Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 177

Ya Yu is ten years old this year, but according to the age ratio, she came of age three months ago and has already gone out to make her way in the world.

Raven Feather rushed back because of the Warriors selection process.

What's noteworthy is that Raven Feather also brought a human back to the village.

This person was none other than Haga Mayumi.

The Feathered Tribe is smaller and lighter than other races. When Raven Feathers fold their wings and walk on land, they are about as tall as Mayumi Haga.

Mayumi Haga's hair was blown into a slicked-back style by the wind, and her legs felt a little weak when she landed—that guy Karabi had just shown off his skills in the air, doing a 10.5-fold spin in the air, which almost made Mayumi Haga, who wasn't used to flying at high altitudes, throw up.

However, she is very adaptable. She was able to adapt completely after taking just a few steps and even had time to observe around.

She spotted the chieftain's residence at the highest point immediately. Before Ravenfeather could introduce herself, she spoke up: "I am the [Witness] for this selection. Please inform the chieftains of my identity."

"Huh?" A look of surprise appeared on Ya Yu's face. Before she could ask anything, she saw the clan leader's personal guards fly down from above.

They came to welcome Mayumi Haga.

When the guardians arrive at the village, the eyes of the divine eagle statue on the altar will emit a golden light, allowing the chieftain to detect Mayumi Haga's arrival immediately.

Yuga Mayumi followed her personal guards, but they took a mountain path. The two guards knew her identity as her protector and dared not grab her paraglider and fly away recklessly.

As Ya Yu watched the outsider she had brought leave with her personal guards, she stammered, "So he really was invited by the clan chief."

"What? Raven Feather, you mean that's the Guardian?" The elderly winged creature beside him suddenly became excited. "I thought he was a burly giant like in the legends."

Karasu thought about how heavy it was to carry Mayumi Haga earlier, and then, thinking about the weight of the Titans, she couldn't help but complain: "How could Titans possibly get here? Even if there were a bridge, they couldn't cross it."

"I heard it was sent as a package."

"That's even more impossible, who would deliver a package from a giant..."

The old winged clan member insisted: "It was sent by package. The Guardian placed his body in a golden crystal and had a messenger bring it over. Then, on the day of the selection, the clan leader planted the crystal in the soil like a seed, and the Guardian appeared from the light. This is what my grandfather told me. His grandfather witnessed that miraculous scene when he was still a child."

Ravenfeather didn't want to argue with the old Feather Clan, but she was still curious about an unfamiliar term: "Guardian?"

“Those are the messengers of the long river that protect the continuation of each race through generations,” the old winged tribesman said. “It is said that the guardians all possess an infinite lifespan.”

What?! Is that even human?

There are no gods in this world, but the concept of the River of Life is planted in the heart of every life from the moment of birth. After realizing that the concept of the Guardian possesses a sacredness that is bound to the River of Life, Raven Feather's indifference subsided somewhat.

It turns out he was a very important person.

Ya Yu thought.

However, it turns out that the important person can't fly.

-----------------

Because walking along the cliffside walkway took a lot of time, and within the Feather Clan's village, the airflow miraculously became gentle again, with no rising air currents to allow Yuga Mayumi to slack off.

The chieftain of the Feathered Tribe treated her to a meal, taking into account her dietary habits, and provided her with normal roasted meat and rice, as well as some local specialty vegetables and fruits.

After a brief discussion about the selection process in a few days, Yuga Mayumi bid farewell to the kind-faced winged clan chief and went down to rest.

After speaking with the clan chief, it was already afternoon when Haga Mayumi followed the guards down the street.

The winged tribe mostly sleep in hammocks or on the roof beams. Although Mayumi Haga doesn't need to sleep, she doesn't know what to do with her eyes open all night, so she simply came down to explore the village.

She also wanted to express her gratitude to Crow Feather for bringing her here.

As soon as they came down, they saw Ravenfeather teaching several younger-looking winged creatures how to swoop and brake suddenly in mid-air.

Mayumi Haga stood by and watched for a while, when Karasu noticed her and flapped her wings to fly over.

The Guardian looked up at her.

"I never expected you to be such an important person," Raven Feather chuckled. "Please forgive my rudeness this morning?"

"Crow Feather" refers to the time she tumbled through the air while pulling on Haga Mayumi.

Mayumi Haga wouldn't get angry over such a trivial matter: "I should be thanking you."

Crow Feather's smile widened even more: "Hey! It's no trouble at all."

She looked around and saw that her personal guards were not there, so she suggested that she take this distinguished guest to her private observation deck.

"Get your paraglider out, I'll take you to a great spot!" Ravenfeather said happily. "It's a perfect place to watch the sunset."

Just as Mayumi Haga took out her paraglider, she was suddenly grabbed by Karasu Feather and carried away by the wind.

They finally landed on a giant tree, which, from a distance, looked like a white dove.

As soon as they landed, Mayumi Haga saw Karasu excitedly drag out the box hidden in the tree hole.

Take out a cotton cushion, then take out a second cotton cushion, dust them off, and place them under Yuga Mayumi's bottom.

There were also parts for a rudimentary telescope, which were also a bit dusty, probably because they had been sitting there for a few months. Raven Feather quickly assembled them.

“Hehe, no one else can fly here, so this is my secret base. I often come here to watch the stars at night,” said Raven Feather.

Her abilities are unparalleled among the Feather Clan of this generation; even those Feather Clan members who are older and stronger than her cannot fly here.

For her, controlling the wind is as simple as controlling her limbs.

Like other winged creatures, Ravenfeather prefers to venture out into the world. However, she dislikes being a messenger and prefers chasing after fragments of stars that fall from the sky.

“Sometimes, when I fly through stormy clouds, I can see fragments of stars, faintly glowing, falling from the dark night sky,” Raven Feather said, sounding very excited.

"I spent most of my time chasing those stars, but they fell so fast that they lost their light once they hit the ground, so I never found them."

“However, it’s only been three months. I have nearly twenty more years to catch them, so I have absolutely no regrets…” At this point, Karaha suddenly turned to look at Mayumi Haga, “Speaking of which, I’m a little curious, how old are you exactly?”

At this time, Mayumi Haga was already twenty-eight years old, although her face still looked like that of someone in their twenties.

"Huh? You're that old?!" Crow Feather exclaimed in surprise. "No, wait, you should be considered young..."

Text: 280. It looks a lot like your eyes.

"Twenty-eight years old." Faced with Karasu's curiosity, Mayumi Haga briefly recalled her age.

In recent years, because her body has stopped growing and has remained in the peak of her youth, Mayumi Haga doesn't really have a sense of her actual age.

Among the guardians, she was indeed as small as an infant.

However, I believe that after a while, she will completely forget her age.

Perhaps it will take ten years, or perhaps a hundred, or maybe even a thousand...

At this time, Mayumi Haga had not yet looked forward to such a distant future, and therefore had no particular feelings about it.

"So old!...No, you should say you're unbelievably young!" Ya Yu exclaimed in surprise.

By calculation, Mayumi Haga is already considered elderly among the Winged Tribe. However, as a guardian, Mayumi Haga still looks no different from a young girl.

Although it is difficult for the Winged Tribe to discern the age of other races from their faces, they can still roughly identify them by their physical stage.

A guy with such a sturdy build, like a sun burning brightly on his chest, must be a young man.

"Human lifespan is already very long, so for an immortal being like the Guardian, your lifespan must be an incomprehensible length," said Raven Feather.

She muttered to herself, chin in hand, as the sun had already set behind the distant mountains and was beginning to sink.

As the sun sets, the temperature is gradually stripped away, and the air is once again filled with the coolness that the sunlight had previously driven away.

Mayumi Haga sensed that this was a rather heavy topic, but Karasu didn't show any signs of distress, so she didn't start thinking about how to comfort her.

However, she still spoke up, to correct Karasu's way of addressing her: "Haga Mayumi".

"Huh?" Raven Feather was taken aback. "Is that your name?"

“Just call me Haga,” Haga Mayumi said. “Or Mayumi, that’s what my friends call me.”

“Okay, Mayumi.” Crow Feather said happily, “I like your surname. Look, we both have the sound of ‘feather’ in our names.”

Mayumi Haga has never been good at conversation, and not knowing how to continue the topic, she kept quiet.

Fortunately, Raven Feather was a chatterbox, and she continued, "Speaking of which, are you here to be a judge for the warrior selection?"

"They're less like judges and more like guests presenting awards," Mayumi Haga explained. "After all, the blessing of longevity needs to be bestowed through the hands of a guardian."

She paused, then said, "You're an adult now, you'll participate in the selection, right?"

In fact, the selection criteria are that all eligible members of the Winged Clan must participate, regardless of whether they wish to or not.

After observing the other eligible candidates of the Feather Clan for a while, Yuga Mayumi discovered that Crow Feather was the youngest.

Moreover, based on his strength, he is the most likely successor to the next clan leader.

Raven Feather is exceptionally gifted; she was born with the ability to easily manipulate the power of wind to fly. Once the raging wind falls into her hands, it becomes docile and obedient.

Her combat abilities are outstanding, and her physical functions are even more excellent.

The current clan chief has high hopes for Ya Yu and speaks highly of him in private.

However, from Mayumi Haga's perspective, Karasuha didn't actually aspire to become the clan leader.

"Me, the clan leader...?" Karasu seemed a little resistant to the hypothesis proposed by Yuga Mayumi. Her tone was somewhat hesitant. "Actually, I don't really want to be the clan leader. I heard that clan leaders usually live for about a hundred years. It's scary."

"Terrible?" Mayumi Haga repeated, somewhat puzzled.

Raven scratched her cheek, a habitual gesture of hers. She said, "Look, everyone dies in their thirties or forties, but if you become the clan leader, you have to live for three or four generations. Doesn't that mean it will take a long time for you to become an old lady?"

Mayumi Haga tilted her head, deep in thought.

That does seem to be true.

At that time, Mayumi Haga was still young, and therefore felt that a hundred years was a long time that was somewhat frightening.

"By the time I turn thirty, most of the adults who took care of me since I was a child will have passed away. By the time I turn fifty, my friends' children's children will all be very old... I'll have to see several generations go by!"

Ravenfeather said, her eyes wide, her orange-yellow bird pupils filled with round, panicked confusion: "I absolutely don't want to be the clan leader! Wouldn't that mean I'd have no friends at all?"

The friend I just met, Mayumi Haga, always seemed a bit strange.

Crow Feather quickly added, "Excluding you, you're different."

She added with a hint of worry, "Besides, if I become the clan leader, I won't be able to chase stars anymore, right?"

The young winged girl hadn't yet had enough of this vast world.

Her motto was to burn brightly, leave no regrets, and enjoy life to the fullest, even if it was short.

Becoming the clan leader means shouldering the responsibility for the entire clan. She will have to learn to handle mundane affairs, how to communicate with the long river, and her small mind will have to be filled with polite phrases.

These were all terrifying things for her; she was too inexperienced to even imagine them.

She's only about a third of the age of Mayumi Haga.

Mayumi Haga finally understood Karasuha's thoughts, but still asked, almost as if possessed, "Are you going to throw the selection?"

Given Karasu's abilities, the only way to lose the selection is to fix the match.

Crow Feather blinked twice.

This should have been an easy question to answer. Since she was so resistant to becoming the clan leader, she should have tried to lose it.

But this question plunged Ravenfeather into a long silence.

“Hmm… well…” Karasu was clearly still struggling. She glanced at Mayumi Haga and hesitated, “Now I’m a little unsure again.”

Haga Mayumi: "?"

"If I deliberately lose, will you be disappointed in me?" Raven Feather asked.

Mayumi Haga didn't understand why she had to be involved in this issue. She asked in confusion, "This was your own choice..."

"Understood!" Crow Feather suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "I will do my best!"

Why am I suddenly so full of fighting spirit...?

Mayumi Haga didn't understand, but since Karasu had decided to win no matter what, she respected her choice.

-----------------

Won.

Karasu won the selection without any doubt and became the successor to the clan chief. During the succession ceremony, the clan chief removed his hair ornament and handed it to Haga Mayumi.

Out of personal motives, when performing the blessing ceremony, Mayumi Haga took out some star fragments that she had happened to find over the years from her backpack and inlaid them into the clan leader's hair ornament.

Then, she put the hair ornament on the head of Raven Feather, whose eyes were sparkling and who seemed inexplicably excited.

As Ya Yu leaned closer, she exclaimed happily, "They look just like your eyes!"

Crows probably like shiny things, and their feathers also like such beautiful eyes.