Max smiled when he the manager's expression and without wasting any second, he threw a spatial bag toward him, "Manager, here is the payment for the beast. Please brand the slave seal so we can take it away."
The manager looked at the red sparrow with much reluctance in his eyes. He was really regretting that no one recognised the beast as a hybrid. If anyone had done so, the hall would have earned at least five million low-grade Mana stones and if they were to put it on the auction in the Greenwave auction house, the profit might have been even more.
'Sigh! Let it be.' In the end, he could only sigh and accept the payment. He then took out two golden talismans. One had the word 'slave' imprinted on it while the other one had the word 'master'.
He gave the both talismans to Max and said, "Please imbue both of these with your mana. After you are done, I'll restrict the beast's movements, you have to enter the cage and put the slave talisman on its head and the master talisman on your head at the same time. That will make you its master and it'll obey you like as your loyal servant. No matter what order you give, it'll have to obey or die."
Max flinched for a moment when he heard this and felt pity for the bird. At the same time, he felt his conviction to become stronger strengthen.
He clenched the talismans in his hand and was about to imbue his Mana into them when Belen suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Wait, Max."
"Mm?" Max stopped and looked at Belen with curiosity. With how well behaved his women in front of him, he believed they wouldn't act out of line without a good reason.
Belen looked at the red sparrow, who was looking at the talismans in Max's hand with great fear, and asked in a low voice, "Can... can I be its master?"
"Are you sure?" Max asked in surprise. From the look in her eyes, he could see she was feeling pity for the sparrow, so he was surprised that she wanted to be the one to take away its freedom.
A moment later, he realized that she wanted to be its master to ensure that it isn't treated poorly. Thinking this, he realized that despite showing an indifferent exterior to the world, she had a delicate and caring heart. At the same time, he couldn't help smile wryly and think, 'Does she think I will treat it poorly?'
"Yes. Can you let me do it, please?" Belen nodded firmly.
"Why not. It's the same whether I do it or you." Max beamed at smiled at her and gave her the talismans.
When Belen saw his smile and heard what he said, she felt her heart flutter for a bit. A grateful expression appeared on her face and she said in a faint voice, "Thank you."
"There is no need to say thank you to me. Go and do it." Max gently said.
Belen nodded and imbued the talismans with her Mana and walked toward the cage.
Clank!
The manager waved his hand and the cage open with a metallic sound.
The sparrow was frightened and wanted to fly away but before it could flap its wings, a few water chains materialized out of the thin air and constricted it tightly.
Chirp~~ Chirp~~
No matter how hard it tried, it couldn't move its body. Seeing Belen walked toward her with the slave talismans in hand, the sparrow let out a few miserable cries and its eyes seemed to blaze with dark red flames.
In the next moment, the red flames covered the sparrow's whole body and the temperature around the beast rose dramatically.
Sizzle~
The water chains started to emit steam.
"Damn it. It's burning its beast essence." The manager cursed.
He pointed his hand toward the sparrow and shouted 'restrict'. Beams of water elemental Mana shot out.
A few beams merged with the water chains and the evaporation stopped immediately while the other beams entered the sparrow's body. A few moments later, the fire receded and the sparrow fell to the ground with a thud.
Whoosh!
Belen couldn't see this and hurriedly approached the sparrow and put the slave talisman on its forehead and the master one on hers.
Bright light shined and the talismans disintegrated into small light dots which then entered their foreheads.
After the process was done, Belen glanced at the Manager and said coldly, "Will you release it now?"
The manager also could see she pitied the beast and didn't mind her temper. Waving his hand, he dispelled the water chains.
Belen took out her last bottle of life elixir and tried feeding it to the sparrow. The bird looked at Belen fearfully and didn't open its mouth.
Belen expression became stern and she ordered, "Drink it."
Thanks to the slave seal imprinted on its soul, the beast couldn't resist anymore and drank the life elixir.
A while later, its expression gradually returned to normal however, it was still shivering in fear.
Belen had to comfort it through the slave seal for a while before it finally calmed down. Apart from taming the beast and making it loyal to its master, it had another function which allowed the master and the slave to each other.
After it calmed down, she glanced at Max who nodded and threw the beast storage ring toward her.
She stored the sparrow in the ring and walked out of the cage.
"Big sister, it that sparrow alright?" Little Arya worriedly asked. As a little girl with a pure heart, she was quite compassionate toward everyone, be it elves, humans or beasts.
"Mm. It's alright. It just needs to rest for a while." Belen smiled and patted her little head.
After that the group walked out of the hall.
"Big brother, where are we going now?" Little Arya excitedly asked.
Max glanced at Belen and others and coughed a little before saying, "We are going to meet your new big sister."
Whoosh!
Just as the words left his mouth, he felt three piercing gaze on him which made him gulp nervously.
*****
Bonus chapter (13/15)
