Chapter 186: Teria's version of the story

I didn't expect to notice the discrepancy between the story of the wingless tribe and what I saw in my vision so soon. Yet, it was already an undeniable fact that the story that one side learned about was simply fake. Like always, there were bits and tidbits of truth in it, but rather than serving to help me understand the situation better, they were there most likely just to make it easier for everyone to believe in the story in the first place.

"It's not true at all." Muttering on the side, Teria proved that she was quite interested in the topic as well. While the fact that we were traveling on foot put her in a god-awful mood for nearly the entire first day of marching, as soon as this short debacle started she was there to comment on it in an ill-spirited manner.

"Teria… Eh, I know that you hate walking just as much as those people would hate flying, but the speed of the group will always equal the speed of their slowest element." Shaking my head, I took a single step towards the girl before bringing my fist in her direction, palm towards her and forefinger extended. Shaking said finger in a way that a parent would scold a child, I dared to remind her of one fact. "Keep in mind that right now, you are the slower one between the two of us. So whatever emotions you are feeling right now…"

Rather than finishing my words and putting another brick of hostility into the structure of the relationship we were slowly building just by being near each other, I allowed Teria to figure out the rest on her own.

"But that doesn't mean those guys are right. Now it's your turn to tell me what you know about that Saint, her daughter, and the man she conceived that kid with." Turning my head to the girl, I forcefully tore off all the hostility from my face to indicate that I now stood on a neutral ground.

"Sure thing." Happily announcing, Teria fell into deep thought for a moment before swallowing her saliva, clearing her throat, and starting the story.

"It start's the same way, although with a bit more detail. Originally, only the winged humans populated the entire continent. Yet, due to the nature of our wings, those too weak or too vile to grow them would be expelled from the main tribes. Over many years, those bandits and weaklings banded together, creating what was then known as the outer families."

Hearing how far in the past did Teria start her story at I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. Even though there was hardly anything better to do during our current journey than walking, I felt as if I would snap from boredom before she would even reach any of the potentially interesting parts.

"Long story short, I think you guys already know what I'm hinting at." Turning her face into an example of how adorable she could be if she wanted, Teria smiled at the Longinus companions. But contrary to my expectation, not even a single one snapped. Not even one went as far as to send her an unhappy glance.

"Long?" At this point, I couldn't even be bothered to use the full name of the young mercenary. While others could find it disrespectful, others too familiar, for me it meant nothing more or less than just saving my saliva.

"Well, to a point, we all know that. The wingless tribe all comes from those who didn't grow wings. But whether or not they were weaklings or criminals… From what I heard, you saw a battle between human forces and winged human forces in the south. Tell me, how many winged humans have you seen out there, back then?" Smiling under his nose, Longinus used my own tactics of letting the others fill the gaps on their own rather than spoonfeeding the answer to them. And from how reasonably his side sounded, I couldn't help but look at Teria with a glint of suspicion in my eyes.

"There is no denying that the number of wingless humans and winged ones during the battle… Was greatly disproportional. And I'm sorry Teria, but I can hardly believe that all those moving piles of meat were made out of your brethren." This was something that Teria revealed to me quite a while ago, yet the sheer insanity behind such a statement made it hard for me to actually believe it.

"Either way…" Seeing how her story was quickly falling apart, Teria quickly attempted to regain control over the narrative. Sadly, rather than throwing a few witty remarks that would shut everyone's mouth in awe of how cleverly she would manage to escape from the pit she dug herself, she opted to just keep going with the story instead.

Yet, as much as it appeared that Longinus' remark was actually correct, I didn't dare to assume it. In fact, I simply didn't care about the truth of the backstory of the local humans at all. For me, only the story of that saint and its relation to the sacred core was important at this moment.

"With years of this scrutiny, my tribe developed pretty strict rules for marriage and social interactions. Those families that managed to either bleach or grow their wings, would gain respect. Those whose wings would turn darker or smaller would be falling from their previous standing. Ah," Suddenly realizing how no one in the entire party had any idea what those symptoms of growing or darkening wings could me, Teria quickly fixed the problem. "It's said that the greater one's wings, the greater personal power he or she can command. As for the color, those who married winged people of higher social standing would make their kid's wing a bit brighter, while those marrying down would see their offspring's wings grow darker."

Suddenly turning silent, Teria apparently fell into apathy, just staring at the view that she saw for so long that it had to turn boring at this point.

"There is another theory. It's said that those who sin, those who go against the path set by the God almighty will see their wings turn darker and darker, to picture the downfall of their character and soul." Suddenly bringing her shoulders up only to shake them down, Teria shook her head with a cheerful smile. "That is, that's just a street legend, not something we are openly taught about. Yet… Or nevermind." Suddenly cutting her explanation, Teria put a thoughtful look on her face, stealing a second break from her story.

"Okay, that was a beautiful story. But so far, it has nothing to do with what I asked you about." At this point, only one part of my expectation ended up wrong. Because while I already snapped silently thrice, I underestimated my own power to keep my anger and annoyance in check. Outside of that, the way in which Teria spoke about the past of her tribe was perfectly aligned with what I expected even before she began.

"Listen, I didn't tell it all just so you guys could adore my beautiful voice." Sending me a hateful look, Teria theatrically turned her head away while harumphing. Thankfully, her fit didn't last long as she quickly noticed everyone was still waiting for her to pick up where she left.

"The rest of the story is roughly similar. Once the patriarch of our clan married that Saint girl, they had a kid. Given how he was the father and how their daughter was born with only a single wing, something that never happened before, he had no other choice but to ask all of his high chieftains to marry his daughter, even though she was barely born by then." Suddenly, Teria turned silent as if she wasn't happy with the idea of speaking any longer. Yet, after just a single angry smile from me, she suddenly gulped her saliva down before picking up.

"At first, the saint agreed, knowing the importance of their child. But as those two spineless women grew older and the princess of both clans came of age, something changed. Out of nowhere, for some damned personal reason, she refused to marry the son of the chieftain that was initially selected." Taking a deep breath, Teria averted her eyes away, clearly indicating that she reached the part of the story she wasn't proud of.

"Once the problem was revealed, our legendary chief got angry. He invested nearly half of his wealth and life to arrange this marriage and even to change its target from the old chieftain to his handsome son. When he learned that the girl wasn't going to marry that young chieftain on her own, free will, he decided that it would be for the best of both winged and wingless tribes to just lock the girl away until the day of marriage." This time, what Teria told me aligned quite well with what I saw in my vision. The enclosed tower without any doors and barred window, a duo of females…

Yet it was the combined version from all three of the stories I either saw or heard that made the most sense. The name of my first side mission continued to flash in green.

"But when the day of the marriage came… Neither the saint nor her kid could be found in the tower they were held at. Ah," noticing that she forgot something relatively important, Teria quickly added, "the saint decided to live with her daughter in that tower out of her own free will. Given how much our ancient chief was said to love both his kind and his wife, it's believed that the greatest civil war in the entire history of my tribe erupted when he attempted to lock himself away in that tower as well."

Only when hearing those words did the wingless part of the group withdrawn their killing aura prompted by Teria's earlier remark of enclosing their saint in a tower.

"And so, the great sacrifice of that saint woman was for naught, as it took just five more years before the hostilities erupted once again, plunging both of the tribes to what's know as third ultimate war."