"Very well. I agree to this condition." William nodded his head. "However, I also have a condition."
"Oh?" Aramis raised an eyebrow. This was the first time someone had given a counter-offer to his demands. He glanced at the boy's hair color and once again remembered the first love of his life. After taking control of his thoughts, he made a gesture for William to speak.
"If your two disciples get in my way, I will kick them out of our group," William stated. "This is also non-negotiable."
The corner of Aramis' lips raised slightly, so that it was almost unnoticeable to those who didn't know his character.
Aerith didn't notice these changes because she was busy glaring at William from beside her Master.
"How dare you demand a condition from our Master?" Aerith reprimanded. "Don't you know who he is?"
"I know who he is," William answered with a refreshing smile. "But, do you know who I am?"
"Just a country bumpkin that could be found anywhere." Aerith snorted. "You think you are in a position to negotiate with my Master? If not for his order, I would not even bother to come with your smelly group."
"Well, you don't need to join us if you don't want to." William shrugged and returned his attention to the Sword Saint seated on the red throne. "This is what I'm talking about, Your Excellency. I'm afraid that your disciples will only create a ruckus along the way, hindering us from completing our mission."
Aramis lightly tapped his armchair which immediately made Aerith hold back the words that she was planning to say. The blonde girl hatefully glared at William, while the latter completely ignored her.
"Very well. I agree to your condition," Aramis stated. "Aerith, you'd better not get in their way. This is part of your training. Do I make myself clear?"
The blonde girl clenched her fists and reluctantly nodded her head. Although she didn't really want to go with William's group, her Master's order was absolute.
Aramis then waved his hand and told William to leave. He still had things he needed to do and seeing William only made his heart ache because he constantly reminded him of his beloved Erza.
-----
A day after William's meeting with the Sword Saint, a group of carriages traveled to the Southern Tip of the Hellan Kingdom where a vast expanse of forest could be seen. The citizens of the Southern Region called this forest the "Whimsical Forest" .
It was a place where the majority of Beasts in the Southern Region could be found. Some of the creatures were rare and some were very rare. This was also why William chose to go South instead of going West.
The Forbidden Land of the West was the Strathmore Forest, and it was not the ideal place to stay and look for Hipogriffs.
William had asked for a local guide to accompany them to the forest. Fortunately, one of the coachmen working for the Duke used to be an adventurer and had traveled to the Whimsical Forest countless times in the past.
Their travel had been smooth and the Duke generously allowed them to take seven carriages and two wagons for their journey. These carriages were pulled by horses, instead of Gryphons, but William was fine with the arrangement.
After five days of travel, they finally arrived at their destination.
"We will set up camp here outside the forest," their guide, a middle-aged man that went by the name Henry, said with a smile. "Unless you kids want to become 'Beast Chow' then go ahead and set your camp inside. However, I will be staying here."
"We will follow your advice, Mr. Henry," William replied.
"Good. I have explored the forest many times in the past and I've witnessed Wendigos raid camps during the night. Not a fun experience, and I don't recommend it."
"Wendigos?" Spencer asked with a curious expression. "This forest has Wendigos?"
"Yep." Henry answered. "Less than a hundred, but that was years ago. Perhaps their numbers have increased since my last visit."
William had only heard about Wendigos from the Bestiary Lessons inside the Hellan Royal Academy. They were Class C creatures that reeked of death and decay. They liked to feast on human flesh and, on some occasions, possess humans and control their bodies to kill and eat their loved ones.
After finishing the dark deed of eating their family members, that person would then transform into a Wendigo, thus multiplying the numbers of these abominations.
After hearing the story about the Wendigo, some of the members of William's Knight Order felt their stomachs churn in disgust. The image of them cannibalizing their loved ones made them feel very uncomfortable.
"Don't worry, they don't attack large groups of people." Henry assured them. "At most, they will challenge a party of five, but no higher than that. They might be strong, but they're not stupid creatures."
William looked at the forest for a full-minute before relaying his orders.
"We will set up camp here today and hunt for Hipogriffs tomorrow. We will also set up a night-watch and rotate in groups of six.
The current number of members of William's Knight Order allowed his six officers to have six members under their command. These made the chain of command easier, and allowed William to just sit back and let the others do their duties without needing to bother him.
His role was to simply lead them, while his captains managed the other duties.
The next day, Henry guided them to a meadow within the forest where the Hipogriffs used to stay during his years of adventuring. Hipogriffs, by nature, were omnivores. They ate grass and meat, depending on which was more abundant.
The group had just arrived at the meadow when an ear piercing screech caught their attention. Four towering beasts arrived at the meadow and began to attack the Hipogriffs that were grazing peacefully in the grasslands.
"A Gryphon Hunting Party," Henry's face immediately became serious. "They are hunting Hipogriffs!"
Gryphons and Hipogriffs may look the same, but there were distinct differences between the two.
Gryphons were magical beasts that had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. They were also three times bigger than Hipogriffs, which made them the stronger between the two.
Hipogriffs were also magical beasts that had the front legs, wings, and head of an eagle and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse.
The two groups fought each other with several hipogriffs fighting against a single Gryphon. The one leading the defense was a Hippogriff that was twice as large as an ordinary one and had a golden luster on its beak, talons, and wings.
It was easy to tell that he was the Alpha of the herd. The Alpha led his subordinates to defend their territory, and a great battle was waged in the skies.
Loud shrieks shattered the peace of the meadow as blood rained down from the sky. One of the Gryphons successfully tore off the wing of one of the defending Hipogriffs and the latter fell towards the ground.
The girls within the group covered their eyes because they didn't dare look at the outcome of the magical beast who was falling to its death.
However, those who were watching the battle had shocked expressions on their faces when they saw William, along with Ella, charge to where the Hippogriff was falling.
"Come forth! Psoglav!" William roared.
A portal appeared behind the boy and a demonic beast that had a humanoid body with horse legs, and a dog's head appeared with a roar.
"Don't forget your promise, Shepherd!" Psoglav said as he summoned his Doppelganger. The two demonic dogs summoned a pair of spectral hands, and simultaneously used dark whips to create a net to catch the falling Hippogriff.
"Yes, you can have one of those Gryphons as food," William replied in a calm manner.
He had made a deal with the Demonic Dog before they left the academy because William didn't have any magic power. In order to capture Class C Beasts, he needed the help of a stronger beast which left him with few other options.
Just like he had done with Spire, William did an equal contract with Psoglav along with several conditions attached.
Basically, the Demonic Dog agreed to help William capture the Hipogriffs in return for Beast Cores and High-Grade meat from magical beasts. Aside from helping William capture beasts, he wouldn't do anything else.
The Hippogriff was safely caught by the dark net and William immediately used the power of his Shepherd Job Class to tame it. There was no taming skill within the Job Class, but William was able to communicate with Herd Type Creatures, and invite them to join his herd.
The Magical Beast was seriously injured and its wings were torn off. Although it was hurting, it was still thinking properly. Even so, it didn't resist Wiliam's invitation to join his herd because it felt that this was its only path to survival.
After successfully adding the Hippogriff to his ranks, he immediately sprinkled a High-Grade potion on its injuries. He then let it drink another potion in order to help with its recovery.
William didn't care if the beast he tamed was currently wingless. What mattered to him was that it was currently part of his herd and under his protection.
Psoglav and its Doppelganger were still creating darkwhips to serve as nets to catch more Hipogriffs falling from the sky. Although they had the advantage of numbers, they were class C creatures at most. Gryphons were Class B creatures and one of their natural predators.
Only the golden winged hippogriff was able to face off against them because it was also a Class B creature.
As more injured Hipogriffs fell from the sky, William's herd grew by the minute. Ella was paying close attention to the battle as well. Two of the gryphons suffered moderate injuries due to the Hipogriffs's teamwork.
The Alpha of the Hippogriff group fought off against one of the Gryphons alone, while the rest dealt with the others.
After adding Fifteen more hipogriffs to his herd, William thought that it was already enough and joined the battle.
Several whistling sounds pierced the air as William shot arrows at one of the injured Gryphons. He made sure to time his shots in order to not hurt any of the Hipogriffs that were fighting their mortal enemies with their beaks, and talons.
The Gryphons shrieked in anger when they noticed that an insect was getting in the way of their hunt. The one he was shooting at flapped its mighty wings and shrugged off the Hipogriffs that were ganging up on it.
"Psoglav!" William shouted as he nocked the adamantium arrow on his bow. He aimed at the approaching Gryphon and waited for the perfect timing.
The Gryphon dove down to swat the annoying insect, but four dark whips grabbed its legs mid-flight.
"Now!" Psoglav roared. "Make sure to hit it, boy. This Gryphon is going to be my lunch!"
Instead of answering, William released the string and the arrow flew straight and true. It pierced through the Gryphon's chest, giving it a serious injury.
The mighty creature shrieked in pain before crashing towards the ground, creating a dust cloud.
Psoglav hurriedly ran towards the dying Gryphon and formed a bastard sword made of dark energy. As one of the rulers of the forest, it was an opportunistic Beast that would use everything to its advantage. It wouldn't allow the Gryphon to regain its footing and fly away from its grasp.
Psoglav stabbed the sword into the back of the Gryphon's head, ending its life in the process. He made sure to hit its weak spot, so that its Dark Blade would penetrate without any form of resistance.
A shriek resounded in the sky as another Gryphon dove down. It locked its eyes on Psoglav with the intention to kill.
The demonic dog only sneered. It was about to attack the Gryphon when he received a telepathic message from William.
'Boy, your appetite is big,' Psoglav commented. 'I like it!'
William had promised Conrad and Dave that he would hunt for a special mount for them. Dave wanted to have a Gryphon Mount, and it just so happened that there were three live Gryphons around. With such a powerful beast like Psoglav to assist them, William was not afraid of capturing one.
What he was afraid of was that there weren't enough Gryphons to serve as their mounts!