Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Meeting That Guy
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"Wyverns have sensitive temperaments. Especially remember that the Sky Knights who own wyverns are all nobles granted at least a baron's title. They challenge anyone who harms their wyverns to a duel to the death, so be cautious in your actions!"
The training dormitory resembled the imperial palace's inner quarters, offering top-class accommodations.
Viscount Atuan explained the precautions.
"Then, may we explore other areas excluding the wyverns?"
"Of course. Just keep in mind that if you stray too far from the schedule, arrows will fly silently your way—no major issues otherwise."
"..."
As expected from the crude Viscount Atuan, his response was a masterpiece.
"Dismissed! Starting tomorrow, you'll receive direct training from active Sky Knights!"
"Yes, sir!"
The trainees responded in unison to Viscount Atuan's command.
Their faces were still flushed, excitement far from subsided.
'To ride the noble houses' wyverns, you must train here, huh?'
The empire's imperial wyverns numbered around 300.
The remaining hundreds belonged to various lords.
However, regulations stipulated that only graduates of the Imperial Sky Knight Academy could pilot wyverns.
No matter how noble one's blood, imperial law forbade piloting wyverns before becoming a Sky Knight.
It seemed like the bare minimum measure to protect the empire's precious assets from the incompetent.
"Russel, aren't you amazed?"
"Not really."
'What an unusual guy.'
A man aiming to become a Sky Knight for revenge showed no emotion at the sight of hundreds of wyverns.
"Wanna head out?"
"Nah. We'll see plenty starting tomorrow. I wanna rest."
'Man, why's this guy act like that?'
Sometimes Russel felt endlessly close, yet at others, like someone from a distant land.
With a mutter of being tired, he headed into his assigned quarters.
"Your Highness, shall we go sightseeing?"
"No. A place without flowers or gardens is..."
Highness, whose mind was filled solely with flowers and gardens, shook her head in a listless voice.
'Ugh! This is why you need good friends!'
Thanks to Highness, I was marked as an outcast with no other friends.
While others paired off in groups of threes or fives and vanished outside, I alone screamed inwardly from loneliness.
'Yeah, like I ever had friends to begin with.'
That wasn't my style—I wouldn't lose my spirit.
Whether with teeth, gums, or dentures, I'd tear into ribs: that was Kang Hyuk, me.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
'It's huge.'
The scale from the city gates paled compared to seeing it up close.
At the center of the long row of wyvern barracks stretched a four-lane-wide avenue.
Kyueee! Kyueee!
Meeeeeh! Meeeeeh!
'How do they eat all that?'
It wasn't just one or two.
Over a hundred pigs, sheep, and cows transported in a dozen wagons.
"How's the lamb quality today?"
"Prime stock raised on the Silve Plains."
"Good. Give one lamb per wyvern today."
As wagons carrying feed(?) passed, knight-level personnel from the wyvern barracks ordered sheep, pigs, and cows.
'Just how much do they eat in a day?'
Mountain-sized wyverns.
At minimum, they'd need a pig a day to sustain those massive bodies.
Meeeeeh!
A selected sheep was dragged off the wagon, and soldiers attending the wyvern led it into the enormous barrack.
Crunch.
'They eat it shell and all?'
The gruesome sound of bones shattering carried outside.
'Lucky bastards. Living like pampered lapdogs in a mansion.'
As long as no war broke out, this was wyvern paradise.
A wyvern emerged from its meal, blood smeared around its mouth.
Humans immediately wiped the blood from its scales with towels.
Hard to tell master from servant.
'Takeoff all at once would be a sight.'
I'd seen wyverns a few times, but each glimpse brought fresh awe.
Wyverns boasted sleek hides true to their breed.
Capable of blocking most magic or arrows.
Powerful enough to crumple knight armor with steel claws.
One could truly feel how wyverns rewrote the history of warfare.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
'Bl-black wyverns!'
I arrived at this spot after wandering.
It stood out starkly from the rest.
Wyvern quarters built of black stone.
A wider yard.
One glance revealed the preferential treatment.
And there it was.
A black wyvern gleaming like the midnight sky.
The symbol of the Bazran Empire.
Spreading vast wings, basking in warm sunlight.
"Hasiss, don't you ever get bored? Eating every day and making me work like this?"
'This voice?'
A familiar man's voice from behind the wyvern.
A man appeared from the wyvern's left wing, scratching its itchy spots with a large iron rake.
'Rosero, here of all places.'
Rosero, the imperial guard Sky Knight I'd met at Elmar's rest area before enrollment.
The one who'd boldly promised a drink if I passed, now sweating profusely while scratching the wyvern's itch.
Gone was the elite image; he looked like a pitiful kitchen drudge.
Grrr rumble.
Hasiss, the black wyvern, ignored Rosero's complaints, rumbling contentedly.
"Hey! Because of you, I can't even make romance happen! You think I wanna do this every day at my age?"
Rosero, pent-up frustrations boiling over, yelled mid-scratch.
Flap flap flap!
Hasiss, as if saying he didn't want to hear it, beat its massive wings.
"Aaaah! Help!"
A light flap from wings nearly ten meters long.
Rosero, dangling from atop, screamed as he soared skyward.
Yet his grip on the rake never wavered—iron will.
Whoosh.
Thud.
Unlike his screams, Rosero spun midair a few times and landed lightly.
"Raaah! Today, you die, I live!"
Lid blown off, Rosero charged the wyvern, casting aside Sky Knight dignity.
"Huh!"
Mid-charge, our eyes met—me watching his pathetic antics.
"Long time no see, Sir Rosero."
"K-Kair? Haha! Passed the Sky Knight exam? As expected, you didn't disappoint!"
Rosero still remembered my name.
A cynical face bloomed into a bright smile.
"But do Sky Knights have to do this every day?"
Even the most honorable job—what good if it meant this?
An ominous premonition of cleaning wyvern shit prompted my question.
"H-Haha! It's... a sign of closeness. No rapport mid-flight means instant danger."
Rosero scratched his head with an awkward grin.
Yet no shame in his expression.
Even as he spoke, he gazed lovingly at black wyvern Hasiss.
"You're a spiritist, aren't you?"
"Huh? How'd you know?"
'Is this the scent of spirits?'
I'd been clueless until recently.
But after contracting a spirit, I instinctively sensed their traces.
Rosero carried the aura of a wind spirit.
"No ordinary knight could easily claim a black wyvern."
"True. Haha! One perk of being a spiritist."
His smug grin might seem arrogant, but knowing his true nature, it charmed.
"May I ride one sometime?"
Gazing at the black wyvern's wings evoked dreams of flight.
"Not yet. All wyverns, including blacks, are under control tower command."
'Control? Well, makes sense.'
Letting wyverns defect would be catastrophic loss; they'd manage tightly.
"But don't worry. You look like first-semester trainees— you'll fly soon. Bone-rattlingly so. Heh heh."
Rosero's meaningful smile hinted at conspiracy.
Some secret I didn't know.
"You haven't forgotten our promise?"
"Promise? Of course! To celebrate your passing, Kair, I'll treat big! Look forward to it!"
Unlike stuffed-shirt nobles, Rosero was different.
Worth opening up to, befriending.
"I'll hold you to it."
"Checking out the Sky Knight Squadron?"
"Yes."
"Haha! I did too. First sight here, my heart pounded—thought I'd faint."
Shared thrill Rosero once felt.
A subtle camaraderie only Sky Knights knew.
"Seems you're not done; I'll take my leave."
"Yeah, sorry. Wish I could show you around, but this guy..."
Hasiss waited, extending its right wing toward Rosero.
'Adult wyverns have childlike intelligence.'
Not all monsters were dumb.
Even orcs formed packs, crafted crude bows and spears.
Among top-class monsters, wyverns.
If dumb, it'd be called a chicken head, not wyvern.
"Oh, everywhere else is fine, but don't go to that building by the lake."
"Pardon?"
"Just don't. You'll learn why, but not on a day like today. Bad luck from day one."
'Bad luck? What's that mean?'
Rosero spat cryptic words.
Then fell silent.
"See you next time."
"Yeah. Enjoy, Kair."
Rosero was already atop the right wing, raking diligently.
Despite grumbles, joy overflowed his face.
Like gazing at a beloved woman.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
"Damn, these guys hit the jackpot."
To me, from a human-centric world, Kirfone Sky Knight Squadron—built entirely for wyverns—was bizarre.
A dozen post-meal wyverns frolicked splashing in the clear lake.
Like Gangnam kids with cash dining fancy then hitting hotel pools.
'But what is this place?'
Human curiosity: the monster that possesses us, craving the forbidden.
Ignoring Rosero's warning outright, I reached the building by the lakeside.
'Wyvern quarters, but deserted?'
Other wyverns had dozens of attendants, yet eerie silence blanketed these.
Far from other barracks.
'Definitely a wyvern inside.'
My mana-heightened senses grew keener to presences.
A massive wyvern aura snagged my senses.
'Blood?'
Blood trickling from wyvern quarters into the weed-choked yard, fishy stench.
Dreadful aura permeated everywhere.
'Eaten human flesh?'
Thoughts swirled, curiosity amplified by ignorance.
'Shall I peek in?'
Unlike pampered wyverns, this one teetered on disposal.
Some story behind it.
'Yeah, what's there to fear in this world? Instructors didn't warn about this anyway.'
Rosero's words nagged, but couldn't quell my raging curiosity.
Step step.
Resolved, I approached the firmly shut wyvern barrack doors.
'Side door there.'
Like modern hangars, double sliding doors.
A small human-sized side door on one side.
Gulp.
Body tensed despite resolve; dry swallow.
'Ugh, what's this chill?'
Each step brought intensifying cold.
Step.
Now at the side door.
Creak.
Slowly gripped the handle, eased it open.
"Hmm..."
Blood stench poured out, thick enough to choke.
Brief hesitation.
Rustle.
Trusting my skills, I cautiously stepped inside.
"Gasp!"
Flash.
Instant I planted my foot, a massive torch blazed down at me.
'Bl-black wyvern!'
Sunlight pierced the door crack I'd opened.
Illuminated: a colossal black wyvern body unlike any before.
'Golden stripes!!'
More shocking: faint golden stripes across the black wyvern's hide.
'Ah, beautiful!'
Gold-gilded, gleaming vividly even in dim light.
Rustle rustle.
It bared killing intent at the intruder in its domain.
Gone were the pitch-black eyes of black wyverns; blood-red orbs glared like the sun.
'A sorrowful beast.'
Others might shrink in terror, but my heart spoke.
The killing intent-spewing creature was a pitiful, half-mad loner.
Grrrr rumble!
Low growl from its throat.
'Even ankle chains!'
Unlike free wyverns, thick iron chains bound its ankles, staked deep into the floor.
A massive iron slab covered the stake.
'Such treatment for a wyvern... What in the world is this one's identity?'
It growled warily, but I felt no fear.
'Feed tossed carelessly, scraps uncleaned.'
Stench and fishiness vibrated the space—how long confined?
'Poor thing.'
Pity welled within.
No—a sticky emotion toward the golden-striped wyvern.
"Wanna get out?"
The words slipped unbidden.
Tremble.
As if understanding, its eyes quivered.
'Craved freedom.'
Vaster than any wyvern I'd seen, this hefty beast.
Its trembling gaze screamed instinctual longing to fly.
Grrrr rumble rumble!
But deep distrust of humans: eyes hardened, fangs bared sharp.
'Buddy...'
Pity propelled a step forward.
Clank clank!
It stirred at my approach; heavy chains echoed in the space.
"Stop, please don't approach any closer."
'Huh!'
A calm woman's voice from behind.
'This voice?'
Vividly etched in memory: one woman's tone.
Turn.
"Hmm..."
My guess confirmed; I let out a small groan.
Met only once, yet I knew her face and expressions.
The woman gazed at the wyvern with pity matching mine.
The woman's name was...
TO BE CONTINUED