It’s great to have the luxury to laze around without a care.
They say if you relax long enough, eventually you’ll want to work, but I don’t buy it at all.
It’s not wanting to work; it’s just that you have to work because you’ll run out of money to put food in your mouth.
Even from elementary and middle school, you can tell it’s true. Isn’t it fun to do nothing during breaks? College was no different. Just aligning my schedule to skip classes and lying on my bed doing nothing felt fulfilling and time flew by.
Time dragged on when I was in class or working part-time. Even when I worked, the time spent waiting for customers was much quicker than the actual work.
Didn’t they say that being a noble is a job in itself?
Living off the properties bought by ancestors hundreds of years ago, these people have so much money they don’t need jobs. In fact, having a job was just about accumulating experience, right?
I know. I’m aware that those people aren’t really doing nothing.
However, we don’t really call the friendly sports matches, charity work, or social gatherings “work.” That’s just a hobby.
So what I’m getting at is, if you want to do something else while taking a break, just do it for a bit. If I’m not in a situation where I’m starving to death, there’s no need to feel guilty about doing nothing.
Ah, that doesn’t mean I’m not bored.
But, hey, I’m a gryphon after all.
Most hobbies that people have can’t be enjoyed by me. Reading or typical sports… Well, I never was fond of sports, so I can overlook that. But reading? Forget it, I would have to give up as I don’t know the letters of this world. Plus, I’m not exactly keen on learning foreign languages.
So, my biggest hobby in this world? ‘Flying.’
Yeah, literally soaring through the sky.
I had flown on a plane before, but riding in a plane is completely different from flying with my own wings.
Besides, you can’t just, you know, hop on a plane anytime you want.
When the sun is high in the sky and I fly up high, everything below looks tiny. The whoosh of the wind by my ears is nice, and the fluttering of my feathers feels good.
Though, saying it like this makes me feel somewhat animal-like, huh? But what can I say? It’s true.
I have no intention of going back anytime soon. This life is surprisingly free, and I’m already satisfied with that.
Since I’m here anyway, I might as well stay a bit longer, watch how Sylvia and her friends live, and then look for a way back.
By the way, it seems like the Empire has a lot of wild animals, probably because it’s still underdeveloped. There were wolves, and bears in the forest as well.
However, these wild beasts look like they’d be “bad to eat,” which made me hesitant to hunt.
But there were some that looked “safe to eat.”
A herd of cows and goats leisurely grazing on the vast prairie.
Looking around, I didn’t see any people or fences.
Well, with so many wild animals around, it’s not surprising that a herd of cows and goats might be wandering about.
This is a fantasy world, after all.
Just as I was flying and got hungry, I dived down and snatched a small cow.
THUD!
Even in a fantasy world, one must recognize the strange.
Thinking back, the herds of cows, sheep, and goats, they looked too much like what I knew.
To put it another way, these animals looked “pleasing to the eye” even to humans.
The absence of people and fences was likely because the pasture was so vast that setting them up would cost too much time and money.
Additionally, there were cases where cattle were raised without fences on purpose, because if cows wandered and bumped into a fence, it would leave marks on their leather.
Right! Cattle aren’t just raised for eating.
They are also raised for their hides.
So that means—the cow I happily hunted earlier was—
“That cow belongs to someone else. It’s typically raised for its hide. By the way, its owner runs a famous leather workshop. They mostly supply leather for luxury steam cars and carriage interiors, and I’ve heard there are serious talks about a merger with some steam car company recently.”
The Crown Princess, who had personally come looking for me, said that.
“…Is that so.”
Hearing that from Alice, Sylvia looked up at me.
I avoided her gaze.
“By the way, there was also a request for compensation for other cows besides the dead one. It seems your gryphon didn’t catch just one after all. There are cows with long scratches on their hides too and some that were wounded and later died.”
“…Is that so.”
Hmm.
So that’s how it went.
There was one I tried to lift up but dropped because I misjudged my grip.
BOOM! It made a rather loud noise, but I didn’t think it would die!
“By the way, the price is quite steep. The cows are raised for their hides, and good leather cows usually have good meat too.”
“…Is that so.”
As Sylvia said that, she continued to look up at me intently.
She looked like she had a lot to say.
Well, I know I messed up too.
Can’t she tell by the way I’m deliberately turning my head away?
But it’s not like I had any way to compensate for it either.
“Let’s get one thing straight.”
Alice said, looking up at me.
“We need to clarify whether that hunt was the gryphon’s instinct or if you just did it because you were hungry. Otherwise, it could seriously affect the citizens even if we provide food.”
After hearing that, I turned my gaze towards Alice.
“…Seems like I understand your words.”
“The intelligence of the gryphon is unclear, but at least it seems to understand human speech.”
Of course I understood!
I might not know anything about gryphon intelligence, but the one inside me has human smarts.
“Will it understand if I speak?”
Should I act like I know?
If I want to stay here without being kicked out, I need to communicate but how should I express my ‘understanding’ to them?
Just nodding my head might work.
…But that feels a bit… you know, too lame.
I just mentioned “the intelligence of the gryphon,” so it’s not like I should talk down from a high ground, but right now, I am a gryphon, aren’t I?
From what I overheard, I’m said to be the symbol of the Empire. I even saw a big shield-shaped emblem of a gryphon on the massive iron gate coming to the Imperial Palace.
In this world, while the existence of gryphons has been confirmed, almost no one has seen one up close.
So they seem to want to treat me as the symbol of the Empire. …But wouldn’t it be embarrassing to just nod like that?
I looked down at Alice and said,
“…Do you understand? Are you telling me not to take commands?”
“More so, I think you’re just pretending to be gallant.”
Sylvia saw right through my ulterior motives. Truly the perspective of a protagonist.
After answering Alice, Sylvia stepped closer to me and said,
“I don’t quite grasp what you’re thinking, but let me speak under the assumption you understood.”
Sylvia’s height couldn’t be said to be drastically different from Alice’s. She wasn’t short, but if I had to put it simply, I’d say she was of ‘average height.’
Yet, looking up at me from that relatively small height, she didn’t seem diminutive at all.
Honestly, if anyone fits the role of a Crown Princess, it seems like it would be Sylvia.
But, well, since she refused that, there’s nothing to be done about it.
“Staying here and consuming a lot is unavoidable, but please do your best not to harm others. If a symbol of the Empire brings harm to the citizens, how could the prestige of the royal family hold up? You’ve helped us a lot, but for the sake of my image, won’t you keep our name intact?”
“…….”
Sylvia looked directly into my eyes without flinching.
I quietly watched her for a while—
Well, fine.
There are ways to maintain prestige while apologizing.
I stood up from my spot.
And then, I bowed my head politely.
“If you understand, then that is sufficient.”
Sylvia looked up at me, smiling softly, and then performed the Imperial greeting she had shown me last time.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of how to communicate.
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