“Milora hasn’t been spat out by the labyrinth yet, so it seems stable.”
Torina muttered to herself.
She knew that the most important thing in challenging Niflheim was willpower, so she wasn’t worried at all.
After all, Milora is the Protagonist, and the Protagonist never lacks willpower.
From the outside of the labyrinth, you couldn’t see what was happening inside.
There was no live broadcast of the dungeon scenes commonly seen in fantasy novels.
Since Milora hadn’t come out yet, there was no point in Torina staying there, so she quietly left.
Now, most of the people in Valhalla City were gathered around the labyrinth, making it the perfect opportunity.
She quickly returned to the city, passed through the sparsely populated streets, and arrived at the shopping street in the south of the city.
It’s well known that in “Dragon Ao Tian” novels, there’s almost always a trope where the Protagonist finds some super amazing rare treasure at a roadside stall.
In the original work, the Protagonist not only entered the labyrinth in Valhalla City and obtained the Star Rune but also bought a pair of seemingly ordinary divine pets in an inconspicuous corner of the shopping street.
(The original task sequence should have been the Protagonist finding the divine pets → entering the labyrinth → the Protagonist finding the Star Rune in the northwest corner of the labyrinth, but if Milora can get the Star Rune, that’s already a blessing, and the ‘buying divine pets at a roadside stall’ phase was skipped entirely.)
The task was skipped, but what about the divine pets? Should they just be left buried in some corner? Of course not! The kind-hearted and animal-loving Torina will take care of you! Helping the Protagonist so much, taking one or two small cheats as a reward isn’t too much, right? I’m coming, you stinky little beasts—ah, lovely animal friends!
“…Hmm?”
Just as she reached the entrance of the shopping street, she saw a group of strange people… or rather, strange elves.
They were all dressed in dark red clothes, with very light-colored hair, pale skin, and eyes and lips as red as blood, which was quite unsettling.
Moreover, they all had considerable stealth skills, making their presence almost unnoticeable.
If it weren’t for Torina’s keen insight, she wouldn’t have noticed them.
(Are they the ‘suspicious elves’ Patty mentioned? They certainly don’t look like good people.)
Torina didn’t want to cause any trouble, so she circled around them from a distance—then suddenly remembered something.
(Wait, in the original work, there was indeed an episode when the Protagonist was in Valhalla City, which was an important step in gaining the Deville family’s favor, and it was indeed related to some elves…)
She took another glance at the elves.
Their appearance was completely different from the description in the book, but… better to be cautious.
Thinking this, she took another path into the shopping street, donned a cloak to conceal her presence, and headed straight for an inconspicuous little shop in the deepest part.
“Excuse me, shopkeeper.”
“Mm…”
The shopkeeper was a greasy old man, yawning as he leaned back in a wicker chair.
The items on display were all dusty and strange, probably leftovers from the black market put out for sale, right? Among them, she immediately spotted her target.
They were two bird eggs, about the size of ordinary chicken eggs, encased in a box.
The eggshells had a stone-like texture and were a dull gray color, making them quite inconspicuous.
“Shopkeeper, what kind of monster’s eggs are these?”
“Ah? These… let me think…”
She asked for the price, haggled symbolically a few times, then paid some change and hurriedly left with the bird eggs.
Her heart was pounding the whole way!
No mistake, it’s them! “Raven Fugin” and “Raven Munin”! They are part of the guardian beast Odin, the divine beasts of the old Northern Yellow Banner!
The Deville family has had a contract with Odin for generations, and the family’s strong members can summon parts of Odin’s body to assist in battle! In the original work, the leader couldn’t reach this level, but the Protagonist found two bird eggs, hatched the divine beast ravens, and established a connection with Odin, eventually subduing Odin as a summoned beast! But now the ravens were obtained by her, the villainous young lady, further deviating the plot from the original to some extent!
(Yay! Once I hatch them, they should recognize me as their mother, and then my combat power will greatly increase!)
She thought happily.
But considering this is a gender-swapped world, maybe what hatches won’t be birds but beautiful girls?
Ahaha, how could that be, that’s too far-fetched.
——————
Shortly after Torina left with the eggs, in the shopping street—
The group of strange-looking suspicious elves also entered the shopping street.
As soon as they came in, they looked around, seemingly searching for something.
One of the elves asked the leader:
“Oroi, are you sure what Her Majesty is looking for is—?”
“Yes, two birds, or something related to birds.”
The leading elf, Oroi, was a man with a calm expression.
He was the distinguished guest mentioned by Rei Alphares and the one who retrieved the ring from the river and handed it to Anna-veil.
“Hurry up and find it, remember to keep a low profile.”
“““““Understood.””””
They immediately began their search, looking around in every small shop, comparing goods at every stall, conducting a thorough search of the shopping street.
During their search, they also visited the greasy old man’s little shop that Torina had visited not long ago.
After rummaging around, they found nothing related to “birds” on the stall, and the old man was dozing off, ignoring them.
After searching around, apart from a couple of knowledgeable elves finding some rare antiques, there was nothing noteworthy.
“Tsk, why isn’t there anything? Could Her Majesty’s information be wrong? After all, she did mention the uncertainty of the matter…”
Oroi pondered to himself, and just then—
“There’s a discovery here, come quickly!”
“This shopkeeper says he has it in his store!”
“!!”
Hearing the words of his subordinates, Oroi quickly made his way to a small shop at the corner of the street.
The shopkeeper, with a face full of smiles, enthusiastically brought out a fancy cage containing a pair of birds.
Oroi looked at the two birds—
Wow!
Cool appearance!
Bright feathers!
Dazzling colors!
Sharp claws!
Deep gaze!
Such handsome birds, they are simply—
“…Aren’t these parrots?”
Oroi tilted his head.
The two parrots mimicked him, tilting their heads, then squawked—
“Yeah! Caw! Harder! Don’t stop!”
“Don’t hold back! F*ck me to death!”
Vividly and emotionally, it gave people goosebumps.
“…What are they squawking about?”
“Ahaha, their previous owner seemed to be a passionate young couple, maybe they learned by ear?”
“………”
“Do you want to buy them, sir? If you buy the pair, you can get a 10% discount!”
“…Alright, I guess.”
There wasn’t anything else that could be the target.
So Oroi left with the two parrots, and his accompanying subordinates cautiously observed these two talking silly birds, afraid they might suddenly transform and shoot a light beam or something.
“Boss, are you sure… it’s them?”
“Not entirely sure, but since Her Majesty asked us to ‘find two birds or related things,’ they are the only ones that fit the criteria.”
Perhaps Her Majesty found life too boring, so she wanted some pets for entertainment?
“…You guys, when you have time, teach them to say a few things that might amuse Her Majesty.”
“Understood!!”
