He approached the leader he had sent flying. The man was slumped against the wall, blood continually spilling from the corners of his mouth. He seemed to have suffered severe internal injuries and was barely breathing.
"Why did you have to be so suspicious? You could've just let me take the griffin egg. There wouldn't have been any bloodshed or casualties. I never wanted things to end this way..." Yavi crouched beside the leader and murmured.
"You... you..." Before he could finish, the leader's head lolled to one side, and he died without ever managing to get his point across.
Yavi stood, sighed, and shook his head before beginning to clean up the battlefield. In the end, he searched the poachers' bodies and packs and found over a hundred crowns. After bundling up their weapons as well, he prepared to leave. He glanced at the last poacher, who was still sleeping soundly, and was rather speechless. Despite all the noise from the fight, the man still hadn't woken up. That had saved his life, though. If he had been awake too, Yavi wouldn't have minded ending one more life.
After leaving the wetlands, Yavi summoned his horse and headed straight for the griffins' nest. Things had actually gone quite smoothly today. He had found the poachers without much effort. He had initially been prepared to spend several days searching and hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.
Yavi stopped his horse a short distance from the griffins' nest and carried the egg over. At the sight of him holding their egg, the male and female griffins immediately came up to him. The female gathered the egg into her embrace, examining it from every angle as though checking whether it was intact, while the male watched eagerly beside her. Once they confirmed that the egg had suffered no damage, the two griffins let out joyful cries one after another. Yavi quietly watched them from the side.
Only when the two griffins had more or less finished celebrating did Yavi step forward to communicate. At the sight of him, they gradually calmed down as well, and both sides prepared to talk.
"I've kept my promise and brought your egg back. Now it's your turn to keep yours," Yavi told the two griffins evenly.
Although he appeared unruffled, turmoil churned within him. If these two griffins broke their promise and attacked him here, his chances of surviving today would be slim. Their next words, however, put his uneasy heart at rest.
"Rest assured, human. We will honor our agreement. We'll leave this place now and never return. Besides that..."
The female griffin rummaged through her nest, nearly tearing it apart before bringing out a large chunk of ore in her beak. It was a dark lead-gray, its surface giving off a cold sheen like pig iron, with faint patches of blue-green oxidation. The ore formed an irregular polyhedron with sharply defined edges, and its broken face was riddled with dense, honeycomb-like holes, like a lump of cast iron corroded by strong acid.
Yavi's eyes went wide at the sight...
"Is this... dimeritium? A piece this big?" Yavi's pupils abruptly contracted. "This would be enough to forge a sword with plenty left over. Judging by its size, it must weigh more than ten jin. Even selling it would bring in a considerable sum!"
"Take this Cursed Stone as a token of our thanks, human. It is a treasure my mate has kept by his side since birth. Now it is yours."
Yavi looked at the dimeritium ore, then up at the two griffins, before putting it straight into his storage space without another word. Neither griffin seemed surprised when the Cursed Stone vanished into thin air, and they then bid Yavi farewell.
"Thank you, human. You've shown us that there are still good people among humans. We're preparing to leave now. Here, take this." The female griffin plucked a feather from the male's neck and handed it to Yavi. "Keep this on you. If you encounter griffins on your travels, they won't rashly attack you."
"Thank you both. Have a safe journey!"
After their farewells, the two griffins spread their wings and flew away with their egg, gradually disappearing into the horizon.
As soon as the griffins vanished from sight, Yavi jumped into their broken nest. No longer caring about the rotten stench inside, he drew his sword and rummaged haphazardly through it, hoping to find another piece of dimeritium ore. To his disappointment, however, the ruined nest contained nothing but decaying remains. Slightly disappointed, Yavi finally climbed out and slowly cast an Igni Flame Sign with his left hand, burning the nest to ashes. He then directed an Aard Impact Signs at himself, blowing away the foul odor clinging to him.
With a loud whistle, Yavi summoned his horse, and man and horse began retracing their route to Oxenfurt.
Yavi finally returned to Oxenfurt toward evening. After leaving his horse at the stables by the west gate, he headed straight for the headmistress's office at Oxenfurt Academy and knocked softly. Once given permission, he gently pushed the door open and entered. Loriess was dressed in her usual mature, big-sister style, her head lowered as her eyes swiftly scanned the documents before her. Yavi didn't interrupt after entering, instead standing quietly to one side. Noticing that her cup was empty, he had the good sense to fill it with hot water. Loriess continued reading without looking up, occasionally lifting her cup for a small sip. Yavi stood there for roughly ten minutes before she finally set down the documents and gestured for him to sit. Only then did he pull out a chair and take a seat.
"What brings you here this time? Do you need any help with the griffins?" Loriess adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses and asked evenly.
"No, Headmistress Loriess. I resolved the griffin problem today. I recovered their egg, and the two griffins kept their promise and left." Yavi reported the day's events to Loriess but concealed the matter of the dimeritium. Loriess nodded repeatedly as she listened to his report.
"You did very well, Yavi. You resolved the griffin problem peacefully and kept potential losses to a minimum. I'm sure Sicco Jett would be proud of you."
Loriess extended her small, fair hand. A flash of white light passed, and a piece of silvery ore appeared in her palm. Unlike ordinary silver's bright white, this ore gave off a deep blue metallic sheen. Its surface seemed coated in a layer of polar frost, and in the shadows it emitted a faint, cold blue-gray glow, like an ice blade steeped in moonlight.
What Loriess held was none other than a piece of rather rare mithril ore. Not only did mithril ore possess all the properties of silver ore, but it was also tougher and an excellent conductor of magic. If he smelted this mithril into his silver sword, it would strengthen the blade and allow it to conduct magic. Channeling Aard Impact Signs into a mithril sword, for instance, could imbue it with sharp sword qi. Channeling an Igni Flame Rune into it could add fire damage, while channeling Quen Defense Signs into it could make the blade indestructible, allowing it to withstand a great many attacks.
Seeing the undisguised longing in Yavi's eyes, Loriess didn't keep him in suspense. She handed him the mithril directly. "This is your reward for completing the assignment so brilliantly. It's worth far more than crowns. Keep working diligently for me, and your rewards will only grow, never diminish. Understood?"
Yavi happily accepted the mithril and declared with delight that she should feel free to leave any other assignments to him!