"Thank you."
Elara spoke with a gentle smile on her face.
"I-It is our pleasure, Lady Elara." The servant nodded, his hands were still trembling as he passed the rolling table that carried Magic Beast food towards Elara.
Honestly, he was scared, despite not being directly involved, just assuming what would happen if something went wrong made him tremble in fear.
A feeling shared by the 3 guardians and Vaan who were following Elara.
Elara, however, completely ignored their expressions and opened the doors in front of her.
As soon as the door opened, the vast ground covered with lively green grass could be seen.
"The sight is still as beautiful as I remember," Elara exclaimed with a bright smile on her face.
She then grabbed Vaan's hand and with her other hand, she pushed the table in. The three protectors followed them in.
"You know, this place stretches over tens of kilometres."
Elara spoke up as she continued to look around.
"That's quite large…" Vaan muttered, he had no recollection of this place at all, signifying that the previous Vaan didn't show even the slightest interest in these matters.
"Mhm, barely 20 bonds live here, one might think that it is a waste of space, but the Magic Beasts here are all bonds of strong Mages and since the Bonds seem to inherit their Partner's personalities, most of the Bonds have a strong personality, they do not like to be caged or restricted in a small space, this is why only such a large place can contain them," Elara explained.
"So the beasts here are not supervised?"
"The servants check them twice a day just to make sure they are not facing any problems, other than that, they are quite free."
This time, one of the Protectors answered Vaan's question. Vaan nodded in understanding.
"How are we supposed to find Ria? Does she have a territory here or something?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"She does." Elara nodded.
"Huh…?" Vaan was surprised. He didn't think that would actually be the case.
"…"
"…"
"…"
The three Protectors, on the other hand, were oddly silent when the 'territory' was mentioned. Vaan, who noticed that narrowed his eyes,
"Where is her territory?" he questioned.
"At the very centre."
Elara answered.
"Center…?"
Vaan frowned.
A territory at the very centre wasn't exactly desired, especially in a place like this, where it was mostly plain grounds, a territory like this would be at risk of being attacked from every direction.
"Ahh…"
Suddenly, Vaan realized something.
"The bonds here must be trained to not fight against each other." He commented out loud.
"That is correct, battles without the supervision of their Partners are not allowed." One of the Protectors nodded.
"But." He wasn't done. As if knowing what Vaan was thinking, he stared at him and,
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Even if the battles over territories weren't prohibited, no Bond here would target Aetheria."
"Is she that strong…?" Vaan questioned and the Protectors just smiled wryly.
Strong was an understatement. Only they knew what sort of troublesome existence that beast was.
Others were still manageable, but her? That thing had perfectly inherited her Partner's personality, but the thing was…
She didn't inherit the current Astra, the Family Head's personality, that beast… she inherited Astra's younger, wilder personality.
She was the most troublesome existence here and despite there being other bonds who were capable enough to fight her, she still bossed everyone around.
Noticing their silence, Vaan felt like something was wrong, however, before he could say anything,
"We are here," Elara spoke up.
"Already?" Vaan was surprised.
"Well, her territory is quite vast." Elara nodded as the group continued to walk.
Since they already entered her territory, they knew Ria would sense them and appear before them and just as they expected,
*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*
The calm wind around them started moving, getting stronger and stronger after each passing moment, and suddenly, Vaan saw a golden light that seemed to be rushing towards them at a high speed.
"She's here," Elara spoke with a bright smile on her face.
Vaan blinked a few times, the air currents around their group got stronger and stronger,hewas forced to cover his eyes and adjust his stanceso as tonot falldown.
*Screech*
A loud screech was then heard as suddenly, the huge beast landed on the ground, right in front of the group.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Ria, or Aetheria, the Celestial Gryphon, was a majestic creature with a powerful, regal presence. She had the body of a sleek, muscular lioness with golden fur that glistened in the sunlight. Her wings were expansive and graceful and were adorned with dazzling feathers that were a perfect blend of azure, silver, and gold, reflecting the colours of the sky. Her head was that of a majestic eagle, with piercing, intelligent azure eyes and a sharp, noble beak. Aetheria's tail was long and tufted, ending in a fan of elegant feathers.
Just one look at her and one could feel both strength and grace oozing out of her, the Bond had such a strong presence that Vaan couldn't help but look at her with a grave look on his face,
But suddenly,
"Ria!!"
Elara called out with a big smile on her face as she rushed towards her.
"Lady Elara!"
The three protectors called out in worry.
"Screeechh!!!"
Ria screeched as well, however, just as Vaan narrowed his eyes, preparing to cast his spellin order toprotect Elara, the Gryphon knelt on the ground, lowering her eagle head, letting Elara hug her as much as she wanted.
"Ria! I missed you!"
Elara exclaimed, tightly hugging the Gryphon's large body, her frame looked quite small in front of the Bond.
"Cooo!!"
The Gryphon seemed to be nodding at her words, she closed her eyes as she felt Elara caressing the feathers on her neck.
The moment lasted for a few minutes, shocking Vaan and the Protectors, but suddenly, something that made the four feel a chill running down their back happened,
The Gryphon, who momentarily opened her eyes, looked at Vaan, and the instant she did, her azure eyes darkened as if she were looking at her enemy,
"Screech!!"
In an instant, the wind around her moved, ready to blow Vaan away, the three protectors and Vaan prepared themselves, all of them preparing their spells, Vaan was already about to activate his Instant Spell, but suddenly,
"Ria!! No! Bad!"
Elara's shout was heard.
