Eris watched in horror as the colossal bird swooped down and knocked Lucas to the ground before landing right above him. In that instant, all she wanted was to rush forward to save her previous little brother, but the intense pressure coming from the giant beast locked her in place.
In fact, everyone nearby, whether they were in the yard or inside the Manor, had gone stiff the moment the brown feathered bird appeared before them.
Everyone was petrified to the point where many even forgot to breathe.
Whether it was the young Eris, the ordinary townsfolk, or the veteran Town Guardsmen, none could resist the intimidation of this enormous beast, and it was only after the creature turned its attention towards the nearby cart and began devouring the piled-up grain that the crowd came to their senses.
Screams and shouts rang out from all over as people began scrambling even harder to get away, hoping to find some semblance of security deeper within the thick walls of the Town Lord Manor.
Eris opened her mouth to call out to Lucas, but the words seemed to catch in her throat.
She tried to step towards him, but her knees were shaking so hard that she stumbled and fell.
At that moment, the young girl learned the true meaning of terror and despair. The beast before her might as well have been a deity, able to decide who lived and who died on a whim, with no way for mere mortals like her to resist.
Even so, the fear of losing Lucas to this monstrosity was compelling her forward.
Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Eris was still just a 13-year-old child.
She may have been grown stronger over the past year and a half thanks to the Unarmed Foundations Art, but her meager Sixth Step Body Tempering Realm strength was still useless in the face of the giant beast.
"Y-Young Lady Eris! Y-You mustn't!" Helen called out from behind and somehow managed to grab hold of the young girl.
The outside stimulus finally jolted Eris back to her senses and she began struggling and screaming, "No! Let me go! I need to save him! Lucas!"
Despite her fervent efforts and desperate need, Eris was unable to muster much strength under the influence of the intimidating aura of the giant bird, allowing Helen to easily restrain her and drag her back towards the Manor.
It wasn't that Helen and Grace didn't want to save Lucas as well; but ultimately, they weren't naïve children and understood that there was no way they could help the young boy if the beast targeted him. Allowing Eris to go to him would only endanger her life as well.
However, Eris' desperate cries also jolted several others in the crowd, namely those who were close to Lucas, to take action.
All 5 of the orphans Lucas had originally hired also called out to him, with Laura, in particular, somehow even mustering the strength to push her way through the stampede of people in an attempt to get to her young Boss.
Amongst all the people Lucas had employed over the past few months, the one closest to him was undoubtedly Laura whom he also entrusted the most authority to. Simply put, when Lucas wasn't around, Laura was in charge.
The young woman, who just recently turned 20, greatly respected Lucas as her employer, but perhaps because of the huge gap in their ages, Laura also couldn't help seeing him like a little brother who she was supposed to look out for.
Of course, more often than not, it was Lucas teaching and looking out for Laura and his other employees, but that only made the young woman more determined to help her benefactor whenever possible.
As such, when Laura saw Lucas being 'attacked' by the giant bird, despite knowing she was powerless to help, she still tried to get to him. Her reaction was more instinct than anything else, but it went a long way to show how loyal she was to Lucas.
Everyone seemed desperate in that moment, either to save themselves, or to save Lucas, so it was only natural that complete and utter confusion overtook them when the young boy actually called out to the beast and began 'talking' to it.
To say the people who watched what happened next were dumbfounded would be a huge understatement.
Right before the crowd's eyes, Lucas, who most thought was on the verge of becoming a snack, literally asked if the beast was hungry. Then, to everyone's astonishment, the bird actually chirped back, as if replying.
From there, things got really crazy.
Lucas got to his feet and began waving with his hands while conversing with the bird in short, simple sentences, like how one would talk to a small child, trying to comfort of coax them.
"Yes! You hungry?"
*Chirp!*
"Want what?"
*Chirp chirp!*
"Grain and fruit?"
*Chirp!*
"Not meat?"
*Chirp chirp chirp!*
The scene was surreal, with no one able to believe their eyes or ears as the small boy and giant bird conversed back and forth repeatedly.
A couple minutes passed like this, with most people just staring blankly like their brains had shut down. It wasn't until Lucas turned around, a giant grin on his face, and shouted that the spell seemed to break, "Don't be afraid! This big guy is a friend! He was hurt in the fire and is a little hungry, but he doesn't eat meat, so there's no need to worry!"
Hearing Lucas' words, many people snapped out of their daze, only to fall into a state of confusion. There were just too many questions to be asked, the foremost being if the young boy had gone crazy.
How was it possible for a human and a beast to communicate?
The townsfolk knew that certain beasts could be domesticated, and some could even be trained to obey a few verbal commands, but holding an intelligent conversation with one seemed like nonsense.
There were, however, a few among the crowd who were a bit more knowledgeable, and began speculating that the giant creature before them wasn't some simple Wild Beast.
If what they were thinking was true, then there really was a possibility that Lucas had managed to open a dialogue with this majestic creature!
Just as things seemed to be calming down, though, the giant bird's aura flared wildly, causing the pressure it was emitting to rise dramatically.
At the same time, Lucas, who was facing towards the crowd, had his eyes roll back into his head and collapsed to the ground.
When this happened, Eris felt her heart stop as fear, anxiety, and guilt threatened to overwhelm her. She had absolute faith in Lucas and didn't think for an instant he was lying or making things up when he said the giant beast was a friend.
However, that didn't mean that the big bad bird couldn't have lied to her preciously little brother and was actually planning on eating him!
The world seemed to go dark in that moment, as Eris felt like she was on the brink of passing out.
What seemed like an eternity, but was really just a couple of seconds, passed before the beast turned its head towards the west, looking away from Lucas and even from the crowd gathered around the Manor.
Under that menacing aura, Eris found herself drenched in cold sweat and breathing hard, and she wasn't the only one. Everyone else had also frozen up again when they noticed the change in the beast's behaviour, many of them fearing the worst was about to befall them.
Thinking this might be it, that Lucas, herself, and everyone else around was about to die, something snapped in Eris and all her previous fear seemed to evaporate.
Summoning strength and courage she didn't know she had, Eris broke free from Helen's grasp and tried to dash out, at least wanting to stand beside her little brother at the very end, but under the intense stress of the situation, she actually tripped over her own feet and fell forward.
Landing face-first in the dirt, Eris was momentarily stunned, not sure how she could have made such a stupid mistake at such a critical time. Lifting her head, she gazed out, only to realize she was still dozens of metres away from her goal.
But that wasn't enough to make her give up.
Eris spat out the dirt in her mouth and pushed hard off the ground, again trying to scramble over towards Lucas, but it was all in vain as by that time, Helen had also snapped out of her stupor and managed to catch up with her, grabbing Eris tight as she tried to retreat once more.
In the midst of her struggle and despair, a loud thud drew Eris' attention and she instinctually turned towards the source. When the young girl saw who it was that caused the new disturbance, hope surged within her again and she cried out frantically, "Aunty Farah!"