I woke up to find out I was a gryphon.
No, it’s not some metaphor or allegory. I truly became a gryphon.
A gryphon—wait, is that really right? I feel a bit small for a gryphon. There’s barely anything around to compare myself with, so I can only guess, but thinking about the size of the stones in this prison-like place, when I get up, my head would probably reach about the height of a person’s chest. It was definitely different from the size of gryphons depicted in media.
Back legs like a lion, front paws like an eagle. Plus, I could distinctly feel wings! When I turned my head, I saw them. They didn’t seem to have grown feathers for long.
At first, I was somewhat horrified, but I managed to regain my composure quicker than I expected.
After all, it’s not like I’ll be trapped in some story just because I said something stupid to a writer. There used to be plenty of serious isekai stories flooding in where someone wakes up as a game character, or a high school student suddenly finds themselves in another world for no reason and becomes a hero.
As I traced the lineage of such isekai stories, I realized there are numerous bizarre stories about reincarnations. I nodded as I recalled the light novels I had read that featured those ‘bizarre’ things.
Well, yeah, being a gryphon is definitely upper-tier.
… biologically speaking.
However, now that I realized the situation, I faced several critical issues.
First, I was a baby gryphon.
“Peep?”
That’s right. If we’re talking about light novels where people cross over to become something other than humans, there’s kind of an unwritten rule that eventually, they start speaking human language. I mean, if you stay in a state where you can’t communicate like an animal or plant, the story would go nowhere. A really skillful author might pull it off, but most would hit a wall pretty soon.
And from the reader’s perspective, that would be so frustrating.
Of course, light novels often feature pretty girl characters. Especially those stories aimed at male readers often include attractive heroines to sell.
But if the protagonist is an animal or monster or an inanimate object, could they have a connection with the heroine?
Uh… well, with animals, I guess anything could happen. There are indeed genres for that.
Yet, even in those genres, the protagonist ends up talking to the heroine eventually.
Isn’t that obvious?
Even if the protagonist became a ‘living being,’ the typical animal — I mean, the pet — wouldn’t end up sparking any sort of romantic feelings with the heroine, right?
If someone suddenly felt attracted to their puppy, that’s definitely not normal. Sure, I guess there might be some out there, but in light novels, that just shouldn’t happen. Wouldn’t the readers feel something’s off?
… I’m not even sure if I’m really in a novel, but in any case.
The story’s taken a weird turn, but whether or not I could talk like a person in the future, right now, I definitely wasn’t going to say anything human.
I was a gryphon. A birdbrain. And among birds, eagles don’t mimic human speech.
“Peep.”
… And I couldn’t even make eagle sounds. I was a ‘baby’ gryphon after all.
No writing, no letters. Even if I could communicate, the characters I could write wouldn’t likely be recognized in this world.
The first problem was that I had no way to communicate with people.
The second problem—
Clank.
When I lifted my front paws — which felt like my hands, oh boy — I heard a clank sound.
A metal chain was around my front paw.
Of course, I was tied up to prevent my escape.
Not just my front paws; there were chains on my back paws, neck, and wings as well.
I was literally incapable of moving.
Did they do this because I was a gryphon? I had no idea why they would go this far with a creature that barely had gray fluff all over.
I didn’t understand the reason I ended up in this position, or how I even got here in the first place.
But one thing was clear: this situation was bad.
Whoever had me here, what kind of human were they? A merchant wanting to sell a gryphon? Or were they capturing me for military modifications?
“….”
I could hear footsteps in the distance.
My senses were sharper than they’d been as a human. The previously unheard sounds were now as clear as if they were right next to me.
A clank from what seemed like steel shoes.
And indeed, it was the sound of someone walking in metal shoes.
I saw the metallic greaves. Looking up, there stood a knight clad in plate armor from head to toe before me.
Good.
Whatever orders they give, I should comply.
That knight looked much bigger than me, and it would hurt a lot if they decided to hit me.
For now, I’d listen to orders and assess the situation—
But my thoughts were interrupted.
Whack, I was slapped, and my head spun around.
“Peep?”
That was the sound that came out of my mouth.
But it seemed the other party didn’t want to hear it, as they slapped my face again.
“Peep!”
An absurdly cute sound came out, completely out of place for the situation.
As I collapsed to the side, barely managing to glance up, the knight was looking down at me.
Couldn’t read their expression, but that shadowy sleeve looked like it was blaming me.
“Because of you, my friends have died just to capture you.”
The greave made a clank as I hastily attempted to get up, but I fell back down as the chains were too tight for me to rise.
“Are you trying to attack me?”
“Peep!”
No, I was thinking of complying for now!
But I had no way to respond.
My body was on fire.
My legs, wings, head, and body all felt like they were being beaten and pinched.
The body of a gryphon should be tougher than a human. So they’d used several chains to bind me. Just because a little gryphon like me terrified them.
“Stop.”
A male voice, not the knight’s, rang out.
Clank, clank, a set of footsteps I felt I’d heard before in my original world.
“Should the gryphon die, your friends’ sacrifices would be in vain. Are you trying to make their deaths meaningless?”
“I apologize, Cardinal.”
The knight instantly cleared the anger from a moment ago and stood at attention beside me.
No, they weren’t just hiding their expression. Who knows what kind of contorted face they might be making inside?
I hurriedly moved my body.
I didn’t want to get hit.
But the chains were too tight for me to even scoot back.
“Don’t worry too much.”
The old man, referred to as the Cardinal, spoke to me.
“If you obey us, you won’t feel any pain.”
“Peep, peep.”
I get it, I get it. I said it several times. But human words weren’t coming out.
I wondered what he thought of those sounds. The Cardinal nodded a few times at me.
“We’ll conduct some tests soon. We have to figure out if you can match our foes.”
“My friends already—”
“I said ‘foes.’ I’m not talking about swords and spears. You know that. The Empire is trying to step into a new era. We need to see if you can withstand guns and cannons.”
Guns? Cannons?
What the heck?
“… Is that so.”
In the knight’s voice, I sensed a damp delight.
Probably the joy of avenging his comrades.
“…”
Trembling, I curled up in a corner, afraid of that joy.
*
“Yikes, yikes!”
That sound came from a human holding a rifle.
I found myself in an arena surrounded by thick iron bars, something out of a movie or a comic.
In this coliseum-like place, I was trapped with a human.
The other one was holding a gun, while I was bare. Of course, that’s the way it was.
And— I realized what kind of situation this was.
The other human understood it too.
We were meant to kill each other.
Not to be precise—
I was the one required to kill that human.
A test to survive against guns and cannons.
That was the story the Cardinal mentioned back then.
“Oh, don’t come near…!”
… Not planning to come any closer.
Seeing the human aiming a gun at me, I stepped backward into a corner of the arena.
… It was terrifying.
The gun and the terrified human.
And my situation where I had to use my claws or beak against that human.
I was just scared.
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