For a few minutes, Orion and the griffon stared at each other intensely.

'Strange. Why is it not attacking?'

Perplexed, he silently observed, until his mind gave in.

"Aaah~ What am I even doing?"

His shoulders dropped as he relaxed. Just in case, he stayed in his angelic form, but the previous caution disappeared completely.

"I would rather not fight you. Am I stepping on your territory, perhaps?"

Placing both hands on his hips, Orion stared at the mighty being.

A creature possessing the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. That was what was written in the book Orianne showed him in the recordings.

But the imposing presence of this griffon wasn't something he was expecting to witness after doing a mundane task.

Yet something was strange.

'Aren't griffons supposed to be living in groups? Why is there only one around?'

There were no signs of another in the vicinity.

Strangely, Orion couldn't hear the voice of the beast, even with Silka's sigil.

It meant that this was a beast of the same nature as Procyon. One-way communication could be possible, but Orion wasn't sure it would work.

The griffon kept its eyes glued on Orion, before a state of weakness forced it to lay on the ground.

"..."

Watching the pained expression on the beast's face, Orion's instincts instantly kicked in.

'It doesn't look injured.'

Without wasting a single second, he walked toward it.

Its giant body, which was larger than any normal animal in this area, was observed by Orion. Delicately, he touched the griffon.

"As I thought, your body is alright. What I don't like is how clearly I can see your bones under your skin."

The problem became rather apparent. This griffon was severely malnourished.

"Hmm?"

As Orion touched around its abdomen, he felt a few bulging spots. After carefully probing around with his fingers, he winced.

"Eggs..."

This was a female griffon, malnourished and on the verge of laying eggs.

"Shit. I wasn't expecting my first meeting with the last faction to be like this."

When it opened its eyes, Orion's eyes flashed white without his consent.

"Ugh!"

—

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The history of the griffons flashed in his mind, from the day of their departure to Triazils to this very moment.

After leaving the continent during the 'Purging War', the griffons went further west.

After meeting the civilization on the other side, they were immediately subjugated.

Out of fear of being destroyed, they became domesticated and were integrated into the armies of that country.

It took very little time for most of them to turn into their mounts.

But as of recently, that same country crumbled in the face of a mightier force. Most of the cavalry of griffons died, with just a handful of them escaping.

This one griffon was the last of its kind that made it back to Triazils.

The last thing it saw was Orion, and as a last effort to survive, it appeared in front of him.

—

"What was that?"

Anger took over Orion as he regained control over his Remnant power.

Taking a moment to gather his bearings, he sighed.

'Can I trust what I just saw?'

'If that's true, the Griffin faction is lost. But what about its Remnant?'

The question remained unanswered.

"Damn it..."

Feeling an intense frustration in his heart, he stood up.

Then he looked at the griffon.

"I'm going to ask a lot, but would you mind standing up and following me?"

"I can't let you here now that I understand the severity of your presence in front of me."

Just like with Procyon, the griffon understood his words. Struggling to get back on its feet, it still managed to do so.

"Alright. I won't take advantage of you, so you can relax."

Extending his hand in front of him, he opened the portal he created a few moments ago.

"Go in. It will lead to a safe place."

The portal widened, enough to let it go through. While glancing at Orion, it decided to trust him.

The feeling coming out of Orion told it that it was safe around him. Pacing itself slowly, it finally went through the wide, starry opening.

Orion followed right after, closing it behind him.

...

As usual, his finding shocked the entire family.

But instead of asking questions, this time, they all stepped forward to help him.

Amelia and Olivia went ahead to prepare a nest for the massive beast, while the others went to gather food for the poor griffon.

Senia went to gather fishes out of the sirens' farm, May and Deveralna went to the arachnea for vegetables, and Mia and Nia returned to the fairy village to request meat from them.

To Orion's surprise, the entire realm gathered to help the last of the griffon. Remnants or not, everyone appeared to have adopted his way of doing things.

Nothing would be left lacking, and the griffon will be saved.

With this mentality, they all worked with such intensity that it managed to move Orion greatly.

...

As the nest was created in front of the griffon, and food was laid down for it to eat whenever, Orion picked up the tablet in the dining room, which only Amelia had the need to use.

With a serious frown, he walked out of his house.

"..."

He glared in the distance. His eyes fell on the walls of the plane, which were approximately making a rectangle of ten kilometers long and seven kilometers wide.

"The area had been widened while I was away. I only realized now."

With the same expression, he looked down at the tablet.

"Let's see what Amelia did recently."

After checking the logs, he noticed that what she did seemed closer to training the void magic than intentionally growing the realm.

"The only part that was affected was the southern area and the western area, right under the fairy village."

"Since I haven't stepped in the altar for quite some time, I haven't noticed."

Tapping on the screen, he zoomed into the southwest corner.

"It might be unwise to expand the territory all of a sudden. Expanding gradually sounds more appropriate."

"We need to let Titania process the new terrain while also avoiding exhausting her, and the wildlife needs to catch up with the development."

Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he caught two figures approaching him.

Sirius and Procyon came toward him, unbothered by the ruckus.

"Hey."

Smiling at them, he watched as they both sat next to him.

After her loss, Procyon was almost always seen with Sirius. They were seen more frequently going through the surrounding areas, most notably relaxing under the sun together.

Someone else came running toward Orion, which immediately caught his attention.

"Amelia. Is something wrong?"

Before assuming the worst, he chose to ask. Knowing Amelia, she wouldn't hide anything.

"No. Everything seems to be going smoothly. The griffon has been resting in the nest we made, and it has devoured just about everything we've shared."

"Good."

A sigh of relief escaped his mouth.

"There's only one thing worrying us."

Orion nodded. He had the same thought, even if he hadn't checked on the beast with the others.

"The eggs, right?"

Amelia nodded with a serious frown.

"We don't know if she will have the strength to go through the laying phase in one piece."

"But Deveralna went to Ormrdivin to ask Ruminona if she could come up with an idea. She went through a similar process, so we hoped she could be of help to lessen the burden of the mother griffon."

Giving a nod, Orion pondered. His fingers tapped on the back of the tablet for a few seconds before he closed his eyes.

"There's nothing I can do for her anymore. I leave the rest to everyone else."

"That's not true."

Smiling warmly at him, she shook her head.

"Maybe. Still, there is little I can actually do. I thought of pretty much everything."

"Extracting the eggs with void magic could have been a solution, but that might upset the order of the world."

"I'm not one to normally admit it, but the actual survival rate of those baby griffons is rather low..."

"Let's wait for the natural order of nature to do its work."

This answer left a rather sour taste in Amelia's mouth, but she accepted it. She knew Orion was conflicted about the matter more than anyone else.

He admired every hidden faction unconditionally, which was the reason for his search for them.

"So... What are you going to do? You're not going to check on it?"

Shaking his head, he lifted the tablet.

"Not yet. I intend to create another wonder for our realm."

"Huh?"

"And I need your help."

"Oh, and also Nia's."

...

Three people and two animals walked toward the southwest corner of Horizon.

Orion, Amelia, Nia, Sirius, and Procyon.

The five of them stopped quite far away from the walls of the realm, staring at Orion, who was looking at the place with a hand on his chin.

He turned slightly backward and looked at the fairy village in the distance, which was easily observable thanks to the Tree of Life.

"This seems to be a great place."

"For what?"

Intrigued, Nia leaped in the air and hovered over his shoulder.

"I'm going to add a mountain to Horizon. I might add a few more if I have more leeway to do so."

Amelia and Nia looked at each other, a drop of sweat dripping from their faces.

'This will be tiresome...'

'I shouldn't have come.'

Another of Orion's crazy plans came into motion, which was brought to life by the griffon.