Chapter 106: The Departure of the Crow

Kevin clearly sensed that there was some hidden meaning behind the cape gifted by the commander of the 213th Regiment. The blue cape was not a magical item, but it was finely crafted, thin, and lightweight—certainly a piece of superior workmanship. When the wind caught it, it would billow instantly, looking incredibly cool, though it offered virtually no protection against the cold.

If the commander had seen Kevin shivering and gifted him a sweater, it would have been reasonable. Gifting a cape, however—while expensive—was purely a luxury item. Furthermore, he had only gifted one; the general’s son, Sain, was standing right there, but he received nothing.

The group of officers chuckled and chatted, and Kevin, Sain, and the general laughed along. While the awkwardness existed in their hearts, the surface atmosphere remained harmonious.

By evening, the officers had seen enough. The general proceeded to invite them to dinner, leading them directly to a high-end tavern in the city. That was no longer Kevin’s concern; after all, his military rank was too low. The general waved him off, telling him to head back on his own.

As Kevin dragged the catapult back, he passed the camp gate. Dressed only in his briefs and draped in the cape, his peculiar attire left the guards baffled. Of course, they didn’t dare ask, merely eyeing him with bewilderment.

Returning to his camp, Kevin stowed the catapult, splashed himself with a bucket of water to bathe, and got dressed. The two of them went about their own tasks.

"It’s dinner time. Can we go eat now?" Sain asked after he finished tidying up.

"You don't look too well," Kevin noted with keen observation. "Don't tell me you're upset because the commander only gave me a cape and not you?"

"Of course not," Sain denied. "It’s just that today felt... so annoying."

Indeed, entertaining various leaders and superiors was a tedious business, and it was fortunate that it had gone successfully. However, Kevin was a member of the Thunder Knights, and he had no idea what the general truly thought of the visit.

"Let's eat first," Kevin stood up. "Someone at the table is bound to pry for information. You keep your mouth shut and let me do all the answering."

Sain remained silent, which Kevin took as agreement. Later, they went to the Third Battalion's mess hall for dinner. The officers there were naturally eager to probe for information, and Kevin was equally eager to probe back. For instance, he asked, "Is a regimental commander visiting really worth all this curiosity?"

Eventually, the officers revealed that as long as they had been in the service, they had never seen a commander of a heavy artillery unit visit before. Some of these officers had served for over a decade; after consulting with one another, they all concluded that this was the first time in at least ten years that the 213th Regiment had paid a visit.

Kevin was struck by this. Upon returning, he sat down with Sain to discuss it. "How much do you know about your father’s affairs?"

Sain shrugged. "Military secrets aren't discussed, even with family."

Kevin tapped the table, voicing his thoughts. "I highly suspect there’s some sort of factional struggle among the military high command."

"Factions?" Sain looked blank. "What kind of factions?"

"From a national perspective, the military budget is limited. Some believe funds should be increased for heavy equipment research, while others believe it should be invested in individual strength. Conflict is bound to arise between the two. If this continues, it’s highly likely two factions have formed," Kevin speculated.

"Given what I know of the general, he undoubtedly belongs to the individual strength camp, while the 213th commander is clearly in the other. They’ve likely clashed before—perhaps not openly, but at the top level, which we at the bottom wouldn't be privy to. The fact that there’s been no interaction for over a decade might be a sign," Kevin mused, stroking his chin.

Sain frowned in thought. "No way. My dad has never mentioned anything about factions to me."

"Maybe it’s not called a 'faction'—perhaps it’s a camp, or an organization, or a team," Kevin suggested. "Has your father ever mentioned wanting to take someone down? A specific officer, perhaps?"

Sain shook his head. "Should I go ask him?"

"Don't you dare!" Kevin’s heart tightened. He realized he had said too much; as a subordinate, speculating about the affairs of the high command was a major taboo. He blamed himself for not thinking it through—perhaps he shouldn't have discussed it with Sain at all.

"What's wrong? What could happen?" Sain asked, confused. "Aren't you pretty tough? You even bickered directly with the general."

Kevin waved his hand. "Sit down first and let me think." The 213th commander’s sudden visit was primarily because Kevin had visited them first, which they were now reciprocating. If there was indeed a long-standing stalemate between two factions, was Kevin taking the general’s son to visit seen as an ice-breaking trip? And was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Kevin recalled when he had gone to serve as a tutor for Count Kuleide, only for the general to strictly forbid it and scold him. Was that also because of this?

The 213th commander clearly had intentions of recruiting Kevin. If Kevin moved over there, he might be more successful than he was here, but whether Kevin could actually move wasn't up to him. Everything depended on the general's arrangements. Perhaps they were discussing this very matter over dinner right now. If it went through and Kevin left, that would be fine. But if the general refused to let him go, Kevin didn't know if the future would bring fortune or disaster.

"I think you're overthinking it," Sain said, clearly not seeing the gravity of the situation. "You have such a vivid imagination, yet you're so slow to act."

Kevin: "..."

The day passed peacefully with nothing else happening. The next day, the two gathered their spirits again, training shirtless, chasing each other while holding stone projectiles, throwing them, and chasing again...

Three more days passed. Sain had clearly improved, while Kevin’s progress was relatively minor. The general's bloodline was real, and Kevin was older—twenty-six—so it was hard to keep up physically with a young man under twenty like Sain.

One morning, the parrot suddenly delivered a message: the general summoned Kevin and explicitly instructed him to bring the crow as well.

Kevin was shaken. Had the general discovered the crow's secret? It wasn't entirely unexpected; after all, if Kevin could figure it out, he believed others would eventually notice too. Kevin had never formed a contract with the crow primarily to guard against this. He had already prepared an explanation for if it were discovered, but now that the time had come, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

"Come here!" Kevin gestured to the sky.

The crow dove down and landed on Kevin's hand. "Caw!"

"The general wants to see you," Kevin said. "Have you gotten into any trouble?"

The crow paused for a moment before suddenly taking flight and landing on the eaves.

"Come back," Kevin said calmly. "You can't escape the camp unless you can take on hundreds of parrots by yourself."

The crow remained silent for a moment before flying back to Kevin’s hand.

Kevin sighed helplessly. "Can you dare to speak even one word?"

"Caw..." the crow replied.

"Not that word!" Kevin grumbled.

"Caw, caw, caw, caw..." the crow squawked repeatedly.

Kevin could only shake his head in resignation. Man and bird walked to the main tent. Looking around, besides the general and his guards, the head of the communications department was also present. This communications chief was the general's daughter, Colonel Stina, a woman in her forties. When the veterans retired at the end of last year, the champion of the parrot fighting tournament was her parrot, which had shocked the audience by using a "Blunt Wind Blade."

Kevin's crow had once challenged it; the first match was a draw, and in the second, the crow surrendered without fighting. But Kevin felt that if they had truly fought, the crow’s strength would have been unfathomable.

As for Colonel Stina, although he saw her at every meeting, he had barely spoken to her. She was a stern, middle-aged woman, as expected of someone from a military family.

"General!" Kevin saluted upon arrival.

"You're here," the general nodded. "I called you here today mainly to discuss the future of the catapult battalion. Your catapults performed excellently, and those people were very satisfied with you a few days ago. I’ve decided that the catapult battalion should gradually get on the right track."

Kevin remained silent, waiting for the general to continue.

"First, we need to improve your battalion's communications," the general said. "You can make do with other shortcomings for a while, but communication is vital. However, as far as I know, you haven't formed a contract with your crow?"

"That is correct." Kevin told the truth; he couldn't hide it. Once a contract is formed, communication is done through mental connection, so there's no need to shout. Even some mages only call out occasionally; with someone like Kevin who relied on shouting every time, it was only a matter of time before it was noticed.

"Why haven't you signed a contract?" the general asked casually.

"Well, I was worried about the backlash if the contract were broken, so I was hoping to sign with a better one," Kevin offered a reasonable excuse. Indeed, changing familiars was a hassle for low-level mages, and a backlash could be very damaging to one's mental strength.

"A 'better' one doesn't exist forever," the general smiled.

Seeing the general smile, Kevin felt a bit more relaxed. At least he was in a good mood today.

"How about this? I've discussed it with the communications chief, and a batch of newly trained parrots has just enlisted," the general glanced at Colonel Stina. "Since you are a mage, I'll assign one to you for communication."

Kevin was stunned and couldn't help but feel pleased. "Thank you, General."

"But your crow must stay," the general added.

Kevin felt a jolt, doing his best to keep his expression unchanged. "This... this crow is my personal pet."

Colonel Stina finally spoke up. "To be honest, I've studied birds for half my life. Some animals have high natural talent and can be cultivated into magical beasts—like my parrot, for example. And your crow is truly not simple. I've been observing it for quite a while. If I were to train it, it could very likely become an excellent magical beast."

Kevin smiled awkwardly. "You... have been observing? Forgive me for being blunt, but I don't recall us ever fighting together?"

Stina replied calmly, "I am the communications chief. I have formed contracts with twenty parrots simultaneously, and my communications mages also aggregate information from the vicinity to me. I don't need to be there in person to know what’s going on."

Kevin was speechless. He turned to look at the crow, and the crow subconsciously turned to look at Kevin.

The general spoke, "Simply put, trade one crow for one parrot. Your crow can be trained into a catapult expert; a parrot will definitely be even better. After all, parrots have intelligence. No matter how strong a crow is, it’s still just a regular animal, isn't it?"

"Yes." Kevin felt powerless. This crow was certainly not a regular animal; it was a genius-level creature. What a shame.

"Any other questions?" the general asked.

Kevin turned to the crow. "I don't know if it’s willing."

"You don't need to worry about that," Colonel Stina said. She raised a hand, and wind magic elements gathered above her, vibrating to create a melodious sound.

It was a basic wind spell: "Wind Chime." It was a relatively obscure spell, but very useful for summoners who specialized in birds. The sound created by the wind's vibration had a special attraction to birds. Nearby birds would involuntarily circle and dance to the sound, even singing along. If the mage was powerful enough, they could easily create a spectacular scene of a thousand birds circling.

But the crow showed no reaction. It ignored the pleasant chime, keeping its head lowered and remaining motionless.

Both the general and the colonel looked surprised. Kevin felt nervous—the crow usually did a good job of pretending, but now it had to act depressed.

The chime ended, and the magic dissipated. The room was silent. The general and the colonel exchanged glances, both observing the bird.

Suddenly, the crow flew up, circled the area where the wind chime had been, and finally landed on the corner of the general's desk. Everyone in the room stared at it.

Kevin tried to explain, "This... it has a rather long reaction time."

The crow hopped around on the general's desk, pecking here and there. Kevin felt a chill, realizing the crow was actually peeking at the documents on the general's desk, banking on the fact that no one would suspect a crow.

The general didn't shoo it away, simply observing it with interest from close range. A moment later, Colonel Stina cast the wind chime spell again. This time, the crow stopped acting deep, flapping its wings to circle around, while simultaneously squawking, "Caw... caw... caw!"

The voice was so raspy and discordant that it made the wind chime sound terrible, as if Colonel Stina herself had been roasted.

When the sound ended, the crow finally landed gracefully on Stina's shoulder. Stina was clearly fond of it; she reached out to pet it, and the crow hopped to her left shoulder, then to her right when she reached again. It seemed as cheerful as ever.

Kevin remained silent, knowing this was the crow's own choice. Come to think of it, Kevin still didn't know the crow's name. What was its past? What were its goals?

It was clear that it had approached Kevin for a reason—it had fallen into Kevin’s pathetic traps three times in a row, and afterwards, it had beaten up other crows, inevitably drawing Kevin's attention. If Kevin hadn't caught it reading a book in the middle of the night, it probably could have kept up the facade for a while longer.

Whether its goal was to become stronger, to be the greatest bird in the world, to seek revenge—perhaps researchers at the Royal Academy had wronged it—or if it wanted to conquer the world, overthrow humanity, and lead the crow race to greatness, the first step was undoubtedly finding an excellent master.

And without a doubt, the colonel was a seventh-level mage, far stronger than Kevin. Kevin had no grounds to reproach anyone, whether it was the crow or the general. To the general, swapping in a parrot was a fair deal. If he really refused, all the general had to say was, "This is an order," and Kevin would have had to comply.

In the end, it was because Kevin had never signed a contract. But not signing a contract was definitely the safest route. The crow’s origins were unknown; it could even be considered a fugitive. Of course, one shouldn't just sign a contract with a fugitive—at most, treat it as a temp.

Stina waved her hand, and over a dozen parrots flew in, standing in a row on the floor. Stina said, "Pick one from here. They are all newly trained and their quality is absolutely up to standard."

Kevin picked one at random, number K8484984. He just thought the number was interesting. The general offered a few polite words, and Kevin left with the parrot. Looking back, he saw the crow still hopping around on Stina's shoulder, as if it were playing with her.

"Sir, any orders?" the new parrot asked nervously, standing on Kevin's shoulder, not daring to move.

"Go back. Your code name is too long; let's call you 'Big Brother'," Kevin said casually, his mood poor and his tone blunt.

"I... I am female," the parrot replied weakly.

Kevin glanced back at her. "Then 'Big Sister'."