"While wyverns are territorial animals, generally it is rare for them to intrude into inhabited lands. Most of the time, they attack travelers on the road at most, and even then such attacks are rare, and even more rarely fatal.

On the other hand, a larger subspecies of wyverns colloquially called "Drakes" tend to intrude into inhabited territory more, as these beasts had a far greater need of nourishment, and near inhabited places, the wildlife tend to be less abundant.

While they are larger and more dangerous than wyverns, Drakes also represent a wealth of useful materials should they be hunted down. Most prized of all would be a drake's egg, as these intelligent animals are quite trainable if raised from birth, and only their rarity makes them scarce." Inge Flussig, retired monster tamer from the Kingdom Down Under.

After half a week of relaxation in Assadun itself - it was a peaceful city perfect for such purposes, and Cal actually grew slightly worried that her nieces might grow fat from the good food if they overstayed their welcome there - the party carried on with their travels, headed north-east this time.

Before they left they actually perused the local adventurer's guild's request board. Leila had expressed interest in such a career, along with Cal's other students, so they decided to let her get some experience under her belt while they were at it.

Elaina, Sidonie, and Ying Xiao tagged along with Leila, the former two as they too had done similar jobs back at the great emerald forest, and the latter out of curiosity, as she had never done anything similar.

Since they did not want to delay their travels overmuch on such a whim, they opted for a request that happened to be in the direction they're headed for. Coincidentally, it was one from a rich rancher who was having trouble with a drake preying on his ranch animals.

It was the same tale Kino had related to them a few days ago, though back then the dearth of information had pegged the drake as a wyvern instead. Cal allowed the girls to take in the mission, though whether they would succeed or fail, she left it on their hands. She would only intervene if they were truly in danger of dying.

Leila and Ying Xiao were quite excited during the trip towards the ranch, which was located a day and a half's worth of travel away from the city proper. Cal was happy to see Ying Xiao be more open to others, and further gladdened that touching on her old trauma back at Oajib haven't unnerved the girl too much.

Then again, back in Al-Shan the girl was all but powerless, and only lived because her abuser hadn't had enough "fun" with her yet. At Oajib, she had power in her hands, and used it to slaughter those that reminded her all too much of old memories she would rather forget.

When they arrived at the ranch, they noticed two more groups of adventurers and mercenaries already there. All having taken the same quest, it seemed. One of the groups was composed of five youngsters, all of whom had either longbows slung behind their backs or held heavy crossbows in their hands.

The other group were older, rough-looking types, who were quite dismissive of both the other group and of the girls. A quick discussion with the youngsters told them that the mercenaries had claimed the east side of the ranch as their area to guard, as it was the area the drake had attacked the last time, while they were willing to share the west side with the girls.

Leila seemed like she had words she wanted to spit out at the arrogant mercenaries, but held her tongue and agreed, aware that such power plays were all too common amongst adventurers and mercenaries in the field.

They spent the first night peacefully at the ranch, Cal, Kino, and Dan just relaxing while the girls kept watch since it was their job. No sign of the drake was spotted that night, but they did gain some more information on the creature from the ranch owner the next morning.

Apparently the drake he saw was a particularly large specimen, and when it attacked he hadn't dared leave his house even while it preyed on his ranched Cùy. What he had found odd was how the drake was far bulkier than the norm for flying creatures, and suspected that it might well be a beast with wind affinity.

It was late in the second night, shortly after Elaina and Sidonie had just turned in for the night, with Leila and Ying Xiao taking over the watch, that they heard a ruckus and what sounded like a battle from the east.

Leila had not needed to wake everyone else, as when she was about to reach the tent, she found them already awake, and together the group moved east as fast as they could, weapons held in hand for the girls.

Midway, just shortly after they passed the rancher's residence, they met the group of youngsters, and decided to travel together with them. Another few minutes passed before they finally saw - at least for those who could somewhat see in the night - what had caused the ruckus.

The drake had struck deep in the night, and whether it was out of negligence or surprise, the mercenaries were caught off guard. Leila saw four of the eight mercenaries already laying dead on the ground, some of them not even wearing their armor.

Another two were clutching injuries as they slowly backed away from the beast before them. One was entirely missing, but judging from how the drake was happily chewing on another one of them, everyone had a good idea what had happened to the missing woman.

As beasts go, the drake was decidedly an intimidating specimen. Easily three meters tall on the shoulder when it rested on all fours, with a thick, sinewy neck and a head not too unlike an alligator's. Its rear legs were thick and powerful, while its arms were far thicker than a wyvern's, powerful limbs on their own regard, with a leathery membrane akin to a bat's wings splayed under them. The middle joint of the arms ended in a wicked, three-fingered claw, while the beast's long, whip-like prehensile tail had a row of spikes at its end.

The wound on one of the dead mercenaries suggested that it was precisely that tail that had ended his life, while the other dead ones seemed to be either torn apart by the claws, or simply bitten in half.

Leila exchanged glances with the group of youngsters, seeing understanding in the other group's eyes, then they nocked arrows and bolts, aimed, and loosed at the beast. Elaina and Sidonie followed up with a pair of lightning charged Javelin while Leila hurled a bolt of molten earth at the Drake.