WebNovels

Chapter 32 - The Old Hawk's Deal

🟠 Chapter 31 :

While Viteco was outlining the plan, Carrotou noticed a hawk attacking the children. Its target was the turtle Argos — it snatched the turtle right out from in front of them. The kids panicked and tried to throw stones at the hawk, but it flew off out of reach.

Carrotou launched after the hawk at once, while Viteco lifted me onto his back and darted through the alleys.

"Come on, Koko — we can't let that hawk take Argos!"

Argos's voice carried faintly from where he was:

"Leave me alone, you stupid hawk! Being a turtle is the worst!"

We were slower than the hawk and couldn't catch up, but then the hawk stopped above an abandoned house

We drew near and inspected the house carefully. It looked familiar. Viteco cried out when he recognized it.

"No way — it's the conman's house!"

Really? It was the same house. The door's color hadn't changed since the last time I saw it — still green. Why that house of all places? Was the hawk working for that old man?

I was ready to barge in, but Viteco beat me to it. And—oh—he'd forgotten he was a horse again: he charged on two legs, shoved the door open, and rushed inside. Carrotou and I followed.

The interior was dusty and dim. In the gloom we found an empty shell — Argos's shell — and both of them cried out when they saw it.

"Noooo! Argos, what did they do to you?"

"I'll get revenge on that hawk and destroy it!"

The whole melodrama over the turtle's "death" vanished instantly when Argos himself appeared in front of them-alive and well.

"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?" he asked, bewildered.

Viteco and Carrotou were overjoyed to see him, though Argos looked confused — he didn't recognize them right away. Viteco introduced us.

"Argos — we're your friends. And this rooster came with us; he's human too."

I felt like an intruder hearing that. A tear rolled down Argos's cheek as if he hadn't seen his friends for years, even though it'd only been two days.

"Viteco? Carrotou? I can't believe it — I missed you guys!"

Wait — they'd only just met, and Argos was already calling them by those names. I'd thought those were just their animal names. Carrotou smirked.

"I never expected you to become a turtle, Argos. It suits you — you were slow even in your human body."

"And I never expected you to turn into a rabbit, especially with your carrot obsession," Argos shot back.

Viteco leaned in to inspect the "shell," only to realize it wasn't a shell at all-it was just a cooking pot.

"Oh — it's only a cooking pot. Wait… what if that hawk wanted to cook you?"

What nonsense. Right then the kidnapper hawk reappeared in front of us.

"I didn't expect this — but all the companions are gathered here," it announced.

Viteco lost his temper and attacked the hawk immediately.

"You filthy hawk! What were you going to do with Argos?" he demanded.

But Argos tried to stop Viteco.

"Hold on, Viteco. It's not what it looks like — that hawk actually saved me from those kids."

Viteco snapped back, "Are you stupid, Argos? That hawk wanted to cook you!"

"No, you idiot — why do you always jump to the worst possibilities? Who would eat a turtle? That's ridiculous."

I stepped out of my spectator role and asked the hawk directly what was going on.

"All right, hawk — tell us. Who are you, and do you know about us, or—?"

Before I could finish, the hawk smiled just a little, as if it already knew my next question.

"I think you've guessed who I am, rooster," it said.

That smile made things clear. The hawk's presence in this house could only mean one thing.

"You work for that conman, don't you?" I accused.

"No," Viteco interrupted before I could finish. "This hawk isn't working for that old man — he is that old man."

And it was true. The hawk's smile widened at Viteco's words.

"So you tricked us with that color-blindness trick."

"Not a bad trick, is it?" the hawk replied.

Carrotou asked why he'd turned us into animals.

"Why did you do this to us? What's your goal?" she demanded.

"I needed four animals that could be guided by human minds — to help me open a gate in the dungeon near this village," the hawk explained.

A dungeon? The one Haizen and I came to so I could develop my skill. The system never spoke to me... Could it be linked to my body?. The hawk continued explaining.

"The gate is sealed by five animal symbols. Only animals can open it that's the rule. But animals are... well, just animals. Even if you think you can understand them in your current forms, their minds are far too simple to grasp those symbols, let alone unlock the gate."

Argos chimed in, finishing the hawk's words.

"And the animals that can open the gate are: turtle, horse, rabbit, rooster — and… you, right?"

"Yes. Behind that gate are relic weapons from the Land of Zôo. These weapons were crafted by the animals of Zôo and are said to be enormously powerful — capable of destroying wide areas. They're also priceless."

Carrotou snapped back at the hawk.

"So you want us to do all this just to get some powerful weapons? And what even is this 'Land of Zoo' you're talking about?"

"The Land of Zôo is a realm of animals," the hawk replied. "Only those skilled in summoning can call beings from there."

Summoning animals — it sounded like something straight out of a manga. The hawk pressed on.

"And of course, besides power, each of you could become rich by selling one of those weapons."

The three companions agreed quickly. "We're in," they said. But I still had reservations.

"There are two other things I want to know," I said. "How will we survive in those animal bodies inside the dungeon? There are many monsters there. And how will we get back to our human bodies?"

"Fine," the hawk said. "I'll answer. First: I know an alternate route to the gate — it's behind the dungeon entrance, so we won't need to face monsters. Second: the same device that put you into these bodies can return you to your original forms."

I still wasn't fully trusting this old man — but what choice did I have? We had to stick with him; he might restore us, and… the idea of riches didn't hurt either.

"All right. I'll go along with it," I said. "Let's finish this quickly."

"Good. Then let's go — we don't want to waste time."

And with that, we set out for the dungeon — no tricks, only the hope that the dungeon would either restore our bodies or lead to something far worse.

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