“Dragons don’t exist!” Lira retorted. “But… it does look like one…”

  Alden reached the window, and leaned outside, looking to the west. For a moment, he wasn’t sure where to observe. The courtyard’s activities seemed to be going on normally, and the village walls visible in the distance also seemed just fine. Then he looked above, in the sky, and saw something resembling a bird far in the distance, flying directly towards the village. It was too far right now to say anything for sure, but it still looked like it had to be huge.

  He searched his memories for anything like it. There were certainly monsters in this world who could fly—usually small-sized—but he had heard rumors of some really huge flying monsters who lived north of the Pinotian Mountain Range. They rarely, if ever, ventured south. It couldn’t be one of them, especially since it wasn’t even winter yet. Then just what was this flying thing…?

  He continued looking at the spectacle in curiosity as the bird-like thing grew in size. By now, he could see that it was reddish-yellow in color, with shades of maroon in some places. Looking at those colors, he thought he should recognize what it was, but he still couldn't recall at the moment.

  “Could it be a griffin?” Caelen asked. “I read about them in one of father's books. I’ve heard they're very rare, but some of them are used in Fort Raltra for scouting."

  “A griffin?” Alden repeated, while Lira was looking at the coming beast in awe.

  After hearing that name, he started to remember more about them. Apart from Fort Raltra, he had heard that there were also a few griffins kept in Garitus City, owned and used by their mages, usually for throwing fireballs and such magical attacks from a safe height when the monsters surrounded the fortress city in winter—basically, aerial bombardment.

  As the flying beast came closer, he became more and more certain that this really was a griffin. Everything about what he was seeing matched with what he had heard about those creatures. They were fairly tame beasts after they had formed a lifelong bond with a mage—as a partner—who rode on them to battlefields. Otherwise, they could be quite feral, even though they were said to be clever enough.

  From its general direction it seemed like it was coming from Garitus City or Fort Raltra, but why would a griffin be coming this way at all? Especially to a small village like Sarnok? Or maybe it was flying further to the northeastern outpost? He knew that griffins would sometimes be used to send messages to a distant place in an emergency, but…

  He certainly hoped that there was a mage sitting on it, otherwise he had no idea how Sarnok could deal with a feral griffin with its current feeble strength.

  As the beast came closer and closer, he saw that the people from the courtyard had also noticed it and were looking at the sky in wonder. He saw some of the guards running around in the courtyard, gathering spears and shields, just in case they needed to fight it, not that it would do much against something that big. However, for some reason he was getting a feeling that the beast wouldn't be dangerous. That it was a friendly visit of some sort. Only time would tell if that was just wishful thinking or not…

  Before long, the beast—the griffin—reached Sarnok and flew over the village walls, not harming anything on the way. It didn’t stop, though. It kept flying until it reached right above the manor. The air being blown from each swipe of its huge wings caused a small dust storm to rise in the courtyard, but it still hadn’t attacked anyone. The guards were standing down there with their spears held in front of them, but Alden could tell that if that griffin wanted, it could make a snack of all those guards without a problem. It really looked like an overgrown bird, perhaps resembling something like a gigantic vulture in a different color, but with an extra pair of legs.

  “It really is a griffin!” Lira spoke in awe.

  Caelen just looked speechless, while the beast kept hovering above the courtyard.

  That’s when Alden heard someone shouting his name. He looked around in confusion, then realized the sound was coming from above. He looked at the beast again and finally noticed someone sitting on top of it. It was a boy around his age, with medium-length purple hair.

  Wait, purple hair? There was only one person in his memories who had hair that color.

  “That’s your friend Daelus, right?” Caelen exclaimed. “He’s back! It's been nearly a year since we last saw him.”

  Alden grinned as his mind suddenly flooded with memories of Daelus, his childhood best friend. When he reincarnated into this body, he had inherited all its memories, including years spent running around and making trouble with the only boy with purple hair in the village. It was more than a decade ago though. His father was younger then, while Lira was just an infant at the time. He remembered sneaking outside the manor with Daelus to buy snacks from market street up until the age of eight, while the four-year-old Caelen kept complaining that they always left him behind.

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  “I’m coming!” he shouted back out the window, and ran for the door.

  Soon, he reached the courtyard and found that the griffin had just landed with a thump, occupying nearly all of the free space there. The guards still looked nervous and had pointed their spears at the beast, so Alden raised a hand toward them.

  “It’s okay. He’s a friend. You all can relax.”

  “Daelus!” he called out at the boy who had been frowning at the spears. “You can come down now.”

  Roderic came running toward him, with a hand on the hilt of his sword. “Milord! You sure?”

  Alden grinned. “Of course!”

  Daelus slowly slid to the side of the griffin and then to the ground, while the beast kept looking at everyone with its scrutinizing eyes, but thankfully, it didn’t seem in a hurry to attack anyone.

  Alden gingerly moved ahead, but a single screech from the beast was enough to make him take a few steps back in a hurry.

  Daelus laughed at that. “Don’t worry, she won’t bite. Unless I tell her to,” he added with a smirk.

  “Daelus!” Alden grinned, arms spread, as they hugged after nearly a year.

  He took a step back and looked his friend top to down. Daelus was just as thin as always, while his purple hair had grown out to nearly his shoulders now and was tied up in a ponytail. He was wearing something which could only be called the robes of a mage, in a muted gray color with some streaks of purple. There was also a staff tied on his back with a sling, likely for use in magic.

  Daelus’ expression turned somber. “I’m sorry to hear about your father’s passing. Lord Edaroc was a great ruler... The letter didn’t say much about how he died.”

  Alden forced a smile, not wanting to think about his father, and his subsequent murder. “Yeah, he was… We’ll talk about it later.”

  Daelus nodded, before he finally grinned. “So, you’re the baron now? You’ve become a big deal! Congratulations for that, brother!”

  “Thank you,” Alden chuckled. “Although I wouldn’t say it’s a big deal. Not compared to you becoming a full-fledged mage!” He tilted his head. “You’ve really become a mage, right? Or were you expelled by your master for being a nutjob in the Church?”

  “You wish!” Daelus laughed. “My knowledge can’t hold a candle to my master’s—who's an archmage—but yeah, I'm also a mage now!”

  “Wow... That really is amazing, Daelus. I’m happy for you.” Alden paused. “Wait, can you throw fireballs and such now? Maybe lightning or ice strikes too?”

  “I’m a fire-type mage—I told you that last winter,” Daelus replied, “so I can create a fireball easily. Wanna see?”

  “Hell yes!” Caelen exclaimed as he reached there, before Alden could say anything himself.

  Daelus grinned, and brought the staff in front of him. He muttered a few words under his breath, as the crystal tied to its top started glowing, before he raised the staff higher. “Fireball!”

  Immediately, a glowing ball of fire around a foot in diameter materialized a few feet above the staff, before it shot off into the sky with a jerk of the staff. The reddish-yellow ball was visible for quite some time before it vanished into the clouds.

  The guards, the servants, the maids—everyone present there—began to clap loudly, oohing and aahing at the spectacle.

  “Woah…” Alden mouthed. This really was magic. There was no other way to explain how a fireball could be created. Fire didn’t even take the shape of such a spherical ball in nature—at least on Earth—but Daelus had done it with just a few words. This world really was something else.

  “That’s awesome!” Caelen exclaimed. “Can’t you make a bigger fireball?”

  Daelus chuckled. “Of course I can. But standing in this courtyard with wooden buildings surrounding us is not the best place for it, don’t you think, dumbo?”

  "I'm not a dumbo!" Caelen retorted before he looked at the griffin with a grin.

  “Can you really make a bigger fireball though?” Alden asked. "That one looked dangerous enough as it was."

  Daelus laughed. “Of course. And it doesn’t even need to be a ball of fire. I am an expert in fire magic, so I can create it in other shapes too. Anyway, I’ll show you later when we have more space, but right now I’m starving. Can we get—”

  A sudden screech of the griffin pulled their attention to the side where a hesitant Caelen was trying to get close to the beast to touch it, but always got scared at the last moment whenever the griffin stared at him and made a sound. This time, his brother had fallen to the ground on his rear, making everyone around him laugh.

  “Hey!” Caelen glared at them, but as the griffin moved its head closer to sniff him, he hastily back-pedalled. “No! Get back! Get back! I’m not your dinner!”

  ***

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