After leaving the floating cottage, the three of us headed to Mishuria, where Kokoru’s house was. We exited Summertide to the floating island of Telluna, where we attended school. From there, we boarded an airship to Mishuria. The airships went to the city where Kokoru lived, so just one trip was enough to take us there.
“So, where’s your house?”
“Over there, bawk.”
Kokoru pointed at a huge mansion on a hill overlooking the airship station. Its white walls were spotless, while its roof had accents of red. The red was mostly focused toward the tip-top of the mansion.
A white base with red accents? Yep, that’s a chicken coop! No doubt in my mind—that’s Kokoru’s place!
There was a weathercock at the very top of the mansion too.
Leaving aside the incredible representation of chicken people in this game, this mansion was absolutely gargantuan. How many rooms did it even hold? It looked more like a place where royalty or nobility might live.
“It’s huge! Is your family really that rich?!”
“Yeah, bawk. My pops is a big merchant, bawk.”
“That’s insane. I’m jealous.”
Game or not, my house looked like a rabbit hutch compared to this mansion. It was still perfectly big enough for me, and I was always thankful for my hardworking parents. But how would it feel to live in a place like this?
Is Akira’s house like this in real life? She is a rich girl. Maybe Kokoru would understand Akira better... or not, since he’s an NPC. He’s so ridiculously well written that he seems like a normal, living being.
Aah, what a well-crafted game. I did hear it has the most cutting-edge AI technology in it.
“It’s not as great as you think, bawk. When I was chosen as a hero candidate, people said I was so weak, I only got in because of my pops’s connections, bawk. It’s always been like that since I was just a chick. Sometimes, I wished I wasn’t their son, bawk.”
“Dang. That’s raw, buddy.”
I felt like that wasn’t all too rare in real life. How could the developers give this cute, silly chicken such a sad backstory?
“I told Akira about it before, and she said she understands, bawk. Do you think she’s like me?”
“Akira said that?”
“Yeah, bawk. But she said she has fun with you, and things would get easier if I joined your guild. And, by bawk, she was right!”
“Ooh, I’m glad to hear it! Warms my heart.”
“I can only believe in myself because of you guys, bawk, so I want you and Akira to keep being good friends. No arguing, bawk, got it?”
Oh, huh. Does Kokoru think we got in a fight just because we aren’t together?
Kokoru was such a nice NPC, worrying about little things like that. He’d always been a good guy, really. No matter how big and strong he got, that would never change.
“We’re not, bro. You helped us with it before, but we’re still working to get Akira’s Rainbow Guard. Our party for this next hurdle is optimal, even if I am kinda sad that I’m not part of it.”
“Bawk. I get it. You wanna get Akira’s present yourself, right, bawk?”
“Yeah. I wanted to, at least. But we were running out of time, and I had to prioritize actually getting the armor.”
And I still don’t think I was wrong to do that! It just sucks.
“All for Akira, bawk.”
“Yep. I put myself on the bench just for her. Anyway, let’s forget all that! Let’s clean up your house!”
“Thanks, bawk! Thanks to you guys, I’m so much more confident, and the family’s a lot happier. That’s why my pops wanted to help me a little too much, bawk. His intentions were good, but we need to put a stop to the monsters before they start hurting people in town. Bawk!”
“Darn right!”
As we made our way closer, I noticed that there was a translucent barrier erected around the mansion.
Is that actually effective? At the very least, I don’t see any monsters trying to leave their property.
Beast-type monsters loitered around the courtyard, while birds perched on the roof. Inside, it looked like there were a lot of human-shaped monsters. And I mean a lot.
It looked like the monsters had the run of the place. Where would we even begin?
In front of the mansion was a crowd of worried spectators watching over the pandemonium. No surprise there; it looked like the monsters couldn’t escape the barrier, but it would be a disaster if they were to break free.
The townsfolk should have run away, but either out of curiosity or just to dial up the tension for the quest, they continued to loiter. Kokoru’s father was among them. When he saw us, he ran over with his little chicken legs.
“Oh, Kokoru! You brought Ren! Now I feel so much better, bawk.”
“Cheep! Master returns, cheep!”
“We’ve got this in the bag now, cheep!”
“Our master can do something about this, cheep!”
Kokoru’s cheepy little brothers crowded around me. They were absolutely adorable.
“Hey, kids. I heard you were in trouble, so I came to help out!”
“Chirp! Cheepies, cheepies!”
Draco seemed to like the chicks too, as he chased them around.
“Aaahh! Nobody asked for you, cheep! Ruuun! Cheep!”
What a lively gathering. Maybe all chicken people hate pet dragons.
Kokoru was just as terrified of Draco since he loved to give him little nibbles on the head.
“Would you boys shut up, bagawk?! Daddy’s having an important conversation! Sorry they’re all so loud, bawk.”
“Eh, I don’t mind. It’s my boy Draco’s fault for messing with them, anyway. So, what should we do about those monsters?”
“Bawk! I wanted to help little Kokoru here be the knight he was born to be, so I started raising monsters in the house so he could use them whenever he wanted. But then, bawk...”
“Something went wrong, and things escalated from there?”
“Precisely, bawk! I got this really rare one because I wanted to help him so bad, bawk... But then my wife started leading a monster uprising in the house! Now they’ve gone and occupied it, bawk-bawk!”
“Huh?! Your wife?!”
Only then did I realize that Kokoru’s mom wasn’t around.
Is that what happened? Kokoru didn’t tell me about that part.