It has been around 15 minutes since she took my body away. I had thought she would take me straight to the very top but she instead landed on a higher balcony, bringing me in back into the tree.

From there, she brought me into some sort of a garden. And in that garden, there were a horde of girls frolicking among the flowers. They all wear green dresses, though theirs are a simple and sensible ones as opposed to the fairy's almost clownish one. But the one thing that strikes me the most is how everyone has a crown of flowers on her head.

They immediately swarm the fairy with questions when they notice she is carrying my body.

"My! Who is that you're carrying around?" one of them asks.

"Hehehe! It's a gift for Lady Mira!"

She drops my body on the floor like it's a mere rag of flour.

"Uwaaa, it's a butterfly man!"

"Butterfly man!"

"Butterfly man!"

They all circle around me, wide-eyed with their curiosity.

"Wow, what beautiful wings!"

"What gorgeous hair!"

"Even if he's a man, he's still beautiful!

...I am not sure whether I should feel happy hearing that or not.

"H-hey, h-how's it going?" I meekly answer.

"Oh, he's awake!"

"That's no good!"

"Yeah! Intruders are dangerous! Dangerous people shouldn't be awake!"

Without warning, the flowers on their head all instantly grow; their stem elongating to bring the flower heads right above my head. And then, the flowers open, emitting some sort of pollen right onto my face.

And I suddenly feel really sleepy.

Fuck, this is just like my own wing dust!

I try to keep my consciousness but the pollen is just too overwhelming to fight with. I decide to bring back most of my consciousness to my wide awake chick body, leaving only the bare minimum in the human body.

And then, the vision goes blank.

--------------------------------------------------

When I manage to regain the vision of my human body, it's already around thirty minutes later.

And, right on front of me, sits the familiar figure of the woman called Mira.

"Oh, you're awake. I was afraid the dryads had gone overboard with their sleeping pollen."

She gives a warm smile. Yet, she doesn't approach me. Instead, she still sits on what I assume to be her throne.

I try to move my body but it's still as paralyzed as ever.

"First of all, I am sorry that I cannot release your bind for now," she continues, as if she can read my thoughts. "Security measure. I do not know what you are capable of yet so I cannot take any chances."

She says all that in a calm tone, as if she has done this many times before.

"Now, let us just get straight to the point. Tell me who you are, what you are, and what are you doing trying to climb this castle without permission?"

"W-well, I-I'm..."

I am not sure what to say here.

Should I tell her the truth? That I came from another world? That I was originally an ant?

...No. Why am I even thinking about this? I'm not here to be interrogated! I'm here to save the little girl!

"I'm here... I'm here to save the little girl!" I shout, eliciting an eyebrow raise from her.

"Hmm, are you talking about Alicia, by any chance?" she replies.

Alicia? Now that she mentions it, I don't even know her name!

"Y-yeah, that's her! Little girl with a blond hair about eight years old with red eyes!"

"Then, you have nothing to worry," she answers with a smile, "She has passed her judgement and she has been declared not-guilty."

"R-really?"

"Indeed. But I suggest you focus on your own judgement right now, that is, if you do not wish to be executed right away." She leans forward; her eyes glinting dangerously.

I gulp.

"Now then, tell me how you end up with those wings of yours. I am pretty sure there is no such thing as a butterfly man race."

"It's... it's..." I stutter, trying to think up of some bullshit reasoning I can use. "It's... magic! Yeah, I created it out of magic!"

"Oh, really?" she responds, seemingly not amused with my answer. "Tina, if you would..."

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"Dispel."

I look to the left just to notice that there are someone else in the room besides Mira.

It is a girl around eighteen years of age, wearing a simple one piece dress accompanied with a blue cloak. On her neck she wears a talisman and on her head she wears a tiara; both made out of gold and peppered with precious gems. She has a long white hair tied into little braids that reaches her waist.

The first thing I take notice is how she has the look of a royal queen who is detached to her subjects. Even when she casts her dispel spell to me, she does it as if she's doing it to a mere ant.

"No change," she speaks, "Definitely biological."

"W-well, of course!" I interrupt her. "I-it's dispel proof after all!"

And then, betraying my expectations, the icy girl laughs. At first, it's just a small giggle which she tries to suppress by covering her mouth with her right hands but eventually it turns into a full-blown laugh.

"You. You really do not know whom you are speaking to, do you?" she says, still with tears on her eyes from laughter.

"N-no?" I answer timidly.

"I am Tina. Tina Kalavina. Former princess of the now non-existent Graham Empire. The Queen of All Magic. Yes, I possess the potential for magic far beyond any ordinary mages. And I know all magic that humankind has ever known. There is not a single way your pathetic wings will resist my dispel spell if it's truly created out of magic."

...Oh crap. I am now stuck with not just Mira but with her as well. If she's truly as strong as she says she is, then I will have not even a ghost of a chance going against her. I don't even know anything, not a single thing about magic in this world.

"Tina, Mira, let me use my ability to him."

...Oh man, another one?

I turn my head towards the right of Mira, right across where Tina is sitting. There, another girl is perched on her seat. This one, in contrast to Tina's cool silvery-blue appearance, wears a bright red dress. She has no amulet on her neck, but she has a crown instead of a tiara on her head. Her hair is golden, about the same length as Tina's but hers is not braided at all. The most striking thing about her however is her blood red-yellowish eyes. It seems to gaze and pierce right through your brain, drilling to reach whatever hidden secrets you wish to keep there.

"You hear that?" Mira speaks. "If you refuse to tell the truth, then she can simply rip the truth right from your head. Of course, that means she will get to see everything. Every embarrassing things you've experienced will be served on a platter to her. So, for your own good, please, just tell us the truth."

...Crap, I guess I have no choice...

W-wait, I do have a choice! I can just...

"No." I answer. "I am under no obligation to tell anything to you all."

Mira sighs. The girl in the red dress rises from her seat.

"Then, I'll take this over."

Slowly, she walks towards me, her boots echo with every step like it's the countdown to my doom.

Too bad she doesn't know that I can just transfer my consciousness out from this body, back to my free little chicken body below.

You can't mind read something that has no consciousness after all.

The transfer finishes right when she puts her hand on top of my head. After that, I know no further since I have cut any connection I have with the human body, just in case she can read through my mind that is in the chick through my mind left behind in my human body.

After that, I run. I run as fast I can out of this goddamn place.

Luckily, there are stairs I can take. Unluckily, there are many, many stairs to take.

No matter, I just have to make due with I have!

After what seems to feel like ages, I finally make it to the first floor. Quickly, I run out of the tree and back into the city.

Only then, I can finally take my sweet, sweet rest.

And now, I realize that I am now screwed. Stuck with this chicken body who I don't even know can grow any further.

Well, at least the little girl is safe, if her words are to be believed.