Chapter 219: The Impoverished Small Nation

The Gale Queen looked slightly surprised, but she quickly nodded to an elderly harpy, signaling her to come over and check on Bernar’s condition.

Ram and Daryl were filled with hope, but the result was something they could not accept.

“Such injuries are beyond saving,” the harpy chirped to the previous envoy, who then quickly translated. “However, your injury can be treated.”

Ram’s tears immediately welled up, and Wu Qingsong hurriedly went over to hold her, letting her cry on his shoulder.

Wu Qingsong had already considered this possibility. If the bird people on this island possessed healing magic, they should have used it on their injured companions during the battle, rather than keeping it hidden. But they had not seen any bird people treating others. In fact, in their fight against the fish people, almost none of the injured survived.

The situation became somewhat awkward, so the Gale Queen said, “Thank you for your help earlier. You must be tired. Please rest first, and we can talk in detail later.”

However, this detailed conversation had to be postponed further because Bernar finally couldn’t hold on and passed away after about an hour.

Ram and Daryl were both deeply saddened. Bernar had been like a parent who had raised them, holding a special place in their hearts.

“We’ll take his ashes back with us,” Wu Qingsong said.

The bird people couldn’t understand their actions, likely due to the extreme scarcity of resources—both corpses and firewood were valuable. However, in the end, they helped Wu Qingsong and his group gather enough dry branches as requested. They watched as Bernar’s body was placed on top, and then used an iron sword to strike flint, creating sparks to ignite the dry feathers and finally set the whole pyre ablaze.

“Wu, can you feel Uncle Bernal’s soul?” Ram asked sadly, leaning against Wu Qingsong.

Wu Qingsong shook his head.

In fact, to this day, he had never truly captured a complete soul. What he could obtain were mostly fragments filled with violent memories, fear, or anger.

Their intensity varied, perhaps related to the time they lingered in this world and the spiritual strength of the deceased, or maybe their species. The soul fragments of beastfolk were extremely weak, followed by those of fishmen and insectoids. The soul fragments of bird people were about as strong as those of the weaker rabbit and mouse people, while those of the wolfkin and dogfolk were stronger.

Wu Qingsong speculated that elven soul fragments would be very powerful. However, so far, the strongest soul he had encountered was that of the Red Demon Lord. Even just a projection of its power could have terrifying consequences. He could only imagine the horror it would bring if it truly came to the surface world.

“His soul should have already gone to the home of the ancestors,” he whispered to comfort Ram.

Ram didn’t speak anymore. She simply watched the fire burn silently. Once it finally went out, she and Daryl carefully gathered Bernar’s ashes and placed them in a container that Daryl had carved out of wood during the waiting period.

This process took them an entire day. The bird people did not disturb them but sent the previous messenger and several other harpies to offer assistance.

Wu Qingsong noticed that once the seas around Gale Island finally calmed down, the harpies began to soar over the sea, ready to catch fish that swam to the surface. Some penguin people also jumped into the sea again, swiftly hunting fish near the shore.

The harpies relied on their talons, while the penguin people used their speed and fish spears, sometimes even directly swallowing small fish. This method of hunting was obviously not very efficient, but under the constant threat of fishmen, they probably had little chance to develop and use more effective hunting techniques.

“The queen has been waiting for you,” the messenger said.

Now they knew her name was Mia. She was, in fact, one of the queen’s daughters and one of the most talented harpies. However, they didn’t seem to have a concept of princesses, nor did they have strong hierarchical distinctions among themselves.

“But it’s getting dark,” Mia continued. “Please rest well tonight and meet the queen first thing in the morning.”

It seemed the bird people didn’t have good night vision and didn’t use lamps, preferring to return to their nests to rest once night fell.

Wu Qingsong and his companions were assigned to a large tree not far from the queen’s palace. 

Before nightfall, the harpies brought them some fruits as food. The fruit from the coconut-like plant had a hard shell, but once cracked open, the flesh inside tasted quite good, resembling slightly sweet avocado, seemingly rich in fat and having a faint milky fragrance. The fruits from the tall trees around them, however, only had a soft outer shell, with a taste similar to water chestnuts—sweet and starchy.

“These guys have it rough,” Beck, who was used to eating meat while following Wu Qingsong, could hardly stomach the food. His eyes seemed even greener in the dark. “No wonder they’re so small. They probably don’t get to eat meat more than a few times a year.”

Wu Qingsong thought about it and agreed. The tallest harpies were generally only around 1.5 meters tall, with the largest barely reaching 1.7 meters when standing on the ground. This might be because they could occasionally catch fish. Penguins were generally around 1.2 to 1.3 meters tall, with only a few reaching 1.5 meters. The harpies were even smaller, about 1 meter tall.

This was likely a natural adaptation to the island’s scarce resources.

“It’s not like you used to eat a lot of meat before,” Liuli retorted, happily munching on two fruits. For her, having a change of taste was quite enjoyable. Despite her love for food, especially fish, her appetite wasn’t very big.

Beck was momentarily at a loss for words. After following Wu Qingsong for so long, he and the other houndmen had developed a sense of superiority. He suddenly remembered that before joining Wu Qingsong, they too had often faced hunger.

“No wonder they’ve been pushed to this island,” Red Moon said quietly. “Just the fact that they can’t see at night would be a disaster on the mainland.”

Wu Qingsong was surrounded by a circle of green eyes. Everyone except him had good night vision.

As Red Moon mentioned, if these bird people didn’t live on this isolated island, they might have been wiped out long ago in the competition with the beastmen.

The beastmen became the dominant intelligent species on the continent, driving the insectoids underground, forcing the fishmen to stay away from the coasts, and leaving the bird people to barely survive on such islands. Perhaps it wasn’t without reason.