Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

That's why he is the youngest Archdruid in the history of the Merikae here.

“Alright, you can relax your numb legs now, Bug,” another archdruid suddenly opened his eyes. “The birds have sent word that they’ll be here soon.”

As expected, accompanied by the chirping of birds, Raslaufer and his party soon came into the sight of the three archdruids. Although Raslaufer had not brought his Broken Halberd armor, greatsword, or battle sword, the three recognized him immediately.

Judging by the bulging muscles that stretched the entire dark blue, simple robe, it would be hard to mistake him for someone else.

Moreover, they all noticed that Raslaufer was wearing a pendant that was almost transparent around her neck—Bella had previously said that it was a gift from Adas to Raslaufer, and many people had refuted this view.

Now they could admit that Bella was telling the truth—it was indeed a completely different kind of magical item.

“Reslaufer of Zebrech has come today to visit the Refugee Lands and return the pass,” Reslaufer said, stepping forward to the stone archway and presenting the pass to the three with unexpectedly respectful manner. “I hope I can be allowed to enter, to be entrusted by the spirits of nature in the presence of the First Society. If so, I would be very honored.”

“You are quite different from what has been said,” the follower of Sylvanas stepped forward and accepted the wooden plaque with the same courtesy. Looking up at Dople’s face, he couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you for your offering. May the grass beneath your feet grow lush and green.”

“But you’d better not say the rest,” Bug said, glancing around to make sure no one else was around. “Although this is our way of repaying you for all this time, it’s not really appropriate for you to say it out loud.”

Bella followed behind, with Jump perched on her shoulder and Black Claw's neck in her hand. She laughed as she heard this and said, "This is what I taught him—this is all the way he can go. If you let him say it himself, he'll completely reverse the two."

Leslaufer, however, was unconcerned: "Anyway, that's the procedure—now that the procedure is complete, can we move on to the next step? I heard you have griffins here, that's why I came today."

“You should speak frankly,” the woman in the light blue robe said with a wry smile. “Since that’s the case, we can’t use platitudes to fob you off. To be honest, we have no right to decide whether the griffin will follow you or not.”

“As you just said, you were ‘entrusted by the spirits of nature under the witness of the First Society.’ In this process, it was more about them choosing you. According to Bella’s letter, the previous owners of this wooden plaque were rejected by us for the same reason—they were unlikely to be chosen, which was actually a waste of their opportunity.”

"But you... are different. How about this, you and your companions are free to try, and we won't impose any restrictions. As long as they are willing to leave with you, we will absolutely not stop them. We just hope that you can try not to deceive them. These creatures don't really understand 'strategy,' so whether they become mounts, magical pets, or something else, it's best to tell them the truth about the fate they are about to face."

"And if, I mean if, you don't find the partner you desire, we have some warhorses, hunting horses, and pack animals that we usually rent out. You can choose one from these and take it with you. Consider it fate between us."

Chapter 574 Immature Griffin

"You think I can't even convince one?" Leslaufer was skeptical. "And you want to change the horse... I didn't come here to buy a horse!"

"That's not what I meant, it's just..."

“I understand, I understand. If there really wasn’t anyone willing to follow me, I wouldn’t bother causing trouble here. How about you consider it a favor you owe Bella? Lead the way.”

Although Raslaufer said this now, the three of them did not dare to relax. The woman chuckled and stood next to Raslaufer, letting the other two church members lead the way: "In that case, shall we go and accompany Lord Raslaufer to see the griffins?"

"By the way, let me teach you a simple ritual first. I heard that you have baptized two children before, so it shouldn't be too difficult for you."

The group followed the archdruids through the guild’s forecourt and main area, heading towards the woodlands further back. Raslaufer quickly figured out how to question the beasts or monsters to find out if they were willing to follow him. At this point, he also asked with great interest about the origins of the griffin.

“That griffin’s egg was supposedly the cargo of some merchant,” the young druid leading the way answered casually. “I was the one who led the team to quell a riot caused by the hill giants—you know, these savages were always enslaved when the giants were still around, but they didn’t take them with them when the giants faded from the scene.”

Raslaufer nodded. He knew about the hill giants, but these gluttonous creatures rarely left anything of value in their lairs. Lords would usually trick adventurers into taking care of them, while mercenaries were too lazy to do it themselves.

"That hill giant occupied a hill beside a road like a bandit, and would come down to rob people from time to time. When we arrived, we happened to catch him once, but it was a bit late, and the merchant had already been eaten whole by him."

"We finally took down that big guy, but a lot of the goods were ruined and there was nowhere to return them. So I gave the usable parts to the nearby villagers. In the end, there was only one egg left, which became the little hook."

“I think you should give it a better name,” his companion complained. “This is just a nickname at best. Griffins are very proud creatures. It’ll probably be miserable when it grows up.”

"When that time comes, I'll let it name itself. It'll take at least two or three years!"

Leslaufer's ears perked up.

"Two or three years?"

“Indeed, Your Excellency Raslaufer,” the druid beside him nodded. “It hatched just over six months ago and is now past its juvenile stage, still learning to fly and hunt—we’ve sent a giant eagle to train it in these areas. If you can get its choice, you’ll have to take the giant eagle with you.”

"This period takes about two to three years, until it reaches sub-adulthood or youth, and then another two years to fully mature. Based on our assessment, it belongs to a subspecies of the Griffin, with a lifespan of around twenty to thirty years, entering old age after twenty-five..."

She glanced at Raslaufer, and visibly, Doppler's face showed a completely different expression from his previous one of certainty.

He doesn't plan to keep a pet; what he needs are fierce beasts to fight alongside him.

He heard there was a griffin here, and it turned out it would take five more years to fully mature, and then twenty years to start aging? He himself wouldn't even be sixty years old by then!

What use would such a griffin be?

“Rhyslaufer, griffins are very unruly creatures. Adult or even sub-adult griffins can no longer tolerate any new master,” Bella understood Rhyslaufer’s thoughts. “This is a part that has to be endured.”

“Why can’t we just force it to ripen…” Leslaufer began, then immediately raised his hand. “Alright, alright, stop arguing with me about those theories and doctrines. I know you can’t do it, right?”

"Faster maturity also means faster decline, Your Excellency." The woman shook her head.

After walking for another half hour, the two high druids stopped near a cave hidden in the jungle. The young man cupped his hands to his mouth and began to emit a series of cries like the hooting of an eagle. The sound carried far and wide, and after a moment, a similar response echoed from mid-air. The treetops around them began to bend over by the wind, and as a shadow began to loom over the young man's head and grow larger, a monster the size of a large dog with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle swiftly descended and pounced on the high druid, knocking him to the ground.

"Oh my god! Little Hook! Don't you know you're getting heavier and heavier? Get down! Get off me!"

Perhaps griffins, as flying creatures, have many body structures that reduce their weight, but as a large beast in the process of growing, this griffin still brought immense pressure and gravity to its guardian, forcing it to use all its strength to finally escape the unusually affectionate behavior of the little hook.

“Alas, by the Holy Mother, Your Excellency Raslaufer, if there is anyone here who would like you to take it away, I am certainly one of them!” The man stood up in a disheveled state, brushing the dust off his clothes. “If the records of our ancestors are correct, this guy will probably gain nearly ten times his weight in the next two years, at which point this game of pouncing on him will become quite deadly!”

This is no ordinary play. Imagine a large warhorse falling from the sky without slowing down, landing directly on a human! Even a Grand Druid would find it difficult to withstand such an ordeal.

“That’s why I told you, we should start teaching it to control this behavior now,” another druid said disapprovingly, watching the young man play with the griffin as he spoke. “Not listening to the elders…”

"How can that be? It's only six months old!"

Fortunately, he remembered that this was not a casual trip. After calming the little griffin down, Raslaufer began to set up the ceremony under the guidance of several druids. The griffin looked at Raslaufer curiously, its eyes gleaming with an unknown light. It was unclear whether it knew that this man might become its future master.

“Alright, let’s begin.” Raslaufer gestured for the others to step back. The next moment, he seemed to transform into a pebble falling into a pool, creating ripples on the calm surface. These ripples quickly spread to the griffin and covered it, causing the creature’s eyes to glow with magical light.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the griffin first took two tentative steps toward Leslaufer in a daze, but then it suddenly let out a scream, and its whole body began to tremble and shudder before it fell to the ground.

Not content with that, the creature revealed its belly and stretched its four legs straight up to the sky!

Chapter 575 Difficult Choice

Raslaufer's invitation might be just right for an adult griffin, but it's a bit terrifying for a child.

"A little hook?" The young druid was immediately shocked. "Sir, what exactly did you communicate with it? It's so scared that it's pretending to be dead!"

Playing dead is a strategy that most animals use in their infancy, but monsters like griffins stop using it once they get a little older. Somehow, this griffin has remembered this skill again!

This only shows that the pressure Leslaufer put on it made it feel as weak and helpless as when it first hatched—communication shouldn't be like this!

"I don't know," Raslaufer said, shaking his head as the griffin feigned death, rendering his spell ineffective. "It was just curious and wanted to see! So I showed it everything!"

How could Raslaw threaten or intimidate his future mount with his consciousness the very first time they met? He's not stupid! This little griffin was trying to revisit his past, and unexpectedly, it scared itself!

Several druids quickly woke the little griffin. As soon as it opened its eyes and saw Leslaufer, it began to scream in alarm. It panicked and shook off the group, running straight back to its cave. No matter how much its guardian called from outside, it refused to come out again.

"This……"

The three archdruids exchanged bewildered glances. "It just said... it felt like it was seeing the worst nightmare." "I heard that too."

“It seems it won’t choose you,” the woman said helplessly, spreading her hands towards Leslaufer. “Perhaps your experiences are too legendary, so much so that even a being like a griffin feels it cannot follow you.”

"How about... you take a look at something else?"

What could Reislaufer do? He couldn't possibly rush in and carry the little guy back to Zebrech.

“Uncle, this is its loss, not yours,” Angelita comforted. “The Empire once tried to form the Griffin Knights, but eventually gave up because it was troublesome and expensive. Even at its peak, the Griffin Knights only had a hundred members and were eventually replaced by the Swift Eagles.”

Knights need to be of the right age, and so do their mounts. If one of them is lost, the other will also be unable to continue serving. This results in a huge waste, while the gains are minimal.

Furthermore, griffins have an unusual fondness for horses, and they don't even spare eagles. It's worth noting that both bred thoroughbred horses and eagles, which are also excellent flying mounts but superior to griffins, are incredibly expensive. Imagine a creature spending 10,000 gold coins on another 10,000 gold coins, and then planning to take another 10,000 gold coins – even the emperor of an empire couldn't tolerate such wastefulness!

“Miss Anne is right,” the archdruids quickly echoed, hoping that Leslaufer would spare the terrified griffin. “Well, we have some other things here that you might be interested in, shall we… go and take a look at them?”

"Imperial or Eagle Force?" Daisy asked, somewhat surprised. "How come I've never seen them before? And you don't seem to have mentioned them either."

“The Eagles were trained by the Grand Duke of Lance’s family,” Angelita could only sigh as she spoke of this, “so now…”

She was currently at war with her emperor father, which explains why she hadn't mentioned it before.

In short, Raslaufer had to give up on recruiting a griffin as his mount. However, as the druids traveled to several places, he was still unable to find a creature that satisfied him.

The realm of resistance to war wouldn't normally harbor particularly bloodthirsty and belligerent beings, and that's exactly what Raslaufer needs. Therefore, finding someone who suits their taste would be a strange occurrence. However, seeing Dobler repeatedly encounter setbacks, the druids didn't relax; instead, as time went on, their anxiety grew higher and higher.

Anyone could see that Raslaufer's patience was almost exhausted—what would he do next? Shift the blame onto them?

Although this possibility had been discussed with Raslaufer beforehand, the mercenaries of East Inassus were not known for being reasonable.

As the sunlight filtering through the leaves began to dim, Raslaufer finally stopped, deciding not to continue the search.

“It seems there’s no point in trying,” Dubul clicked his tongue. “Forget it, there’s no need to look at that other bear. It’s a mountain of flesh, a big but inflexible target. Even if we send it to the battlefield, it’ll be a one-time consumable. Let it stay here.”

"Annie, see what you want and tell these people. We've been wandering around all day; we can't just end up taking a horse back with us, can we?"

The bard, who was resting on a blue stone, immediately began to pluck the strings of his zither, and a melodious tune began to play:

"I'll lead the load, you carry the horse—"

Mary punched her lightly: "Singing nonsense! Who picks and chooses their horses?"

“Of course it’s Old Rae—ouch!” Daisy retorted, then Raelaw slapped her on the head.

"Do you believe me if I pick you up and carry you on the way back?"

"Why don't you pick Bella? Bella would definitely—hey, hey, hey, don't touch the stick!"

As a bard, Daisy was always a pro at being sarcastic.

The druids watched with great interest as the group made a ruckus. Once things calmed down, they presented Angelita with a list of creatures that could be considered as alternatives, allowing her to choose the next destination.

Druids are not merchants; not all creatures in the woodlands are listed. These candidates are generally eager to go out and see the world, and the druids select those that are healthy, without disease or injury, and of suitable age, thus ensuring that both parties are satisfied.

Here, the will of animals and the will of humans are equally important, because they both belong to this vast collective called nature.

However, Angelita did not make a choice immediately. Her gaze wandered through the woods. Suddenly, a white light appeared as if by illusion from behind an ancient tree, and then quickly disappeared behind another tree.

It was the fur of some kind of creature. It was whiter than the finest silk and purer than winter snowflakes.

Even though Angelita retrieved all her memories of the court, she couldn't find anything that could match that fur color.

"What is that...?" The girl was stunned for a moment, then suddenly looked up and, as if possessed, chased after it in that direction.

Chapter 576 Unicorn Veruna

"What...what?"

Not to mention Leslaufer and his companions, even the three Archdruids couldn't help but exchange bewildered glances. But since Angrita had already caught up, they couldn't stay put, so they quickly veered off the path and followed Angrita.

Angrita was no longer the same girl she once was. The young woman moved nimbly and swiftly through the forest like a deer, accelerating and turning sharply. Every movement was flawless and without any hesitation or sluggishness. No branch or thorn bush could block her way.

As she moved, the surrounding woodland seemed to come alive as well. Birds, squirrels, and insects turned their eyes to the black-haired girl from the Empire. In addition, some fairies or picisks with shimmering translucent wings, who lived in the woodland, also watched Angrita's movements.

Could it be...?

The druids, noticing these changes, exchanged glances and formed a bold guess in their minds, only to quickly dismiss it themselves.

These small creatures are naturally alert and curious, so it's quite reasonable for Angelita to attract their attention by running through the forest.

About half an hour later, the surrounding trees gradually thinned out, and in their place, a thin, cold mist began to swirl around their feet in the twilight. Not far ahead, a lake, bathed in the rosy hues of the sunset, came into view.

And they were not the first living beings to arrive here.

"Hoo..." Angelita supported her knees to even out her breathing before standing up again and looking at the beautiful figure standing by the water, as if she had stepped out of a dream.

It looked about the same size as an Imperial Horse, with long hooves. Its pure white coat, which fascinated Angelita, seemed to be shrouded in a silver veil in the rosy light. A spiral ivory horn protruded from the creature's forehead, which, far from being abrupt, made its overall outline more harmonious and sacred.

At this moment, it finished drinking, raised its neck and turned its head, its gentle, watery gaze quietly looking at Angelita, as if waiting for her to approach.

"unicorn……"

Raslaufer felt his heart beat faster, but... but it wasn't excitement. Perhaps there was some amazement, but more than that, it was a deep-seated fear.

Yes, fear. Raslaw rarely felt this way, so he was quite certain that this was how he felt right now.

At the same time, a voice, as gentle as its gaze and with a touch of magnetism, echoed in Angelita's heart:

“I know what you need. Your name is Annie, right? It’s a very nice name.”

"I'm willing to be your partner. Would you... be willing to walk with me from now on?"

Angelita's eyes widened instantly, her breathing quickened, and her heart pounded—this was a unicorn!

Unicorn!

They may rarely be seen in the world, but their stories are widely known: these sacred beings are extensions of the will of the gods, sent by benevolent deities to the material plane to expel evil, protect sacred sites, or specific people and things. At other times, they dwell in woodlands and the sacred sites of nature gods, reigning as the lords of the forest, where all creatures obey their commands and are protected from the spread of evil.

Its horn possesses the power to heal wounds and illnesses! Its attacks are imbued with a divine radiance! And if any mortal dares to harm or even kill a unicorn, they will surely be condemned and punished by the gods!

And yet, this very creature actually took the initiative to invite her to travel with it?

Is this even possible?

As if it had heard Angelita's thoughts (unicorns can indeed do this), the unicorn stopped standing still and slowly walked towards the group. Its steps were so steady and elegant that they were pleasing to the eye and captivating to the eye. Finally, it stood in front of Angelita, lowered its head, turned its forehead, and affectionately nuzzled the girl's cheek.