The Felled Wyvern

The sound and tremors shook the snow loose from the surrounding trees.

As they moved, Yohane brushed the snow off the top of Azu's head.

Noticing, Azu thanked him.

"Thank you."

"That was quite a sound."

"It really was. It startled me."

He agreed with Azu.

The mountain had gone completely silent.

There wasn't a trace of any living creature.

"The monsters are all hiding. Whatever it was must be terrifying."

Alexia used magic to scan the area and reported her findings.

So it wasn't that there was nothing around. They just weren't coming out.

Could it be related to that tremor?

Thanks to Elza's blessing, Yohane managed to keep up with the other three.

If Azu ran at full speed, she'd leave him in the dust in no time.

"We should be close."

At Elza's words, Azu nodded.

They struggled along the animal trail toward the source of the sound.

By the time Yohane had started to work up a light sweat, the trees gave way to a clearing.

There, slammed into the ground and dead, lay a Wyvern. A lone warrior stood beside it.

Yohane recognized that warrior.

"Isn't that the Dragon Slayer?"

Azu rose up on her toes to whisper in his ear.

She was straining as hard as she could to reach.

"Alhechhi, if I remember right."

"He was in the Colosseum, wasn't he?"

"I fought him directly. He was unbelievably strong. I can see why they call him a Dragon Slayer."

"Come to think of it, you did face him in the tournament, Alexia."

"And the person who ordered me to enter has already forgotten?"

Alexia sounded exasperated.

Before they realized it, they'd been talking amongst themselves, and the Dragon Slayer noticed them.

He sheathed the sword he'd been wiping blood from and walked over.

"You know my name? Have we met before? It's Dragon at the end, by the way. I took the name from the first Dragon I ever killed."

"My mistake. Alhechhi Dragon-san. Do you remember us… or rather, this one? You fought in the Colosseum."

He pulled Alexia up beside him.

Alexia lowered her hood so her face was clearly visible.

"The Colosseum? Now that you mention it, I suppose there was something like that. I only entered to kill time, but I enjoyed it more than expected. I remember the King of Spartia being reasonably strong."

Alhechhi Dragon studied Alexia while searching his memory.

He didn't seem to recognize her at first, but when he spotted the battle-axe strapped to her back, it clicked.

"An axe. A warrior… no, a mage. Yes, I think I did fight someone like that. You've gotten considerably stronger since then, haven't you?"

"Oh, you can tell?"

"Yes. The presence of a Fire Elemental is thick. I'd probably have a harder fight now."

The praise put Alexia in a good mood.

He could apparently sense even the presence of spirits.

"But more than that, that girl."

He shifted his gaze from Alexia to Azu.

"You'll become the strongest of this group. It's not just the presence of a Water Elemental. I sense some other great power as well."

"Wow, you can tell all that?"

Elza spoke up, sounding impressed.

Alhechhi Dragon studied Elza intently.

But he quickly lost interest.

"Instinct. And you… you're a bit hard to read. So, what brings you all the way out here?"

"Oh, right. We were in the area on some business and heard the commotion, so we came to take a look."

"And you came all this way just for that? Must have time on your hands. It's nothing, just hunted a stray Dragon. Wyverns will devour livestock across a wide area if you leave them alone."

He spoke as casually as if he'd just dealt with a pest.

But a Wyvern, though not a true Dragon, possessed extraordinary combat power.

An army the size of a city's garrison wouldn't be enough to take one down.

To fell it solo was something else entirely.

The Dragon Slayer title was no exaggeration.

This was what it meant to be in a league of one's own.

Thinking back to when Azu and the others had encountered the Fire Dragon and hadn't even been able to fight, it was clear the gap was still enormous.

"Say, would you lot mind helping me with the butchering? Doing it alone takes forever. Help me out, and I'll share some."

He pointed at the Wyvern.

Dragon meat was rich in magical energy and couldn't be eaten immediately after butchering.

It needed to be buried in the ground or otherwise treated to drain the magic first.

But once that was done, Dragon meat became the finest of delicacies and fetched premium prices.

The materials were, of course, highly sought after as well.

True dragons were almost never available on the market, so even Wyvern parts were more than valuable enough.

This was likely how the man made his living.

"Tell me more. How much are we talking?"

Yohane's eagerness to negotiate made Azu and the others pull back slightly, he noticed.

Butchering was hard work. Being made to do it was no one's idea of fun.

And this Wyvern's wingspan was at least four adults wide. A solo butchering job would take all night.

"I can't give up the heart or magic stone, but I've got more meat and wings than I know what to do with. How about some of that?"

"Wyvern wings…"

He was pretty sure he'd seen wings at the auction.

Even a small fragment, paired with claws, had fetched a handsome price.

"Throw in the claws too?"

"Sure."

"Then it's a deal. I'll pitch in too. Let's get to work."

"Yeees…"

It had been a while since he'd heard Azu sound that deflated.

"Our clothes are going to get covered in blood… Oh wait, we can just have Elza purify them."

"It's not that convenient of a miracle, but… I suppose I have no choice."

Alexia and Elza were reluctant, but they agreed.

"Don't look so unhappy. I'll be helping too, and I won't sell the meat. I'll let you all eat some. After the magic's been drained, of course."

That seemed to revive their motivation.

"Looks like you've reached an agreement over there. I'll tell you how to break it down, so follow my lead."

He had experience butchering livestock, but a Dragon was a first.

Yohane pulled his butchering tools from his pack.

"That won't cut it. Use this."

What he was handed was a well-worn hatchet.

Its thick blade looked formidable.