7
“…This is Combat Agent Six. Lady Lilith, can you hear me? Over.”
“This is Lilith, and yes, I can hear you. We tracked you part of the way using the satellite-link system, but we lost you around the rocky area. Where are you, exactly? Over.”
Having been dragged off by the Sky King…
“Right now, I’m in the Sky King’s nest. Looks like Snow was right about its nature. It hasn’t attacked me yet.”
…I’m currently in its lair.
“Lady Lilith, this is pretty impressive. There’s tons of shiny stuff here.”
The bird’s nest I’m in is overflowing with glimmering objects.
I can see a wide assortment of gems and an enormous pile of gold coins.
There are also magic swords and glowing armor poking out of the heap.
“Six, I’d like to hear more about the shiny stuff. Then again, it’s probably just junk a bird would collect. Glass beads and pretty rocks, right?” asks Lilith, trying to convince herself that the sparrow hasn’t actually collected anything of real value.
“There’s a ton of jewels and gold coins. Also, there’s piles of things that look like magic swords…”
After delivering my report, I hear a brief, muffled response from Lilith, and an oddly polite Snow calls back.
“Commander, can you hear me? It is I, your loyal subordinate Snow. I am relieved to hear you are safe. When you were taken from us, I felt an ache in my heart for your safety…”
Who the hell are you?
“Hey! Give me back my radio and don’t butt in! But yeah, we’re glad you’re all right… So, Six, do you know where you are? I’ll come fetch you myself.”
……
“I don’t know where I am exactly, but it’s somewhere between some cliffs. I’m about to request some rope so I can climb down on my own, so you don’t need to come get me.”
““We can’t have that!””
My boss’s and my subordinate’s voices overlap.
“…There’s some Sky King droppings in the corner. I’ll collect a bit and head back.”
The Sky King is curled up in the back of the lair, having lost all interest in me the moment I let it keep the necklace.
Doesn’t look like it’ll attack when I leave.
“Hold on, Six, forget the droppings for now. Instead, let’s look into these shiny treasures…”
“Do you have any idea how rare an opportunity it is to be able to enter the Sky King’s lair?! Don’t you dare leave that nest empty-handed! Forget about the poop and grab a few magic swords!”
Forgetting the whole reason we’re here, my boss and my subordinate focus on their greed.
“I’m not taking that stuff at a time like this. It won’t mind me pilfering some droppings, but it’ll come after me if I make off with any of its precious treasures.”
I glance over at the Sky King. It’s taken a real shine to the necklace and is now using its beak to toy with it.
“What sort of cowardly excuse is that?! Leaving behind treasure that’s just sitting in front of you—what sort of adventurer are you?!”
“Ma’am, I’m a Combat Agent.”
Hearing that, Snow throws insults in my direction.
“Lady Lilith is right! To sneak into the Sky King’s lair and acquire its haul—that’s the sort of adventure story every man dreams of! And you’re going to throw away that opportunity?!”
Sky King? Adventure? It’s a giant sparrow.
It’d be a different story if I was in the lair of an actual dragon.
Ignoring the two yelling at me over the radio, I shovel some poop into a bag…
“Six, don’t you leave! We should be close now!”
“I won’t leave you to face danger alone, Commander! If we must die, we’ll die together!”
With their goals completely changed, the duo yells with ragged breath…
I mean, these two are just getting in the way.
If they make it to the lair, I bet they’re gonna make my escape harder.
As I struggle to figure out a way to convince them to back off, the Sky King raises its head.
I don’t know why, but the damn thing is still toying with the necklace I was planning to give Grimm…
“…Combat Agent Six to Alice at headquarters. I’m in a weird situation. Think you can gimme a hand with those smarts of yours, partner? Over!”
A necklace falls from the lair atop the cliff.
As it hurtles down toward Lilith’s head, she grabs it out of the air with one of her tentacles.
“Hmm, is this…?”
“Isn’t that the necklace that bastard showed the Sky King earlier…?”
The Sky King left the lair to look for food, so I retrieved the necklace and tossed it at Lilith.
Evidently figuring out that I dropped it, Lilith holds the necklace up to the light and glances skyward.
“Six, can you hear me? A necklace just fell on top of me. You’re nearby, right?”
“Combat Agent Six here. That’s correct, Lady Lilith. I’m above you. The Sky King should be coming back soon, so if you could buy me some time, that’d be great.”
““What?””
As Lilith and Snow wail in unison, they’re swallowed up by a giant shadow.
The Sky King, now with a full belly, has returned to its nest.
Before it lands, it catches sight of the necklace that Lilith’s holding up to the light…
“Chirp, chirp, chirp!”
“Who the heck was it who said the Sky King was gentle?! It’s super hostile!”
“Lady Lilith, it wants the shiny object! The necklace you’re holding! It’s after that!”
As Lilith risks life and limb acting as bait, I stuff as many coins and Sky King feathers as possible into my backpack.
But it’s not quite time to climb down the rope.
It’ll be a problem if the decoys leave me behind, so I egg on their greed.
“Lady Lilith, I’ll drop you some of the Sky King’s treasure hoard.”
Warning the decoys, I grab the remaining gems next and toss them toward the ground.
“Well done, Six! Good work! Grrr, damned bird! Now that it’s on the ground, this treasure is free for the taking! Get lost!”
“Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Glancing down from my perch, I see Lilith guarding against the Sky King’s pecking while stepping on gems with her foot and slowly pulling them toward her.
As for Snow, she’s cackling as she crawls around on the ground, gathering up gems in both arms.
“Chirp, chirp, chirp!”
“Evil organizations are pillars of avarice! We can’t back down to a mere bird with this much loot in plain sight!”
“A wonderful attitude, Lady Lilith! I will not back down! Even against a Guardian Beast!”
With the two of them caught up grabbing the treasure raining down from above…
“This is Combat Agent Six. I’m returning to base. Got plenty of souvenirs for you. Over.”
“Yep, good work. Try not to get caught up with the decoys. Over.”
Gathering up the poop and the backpack, I sneak away from the area.
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