Kays Translations

Chapter 31: The Wyvern

To keep the promise I had made to my sister, we were now travelling to the Tradel River as a family.

But I had one question: how had it come to this?

I had originally planned to take only Rosalia, but Mother objected that it would be dangerous for the two of us to go alone.

Rosalia was the only daughter of House Heine, and both Mother and the rest of the family treasured her like a little princess.

“I’m sorry, Rosalia. That’s why I can’t take you with me.”

“What?! That’s not fair! Not fair, not fair!”

My sister threw the biggest tantrum I had ever seen. I had no idea why she was so furious, but Mother stepped in to calm her down.

“All right, Rosalia. Then Mother will go with you. That should be fine, shouldn’t it?”

Father objected to that, however, and insisted on coming too. Brother Cain then joined us, and before I knew it, the entire family was going on a picnic to the Tradel River.

Well, so much for gathering river-elk antlers.

The Tradel River was cool and beautiful that day. Summer was still a little way off, but I imagined it would be pleasant to visit even then.

Our carriage rolled slowly along the riverbank while we admired the scenery. Spending a quiet day like this once in a while was rather nice.

Unfortunately, the peaceful mood was shattered by a knight’s shout.

“Report! There’s an injured man ahead. He appears to be an adventurer!”

“An injured adventurer? There shouldn’t be any dangerous animals around here. Hurry and take him a healing potion!”

Lionel immediately issued orders. As he had said, no animals in this area normally attacked people, and there were no monsters nearby either.

The river elk might become aggressive if provoked, but they wouldn’t inflict wounds like this without cause.

The carriage continued forward until we reached the adventurer. A healing potion had already closed his wounds, but the leather armour across his chest had been torn wide open.

Had a bear attacked him? No—the claw marks were far too large.

“My lord, we have a serious problem. He says a wyvern attacked him nearby.”

“What?!”

“We’re still questioning him, but there’s little doubt that it was a wyvern.”

Father and Mother went pale. Brother Cain and Rosalia, who didn’t understand what a wyvern was, merely looked confused. I, meanwhile, was wondering how we were going to survive this without exposing too much of my power.

Even in a child’s body, I could probably defeat a wyvern. But should I? An A-rank adventurer would normally be called in for such a monster. If a seven-year-old defeated one in front of everyone, Mother might actually faint.

“We should turn back at once. Send word to the Adventurers’ Guild.”

If the wyvern were on the ground, our current escort might be able to defeat it. The problem was forcing it to land. Unfortunately, only two mages were among the guards.

“Father, moving the carriage may be dangerous. It’ll stand out.”

“Julius… you may be right.”

A large group of people was conspicuous enough, and our carriage was impossible to overlook. It had been made to display the dignity of House Heine, after all.

“What should we do, my lord?”

“We should wait for adventurers to arrive… but there’s no guarantee that an A-rank adventurer will be available. That could take too long.”

Spending the night here would also be dangerous. We hadn’t brought enough food for an extended stay.

“Hmm. It’s risky, but we have no choice. We’ll return.”

At last realising how serious the situation was, Rosalia clung to Mother. Brother Cain had gone pale as well, and Lionel’s expression was tense.

Under Father’s direction, we turned back the way we had come.

I had never heard of a wyvern appearing near the Tradel River. Where had it come from, and why? Had it simply lost its way?

Dragons, which were treated almost like natural disasters, sometimes appeared without warning. A wyvern, being a lesser dragon species, might behave in much the same way.

We retraced our route, but unfortunately, the creature had already noticed us. A piercing cry echoed from the sky above.

“It found us already?! Get the carriage beneath those trees!”

At Father’s command, the carriage was driven into the shade of a large tree, and the knights formed a defensive ring around it.

Did wyverns consider humans prey? Probably not. If they did, they would attack towns and villages more often, and the adventurer we had found would have been eaten. Perhaps the creature simply saw us as intruders.

Whatever its reason, my only concern now was protecting my family. For that, I was willing to use my power.

I stepped out of the carriage. I couldn’t see the wyvern clearly from inside.

“Julius, what are you doing?! It’s dangerous—get back in here!”

Pretending not to hear Father, I closed the carriage door behind me. Rosalia was crying inside. I forced myself to ignore that too.

Ahead of us, the wyvern was descending.

“Lord Julius, it’s dangerous!”

“Lionel, have the two mages aim for its right wing. I’ll take the left.”

“You heard Lord Julius! Aim for the wyvern’s right wing!”

The wyvern skimmed low over the river, its powerful wingbeats sending ripples across the surface. A deep, unsettling growl rolled from its throat. It was far more intimidating than it had ever seemed in the game.

As it approached, the two mages released their spells. A fireball and a mass of stone shot toward it. The wyvern avoided the fireball, but the stone struck its right wing and threw it off balance.

“Wind Blade!”

Wind Blade was an enhanced version of the Wind Sword spell I had used before. It produced a long, razor-sharp blade of compressed air.

My spell tore clean through the wyvern’s left wing. Deprived of one wing and injured in the other, the creature crashed to the ground.

Cheers erupted from the knights.

“Don’t let your guard down! It’s still a dragon species. Approach carefully!”

At my order, the spear-wielding knights advanced on the thrashing wyvern.

Perhaps I should have cut it in half from the beginning. I could only hope I hadn’t made the wrong choice.

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