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When night fell, I was hiding in the bushes at the base of the mountain, and as the sun's last light dipped below the horizon, the chirps and squawks of the harpies lessened as they settled in for the night.
Even with the diminished activity, I waited for another two hours before I made my move.
I crept out from under the bushes and approached the mountain. Before I proceed any further, I donned the mask provided by the Steward's Guild, but with a minor modification. On the inside of the mask, where my eyes should be, was a thin mana-steel frame that held two eyeglass cutouts that had been alchemically treated to be more mana-conductive than regular glass. It was essentially armless glasses stuck to the inside of the mask, but the special thing about these glasses was that they were enchanted.
That enchantment worked off of my rudimentary understanding of night vision goggles from my previous world. It essentially gathered the ambient mana's light element and focused it into the alchemically treated glass lenses, exemplifying what light I could see that the moon and stars cast upon the world.
However, there were downsides to my night vision goggles. The first problem arose when I activated the enchantments. The lenses would light up like two lamps due to the light element gathered inside them. However, this issue was easily resolved by concealing the lenses within the mask, which allowed it to be see-through despite lacking eyeholes.
The second problem was that I could only clearly see about ten meters in front of me, and everything appeared in greyscale. I mainly blamed myself for that. I could have stayed home and tinkered with the goggles until I came up with a more refined solution, but I knew that I would most likely be stuck in my workshop for a long time if I did so. So, I went with the prototype and left for the mission before I was overcome by the urge to keep on tinkering.
Gazing upon the gray and black world around me, I ventured forth. For the first twenty meters or so, it was just a steep hike. After that, the steep hike transitioned into a climb as the incline grew even steeper.
That's when I had to break out the climbing equipment. I tried a rope around my waist and started my ascent.
As I made my way up, every ten meters or so, I took out a piton, coated it with aura to make penetrating the rock easier, and also coated it with a bubble of instinctive air magic to make sure the sound of me ramming the piton into the rock does not make any noise.
As for the vibration of me ramming the piton into the rock, I will deal with that when I am closer to the top. For now, I just had to concentrate on climbing.
If anyone were to ask me if I were an expert rock climber, I could not say I was, mainly because I was cheating. Besides the pitons as a precaution in case I fall, I was climbing on easy mode. If there was a ledge or crevice I could stick my hands or feet onto to climb, I took it. If there was none, I made my own.
With a tiny bit of instinctive magic, I was able to mold the rock to fit my grip as I climbed, and when I felt that I needed a short break, I shifted the rock to form a small ledge for me to sit.
As I closed in on the nests, fearing that I might create enough vibrations through the rock to wake the harpies, I did not dare to stab the pitons into the rock as I had been doing until now. Instead, I pressed the aura-covered pitons into the rock, twisting and turning them to grind them into the rock surface gradually.
I eventually got to a ledge on the same level as the lowest nest that was wide enough for me to sit on, but not wide enough for a harpy nest to be built. I then unslung my backpack and took out an incense burner and a small vial of liquid.
I opened the top of the incense burner and checked to make sure the incense coil was still in one piece. Thankfully, it was.
As for why I brought incense along, it was because I did not want to fight if I did not have to, especially since I could potentially fall hundreds of meters to my death. So, I bought a little something from my town's alchemist. An incense that releases a strong anesthetic smoke, and a vial of antidote to combat the anesthetic, so I do not fall victim to the incense myself.
After downing the vial of antidote, I waited a few minutes for it to kick in before I lit the tip of the incense and blew out the flame, letting the incense's ember smolder and produce smoke.
Once the incense smoke really got going, I used a bit of air magic to send a gentle breeze that carried the incense wafting towards the nearest nesting harpy.
The incense wafted around the nesting harpy, and I saw the rough outline of its body inhaling and exhaling for a few seconds, before I noticed it sink deeper into its nest.
This might have indicated that it was affected by the anesthetic, but I was not entirely sure; there was only one way to find out. I crept over to the harpy with my dagger drawn, ready to slit its throat at a moment's notice.
When I got close to the harpy, I could not help but realize how human-like it was, the top half at least. Besides all the bird parts, the harpy looked like a petite woman who did not care much for modesty.
I reached over into its nest and poked its shoulder with my finger, and quickly raised my guard to strike in case it woke up, but there was no response. After poking it in the shoulder a few more times, I decided to go for the the sensitive area and poked it in the side of the waist, if its top anatomy was any thing like a human's it should be ticklish when poked there. But there was no reaction.
Assuming it was safe, I slid my arms into the nest and under the harpy. But seeing that it had a human face, I could not help but whisper, "Excuse me," while lifting the harpy up like a farmer checking under a hen for eggs.
Looking around the nest, besides a clutch of eggs, a few knick-knacks, and what I assume are colorful strips of cloth and feathers, it scavenged to decorate its nest. I did not find what I was looking for.
"That's one down," I whispered to myself, looking up at the mountain I was on and then glancing at the other peaks where other harpies were nesting. "Many more to check."