My Reincarnation as a Chicken

Day 51

[Due to the unique skill [Evolver], you have acquired the unique skill [Energy Transcriber]]

[Due to the excess exposure to chaos energy your body was morphed]

[Due to the unique skill [Energy Transcriber] the excess chaos energy has been converted into Mana]

[Your mana circuits have been expanded]

[Your current mana limitation is 10,000]

[Your current magic power is 500]

Several system alerts had blocked my vision. I groaned lightly as I looked around. My head was aching a bit and all I couldn’t really see here. It was dark, but I could make out a figure with [God’s Wisdom]. It was the named sharkman from before. Bastien.

He was standing towards the only exit I could make out, not moving even a single inch. I wasn’t sure how he’d react to me being awake so I stayed still while considering my options.

Creating a portal would definitely alert him to my presence. Would it be possible to sneak past him? With his skills [Wave Area], [Aura Sense], [Presence Detection] and [Mind’s Eye] I couldn’t even dream of doing that with mere [Super Stealth]. Maybe if I fought him? Yeah, that way I could get his soul. But then, he was strong enough to cut off the Kraken’s tentacle.

‘Come to think of it, the kraken has no name. Hmm, can’t be bothered enough to name it. I guess my only way out is [Shadow Travel].’

“If you have any plans of escaping, forget about it. Daxia is more relentless than you could possibly imagine. She would wage war with Atlantis just to get you back.”

‘E-E-Eh?!’

I sat up after hearing that. I was wondering if he had any way of reading my mind, but he didn’t have the [Telepathy] skill.

“I can sense intent. So don’t even bother.”

The skill [Mind’s Eye]. It allowed him to anticipate the movement of enemies. I didn’t know that it meant it allowed him to know what they were planning even when they hadn’t made a move.

I let out a heavy breath and looked through my body for any differences. I couldn’t identify any and I could use magic around here as well, so at least I knew I wasn’t a prisoner.

‘Where am I?’

“The Den. Or as you people call it, SharkFang.”

He answered my question politely. I was surprised that someone of such a figure was a kind person.

‘Um… can you tell me why I’m here?’

When I asked him this question, I got no response.

‘Mr. Bastien?’

I called out his name, but he still gave me no reaction. Maybe he didn’t know so he wasn’t saying anything. Or was Daxia’s plan for me so wicked she had ordered him not to inform me? The latter seemed plausible enough. Still, waging war on Atlantis just to get me when we’ve only met once.

I could teleport back to the surface and ignore their problems, but I need the court mages help.

For now, I would just wait and play along then. If Daxia showed any ill intent, I guess it would be a fight to the death. And I didn’t plan on dying here toda-

“Hinotori!”

A shrill cry came from the outside as a massive figure appeared in the cave.

‘D-Daxia.’

“Gah! Stop using that mind skill. It’s annoying. Speak with your beak already.”

She commanded me, but I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

‘Uuuh… lads?’

‘Don’t look at me. I-I’m never coming out to face her again.’

‘S-Same here.’

‘Don’t abandon me!’

‘Sorry! Get us out of here!’

‘I-I’ll be exploring the Dark Arts.’

They completely abandoned me in my time of need. What kind of characters were they?! They were supposed to be me! This wasn’t me! They were chickens! Chickens I say!

“Well?”

‘I-I can’t use my beak.’

“Why not?”

‘I just can’t…’

“Hmmm. I’ll take that for now. Come along.”

She grabbed me in her arm and made to leave the cave.

“Daxia.”

She paused after hearing her name being mentioned.

“Hm?”

“The other gangs are getting restless. They lost good men in the fight against the kraken. If you don’t make a statement to them, we could be looking at a mutiny.”

His voice was cold and trembled slightly.

“Mutiny? Ha! Let them come if they want to die.”

‘You idiot! That’s what I’m scared off.’

His thought came to me loud and clear. I looked at Daxia, but all I could see was a sadistic grin on her face. She was a complete battle junky.

“We can’t let them keep dying, Daxia. At least accept some of them into the gang to appease the members.”

“Huh? If they didn’t pass the trial, there’s no point.”

“Stop being immature about this.”

“Ha! You think I’m going to remain as boring as you?”

She mocked him while staring down at me cockily.

“Come on, Daxia. You gotta stop this.”

He pleaded with her, but Daxia shrugged him off.

“I’ll be back late today as well. Don’t bother getting me anything to eat.”

After having the last word, she left the cave, leaving an angry Bastien gazing at us.

‘Immature brat… whatever.’

After hearing his final thoughts on the matter, I looked at Daxia. I decided to take a page out of Akira’s playbook.

‘Ha. So, you’re a shitty leader.’

I told her while we zoomed past everything.

“Huh? What are you getting on about?”

She stopped swimming and brought me to her face level. She wasn’t abusing her [Chaos Energy] this time, so I was alright. Even if she did, it would seem that my new unique skill [Energy Transcriber] would simply convert the [Chaos Energy] into something less harmful.

‘Let go of me and I’ll tell you.’

She looked at me suspiciously.

[You are being scanned for the truth]

She really didn’t trust me. Well, I wouldn’t trust a weird creature that attacked my home with a baby kraken either.

After confirming that I had no ill intent, she loosened her grip and I swam free. Stretching my body for a bit, a relaxed moan escaped my mouth.

‘God! When was the last time I had a stretch that good? Damn it, my body’s been so tensed ever since I came to this bloody world. I’d need a masseuse or something. Wait… maybe there’s one in cities? Yeah, there should be one in a human city or Atlantis even. I’ll have to check them out.’

As I was stretching, I took a look at my surroundings. All I could see was blue. Nothing else in sight. With my map, I identified that I was quite literally in the middle of nowhere.

‘Um… where are we?’

“Explain what you were saying.”

Her face was twisted in a nasty frown, making me frown.

‘Lighten up a little. You’ll see that it performs wonders.’

“Lighten… up?”

‘Take it easy?’

Well, this was going to be a tough one.

‘Anyway, back to what I was saying. You’re a terrible leader.’

“What makes you say that?”

She folded her arms and glared at me. A complete 180 from when she wanted to join my familia.

‘Well, I’ve been told I’m a terrible leader several times so I have an eye for these things.’

“Oh, that’s right. You’re some kind of boss. Take me under your wing!”

She got up in my face and pleaded with stars for eyes.

‘Huh? Ah! Too close!’

I instinctively retreated and looked at her from a reasonable distance.

‘Didn’t you hear me? I’m a shitty leader! I really am! No joke.’

“Eh? What makes you a shitty leader?”

‘Um… I’m not sure myself… it’s a long story.’

“I like stories.”

‘Ah… I’m seriously not getting out of here till I tell you everything, huh?’

“Nope.”

After having confirmed that she simply wanted to hear my backstory, I decided to make a simple deal with her.

‘If I tell you, you’ll just let me go to Atlantis, right?’

“Why would you want to go to that boring place?”

‘Well, I wouldn’t have to if you know a very powerful shaman.’

She didn’t respond, implying that she knew none personally.

“Alright then. If your story satisfies me, then I’ll let you go.”

‘Um, agent. Should I make the story more dramatic than it actually is?’

<<No>>

‘Hmm, if you say so.’

After that, I spent the remainder of that day describing my life to Daxia. Of course, I left out the part about me reincarnating and my unique skills and the system, but she should have been able to assume something.

***

“This collar is so annoying.”

An annoyed murmur escaped Yokino’s lips as she tugged at the silver collar around her neck. The collar had a chain that was firmly fixed to the ground beneath her. Every time she pulled it, it felt as if the chain was shrinking.

“Stop doing that. You won’t be able to move around later on.”

Sunalla, her quiet partner, warned her while floating, completely still. She was looking at the bars in front of her. There was a guard standing there, clothed in fine armour with a spear in hand. Yokino glared at him before clicking her tongue. Her earlier attempts had seduction had led her to a near death experience and she wasn’t going to dare her fate again.

“What do we do then?”

“Just wait for the princess to return. She’ll set us free.”

“Huh? If you hadn’t realised, the princess isn’t here.”

Yokino argued, making Sunalla sigh.

“You’re the one who said Hinotori is trustworthy with this kind of thing.”

After being reminded of her earlier claim, Yokino could only look away. She clicked her tongue and sat down annoyed.

When she and S unalla appeared at the gates leading to the capital city, Yurul, they had been questioned for their purpose. Apparently, there had been a wide area alert to not permit any movement to-and-from Yurul and other cities. Since the princess went missing, security had gone to the highest possible state. Sunalla knew of this, so she simply wanted them to bring in the princess so they could be done with it all, but the portal that was created had messed up, sending the princess and Hinotori to different locations.

The guards didn’t believe their story and decided to imprison them. Yokino assumed she could easily beat them up, but she was highly outmatched and beaten after trying to escape. They used [Mana Sealing Collars] on her, preventing her from accessing any of her magical abilities which were her strongest suit. She had seen the collars in action once before, so she knew it was pointless to even try, but she assumed her [Lustful Gaze] could do something to a guard.

Only after she got beaten up did Sunalla tell her about the sort of the training the Atlantean guards are made to go through. Especially the ones guarding the capital city.

“Come on, it’s been like 4 days now. I feel like I’ll go mad from boredom.”

“Be grateful they even give us food.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Tch.”

‘How did I mess up this bad? Everything was going smoothly. Deliver the princess to atlantis, get a royal favour, then get into the dungeon, find that weapon that the Duchess was talking off. Gaah! I’d even gotten the chicken to do whatever I asked… But how will he last wherever he is? If he ended up in Daxia’s turf, it’s all over!’

While sulking in her corner of the prison cell, she could feel a new presence coming towards the cell. Her first thoughts when she felt the presence was,

‘Strong…’

She looked at Sunalla to see her reaction, however Sunalla showed no change in expression. Either she didn’t notice or didn’t care. Either way, Yokino was seeing her in a new light.

“Your highness!”

The guard yelled and straightened his posture when the new figure appeared.

‘Your highness?’

Even more interested now, the undine looked through the prison bars. There, she saw a huge figure, bigger than the princess. Much like the princess, his upper body was like that of a human, with black tattoos over his large chest. His body was extremely muscled, proof that he had been training quite a bit. His tail was bright orange and his fins were a dreamy red, a belt was wrapped around his waist with a sword in it. His blonde frilly hair laid back on his body. He looked nothing like the princess, with his emerald green eyes.

“These are the prisoners that were captured a few days ago?”

“Yes, your highness. They claimed to be transporting your sister, but got intercepted by external magical interference so they ended up here without the princess.”

After hearing the report, the princess looked at Sunalla in the cell. Her face was completely expressionless as both of them gazed at each other for a silent minute. The princess’ gaze then fell on Yokino who flinched uncomfortably.

‘Creepy.’

“All the reports I’ve received go like this. I also heard there’s someone with the princess?”

He asked, trying to confirm some of the things he heard. Sunalla didn’t respond, so Yokino assumed the best thing to do would be to remain silent as well.

“Staying silent won’t get us anywhere. I need to save my sister.”

The prince’s fist trembled violently. His voice sounded threatening and the glares he sent at them made his comment sound violent. There was still no response from both Sunalla and Yokino.

“If you won’t cooperate, Sunalla. I will take this as treason.”

‘T-Treason? W-won’t that get you thrown into The Deep?’

She sent a sharp message to Sunalla.

“I refuse to speak to his highness or any of his consorts.”

Sunalla finally spoke out, but her statement was an offensive one anyhow one saw it. The prince grinned once he saw that.

“Who would you want to speak to then?”

“My father.”

She responded, wasting no time.

‘Her father? That’s right, she’s been asking about him since we came here.’

“Huh? What kind of sick joke is that?”

The prince asked with a low growl.

“Not a joke. I wish to speak with my father, the Captain of the Royal Guard, Sundale.”

Sunalla’s voice boomed in the prison cell, sending waves to the prince.

The Captain of the Royal Guard was officially a higher rank than the prince and princesses. He was second only to the king himself. However, once the king was unavailable, he would be the de-facto leader of the kingdom. Using his name would be more than enough to make the prince back down. However, the prince didn’t even flinch.

“If this is some kind of joke, I’m warning you to stop. Be more sensitive about the dead.”

“What?”

The words escaped Sunalla’s mouth like water.

“I will return again tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be feeling a bit chattier then.”