I Hate Wings!
I let out a scream before I could stop myself. “Ah… no!! Turn the carriage around right now!”
Everyone turned to stare at me with startled faces at the sudden outburst.
“Wh-what’s the matter….”
But before they could even finish speaking—
“Th-this can’t be…!”
“Everyone, show proper respect immediately!!”
The noisy chatter of the villagers outside the carriage fell silent in the blink of an eye. For a brief moment, the atmosphere grew so quiet it felt almost alien. I quickly shifted my gaze to the window.
The countless villagers who had been strolling through the square and eyeing us warily just moments ago were now, as if on cue, all flat on the ground with their foreheads pressed to the dirt.
“…No way.”
The instant I saw it, my instincts screamed that something had gone horribly wrong. With trembling hands, I gripped the windowsill and cautiously poked my head out, looking up at the sky.
And then I froze solid.
The once ordinary sky had split open at the center like a massive furnace, blazing a furious crimson. From the heart of that red fissure, a colossal flame—blinding gold and deep crimson intertwined—came pouring down toward our carriage.
As the flames grew clearer, they took on the distinct shape of a half-human, half-bird being: enormous wings made of roaring fire and the alluring upper body of a human woman.
Just looking at her felt like it could scorch the soul. An overwhelming heat and presence befitting her title as one of the Beasts of Beginning.
Whoosh—!
Soon, countless sparks and red feathers drifted down, scattering across the ground in front of the carriage. And there, the Original Prisoner, the Phoenix of Dawn, descended gracefully to the earth.
“Hoo… I thought we would meet eventually, but I’m glad you came sooner than expected.”
“…….”
The Phoenix of Dawn—no, Espia, one of the Beasts of Beginning—greeted me first with what seemed like genuine delight.
But I was so stunned I could only move my lips wordlessly. Lillian and Elenoa, who were essentially ordinary people waiting behind me, had turned deathly pale and were shaking uncontrollably. The overwhelming aura of the beast made even breathing feel difficult.
At that moment, Iriniel—who had been quietly observing—spread her wings wide and wrapped them around the two women protectively. Then she spoke to Espia, her voice carrying a hint of wariness mixed with unmistakable fondness.
“It’s been a while, Aunt Espia. How long has it been?”
Espia turned her gaze from me to Iriniel. She tapped her cheek with a finger tipped in sharp claws, pretending to think for a moment, then offered a gentle smile.
“This is our first meeting in this life. If we count previous ones, it would be after 120 years?”
“120 years… Do you live a new life every hundred years these days?”
“It seems the prisoners are causing more trouble lately. Even if it wastes a bit of power, rapid growth has become more important….”
These were details I had never heard in the original story. As a veteran reader, I should have listened with great interest, but one specific word had completely seized my attention.
‘120 years…?’
Did she just say 120 years including previous lives to a Seven Star Sword? Then how old was Iriniel, who looked no older than her early twenties?
‘…Wait, that’s not what I should be focusing on right now.’
Thanks to that rather shocking piece of information, I managed to regain some composure. First, I offered a polite greeting in accordance with proper etiquette.
“It is an honor to meet you. Phoenix of Dawn, Lady Espia.”
At the same time, my mind was pulling up one of the main story events. The Phoenix of Dawn had joined forces with the King of All Lives, the Witch of Desire, and the true mastermind behind the empire’s destruction. Together they stripped away the power of life, blessings, and status to kill their target… That event had probably taken place in the mid-to-late stages of the main story. The aftermath of that massive death had given the players, who were being chased by the apocalypse, a precious moment to regroup.
‘Could she be recruited to the guild like Iriniel?’
More accurately, I desperately wanted to kick Iriniel out but couldn’t. Anyway, after a moment of thought, I shook my head. No. Iriniel was only half a prisoner—her power split after her father’s death. The woman before me was a genuine, full-powered Original Prisoner and one of the strongest beings in the entire world. One of the Beasts of Beginning.
If I kept her close, the guild wouldn’t just go bankrupt—it would draw the aggression of the entire continent. The odds of the remaining Original Prisoners physically killing me first would skyrocket.
‘Simple, then. Finish the business and get out of here fast.’
Having organized my thoughts, I introduced myself with the most polite and businesslike attitude possible and calmly explained why the emperor had sent us here.
“…And so, we have come to secure exclusive delivery rights for the legendary egg from Erg Village.”
“Hmm….”
After finishing my explanation, I watched her as she fell into thought. Then, completely unbidden, a truly horrifying hypothesis popped into my head.
‘…Wait. If it’s the legendary egg, doesn’t that mean it’s one that the Phoenix right in front of me personally laid?’
That wouldn’t be an egg—it would be her child. The old emperor was trying to eat it to extend his lifespan… So if I took it, would I have to eat it too? A baby phoenix?
No. Absolutely not. I could never do that.
Such blasphemous thoughts flashed through my mind, but I made sure none of it showed on my face. There was no point in talking about eggs in front of a chicken—even if this one wasn’t exactly a chicken. Besides, there were already precedents, so eating it probably wouldn’t cause any ethical issues.
After a few more light greetings and formal exchanges, once the mood had relaxed somewhat, I carefully voiced the most fundamental question.
“By the way, Lady Espia. You spoke earlier as if you had been waiting for our Caldia Merchant Guild. May I ask why?”
“……Ahem.”
At my question, Espia stared directly at me with her crimson eyes that seemed to flicker like living flames.
“To be precise, it wasn’t the Caldia Merchant Guild I was waiting for… but for you, Ideon Caldia.”
“…Pardon?”
Did that even make sense? How could the Phoenix of Dawn, of all beings, know my name in this remote backwater village? And why had she been waiting for me?
As I stood there frozen in shock, Espia lightly turned her body and gracefully folded her massive red wings.
“This seems like a rather long story to share here. Would you all please follow me to my nest?”
She didn’t seem to mean us any harm. Elenoa and Lillian appeared to share the same thought. After exchanging one last glance, we nodded.
The two women, still half-pale, stepped carefully out of the carriage while tightly holding each other’s hands. Iriniel walked close beside them like a bodyguard. And so, we slowly made our way toward the enormous fiery nest led by the Phoenix of Dawn.
“Iriniel? Since it’s been so long, why don’t you take our two guests to the Purification Hot Springs?”
“What? Are you trying to have a serious conversation that I’m not allowed to hear? Aunt, don’t tell me you’re planning to settle down with a new man?”
Iriniel casually spat out words I never would have imagined. Even Espia widened her eyes in clear shock.
“You’ve become quite impertinent after 120 years, Iriniel. Or is it finally time for your rebellious phase?”
“I was just genuinely curious… Now that I think about it, in all your dozens of reincarnations, you’ve never once found a man…”
“Shh! There are many people watching, and yet you have no filter. You mischievous child.”
Espia tried to maintain her elegant smile, but her slightly twitching lips and trembling eyes completely betrayed her irritation. Iriniel burst out laughing, clearly amused by the phoenix’s reaction.
“Pfft! Look at that? You’re actually serious? Fine, fine. You two probably have things to talk about alone. It’d be rude of me to keep butting in.”
She patted the still-frozen shoulders of Elenoa and Lillian, who were overwhelmed by Espia’s presence, and led them toward the hot springs.
“Do your best to charm our guildmaster, okay~ Aunt?”
In the blink of an eye, only Espia and I remained inside the massive phoenix’s nest. The moment the intruders disappeared completely, every trace of playfulness vanished from Espia’s face.
She looked down at me with the deep, serious gaze of a Beast of Beginning who had lived for over a thousand years and got straight to the point.
“The moment I received word that the Original Prisoner, the Marionette of Tears, had been perfectly dealt with, I became certain.”
“…Certain of what?”
“Ideon Caldia. That you are the great being who will bring peace to the continent—the one the Voice of the World has spoken of through every one of my many reincarnations.”
‘…What?’
Voice of the World? Peace to the continent? Great being? What was all this? I had never heard any of it while playing. But the words clearly carried immense weight, so I could only stand there with my mouth hanging open.
Espia, however, seemed to interpret my dumbfounded expression as the humility of a truly noble person.
“Therefore… for the sake of my long-cherished wish as well, I will fully cooperate with any and all matters concerning the guild you lead.”
She gracefully spread her wings, rich with red feathers, and smiled brightly.
“To start with, shall I give you a generous supply of phoenix plumage? They are treated far more preciously than that so-called legendary egg the emperor wants. Just the ones I’ve carefully stored in the corner of my nest number well over a hundred, and they are elixirs among elixirs.”
“…….”
Phoenix plumage. A hundred of them.
The moment I heard those words, a truly nightmarish memory flashed through my mind. The massive auction house in the capital. The ancient rune magic tome that had completely upended the continent’s magic community—in exchange for just three of Iriniel’s feathers. And the egg of the primordial black dragon that had launched the guild’s military power into the stratosphere.
Just three lousy feathers had turned the guild into a massive success and shattered my bankruptcy plans. If a hundred of these so-called supreme elixirs—those red feathers—came rolling into the Caldia Merchant Guild?
That very day, the guild would become a holy land visited by the imperial families, mage towers, and every insane powerhouse across the entire continent, all dragging carts full of gold bars. I would never go bankrupt. Instead, I’d be chained to my desk forever, staring at approval documents for the rest of my life.
When my thoughts reached that point, I turned deathly pale without realizing it. I frantically waved both hands and blurted out my true feelings.
“Ah, no. I don’t want them.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m scared of wings.”
Yes. That day, I had developed a phobia of wings.