The Strongest Beast Tamer - 130 Aaron's Untold Past 2

In a large mansion located near the centre of the city of Lavish, capital for the kingdom of Lavestic. A middle age man was furiously banging his hands against his desk, papers scattered as his face was tomato red. His dark green suit had almost been torn apart by his bulging muscles, his short black hair stood on its ends.

“Damn! Those damn peasant bastards!” The man’s eyes were bloodthirsty with a hint of red, the veins were popping out across his skin, his teeth clenched tightly. “If I see that peasant that decided to steal from me I’ll tear them limb from limb, start by slowly peeling off their skin before cutting the sensitive flesh.”

“Daddy?” A sweet voice came from in front of the man, the door slightly open as a girl was peeking through. The man swiftly took a deep breath before composing himself.

“Come in daughter.” The man sat back down, he felt his heartbeat slow down as the one thing that stopped him from massacring everyone in the city walked into his study, his daughter. “What is it that you want?”

“You were shouting and it scared me, daddy, is everything alright?” The young girl asked, her very presence calmed the man down.

“Ah yes, everything’s alright daughter, just some issues with work, you know the usual stuff,’ The man leaned back in his chair, his anger slightly subsiding with the entrance of his daughter. His sole child, the one that was birthed from the woman he loved before she was taken away by the hardship of life; even the best of healing magicians couldn’t save her.

“Why is it always work?” The daughter asked as she clenched her fist tightly, the father was slightly stunned by his daughter’s question. “Every time there’s a problem its always to do with work, can’t we just leave all this behind and leave peacefully in the countryside; as long as I have daddy I don’t care what happens around us.”

The man stood up and walked to his daughter, he wrapped his arms around and brought her into his embrace. “Oh my precious daughter; it’s exactly because of that innocent and kind heart that I fear for the future and want to do everything in my power to make sure you can live that peaceful life. Even at the cost of my own, I will make it happen.”

“But mummy wouldn’t want that, mummy would want daddy to live with me peacefully and happily; right?” The daughter asked with a wide smile across her face.

“Right. Do say, daughter, is there anything you want right now?” The man asked with a very serious voice and face.

“I want a pet, something that’ll keep me company forever, something that’ll protect me and daddy forever.” The daughter had a rather ridiculous request, but as a Baron of the kingdom, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have the power to get something like that.

“Okay daughter, I’ll get you a grand pet but for now, you need to get some rest, it’s still early morning,” The man said before lifting up his daughter and walking to her bedroom. He laid his daughter in bed and brought the sheets up to her face. “Good night.”

“Goodnight,” The daughter said in a gentle voice before drifting to sleep. The man stayed there for a few more seconds, watching over his daughter peacefully as he rested his mind and calmed his mental state.

Walking outside the bedroom his personal butler was there, a man that has managed to stick with him through life and death situations. He didn’t see this butler as a mere butler but as a comrade and friend.

“Saveb, take a group of magicians and knights and bring my daughter a pet she’ll remember. Oh, those Mountain Lions should be in the middle of the birthing season; either bring me a small cub or entire family,” The Baron ordered.

“Yes, master,” The butler said as he bowed with a hand by his chest.

“Remember, behind closed doors you don’t need to use formalities, you’re a friend,” The Baron said as he patted Saveb’s shoulders lightly.

“Alright Aaron, I’ll bring back something you can be happy about,” Saveb said confidently before walking away down the hall, his neat black suit fading into the distance along with his slightly long grey hair.

Aaron sighed deeply as he went back to his study, he walked slowly to his desk before taking a look at the pile of papers scattered across it. He sat down and leaned back, his hands on his head.

Elsewhere in the castle, Saveb was seen readying a group of troops, 15 knights and 3 magicians. The knights were suited in their silver armour, a golden crest just above their heart and a much larger one on their backs. The magicians were wearing purple robes along with the same crest, in their hands were wooden staffs.

“Let’s set out now,” Saveb said as he hopped into the front seat of the carriage, he took hold of the reins and whipped it. The horses neighed loudly before sprinting off, the magicians had swiftly acted and got inside the carriage while the knights got onto horses of their own.

They swiftly got out of the city and the knights surrounded the carriage in a defensive formation. Bandits were outside the city, they had to keep their guards up.

…

In the thick snow, a family of lions was seen enjoying life, the cubs playing in the thick snow and the parents keeping a close watch. They were suspicious of everything that moved, that’s how they survived for so long.

However, just during this one morning, they began to worry about one of their cubs. It seemed to gravitate towards everything that it hadn’t seen before, as though it was something amazing. They had to get rid of that habit but didn’t know how.

The lioness looked towards the lion. “So, are you going to go out and hunt for some food?”

The lion shook his head. “No, we’ll eat the dead Carserous. Food always gets scarce in the winter, I’ll search for some tomorrow while you keep the kids inside the cave.”

“Alright,” The lioness nodded as she walked up to her children. “Alright then children, it’s time to head back into the cave.”

The children swiftly followed their mother back, even the most curious of the bunch followed along. The lion followed from behind them all, making sure no one gets lost or separates from the pack. However, his ears perked up at the sound of clattering hooves.

A carriage and its guards burst through the thick snow and shrubbery. It quickly stopped before the lion and Saveb hopped out, he bowed gracefully before turning to one of the magicians. The magician nodded and slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground, a magic circle spread from his feet and Saveb turned back to the lion.

“For what reason have you come here human? You know this is sacred land for us Mountain Lions,” The lion said in a deep and intimidating voice, his eyes glowing with bloodlust at the sight of humans.

“We come here in hopes of striking a deal with your family, one which benefits both parties greatly,” Saveb said calmly, without showing a hint of fear at the face of death. Mountain Lions were one of the strongest animals in the surrounding kingdoms, known for their perseverance when it comes to protecting their young.

“Say what you want,” The lion said calmly before turning to the lioness and telling her to wait patiently.

“Yes. We wish to offer you and your family a deal, we wish that you move into the Baron’s mansion. We will give you all the food you need and you’ll have plenty of resources to stay warm and comfortable. But what we ask in return is that you become friends with the Baron’s daughter and help protect her whenever the Baron can’t.” Saveb suggests his deal and stepped back a bit, he said what he needed to say. There was no need to sugarcoat it; if the lion agrees then he agrees, if not then there’s nothing to convince him to say otherwise.

The lion sat down and looked towards the sky. “Do you know the thing concerning our race, the thing that truly makes you humans fearful of us, the thing that forces you to leave us alone.”

Saveb nodded. “Of course, it’s an old saying that can only be true. Those that strike down a Lavestic Mountain Lion will have the things most important to them struck down in the same way.”

“Yet knowing that you still wish to let us into your home?” The lion asked.

“Of course, we aren’t planning on striking you down, did you not hear my offer? We wish to become friends with you and that’s how we’ll treat you as well, like friends,” Saveb said.

The lion thought for a bit. Although it wasn’t too certain about living with humans the conditions in the mountains was getting worse, food was scarce and the nights were getting colder. Although he could handle it due to him being an adult, he was worried about his children. It wasn’t all that uncommon now for the cubs to die from the cold.

He looked back towards Saveb, his eyes were honest, the lion could tell that much. He’s seen and interacted with many humans before, bandits and serial killers. They all had the same aura and glint in their eyes, yet Saveb’s eyes were kind and generous. For someone to still possess those eyes in this world, it’s rare, to say the least.

“Alright; however, remember, we aren’t your pets or anything like that, we’re friends that treat each other equally, I hope your master can understand that,” The lion said.

“Of course my master can understand, he merely cares for his daughter and wants her to have someone she can fall back onto if times get rough. She’s innocent and pure, the master wants to try and keep it like that,” Saveb explained before walking back to the carriage. “Well, come on, it takes a while for us to reach the Baron’s mansion.”

The lion nodded before gesturing to the lioness behind him. They walked towards the carriage with their children, once they reached it they lifted their children on one by one before getting on themselves.

The magician took a deep breath before deactivating the spell he cast. It was a spell that allowed humans to converse with anything else that can speak, it was useful during negotiations and other matters.

One of the cubs crawled towards the magician, it sniffed around a bit before slightly biting onto the magician’s staff. The magician smiled and reached down to pet the small cub, his fingers brushing through the short hair.

The lion didn’t mind, after all, everyone was fearful due to that old saying. It wasn’t mere coincident either, whenever someone decided to strike a Mountain Lion they would have their lives ruined.

One time a respectable king wanted a Mountain Lion as a pet, he decided to strike down the cub’s parents to take it away. That same year the king had a falling out as his kingdom almost crumbled to the ground.

Another time it was a simple farmer, he thought of the Mountain Lion as a threat and killed it when he saw it walk around his farm. That year all of his crops died, he went broke and had to work for someone else. But even then, the farm that he worked for slowly went broke as well due to their crops not growing. Seeing that man as a plague he was killed.

From that point onwards the tale about the curse of the Mountain Lions was spread. Any place that became home for the Mountain Lions became sacred ground, a place where people shouldn’t go and if they have to go through it they tread lightly and carefully.