You Want Me?

When Turan lived on Hisaril Hill, black eagles would target sheep like wolves and leopards.

Considering their weight was not even one-fifth of an average sheep's, it was truly remarkable strength.

The one before his eyes wasn't particularly large for a trained beast, being similar in size to its wild kin, but being a trained beast, it was surely much stronger.

Unlike other trained beasts, the black eagle confined in a narrow cage was for some reason staring at him while blinking its golden eyes.

"How much is this one?"

"Fifteen hundred coins."

Somehow the price was much cheaper than he'd thought.

Though even that was close to his entire fortune.

"What are its abilities?"

"It's intelligent and flies well."

Hearing this, he could somewhat understand why the price was set that way.

Trained beasts without special abilities were generally valued lower among their peers.

Plus, being small in size, it would be weaker too.

But even considering that, it seemed too cheap given its amount of magical power.

When he voiced this doubt, the house head's daughter shook her head.

"Black eagles are usually popular. They can easily carry one person while flying. But this one's too smart, so even after training it won't listen. It's like 'Why should I listen to those who are dumber than me?'"

Then, amazingly, the black eagle nodded as if answering that question itself.

Turan hesitated briefly before asking.

"Did you just answer?"

Nod.

"You're not just nodding to anything?"

Shake shake.

"You're very handsome."

Nod.

"Still, I think falcons look better than eagles."

At the last words, the black eagle clacked its beak with an angry expression.

It meant it wasn't just understanding the nuance of Turan's words but clearly comprehending them.

Though Tilly was smart too, not to this degree - this was practically human except for being unable to speak.

Turan spoke in a half-dazed voice.

"It really understands words, for certain."

"Yes. We even tried teaching it letters, but it either didn't want to learn or couldn't learn. Either way, it's the same."

It was so willful that once when it was sold, it ran away and they had to ask House Zahar to catch it back?

"It's a shame. It has good strength for its size and we've fed it quite a bit of magic. If it just listened well, we could have sold it for much more."

Though those words sounded like complaints at first glance, they had a subtly encouraging tone mixed in.

As if saying you might be able to completely dominate that one and become its master, in which case you'd be getting a good trained beast for an absurdly cheap price.

As he had felt when talking with the house head, this house seemed to deliberately raise nobles as merchants.

While quietly listening to the explanation, Turan suddenly had a thought and spoke to the black eagle.

"Come to think of it, since you understand words, I can just ask you directly. Hey, do you have anything you want?"

The house head's daughter snickered and shook her head.

"We asked a few times too, but it doesn't give proper answers to such questions. It's such a willful creature..."

But before those words could finish, the black eagle tilted its head once before pointing at Turan with its talon.

The house head's daughter gaped in shock.

"What, why suddenly..."

"You want me?"

The black eagle nodded at Turan's question.

"I'm not that special a person. Is there a reason?"

To the following question, it just tilted its head side to side as if either unwilling to answer or unable to find a way to answer.

Even he thought it wasn't a question appropriate for answering with gestures.

"Would you be willing to learn reading and writing if I bought you? I'll teach you directly."

After seeing it nod to this question, Turan turned to the house head's daughter and said.

"I'll buy it."

"What? Ah, that is, we should probably recalculate the price-"

Seeing the black eagle suddenly becoming obedient seemed to make her regret it.

Of course, Turan could easily teach her reality.

"It probably wouldn't be this cooperative with anyone but me anyway. Hey, right?"

At Turan's words, the black eagle nodded its head big twice, then tapped the iron bars with its talon toward the house head's daughter.

It looked like it was threatening them to sell it to Turan right away.

Seeing how well they matched, the house head's daughter looked back and forth between them before sighing.

"Well, can't be helped."

==

"Be joined as one. You are me and I am you..."

After bringing gold coins from the chest left at his lodgings and completing payment, Turan bound the ritual with the black eagle under none other than the house head's supervision.

Along with the incantation, he felt part of his soul connecting with that black eagle.

This was taming magic, the ability of the Artificer bloodline.

Rather than just temporarily controlling animals like other wizards, it was an ability to spiritually bind two beings.

To undo this binding or change the connection's target would likewise require a noble of the Artificer bloodline.

When the connection finished, Turan felt some of the black eagle's thoughts flowing into him.

It was satisfaction and pride at finally finding something, and a sense of liberation at being able to leave the cage now.

What had that trained beast seen in him?

Special bloodline? Talent? Or something else entirely?

"It's done."

Hearing the house head's words, Turan opened the cage to free the black eagle.

Even after being released from the cage, instead of fleeing it hopped onto Turan's arm and preened its feathers.

With such a natural attitude as if it had been there from the start.

"What should we name you?"

At Turan's question, the black eagle made a cute cheeping sound that didn't match its fierce appearance.

Along with it came the creature's thoughts transmitted through their soul bond.

It was something between verbalized thought and abstract emotion, so it was a bit difficult to decode clearly, but he could guess somewhat.

"You want to name yourself? After learning to write?"

The black eagle nodded.

"Alright, do as you wish."

Since he wasn't particularly talented at naming things anyway, it was no loss for Turan.

Though it seemed to have excessive independence... well, it listened well so that should be fine.

Turan recalled the sheepdog he had raised in his childhood.

When his mother came to Hisaril Hill, it had come along when she bought the flock of sheep and house from an old shepherd.

After losing his mother to illness and then the dog dying of old age, Turan never raised another dog.

He could tend sheep well enough without a sheepdog's help using magic, and moreover, he didn't want to experience watching something precious grow old and die again.

Probably he wouldn't have to worry about that while raising this black eagle.

Generally, trained beasts were physically superior to wizards of the same rank in exchange for being unskilled in magic, and accordingly had tremendously long lifespans.

Perhaps this one might even live longer than him.

"Fascinating."

House Head Karl muttered while watching the two of them.

"Even when Baraha's heir came, it wouldn't give them a second glance, yet I wonder what aspect of Mr. Brahms attracted it."

House Baraha would be the name of a great house located east of the Enril Desert.

They were born with the Sun bloodline and handled fire and light, wasn't it?

Since Turan also didn't know why this one was attracted to him, he planned to ask after teaching it writing.

Though he wasn't sure if he'd get a satisfactory answer.

"I'll take good care of it."

"Do as you please. It's not ours anymore now that it's left."

House Head Karl added what might have been either a curse or advice, saying if it runs away you'll have to catch it yourself.

"Then..."

"Ah, one moment."

Just then, the house head stopped Turan as he was about to leave.

For some reason, vague hesitation appeared on the face that had always been calculating like a merchant's.

"You can just hear this and move on. Do you perhaps have a connection with Lord Tallis?"

"When you say Lord Tallis..."

"No, no. Just wondering. Please forget it."

Seeing his attitude as if hearing it for the first time, Karl quickly shook his head.

It was as if trying to make his question from earlier nonexistent.

Turan intuited that House Head Karl had seen someone named Tallis in his face and etched that name in his mind.

And he decided to try asking a question he couldn't earlier due to the atmosphere.

Since the other side threw out an irrelevant question first.

"Then House Head, may I ask one thing too?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you perhaps know a woman named Bize?"

"Bize?"

"She looked like this."

Turan took out paper buried in the deepest part of his bag.

Ash scattered on the high-quality paper formed the image of a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties.

"Drawn with magic, eh. Quite skilled for a guardian bloodline."

"I asked a friend who's proficient in this to draw it."

Scattering ash on paper to draw portraits was a technique learned while training magic with Meisa.

After imagining the form in one's mind and arranging ash in that exact shape on paper, even those without artistic talent could project what they envisioned.

Since it had been five or six years since his mother passed away, he couldn't confidently say he reproduced it perfectly, but it was similar enough that someone who knew her would probably recognize the feeling.

Turan focused his attention on every single movement of the house head examining the picture, and the smell emanating from his body.

'How will it be?'

The reason he showed his mother's portrait without hesitation was because she was an ordinary person.

Even if Turan's innate Zahar bloodline came from his mother, as long as she wasn't a wizard, it would be hard for her to be important enough to have committed any major crimes.

Of course, he had to consider the possibility of immediately leading to his father once his mother's identity was known...

However, contrary to expectations, Karl looked at the picture for a while before shaking his head.

"I don't recognize her at all. If I'd seen such a beauty, I don't think I would have forgotten easily. Perhaps your mother or sister?"

"Similar."

Even in a state of extreme olfactory focus, he detected no smell of surprise or shock from the other.

Turan felt both relief and disappointment at this fact.

"Seems you have your own circumstances too."

"Who in the world doesn't have circumstances?"

"True enough."

Judging by his heavy tone, he too seemed to live with his own hardships.

What those were would be unknowable to an outsider like Turan.

After finishing the contract, Turan headed south from Komad City to properly test his new friend's abilities.

People's gazes gathered at the sight of him with a large black eagle perched on his arm and even a knight following behind.

After walking for several dozen minutes, the smell of dry sandy wind gradually wafted over.

Finally spread before his eyes was desert, nothing but sand to the horizon...

Though he had glimpsed it while coming by ship, it felt new to step on it directly.

Turan lightly extended his hand to stir the dry air.

'As expected, it's not hot since it's winter and night. If anything, it's rather cold.'

Probably being at the northernmost edge of the desert was also a reason.

The Enril Desert was famous for being horrifically vast, to the point where climate varied by region within the same desert.

Looking at maps, wasn't the size of territory ruled by House Zahar about three to five times that of Arabion?

Though considering the desert's characteristics, the population might actually be even less than that.

"Well then, shall we try a light flight?"

As soon as the words finished, the black eagle took off, and Turan gripped its strong legs with one hand.

Strong force grabbed his body as the world instantly sank below.

"Oh..."

As the headwind blew strong enough to hurt his eyes, Turan quickly blocked the wind before his face.

The sense of speed was on a different dimension from floating magic that simply lifted one's body.

It seemed much faster even than when he ran himself.

However the Zahar noble caught this one, it definitely wasn't by running after it.

Unless they captured it secretly while hidden.

Glancing back, Turan smiled as he realized Komad City had already become small enough to take in at a glance.

On the opposite side, the desert still spread endlessly, but seen from up high unlike from the ground, it didn't look so daunting.

It felt much more approachable, you could say.

When Turan cast floating magic on his body to reduce weight, the black eagle seemed excited by the lighter body and beat its wings faster.

"At this rate, we could cross the Dakein Plains in a day with plenty to spare..."

Truly, the speed made all his previous traveling on foot seem foolish.

Until the creature tired and came down, one person and one black eagle enjoyed their flight excitedly.