“Can I get some sliced bread for sandwiches?” Mateo asks the baker.

“Sliced bread?” The baker responds seeming confused.

“Yeah, you take a knife and slice it.”

The baker takes a knife and slices a large loaf of bread horizontally.

“No, no, let me see that,” Mateo says taking the knife and a loaf of bread.

The baker watches curiously as he slices it vertically forming a bunch of thin slices. Then he grabs some meat slices layering them on a slice with a slice of goatveil cheese and places another thin slice of bread on top.

“That’s, that’s just, I would have never thought to slice bread like that,” the baker says in awe.

The baker wraps a few loaves in wax parchment handing them to Mateo so he can enjoy them on his journey.

Mateo returns from the bakery with a sly grimace on his face. Serenity raises her eyebrow suspiciously.

“What have you two been up to?” she asks turning her eyes to Stitches.

“I just invented sliced bread, everything after today will be the best thing invented since today,” Mateo states proudly.

“The smile hasn’t left his face, and he giggles compulsively sometimes,” Stitches replies a lack of amusement in her voice.

“Ignoring that, I’ve taken a higher-level quest, it’s a five-talon wyvern hunt, with a six-talon and three four-talons this shouldn’t be too hard,” Serenity says.

“A wyvern, isn’t that a dragon?” Mateo asks.

The group laughs. Natalia even appears above him to laugh.

“What?”

“Wyverns are hardly dragons, more like large flying lizards,” Okami replies.

Mateo crosses his arms tapping his foot unamused.

“You expected me to know this when my world doesn’t have dragons or wyverns,” Mateo says glaring at the group.

“Your world doesn’t have dragons?” Okami asks.

“Well not like fire breathing dragons or anything,” Mateo replies.

“What kind of dragons does it have?” He questions tilting his head curiously.

“Bearded dragons?” Mateo replies unsure of how to answer.

“Dragons with beards, strange, do they make good conversation?”

“They’re the size of my hand, they don’t have wings or breathe fire,” Mateo replies.

“Interesting, if my observations are correct, I believe I would describe your dragons as, if this translates correctly, lame as hell,” Okami says flipping through one of his notebooks.

Serenity chimes in ignoring their useless banter.

“Anyway, a Wyvern has been hassling the merchants on the northern road to Heroldin, this will probably advance you to four talons and the rest of us to five, Stitches might even ascend to seven,” Serenity replies.

“Alright then let’s do it!” Mateo yells with enthusiasm.

His enthusiasm soon fades when he realizes they have to trek up a mountain without the wagon or hoaram. His leather armor keeps him warm, but his boots are less than comfortable traversing the steep twisting mountain terrain. They only make it halfway up the mountain before making camp.

Warm fire fills the air with dense smoke as thin pieces of brush burn. Terror pulls several thick pieces of logs from his inventory forming them into a decent fire. He shoots Stitches a crimson glance, but she just rolls her eyes.

“Okami, what can you tell us about Wyverns?” Mateo asks as Serenity wraps her arms around his bicep.

Stitches gives Serenity’s large bosom a glance turning away before anyone but her notices.

“Distant cousins of dragons, Wyverns hold no elemental abilities, so they won’t be breathing fire at us or anything, they are still very strong physically, if there is only one then we should be able to overwhelm it with our numbers, it will probably become confused trying to take on so many combatants, that’s when we take it down.”

Serenity whispers an enticing offer in Mateo’s ear, and they retreat into a tent together. Okami and Terror retire to their own tents. Strangely, Jade stays behind with Stitches.

“He can be a bit of a brute, but he means well,” Jade says creeping closer to Stitches.

“If you’re meaning to convince me to join him in matrimony than I’m afraid your efforts are futile,” Stitches replies.

“I would like that, but that isn’t why I’m speaking to you,” Jade replies.

Stitches pulls a small jar of sausages from her inventory and skewers them onto sticks roasting them over the fire.

“Then what is it?” She asks.

“Terror is all I have, I love him, and he loves me, I’m weak, but you are strong, you refused his offer for matrimony, something that I advised him to do, it’s understandable, your choices are your own, I only ask that you watch over him, he’s strong, but in his strength he is blind to weakness, his own weakness,” Jade says staring down at her crooked toes.

Goblins don’t wear shoes, so their feet often turn callous and dare it be said, undesirable for those that hold a fetish for them. Jade has a bold nature. She is not afraid to speak her mind and stand up for others. Not unlike the bold nature of Terror’s now deceased daughter Xera.

“I’ll do what I can, and you, you told him to ask for my hand?” Stitches says handing her a roasted sausage.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“He wasn’t opposed to it after the cookies,” she replies taking a bite out of the sausage.

“You set me up?”

Jade looks over at her with a smile.

“He loves me, and I love him, you’re strong, you can protect us, I only want the best for him, don’t let your past decide your future, some of us only live once so we have to make the best of it.”

The moon falls below the horizon and the group continues up the mountain toward the wyvern’s lair. Okami’s rune tablet keeps making a loud beeping noise as they ascend. It gets to the point where Mateo is tired of hearing it.

“Okami, why is your tablet making so much noise!” He yells.

“Sorry, it’s probably the fawn girl, I gave her my contact information and I haven’t been responding to her,” Okami replies.

Mateo grabs his tablet pressing his finger to it randomly.

“Hello?” A young woman’s voice says.

“This is Mateo, who is this?” Mateo asks.

“Mateo, you were with Okami, It’s Rachel from the other night, is Okami around?”

Mateo holds the tablet away from him.

“Okami, it is that sexy fawn girl you fucked,” Mateo says squinting his eyes.

“Tell her I died a valiant hero locked in mortal combat protecting her honor,” Okami replies.

Mateo chuckles giving him a sly grin.

“You wouldn’t,” Okami says grabbing at the tablet.

Mateo pulls back dodging his advances.

“Rachel was it, the striking young fawn, I regret to inform you that Okami is no longer willing to see you.”

Okami narrows his eyes angrily.

“It seems he is no longer interested in women, and has instead taken an interest in men, if you need someone to talk to then you can contact me at,” Mateo looks over at Okami, “do we have a phone number or something?”

Okami sighs angrily.

“Your dragon digits are four one one,” he replies.

“If you need to talk to someone about this striking revelation then don’t hesitate to contact me between the hours of sunup and moonrise, at four one one,” Mateo says.

She lets out an audible cry as she breaks the connection.

“I can’t believe you gave her your contact digits,” Okami says.

“I can’t believe I had to breakup with her for you, you’re kind of a dick Okami,” Mateo replies.

Okami lowers his head rubbing the fur on the back of his neck.

“You’re right, she didn’t deserve that,” he perks his ears up.

“But we have a wyvern to kill so, onward valiant adventurers!” He yells ignoring his own transgressions.

Reaching the peak of the mountain is an arduous task. It only takes a moment before the wyvern notices them and gnashing fangs bear down on them followed by razor sharp claws. Terror forces the beast back to its nest with his hammer as Serenity uses her sanguine shadow step to mount it, her blades cutting a lethal wound on the back of its neck.

It’s a rather anticlimactic battle after the long trek and arduous hike. Mateo steps past the dead wyvern as cries of turmoil echo from its nest.

“Terror sees baby wyvern, we snuff it out before it becomes problem.”

“He’s right, we should kill it before it grows into a problem,” Serenity says raising a dagger to it.

Mateo steps in-front of her holding his arms out.

“It might be a baby monster, but it’s still a baby, how are we any better than the monsters if we murder children in their cradles?” Mateo asks.

“The bounty wasn’t for a baby wyvern, perhaps we should leave this one be,” Stitches adds.

“If my love wills it than it shall be,” Terror says retreating.

Stitches sighs crossing her arms.

“We killed the wyvern, let’s just collect the reward and move on,” Serenity says.

Mateo leans down patting the poor scaled creature on the head and it stops screeching.

“Sorry buddy, I don’t mean to leave you here on your own, but the other option was death, see you around kid.”

The tavern in Heroldin is alive with joyous cheers as news of the Wyvern’s death takes hold. The group, except Okami and Stitches, enjoy a few pints of mead. Okami is elsewhere and Stitches is enjoying a glass of mixed berry juice. Serenity returns to the bar to get another round of mead and Mateo’s eyes follow.

Serenity has a majestic beauty that Mateo hasn’t ignored, but also hasn’t fully embraced. Her long midnight hair runs down to the middle of her back not being tied up in a ponytail. When she smiles it seems to light the room. She steps back to the table setting down a few pints of mead.

“What, why are you staring at me like that?” Serenity says off-put by Mateo’s trance like gaze.

Mateo shakes out of his trance with a smile.

“Sorry, your beauty is something to behold,” Mateo replies.

Serenity leans over the table pressing her breasts together and Mateo’s eyes grow wide. Stitches takes notice tipping up her glass of mixed berries so as to be discreet about it.

“You’re being very flattering tonight,” she says biting her bottom lip with her jagged fangs, “is there something you want, Mr. Ryusane?”

“It sounds sexy when you say it like that,” Mateo replies.

Stitches stands, her cheeks flush with jealousy.

“Mateo, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” she says awkwardly fleeing the room.

“You better go check on her,” Serenity sighs.

Mateo joins Stitches outside the tavern and she pulls him aside whispering into his ear.

“We are being followed.”

“By whom?” Mateo asks.

“Keep your voice down and come with me.”

“I was hoping to come with Serenity tonight,” Mateo says rubbing his head.

Stitches gives Mateo an unsettled look before leading him to a clearing in the woods outside the tavern. Okami is waiting for him when he arrives.

“It was following you,” Okami says holding up a large net.

“It doesn’t look like the wyvern,” Mateo says curiously.

After a few minutes Terror and Serenity join them out of curiosity. Okami lets the creature down on the ground and it stops struggling against the net.

“Wyverns have been known to rear baby dragons in the absence of their parents, this dragon’s parents were probably either tamed or hunted leaving the little guy orphaned, the wyvern likely took over their nest seeking a shelter for her own spawn.”

“What do we do with it?” Mateo asks.

“Use calm on it and see if you can tame it,” Okami replies.

“Then what do we do with it, we can’t just walk around with a giant dragon.”

“Dragons can often take an illusory shape, turning to other reptiles such as snakes or small lizards, along with being able to camouflage themselves,” Okami replies.

Mateo reaches his hand out touching it to the dragon's cheek and it lets of a playful gurgle, a pleasant look forming on its face. Okami releases it from the net and the dragon morphs into a large ivory scaled snake with violet eyes slithering up Mateo’s arm before perching itself on his shoulders.

“Strange, when you tamed the dragon, it changed its essence to compliment yours, this is very uncommon, in fact I’d say I’ve only ever heard of one breed that could do that and they supposedly died out eons ago,” Okami says taking notes in one of his notebooks.

“What kind of dragon was that?” Mateo asks.

“Anima dragons were known to adjust their essence to their partner’s, imprinting themselves on their soul,” Okami replies.

“Well little guy, since we are partners then you’ll need a name,” Mateo says patting the snake gently on the head.

“How about, Rayo, it means flash of lightning in my tongue, which no one seems to know,” Mateo says with a smile.

The snake seems to nod agreeably as Mateo strokes it gently.

“Ok Rayo, you’re my little flash of lightning.”

Natalia is not happy about Mateo’s new dragon friend. She goes to land on his shoulder, and it snaps at her.

“Hey, stop trying to eat me you son of a bitch!” Natalia yells.

“Natalia, language!”

“Language, your neck lizard is trying to eat me!” Natalia yells angrily.

“Rayo, are you trying to eat Natalia?” Mateo says squinting his eyes.

The snake turns its head shamefully.

“Rayo, Natalia is our friend, shame on you,” Mateo says patting the snake in a forceful manner as if to discipline it.

Rayo unhinges his jaws giving off a pitiful moan as it brushes its head against Mateo’s cheek. Mateo runs his hands across its cheek and his fingers glow. Rayo lays against his shoulder trying to seem obedient.

Mateo wakes to a fourth talon and a message in his peripheral.

Spell unlocked: Lesser Ward, using a constant stream of mana you can form a protective barrier around yourself or your allies that negates weak attacks and projectiles.

Ability unlocked: Void step, use your void essence to enter the fourth dimension known as the void. Your form will become immaterial as you will be in an outer plane of existence. This ability drains soul power which can only be replenished by your pixie.

The team are enjoying breakfast when Mateo steps downstairs with Rayo lounging across his shoulders.

“I did it guys, I got my fourth talon, and a new ability!” He yells excitedly.

“It’s a lesser ward spell,” Stitches says unamused as she sips on hot brown water that Mateo assumes is some kind of coffee.

“Yeah, she’s right I got a ward spell,” Mateo says lowering his head in suspicious disappointment.

Mateo’s eyes grow wide as he stares at his hands in a panic. The group stare at him curiously, and he vanishes into thin air.