An Owl's Rise

"Now if there is nothing else that you need or had planned Lady Evelyn, I could show you and your friends around our home. We have made some improvements since the last time you were here and would love to show you." Otis said as he moved a bit closer towards Evelyn and gave her a wide grin.

"That sounds good. You seem pretty proud, so I am expecting that you have something amazing to show me." Evelyn said, easily agreeing.

His smile widening, Otis began happily leading them to show them how the place had changed.

"This is the second largest chamber in our burrow and before it was mostly just a communal area we would use for various things, but now we have put it to better use." Otis said holding his right wing out and pointing it at what now filled the chamber.

Spread all over were the corpses of several different species of beasts that dwell in the desert and even a few humans.

It was certainly not what Evelyn had been expecting to see and for just a moment it made her queasy.

Luckily, she got over that feeling quickly enough, which was a lingering vestige of the innocent young human girl she used to be.

'What even is this? Did they just turn this room into a waste disposal area? But that does not really make much sens- Oh! So that is what they are doing.'

At first Evelyn could not tell the purpose of all the bodies in the room, but after scanning through it she spotted what was going on.

The moisture in the room was very thick and on some of the older bodies she spotted that a certain type of mushroom was growing.

It had a dark red coloration for the most part but had a pattern of black lines that spread out from its center. Giving it a very sinister look.

However, these mushrooms were actually harmless to consume and a very useful magical fungus.

They were known as vitshrooms, and they helped restore and sustain energy.

Their effects were not the most impressive, but they were able to grow fairly fast and were a main ingredient in stamina restoration pills.

'Still this level of growth seems unnatural. How did they get them to take so fast. It should have taken at least a few more moths for them to mature to the level they are at.' Evelyn thought.

And when she asked Otis, he told her what they had done.

"We got the idea from you Lady Evelyn. You said that the magic spring water would enhance the potency of those potions and pills you gave us, so we wondered if it would help with growing magical plants. As you know the Chryseos Vines grow only aroudn the spring and fill with magical energy when it is active. This gave us all the confirmation we needed to know that it could help us cultivate certain magical plants and fungi. To that end we have a few of those among us with a water affinity use the spring water to keep this room moist and a perfect environment to grow these vitshrooms." Otis explained.

He was clearly proud of their work and Evelyn was actually pretty impressed with what they had done.

"This is truly wonderful Otis. I never expected you all to think of something like this and execute it so well." Evelyn said giving the burrowing owls some praise.

This seemed to surprise Otis since before Evelyn had actually been pretty aloof with them. It was like she was a different owl now.

However, this was simply part of the change that had occurred when she accepted that she wanted to grow bonds with others and trust again.

As for Otis and the burrowing owls she figured that they were close enough that she could rely on them and not act like they might stab her in the back at any moment.

In a way they were like her followers, and she felt no reason to distrust them anymore.

"Now these are not the only things we are currently trying to cultivate down here with the help of the magic spring, but it is certainly our most successful. Though it pains me that currently none of the vitshrooms are matured and worthy to present you with. However, when once we have harvested the first batch, we shall save the best for you to have." Otis said, with a devoted expression on his face.

"Thank you, Otis. I will be looking forward to receiving the fruits of your efforts."

After that Otis led them around the rest of the burrow and showed them what other magical plants and fungi they were attempting to grow, to various levels of success.

Yet as they continued, while Evelyn and Rehni seemed more and more impressed, Bylur was growing increasingly frustrated and irrationally angry.

It took him nearly an hour to figure out why but eventually it hit him.

The problem was Otis. Specifically, how close he was always to Evelyn and the way he seemed to be so easily winning her affection.

Once he had reached the awakened rank and gotten a bit wiser, plus some advice from Reni he had taken a large step back and given Evelyn some room.

He had figured that he could slowly build up their relationship as friends first and show her how reliable and powerful he was.

And certainly, things had been going well from his point of view.

Evelyn had recently become far less distant from him and through their battles in the ranking hall had come to rely on him.

It did not seem that she had developed any romantic feeling for him like he had her, but he figured it was only a matter of time. He was the only male owl that had any sort of relationship with her in the first place.

At least that had been the case until now.

'Don't think I can't see what you are trying to do by closing up to her, Otis.' Bylur thought with disdain as he glared at the tiny burrowing owl that was constantly within close proximity to Evelyn.

As he did this at one point Otis turned his head all the way around sensing the hatred Bylur was directing his way.

Then when he locked eyes with Bylur he gave him a knowing smirk and turned his head back around and began happily chatting away with Evelyn.

This made Bylur erupt in fury, and he imagined himself squashing the tiny burrowing owl that was several dozens of times smaller than him.

Nevertheless, despite his rage, Bylur did not do anything rash.

While Otis was much smaller than him actually attacking and successfully killing him would be difficult.

He was a high tier awakened rank beast that was getting close to making it to the peak and even though he had a higher quality, Bylur's chance of winning a head on fight was at best fifty-fifty.

There was also the fact that attacking Otis would certainly displease Evelyn and it was very likely that all the trust she had in Bylur would be lost in an instant.

'You can act smug for now, but we will only be here for a few days, and after that, Evelyn will completely forget about you again.' Bylur thought to make himself feel better.

Still seeing that he was not the only one that was after her, a light sparked in him and he decided that once they returned to the Roost he was done being as passive as he had been.

Their relationship as friends was fairly solid and now that she trusted him all he needed to do was win her over.

He had been infatuated with her from the first moment he saw her, and nothing was going to stop him from pursuing his feelings.

And while Bylur was having his internal struggle and trying to figure out ways to win Evelyn over, Rehni was instead evaluating the worth of these burrowing owls.

'Some of their methos are pretty crude, but with proper direction the magic spring might be able to be used to grow far rarer magical plants. It might be worth pursuing bringing in more specialized equipment from the Roost along with other magical plants to grow. It is normally very difficult to grow most types in captivity, but the magic spring seems to have properties that promote growth far better than most magic tool the Roost has.'

Reni could tell that the Burrowing owls were completely devoted to Evelyn and that they were already trying to be of use to them.

In a way they were like her own little organization outside of the Roost.

If properly utilized, they could help their team grow much stronger at a rapid pace.

At their disposable was one of the rarest resources that rarely ever existed and with it they had a chance that few would ever even dream of.

"That concludes all of the new additions we have made to our burrow. Would you like me to lead you to your room now? The chamber you used has been prepared for whenever you are here." Otis said.

"No, I will stay in the same room as Bylur and Rehni while we are here, so I will need a larger chamber. Could you have something prepared for us?"

"Yes! I will have it done right away. We will prepare a lavish chamber for you and your friends." Otis said enthusiastically.