Chapter 1

Condemned

「 Oy. 」a young man’s voice called out.「 Brat. 」

…Rude.

I can feel something gnawing on my hair, pulling it.

「 Wake up, 」so the rude voice says.

How about learning some manners first? In the meantime, I think I’ll sleep some more. The moss and fern are very… comfortable…

- Prick -

Ow!

What the hell?!

I open my eyes and turn my head around to see a black bundle of feathers.

It’s… a crow. It’s a big, big crow with pitch black feathers.

I quickly sit up and take on a wary stance against this bizarre adversary.

It has the same height as me while I’m sitting, and its wingspan is probably more than I am tall. It’s certainly too big for a crow, so I guess it’s more accurate to call it a raven? Actually, it doesn’t matter because either way, that size is in no way natural. Though rather than its size, what estranges me the most is the eyes, the glowing red eyes, with reptile-like pupils that seemed too uncanny for the eyes of a bird.

Wait, the real question is… did this bird just prick the back of my head?

「 Hah, finally. I thought you’d never wake up. What a drag. 」

…Hmm.

That’s the same voice as before, but I don’t see him anywhere.

Show yourself!

「 What do you mean, “show yourself?” I’m right here, witless brat! 」

I start looking around for the owner of the voice.

Yes, the raven’s beak may be moving accordingly to the words, but a bird can’t talk, you know that, right? Shame on you for having the thought even cross your mind. So I look around, and I found that I am somewhere... dark, or it’s probably just night. And the walls… the walls towering around, covered in hanging moss and ivy-like plants.

…Where the hell am I?

「 Oy. Can you hear me? Can you perhaps understand me? Ahh, that’s it. You can’t even understand me, can you? You silly primitive creature─ 」

Shut up, prick.

「 ....What did you call me, brat? 」

Huh? Did I say that out loud?

「 You certainly did, snotty brat. 」

The raven let out a deep sigh. What the heck. Can birds even do that? Or rather, ravens don’t speak. Well, not usually, at least. They croak. And yet, the raven here is talking fluently in human language — something impossible to achieve just by mimicking.

So how is it speaking?

「 So who is what? 」

You. How are you speaking?

「 What? I’m just speaking normally. 」

But how do you pronounce words? Are you using your tongue? You don’t even have lips and yet you’re moving your beaks. Are you using your beaks?

「 What’s with all the questions, brat? I’m just speaking normally, you know. In fact, I’m the one who should be asking you. Can you even speak properly? 」

Huh? Properly?

「 Yeah. You know, with your voice and mouth. 」

With my… voice and mouth?

「 You’ve been projecting your thoughts instead of speaking, but it’s annoying, you know. My mind is filled with more important things than your petty thoughts. You know, if I were you, I’d just speak normally. Can you even speak properly? Yeah. You know, with your voice and mouth. 」

You know, he’s being infectiously repetitious. It’s probably because he’s a bird, you know. Now then, he said some important things just now.

I have been “projecting” my thoughts? Does that mean I’ve been speaking, err… I don’t want to say, telepathically? Now that he mentioned it, I haven’t been moving my lips at all.

Well then, let’s test it.

.......

Let’s try again. Umm…

How do you speak, again?

I put more force through my throat, but still, nothing. No, seriously, how do people speak in the first place?

「 Hold on. 」

Huh? What is he...

S‒Stay back!

I crawl back against the raven who’s walking, or, hopping towards me, only to realize that there’s a wall right behind me.

「 Oy. I’m just going to check you, you know? 」

He stands there in front of me, too close for my comfort. Then he lays his sharp beak on the bare part of my chest, tracing upwards in a slow, intimate manner, up to the base of my throat, the feeling of which brought an involuntary shudder.

Err… did a bird just caress me?

The raven just sighs deeply. Still a mystery. A bird, sighing.

「 It’s a pain, but there’s no choice. There’s no choice, so you can continue that way of voicing your thoughts, because there’s no choice, I guess. It’s a pain, but I guess because there’s no choice... 」

Huh?

I tilt my head at him. His bird-speak makes his words so hard to understand.

「 How pitiful. There’s no damage to your strings or voice muscles, yet for some reason, you can’t utilize them. Your nerves lack the ability to move your voice muscles. How pitiful. I guess there’s no choice but for you to keep sending your thoughts. It’s a pain, but there’s no choice. 」

Uhm… in short, I can’t speak? He’s saying I’m a mute?

He said strings. Did he mean my vocal cords?

For some reason, I don’t doubt him. Even if he’s a birdbrain, there seemed to be truth in his voice. I see no harm in believing his explanation for now. Not that I’m giving up on being able to speak, though.

But, this bird is really an oddball. He diagnosed me with muteness just by... nuzzling me with his beak?

Somehow I feel a little bad because he kept saying that it’s a pain.

Well, just a little.

Umm... thank you.

The raven froze.

I‒I mean, for telling me my illness and for allowing me to, uh… “speak” to you.

「 Hmph. It’s because there’s no choice, you know? Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to speak. It’s not like I think of your thoughts are important, but because there’s no choice, so I’ll just bear with your little and unimportant thoughts. 」

The raven looks away awkwardly while saying that.

You’re...umm, you’re not...

「 Hmm? 」

You’re not going to hurt me, are you?

「 Now why would I do that? I’m not like those other savages here, you know.

Did you perhaps wake me up because you didn’t want the savages to find me?

「 What? Well, it’s not like that. I just thought it would be fun conversing with you, you know? Though you turned out boring... Well, anyway, it’s not like that. 」

Again, he looks away in the same awkwards manner.

「 Huh? What’s with that look? 」

Hmm? Nothing.

「 Like I said, it’s because there’s no choice, you know? 」

Yeah, yeah, I get it.

That’s what I said while smiling, somehow knowing that this bird means me no harm. I had to fight the urge to reach out and pet him. Anyway, while he’s in a good mood...

Say, can you tell me where we are?

I look around again.

High walls surrounds the wide area in a square shape, mostly covered in hanging vegetation that shoot out the cracks. Moss and the like scatters all over the grounds, covering it almost entirely except for a few patches where the stone-paved ground is visible.

There are two openings on the opposite walls, but it’s too dark to see what lies beyond.

On my back, there’s a gazebo-like stone structure that stands in the middle of the area. Like the walls, it’s covered in green.

「 Where? Well, we’re in what I call area 346, right. Or was it 364? 」

No, no, I mean, what is this place?

「 Oh, well we’re in the... you know, the thing. Where we always are. 」

Of course. That explains everything.

My eyes adapted pretty quickly, it seems. I can now see the nearer opening where the walls parts and continues through the path. Somehow, the scenery reminds me of something. It’s like...

Like a maze or a labyrinth.

「 I don’t remember the name of this place. 」 the bird said in a regretful voice. Of course, you don’t, you birdbrain.

「 But it’s not important, you know? I mean, I’ve been here for so long, and I never needed to know the name anyway. 」

I stand up and brush off the plant residues that stuck on my clothes.

…Clothes.

Come to think of it, I’m wearing clothing that I don’t remember ever putting on. It’s a sleeveless dress, reaching just above the knee. It has a light color — maybe white? It’s dark, so I can’t really tell.

Also, no shoes. Whoever gave me these clothes forgot about the shoes.

We’re in a maze or some sort, aren’t we, Mister Bird?

「 Hmm... something like that, I guess. A dungeon too. It’s for corrections or something, I think. Detention, punishment, something. I don’t remember. 」

What was that? Hey now...

We’re in a prison?

「 Something like that, I guess. A dungeon too. 」

A what?! Hold on, why a prison? Did I do something wrong? Why can’t I remember anything?

Wait, if this is a prison, then why are you here? Do you have a criminal record?

「 Eh? Well, don’t know, don’t remember. 」

…Of course. He’s a bird, after all. What did I expect?

Well, in any case, I’m not going to sit here and do nothing, so I walk towards one of the opening. I have nothing to start with, so I might as well begin now.

「 Hmm? Where are you going? 」

I’m going to find a way out.

「 Ehh, just stay here, why don’t you? 」

Sorry, but I want to go out. There’s nothing to do here, anyway?

「 .... 」

Wait a second. He’s a bird, isn’t he? And birds can fly, which means… which means it’s time for me to put on my most charming smile.

- super-effective-smile attacks -

Do you know the way out, Mr. Bird?

「 ...Nope. Never gonna tell you. 」

Why not?

「 More fun that way, you know. 」

It shouldn’t be able to do it, but somehow, I get the feeling that the raven is grinning. Darn. I guess it wouldn’t be that easy. Is he planning to make me stay here?

...I’m going anyway. I guess I’ll see you around?

「 Eeh…? But this place is big, you know. You’ll get lost, you know. 」

Then, help me?

I cutely tilt my head at him. At least I intended it to be cute, but he just froze in shock.

…No, that might mean he’s thinking about it? I can’t believe it worked, he’s thinking about it!

「 Then, you’ll have to beat me! 」 he suddenly shouted, nearly giving me a heart attack.

The raven’s eyes sparkled as though he just thought of an ingenious way to deal with me.

Beat you how, exactly?

「 A game! We’ll play a game! 」

The raven tugs on my clothes and leads me to the center of the gazebo-like structure, which is going to be the arena what this “game”, I assume. Let’s just go along for now.

We face each other in the stone gazebo. His eyes are still so sparkling — you can’t wait to play, can you?

「 If you win, I’ll tell you which of the two passages is the better choice! 」

Suddenly, he plucks one of his feathers and looks at me with gleaming eyes. I think I see where this is going...

「 I will put this feather on one of the four supports of this structure, and you will have to guess which one with your eyes closed! Now, close your eyes! 」

Ah, yes. Of course, it had to be something like this, but… why bother? It’s not like he’d gain anything from this. Is he testing me? Seeing how he acted earlier, he’d probably help me either way, wouldn’t he?

Anyway, I close my eyes and hear his wings flapping. Then, I feel the touch of his feathers pressing on my face.

...He’s covering my eyes? So he thinks I’m not trustworthy? You don’t have to cover my eyes, Mr. Bird. That makes me sad, you know.

「 I’ll let you ask me two questions, to which I will answer “yes”, “no”, “either”, “neither”, or “both”. But, it’s two questions, and two only! 」

His feathers are pretty ticklish. I hope he grooms regularly because he’s pretty much rubbing his feathers on my face. Oh, he said something about questions, did he?

I smile to myself as a mischievous plan forms in my mind.

「 Eh! And you can’t ask about which way to take, too! 」

“Tch.”

So he realized. Even though I want to embarrass him... well, it doesn’t matter.

Then, can I change the bet?

「 Mm? 」

If I win, you’ll have to come with me.

「 And if you lose? 」

Then, I’ll stay here and play with you.

「 ...Alright, deal! Come on, then, where did I put the thing? 」

How about my questions?

「 Kowakhakha! You’ve run out just now! Like I said, two questions only! 」

…Was that his laugh?

I can’t really see his expression, but he sure is smug. Technically, “can I change the bet” was indeed my first question and his “alright” was yes. Which means, me asking about the questions count as the second, I suppose? How cunning.

Either way, I had used my question the best way I could by raising the bet. As cunning as he is, a birdbrain is still a birdbrain.

「 Heh. Now, how are you going to guess? 」

It’s on the spot behind me, right?

「 Huh?! 」

Well?

「 …No? 」

I pull away from him and turn around to see that the feather is indeed there. I look back at him with a big grin painted over my face.

Well?

「 But, how…? 」

I’ve got my tricks. Now will you honor my agreement, or will you turn back on your own words?

「 Of course not! 」

Well then, lead the way, Mr. Bird.

Hehe! From how he spoke, he seemed to know his way around, right? Which means, maze guide acquired!

The maze guide appears to be distracted, though, probably still thinking about how I beat him. Should I mention that covering my eyes does nothing to my hearing, and that I could hear his wings flapping?

…Nah. Let’s let him stress about it for a while.

--- --- ---

After that, he led me to one of the passage and as per our agreement, he’s coming along with me.

Now then, please guide me to the exit.

「 Nay, why should I? 」

Eh? Are you going back on your word?

「 I only said I’d come with you. I don’t need to help you. 」

....Ah.

It’s true that he didn’t say anything about helping me.

Hmm, I get it. Revenge for earlier, isn’t it? What a sore loser you are, Mr. Bird, and now you think you got me played for a fool. Well, we’ll see about that. There’s got to be some way to make use of him.

After all, he’s a birdbrain, so how hard could it be?