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The Griffin had lived a long time, but it had never seen acrobatics like this.
Novelty beat out hunger. Its mind clicked over: it should catch this fresh little thing and bring it back for its fragrant master to see.
Maybe its fragrant master would be so pleased she'd reward it with a few more plump little lambs.
"Screech—"
The Griffin let out a joyful cry, folded its wings, and dove. Its front claws spread wide with excitement.
Grab!
Got it!
"Awooo awooo woo woo—"
The fluffy little wolf was snatched skyward, leaving a trail of panicked screams across the ice plain.
Left claw: polar bear. Right claw: silver wolf. The Griffin threw its head back and laughed with wild delight.
"Screech screech screech—"
Ha! Fragrant master, look what I brought you!
Fun little pets!
...
Inside the stone fort, Troy had just blown the bone whistle.
From somewhere in the distant sky came the Griffin's eagle cry, a piercing shriek that cut through everything. Even the wind seemed to step aside for several seconds.
Luo Wei blinked. "The Griffin's getting faster and faster. Does it level up too?"
The whistle had barely sounded and it was already here. Had it been perched on a nearby mountain this whole time?
Troy stiffened. In all his years as the Griffin's master, he had never received this kind of response. He was, frankly, a little flattered.
They looked up together and watched the Griffin streak across the sky like a stray bullet, vault smoothly over the gate, and land in front of them.
"Chirp chirp chirp, chirp chirp chirp..."
The Griffin touched down on its hind legs, pulled itself upright, and raised its front claws. It hopped toward Luo Wei , one white bundle dangling from each claw, swaying back and forth , and came to a stop a short distance away, tilting its head at her.
"Chirp chirp~"
\~(￣▽￣\~)\~
Fragrant master! Look! Look what I brought you!
"Chirp!"
Catch!
It dropped both bundles , one large, one small , onto the ground, retracted its claw tips, and used its thick paw pads to scrape them toward Luo Wei. Then it tilted its head and watched her, the picture of a creature presenting treasure.
Luo Wei looked at what it had dropped.
Her eyes slowly went wide.
She swore , twenty-some years of living, and she had never seen anything this absurd.
An eagle-headed, lion-bodied Griffin had caught her a polar bear and an arctic wolf.
The polar bear was curled into a giant ball of terror, its long snout and paws buried in its own belly, only two scraggly white ears poking out.
The arctic wolf was still a cub. Fluffy. The white fur on its head had been blown flat by the wind, swept all to one side like a piece of flexible seaweed.
Luo Wei: ...
"Griffin," she said carefully, "I'm not really in the mood for bear paw or wolf meat right now. Why don't you put them back?"
In her past life, harming protected animals came with jail time. She'd be singing the prison blues!
"Chirp chirp chirp~"
The Griffin understood and immediately explained.
Not for eating. For playing with!
"Chirp chirp!"
Though eating works too if you want!
Luo Wei wasn't quite following. "Are you asking us to cook them for you?"
"Awooo awooo! Awooo! Awoo woo, "
The little silver wolf suddenly let out a howl so mournful and panicked it made the air feel wrong.
Bizarre. Luo Wei instinctively leaned back.
How was she picking up three parts familiarity, three parts sorrow, three parts pleading, and one part shame from a wolf's howl?
She couldn't make sense of the Griffin's cries, and the silver wolf's made even less. She looked to Troy for help. "Do you know what they're saying?"
Troy hesitated. "The Griffin seems to be saying... for you to play with?"
As for the silver wolf , he had no idea. Calling for its mother, maybe?
"For me to play with..." Luo Wei choked.
That polar bear was bigger than she was.
What exactly was she supposed to play? Getting smacked to death by a bear paw?
The Griffin seemed to read her hesitation. It grabbed the little wolf, slapped it onto the polar bear's back, and let out a rapid string of excited chirps.
See, fragrant master? See? This is how they were running earlier!
Annoyed that the polar bear wasn't cooperating, it nudged the bear with a claw, trying to get it to perform for its new master.
"Chirp chirp chirp!"
Run! Why aren't you running? Come on, run!
It kicked the polar bear with one thick leg, genuinely puzzled why it wasn't moving like before.
The polar bear had completely petrified. It lay stiff on the ground with its head tucked in, like a turtle retracting into its shell.
"It's saying... make the polar bear run?" Troy translated, struggling. "Is it... having the wolf ride the bear and run?"
The silver wolf let out a small "awoo," lay flat on the bear's back, and buried its face in its paws.
Luo Wei inexplicably read pure humiliation from that posture.
Wait. Silver wolf. Arctic wolf. Those trembling ears...
"Could it be... an Ice Wolf?"
She stared carefully , very carefully. Sure enough, the ears twitched again. The fluffy head pressed deeper into the polar bear's back.
It was over.
The Griffin had caught one of her classmates.
Luo Wei remembered Gladys once saying she wanted to ride a bear at school, but the headmaster had refused.
"Gladys?"
She called out, tentative.
The silver wolf said nothing. The stiff set of its spine spoke for it: it had already died of social embarrassment right here on the spot.
Luo Wei glanced at Troy, took a few steps closer, and lowered her voice. "Gladys, I'm going to carry you into the carriage to talk. If you agree, don't resist, okay?"
The silver wolf swished its fluffy tail and made a low sound. "Woo..."
Agreement.
Luo Wei gently scooped up the little wolf, gave Troy a look, and said, "This one's a bit cold. I'll bring it inside to warm up. Watch the polar bear , don't let it hurt the children."
Troy looked at the bear, which had been scared half to death by the Griffin, and three question marks materialized in his head.
In that state, it was going to hurt someone?
And that silver wolf , the magical element fluctuations were so obvious you'd have to be blind to miss them. He was not blind.
Did Luo Wei genuinely think he was an idiot?
Troy slouched, swallowed his frustration, and dropped onto a log by the fire.
He was starting to see the pattern. Luo Wei used to at least make some effort to hide her schemes from him. Now she didn't even bother.
Earlier today, when she'd played evil deity to trick those kids, he had been standing right beside her. She'd treated him like he wasn't there.
Was his intelligence really that reassuring to her?
On the other side.
Luo Wei sent Yves off on an errand, tucked Gladys under one arm, and climbed into the carriage.
She set the little wolf down on the floor and stared at it.
A long moment passed.
She pressed a hand over her twitching mouth. "Gladys. Are you wearing clothes?"
Gladys: ...
You're laughing. You're covering your mouth because you're laughing.
Don't pretend I can't see.
Gladys spun around with a snap and pointed her rear end at Luo Wei.
"Luo Wei, I misjudged you. You're terrible!"
The cool, crisp voice carried a thread of shame and indignation. You would never have guessed, just from the sound, that she was a little wolf who hadn't even shed her puppy fur yet.
"And your Griffin is despicable!"
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