My Reincarnation as a Chicken

"What are you looking at, Tori?"

Marcus asked then his eyes scanned the room. Luckily since I was wearing a mask, he shouldn't have been able to identify where I was looking. That is what I thought till he pulled out the Uno reverse card on me and pointed in the direction Nukeme's eyes were still fixed.

'Nothing. Go back to your damned ice cream.'

"But I'm done with it! Besides, you seemed to be staring-"

'Shut up.'

Maybe it was time I ditched this group. I grabbed Nukeme by the neck and was about to run out the door, with my speed they wouldn't be able to catch-up, but then the duo appeared before me. A man who seemed to be in his mid-thirties with dark brown hair and a pencil mustache, wearing a white tunic with black edges and a black sash tied around his waist with a white pants and brown sandals. He was quite skinny and his complexion, a bit pale. The woman to his side wore the same thing, except with a hat on her head, but unlike her counterpart, she possessed black hair and she looked to be more of life. Her face was beautiful without a doubt and it reminded me of someone.

"E-Excuse me… Are you people, adventurers?"

The man asked, stammering his words out. All of them looked at him then at each other.

"Yep. We're a C rank party, not named yet. You got a request or something?"

Marcus answered.

"U-Um… no. Y-Yes… wait… No."

This guy was shaken by something. He was stammering too much if he had a request for adventurers. Well, from my knowledge, adventurers weren't so respected to demand such a reaction. Let alone C rank adventurers.

"Well… out with it. We haven't got all day."

The elf bluntly said and the others let out nervous laughs. It would seem that they were already accustomed to her bullish nature.

"This is a missing person's report."

The woman to his side said, her voice like honey. Then she looked at me.

"Sorry, but there are no other capable looking adventurers around, which is why we approached you."

I couldn't argue with her. Because this was a bloody ice cream stand. A few tables set up around on the side-walks with no more than five other people eating ice cream. Not a single person here was even an adventurer, so it was already highly suspicious of them to come say this to us here, and not in a guild.

"Who…?"

I asked.

"My name is Touka and this is my husband, Ignis. We are looking for our daughter, Ulva."

First of all, after using [Analyst], these guys had no names and second of all, why would Ulva's parents who sold her come to the city looking for her? The slavers had already kidnapped her so there was no problem for them. Anyway I looked at this, these two were too suspicious.

'Did the slavers send them? But then that would mean they figured out I was in the city. Then again, going on a blood sucking spree like some crazy vampire the night before probably wasn't so smart. Then does that mean they know I've come for Ulva and sent these things here? But how would they know it was me specifically? Wait… then did these guys do something to Yokino? That could possibly explain her disappearance. Hmmm, the best thing to do right now would probably be to run out of here and back into the forest. A simple tactical retreat till I come up with a good plan.'

DING!

[You have 1 pending message from the servant Yokino]

'What? Lemme see.'

[Yokino: Yo, lunch. I decided to go on a covert mission and scout a bit in the city. I found a lot of stuff and also heard that the slave organization that kidnapped Ulva has figured out that you're in the city. I've manipulated their actions to some extent so if you are approached by some people claiming to be Ulva's parents, listen to them.

Ok, now I am going to explain the Organization itself. It is controlled by group known as the "Sub-Circle", led by the one they call Boss. This Boss is actually a powerful nobleman in this city called Percy McAllister. I am still gathering information on him as we speak, but so far he seems to be the cliché noble douche. A rapist, slaver, weird pervert, greedy, ugly pig that would suck up to anybody for power. I still don't know why he is the most feared being in this entire kingdom, but my investigations are still underway. Next, the Sub-Circle consists of seven other members. I've acquired their pseudonyms, although their actual names remain unknown to me at the moment. The second in command is Guard Dog, Red. Next are Grimm Black, Slothful Silver Sword, Hard Master Aigen, Kennel Master Dog, Hooded Wolf, the Deathly Poisons who are actually two people. Weird, huh.

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. By tomorrow I should have way more information on this issue and I should have tracked down exactly where Ulva is and why they went to great lengths to capture her. So far, the only clue I have is "Experiment". Alright then, peace! And don't go blood sucking again… It's creating too many problems and people are becoming too on guard. Rumours are already spreading of a possible vampire in town.]

I didn't expect that. This spider was unbelievably good at information gathering. Quite possibly even better than Reiman. This information was surprisingly the best thing that had happened today. And Yokino was manipulating events to some extent, which meant I could use this opportunity to get the best of results.

"I… am… sear-ching… for… her… too."

I told them and they looked at each other as if surprised.

***

"Let's start again from the top. My name is Touka and this is my husband Ignis. We are Ulva's parents and we came here to get her."

I looked at the couple who sat before me, claiming to be Ulva's parents.

"Give me one good reason why I should believe you guys."

I had Nukeme tell them in my place. I needed to make this as believable as possible.

"Excuse us?"

They decided to act dumb.

"You sell your daughter to some slavers then all of a sudden claim that you want to take her back and expect me to believe you? State your game."

I snapped my fingers and Nukeme jumped at the man, pinning him to the ground with a dagger across his neck.

"Hehehe, get ready to die, human."

"Hey, Tori, isn't this a bit…"

Mira tried to speak up, but I glared at her and she piped down. [Devil's Miasma] seemed to function properly even if I directed it at exactly one spot. The others looked at her, frozen in place and were confused.

Ignis on the other hand screamed, fear for his life cracking his voice. I could tell I was drawing attention to myself and it was starting to feel a bit weird, but I wouldn't stop now.

'Talk. You have thirty seconds.'

I ordered and her eyes widened. Why was everyone surprised when they heard a voice in their head? I do all the time. In fact, that was the first voice I heard. It should be normal now. I mean, this is a world of dragons of magic… is telepathy a big deal here?

"W-we had no choice! You know what she is, right?"

Ignis said, which made me quite pissed, but I calmed down quickly thanks to [Evolver].

'I have no idea what you are talking about.'

"Y-you know. The fangs and stuff?"

'What are you implying? That she has fangs and that was a valid reason to sell her into slavery?'

"Yes. That is exactly what we are saying."

The woman who had been quiet, boldly spoke up. She glared at me with her sharp eyes and I did back with a tiny bit of [Devil's Miasma] making her shiver instead.

'So, why do you want her back?'

"Why wouldn't we want her back?"

'For the very reason you sold her in the first place.'

She shut up after I said that. From now on it would seem that she would need to choose her words wisely.

"W-we had to do it. She almost destroyed our village in one night, were it not for a [Hero] coincidentally passing by."

'A hero?'

I tensed up.

"Yes."

I looked at Marcus and he shook his head, meaning he had no information on the matter.

'Ulva was subjugated by a hero? Also, Ulva almost eradicated a village in one night?'

"Yes… you see. She has another form unlike that cute side that I'm sure you are always seeing."

'Huh? Another form?'

"She is a dhampyr. And as everyone knows, dhampyrs who don't consume a lot blood lose control on a blood moon and go crazy, still, their power is limited to only how strong they were before. However, what she became was a rather vicious beast, possessing way more strength than she ever had before. She went on a rampage and destroyed the entire village, easily killing off half of the villagers. I-I haven't heard of dhampyrs doing that before."

"Lamprey?"

I looked at Celica who said that.

"What?"

"I remember hearing of a village that had been destroyed by a ravenous blood thirsty creature recently. Adventurers have been spreading a rumour that it was done by a lamprey, but that made no sense since lampreys, according to rumours, are the guard dogs of the Realm of the Eternal Night. None could possibly be here since the Realm of Eternal Night is actually a myth. Well, it could be something else that was your village."

The couple slowly nodded and simply accepted what she said. These two were awfully bad at this, no? Real parents should have at least known how Ulva was a dhampyr in the first place. It's not like dhampyrs were just born between two humans out of nowhere.

"We had no choice but to sell her to pay off all the damage she caused. The slaver however paid us way more than necessary for the village and we came here to buy her back after finding a way to control her more dangerous side."

'A way to control her "more dangerous side?"'

I asked.

"Yes, you should have seen the collar around her neck if you were with her."

'Yea? What about it?'

"It has the slaver's magic on it. Something that makes it difficult for mo-…"

I intensified my glare and he gulped.

"… demi-humans to use their abilities."

'Is that so?'

Of course, I already knew that, but to be honest, for something that would make any creature who wears it as weak as a human to exist, how powerful was its creator? I was starting to get goosebumps thinking of who this "Boss" person was.

"So do you have any clues as to where Ulva is?"

Marcus asked and lifted me off of Ignis like I were some kind of cat.

"Indeed."

Touka went to her husband's side and lifted him off the ground.

"We were told on the day we sold Ulva that if we wanted her back she would be sold at an Auction that is going to take place two days from now."

'Ah! The day after tomorrow?!'

"Aaarrghh!"

Everyone who was connected to my telepathy let out similar yells and crumpled to the ground. I was surprised that a simple scream to one's inner mind could cause such an effect.

'I'll meet you here on the day, then we go. Don't be late.'

I grabbed Nukeme and ran away after delivering my order. For now, I needed to do exactly what Yokino had been doing. So I jumped into an alley way, then using the shadows, reappeared in my own room, before my transformation went off and I was back to being a bird.