Upon arriving at the scene, Karina, true to her veteran adventurer status, immediately sought out the owner of the chicken farm who had posted the request to gather information about the job.
“So, you’re saying that Awakening Species Three-legged Fowl is damaging the chicken farm and trying to free the other Three-legged Fowls?”
“That’s not all. If it were just that, I wouldn’t have called for adventurers. But recently, that creature has become so aggressive that it’s even trying to harm people now.”
“A Three-legged Fowl harming people? Is that even possible, even if it’s an Awakening Species?”
“Of course, even if it’s an Awakening Species, a Three-legged Fowl is still a Three-legged Fowl. It’s difficult for it to harm people with brute strength. But that creature doesn’t attack people with strength.”
“If it doesn’t attack with strength, then what does it do?”
“It uses its intelligence.”
At my words, the chicken farm owner nodded heavily and spoke.
“That’s right. It uses cunning methods to harm the farm’s workers. Just the other day, it hid inside the warehouse and tried to crush my son by collapsing the shelves when he entered.”
“What!? Is he okay?”
“Fortunately, he managed to escape before the shelves completely collapsed, but he was seriously injured. He’s mostly recovered now and is back to work, but for a while, I thought he was going to die.”
The chicken farm owner pointed to a young man working in a corner of the farm with a large, fresh-looking scar on his face and bandages wrapped around his arm, his expression dark.
“To think a chicken would use such cunning methods…”
“Actually, chickens are more intelligent than commonly believed.”
“Really? Chickens?”
Mari asked in a voice that showed she couldn’t believe it.
And it was understandable. Even in my past life, and in this world, chickens were symbols of stupidity.
Just like in my past life, the term “chicken brain” was used as an idiom to describe someone as stupid, and even in fairy tales about Three-legged Fowls, they were portrayed as symbols of animals dumber than pigs.
But chickens are smarter than you’d think.
“Yes. Not just chickens, but birds in general are more intelligent than people think. It’s just that their ridiculous three legs and the image of being raised in cramped chicken farms eating only feed give them the appearance of being stupid.”
By the way, cows and pigs, also types of livestock, are quite intelligent compared to the image humans generally have of them.
“Anyway, enough of that trivia. More importantly, please catch that Awakening Species Three-legged Fowl as soon as possible. Every time it damages the facility, dozens of Three-legged Fowls escape.”
“Do you have any clues about where the Awakening Species might be living?”
“If I knew where it lived, I wouldn’t have called for adventurers; I would’ve chopped it up myself. But that creature is so elusive. I don’t even know when it comes and goes. It’s like it’s using some kind of magic…”
“No clues at all?”
At my words, the chicken farm owner chuckled and spoke.
“There is a clue. Just the other day, when it rained, I preserved the footprints it left.”
Footprints, huh…
With that kind of clue, we should be able to finish this quickly.
It’s time to show off my skills as a seasoned hunter.
With that thought, I was guided by the chicken farm owner to where the Awakening Species’ footprints were.
—
“Kurt, the footprints stop here.”
“I see that too.”
“…This is strange. It’s the same muddy ground, but the footprints just stop here.”
Following the footprints as guided by the chicken farm owner, we had been tracking for about an hour.
Even though the rain had made the footprints relatively clear, they were still from the night before, and how much weight could a chicken have to leave deep footprints?
Mari and Karina looked at the faint, barely visible Three-legged Fowl footprints with disbelief, but fortunately for our party, I was a seasoned hunter with 20 years of experience.
For an hour, I had been persistently tracking footprints that were almost indistinguishable to the naked eye, even disappearing in places.
Suddenly, the faint footprints that had been there completely vanished.
We searched the area thoroughly to see if the footprints had just stopped in one place and reappeared elsewhere, but it became clear that the footprints had completely disappeared, as if evaporated.
“It’s like it flew away in the middle.”
“Ah! That’s right! Come to think of it, Three-legged Fowls are birds, right? Maybe it flew away?”
“That’s a problem. If it flew back to its nest, we have no basis to deduce the Awakening Species’ location.”
Karina and Mari suggested the possibility that the chicken had flown away, but I thought differently.
“No, first of all, the Three-legged Fowl’s flight ability has completely degenerated. Even if it’s an Awakening Species, if it flew, there should be traces of it taking off. But these footprints are consistent in stride and not particularly deep.”
“Then where did the chicken disappear to?”
At Mari’s words, I seriously reconsidered my evaluation of the Three-legged Fowl.
I had boasted to the two about how chickens were surprisingly intelligent, but maybe I was the one underestimating the Three-legged Fowl.
“It’s backtracking.”
“Backtracking?”
“Yes. Backtracking means walking exactly on top of your own footprints. It moved by stepping only on its own footprints, walking backward.”
“…No way.”
“I can’t believe it.”
I couldn’t believe it either.
To be outsmarted by a mere Awakening Species chicken…
It’s embarrassing for a hunter with my experience.
But on the other hand, I understood why they had to call adventurers to catch just one chicken.
Even in my days as a hunter, prey this clever was rare.
But a trick only has meaning until it’s discovered.
“First, let’s retrace our steps. There should be a point where the footprints split.”
Mari and Karina seemed skeptical that a chicken could use such a trick, but since they had no other ideas, they followed me without protest.
After walking through the forest for about 10 minutes, we found the Three-legged Fowl’s footprints cleverly hidden in the bushes, and only then did they open their eyes wide in surprise and believe what I had said.
—
After that, finding the Three-legged Fowl’s lair wasn’t easy.
Not only did it use backtracking, but it also passed through narrow gaps that humans couldn’t navigate, and even applied backtracking to create multiple footprints leading in different directions, connecting the ends to make it seem like it was circling the same area.
Judging from the traces, it seemed the creature was quite accustomed to being pursued by numerous humans.
Was there a reason it went to such lengths to destroy the chicken farm?
By the time I came to my senses, the sun was setting.
“Ugh… If I catch that damn chicken, I won’t let it off easy!”
“I agree. Making us go through all this trouble… I’m looking forward to eating it later.”
The two women were burning with hostility toward the Awakening Species Three-legged Fowl.
But even their anger had its limits, and soon they spoke in tired voices.
“Ha… My body isn’t tired, but I feel mentally exhausted.”
“True. Even when hunting other monsters, I’ve never had such a difficult time tracking one.”
“Why is such a weak chicken so smart…?”
“It’s the opposite. Because it’s weak, it has to use its brains to survive.”
If it were a monster with sharp teeth and strong power at the top of the ecosystem, no matter how naturally intelligent it was, it wouldn’t go to such lengths to erase its traces.
“By the way, why does that Three-legged Fowl go through so much trouble to erase its traces while tormenting the people at the chicken farm?”
“Is it revenge for being kept in the chicken farm?”
“…That might be part of it. But I think there’s more to it than that.”
“More than that?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Maybe we’ll find out when we locate its nest.”
As I said that, I passed through the crevice in the rocks where I thought it had prepared its final trick.
From the outside, the crevice looked like just two rocks placed close together in front of a cliff, but in reality, it was different.
Behind the rocks, there was a space between the cliffs, and from the outside, it looked like a single cliff, but in fact, two cliffs faced each other with the rock in the center.
And in the space created between the cliffs behind the rock, numerous Three-legged Fowls had gathered to form a nest.
Cluck cluck
Cluck cluck cluck
Peep peep
“This… This is a flock of Three-legged Fowls!!”
“Where did so many Three-legged Fowls come from… Could it be!?”
“Yes. That creature attacked the chicken farm not for revenge against the humans who imprisoned it, but to rescue its fellow chickens who were also imprisoned and living as livestock.”
The Three-legged Fowls that went missing every time the creature damaged the chicken farm.
Those chickens didn’t just disappear; it had brought them here.
Realizing this, Mari and Karina made complicated expressions.
Then, one Three-legged Fowl stepped in front of us, as if to block the other chickens from us.
Its size and appearance were no different from the other Three-legged Fowls.
The only difference was its unusually large and drooping comb and its three legs.
Though there was no clear difference from the other chickens, we instinctively knew that this chicken was the Awakening Species from the chicken farm’s request.
Cluck cluck!
Cluck cluck cluck!
Its appearance was no different from the other chickens, far from the monstrous Awakening Species we had imagined.
Despite knowing that its intelligence alone made it no match for us, the hen flapped its wings desperately, as if to threaten us.
“Ku, Kurt… Can’t we just give up on this request?”
“Right. If it’s a Three-legged Fowl, I’ll let it live… Can’t we just give up this time?”
“What’s this? Getting soft? Even if we give up, other adventurers will come, you know?”
The two, who had been burning with hostility toward the Awakening Species Three-legged Fowl, now hesitated.
“But still, thinking it caused trouble for its fellow chickens, eating it feels a bit…”
“Even if other adventurers come, a creature this thorough won’t be caught easily.”
“If you say so, then I guess there’s no choice.”
At my words, the two smiled brightly, as if relieved.
“Kurt…!”
With that, I left the two happy women behind and approached the Awakening Species hen blocking our way, snapping its neck.
Squawk!
“Kurt! Why!?”
“You didn’t have to kill it!”
“What do you mean I didn’t have to kill it? Our request was to hunt this creature.”
“But it was just trying hard for its fellow chickens!”
“Don’t misunderstand. All beasts are desperately trying to survive. That’s not just true for this hen whose neck I just snapped.”
“But, but…!”
“Karina. Do you think the other monsters you’ve hunted so far weren’t trying as hard as this hen?”
“…!”
“All animals, monsters, and humans have their own stories and lives. The monsters we’ve hunted so far are fundamentally no different from this hen.”
At my words, Karina bowed her head silently, saying nothing more.
The Golden Bird that Mari first ate must have had its own life, and the Shavel Tigers that kidnapped the herbalist must have had their own stories too.
That’s why hunters, if they have the ability, shouldn’t hunt their prey recklessly just because they can.
Always hunt only what is necessary, and treat the hunted animals with respect, not wasting even a single bone.
“Of course, that alone wouldn’t necessarily mean it had to be killed, but there was a reason this creature had to be hunted.”
“A reason?”
Mari, who had seemingly accepted my words rationally, no longer argued, but her sharp voice showed she still couldn’t accept it emotionally.
“This creature went beyond freeing its fellow chickens and tried to harm humans. If we let this hen go out of pity, could you take responsibility if it tried to harm the chicken farm’s people again?”
“Th, that’s…!”
The hunter’s code.
Even if it could disrupt the ecosystem, even if it’s more monsters than you can handle,
You hunt monsters that try to harm humans.
Honestly, I didn’t dislike this creature for trying to free its fellow chickens.
But in the process of continuously freeing its fellow chickens, it eventually chose the easy and quick path.
Instead of just damaging the chicken farm’s facilities and rescuing its fellow chickens, it chose to kill the humans managing the farm and free all the chickens.
That’s why the chicken farm owner’s son almost died, though he was lucky to survive.
That wasn’t just survival or hunting for food; it was pure malice.
In that case, this creature is no longer prey.
It’s an enemy trying to harm humans.
At my words, Mari finally seemed to fully resign herself, bowing her head with a dark expression.
—
We succeeded in hunting the Awakening Species monster as per the request, but the party’s expressions were dark on the way back.
“Ooh! You finally hunted that pesky creature! Calling adventurers was the right choice!”
“It was quite a clever creature. I can see why the chicken farm’s people had so much trouble.”
“Hahaha! But why do you all look so down? Did something happen?”
“No. We’re just tired.”
“Well, that’s good. Oh, by the way, this wasn’t in the request, but…”
“What is it?”
“Did you happen to find any of the other chickens that escaped from the chicken farm while looking for the Awakening Species? If you did, I’ll give you an additional reward.”
At the chicken farm owner’s words, even without looking back, I could feel the two who had been looking down perk up.
They had accepted that hunting the Awakening Species monster was unavoidable, but they still felt sympathy for the chickens it had rescued.
I smiled wryly inside and spoke to the chicken farm owner.
“No. We didn’t see any of the chicken farm’s chickens.”
“Hmm… I see. Well, that’s that. Here’s the reward as promised in the request.”
At my words, the chicken farm owner handed over the promised reward with a disappointed expression.
—
On the way back after completing the request.
Mari, with a slightly brighter voice than before, spoke to me.
“That was unexpected.”
“What was?”
“I thought you’d tell the chicken farm owner where the escaped chickens were.”
At Mari’s words, Karina nodded silently in agreement.
“Hmph. I wasn’t interested in the extra reward anyway. It wasn’t part of the original request.”
“Really~?”
“What’s with that tone? Besides, those chickens have already started to go wild; they can’t be called the chicken farm’s chickens anymore.”
“Ahh. I see~. I see~.”
Mari, seemingly satisfied with my answer, made an exaggerated gesture with a cheerful voice.
Karina also hummed a light tune, as if something had made her happy.
Well, this much could be considered my own way of paying respects to the hen that had risked its life to free its fellow chickens.
Even though it had to be hunted for trying to harm humans, the other chickens hadn’t done anything wrong.
And so, we returned to the Adventurer Guild with light steps.
![[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come](https://i3.wp.com/darkmtl.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1737407792-8993-TS-The-end-of-magical-girls-has-come.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] The End of Magical Girls Has Come")
