*Cadence Lee (as Hewka) POV*

Getting barding was far more complicated than I thought it would be, both in good and bad ways. First, we learned that we had no idea what we were talking about, because barding was armor and what Rei and I were looking for was basically a saddle and harness. In fairness, neither any of Seeking the Horizon nor myself had much experience riding and Rei’s experience had been gained riding me. Of course, on reflection light armor sounded like a really good idea, so we were going to end up getting some anyway.

Which brought us to our second problem, one that was obvious in retrospect because half the reason we had come here was that Evergold had lacked the artisans to make what I, a wyvern, needed. Somehow I had understood that, went along with the caravan all the way through the Bronzebirds all the way here, and never realized what that was because hardly anyone rides wyverns and as a result my needs were challenging and almost unique - or rather, I hadn’t quite realized what that meant in a society of levels.

[Guards] had to be called when the [Leatherworkers] started a brawl over who would have the opportunity to make my equipment. While this explained why Karlin had come with us, bringing pastries and saying that he wanted to watch, it was a bewildering experience to me. I suppose, in my past lives I either had work that was demanding enough, or I had status high enough that I never had to compete for challenges on which to level myself. I had never really considered how the availability of work and the demand for goods might impact leveling, and that was without the special considerations in this life: that making equipment for me might unlock some future Class Evolution and push the crafter who made it to new heights.

I was an intelligent flying draconic monster, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I helped them unlock something. I was a fair bit different from the average horse that came through.

“Distracted again already, Hewka?” Rei interrupted my thoughts with a joke and poke between my eyes. Everything had settled down, we had found a [Leatherworker] to help us, and that is where our third problem came up: getting me to sit still and pay attention.

“What was the question again?” I asked, mildly embarrassed.

“I was asking about how flexible you needed this to be and where,” came the reply from the [Leatherworker] who was still busily measuring me and writing down the results. Turns out he needed a bit more than three numbers to make this for me, although that thought was just me getting distracted again. “Places that flex and bend a lot need to be given special treatment so that they last, although nothing will last forever. On the other hand, places that don’t bend much can be reinforced and I can make it work with your armor easier.”

I was going to have leather armor with a small amount of thin metal plates in key areas, so much of the armor was going to be made by the same craftsman. He was a thin and wiry older man, though not any less spry for his age on account of his levels. He had brown eyes and brown hair, with just a hint of gray starting to peek through. Happily, he also happened to be unconcerned about the fact that I could talk. If anything, he was happy he had a chance to make a better product.

“For the most part, I don’t really bend at all,” I considered his question carefully, thinking about my experiences. “In a lot of ways I am like a large bird. I can’t bend backwards, only forwards, and while I can bend sideways it really isn’t that much. I can bend my neck downwards quite a bit though. Oh, and my wings are pretty flexible at the joints.”

Not that it mattered much, because weight on my wings would make it much harder to fly then weight on my body would. It was unfortunate that my wings were my second most important feature to protect, after my head, which also happened to be one of my largest vulnerabilities that even complete idiots would know to take advantage of, but they couldn’t be effectively armored. I could fly with some minimal leather armor on my wings, but I lost a lot of my maneuverability and speed in exchange. To the point that it just wasn’t worth it for the little protection it would have granted.

I also had turned down glass inserts for the eyes of my helmet. Without enchantment, they wouldn’t be particularly strong - no more so than any other piece of glass - and I didn’t really need them or want shattered glass in my eyes. Rei, on the other hand, was happy to get flight goggles, although they didn’t call them that. I don’t think they had a word for “goggles,” actually, which was mildly interesting.

The materials were more interesting, in my opinion, because there were so many options. At first I thought there would be at least a couple of options, on account of there being quite the variety of monsters, but I had severely underestimated the count. It turned out that being a [Leatherworker] was actually a very complicated Class in this world.

It turns out that there were a lot of System related factors that went into everything. The quality of any material was based on things like the monster’s Endurance, Vitality, Dexterity, and Magic and on top of that, racial skills like my [Lesser Wyvern Hide] also influenced things. I actually had a number of skills that might be useful: [Breathes through her Skin], [Toxic Skin], [Regeneration: Minor](lesser), [Scale Armor: Minor], [Lesser Wyvern Hide], and [Poison Resistance: Major].

My Evolution path was rare, to say the least, and I have to wonder if I might have accidentally made myself too valuable as materials. I hope I don’t get a bounty on me, but it isn’t like seeing someone’s Status is easy so I probably would be fine. Well, even if I wasn’t fine my plans didn’t change anyway. Leaving civilization would just make it easier for me to be killed, and arguably legally. Staying with Rei granted me some legal protections and gave me some allies who would help me, plus I just didn’t want to leave her anyways.

Rei poked me again as my attention wandered off, it seemed like they had worked out what they were going to do because we were leaving for now, back to the inn. Rei didn’t have to tell me we were headed there, I knew the location because of the feelings I sensed through our link. That mix of frustration, pity, and shame always bubbled to the surface whenever she thought about me sleeping in the stables.

“I really am fine with it,” I sent her reassurance over the link. “How would it even work if I was inside? Imagine me trying to get into a bed, how would I even pull the blankets up when I don’t have hands?”

“You are still a person,” Rei said again, as she had said as much before. “It feels wrong for you to be treated like an animal.”

“I am a person Rei, but I am not a Sapient,” I pointed out as we walked down the street. People certainly gave us a wide berth, despite my size I didn’t need to push my way through. “I don’t need the same things you do, nor do the same things make me comfortable.”

Stolen novel; please report.

It isn’t like I could sit in a chair. In fact, my physiology made “sitting” something I didn’t really do in general. I had what I guess could be called a relaxed pose that I could slip into that might be analogous if I squinted, but I certainly wouldn’t call it sitting and there wasn’t any furniture that could make it more comfortable. Enclosed space in general didn’t make me very comfortable, although the mess of instincts I had made that a bit complicated. Working through all of them, I eventually came to the conclusion that I like a hidden, cozy space with enough space for me to take off and one side open that I could fly out of.

“The stables are where I can be most comfortable,” I tried to convince Rei that I was fine. “You can hardly blame people for not making things with wyverns in mind and I am not really sure what people would even make…”

I had a feeling that this was going to be a repeating issue for Rei. It was nice to know that she cared, and respected me enough as a person to be concerned about getting me equal treatment.

“Hey gals,” Rauvin called out to us, he was coming back to the inn as well after visiting the Adventurer’s Guild. “All done getting measured? Any chance they’ll have it done in the next five days?”

“Hello Rauvin,” Rei replied for the both of us. “Yes, and I’d ask why you wanted to know this much except that you just went to the Guild…”

“You guessed it,” Karlin appeared from fucking nowhere, seemed amused that I had launched myself two stories up, with Rei on my back, and just kept talking like everything was entirely normal. “And it is a job I think you will enjoy, Hewka.”

I decided not to acknowledge anything had happened. He probably would just smirk and tell me to work on my Perception anyways. I had thought Karlin was quiet and reserved, but the more I got to know him the more I realized that was just a cover for his real personality. Perhaps I should take this as a sign that he was warming to me and opening up.

“Why do you think that,” I asked while trying to keep myself dignified as I landed back on the street. I was channeling my inner cat: you didn’t scare me, I just decided to jump then. Rei’s mood shifted towards amusement, so that was good at least, maybe even good enough that I might not plot revenge against Karlin. Maybe.

“We were just thinking about all the fun you had with your new friends that you made on our last mission,” Karlin answered with a smile. “And we thought you might like to have a playdate with them.”

If I had eyebrows, I would have raised one. The amount of euphemism that Karlin had injected into the word “fun” could supply a criminal syndicate with doublespeak for years. I would guess that it either had something to do with the racist asshole or the Bronzebirds, and I doubted that Karlin would let me eat a person. Actually, Karlin might but Rauvin definitely wouldn’t, and so that meant it was option two and if they were coming back from the Guild…

“They put a bounty out on the Bronzebirds?”

“Well they could hardly leave them alone to harass the caravans transporting their gold,” Karlin confirmed my guess.

“We were actually approached at the Guild,” Rauvin added. “They wanted to hire you and Rei to help, and the money is very good. We can split up with you, Rei, and Ylma going with the group hunting the Bronzebirds. At the same time, Karlin, Tamlin, Chaurl, and myself can pick up a smaller purge mission while you three are gone.”

I really did dislike those birds. The sleep deprivation was bad enough, but Bronzebirds normally hunted larger animals and monsters. The entire reason they were such an annoyance to caravans was that they liked to hunt the draft animals pulling the wagons and that they weren’t quite smart enough to tell the difference between those wagons and their normal prey. The problem was that I was also rather large and quite a few of their razor sharp feathers were sent my way. It wasn’t dangerous to me - my [Regeneration: Minor](lesser) made their bleed out tactic useless and they didn’t do enough damage directly to kill me in any reasonable length of time - but having to have Rei pull those feathers out of my back was frustrating. Frustrating had turned to “enraging” when the lack of sleep had been put on top of it, but on the other hand…

“What is their plan? If I am alone in the air and I get mobbed by the whole flock of Bronzebirds my new armor won’t be enough to save me,” I remembered Rei’s warning from the start of that escort mission and I had agreed with her assessment enough to stay grounded for the entire trip after we encountered those birds, despite my instincts. “It wouldn’t be enough even if it covered me fully, but I really don’t want to find out what it feels like to have my wings shredded and fall out of the sky.”

“We can at least hear them out,” Rei laid her hand on my back, her presence helping me keep my emotions in check. “I am also not very keen on falling to my death, but I am sure they have a plan.”

“Everyone has a plan until there is a monster in their face,” I liberally paraphrased Mike Tyson, idly wondering why that had stuck with me. “I am sure they have one, I just wonder if it is a good one.”

“Well you won’t know until you hear them out,” Rauvin shrugged. “If you opt out from hunting the Bronzebirds you can just join us like normal.”

*Later That Night*

“So once those groups have secured the ground area,” the leader of the adventurer’s gathered to hunt the Bronzebirds, named Piers, gestured at the map set out on the table. The table which was set up outside so that I could join in. I imagine Rauvin had let them know ahead of time, and I really did appreciate both him looking out for me and Piers taking his word on my intelligence. “Our long range fighters will take up their positions and after that is where you two come in. Your main job is to draw the monsters into our ambush, although any scouting you would do beforehand would be welcome as well.”

It wasn’t a particularly complicated plan and one that, to my mind, seemed like it had a very good chance of succeeding. In fact, I would go so far as to call it overkill but I could see the logic that the city had used when they issued the request. Evergold was a gold mining town, and from an administrator’s point of view anything that risked losing even a single caravan was worth throwing a lot of money at adventurers to make go away.

Rei and I both agreed it would be a relatively safe way to test out my new equipment, while at the same time being quite profitable. It would certainly help fill the gaping hole in my metaphorical wallet that had been caused by purchasing that equipment. Even with Rei splitting the cost with me, hiring a master artisan wasn’t cheap and the job wasn’t quite valuable enough that they would do it for free. Well, I personally thought it was and that we had just been out leveled in Mercantilism, but whatever the case some additional funds would be welcome.

“We can do that,” Rei could sense my approval even without me having to say anything and agreed for us. “It shouldn’t be a problem at all. Neither of us have a very high Taunt Skill, but they can hardly ignore getting shot with an arrow. Or rather, if they do, we will kill them all and everyone can come back and get paid without having to do anything.”

It would be a good chance to level our Taunt Skill, we should probably make the best of us. I could see it being useful for this sort of thing in the future and I doubted this would be the last time Rei and I helped to lead something into an ambush.

“Sorry I am late,” came an unfortunately familiar voice, one that I suspected leveled their Taunt Skill just by existing. “I had thought the meeting was going to be inside the- wait, what is that thing doing here!?”

Funnily enough, that was close to the same thing I was thinking right now. What kind of bad luck was it that Grav would be part of this mission? I would have to grit my teeth and try to focus on the money and levels and try not to think about taking a bite out of him.

“The feeling is mutual, Grav,” Rei’s voice had gone from professional to icy. “How about you focus on your job and we will focus on ours and we can stay away from each other? Trust me, I don’t want to be anywhere near you and Hewka likes you even less than I do.”

Ha. The others might miss it, but I noticed the slight wordplay there Rei. She had said that she didn’t want to be near Grav and that I liked him even less than she did, but she didn’t say I wanted to be far away from him. Personally, I actually would like to get closer to him, a lot closer to him. In my previous lives, saying that I wanted to taste him would have had a very different meaning, but in this life…