man in the entire empire?」

Revived by a sudden surge of energy, the previously drooping bird flared up with fierce indignation.

She’s going through all this misery because of that guy, yet she still reacts like this.

Ente felt a strong impulse to simply ignore the utterly clueless bird and walk away.

If her only goal was to live luxuriously inside Melissa’s body, she might have actually done just that.

However, Ente desired death. And she had no intention of dragging an innocent soul down into her own grave.

“Let’s do this.” Ente spoke in a sweet, soothing tone.

“I am planning to go to the Magic Academy.”

「The Magic Academy? What for?」

The parrot shook its head left and right, looking entirely incapable of understanding.

The gesture was so startlingly human-like that Ente couldn’t help but smile faintly.

“If I am to return this body to you, I have to kill Caliesto.”

「C-Caliesto?! Have you completely lost your mind?!」

Utterly horrified by such a terrifying declaration, the bird clicked its beak sharply.

“I honestly wish I had lost my mind. At least then I could forget all these troublesome headaches.”

Muttering a self-deprecating remark, Ente continued,

“I plan to enroll in the Magic Academy and find a way to kill Caliesto.”

「You think you can kill Caliesto? Don’t talk such absurd nonsense.」 At the rebuttal that there was no way anyone could ever kill Caliesto, Ente’s complexion dimmed momentarily before recovering.

Ignoring the parrot, she pressed on.

“Once Caliesto is dead, my soul and your body will naturally separate. You can just slip right back into your body then.”

「Is that even possible?」

“I became you, and you became a bird, so the reverse should be entirely possible as well.”

Still looking doubtful, the parrot tilted its head and asked,

Plans and suspicions weighing heavily in its tiny mind, 「Are you really going to give me my body back? Can you promise me?」

Such a deeply suspicious little thing.

Instead of answering, Ente extended her palm toward the bird. Hopping lightly onto her outstretched hand, the bird urged her once more.

「You’re really going to kill Caliesto and return my body to me, right?」

“I give you my word. Let’s go to Castium and find a way. Among the mages and temple priests there, someone must know something.”

No other choice, it seemed.

Seemingly persuaded by Ente’s words, the bird spat out a tone of sheer resignation.

「You must give my body back, you hear me?」

The bird looked up at Ente with an intensely desperate gaze. Filled with a sudden wave of sympathy, Ente nodded.

Noticeably smaller and skinnier than ordinary parrots, lacking any gloss in its dull, ruffled feathers, down to its battered, scar-marked beak.

It bore the clear, visible scars of how harshly it had been treated out in the wide world.

Being a human transformed into a bird must have subjected it to immense suffering.

Carefully scooping the exhausted parrot into her cupped hands, Ente cradled it gently.

“We can talk about the details later. Let’s head inside for now.” “My lady, you aren’t feeling well, wherever have you been?”

Spotted returning toward the mansion, the head maid hurried over carrying a shawl.

“And what happened to your face? Oh goodness me. Let me put some ointment on that right away.”

“It’s fine, I just got scratched while taking a walk.”

Answering with an awkward smile, Ente deftly changed the subject.

“Maya, do we happen to have a birdcage in the house?”

“A birdcage?”

Tilting her head in confusion, the head maid spotted the red parrot sitting in Melissa’s hands and exclaimed happily,

“Oh my, Vivi? Where did you find her?”

The bird snapped its head up and rolled its eyes frantically.

「Vivi? Me? I became Vivi?!」

Vivi? Was that a pet bird kept by the Tiony family? The mystery solved itself in an instant.

“On the day you collapsed, the birdcage was broken, so we thought she had flown away!” Ah, so this was the pet bird Melissa originally raised. If she had known she possessed a pet bird beforehand, she could have spared herself all that trouble outside.

Ente glanced down sideways at the parrot. Stunned by the shocking realization that she had turned into Vivi, the bird was trembling slightly, its wings fluttering with weak distress.

“Found it in the garden. It looked injured and couldn’t fly properly.”

“Its wings are damaged. Oh, the poor thing.”

The head maid gently stroked the scorched wingtips. Her touch was steeped in profound sympathy.

“Vivi, how on earth did you get hurt? You must have been in so much pain.”

「Who gave you permission to speak to me in banmal?!」

Such fiery temperament. Watching the enraged Vivi, Ente chuckled softly.

“She has terrible manners, so make sure you treat her carefully without getting pecked, and bring her up to my room once she’s patched up.”

“Yes, my lady. Oh by the way, the Marquis was looking for you.” “The Marquis… Father? When?”

“Just a little while ago. He should be in the study right now.”

‘I’m coming too! Me too!」

The drooping Vivi snapped its head right back up and flapped its wings in protest. Pretending not to notice, Ente turned her head away.

“Understood, I’ll go see Father. Please take good care of her treatment.”

‘I told you to take me with you! Hey! Hey!」

Ignoring Vivi’s frantic cries echoing behind her, Ente made her way toward the study.

As if proving she had been expected, the study doors stood wide open.

Sitting at his desk, the Marquis wore an expression of deep, heavy contemplation. For a fleeting second, a sharp pang of conscience struck her chest.

Perhaps she felt this way because she had just been talking to Vivi.

Hesitating for a moment, Ente knocked softly on the study door.

“I heard you were looking for me. May I come in?”

“Of course, come right in.” At the Marquis’s bright, welcoming smile, Ente forced an awkward, matching smile to her lips.

Still entirely unfamiliar with this.

Stopping at a respectful distance, Ente looked at the Marquis.

Finding the affectionate gaze weighing heavily on her, Ente lowered her eyes.

The Marquis stood up from his desk, pulled her gently by the hand, and seated her on the sofa.

“This is a rare occasion, you actually bothering to knock.”

“Ah, well, you looked busy.”

Ah, I suppose Melissa never bothered with knocking.

She needed to learn how to act “like Melissa” from Vivi as soon as possible. While they were being lenient with her now, keeping this up indefinitely risked blowing her cover at any moment.

Clasping her hands neatly in her lap, she waited quietly for the Marquis to speak.

“The entry permit for Castium has arrived.”