“Kiyeeeeee!”
Argo let out an exciting cry after he saw the world outside from the spacious windows of the watchtower’s room. He looked at Eren and flapped his newly formed wings before letting out some more guttural noises.
“You want to go outside? I mean you can…”
Argo didn’t wait anymore after he processed Eren’s permission. He broke through the windowsill and the wooden construction of the room and jumped out the window. It seemed that he was already tired of the confines of the cramped room.
Argo took a huge lead with his jump and travelled a bit in the air, thanks to the momentum he generated with the push of his hind legs. He then flapped his wings rapidly in anticipation of the unfettered flight he desired. But things don’t always work out according to plan.
“Kiyaaaaaak!”
The cry this time reflected shock and desperation.
Lil Argo had to learn his life lessons on the very first day of his birth. He crashed to the ground right after the momentum of the jump was killed by gravity.
Altashia ran to the window Argo had jumped from. She wanted to see if the demon beast she had just witnessed being born would die from his stupidity on the very same day. Eren didn’t move from his position. He just kept on massaging his head as if he was already aware of what was happening down there.
Argo got up from his awkward position on the ground and shook his head vigorously. He then cleaned himself up with his beak before releasing another cry at the sky. Next, the demon beast started running on the ground while flapping his wings as hard as he could.
It wasn’t long before Argo’s jumps started looking like broken flight attempts. This continued for a while.
The demon beast finally succeeded in having a stable flight experience after some more tries and desperate struggles.
“Kiyeaaaaah!”
A sharp and loud eagle cry was soon heard and spread across the orc camp. Argo soon started zipping across the camp’s territory with incredible speed. His flight wasn’t completely stable yet as he would sometimes slam into the ground all of a sudden. But that didn’t prevent the beast from experiencing what he was born to experience– freedom!
“Arjun, no need to be afraid. It’s Eren’s demon beast. You can come here.”
Altashia said to Arjun as she felt his presence with her mana sense. The guy was trying to maintain a safe distance from the watchtower in fear that it was taken over by monsters or a wild demon beast.
As the ranger climbed the watchtower, he appeared at the edge of the broken windowsill. He was followed by some other soldiers who had also come to check things out.
“Eren, care to explain?”
Altashia asked Eren after everyone was gathered in the watchtower room. The latter sighed and served them a fresh course of bullshittery he had cooked up some time ago. That he had ventured a bit deeper into the Badlands one day on border patrol duty. That he came across the egg while exploring an unknown cave located at the very top of some mountain peak.
One had to admit that telling lies came naturally to Eren. He couldn’t have explained the origin of the egg properly without raising suspicions had he still been in the Lionheart duchy. But now that he was in Nightshade Duchy, especially in an area that borders the Badlands, the egg’s made-up origin made sense.
Arjun and other soldiers were more surprised about the fact that Eren had an epic-tier demon beast than anything else. They started asking about the so-called mountain peak he had gotten the egg from. Maybe other soldiers would get lucky too if they decided to follow his head.
The butcher burst their bubble by telling them that there was nothing else in the cave apart from the egg he had received. Plus, he told them that he didn’t remember where he had been and mapped out a large and dangerous area for them to comb through. The difficulty of locating the same cave caused other soldiers gathered around Eren to give up on trying.
The team’s captain listened to everything silently from the sidelines before finally speaking up.
“*Sigh My family had to go to extra lengths to find someone like Roo for me. And you just randomly picked up a demon beast that was an apt match for you. Talk about luck!”
Altashia sighed before and after she expressed her bafflement over Eren getting his demon beast. She then straightened her posture, adorned a gentle smile on her face and continued.
“That being said, I’m glad that I’m not the only tamer in our team now. Plus, we both have flying mounts. Maybe we can race sometimes when your Argo grows up a bit to see who is faster among them.”
Eren returned Altashia’s smile with a smile of his own. He was about to reply that Roo might not stand a chance competing with him once Argo gets adjusted to flying. That’s when he heard Argo do that for both of them.
“Kiyeeeeeh!”
Eren smiled mirthlessly before translating his demon beast’s thoughts to Altashia.
“He says, “Bring it on!”
Eren’s statement was followed by another eagle cry. The butcher translated that for his teammates as well.
“But not before he practices some more.”
Then Altashia explained the process of registering the demon beast to his name in Edinburgh’s official records. He was serving in the army anyway as part of his assignment. The process would be completed shortly after he raised it. He could do that after the team gets back to the army camp.
Eren might be asked to extend the duration of his army duties. Or he might need to participate in a kingdom-level mission to legally own the demon beast inside the kingdom of Edinburgh. but that would come after he gets back to the camp.
Argo eventually came down from his first flight and landed on the watchtower’s ceiling, which made the wooden ceiling creak. He had somehow caught a Novice rank Earth Suidae in his talons. It was apparent by the prey’s body that Argo had dropped it many times before picking it back up.
“Kiyeeeh!”
Argo cried while looking at Eren.
“Oh, I’m good. You can have that for yourself.”
Eren conveyed his refusal to eat an Earth Suidae to his freedom-loving demon beast. The latter must have thought ‘more for me’. Because he shook his head and flapped his wings a bit before closing them. Then he started to dig in without the slightest care for his surroundings.
One had to admit that Argo was someone who liked to be self-reliant even while being Eren’s demon beast. He had hunted the first meal of his life all by himself without depending on anyone.
Nobody knew at the time that Argo’s name and his individuality would one day be recorded in the annals of Anfang’s history forever.
