Estio 199

Estio chapter 199

199

Estio Volume 8

– Episode 21

“Ah, really! Moobin-nim, everyone gets scared when you say that.”

“Huh? So, how long are you going to hang around? We’re not here to play at the zoo.”

“It’s good to ask questions slowly after you get to know them a bit! They say that such an attitude is harsh to those who survived a scary experience.”

“I don’t know, it’s harsher to procrastinate without properly addressing the root cause.”

When two people with completely different personalities collided, the atmosphere became even harsher. In fact, Estio, the only member who could stop the two, was watching with no intention of intervening. It was a moment when they were about to continue to haggle without knowing that the more frightened the animals were.

“star.”

“What?”

“Hmm?”

It was the voice of an animal other than the Lesser Panda.

“The intruder was holding a shining star under the night sky.”

An animal hiding in the farthest corner of the cage raised its face. A hideous glare shone in the darkness.

“Goat?”

“…Isn’t that a lion?”

Once again, Mubin and Parker’s speculations were mixed. The creature with goat’s horn and lion’s face blinked with a solemn look.

“It’s all wrong. I am the Sphinx.”

“Huh?”

The animal that introduced itself as a sphinx had a huge body reminiscent of a lion and a goat’s tail. The droopy eyes looked good, and the goat’s horns hung nicely between the long brown lion’s manes.

“If it’s a sphinx…or the ‘Sphynx’ from that fairy tale? It’s said that when you’re lost in the maze, it suddenly appears and gives you a riddle and shows you the way if you get the answer right!”

“It’s the first time the guys got it wrong before they even raised a problem.”

Recalling the fairy tale he had read as a child, the Sphinx kicked his tongue at Parker, who had a crush on him. Mubin asked the Sphinx again.

“So, what were we talking about a while ago?”

“If you want to know, solve the riddle.”

The sphinx was a mystery-loving animal, a small group of highly intelligent and curious people. It is a hermaphrodite with no fixed gender, and has the characteristic of giving birth only when the person wants to. Because it was impossible to reproduce by force, once discovered, it was also an animal that was traded at a high price among people, regardless of whether it was an adult or a body.

Mubin looked at the sphinx with a puzzled expression.

“You’re going to tell me only if you answer the riddle you give me?”

The Sphinx’s goat’s tail then swayed with satisfaction.

“It is true.”

‘He’s a pretty annoying guy.’

Mubin looked around and muttered to himself. Other animals imprisoned in the cage were still terrified, and this curious sphinx alone was interested in humans.

‘Isn’t there any other way?’

Mubin scratched his head and sat down in front of the iron cage.

“Yeah. Take a look at me, riddle.”

“Am I really going to do it?”

“No? If you don’t like it, just tell another guy……”

“I never said I didn’t like it. Please wait.”

The sphinx hurriedly ran in front of him and sat down on all fours in front of him equally. The expression on her face contemplating on what kind of quiz she should take was evident, and Mubin burst into laughter.

“Are you still far away?”

“It’s done. Sheesh, impatient human.”

Contrary to his solemn tone, the Sphinx pouted his lips like a child.

“If what you say from now on is false, I will eat you up, and if it is true, I will tell you about the box without eating it.”

“Ohh.”

“Come on, it’s a riddle. ‘Am I going to eat you?’

The mouth and mouth of the Sphinx who raised the problem drew a line. The Sphinx himself, who is always searching for knowledge and likes to play riddles, thought that this riddle was the most difficult among the problems he had posed so far.

The answer to this riddle was ‘You will eat me’. If you say that, whether the statement is true or false, you will be able to live safely and obtain information about the box.

Mubin’s lips were slowly opened as they sat facing each other.

“no.”

The Sphinx rejoiced with a brightened face.

“Wrong…!”

“You’re locked up. It’s only natural that you can’t eat opponents outside the cage.”

“Ah?”

The screams filled with excitement were cut off in the middle. The Sphinx, feeling as if he had been hit in the head, blinked his eyes and shouted.

“behave shamefully! You’re arguing with the environment in a fair game of riddles!”

“Uh-huh, the Sphinx originally only appeared when people were lost and caused problems? What are you complaining about because they’ve been using the environment better than anyone else?”

“profit!”

The Sphinx was very upset, but couldn’t think of anything to refute. Mubin’s muffled muttering continued.

“Even without an iron fence, I don’t think there’s a chance that I’ll be eaten by you as much as my nails. Well, I can’t tell just by looking at it. I wonder if I can be surprisingly strong…”

Mubin clenched his chin and glanced at the Sphinx. The sphinx, whose eyes met black eyes, trembled. There was no malice, but the eyes were completely down.

Mubin, who instinctively stared at the sphinx with its tail bent, smiled brightly.

“How about? Do you want to stick together properly?”

“I will tell you about the stars I saw.”

The Sphinx, whose life was at risk if it was a mystery or something, if it went on like this, quickly gave up.

“Last night, it was humans who suddenly appeared in this place.”

‘also.’

As Mubin predicted, it was humans, not monsters, who were committing crimes. Considering that they suddenly appeared, they must have been wizards.

“I couldn’t see her appearance properly because she was covered with clothes from head to toe. However, they had a first smell.”

“smell?”

“It smelled like medicine. It was an unidentifiable, stinky smell.”

The Sphinx’s face contorted as he recalled the smell he had smelled at that time. He had a strong drug smell that he didn’t want to take again.

“They had a shining star. Other races were trapped in that star.”

Even after hearing the situation, Moobin narrowed his eyebrows as he still did not understand.

“Wait, the criminals had stars? Stars in the sky? Were the animals trapped there?”

“The stars were small.”

The Sphinx raised its front paws, which had grown long claws, and pointed at Mubin as if poking out.

“More than your head.”

“Then it doesn’t make any sense. How do animals get into a box or a star the size of a human head, not some kind of dragonfly collector?”

“But it is true. I definitely saw it.”

“This is the one, this one is more puzzling than the one I heard before.”

I thought it would be resolved as long as animals and words could communicate, but the more they listened, the more serious the group’s facial expressions were about the incident that fell into the labyrinth. Estio, who had been watching without intervening until then, approached the iron cage.

“Can I read your memory for a moment?”

“Are you reading memories?”

The Sphinx rolled her eyes and stood up. He was buried in the darkness when he was lying down, but his body resembled a lion, so when he stood up like this, he was huge. Estio was not afraid to see him and put his hand between his cages. Then the sphinx’s warm snort hit me.

“Does it mean that humans have such abilities? Do whatever you want.”

The Sphinx, who quietly stuck to the cage, gently rubbed the cheeks on Estio’s palm. After receiving permission, Estio carefully traced the Sphinx’s memory. It was always difficult for him to touch the minds of others. When reading the memories, I needed to be careful not to touch the innumerable memories and subconscious mind that were piled up one after another. It felt like running away from an obstacle.

It wasn’t long before Estio was able to find the intruders in the Sphinx’s memories of days before.

‘People in blue clothes.’

In his memory, Estio saw three adults who wore masks and pressed their hoods down to completely cover their faces, walking quietly into the tent. Because of the staff in his hand and the magic that fluttered around, Estio knew that they were all wizards. A magical barrier extending out from the staff and subtly covering the surroundings was blocking the sound and view. They used their magic to break into the countryside with ease, and as soon as they found the animals, they exchanged glances and nodded their heads. Then one of them pulled out a small box from his arms.

‘Is that the star the Sphinx spoke of?’

But it seemed impossible to keep animals in there. The box was small enough to hold with one hand. Estio was skeptical and watched the intruders a little more.

‘Box On.’

At that moment, a small box with a short starter flashed brightly and floated in the air.

‘……!’

After seeing the next scene, Estio took a step back in surprise. The hand that touched the sphinx fell and the memories that flowed in and out were cut off.

“Leader?”

“What the Sphinx said is true.”

The Sphinx saw the square object twinkling in the dark and only mistook it for a star in the night sky. As soon as the wizard cast the spell, the animals present were sucked into the small box. It was unbelievable even after seeing it for himself, but Estio delivered the memories of the Sphinx to everyone. Mubin and Parker, who were suspicious at first, also hardened their faces after hearing the story.

“It appears to be a magical artifact.”

“An artifact that saves space. Did the Empire have such magical technology?”

There was no one to answer. Tsuki was sitting on Estio’s shoulder, picking his hair without interest, and Neju didn’t know what he was saying, so he just listened.

But then, a clear voice interrupted the conversation.

“It’s called a box.”

The tent door opened and there was the sound of jewelry clashing. Estio, who unintentionally turned around, met his melon-colored eyes and called out his name.

“……Kai.”

“Old? Master?!”

Parker, who noticed too late, was startled and flapped his wings. The azure-haired boy who entered the tent with the doll Jen looked at them and smiled brightly.

“How have you been?”

It was guild master Kai.

“Have a good night and sleep, why are you here?”

Mubin treated Kai with an unfavorable attitude. Then Kai also laughed and responded with a sharp revenge.

“Uhm? Oh man, I think Hei was with the ball too. He’s big, but he was standing near the iron cage, so I thought he was a cave wolf. Heh heh heh.”

“Oh, yes. It was so small that I almost mistakenly thought it was just the wind blowing in the door. What? Ha ha ha.”

As soon as they met, the busy guildmaster and Parker, who had been watching the duke Hayga with dismayed eyes, flew in between the reflections.

“Ugh, both of you, please stop. Leader is in trouble.”

Hearing that, Kai and Mubin, who were growling, flinched and looked back at Estio. And at the same time, as if salty, he bowed his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

“sorry.”

“……no.”

Estio, who was doubly in trouble, shook her head slightly.

“But why is Kai here?”

“Hmm.”

Estio chapter 199

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