Taking Risks

"Father, I need to have a word with you. Are you busy right now?" Sakura hesitated in front of her father's room.

Since the door was closed, it meant that her father did not want to be disturbed by anyone right now. But Sakura was an exception to that rule.

Her father always made time for her when she asked him to and he never denied her anything. This made her feel superior to anyone else in the house.

It made her feel superior that even Yoko, who was the actual heir of the Tsurugi family. And then it made her feel guilty.

Sakura had known Yoko her entire life, and Yoko had always treated her as if she were family. But Sakura's father expected her to be the next family head and to be accepted by society as such.

'And it would not be possible until Yoko gets married.'

But things seem to have changed now. Yoko used to be cowardly, never looking up or speaking against the servants.

She often had fits where she pretended to be someone else, but Yoko always came to her senses as soon as someone raised their voice at her.

But today has been different. Yoko had not changed back, and she had even talked back to Sakura. Her threat to tell her father what happened didn't even phase Yoko at all.

"Sakura, if it is not important, then go away. I don't have time for you today."

When Sakura heard her father's voice, she stopped knocking on the door. He sounded tired and irritated, as he had for several days.

The rumor that their family had lost their techniques for controlling the beasts was already spreading. It was not a situation Sakura wanted her father to be in.

'No one has broken contact with our family yet, but it is only a matter of time before everyone finds out we cannot control these beasts. We cannot let the word spread any further.'

This was also why Sakura did not want Yoko to go out. Yoko was weak, and she was also unable to defend herself.

If something happened to Yoko before her marriage, then their family was done for. Everyone knew Yoko was the daughter of the previous family head, so her marriage was really important.

Her father had gone out of his way to get an easily submissive person from the Divine Guild to marry Yoko. This way, he would have control of the Tsurugi fortune forever.

Sakura finally sighed in defeat and chose to leave her father alone. She had tried her best for now, and she had enough time to inform him about Yoko's situation later.

What she did not expect was for her father's door to be forced open from the inside. Her father looked white when he ran out, and his eyes were filled with panic.

"Father, what is wro…."

"Hurry and check Yoko's room. Search for her if she is not in her room and bring her to me right now."

Her father appeared enraged, more so than any other time Sakura had ever seen him. Because of the anger he was suppressing, his eyes had red spots.

His current appearance scared Sakura enough that she even took a step back.

'What happened? I left Yoko in her room, but her father should not know something is wrong with her. Did Father sense something?'

Various doubts circled Sakura's mind. She had a lot of questions she wanted to be answered, but nothing made sense in her mind.

"Father, is something wrong? Yoko should be in her room right now. I just left her the…"

"Master, Lady Yoko has not returned to her room. Her door was locked from the outside, but when we forced it open, her room window was open."

Her father's complexion went even paler at the guard's words, but it was Sakura that felt the real force of those words.

Yoko was missing! But why? And more importantly, how? Sakura had made sure the door was shut tightly so that no one could enter and exit.

'Surely Yoko is not suicidal enough to jump out of the window. Even she should know that she would not survive a fall like that.'

"I knew I saw Yoko outside my window. She dared to jump out and die under my presence?" Her father was seething with anger now.

Sakura had never heard her father speak about anyone in that tone of his. He sounded half-mad already.

Even the guards looked taken aback at the state of their master.

"Lord Tsurugi, what should we do now? Lady Yoko cannot possibly have survived that fall…"

"Then bring her dead body back at any cost. Do what you must to endure that or you all will die with her. I need her body, no matter if it is dead or alive. She needs to marry so that I can get my right as the family head."

Sakura did not know why her father was so obsessed with Yoko getting married, but it seemed like it was a big deal.

Sakura had a lot of questions, but she did not ask any of them. She knew she would get her answers sooner or later. But for now, she needed to lay low.

She did not know why, but Sakura's instincts were telling her not to make Yoko her enemy. And Sakura was someone who had always listened to her instincts.

___________________________

There was a certain freedom in freefalling. It started with fear and ended up in an adrenaline rush.

Amane had long passed the point of feeling fear when falling from great heights. She would not have been able to achieve some of the feats she did in her previous life if she had been afraid of heights.

'Ahhhh, here she comes. I knew I judged the distance right.'

Amane quickly threw her hands out as soon as she felt the huge body coming closer to her. The griffin was going to miss Amane by a few inches at her present trajectory.

But that was not a problem for Amane. She knew what she needed to do to correct her path.

'Well, it's now or never. Let's find out if my whistling still works.'

Amane's tone was laced with magic when she whistled. It was low and the frequency she used could only be heard by a Griffin.

'Got it.'

Amane knew the instant she had Griffin's attention. The tone she had imitated belonged to a young Griffin in distress.

The Griffin immediately caught Amane in its massive claw before descending. It was a relatively safe landing for the pair and Amane was instantly let go as soon as the pair touched the ground.

'Step 1 - complete. Now comes the tough part.'

The Griffin let Amane go as soon as she realized that Amane seemed different from a baby Griffin.

The lack of wings and the bi-pedal nature of Amane's biology were too big a factor for her to overcome.

As soon as Griffin realized that, she became furious and panicked. The loss of a baby and the appearance of a possible danger made the Griffin lash out.

Amane's instincts told her to dodge but her body's reflexes refused to cooperate. It showed just how underwhelming her new body was.

'I'm pretty but useless. Charlie would laugh if she saw me like this.'

There had been a time when Amane had teased Charlie about her weak but pretty body. The then-sixteen-year-old had gone red in the face and denied being fragile.

How those words were coming back to mock Amane now. Finding herself in the position of the weak did not seem like a fun idea.

'But I am not easy prey. I just need to wait for the chance and strike back.

What Amane lacked in strength, she made up for in magic and technique. Her core was pulsing with power, and Amane easily forced her energy to form leashes.

As soon as the Griffin attacked again, Amane dodged out of its path and used her magic to make her body lighter.

She needed one moment to capture the Griffin and leash it with her magic. Once she did that, the Griffin was as good as tamed.

It might sound easy but to bound such a big creature, a lot of mental pressure, as well as magical strength, was required. If a normal person tried it, they would die because of the resultant backlash.

Thankfully, physical strength was not a must when trying to tame the beasts or Amane would have been in a lot of danger.

'I need to still the Griffin for a minute. I hope my aura would still work on it.'

Most beasts were guided by their instincts. They cower in front of the strong and bullied the weak.

So, when presented with a strong aura, most beasts tended to freeze, and that was the window of opportunity Amane needed to finally lash the beast.

Amane considered it a success as soon as her feet touched Griffin's back and she got ready with her leash.

'Now all I need is an opportunity. I hope the Griffin doesn't decide to bolt now.'

Amane released her aura slowly. She needed to not make a mistake in this step or the Griffin would get startled.

Once the Griffin became familiar with her aura, Amane would release it abruptly and confuse the Griffin. It would stop moving and that would be her window of opportunity.

But that was all wishful thinking on Amane's part. Her happy thoughts were stopped by the shrilling sound of footsteps.

"There she is - Lady Yoko. She's still alive, but the Griffin seems to have taken her hostage. Quick, kill the beast so that we can save Lady Yoko."

The guards had it all wrong, but there was no way for Amane to clarify the situation now. The Griffin beneath her hands was panicking at the inclusion of these new people.

'These stupid guards. Why do they have such bad timing? I need to get the Griffin away from here before someone ends up dead.'

These guards were fools if they thought they could take an angry Griffin on their own. None of the guards in front of Amane carried magical weapons, so they could not be casters.

These were ordinary people without any magical capabilities, and they were pretty much asking to die by trying to save Amane from the Griffin.

'I hope this never reaches the ears of anyone who has ever known me. I would die of shame and regret otherwise.'

Since things had come to this, Amane felt like she had no other choice but to be stupid and pull a stunt she repeatedly warned the people she had taught never to do.

She pulled at Griffin's wing to distract it from the guards. It worked instantly, and the Griffin took off into the sky without hesitation.

And Amane, like the idiot she was, decided not to jump down from the angry beast. Her chances of getting away successfully were nil.

Either Amane would get hurt from Griffin's massive claws or her magic would cause Amane to backlash.

Her core was still not stable and Amane did not feel like she had enough control over it to make a safe landing.

'I will take my chance with the Griffin in the sky. It should calm down once it is high enough. I will need to time my sudden burst right but I feel like I will be able to make it.'

Amane was trying something that was beyond foolish. It had more chances of failure than it had of success.

'Fuck caution. I will live my life how I want to.'

Amane had made her decision and she would follow through. It was not like she had anyone to stop her now.

'Man, having no responsibility is so good. Freedom is really the best feeling in this world and I will not give it away at any cost.'

It was finally time. The Griffin had flown as high as it was willing to and Amane was ready to execute her plan.