Alden walked with Roderic to the outer door, followed by a few curious guards.

  Reaching outside, he had to put a hand in front of his eyes to keep the dust raised by Thuvara from getting in his eyes. A few moments later, the griffin had landed safely—for the rest of the manor—and most of the servants and maids who had stopped their work to watch the spectacle returned to their duties. Alden also noticed a few heavy sacks hanging on the closer side of the griffin with ropes, probably balanced by similar sacks on the other side.

  That had to be steel. Perfect!

  Before long, Daelus—wearing his usual grey robe with streaks of purple—jumped down from the beast, his staff already in his hands. Once he came closer, he looked at everyone waiting for him and grinned.

  “Oh? Is that a welcoming party for me?”

  “You wish!” Alden smirked. “When I heard there was a griffin in the sky and saw the purple hair of the rider, I immediately knew it had to be the village nutjob. So I came here just to make sure you didn’t, you know, start eating dirt or something.”

  “Mind it!” Daelus tilted his head toward the griffin with a smug smile. “Thuvara is still hungry, you know.” He looked up at the beast. “Want something to eat, girl? Maybe someone who's being way too annoying?”

  The griffin immediately brought her head lower towards them, making Roderic and the guards backpedal in alarm.

  “Hey, hey,” Roderic said, raising his hands a little. “Let’s take it easy here, shall we?”

  Daelus laughed and ruffled the feathers along Thuvara’s neck. "It's okay, girl. Maybe you will get a chance later." Then he looked back at Alden. “You say my purple hair is weird, but what about your orange hair, huh? Did you come from the sun or something?”

  Alden smirked again. “Actually, yes. Not this sun, but a different one. Told you that day.”

  Daelus chuckled. “Still don’t believe you. I say you just had a drunken dream. Maybe you sneaked a mug or two of ale, or even wine, when you were lying in bed and everyone thought you were sick." He tilted his head like he had a sudden revelation. "Oh... Maybe that’s why you were pretending to be sick, so you could keep drinking!”

  Alden laughed loudly and bumped fists with his childhood friend. “It’s good to have you back, brother.”

  “It’s good to be back,” Daelus replied with a smile. Then he nodded toward the sacks. “Could you get someone to take those off Thuvara? She’s been carrying them for days, and steel’s heavy.”

  “Of course.” Alden gestured to the captain to take care of it.

  Roderic immediately started giving orders to the guards and some waiting servants to bring a cart and start unloading it.

  Most of the men were initially fearful to approach too close to the griffin, and it took more than a few reassurances from the mage that she wouldn't try to eat them. Eventually, one of the servants ran his hands over the feathers on the griffin's neck and thankfully, Thuvara just brought her head down on the ground, like she was tired. It slowly gave more confidence to the others, and they tried the same, before the griffin cooed in pleasure.

  Once they were sure that they wouldn't be eaten as a snack, one of the servants started untying the knots with a few others holding the heavy sacks on both sides of the griffin so it wouldn't fall down and injure someone. Before long, the waiting cart was being loaded with the sacks containing their precious steel.

  Alden glanced at the sacks. “Looks like you brought more of it than I thought.”

  “As a matter of fact, I did,” Daelus said with a shrug. “I knew you needed a lot of steel, and the extra gold you gave me came in handy. I still wasn’t sure Thuvara would be able to carry that much, but she’s a big girl now. As you can see, we managed to carry a lot of it.”

  “It’s certainly going to be very useful in the coming days,” Alden said. “I’ll get it sent to the blacksmith tomorrow morning." He grinned. "Just wait till I get a crossbow and a lathe ready in a couple of weeks. Then you can tell whether I had a drunken dream or not."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Daelus chuckled. "I've never heard of those names, but we'll talk about it once you stop boasting and actually get it done."

  "Oh, you'll see it, alright." Alden looked at the griffin again. “Thuvara can take care of her meals again, right? We can’t afford to feed her nearly as much meat as she needs, or we’ll go bankrupt.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Daelus said with a laugh. “She snacked on a small beast only a few hours ago. She’ll be fine for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll go with her to hunt something again. She has developed a taste for monster meat these days.”

  “That's perfect,” Alden laughed, realizing that a griffin's stomach could digest what humans couldn't. He jerked his head toward the main hall. “Come on, then. Let’s go inside. Hilda's made a pie tonight, in case you came back early.”

  “Oh, I love her pies!” Daelus grinned. “I'm starving just thinking of it!”

  ***

  The next morning, Alden was sitting with the others at a trestle table in the main hall. Both his siblings, the guard captain, the mage, and the majordomo were sitting at the same table. They had just finished breakfast, and Hilda and the other maids had started clearing the table.

  “Ah…” Daelus sighed with satisfaction. “That was a good meal. I feel like if I stay here for the whole winter, I’ll get so fat I’ll be unrecognizable.”

  “You need some more meat on your bones,” Hilda scolded. “Looks like a strong gust of wind would blow you away.”

  “Eh…” Daelus rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. “It’s not that bad, is it…?”

  “Of course it is!” Hilda huffed. She looked at the others sitting at the table. “All of you could do with eating better. Caelan’s nearly as thin as you, and Lira’s started eating properly only now.” Her gaze passed over the majordomo, who was already above 50, before she stopped at Roderic. “Well… perhaps not you.”

  The guard captain gave a loud belly laugh, and the others joined in. “Well,” he managed between bouts of laughter, “what can I say? I need these muscles to keep the monsters in line.”

  “And we’re all grateful for that,” Hilda said with a smile. Soon, she balanced a tall stack of wooden plates in her hands—which looked like it might topple over any moment, though it never did—and walked toward the kitchen.

  Alden looked at the majordomo. “Did you send the steel to Coltan?”

  Vusato nodded. “Yeah. I sent enough that he can forge all the steel parts for the first lathe from it. The price will be adjusted from our future orders and he’ll start making the parts today. But we still have enough of it left for at least one more lathe.”

  “See how smart I am?” Daelus boasted. “That’s why I bought as much steel as I could. I bet I’m the smartest one here!”

  “You must be kidding..." Caelan sniggered. "I’ve read more books than your age. I’m waaaayy smarter than you.” He looked proud before adding, “Alden even called me a librarian! You can't hold a candle to me!”

  Daelus mock-frowned at the self-professed librarian. “Oh, is that a challenge? Let’s see how your knowledge holds up in front of my magic staff.”

  “Shut up, you idiots,” Alden said, shaking his head with a chuckle. Lira began giggling at that before he added, “We have work to do.”

  Daelus looked at him. “I don’t think the firebreak is ready for me to burn the forests yet. Let me know what else I can do.”

  Alden stood up. “Walk with me to the brickyard. We’ll do some experiments there.”

  “Experiments…?” Caelan repeated. “That sounds exciting! I’ll come with you too.”

  “Me too! Me too!” Lira raised her hand eagerly.

  Alden thought about it. “Lira, you’re still not strong enough to walk by yourself. We’re going outside the village walls in the south, and it won’t be safe for you there if a pack of monsters attacks and we have to escape in a hurry.”

  “Aww…” Lira’s gaze dropped.

  “Tell you what,” Alden added. “If you go to the second floor, I think you can see to the south from my room’s window. Tell your maid to help you walk there, and you should be able to see some of what we’re doing.”

  “That’s awesome!” Lira gave a hurray, then called for her maid to help her up.

  “But I can still come with you, right?” Caelan asked. "I can run away fast!"

  Alden shook his head. “That's not good enough. You still can’t wield a sword to save your life, no matter how much Father tried to get you trained. As it stands, you’ll be eaten by even a small monster if we get attacked. You should go to the second floor too and keep Lira company.”

  “Aww, man…” Caelan groaned. “I wish I were a mage too… You wouldn't be stopping me then!”

  Alden chuckled, knowing that if Caelan had a chance of exhibiting any aptitude of mana usage, it would've already happened by now. His brother would turn 16 this coming spring, and a talent to manipulate mana was usually visible before a kid became a teenager. Daelus had been offered to move to Garitus City as an apprentice of an arch-mage when he was just eight years old. That only went to show just how talented his friend was.

  He looked at the guard captain. “Come on, Roderic. Bring a few guards, and then we’ll leave.” Once the captain nodded, Alden added, “Vusato, you can come with us too, unless you have other tasks.”

  The majordomo stood up. “If Milord will excuse me, I still have to finish tallying up some numbers. I don’t think I can help much with your experiments anyway.”

  “Fair enough,” Alden said. “Let’s go, then.”

  It's 10 chapters ahead!