*Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV*

The first stage of the plan went off without too many surprises. The area that had been chosen for the ambush had a lot of ground cover so that the [Archers] would be able to hide from the Bronzebirds and spring the trap, but that had also meant that clearing the area was going to be annoying - or so I thought. Sure, Rei and I weren’t able to provide much support from above during this step, but there is something to be said for overkill. With so many adventurers in the area it was more tedious busywork than a dangerous struggle, especially because there was a high number of [Ranger]-like classes. Lots of [Hunters] and [Scouts]; the [Archer] class was fairly rare outside of militaries apparently, although we had a few of those as well.

The point was that it sucked to be a toad around here, not that they wasted arrows on the smaller ones. Young Boreal Toads only took a good kick to kill…

“Something wrong, Hewka?” Rei put her hand on my wing as we watched the work proceed from our vantage point on top of the small hill within the clearing - clearing in the sense that the tree cover broke here, there was a lot of brush covering everything - that had been picked for the ambush.

I had been slowly gaining a greater appreciation for our bond, some emotions and feelings were so complicated to express in words and being able to share my feelings directly along with my words put normal conversation to shame. There was a part of me that felt like I should make a note of this for the future, but for now it helped me share my feelings about the Monsters below.

“It really is difficult to imagine you as a small toad,” Rei reminded me of the drawback of such communication, I could feel her amusement. “I hope this doesn’t bother you too much though, you will just have to bear with it for now.”

Well, no, it wasn’t exactly disturbing or even too bothersome - they were just toads, after all. I had killed a fair portion of my own siblings myself, but it was an oddly uncomfortable feeling to see something I had been kicked into a tree. Admittedly, I would never have been foolish enough to launch an attack on an adventurer’s boot, but on the other claw if a monster is struggling to just fight your boot I feel like killing it might be a bit of an overreaction.

“Little Monsters become big ones if you leave them alone,” Rei gave me a pat when she said that, as if to say that I was the case and point. Fair enough, I suppose. That single point of experience per day doesn’t feel like much, but overall I suppose it is a really important issue for everyone in this world.

“I guess that there is a part of me that realizes that any of them could be like me,” I spoke slowly, working out my thoughts as I talked. “A Monster might not ever be a Sapient, but they can become sapient. Really, the wording here is kind of frustrating.”

It reminded me a lot of my very first life, the way that creatures were categorized was very… Speciest? The local language wasn’t anything strange compared to the others I had learned before, but it did have its quirks. Particularly how the words Sapient, sapient, and sentient tended to blend together, as well as how that contrasted with the wording for Demihuman and Monster.

I had a sneaking suspicion that “Demihuman” was a slightly subtle dig at both humans and Demihum- no, I had to focus. Thankfully, Rei was understanding of how my thoughts wandered…

“I feel like there is something more to all of this, and that if I could just keep my thoughts together for a few godsdamn minutes I would be able to see it,” I didn’t so much say that as let my feelings through the bond. Really, combining speech with the bond made for such excellent communication and for fuck’s sake, I am doing it again.

“It is easy to forget how young you are,” Rei remarked as she started to pet the back of my neck. “Look, over there.”

I followed her directions to see one of the adventurer’s stomping through the undergrowth. Grav. I hope the toads do manage to eat his boots… Wait, if I ate him would I eat his clothing too? I don’t have hands to remove stuff and I wouldn’t want to strip him - living or dead. On the other claw, it isn’t like this is a society that has access to synthetics, so as long as I keep away from metal buckles I probably can eat things like leather armor.

“And that, right there, is the problem,” Rei sent amused, yet calming feelings toward me. “You know I know, right?”

Well I am hardly subtle and it wouldn’t ever be a bad bet to assume that someone hated the guy. I would be more surprised to find someone that liked him than to find out most people around him were plotting his death.

“There is a far distance from dislike, even hate, to murder for most people,” Rei said as she watched him, and I could feel his dislike for the man, but… “I might complain, in relative private, to Tam or to you, but the things I say are hyperbole, Hewka. You mean them, but the important thing is why you mean them.”

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“Rei, I don’t think this is that complicated. I hate an ass, because they are an ass, and frankly I think that he is more dangerous than you give him credit for,” I said as I thought back. My last two lives hadn’t had too much racism, mostly because fewer people traveled and so people didn’t mingle much. The one time I had traveled I had also happened to be a high level, high status, person with the backing of two of that region's most powerful polities. Most people were smart enough to not say anything to my face, and I had enough political allies that whispering behind my back wasn’t a great idea either.

Rei, on the other hand, had no such backing or power and both she and the people of this world were engaged in large scale migrations as they settled this continent. The only question was whether or not the outside pressure from Monsters would tamp those feelings down, or enflame them.

She sighed, “let’s pause this conversation for now. I think it is a bit too heavy right before a fight, I will try to explain later tonight.”

I agreed, although I doubted my thoughts would change. I wasn’t just a one-year old wyvern, but it wasn’t like she knew that. Actually… You know what, why not?

“I have something to explain to you too,” I said and then asked her to remind me. “Please, remind me tonight, I don’t want to forget this but I am almost certain I will.”

She nodded, or rather I felt the feeling of her nodding through the bond, I couldn’t actually see her. Hell, she might not have nodded and just sent me that feeling of agreement, but either way I got the point.

“Well, we might as well do another check of everything,” Rei slid off me and inspected my new armor. “How does it feel? Anywhere loose?”

“It feels a bit distracting, but I will get used to it.”

They had finished just in time - a shockingly short time considering we had ordered that very day - for me to wear it today. I will have to remember to try out crafting in a new life, because while they weren’t quite as flashy, they were seriously impressive. The system allowed for some truly amazing things.

Armoring me was no routine project, my wings complicated things a lot. They were big, my biggest weak points, and they could not be effectively armored without sacrificing too much of my mobility. The way I fought on the ground meant that often my face was the closest thing to my opponent, and I had to be able to open my mouth to bite, meaning that my head and neck were often exposed. And where a human or elf might just put on a gorget and keep their necks safe, my neck was long and importantly, had to remain flexible.

In the air, on the other hand, most of my fighting would be done with my claws. They would also initiate a lot of ground fights when I would dive down onto my target. They also had to remain flexible so I could walk.

What the old [Leatherworker] - and, presumably, some [Armorsmith] somewhere - came up with was less a single armor, if that is even the correct wording for it, and instead I had several armor pieces, held together and to me by buckles and clasps. It came in four main pieces and then a lot of little fiddly bits that covered my legs and some other places.

Of the larger pieces, the first was my helmet, although it was almost more like a mask. Hardened leather covered my face, with some metal around my eyes and a plate covering the top of my head. It was fit to my face, so it really did feel like I was wearing a domino mask or something similar. The lower part of my jaw was left uncovered so I could open my mouth fully.

The next of the big pieces was my neck, which continued the use of metal plating and hardened leather on the top, set up in large overlapping layers so that I could still bend my neck to the sides and down. The underside of my neck, unfortunately, didn’t get as much protection. It was mostly soft leather with some hardened leather pieces in a few key areas. The old craftsman recommended that, in the future, I replace the leather on the underside with chainmail, but that was out of my budget for now.

My body armor was integrated into my new saddle for Rei, and I was very excited about it. I was already fairly acrobatic in the air and my Skill levels weren’t even that high yet, but even with help from the system physics wasn’t kind to my passenger. If I did a barrel roll, or even banked too far, Rei had to really fight to remain on me. It hampered her ability to fight and there was always the possibility that something would happen and she would fall.

The [Leatherworker] had some clever solutions to that problem and a few others I hadn’t even thought about, and it happened to keep the weight down as well.

First, my “chest” was just a piece of heavy, studded, leather. That wasn’t the interesting part though, the interesting part was what was on my back - lots of straps. A good portion of those were to help keep Rei in place when I flew, but the others were part of my new saddlebags, including a spare quiver.

The thought was: I was going to be carrying things anyway, and it would allow Rei to bring extra equipment into fights, and if I did get hit, the bags, and whatever was in them, would function as my armor. And, sure, the stuff would add to the weight, but I also wouldn’t need plating or heavy leather, so it probably balanced out. I approved, but what I really loved was my new tail armor.

For the most part it was a lot like my neck armor, except for the end: the last thirty eight centimeters (~15in) of my tail was covered in a thick metal plate. It was a bit heavy, but that was the exact point because it made attacks with my tail far more deadly. If I spun to hit someone with my tail, well it was already dangerous without the armor, but with it the combination of my Strength and basic physics transformed it into a powerful flail. In my opinion it more than made up for how much harder using my poison would be.

My armor wasn’t exactly perfect and impenetrable, but with my regeneration it didn’t need to be and it was far, far better than nothing. The only real annoyance was that Rei and Tamlin had to “dress” me because the armor pieces were too large to be easily handled by one person. Tamlin held the pieces while Rei did the straps and it took a fair amount of time.

Rei finished rechecking the straps and climbed back up to sit side saddle, putting the saddle bags to good use by bringing out some jerky - which she shared. Well, considering she gave me the lion’s share and the feelings I got from her, I think she might have brought it for me and was just having a little for herself.

An hour later, the leader of this whole plan, Piers, came by with Tamlin to tell us they were ready and to see us off. I was glad to hear it because I had started to get antsy and I was glad to be able to stretch my wings and get this show on the road. Rei strapped and buckled herself into the saddle and we were off.