205: Chapter 112 Beast Summoning Horn 205: Chapter 112 Beast Summoning Horn He cradled the griffin egg from the box, feeling its sturdy shell, and asked Kovis, “How long until it hatches?”
“About a month at most, maybe as soon as in twenty days.”
Kovis answered, recalling, “According to the books, a griffin egg needs about four months to incubate and hatch.
Considering the time when Pilireno brought it back, it’s about time now.”
“Time flies so fast.”
Leon set down the griffin egg.
Amid the recent busyness, he had also thought about how to deal with this precious treasure.
Concerning the question of whether griffins were easy to raise, he’d briefly consulted Miss Lola before leaving the dissipated Spirit-like Field and, after returning, often discussed with Kovis what he knew about griffins.
The answer he received was rather encouraging.
Even freshly hatched, such powerful creatures are sufficiently robust and tenacious.
Of course, raising it would not be inexpensive.
A little griffin would take six whole years to go from hatching to a young adult griffin.
During these six years of growth, aside from the initial few months, it would generally need to eat six to ten pounds of meat every day.
In the later three years, as it grew larger, it would require ten to twenty pounds of meat daily.
Approximately summed up, during its entire juvenile stage, it would eat about four hundred and fifty fattened sheep…
and occasionally need some horse meat as an extra meal.
Thus, over six years, the average monthly expenditure on food alone would be around three to four gold crowns.
With his current finances, he couldn’t fully afford it, which is like having to pay out the salary for around two Guards without any return, although the first three years would cost significantly less than the latter three.
But this ’empty salary’ would have to continue for a full six years until the griffin grew to its young adult size and he could really reap the rewards.
If it could grow up healthy and unhindered, having such a powerful war beast as a partner in the future would undoubtedly make a few hundred gold coins worth of cost a great bargain.
After all, without this unexpected find, even spending several thousand gold coins might not secure such a powerful griffin.
This noble and proud mythical creature is quite rare, and considering their high intelligence, it is nearly impossible to subdue a wild adult griffin.
Although in Seryan’s legendary tales, many strong and brave knights managed to find griffins and courageously domesticate them as mounts, a story is just a story after all.
In reality, attempting such a feat with a griffin would likely result in a gruesome demise.
Leon still remembered how his griffin friend had once crushed a Knight Kantadar like crushing a tin can with those fierce claws.
Thinking of that Death Claw, Leon felt a sigh building within him.
It wasn’t about the cost of raising a young griffin but rather considering the relationship between this griffin egg and that adult griffin.
Even now, he couldn’t be sure whether this egg truly was its offspring.
Judging by the timeline, this was highly probable unless Mage Atiyas had attacked more than one griffin nest.
And if this egg indeed belonged to Death Claw, that would be quite awkward.
According to Miss Lola, a griffin—male or female, no matter how long—could identify its own offspring through their inherent capacity to sense the Magic Element.
Leon couldn’t be certain whether Death Claw might one day come to Selva to check.
Once it passed by and found the young griffin, wanting to take it back to its nest, he certainly couldn’t stop it and risk turning an ally into a foe.
However, returning the young one would mean that the money spent on raising it was wasted.
Short term, it wouldn’t hurt; it was like taking care of a friend’s child, and eating a few more meals wouldn’t matter.
But if it happened after two or three years…
Then it would genuinely be like repaying Death Claw for saving their lives back in Selva.
Fortunately, Leon had considered how to handle such a situation.
Firstly, he would never interfere with a griffin defending its offspring.
Since this was the case, rather than worrying about his investment going down the drain, it would be better to return the child from the start, saving unnecessary expenses and earning some good karma.
However, it was still unclear whether Death Claw was still in this region.
If it had already flown to some far corner of the world, then these worries were just self-troubling.
The pressing matter was to quickly ascertain Death Claw’s whereabouts.
But naively sending people out to search the mountains would clearly be too inefficient.
Kovis had a better way.
“How is the progress with that horn of yours?” Leon asked Kovis.
“The roof of the North Slope Windmill Tower has been dismantled, and once the horn is finished in a few days, I’ll have the workers hoist it up,” Kovis replied.
Leon was satisfied with the workers’ quick progress.
After all, it wasn’t a major construction, merely a retrofit of the old windmill tower built on the hillcrest to the north, with cliffs to the west and north and slopes leading down on the east and south.
Given the prime location and the abundance of labor and craftsmen gathered in Selva, it would be a shame not to convert it into a watchtower.
As for the large beastly copper horn designed by Kovis according to his knowledge, although its original purpose wasn’t to summon griffins, the sound could travel very far and wide.
As long as a griffin passed nearby, its keen hearing would inevitably draw it in out of curiosity.
Later, having someone blow the horn from the tower top in North Slope at fixed times to call Death Claw would also save him from a wild goose chase.