A Battle of Nerves with the Griffin
First of all, to raise a Griffin, you need a reasonably sized breeding space.
It wouldn't be a problem if the Griffin was an animal that couldn't speak, but it was a magical beast that could speak.
That meant I needed a room of a decent size.
“Hmm…”
However, it seemed a bit unreasonable to build a house for it above ground.
It would be too noticeable if I built it outside.
And at that moment.
A good idea came to mind.
“Ah.”
The basement.
I could just build it in the basement.
If I set up the breeding ground in the basement instead of outside, the Griffin wouldn't have to worry about being seen by others, and I wouldn't have to worry about other people finding out, so it's a win-win situation.
With that thought in mind, I went down to the basement.
And then-
“Oh, hello.”
“What were you doing?”
“Ah… nothing important. I was just practicing my swordsmanship.”
“I see.”
I could sense a faint flow of mana around here.
So that was the reason.
With that thought, I used magic.
[Purification]
Compared to other places, the basement of our house was quite spacious.
So even after giving Basil his space, there was still room to raise the Griffin.
After roughly tidying up, I went outside for a bit and bought a few things.
Like lumber, for example.
After purchasing the lumber, I returned to the basement and built a makeshift fence.
And then I put the Griffin inside.
- ..Are you telling me to live here?
“It's better than living upstairs. You'll be seen by others if you're up there.”
- Sigh…
The Griffin sighed, but there was nothing I could do.
There was nothing I could do about it.
This was the best I could do.
As I was thinking about this, Basil, who was a short distance away, quietly approached me.
And then he asked me.
“..What is this?”
“Ah, this is a Griffin. I need you to take care of it from now on, Basil.”
“Me?”
“I have no one else to ask, so please bear with me.”
I really had no one else to ask.
The only people I knew were the adventurers I had talked to while working, and it would be a bit awkward to ask them to milk a Griffin.
As I said this, thinking to myself, Basil nodded.
“I understand.”
I knew she would accept, since she was living in my house in the first place.
It was just a matter of whether he would accept it willingly or not.
Fortunately, he accepted willingly, which was a relief.
If Basil had refused, I would have had to go somewhere else and secretly find someone else.
Or kill the Griffin.
- Wizard, my milk doesn't come out that easily.
At that moment, the Griffin suddenly said something strange.
I was curious about what it meant, so I asked.
“What do you mean?”
The Griffin and I were already bound by a contract.
If the Griffin deliberately tried to break the contract, it would be immediately overwhelmed with excruciating pain.
So it was highly unlikely that it was lying right now.
- I need good apples and wheat. And cheese.
“...It sounds like you just want to eat.”
-No. I really need it.
“Ah, okay.”
There was no reason for it to lie to me.
Besides, even if it was a lie, I was willing to buy it for it.
“By the way, why don't you teach Basil how to milk you? I don't know how to do it either.”
- ..Me? You want me to teach her?
“Come on, it's better to be milked pleasantly if you're going to be milked anyway.”
- What does that even… Sigh…
The Griffin looked dumbfounded, but I meant it.
Wouldn't it be better to be milked pleasantly if it was going to be milked anyway?
There was no reason for it to suffer through it.
With that, I went outside for a bit.
*
That left Basil and the Griffin alone in the basement.
A volatile situation where neither of them spoke.
The first to speak was the Griffin.
- I'm going to teach you how to milk me, so listen carefully.
“I understand.”
- ..Address me formally.
“I don't want to.”
It seemed like it was going to be a very long fight.
*
When I returned to the basement after buying a few things, the atmosphere had changed somewhat.
It was as if they were sizing each other up.
It was a little awkward.
I didn't expect the atmosphere to become like this.
But there was nothing I could do about it.
All I could do was tell Basil what to do next.
“If you go straight ahead, you'll find a shop run by a man named Phelps. Tell him ‘Eugene’ sent you and he'll give you some food. I think that'll be good for the Griffin.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Fortunately, even though they seemed to have been arguing, they listened to what I had to say.
Relieved, I took a bottle out of my subspace pouch.
“You can put the milk in here…”
“..Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes, I have somewhere to be. I'll be back as soon as possible.”
I meant it.
It wasn't like I had any attachments to the academy.
I could just learn everything I could and come back.
I heard they even had a system where I could graduate early, so if I did well, I might even be able to get a diploma.
With that in mind, I approached the Griffin and plucked one of its feathers.
-..Why are you taking that?
“I need to submit it to the guild.”
- Alright. Go ahead.
It seemed like the Griffin had a lot to talk about with Basil.
Well, I made a contract with it not to harm other people, so Basil wouldn't get hurt.
Thinking that, I headed to the Adventurers' Guild.
Creak-
As I opened the door with a familiar sound and entered, the Adventurers' Guild was bustling.
Perhaps everyone had been resting in their rooms and had come out to find work after hearing the news that Andromalius had been defeated.
Of course, it had been a while since Andromalius had been defeated, but the suspicious adventurers would wait a few days and observe before accepting a quest.
Being overly cautious with their lives was a common trait of adventurers.
Of course, I valued my life too.
“Ah, you're here.”
“Yes.”
“Then can you show me proof that you caught the Griffin? A staff member will go and check later anyway, but just in case.”
Even though Esily trusted me, she couldn't help but ask for proof.
It was so common for adventurers to lie.
With that in mind, I handed Esily the Griffin's feather.
“Hmm…! This should be enough proof.”
Griffin feathers don't come off easily.
Even if a feather did come off, finding it meant you were already within the Griffin's range.
Griffins are magical beasts that live in a defined territory.
Of course, it wasn't perfect proof.
That's why a staff member would go and check, and then I'd be able to receive the reward money.
If I wanted to get the reward money right now, the fastest way would be to bring back the Griffin's head.
But I didn't want to go that far.
I had grown somewhat attached to the Griffin.
More than anything, it would be meaningless if it died now after I went through all the trouble of bringing it here.
So I reported that I had completed the quest and returned home.
‘I should check the forum.’
I opened the forum because I was bored on the way.
I could use teleportation to get home immediately, but that would cost me a fine.
I couldn't afford to pay a fine when every penny counted.
So I just used simple magic and walked.
‘...Let's search for Griffin.’
I didn't think there would be anyone who knew about Griffins.
Griffins were really rare magical beasts.
It was almost impossible to raise them in the first place.
I was only able to subdue it because it was me. If it had been anyone else, even killing it would have been difficult.
Thinking that, I did a search.
[Griffin]
When I searched for Griffin, surprisingly, several posts came up.
But among them, only one was really helpful.
[Author: Decadent]
[Title: Ah f*ck why am I the one who has to milk the Griffin]
[Content: (Photo) Ah seriously this bastard's milk is so important that I have to milk it but why am I the one doing this? This is so annoying]
L: Well, you're the one who chose this, so suck it up and endure lol
ㄴ: ㄹㅇ lol Why are you complaining when you're the one who said you'd milk it
ㄴ: Who told you to do it lol
ㄴ:If you don't like it, just buy it from the market
ㄴ: Where in the world do they sell Griffin milk lol
L: Have you tasted Griffin milk?
ㄴDecadent: I'm not a baby Griffin, why would I drink that
ㄴDecadent: But it's actually not bad
ㄴ:?
ㄴ:?
ㄴ: You're such a weirdo..
ㄴ: Why would you actually drink that
L: So what's the effect of Griffin milk
ㄴDecadent: I don't know exactly, but I heard it has effects everywhere, that's why I'm milking it
ㄴ: Oh, I thought you were just a pervert
ㄴDecadent: What do you take me for
“Oh..”
I had a feeling I could sell the Griffin's milk for a good price.
There were people who liked this kind of thing.
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