Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 1

Chapter One: Filo’s Friend 

The fire was crackling. We’d set up camp for the night. 

We were on schedule to arrive at the Melromarc Castle Town the next day. 

“Ahahahaha. Oh Filo! You’re so funny!” 

“Wait! I got you!” 

“You got me!” 

Filo was in her human form, and even though we were out in the wilderness, she was so hyperactive she was running in circles. 

It was fun to have a sleepover with your good friends. I’d done that before, on summer vacation school trips to the seaside, or during lock-ins in the science room. So I understood how fun it could be. 

But still, these two liked each other WAY too much. 

It only made since. Filo hadn’t ever really had a real friend that was in the same age-range as herself. 

But Mel was from nobility, so they weren’t really on equal standing. Mel was more like Filo’s owner. 

When you looked at them, they looked like close friends. So I guess Mel didn’t really care that Filo was a monster. 

When we were riding in the carriage Mel had made a few fiery speeches about Filolials, about which she seemed to know quite a lot. But she said that she had been on some long trips before, and so she’d probably ridden in Filolial carriages a lot. That was probably how she came to like them. 

“Calm down!” 

“Okay!” 

“Mr. Naofumi, why not let them play? Isn’t it good for Filo to have a friend?” 

“I guess…” 

It was almost unbelievable how loud and obnoxious Filo could be with a friend in tow. 

“Mel, I’m going to show you my treasure!” 

“Yay!” 

Filo had a bag that she always kept hidden away in the carriage. She took it out and showed it to Mel. 

I wondered what it could be? I kind of wanted to know. What would Filo consider a treasure? I’m sure it was just trash, but if she was filching from my stash, I’d have to lay down the law 

“Master, you want to see too?” 

“Sure.” 

Filo waved her hand to call me over, and I peaked inside the bag. 

It was filled with pieces of a broken sword. And some junky looking jewels from when I failed at an accessory-making attempt. Some glass beads. Connectors. 

“It’s so sparkly and pretty, isn’t it?” 

“Yes, it’s beautiful.” 

Mel looked a little confused. In her defense, it was a bag of trash. 

She was probably drawn to shiny things because she was a bird. I think I’d heard somewhere that crows liked to steal shiny things. Was Filo doing the same thing? 

“What’s this?” 

There was something else mixed in with the trash. I reached in and took it out. 

A brown hairball? It was a large, soft ball, but when I pressed it I could feel a number of smaller, hard objects moving inside. More than anything else, the object smelled terrible. 

I had a really bad feeling about this. 

“That thing there came out of my mouth!” 

It came from out of her mouth. Out of Filo’s mouth. 

Had she been a cat, the object would have been a hairball. Had she been a human, it would be vomit. But Filo was a bird, 

And birds throw up… Pellets? 

In other words, the hard things were pieces of monster bones mixed in with Filo’s own feathers and other indigestible materials. 

“Gross!” 

What was she thinking? And to think—I touched it! I threw the pellet ball away. 

“Hey! That’s my treasure!” 

“That’s no treasure! That’s excrement! If you put that in a bag again I’ll throw all your treasures away!” 

“But…” 

Mel was watching our exchange with a bewildered look on her face. 

We finished talking, and I made dinner. 

For dinner we had the meat of a monster we met on the road. I skewered it on wooden sticks and roasted it over the fire. 

“Master, you’re such a good cook!” 

“It’s true. You’re very good at it, and the food is always delicious. Mel, you should have some too.” 

Raphtalia passed a stick to Mel, who took it gratefully. 

“I mean, all he did was stick it over the fire! But it’s so GOOD!” 

She ate it slowly and thoughtfully. I thought for sure that she would protest eating such barbaric food, but apparently my fears were unfounded. 

Was it because of all she’d been through on her travels? 

I was judging Mel from her appearance. She was probably just an outspoken, brave girl. 

Anyway, we finished eating, and there was nothing left to do but sleep. But it was still a little early for that. 

So we were stuck with some free time. 

I was pretty used to staying in the wilderness by then, so I thought about taking out the magic book and sitting down to study some more. 

A little time went by, and Filo and Mel started to calm down. They probably wore themselves out and fell asleep. 

Raphtalia was taking a nap so she’d be fresh for her watch. She still had to cover half the time—I just wasn’t comfortable with the idea of leaving Filo and Mel in charge. 

“Hm…” 

Even if it was a book for beginners, it was still filled with many different kinds of magic. 

It covered things like “First Guard” and “First Heal.” 

I still couldn’t really use them myself, but those spells seemed to be the powerful end of the beginner-level of magic. 

I was reading about spells to raise your attack power and agility. There were so many I wanted to learn, but the grammar was so difficult that following the descriptions proved nearly impossible. 

I occasionally threw new logs onto the fire, and time slowly went by. 

“Mmmm…” 

Raphtalia slowly blinked, and looked sleepy. 

“Did I wake you up?” 

“No. Shall I take over?” 

“If you want to.” 

“All right.” 

I found a good place to pause my studies and then took her up on her offer. 

“Um… Mr. Naofumi?” 

“What is it?” 

“Filo and Mel are…” 

She pointed a shaky finger at the now silent figure of Filo, who was now a giant bird again. Filo was asleep, alone. And the clothes that Mel had been wearing were tossed about the ground around her. 

“Um…” 

Where was Mel? I thought for sure I’d find her, half-naked, asleep on Filo’s stomach. But when I looked, she wasn’t there. 

Even her shoes were lying there. But where was she? 

“You don’t think…” 

I knew Filo could be a pig, but… 

“Mr. Naofumi. Remember when you threatened those bandits by telling them that Filo ate people? You don’t thing that she…” 

“No way! She wouldn’t!” 

“But we’re talking about Filo here.” 

“But…” 

I guess I could believe it. Did she think that friends were people you could eat when you felt like it? 

“Raphtalia. Should we pretend we didn’t see anything and hide the proof?” 

“Wh… What are you suggesting?!” 

“If Filo ate a person… and a noble’s daughter at that! Do you think we should take responsibility for that?” 

I wanted to avoid that responsibility if I could. I mean, I recognize that it’s wrong. But still! 

That damn, chubby bird! She really knew how to make a mess. 

“Funya?” 

Filo’s head suddenly shot into the air as she woke up and blinked. 

“What happened? Master? Big-Sister?” 

“Where’s Mel?” 

“Mel? She’s sleeping in my feathers.” 

“Huh? I don’t see her.” 

I’d just checked a minute ago, I was sure that she wasn’t there. 

“Mel, wake up.” 

“Hm???” 

The feathers on Filo’s back ruffled and stood up before Mel poked her face out of the fluff. 

“What the?!” 

No way. No matter how you looked at it, Filo couldn’t hide an entire person in her feathers. That didn’t make any sense. But there she was anyway. 

“What is it, Filo?” 

“Master was asking where you were. So I woke you up.” 

“I was just on Filo’s back. It’s so warm!” 

“Why did you take your clothes off?” 

“Because it’s hot.” 

They really gave me a scare. 

“Anyway, how did you get so deep inside there?” 

“Filo’s feathers are super fluffy and thick! Stick your hand in here and see.” 

“Okay.” 

The time had come. It was time to see what Filo’s body was really like. 

Mel was calling me over, so I reached out my hand. 

“Whoa! It’s really deep.” 

I pushed both my arms in all the way to my shoulder before I finally felt something like skin. It really was very warm in there. If it was that deep, I could understand how Mel was able to sleep in there without anyone noticing. 

“I don’t understand how there can be that much space.” 

“I know!” 

“Let’s take all the feathers off and see what it’s like under there. We could sell the feathers too, might even make some money.” 

“No!” 

“But Holy Saint! You shouldn’t threaten Filo!” 

“It was just a joke.” 

Oh boy, I’d gotten another glimpse of just how weird Filo’s body was.