A wyvern burst out of the burrow and cackled with anger.
I immediately hid behind my father’s leg.
The raptor looking beast charged at us, its claws long and sharp.
This raptor like wyvern was at least 4 meters long, with tough looking scales and long talons.
I could see the hungry and murderous intent in its yellow reptilian eyes.
Drool ran down its opened mouth, teeth glinted dangerously.
Cold sweat began to run down my back.
Every one of those teeth was bigger than my arms, I don’t even count as an appetizer!
This was supposed to be a small wyvern!
This was bad, very very bad!
“Seems like we found it!” My father’s voice resounded.
A beat later it slammed into my father’s heavy shield with a shriek as he parried the wyvern.
I couldn’t believe my eyes, my father easily parried a beast more than double his own size and even managed to throw it back.
It hurtled a few meters backwards before landing, its claws finding purchases on a massive tree root.
The wyvern cackled even louder than before.
This beast looked even angrier now.
I was rooted in the spot with fear.
„Stay close, Aria!” My father said and readied his Lance, snapping me out of the rising panic.
The not so small wyvern charged again, moving in a zig zagging motion around us.
Another jump, claws stretched forward and gleaming with a sickening purple fluid oozing onto them.
I felt my father shift positions.
His Lance moved faster than I could see, its sharp tip impacting with the wyvern.
A burst of deep red blood burst forth, bathing my father in it.
It reeked.
“Ahhh!” I screamed, my knuckles white from how I grip father’s leg as strong as my small body allows.
He swiveled to the right, his Lance still embedded in the wyverns chest, the beast thrashed its legs towards father, almost scratching him with its poisoned talons gleaming dangerously.
Father slammed it into the ground, using the momentum from his turn.
The beast let out a pained howl.
The Lance kept the wyvern pinned to the floor.
I couldn’t even understand how strong dad is, but he actually forced this injured wyvern to stay put.
He pulled on his Lance grip and flames erupted, blasting the monster’s innards to charcoal.
After a few more twitches, the beast was slain.
I was speechless.
Sure ingame it only was a so called small wyvern, but it was still dangerous and always got newbies who skipped the tutorial and yet, father killed it in less under a minute.
He truly was skilled.
With the wyvern slain, my father relaxed again and I felt him pull me up into a hug.
“Was it too scary?” He asked in a voice filled with warmth and worry.
I shook my head and let out a cute little puff, “no, because you were with me, dad.” “Awww what a brave little girl you are!” He nuzzled me with his scratchy face.
“That tickles!” I squealed and he pulled away, setting me back down onto the forest floor.
“You know what comes now, right?” I looked up at him, my finger moving to my chin as I pondered, “ummm..
we carve it?” “Exactly!” I saw him pull out his spare knife as he walked up to the wyvern carcass.
“Since I used my lance’s wyvern fire, we won’t take the poison sac this time, but if you hunt one yourself someday, this is where it’d be.” He plunged his knife into the carcass, easily slicing up its belly and black sludge seeped out.
I fainted.
“You took our 6 year old daughter to a wyvern nest?!” I heard my mother yelling, rousing me a bit.
It felt to comfy to get up, but mom was having none of it.
“You told me you’d only teach her how to read tracks!
Not to follow them to a fully grown Zengard!” I opened my eyes and realized my mom gave me a lap pillow.
I was at the base camp near scarlet forest again.
It looked like my parents had changed my clothes after I fainted and the open tent was tinted in a deep orange from the setting sun.
“Mom?” I slowly sat up.
“Oh did I wake you, sweetheart?” Her soft and slender hands began stroking my long red hair.
“Mommy just has to scold your dad, okay?” I nodded, still a bit nauseous from what happened.
“But Aisha, it wasn’t on purpose!
And she never left my side, either!” Father pleaded with her.
“She even had my carving knife!” “She had what?!” And mom fully snaps.
“You gave our 6 year old daughter your carving knife without prior guidance?!
I thought we agreed to teach her to read first, so she could study our hunting notes?” Dad scratched his had, “it really wasn’t on purpose, though.
I had the hunters guild check the place out first and they told me the burrow was abandoned since a recent hunt.” My mom buried her face in her hand and let out a sigh, “and you didn’t think of checking it out yourself?
Well at least you brought us fresh wyvern meat for tonight, honey.” “Yaaay!” I exclaimed, hugging mom even more than before.
The fight my parents had was finished already.
“Now come here you idiot of mine,” mom pulled dad into an embrace, giving him a light kiss.
My parents then finished up cleaning the base camp after use and I now mounted mom’s Peco together with her.
Her bird was called Rayn and it had a sky blue color without any markings or patterns, but it wore extra saddle bags.
They were bulging out from all the materials father must’ve gathered after mom arrived.
I felt her lightly kick Rayn into a gallop, which replied with a loud “kweh” before getting much faster.
Scarlet forest was pretty close to our village and far away from the expedition camps.
As our family rode back, dad began to talk again, “Aisha, have you heard they founded a new village on the other side of mount Faedar?” “Wasn’t the guild master talking about it recently?
What’s it called again?
Lulun?” Mom replied as we reached the grasslands again.
In the distance was a group of hunters visible, riding their Peco’s together with a big carriage towards the mountains.
“Yeah, that’s what they call it!
Oh look Hans’s party.” Father points towards the group I noticed.
“So he really goes for a night raid on Infernal bears?” We finally reached the village outskirts.
My eyes darted to my father.
“Looks it, I told him what to look out for, so the boy should be fine.” “He’s silver rank 5 isn’t he?
That’s a bit early for night raiding such a monster.” Mom worried for the young Hunter.
I thought about Infernal bears for a moment, my head moving as I pondered.
If these Infernal bears were the same as ingame, shouldn’t they be silver rank 1 for night raids?
They were dangerous, especially when they spat their smeltering hot stomach acids.
I had no idea how their biology was supposed to work, but they spat globs of magma like that could seriously injure hunters.
You’d think their poor night vision made night raids easier, but Infernal bears have almost too keen noses.
My thoughts got interrupted when mom slowed Rayn to a stop and I dismounted with her help.
Next door the heavy leather yurts curtains were drawn and the door stood wide open.
Drawn towards the noises, I walked away from my parents, wandering towards the neighboring yurt.
Our village had proper houses too, but in small villages like this one, hunters use to live in guild instated yurts.
Father once told me hub towns had proper brick housing even for hunters.
I peeked into the open door and saw a couple cleaning out the yurt.
A young girl with turquoise colored hair was sleeping on a bed inside.
She had a cute angelic face and wore frilly looking traveling vest and shorts made from leather and with delicate looking ribbons.
She was the first other girl I saw here and I quickly dashed back towards our home, just arriving in time for my parents to have finished taking care of the Pecos.
“Mom, dad, we have new neighbors!” I had to tell them on the spot, huffing a little from my quick sprint.
“And they even have a fairy!” “A fairy?” Mom answered, hand on her cheek as we moved into the yurt.
“And where could that have been?” “She’s right next door, sleeping!” I gushed, jumping around mom and flailing my arms.
“She has cyan hair that glows!
And she wears that frilly traveling vest!
She just has to be a fairy, I swear!” “Oh do you mean Rune?
She’s Zoe and Mel’s kid.
They just moved in next doors didn’t they?” Mom replied.
“Well I heard they arrived today, so you shouldn’t bother them, okay Aria?” Dad chimes in, “they were our party members before we had you and it seems they finally settled down themselves.
Heard they now plan to train the newbies out here.” “Let’s hope she’s a nice girl, right Aria?” Mom began to prepare tonight’s food while talking.