Translator: Pai_

When Turan lived on Hisaril Hill, golden eagles would often target sheep, just like wolves or leopards did.

Considering that their weight was less than a fifth of an average sheep’s, it was truly a remarkable feat of strength.

The creature in front of him was not particularly large for a magical beast and was similar in build to its kin. However, being a magical beast, its strength was undoubtedly much greater.

Unlike other magical beasts, the golden eagle, trapped in a narrow cage, kept blinking its golden eyes at him, glaring as though it was aware of something.

“How much is this one?”

“Fifteen hundred.”

Somehow it was much cheaper than he had expected.

Of course, that price was still close to all of Turan's life savings.

“What are its abilities?”

“It’s smart and flies well.”

Hearing that, he could somewhat understand why the price had been set so low.

Magical beasts without special abilities tended to be rated lower compared to others of the same rank.

Moreover, its small size meant its strength was probably limited.

But even with those considerations, given the amount of magic power it possessed, it seemed unusually cheap.

When Turan expressed this doubt, the daughter of the head of the family shook her head.

“Normally, golden eagles are very popular. They’re strong enough to carry a person. But that one’s too smart for its own good. Even though it’s been tamed, it doesn’t follow orders. It has this attitude like, ‘Why should I listen to creatures dumber than me?’”

At that moment, astonishingly, the golden eagle nodded as if it were answering the question directly.

Turan hesitated for a moment before asking,

“Did you just respond to me?”

The eagle nodded.

“You’re not just nodding randomly, are you?”

The eagle shook its head side to side.

"You're quite handsome."

The eagle nodded again.

“But hawks are cooler than eagles, don’t you think?”

At those words, the golden eagle clacked its beak together and gave an angry expression.

It wasn’t just catching the nuance of Turan’s words, it was clearly understanding them.

Though Tilly was smart too, it wasn't to this extent - this one was practically human except for not being able to speak.

In a half-dazed voice, Turan said,

“It really understands words.”

“Yes. I even tried teaching it letters once, but it either doesn’t want to learn or can’t. Either way, it didn’t work.”

Apparently, it was so unruly that it had once been sold, only to escape. They had to enlist the help of the House Zahar to catch it and bring it back.

“It’s a pity. It’s strong for its size, and it’s been fed well. If it had just followed orders, it could’ve sold for a much higher price.”

Although her words sounded like complaints, there was an undertone of encouragement in them.

It was almost as if she was hinting, Maybe you could fully dominate and become this creature’s master. If you succeed, you’d be getting an incredible magical beast at a bargain price.

As he listened quietly, a thought occurred to Turan. Looking at the golden eagle, he spoke up.

“Since it understands words, I guess I can just ask it directly. Hey, do you have anything you want?”

The head of the family’s daughter chuckled and shook her head.

“We’ve asked it questions like that before, but it never gives a proper answer. It’s just too stubborn….”

However, before she could finish speaking, the golden eagle tilted its head and pointed a talon directly at Turan.

The head of the family’s daughter gaped in shock.

“What? Why all of a sudden…?”

“You want me?”

The Golden Eagle nodded at Turan's question.

"I'm not that special of a person though. Is there a reason?"

In response to the follow-up question, the golden eagle merely tilted its head side to side, as if it either didn’t want to answer or couldn’t.

Turan understood. It wasn’t the kind of question that could be answered through gestures alone.

“If I buy you, would you be willing to learn to read and write? I’ll teach you myself.”

After seeing the golden eagle nod at this, Turan turned to the head of the family’s daughter and said,

“I’ll take it.”

“What? Oh, um, actually, we might need to re-evaluate the price-”

Now that the golden eagle was suddenly acting so obedient, it seemed she was having second thoughts about selling it at the originally agreed-upon price.

Of course, Turan could easily teach her a dose of reality.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like this friend here would be so cooperative if it wasn’t with me. Right? Isn’t that so?”

At Turan’s words, the golden eagle nodded twice in an exaggerated manner. Then, it tapped its talons against the iron bars of its cage, as if threatening her to sell it to Turan immediately.

The sight of the two being perfectly in sync left the head of the family’s daughter glancing between them, then sighing.

“Well, I suppose there’s no other choice.”

*

“Join together, as one. You are me, and I am you….”

After retrieving gold coins from the chest he had left in his quarters, Turan completed the payment. Under the supervision of the head of the family, he performed a ritual to bind himself to the golden eagle.

With the incantation, Turan could feel a part of his soul connecting with that of the golden eagle.

This was the Beast Tamer Bloodline's ability - Taming Magic.

Unlike other wizards who could temporarily control animals, this ability permanently bound two beings together spiritually.

To undo this connection or change its target, another noble of the Beast Tamer Bloodline was required.

When the bond was complete, Turan began to feel fragments of the golden eagle’s thoughts flow into him.

It was a mixture of fulfillment and satisfaction, as though it had finally found something it had been searching for, along with a sense of liberation from being confined in the cage.

What on earth had this magical beast seen in him?

Was it his bloodline? His talent? Or perhaps something else entirely?

“It’s done.”

Upon hearing the head of the family’s words, Turan opened the cage, releasing the golden eagle.

Even after being freed, the eagle didn’t try to escape. Instead, it hopped onto Turan’s arm and began grooming its feathers, acting as if it had belonged there from the start.

“What should I call you?”

At Turan’s question, the golden eagle let out a soft chirp, an unexpectedly cute sound that didn’t match its fierce appearance.

Along with the sound came its thoughts, transmitted through their soul bond.

It wasn’t fully articulated into words but lay somewhere between verbalized ideas and abstract emotions, making it difficult to decipher fully, though Turan could grasp the gist.

“You want to name yourself? By learning how to write?”

The golden eagle nodded.

“Alright, do as you wish.”

Since Turan didn’t have much talent for naming things anyway, he saw no harm in the idea.

Although he wondered if this creature might be overly independent, he decided it wasn’t a problem as long as it listened to him.

Turan recalled the sheepdog he had raised during his childhood.

When his mother first came to Hisaril Hill, she had bought a flock of sheep and a house from an old shepherd. The dog had come as part of the deal.

After his mother passed away from illness, and the dog grew old and died, Turan never raised another dog.

With the help of magic, he no longer needed a sheepdog to tend the flock. More importantly, he didn’t want to experience the pain of losing something precious to old age again.

Raising this golden eagle, however, would likely spare him such worries.

Magical beasts were generally less adept at magic compared to their counterparts of the same rank, but their physical abilities were vastly superior. Correspondingly, their lifespans were extraordinarily long.

This creature might even outlive him.

“How fascinating.”

Watching the two of them, Karl, the head of the family, muttered to himself.

“When the successor of House Varaha came here, it didn’t even look at them. What could it possibly have seen in you, Mr. Brahms?”

House Varaha was a powerful family located to the east of the Enril Desert.

Their members were known to inherit the Sun Bloodline, granting them control over fire and light.

Turan, too, had no idea why the golden eagle had been drawn to him. He planned to teach it to read and write later and then ask it about its reasons.

Whether he would receive a satisfying answer, however, was uncertain.

“I’ll take good care of it.”

“Do as you wish. Once it’s left, it’s no longer ours.”

Karl added what could either be a piece of advice or a curse, saying that if it ran away, it would be Turan’s responsibility to catch it himself.

“Well, then….”

“Ah, hold on a moment.”

Just as Turan was about to leave, the head of the family stopped him.

The ever-calculating face of the merchant showed an unusual hesitation.

“This is just something you can ignore, but… do you happen to have a connection with Talis-nim?"

“Talis-nim…?”

“No, no. Forget I said anything. It was just a passing thought.”

At Turan’s expression, which suggested he was hearing the name for the first time, Karl, the head of the family, quickly shook his head.

It was as if he wanted to take back the question he had just asked and pretend it had never happened.

Turan, however, instinctively realized that Karl had seen someone in his face, someone connected to the name Talis. He made a mental note to remember the name.

Then, Turan decided to ask a question of his own, one he hadn’t been able to ask earlier due to the tense atmosphere. After all, Karl had initiated the idle questioning first.

“Well then, Head, may I ask you something as well?”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know of a woman named Bije?”

“Bije?”

“She looks like this.”

Turan pulled out a piece of paper buried deep in his bag.

On the high-quality paper, scattered ash formed the face of a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties.

“Magic was used to draw this, I see. That’s quite a talent for someone with the Guardian Bloodline.”

“A friend of mine who’s skilled in this area helped me draw it.”

Turan had learned this technique while training in magic with Meisa.

The method involved visualizing a shape in one’s mind and scattering ash onto paper in that exact pattern. Even someone with no artistic talent could project their mental image onto the page.

Since it had been five or six years since his mother had passed away, Turan wasn’t entirely confident that the portrait was an exact replica. But it was similar enough for someone who knew her to recognize the resemblance.

Turan focused intently on the head of the family, paying close attention to every movement and even the subtle scents emanating from him as he examined the portrait.

‘What will his reaction be?’

Turan had shown the portrait without much concern because his mother had been a commoner.

Even if the Zahar Bloodline he had inherited had come from her, it was unlikely that someone without magical abilities could have been involved in any significant crime or conspiracy.

Of course, there was always the possibility that discovering his mother’s identity could lead directly to revelations about his father… but that bridge would be crossed later.

Contrary to his expectations, Karl studied the portrait for a long time before shaking his head.

“I don’t recognize her at all. A beauty like this wouldn’t be easily forgotten if I had met her. Is she your mother or sister?”

“Something like that.”

Even while focusing his heightened sense of smell, Turan couldn’t detect any hints of surprise or alarm from Karl.

This realization left Turan feeling both relieved and disappointed.

"Looks like you have your own circumstances too."

"Who in this world doesn't have circumstances?"

"True enough."

Karl’s heavy tone suggested that he too carried his share of burdens.

What those might be, however, was something an outsider like Turan could not hope to know.

After finalizing the transaction, Turan left the palace and began walking southward through Komad City to test the skills of his new companion.

With the large golden eagle perched on his arm and a knight following closely behind, he attracted many stares from those around him.

After walking for some tens of minutes, the faint smell of dry, sandy wind began to reach his nose.

Before long, a vast expanse of desert unfolded before his eyes, stretching endlessly beyond the horizon.

The sight of the desert, composed entirely of sand, felt different from the brief glimpses he had caught while traveling by ship.

Turan stretched out his hand and gently stirred the dry air.

‘As expected, since it’s winter and night, it’s not hot. If anything, it feels cold.’

This must have been because they were at the northernmost edge of the desert.

The Enril Desert was infamous for its enormous size. Its climate varied so much between regions that even areas within the same desert could have drastically different conditions.

Based on maps, the territory ruled by the House Zahar was three to five times the size of Arabion’s.

Of course, considering the nature of the desert, the population was likely far smaller than the territory would suggest.

“Well then, shall we try a quick flight?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the golden eagle took off into the sky, and Turan grabbed hold of its sturdy leg with one hand.

A powerful force pulled his body upward, and in an instant, the world sank below him.

“Oh…”

The rushing headwind was so sharp it stung his eyes, prompting Turan to quickly cast a barrier in front of him to block it.

The sensation of speed was on an entirely different level compared to levitation magic, which simply allowed one to float in the air.

This felt much faster than even his own top running speed.

Turan wondered how the Zahar nobles had managed to capture this creature. It was certainly not by chasing it down on foot.

Perhaps they had captured it while concealed, sneaking up on it in secret.

Glancing back over his shoulder, Turan noticed that Komad City had already shrunk to the size of a toy model beneath him. The sight made him laugh.

On the opposite side, the desert still stretched endlessly to the horizon, but from this elevated vantage point, it didn’t feel as overwhelming as it had on the ground.

If anything, the sense of distance seemed to have disappeared entirely.

When Turan cast a levitation spell on himself to reduce his weight, the golden eagle, feeling lighter, flapped its wings even faster, as if it were exhilarated by the newfound ease.

“At this speed, we could cross the entire Takein Plains in a single day…”

The sheer speed made him feel foolish for all the time he had spent traveling on foot until now.

The man and the golden eagle joyfully soared through the sky, enjoying the flight until the creature grew tired and descended for a rest.