A/N: Too lazy to make 20+ birds. So have the cannon ones instead.

Chapter 4: Bird Up

Day 13

"Yah!"

"Hya!"

"Coming through!"

Several kids with wings all attacked giant scorpions in the area. A few slave kids watched on in awe as the group of angels pretty much run through all the monsters in the area.

"Hyper agility, unnatural strength. What the hell is this!" Naofumi complained.

The filolial he had bought a week ago has rapidly grown up along with most of the kids in the village. This event has caused many issues for Naofumi in the form of growing pains, replacement clothing, and food. The last two were the hardest to deal with, as the filolial shredded through every set of clothing they were given, as well as eating through the entire village's food storage in about 5 minutes.

"Not only did they grow much faster than any filolial I've ever seen. They also evolved twice! This is the greatest discovery yet!"

"Great is questionable." Naofumi snatched the paper from melty and looked at the filolial battling. "Is this everyone?"

"No, Kuro is with Dalton at the moment. The two of them are pretty much inseparable."

"Well at least we know who he's with. I'll be able to properly mark them off then."

Naofumi flipped the page and started over at three Filolial. The three he was observing were two girls, one with white wings and the other with red wings. And one boy with yellow wings.

"Yuki, Freon, and Kou. Being owned by Raphtalia, Keel, and Rifana. It's only obvious that they'll be close."

"Yeah, and over there is Marine, Crimmy, and Green. They're owned by Delia, Alia, and Karli." The next group Melty pointed out was 3 filolial who were blue, red, and of course, green respectively. Naofumi could scoff at Green's name due to the backlash he got when naming Sakura before. He also was one of the first people to mistakenly Figure out that the feminine-looking green was also a boy.

"We can't forget about Kuro and Sakura. Plus all the others who are also here."

"UGH, there's just too many to keep track of, especially with how hyperactive they are." Naofumi balled up the paper he was writing on and threw it away. "We tried our best Melty, but I'm pretty sure this is our downfall."

"Come on, you haven't even tried yet!"

"Um, look at them. These are 20 birds of mass destruction. I had to go hungry for 2 days before I could get a proper meal, and that's because they ate it all!"

"Mass destruction may be a bit too extreme."

"They ate through all our food twice. If we don't find a better food source that's easy to find and eat, then we're going to starve. But hey, if worse comes to worst. We can always turn one of them into fried chicken."

"Okay, now that's just cruel, even for you."

"Then what solution do you have for the literal walking famines?"

"Well, this village was a fishing one. Perhaps we can start there."

"Well the problem with that plan is-… I mean there's… huh, that could actually work. Where's Keel, wasn't his dad a fisherman?"

"She left with Sadeena 4 days ago. She said he had the ability."

"Ability?"

"Demi-humans can transform, so mostly that. She did say she'll be handling special training for some of the kids this week."

"Oh right, something about Mirso and a drake. That was the reason they left their filolial behind. Guess the fishing plan is a bust for now."

"Wait up, I think I have a solution."

"I don't know where Keel's house is if we're planning to ransack?"

"What no? I'll tell you when we get there. Kou, Yuki, Freon, want to help us out with something!?"

"Yay adventure!" The yellow bird cheered.

The other two were also happy and immediately transformed.

/~/

"Kya!" Freon dropped from the sky and crushed a giant scorpion. Two others came out from the ground and attempted to attack the red bird, but Yuki and Kou came in and kicked them away as well.

Naofumi was watching on from afar, guarding Melty against the occasional monster chunks that come in her direction, as well as throwing an airstrike shield in from time to time, to protect the birds.

"So why are we here again?"

"My mother told me a story a while ago. An alchemist once created this miracle seed that can produce fruit pretty much instantaneously. They had to seal it away though because it was considered dangerous."

"So you brought us here to travel through a very dangerous forest! Just because you heard a bedtime story from your mother. And you were supposed to be the sensible one."

"Hey, it's not a legend. This happened a few years ago!"

"And no one has stolen this, why? Sounds like it'll make a killing on the black market."

"Well one it's guarded by monsters, so most people wouldn't go through the trouble. Also, it can only be used by an alchemist. Since you're the shield hero, it'll be easy to use it."

"How many times do I have to say this? I am not an alchemist!"

A scorpion got through the Filolial on the field and attacked Naofumi. Melty prepared to cast a spell, but a pink bird jumped out of Naofumi's shirt pocket and transformed. Kicking the scorpion off in human form.

"No one shall harm Naofumi."

The girl transformed back into a miniature bird and went back into Naofumi's pocket.

"She's getting extra cheese tonight. Anyways, how are you even sure that I'm able to even activate this miracle seed? If it even exists."

"I'm not. But it's worth a shot. Can't hurt to try right?"

"I have a feeling it'll definitely hurt."

The group made their way through the forest and finally reached the cave side Melty was talking about. The second that they arrived at the entrance, several rock monsters came out of the wall and attacked, but they were quickly dealt with by the three birds.

"Yep, we're in the right spot."

"If there are more traps like that. I suggest standing behind me. That goes for you three as well!"

"Yes, master." The birds called out. All of them transformed, and slowly followed behind Naofumi as he entered the cave.

/~/

"[Zweite Aqua Barrage!]"

An orb of water flows out of Melty's hand and fires small bullets of water at the incoming bats. Melty has been helping out with the hunting from time to time, so her leveling has not been lacking. This single cast killed most of the bats, as well as injured plenty to the point that they couldn't escape.

The remaining bats that survived the barrage tried their best to fly. But the birds on the vanguard quickly swatted them out of the air and finished them off.

"Is that all of them?"

"Unsure. Best to be on your-." A snake monster jumped out from one of the rocks nearby, but Naofumi caught it because it could bite his face. "Yeah, be on your guard." Naofumi tossed the snake over to Kou. The bird quickly stabbed the snake with his beak and gobbled it down.

The group continued their descent into the cave, dealing with pretty much every monster with ease until they reached a door.

"Huh, whoever took the time to install something like this needed to work construction. The woodwork here is so nice too, so perfectly carved."

"Naofumi. The task at hand."

"Alright, fine. Sorry door." Naofumi stepped back and kicked open the door. On the other side, a box sits on a pedestal with a bright light from the sun shining on it. After inspecting the area, Naofumi concluded that there were no traps, and opened it up, revealing a giant red seed.

"This was too easy. Something is up."

"Umm, figuratively or literally?"

"Figuratively, why?"

"Think you didn't mean that then." Melty pointed up to a giant centipede crawling onto the ceiling.

The bug locked its sights on Naofumi and fell from above, but the shield hero jumped back and dodged it. The centipede then tried to ram the shield hero, but the hero stood his ground and stopped the big one in its tracks.

"Don't think I've been slacking on my level. Sakura!"

"Kya." The pick bird jumped out and pinned the centipede's body onto the ground with a powerful kick. When Freon and Kou jumped over to attack, the bug whipped its body around and knocked both of them away. It then flipped its body and curled inwards, escaping from Sakura and delivering an overhead attack with its back leg. But the bird was protected by a Naofumi airstrike shield.

"[Zweite Aqua Slash!]"

"[Fast Tornado!]"

Yuki and Melty cast their respective spells, both hitting the centipede. Melty's spell cut off a few of the centipede's legs, while Yuki's spell knocked it into the air.

"[Zweite Wind Kick!]"

"[Zweite Wind Cutter!]"

"[High Quick Strike!]"

Kou, Sakura, and Freon attacked the centipede. Kou and Freon went together and hit the center of its abdomen. This attack exposed the vitals of the centipede, allowing Sakura to attack with a burst of speed, and pierce through the

"Insect blood. That's gonna be a pain to wash out later. Everyone, okay?"

"Fine. Just a bit soaked."

"What about… Never mind." Naofumi looks over to the group of birds eating through the insects' remains. Melty and Naofumi were disgusted but just decided to let them have it for a job well done.

"Well, this is it." Naofumi picked the seed up from its pedestal and held it in front of Melty. "Still confident that this could work?"

"We've already gotten this far, might as well see it through to the end."

"If you say so. Now hold this real quick."

"Huh, oh okay." Melty grabbed the box from Naofumi as the shield hero walked towards the exit. He then took out a couple of tools and started to remove the door from its hinges.

"What are you doing!"

"I don't care what anybody says, I'm taking this door."

/~/

4 day later

"How long are you going to stay in that form for Keel?" Raphtalia asked.

"Uh forever! it's so cool!" Keel cheered. She had just recently unlocked her "cool" puppy form after training with Sadeena, and she refuses to change back.

"You say cool, but I say you look more cute than cool!"

"What!? No, I'm not!"

"The loincloth doesn't help either. You trying to look mature only makes you even more adorable!" Rifana teased more.

"Shut Up! I'm cool, tell 'em Dalton!"

"I'll have to agree with Rifana on that one."

"Agh, umm Raphtalia, Delia?"

"Same hero." They both replied. Keel at this response fell to the ground dejected.

"Come on guys?"

The rest of the kids also all agreed with what Rifana said. Making Keel whine to Sadeena.

"Sadeena, Sadeena! Tell me how to get as big as you!"

"My my Keel. Don't you think that's a bit too mature to ask?"

"You know what I'm talking about!"

"Well if you're talking about your height. Then you're out of luck for a while. It takes years of growth and good genes to get to a towering figure like mine. Looking at you, I'll say your max is around… 5'7."

Keel fell to the ground dejected again. "I'll never be as tall as Raphtalia-chan." Keel whined as the group kept moving.

"Speaking of growth, what shall we do with Kuro-chan here? He keeps bursting through his clothing whenever he transforms?"

"Oh. That's just a simple fix. That's why we stopped by to grab that spinning wheel on the way back. We'll be able to make clothes for both the villagers and the other filolial that underwent this transformation as well."

"I'm still surprised that this happened. None of our old Filolial have ever transformed like this?"

"That's because Kuro-chan is special!" A feminine-looking boy wrapped with black wings struck jumped up a pose on Dalton's shoulder. He was only able to hold this pose for a second before falling to the ground along with the cat, much to the laughter of Delia.

"Probably that. But I think little Naofumi gave a little help in that department."

"How are you so sure?" Rifana asked.

"Let's just say my past isn't something that I want to explore. At least not yet anyways."

"Come on Sadeena!"

"Tell you what. If you can beat me in a drinking contest I'll spill the beans."

"But we can't even drink yet!" Rifana complained.

"Then you have many years of prep ahead of- Oh my."

The kids stand on a hill outside their village. Or at least what they thought to be their village, as it was suddenly replaced by a small forest that seemed to be growing by the second. Down below, they see their fellow villagers on the ground, fighting off a bunch of sentient vines.

"What the hell is that?"

"I don't know. But we gotta go help them!"

"Super Star Kuro-chan ready!" Kuro transformed and grabbed Dalton by his only arm, dragging him into the fray. The rest of the kids followed slowly behind, all of them drawing their weapons and rushing into battle as well.