I have to run away.

(What? you don't want to???? You ungrateful bas****!!)

the village chief lashed at Liam just because he asked back in surprise.

(No, I will go, sir.)

Liam said so but his thoughts were completely different;

''Like heck I'm going, you crazy people!''

''I have to run away!''

''Although mom and dad always tell me to wait for a little, that it's so dangerous if I try to go outside because the village is closed by something so dangerous that's trying to eat me...''

''But! What these people are telling me to do is to die with no other option!!''

"Liam....away from...!!!"

Huh? This is new, there is nothing new about me being in danger but, this is the first time my parents have told me to get away from the village.

Oh no, dad and mom are angry. Oh, mom is embracing me now, probably because she doesn't want me to see their expressions, but do you know mom? I can see since you are half-transparent anyway... And even if I don't see, I can feel it clearly...

Extreme 'anger' and 'sorrow', but more clearly than that is 'worry'... my plans to make them happy got wasted again...

But well, it's not like I can not understand them.

That "chicken", the village folks chained down two years ago and put in an iron cage, while believing it to be a fiery bird monster.

Father told me that it was actually a legendary phoenix.

He told me about those prideful beings. They return a grace ten folds and return a grudge ten thousand folds!

This Phoenix was caught when it was extremely weakened due to egg-laying, which happens only once every 1000 years.

The village folks discovered that the fire of the monster they captured would burn to ashes whoever touched it.

But if it was not touched, it wouldn't spread and it was surprisingly unquenchable.

Those people were so greedy to put their hands on the unquenchable fire and didn't care how many victims their actions caused.

It really felt like they were flies charging into a bright light they discovered, not knowing it was a glaring sun.

When one day they discovered that I 'mysteriously' wasn't affected by the fire of the bird, they let the 'outsider' they took care of for four years.

A child they were about to abandon in the woods, they let me stay in their village at the cost of 'stealing' fire from the "chicken monster".

It was funny, how can a child steal from a Phoenix at the age of four, no matter how weakened it was...

To 'steal' a Phoenix takes more than the heavenly luck they encountered once.

For village folks to find a Phoenix at its weakest moment in 1000 years.

And capture it in a cage that she would normally melt in the blink of an eye...

It was only because mom taught me how to 'request' from a phoenix, and because the Phoenix itself took pity on my situation that I wasn't burned to ashes and could 'borrow' from its fire. Even now I remember how it tried to kill me the first time I approached it.

Anyway, I have to run away as soon as I set foot outside this house...

(ah, right! Lek and Lee are going to lead you there. Be sure he gets there probably)

No! Why now? Why the two who beat me the most of all people?!

'No!!!!'

Oh, mom... please don't cry.

I grabbed her half transport hand, which turned solid to my touch, but still invisible to others per usual... I am not sure. Am I trying to reassure her or myself by doing this... But, at least the shaking throughout my body is calming down.

After calming myself, I started thinking again of a way out;

''It is still okay. I just need one moment! If they get distracted even for a second, I will be able to slip away and run for it!''