"Now what?" Damien asked while looking at the next that was sitting at the top of the tufts of the leaves.
"I will go and take it down," Thalia said to Damien. She paused and asked, "Will that be alright?"
Damien nodded. Earlier, he had refused her to carry him because his pride didn't allow him to let a woman hold him in a princess's carry but he didn't see any problem with her bringing down the giant bird nest.
Upon seeing him nod, Thalia smiled happily and then flew to the top of the citronella leaves. She gingerly caught hold of the nest and brought it down.
"It seems like the mother abandoned this one," she remarked as she placed the nest down on the ground.
Damien peered inside and saw a lone egg lying between the eggshells. It was pitifully small, like a quail egg, and its shell seemed really thin.
"It's a runt," Maui remarked while crouching and looking inside the nest. "Of course, it was going to be abandoned. If you are not strong enough to survive, even beasts will not be willing to take care of their children."
Damien felt uncomfortable upon hearing those words. Was that the reason that he was abandoned by his parents? Because they thought that he was not going to survive? He remembered his thin and scrawny self when he was young, and the feeling intensified.
He crouched down and picked up the egg that was lying in the nest and said, "We should dig a grave for it. It's better to bury it in the ground rather than leave it here."
Maui opened his mouth to say something but then held himself back.
It only took Damien a few minutes to dig a grave for the tiny egg. He was about to put the egg inside of it when he felt it move in his palm.
"Woah–what?" He gasped in surprise.
"What happened, Lord Damien?" Maui asked while looking at Damien, who was holding the egg in his hands.
"It moved," Damien replied while eyeing the egg warily.
"Moved? Are you sure?" Thalia asked. "Maybe you felt it roll? The shell of the egg is too thin; I don't think it can survive."
"Maybe you are right," Damien remarked, feeling a bit dubious. He was sure that he felt the egg move, but he also agreed with Thalia. The shell of the egg was too thin, and it had been left in the nest without the care of his mother for who knows how long?
Truthfully speaking, it didn't sound all that impressive. But that was until Damien saw how big this thing could grow. And if this was a D-grade monster, he shuddered to think how big the C-grade monsters might be, and yet this thing could take it down?
He had to admit that it was pretty impressive in its own way.
[Meat! Meat! ]
The Ironclaw Eagle shouted, and Damien, who could hear and understand his chatter, felt his brows twitch. He got up and handed the baby eagle to Thalia and said to her, "Go and bring something for this beast to eat."
He didn't know whether it was because this Ironclaw Eagle was a monster, but it was way too smart for its own good. It was so young and already knew that the crying child got the milk first.
Thalia, who was given the charge to feed the baby eagle, was stumped. She looked at the baby eagle, and the eagle looked back before the two of them exploded at once.
"I can't take care of this thing."
[Momma!]
"Do you think I have the time to find rats for him to eat?" Damien turned with a soul-shuddering smile on his face. "There are people waiting to be rescued, you know? On top of that, I am hungry and tired," He pointed to the cloud of mosquitoes that was swirling around the temple.
"So you better not piss me off."
Thalia and the baby eagle almost immediately quieted down and went to look for something to eat.
Damien watched them go and snorted. Really, with his luck, he could only run into weirdos. Even that baby eagle was quite an odd one.
He turned to look at the citronella plant and sliced off a few leaves with his dagger.
Once the leaves fell in his hands, he used his space ring and brought out the pestle and mortar.
He said to Dan, "How long do I need to do this before I can get a skill that could turn these leaves into potions on its own?"
Dan looked at the empty balance on the screen and honestly replied, "As long as you are alive, there are enough chances to win such a skill."