Humanity’s egoism severed their faith for the Day Goddess. It took a while for Louis to understand the harpy’s twisted wording, but in the end… It somehow made sense for him. After all, he was one of the first who proposed to utilize the fire as an industrial tool for mankind’s progress. Not as a weapon to fight back darkness, but as a hearth to warm one’s home.

Louis placed his hand on his face in embarrassment, wondering no longer why no more heroes were born in history since the end of the war.

“My turn” declared the harpy while distancing herself from the prince.

He was the one asking the questions in this conversation, and he received the answers he was looking for even if they were disappointing.

“That would only be fair… What do you want to know?”

“I smell my kin… Inside here” the harpy’s gaze turned toward the upper levels of the castle, then back on the prince’s confused look “Give them back.”

“Your kin? … Why do you want your kin back?”

First of all, it was very dubious the royal family or any resident in the castle would even think about keeping a group of harpies here. They would be noticed quickly by anyone living here for a lot of reasons. That’s why the prince deduced she couldn’t be talking about living beings, otherwise he had a ton of work to finish the day before tomorrow.

“I can’t… Have…” the harpy stuttered, perhaps having difficulties finding the right words to express her thoughts. It was already impressive for a monster to hold a conversation with a human, so Louis didn’t blame her for finding herself stuck on a sentence once or twice. It was pretty amusing to look at, but of course he didn’t let it show on his face.

“I want my family back” shyly confessed the harpy, “I want… Family.”

This time, it was Louis who was at a loss of words. The harpy, a monster described as a man-eater who seduced its prey, actually displayed feelings a human could empathize with. It was strangely… Heart-warming to witness, or perhaps also terrifying to learn only now that those monsters could actually have the same feelings as humans do.

However, it would also mean that the harpy wasn’t lying. There were harpies held in captivity somewhere in the royal castle. She smelled their scent, followed the tracks and ended up here. It was actually quite fortuitous that she didn’t start by ravaging everything here in an attempt to free her people. This actually made Louis quite curious about the harpy’s thoughts on this matter, however, she seemed to refuse to debate on her intentions.

Instead, her answer became a theat.

“Give them back… Or else I will.”

Louis smiled at the childish yet very real menace she posed.

“Very well, I will help you find your family. But you must put your trust in me. Can you do that?”

To those words, the harpy tensed up, certainly not used to the idea of trusting a human.

…

The corridor was dimly lit by the candle held in the prince’s hand, the light barely enough to brighten just a short two meters ahead. Louis himself was used to this place as he was born and lived all his life inside the royal castle, so even this short range of sight was enough for him to recognize what was right from left.

On the other hand, his company only felt more and more strained by their current situation.

“My apologies, but in case someone meet us this late at night… We have to take some precautions.”

Covered from shoulders to toes, the harpy appeared like a young maiden escorted by the prince. When seeing this, people shouldn’t notice the harpy’s true identity as a monster, but as the prince having an affair with a stranger when he was already fiancé. Which, in the current case, was still better than being found out letting a monster walk inside the royal castle.

In any case, the circumstances were extreme enough to let himself receive a scornful hit for once instead of risking a plain and instant exile.

For now, each time they met a servant or a guard on night duty, his excuse would be ‘I am just taking a stroll, you can leave us’.

“My wings… Not comfy…” whined the harpy clad in a sumptuous cape borrowed from the prince’s wardrobe, the cloth ample enough to hide any inhumane features from onlookers.

“Then perhaps I’ll think about having a tailor-made dress ready for you next time” jokingly said Louis, imagining the harpy wearing outfits from balls and ceremonies he was used to while she would only find exhausting.

“What’s ‘tailor-made’?”

“Oh, it means a cloth sewn just for you.”

Deliberately leaving most of the details to facilitate the harpy’s comprehension, Louis continued to walk in front while the harpy stayed behind him.

Once arriving at a junction, the duo could either choose the right of the left direction. Even if Louis knew where both could lead them, he still turned towards the harpy and asked her about their next course.

Closing her eyes, she sniffed a few times the air before reaching a conclusion.

“Smell stronger… Right.”

“Then right it is.”

Following the harpy’s sense of smell, they both walked towards the right corridor. It was basically a walk in the castle in the middle of the night as if the prince was helping his dog looking for something only the animal could sniff out. The metaphor brought a smile on Louis’s face.

“Human, why are you laughing?”

“Nothing, I just remembered something funny… Besides, isn’t it a bit improper to call me ‘human’?”

“You call me Harpy. I call you Human.”

“Then how about introducing each other with our names? I am Louis Rubimic Chartelle Primtus. It’s a bit of a long name, so you can just call me Louis. How about it?”

“Why?” asked the harpy, maybe pondering on the prince’s intentions or simply looking for a good reason for this farce.

“Because it’ll help for communication. Giving each other’s name is like a formal exchange, it helps in building a connection and improve a relationship with each other, to differentiate who is who, where they come from.

I wouldn’t dare asking for too much as you are a monster and me a human, however, I am certain it is still better to use each other’s name rather than keeping this purely platonic.”

“What’s ‘platonic’?”

“Well… It means to be attached to someone or something, but without any emotional attachment.”

“… Uh.”

Perhaps spouting a word in relation to a philosophy was still too early for a member of a people who didn’t had part in civilisation. Louis made a mental note to keep his phrasing as… Ordinary as possible.

“Then, can I have your name?”

“Here, left.”

Brought back to reality by the harpy’s frank remark, Louis hid his frustration and kept going towards the direction the harpy pointed to.

Was he too hasty when conversing with the harpy? Was he too easy-going to let those events unfold before him, and to unfold those events himself when he was a human while she was a monster?

In any case, all of this happening was proof enough that a lot of things could be changed with just a simple exchange of words. Did that turn him into a naïve person full of beautiful ideals?

“No” he thought suddenly to deny his train of thoughts, “I’m just being opportunistic. I see a chance, so I grab it. I can clean the filth in the castle of any possible madmen who believed it was a good idea to build a den of harpy in the royal castle, while nurturing a good relation with a goddess’s chosen one.”

But this was all based on the assumption the harpy didn’t lie about her kin being present here. From a monster whose talent resided in seducing others, the probability was rather high.

This was all a bet for Louis. A bet where we would either win big or lose big. A bet where the potential reward could outweigh any sort of risk, while the chips betted were by themselves invaluable as well.

He really hoped he wasn’t making a mistake when he decided to believe in that harpy.

“Philadtrictumdeh.”

The prince blurted a strange noise, thinking he misheard the harpy.

“My name is… Philadtrictumdeh. It’s a bit… Long, so call me… Philad.”

“Philad… That’s a beautiful name.”

Philad… Philadtrictumdeh… Louis let the name roll multiple times in his head until he correctly memorized it. The pronunciation itself was already out of his culture to begin with, so the short version was very welcome as it made her name easier to say.

Alas, his mood quickly turned sour at Philad’s next words.

“Smell… It’s here.”

“But this way is…”

Louis suddenly felt nervous, a bad omen hung over his head as he contemplated the corridor which led to his father’s bedroom. Hundreds of scenarios rolled inside Louis’s mind, the best case the entire thing being completely coincidental. At worse, he would find his own paternal bedding a harpy, and that would still be tolerable. Borderline, prompt for punishment, but as he was his king and his father the scene could still be somehow excused.

However, what if it was worse than that? What if they found his father actually inflicting harm on a monster as a hobby? Knowing his father having fire in his eyes could only make him sweat even more profusely.

This was… A really bad, unexpected outcome. However, Louis had no time to let go of his fear as he noticed Philad walking forward without his lead.

“Philad, wait!”

But it was too late to stop her, as the guards standing next to the bedroom’s door weren’t expecting a young maiden accompanying the prince on a midnight stroll to reveal of out nowhere a pair of wings and the strength to put them unconscious in a single strike.

They didn’t sound dead from their groaning, but they would need medical attention later.

While thinking of an excuse for later, Louis followed Philad as she already burst the door down and entered the chamber.

By the time Louis made it to the room, he found his father lying on his bed, the harpy pinning him down with her talons.

“What’s the meaning of this?!” roared the king with fury, “I’ll kill you, you fucking monster!”

The old man’s glare shone in the darkness of the room, yet despite flailing his arms he somehow couldn’t gather the strength to fend off the harpy.

“Father!” shouted Louis, “Philad, let him go! He’s doing no harm!”

The confusing scene seemed to have alerted the surrounding patrols, as sounds of iron boots reverberated in the corridor from behind him. If this lasted any longer, his diplomatic effort would soon be reduced to ashes.

He could run and try to dislodge the harpy, but thinking about it even his father failed to repel the monster. The realization froze him in place. All that was left for him was to run his mouth until Philad deigned to listen to him.

“Run away Louis, I’ll take care of this monster!”

“Don’t hurt her father! Philad please listen to me and let him go!”

“Louis?! What are you doing?”

“Philad, please! Let’s talk first, okay?”

The prince tried to soothe the harpy, however, her emotion refused to agree.

“You smell like my kin… Why? Where is my kin? Where are my people?!”

Philad sensed the familiar smell, followed the tracks, and ended up meeting a human who harboured the exact same smell she was looking for. How? Why? Louis had no idea what was happening, he could only speculate that… Oh no.

“Your people? Ah! The irony!” laughed the king as he glared at the harpy with murderous intent, “So you’re here for vengeance, isn’t that right? You’re here, looking for your fellow harpies, but all you found was the man who hunted them all?

What good fucking irony! It could have turned into a comedic theatrics if it wasn’t for the fact that you’re still alive, monster. And I will solve that issue right here, right now!”

The king, Louis’s father, with fire in his eyes and chosen by the Day Goddess, reputed for massacring monsters and creatures alike… Was the perpetrator of the harpy’s genocide.

Realizing this fact at the same time, Louis’s face paled as Philad’s figure burst into tears of rage.