HP: Fantastic Beasts And The Right Way To Use Them - 304

Chapter 304: Lead the Way

One hand on her hip and the other lifting a great net woven from flowing water, the girl wore a look of unabashed pride as she glanced at the huge beast beside her, flames burning at the tip of its tail.

"You see? I told you I wouldn't let you go hungry, didn't I?"

"Oooh..."

The Chimera flicked a glance at the dozen-odd doves struggling in the girl's net, a very human sort of disdain appearing on its face.

So few little birds were not even enough for a single bite.

It did not have the heart to dampen the girl's enthusiasm, though. Instead, it quietly turned its head away and began to lick at the swollen red lumps along the back of its neck.

They had run fast enough at the time, but even so, it had still been bitten a few times by those giant mosquitoes. And those mosquitoes... who knew what was wrong with them? Being that big was one thing, but they had actually forced their way through its flames just to land on it and take a few bites.

Fortunately, after biting it, those mosquitoes trembled, dropped out of the air, and crashed to the ground. Otherwise, it was very much in doubt whether the two of them would have escaped.

No, that was not quite right. The only one who would really have been in trouble was probably it. That girl clearly had nothing to fear from those mosquitoes.

In fact, after dragging it away, she had even wanted to go back and settle the score with the swarm.

The Chimera turned its head again and eyed the large, water-blue net in the girl's hand, unable to stop itself from grumbling inwardly.

At first, it had been all for the girl's plan. After all, in all its life it had never seen mosquitoes that big, let alone been bitten by them. Of course it wanted revenge.

But after several rounds of watching this girl leave by a little path on the left only to reappear crashing out of the bushes on the right, the Chimera no longer believed she was capable of avenging it.

How could a girl that powerful be so hopeless at finding her way?

Completely unaware that the Chimera was silently complaining about her, Sosia clutched the big net in her hand and excitedly licked the corner of her lips.

She had not expected to catch something as ordinary as doves in the depths of a magical forest like this. By rights, such mundane creatures should never be able to enter. The mist at the forest's edge would have driven them away long before that. Even if one somehow slipped through the fog by sheer luck, it would very soon be snapped up as a snack by the magical creatures roaming the outer ring.

Still, she was not especially concerned about how these doves had managed to get here. What mattered was that ordinary creatures tasted much better roasted than magical beasts ever did.

On top of that, ordinary creatures usually did not have much going on in their heads. Roasting them came with almost no psychological burden at all.

So many advantages.

Looking at the few doves thrashing about in the net, Sosia's mouth was practically watering.

The pity was that Evans had been dragged off to Merlin-knew-where. On her own, whatever she roasted would probably not taste nearly as good.

Should she wait until Evans gets back before cooking them?

She had been running around all day and was already starving. Worse still, now that she had lost access to flowing water, she had lost her method of constantly replenishing her energy. At the moment, she could only absorb energy from food.

If she did not, she would probably fall into a coma before long. And if she still could not return to her own lake, it was not impossible that she would simply fade away altogether.

Thinking of this, Sosia gave a small shake of her head.

Forget it. She would just roast them now. She might not have done much cooking herself, but after watching Evans roast things so many times, she had to have picked up something.

She silently tried to bolster her own confidence. Then she set the net down to one side, snapped a few branches off a nearby pine and trotted over to the Chimera's tail.

"Don't move, don't move, lend me a bit of fire!"

As a tidy campfire flared up in an instant, tears welled in the eyes of the dove flock's leader.

It knew that it was about to become food for that human female and that monster.

It was unwilling. But what could it possibly do? As a dove, it had absolutely no power to resist.

In its grief, it poured its heart out to its companions, speaking of the history of their flock and the ending that now awaited them.

If any one of them were fortunate enough to escape, it hoped they would pass its words on.

Even if it were about to fall into the sea of fire, their spirit would never bow.

Yet before the dove leader could properly steel itself for death, a hand suddenly plucked it out of the net and dangled it in mid-air.

"I kept hearing something muttering just now. Was that really you?"

Sosia tilted her head curiously as she studied the large bird hanging from her hand.

As a spring sprite, she could do more than hear the voices of plants and running water. As long as an animal possessed true intelligence, she could understand what it was expressing as well.

Of course, all of that depended on the creature actually having intelligence in the first place.

In her opinion, doves should only have some very basic instinctive reactions, nothing more.

Eating a creature that truly possessed wisdom would make her feel a bit guilty.

But she was so hungry. Perhaps she could exercise a little flexibility with her bottom line, fill her stomach first, and think about the rest afterwards?

Come to that, had it not just claimed to be the leader of this flock of doves?

Recalling the information the dove had mentioned earlier, Sosia decided this particular bird might be useful for more than just food.

"Do you know the way?"

The dove leader froze for a moment at the question, then bobbed its head up and down so fast it was a blur.

It seized on the chance like a drowning creature clutching at a reed, launching into a frantic boast about its skills as a guide.

As the cleverest dove in the flock, it was already one of their leaders. Back where they used to live, it had always managed to lead the flock safely past those cursed cats and to find humans willing to toss them food.

Right, and it could even lead this human female to a place they had once stumbled into by accident.

After so many days in this magical forest, the dove leader's mind was no longer what it once had been. It could already ponder some quite complicated matters.

For example, the fact that this human female in front of it seemed to have abilities similar to those of the monsters. In that case, might she be interested in that dangerous place?

Roughly two days earlier, when they were being chased by a big dog with two tails, they had accidentally blundered into an underground cave.

The entrance to the cave was very well concealed, hidden behind a huge rock that did not actually exist. If one of their flock had not smashed headlong into the stone and passed straight through it, they would never have realised that place was there at all.

It was thanks to that hidden place that they had shaken off the pursuit of the two-tailed dog.

It was thanks to that hidden place that they had survived that monster's hunt.

Unfortunately, there had been countless mechanisms and glowing attacks inside. They had managed to stay barely half an hour before they were forced to leave, abandoning what could have been a perfect refuge against outside threats.

The fact that they could not remain there long did not mean this human female could not.

It remembered that in the place they used to live, the human cubs loved adventures most of all. Even though they would always get a beating for digging up nests or crawling into hollow trees and little streams, their enthusiasm never cooled.

If the cubs were like that, an adult human would probably be the same.

Having made up its mind, the dove leader steadied itself and quickly described the cave they had visited before. Then it looked up at the girl in front of it, eyes full of hope.

"A cave hidden behind a big rock that is not really there?"

Sosia repeated the long string of information the dove had conveyed, mulled over it for a moment, and a gleam of anticipation flashed in her eyes.

It sounded like fun.

Without hesitating much longer, she checked the dove leader again. It did not seem to be lying. She clapped her hands and dispelled the net of flowing water.

"All right then. Lead the way!"