Of All Things, I Became a Crow

*Rainelle’s POV

However, the heroine did not intend to let me go. She opened her mouth with twinkling eyes instead,

"---some..."

"...Kkak? (Huh?)"

"Awesome---! Sexy!!"

Uh, huh? Ok? Eh? Huh?

"Whoa... as expected, crows are sexy... Glossy feathers! Sparkling eyes! Dignified figure!"

As she shouted out like that, her eyes twinkled. And when I saw her cheeks got red with my own eyes… my mouth, no, my beak gaped.

"Ah, I don’t know I'll get a chance to see a crow this close---!! As expected, people need to have dreams! Wow! I’m so lucky to see a crow so up close---!!"

"..."

"Hahhhh---!! These silky, shiny feathers! The warmth of the bird's unique body temperature! Unusual purple eyes! This body type! Yikes---! What a chubby thing! You ate and grew up well---!!"

The spirits were not moving, either because they felt no malice or because the heroine's behavior was so absurd.

So am I! Uh? Um? Miss? Excuse me?

"Caaw!! (Hey!!)"

"Hehehehehe---! Okay, okay---!!"

Aaaaaah! Police!! Here's the culprit!! The bird molester is here!! Arghhh! Don't rub your cheeks on my body! Don't smell my body while laughing!!

"Kakk! Caw!! (Stop it!! You crazy punk!!)"

"Ah! Don't be like that~ I'll touch around a little more!"

"Kyak! Kkaak!! (No! You pervert!!)"

After struggling for a while, I was able to escape from the heroine’s magic(?).

Ahhh... my, my feathers!! OMG! It was neatly organized, but I have to rearrange it now!

Annoyed at the fact that it had to be arranged again, I began to pick the feathers with my beak.

"Ahhh... You're so cute when you’re arranging your feathers---!!"

...If it wasn't for the heroine who was strangely chirpy on the side, I could have done this more refreshingly.

No, wait! Why is it so different from what I expected?! Isn’t she the heroine?! Isn’t she the one who possessed the original female lead?! She may be nice, but in order to win her target, won’t she have to use all kinds of ways to get rid of the extras or to engage with the target?!

"No, but wait a minute. Why are you..."

"...Aaaah! You returned to your human form!! Huhuhu---, such a pity---!!"

A cold sweat ran down my forehead at the woman's action of putting her hands on the floor and taking a completely frustrated pose.

Excuse me? It's good that the scene I imagined didn't come out, but this shocking…?

"...Please explain why you're doing this

"Oh, yes! First, let's openly and frankly tell each other why we fell into this world! Miel must have gone, so there's only the two of us here, right?"

I nodded unconsciously under the influence of her words. Then the heroine poured tea into her teacup, drank it, and began to open her mouth,

"Can you believe it? When I woke up, I possessed the original female lead. Gwynell von Adriana, was it? I thought I was lucky to have entered a memorable game... How about you?"

"...I see... But before that, I have a question for you."

"What?"

"That... I'm a crow that I don’t know if it appeared in background 1 in the original game or not, but, I have twisted the original story, right? That's why I feel bad, somehow..."

The heroine looked dazed for a bit while I say that. And then, soon…

“Pu--ha ha ha!”

She let out a very big laugh.

"What! Did you think I was going to bother you like a possessive person?"

"...There are other reasons, but yes."

Hearing that, she laughed even louder. The heroine, who laughed so much until she was barely not rolling on the floor, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and said,

"Oh, come on... I get it, but! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Uh-ha-ha! Oh, don't worry about that! I really have no intention of doing that!"

When she said that, I was relieved for once. Maybe she’s lying, but she’s laughing too excitedly to be lying, right? No, I still don't know, so one more! The most important thing I have to ask!!

"Well, then I'll ask you the most important thing!"

"Hahaha... who is Rainelle's favorite character? If it doesn't overlap with mine, I won’t touch him."

"-Do you really mean that?!"

At my words, the heroine started to laugh like crazy again. I felt the urge to crawl into a hole as I felt infinitely embarrassed due to her reaction.

"Oop (holding back laughter), let me guess something. The person Rainelle is interested in is Karmeut, right? The current emperor."

---! For real?! Is she a mind-reader?!

Seeing my startled gaze, she grabbed her stomach and laughed hard for a while, then she barely spoke after a while,

"Ah, my stomach, my stomach... huh, puh huh... it’s obvious if you just think about it for a little. I heard that you are close to the Emperor to the extent that things are different from the original, and that you are the next empress? Then the answer is clear.”

"...ah."

"And my target isn't Karmeut. Oh, how did Rainelle get here?"

"Oh, me? I..."

"Ah, please feel free to speak casually, speak informally. And since we live a second life here, we should use our new name, right? So you’re Rainelle, and you can call me Adriana or Aria. Got it?"

"...Okay, uh. I’ll use Aria?"

"Crows are cute, pretty, sexy, cool, dashing, and the most dignified in the universe, so there is no such thing as a disgrace to be one! How can you speak formally to a humble butler?!!"

"...Ah, yep..."

...isn't the ‘butler’ expression usually used for cats?

I wanted to say that, but I couldn't openly make that question with her eyes burning with passion like now.

"Ah! You don't have to force yourself to tell me how you came here! It might be a painful memory, so I won't pressure you!"

The woman, no, Aria clenched her fists. I closed my mouth at her actions.

...this feeling of being swayed is probably because of the mood, right?

"...But you can't talk to people in the form of a crow?"

"---Uh, yeah... Of course, it's true that crows can say one or two basic words when they learn them, but it's not enough to use for a conversation, right? It's the same here."

"Ahh, that's too bad! It'd be great if I could hug Rainelle and talk while rubbing you…"

A cold sweat came out naturally at Aria's behavior of groaning and sighing while holding her head.

---Isn't this the female lead position I was thinking of?! You can't do that!!

"---Haaah... It's far from the image of the heroine that I thought..."

"Why?! What’s wrong with this?! What's wrong with being a bird fanatic!! Do you know how wonderful, beautiful, cute, lovely, and adorable birds are?! I would have been so happy if I had possessed a crow like Rainelle!"

"---! The crow is a bird that symbolizes misfortune and plague here! Do you know how unfortunate this is?!"

"It's because people here don't know how intelligent and clever crows are! The black body! Shiny feathers! Excellent intelligence! And the ability to imitate words when taught! I swear, crows are the most perfect birds!"

"Don't show your devotion here! I'm embarrassed because it seems like you're talking about me!"

"Oh my God---!! In that sense, please change into a crow! I won't hurt you! I’ll just hold you in my arms and rub your feathers!"

"That's bird harassment! It's molestation!! How surprised I was earlier!!"

"Ahhhh! Rainelle-nim! Let me hug that cute body!"

“Birds have hollow bones, so if you hug too hard, they’ll break!! And you're going to hug me and sniff me! No!"

"What's wrong with that?! Birds are so fragrant!! And I don't want to give up my desire even if you say so!"

"It is your personal thought!!"

"I mean, crows were my dream! Aaah! Master! Please present your warm heart to this humble butler!!"

"Choosing a butler is my right!"

"Then I will give you everything until you choose me!!"

"Ahhhh! What the hell is this!!"

The heroine deviates a long way from my expectation!! Of course, it’s a relief that Karmeut isn't her target! But I don't think this is right!!

...After a long quarrel, we finally managed to calm down. Of course, the heroine, no, Aria barely managed to calm her excitement. Me? I'm tired and just sipped my tea.

"Okay then... Let's talk again."

"If Rainelle- nim wants it, I'll be here for hours!"

"...If you say that, I won't you turn into a crow, you know? Why don’t you put away that gaze?"

“…Ugh."

"Oh really!! This is too much! If you keep doing that, I'll never turn into a crow in front of you!!"

"Ahh! I can’t accept that!!"

"It’s my decision. So what!!"

"I will stop! So please take back those cruel words!"

"Behave first."

Aria pouted her mouth at my remark, but she didn't chatter anymore. After setting the mood somehow, I sighed and opened my mouth,

"Uh... So the point in which I possessed this body was when Karmeut was attacked by his brother, Luwellin, and fled into the woods."

"Oh, back then? Oh, I envy you. So you experience the pre-original story?"

"...I met with Orcs, getting stoned by Karmeut, and fly 30,000 miles to find herbs and berries. Besides, at the end of the day, I was hit by a Gnoll's arrow and got a hole in my wing..."

"No, how dare a dog's head punch a hole in a bird’s wing!!"

"Karmeut bit all those Gnolls and killed them."

"As expected of Karmeut! No less from a target character!! Wow~ So cool!!"

"Ah, but who is Aria's target?"

"My target? From the moment I saw the ‘game start’ screen, there was only one man that caught my eye."

Saying that, Aria's eyes were brighter than when she molested(?) me earlier.

"There has never been a character that burned my heart as much as Marquis Namuel! Long live the possessing! I can attack Namuel for real!!"

"Marquis Namuel?"

The name brought up Marquis Namuel’s figure in my head. A wizard with gray hair and green eyes. He doesn't like people and doesn't trust people, so I was shocked when he smiled at me. Because I remember that he only smiled like that while playing the game in the second half of the attack.

"...Namuel has so many events that he can be called the main character, right? And yet?"

"That’s why he’s worth it! It's so heart-throbbing that a man, who doesn't trust people, slowly breaks down the boundaries!"

"I see."

I have nothing to say because she said it so passionately.

Hah! Then!!

"You mean, you don’t care about Karmeut?"

"My favorite character is always Namuel! I have no intention of looking at other men!"

I was greatly relieved by that statement.

Whew... it's a relief. In a way, this is the best, right? We like different people, so we don’t need to compete---!!

As I thought of myself liking Karmeut, heat rushed to my face. Seeing my expression like that, a strange smile appeared on Aria's lips.

"Oh my? Your face turns red all of a sudden? Who did you think of?"

"Oh, no, that, hmmm! No one?"

"---Well, since you say it's no one, I'll believe that."

Seeing the smirk on Aria's lips as she said that made me realize that I had failed to deceive her.

Urghhh! Hey, don't laugh while making that face!!

"That’s a relief, isn’t it? We like different guys from each other."

I nodded my head, tasting the feeling of confirmation from those words.

Haa---!! Well, I'm glad I don't have to compete---!!

"---Oh, by the way, Aria remembers about this game? I played it years ago, so I only remember the characters and the major things about them."

“Ah, I remember. I played it recently to see Namuel."

...huh? I’m feeling a bit nervous!

“I forgot the title of the game because of the novel-like setting when entering this world of the game and the behavior of the original heroine’s family who looked at me with pity.”

"Really?! What if you forget that?!"

"What's the use of a title? The important thing is that I remember the events of the characters! Based on that, I will attack Namuel step by step and bring him down!!"

What to say, that’s a really solid goal

I lost. Oh well, then there’s only one thing left

I'll have to ask.

"Then do you remember about the hidden character?"

"Hidden character?"

"That, you know, the assassin character."

"...Aaah! Sedarun, right?"

Aria thought for a moment, then she clapped her hands. Fortunately, I asked that.

“Do you know what the conditions are for that character to appear?”

While saying that, I did not take my eyes off Aria's mouth.

Please remember! At this point in time when even the threat of the heroine is gone, the most important thing to pay attention to is the existence of the assassin!!

***