Chapter 41 - Chapter 7: Uninvited Guest

On one particular day, after Rio's life in the village had passed the six
month mark...
In the western parts of the Wilderness, on a particular mountain range, a
lone griffin was flapping its wings, soaring far up in the air.
Griffins were called the lions of the heavens, renowned for being rulers
of the skies, second to only the dragon family. They were extremely
intelligent creatures, but had wild temperaments, and mostly inhabited
mountain areas. As their upper bodies were birds of prey, one of their
characteristic traits was their high-pitched screeches. However, to some
citizens of the country, they were beasts to be kept as riding animals.
"M-Mr. Reiss. Is it really okay to be so far out here?"
Two humans sat upon the back of the griffin. One of them — a small boy
with the appearance of an adventurer — asked a question to the black-robed
man named Reiss, sitting behind him with the reins in his hands.
"Yes, it's fine. However... if this much is enough to scare you, then
perhaps you aren't quite suited to be a member of our mercenary squad after
all, hmm?" Reiss heaved a huge sigh, the question being one he had answered
numerous times already.
"N-No, that's not what I was saying! I-I just wanted to know where we
were going. Several days have passed since we entered the Wilderness
already." The boy hurried to explain himself, making him seem all the more
scared.
Nature filled the scenery before their eyes. There wasn't even as much of
a trace of a human presence — only dangerous beasts prowled the area, so it
was only natural for a fledgling adventurer like him to be scared.
Until just recently, the boy had been part of a small adventurer party that
fought weak monsters for pocket change. As a fresh newbie on the scene,
every day was a hurdle to cross— until one day, he was approached by Reiss,
who invited him into the famous mercenary squad named after griffins: The
Heavenly Lions. He had considered Reiss to be a rather shady figure at first,
but once The Heavenly Lions were brought up and he was told they were scouting out young adventurers to personally train, he decided to at least hear
him out.
Thus, after being shown the insignia of The Heavenly Lions — and even
a griffin itself — the boy's desire to become a hero had been easily piqued,
and he found himself cheerfully agreeing to joining the squad before he knew
it. Once he did, he was immediately given a mission to complete as an
initiation task. Events continued to progress right before his confused eyes,
until he eventually found himself casually riding on the back of a griffin,
half-regretting everything.
"Fufu, we've arrived at our destination. Let's descend here," Reiss said,
controlling the reins in his hands to lower the griffin down the mountainside.
The mountain they landed on was made of exposed bedrock and was lacking
much vegetation.
I-If I'm going to do this, I'll do it right! I'll get better! By the time they
arrived at their destination and touched down on the ground, the boy had
made up his mind.
"Let's go," Reiss said, suddenly walking off.
"Yes!" the boy nodded with great enthusiasm, running after him.
After walking towards the summit for around an hour, they came across a
large cavern right before the peak.
"Oh, are we going in there?"
"That's right. Preliminary investigations have already been completed.
The master of this cave should be out hunting for food at this time, and won't
be returning for a while, so there's no need to worry," Reiss explained in a
calm tone, making the boy sigh in relief.
"You can wait here. I shall return in a few minutes." With that said, Reiss
said nothing more and entered the quiet cave. Then, true to his words, he
returned from the cave a few minutes later.
Thank goodness. Now we can go back, the boy thought. But just as relief
was flooding through him, he noticed the item Reiss was carrying with both
hands and stiffened in shock.
"M-Mr. Reiss, what is that?"
"Can't you tell? It's an egg," Reiss answered indifferently.
"W-What kind of egg?"
"Oh, are you curious?"
"Ah, no..." Scared to find out the truth, the boy reflexively shook his
head.

Though it was indeed just an egg, it had a diameter of over 30
centimeters. Its shell was so thick, it looked like it would require a blunt
weapon to crack, and its weight was easily 10 kilograms, too.
"Here. I am handing this to you."
"Hweh?" The boy let out a dumbfounded noise.
"You need to hold this egg — I have to steer the griffin, after all. I'd love
to put it in the bag, but we can't afford to throw away our food for the return
journey, now can we?"
"...R-Right." Unable to argue against Reiss' detached explanation, the
boy nodded awkwardly.
"Good. Now, shall we return to the griffin?"
Reiss walked off, the boy hot on his heels. He didn't want to stay here
any longer, and he felt completely numb as they returned to where the griffin
was waiting.
"W-Won't the parent be mad? What if it tries to retrieve its egg? I
mean..." The boy asked with a twitching smile before they mounted, stricken
by his worries.
"It'll be fine, of course." Reiss pasted a creepy smile on his face as he
answered. "How far do you think the distance is from here to Strahl?"
"Right... Of course..."
"Let us return, now. Make sure you hold onto the egg tightly,
understand?" After he received a nod of acknowledgment from the boy, Reiss
ordered the griffin to take off. However, the direction they were traveling
towards was not Strahl, but the great forest where the spirit folk lived. Later
that night, a tremendous and terrifying wail echoed in the cave Reiss had
visited.
◇◇◇
Finally, the day of the Grand Spirit Festival arrived. The main stage of
the ritual was to be held in the spirit shrine built near the roots of the giant
tree that Dryas protected. It took half a temporal hour (or roughly one regular
hour) to walk there from the village. With the exception of the minimum
level of security, nearly all of the spirit folk — over ten-thousand of them —
had gathered in the magnificent grounds of the shrine.
The spirit of the giant tree, Dryas, stood on an altar placed on the shrine's
dance stage, looking down at the elders prostrated before her — among those present included Syldora, Dominic, and Ursula.
"Under the divine blessing of the Great Spirit, may her grace and
protection be with the spirit folk for all eternity..." A solemn atmosphere
dominated the entire area as Syldora and the others offered their prayer.
Once the ritual prayer was completed, the elders stepped down from the
stage. Then, Sara, Orphia, and Alma appeared on the stage dressed in
ceremonial attire, and began their song and dance of appreciation towards
Dryas.
Dryas looked down at the three of them happily.
"They're so pretty..."
Underneath the dance stage, Latifa was watching the magical dance of
the girls in admiration. After the three girls finished their performance,
Syldora took to the stage once more and began to speak in a stately tone.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The Spirit Festival has once again commenced
safely. This is all thanks to your untiring efforts, daily prayers, and dedication
to the spirits over the past year. Let not your gratitude to the dream spirits
ever wane." Syldora was by no means speaking loudly, but the amplification
effect of wind spirit arts easily carried his voice across the whole area.
"Now, let us continue the ritual," Syldora's voice continued, making
Latifa flinch hard.
Every year during the Grand Spirit Festival, it was custom for spirit folk
children who reached a certain age to be introduced to everyone in the village
and receive a blessing from Dryas. Latifa was one of those children this year.
Furthermore, those who received Dryas' blessing would be graced with a
slight increase in total ode and spirit arts affinity, though it wasn't as much as
a spirit contract would grant.
Rio noticed Latifa's nervousness and reached out to squeeze her hand. In
response, Latifa lifted her head and pulled together a brave smile.
Syldora called out the names of the children to come up to the dance
stage. There, a simple introduction and greeting was given for the villagers to
familiarize themselves with the children. Next, Dryas placed a blessing kiss
on their forehead, and the bodies of the children would glow with a soft light.
Latifa's name was called after all the other children received their
blessings.
"Half a year ago, one of our brethren came to join us: the werefox,
Latifa."
After her name was called, Latifa's went up to the stage, her small body trembling.