TTIGRAAS: Predator

Chapter 41

Frey's palace ended up being at the peak of the highest mountain in view, with apparently no reasonable way to reach it short of flight. That seemed sorta impractical to me, but I guess for a country filled with winged majin and monsters, it made some sense.

Yes, every resident here had wings in one form or another; I checked when I went analyzing everyone in range out of pure curiosity.

The majority of them were harpies, just like Frey, although the woman herself seemed to be in a class of her own when compared to them magicule-wise. I also noticed that every harpy was female. Every single one.

How that worked reproduction-wise, I had no clue. I know that slimes do well enough as a single-sex (or more accurately sexless) species, but that's a different story. They reproduce by themselves, no partner needed.

Do harpies just interbreed with other species? I'd think eventually, they'd lose their harpy-ness over time in that case with that sort of genetic mixing being the only way of going about it.

[[The species, Harpies, are capable of interbreeding with the majority of majin species. This allows them to counteract their lack of genetic diversity and gain a wide variety of skills from various majin, while an intrinsic skill allows them to retain their core traits and species.]]

Weird.

But I was getting too carried away with my thoughts by focusing on this subject.

Why?

To avoid getting involved in the current conversation happening right in front of me.

"... So I'm trainin' him up! Aren't I great!" Milim gleefully and loudly explained. The girl had been talking me up to Frey for the last few minutes and I was really starting to feel embarrassed.

Frey brushed aside Milim's self-compliment with a simple nod and immediately turned her attention toward me.

"High praises from one of the oldest of us. You must be really something," Frey smiled at me as she took a sip of her tea.

"I'm really not that special. Milim just likes having someone around that can put himself back together after a sparring session with her!" I joked lightly, trying to deflect a little bit of the attention she was directing at me.

"Modest, too," Frey commented and shook her head, "for a monster that has claimed the Storm Dragon's territory without the officiation of said claim by the Ten Great Demon Lords."

Now it's worse!

And she said that so lightly! But there was nothing 'light' about the look in her eyes paired with her words. It was sharp, challenging, piercing; it made my skin crawl.

Was that something I was supposed to get!? I didn't know I needed their permission before 'taking charge' back home! This is all Treyni's fault, not mine. I never wanted that 'Guardian' title in the first place!

Feeling backed into a corner, I took an internal deep breath and responded.

"I haven't 'claimed' it, I just help... manage it. That's all," I explained calmly. "I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes here."

"Of course not," Frey smiled again, still watching me piercingly closely. "Mind sharing what plans you have for this... 'management'? Someone as reasonable as you surely has the future in mind when it comes to that nest of chaos."

"Just trying to keep things peaceful. Not much else yet, really."

"Yeah, Rimuru's got a more personal goal he's focused on right now. The forest guardian thingy is just his hobby."