"Accelerate, meow!" Sajji shouted excitedly.
With both claws gripping the newly installed handle atop the glider, Hakucho let out a sharp cry, flapped his wings, and began to pick up speed.
No longer heavily dependent on air currents, the cat-and-bird duo surged forward faster than ever before.
No one had expected Sajji to be the first to put Hakucho to practical use. He adapted the Yian Kut-Ku Model-4 by adding a handle for Hakucho to grip, along with a parachute as a fail-safe in case Hakucho suddenly panicked.
Sajji then spent another night teaching Hakucho simple commands like "accelerate," "decelerate," "ascend," "descend," "left," and "right."
The Yian Kut-Ku Model-5 was born! With Hakucho's assistance, it could now take off from level ground even in windless conditions. Its flight speed, maneuverability, endurance, and reconnaissance range had all improved dramatically.
Sajji also planned to fit an adjustable telescope to his windproof goggles to compensate for his limited eyesight. That way, his scouting ability might finally catch up with a Cohoot's.
Of course, all of that depended on Hakucho obeying Sajji's commands.
Getting Hakucho to follow commands was not difficult either; Sajji merely had to build a bond through food. In that regard, he was every bit as easy to manage as Hibiki.
If only Clawdia were as easy to handle. The phrase "biological engine" had nearly sent her into a frenzy the day before, and smoothing things over had taken considerable effort.
"Left! Prepare to land, meow!" Sajji shouted.
"Screee!" Treating it like a game, Hakucho cried out, banked to the side, and beat his wings, coordinating with Sajji to complete the turn.
They dove diagonally through gaps in the canopy. Just before they struck the ground, Hakucho spread his wings wide to help them decelerate while Sajji pulled up the glider's nose. Cat and bird completed the landing with deft precision.
Watching their seamless coordination, Morgan's expression turned strange.
He had only just gained a hunting partner, yet before he could give Hakucho a single command, Sajji had already commandeered his new companion.
Clawdia noticed Morgan's conflicted look, crossed her arms, and snorted. "You'll get used to it, meow. It's the same with Hibiki. Sajji is always riding him around, meow."
Morgan nearly smiled at Clawdia's aloof expression. Can you really say that after climbing down from that so-called Rathalos Model-09?
"Sajji just gets along well with everyone, that's all. Er... so, how did the reconnaissance go this time?" Worried that Clawdia might dwell on the matter and flare up again, Altaïr steered the conversation back to business.
Sajji flipped up his windproof goggles. "With Hakucho's help, our reconnaissance radius has expanded considerably, meow. This time, we made a rough sweep of everything within ten kilometers and found virtually no trace of any Large Monsters, meow.
"Small Monsters were hard to make out clearly, but at least there weren't any sizable groups. It's much the same as it was a couple of days ago, meow."
Altaïr frowned. "Just as I thought. We're already deep in the Mangrove Forest, yet the wildlife is far sparser here than along the outskirts. Something isn't right."
"It really isn't normal," Morgan said, tossing two strips of jerky into Hakucho's beak. "When we first entered the Mangrove Forest, we were amazed by how many large animals lived here. Now it seems likely that the animals from deeper in the forest abandoned their original habitats for some reason and scattered toward the outer reaches.
"That fits Ms. Meow-It-All's theory quite well. Something must have happened deep within the Mangrove Forest."
Altaïr lightly tapped his forehead, deep in thought.
The most important part of any investigation was finding a clue. A single lead would be enough for them to follow the trail and eventually uncover the truth.
But they had been in the Mangrove Forest for over a week, and aside from the not-quite-clue that fewer Monsters lived deep in the forest, suggesting that something was probably wrong, they had found nothing.
Wait... maybe that was not entirely true.
Altaïr's gaze settled on Hakucho, who was happily chewing his jerky, and he suddenly realized he might have overlooked something. "We met Hakucho three days ago, right?
"Thinking back, the number of large animals in the forest had already dropped noticeably by then. The reason we didn't notice anything unusual was..."
"Because we had a huge crab feast that night!"
Isis smacked a fist into her palm, then immediately realized how that sounded and corrected herself. "I mean, that was the day we found a small group of Daimyo Hermitaur along the coast!
"Then, the next day, we found a pack of Hawk Wyverns at the Seacliff, remember? They were behaving normally too. Maybe they were a little more alert than usual, patrolling the area and attacking intruders on sight, but at least they hadn't abandoned their original habitat!"
"How do you know the Seacliff was the Hawk Wyvern pack's original habitat?" Morgan pressed. "Couldn't they have migrated there recently as well?"
Isis answered bluntly, "When I got close enough to observe them that day, I saw plenty of nests built from branches. They didn't look like something the pack had constructed recently."
"I see." Morgan nodded thoughtfully. "So you're saying the 'normal' behavior of the Daimyo Hermitaur and the Hawk Wyvern pack caused us to overlook what was 'abnormal' about that area.
"But what does that prove? That the anomalous zone in the Mangrove Forest is larger than we originally thought?"
"That's only part of it," Altaïr continued, thinking aloud. "Both the beach where the Daimyo Hermitaur were active and the Seacliff where the Hawk Wyverns live lie along the southern edge of the Mangrove Forest.
"If whatever is happening in the Mangrove Forest drives creatures away, then heading north might give us a better chance of finding its source.
"Beyond that, let's make another assumption.
"If a particular Monster, or type of Monster, is causing the anomaly in the Mangrove Forest, what kind of Monster would drive packs of Lolo Gougarf away while leaving weaker Monsters like Daimyo Hermitaur and Hawk Wyverns relatively undisturbed?"
Morgan answered decisively, "A ground-dwelling Monster that can't fly well and avoids the sea."
"Of course, that's only speculation. Even so, we'd be better off shifting our investigation northward, away from the coast."
"Agreed." Morgan nodded in approval.
"I have a suggestion too." Isis raised her hand. "Aren't we relying a little too heavily on aerial reconnaissance?
"Nymera sends her Cohoot up for aerial reconnaissance while riding her Palamute to scout on the ground.
"The rest of us can't keep up with Sajji in the air. All we can do is wait in place or follow a straight route until he finishes scouting and returns, then head to the next area.
"That makes it all too easy to miss clues on the ground."
Altaïr fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "You're right. That was my mistake. I fell back into my old habits.
"If Nymera were here, we could certainly work that way. But with only Sajji and Hakucho, we can't fully replicate Nymera's reconnaissance capabilities.
"We should shift our focus to ground reconnaissance. Even if it's less efficient, that's still better than missing an important clue."
After thinking for a moment, he spread the map across the cannon cart's hood and waved his companions over.
"Here's the plan. We'll divide the region into sections and survey one small area at a time.
"Sajji's assignment remains the same. He'll continue conducting aerial reconnaissance, but he'll fly lower and make repeated passes over a single target area.
"The rest of us will split up and scout on the ground. Once we've surveyed one section together, we'll move on to the next.
"This approach will be much slower, but it should greatly reduce the chances of us missing any clues.
"Now that we at least know to head north, this approach should remain reasonably efficient."
Isis and Morgan both agreed. Clawdia looked from one to the other, then suddenly raised her hand. "I have a question, meow!
"When we split up to scout, am I following Isis, or will I be on my own team, meow?"
"You'll be on your own for the sake of efficiency," Altaïr replied without hesitation. "We won't be covering much ground each time, so if anything unexpected happens, we'll be close enough to support one another quickly."
"In that case, the Rathalos Model-09 is too much of a hassle, meow. Can I leave this thing behind for now, meow?"
"Meow meow meow?" Sajji protested.
(Translated by yourtl.app)