Two kids were sitting on the edge of a small dock at a lake just a few kilometers outside of the city of Castor. One would easily label the scene as perfect, perhaps even worthy of a painting. The sun was high in the sky, casting its rays down onto the reflective surface of the lake, while the children were dipping their feet in the water, talking about a topic nobody could hear from a distance. Birds were singing and the nature around them was in bloom. It seemed like a marvelous image of summer. And yet the soulless girl and the deaf dragon would probably disagree. Surdi was grinding his teeth and kept digging his claw into the wooden dock, while Alma squinted at the water, her hands practically crushing the small pastry, similar to a croissant, which they bought earlier in the morning.

[You're doing it again!] the dragon signed and slapped the girl over her shoulder.

"Sorry!" she snapped back at him and loosed her grip on the fresh pastry, saving it from being completely ruined.

[Just throw it already!]

"I'm looking for Rudy. Leave me be!"

[For the last time, stop giving them names. It's just a red-flanked carp. There are probably loads of them in the lake.]

"Fine, then I'm just waiting for one of them."

[It won't change a thing! You already placed your bet and the fact that you'll see it doesn't mean they'll be the first to eat it. So just toss them the piece and let luck decide!]

"Ugh, fine!" Alma growled, tore off a small piece of the croissant, and tossed it far into the water. Their bet about which fish will grab the food first was now tied in the score. With this, she could finally take the lead.

The water tore open as the inhabitants of the lake leaped towards this newfound meal. It was a real crowd in there. Every creature in the vicinity was willing to push and shove to obtain at least a tiny piece. Yet one of them proved to be the fastest. Alma's eyes lit up as they both watched a fish with signature red scales on its back devour a massive chunk of the pastry.

"NOO!" Surdi yelled and churned the water with his feet.

"Stop! You... Great. Now you scared them away." Alma frowned at him.

[Oh? Was I too loud? Sorry, I can't tell. You know, I'm deaf.]

"You did it on purpose! You little ass!" she shouted at him and with an unstoppable shove, she pushed him directly into the water."

"Hey! Not cool!" he shouted the moment his head emerged once again.

"What? You're a water dragon after all, no? I'm just returning you to nature." She stuck a tongue out at him but offered him a hand regardless. The dragon took it and let himself be pulled out with one effortless motion.

[Great. Now I'm all wet.]

"Oh, come on. It's the middle of summer, you'll dry in no time."

[Pray for it. Because if not, they won't let me into any establishments in the city. And if that happens, I will personally throw you into the lake.]

"Oh yeah? And how do you think that will go?" she gave him a smug smile and crossed her arms.

Surdi frowned and pushed against her with all his strength, yet no part of her body moved even an inch.

"Haha, keep trying, my scaly friend. I ain't getting wet today."

Upon reading those words, Surdi got a different idea. He crouched down at the edge of the dock, and with one swift motion of his hand, he splashed water at Alma.

"Oi! That's how you want it? Bring it on!" she replied and retaliated in the same manner. It didn't take long before they were both soaking wet and still desperately trying to splash the water into each other's faces. They kept at it until a familiar voice came from the forest behind them.

"Out of the way, out of the way! Carrying a big fucking creature!" Glavas suddenly popped out from behind the trees. In his hands, he carried a tightly wrapped scroll, which was vibrating uncontrollably, desperately demanding to be opened.

With nowhere to run, both children exchanged concerned expressions and dove right into the water. They managed to wipe and blink their eyes dry just when the elven hunter reached the end of the dock. With so much water in front of him, Glavas could finally let go of the scroll. The moment his grip loosened at least a little bit, the paper unwrapped itself in its entirety, revealing about a meter-long roll with all kinds of magical symbols scribbled on it. There was no time to read them though, because at soon as it was opened, a massive creature similar to an octopus shot out of the seal and dove right into the lake, splashing water on all sides.

"Aww, look at that. It's so happy." The hunter let out a sigh and smiled as he saw the dried-up creature finally enjoying the pleasant feeling of its natural habitat. Without further ado, he rolled up the sealing scroll, and accompanied by a massive splash of blood, he pushed it back into one of the tattoos on his arm.

[Ugh, that's disgusting. Can't you just carry it in the bag?]

"No, because then it can be stolen from me. Didn't think you were so squeamish about a bit of blood though," Glavas brushed off the dragon's complaint, completely ignoring all the pain that previously twisted his face into a horrid grimace as the item returned into its sigil.

"Come on then! We better get back to the city. There's payment waiting for us and then I'll treat you to something real special?" the hunter grinned at the children and set off towards the road leading back to the city.

"But I wanted to feed the fish," the girl mumbled quietly, thinking back about their unfinished bet.

"You mean those fish?" Glavas pointed to the giant creature in the middle of the lake, which was reaching to all sides with its tentacles, grabbing the local fauna and stuffing it into its beak.

"No! Rudy!" Alma squealed when she noticed a small red-scaled fish enter the monster's maw. Once the horrific scene was over, she turned back to the elf. "You monster! You unleashed a predator into the lake!"

"I'm the monster? Where's the logic in that?"

[By saving this creature, you doomed all these fish to live in a permanent sense of danger.]

"Ah shit. You're too young to understand this. Listen, nature is a cycle of life and death. You might not like it, but that's just how it is. The Scalder I released back into the lake belonged there. It is its natural habitat. It feeds and keeps the fish population in check."

"But you're a hunter! Hunters should kill monsters. You did so before. Why save this one?"

"Because I'm not like other hunters. The monsters I killed were more than just predators. They were a threat. Killing was in their nature. This big fella? He's just a carnivore. If left alone, it poses no threat. It kills only to feed itself, and that's the difference. I'm not just gonna kill everything we come across."

The children didn't know how to react. What the hunter said made some sense, but neither of them agreed with it.

"Trust me, this is the best outcome," Glavas assured them when he saw how silent they suddenly got.

During the whole way back to the city, the kids quickly forgot all about the creature in the lake and instead put all their strength into pulling as much information about their lunch as possible from their caretaker. The hunter, however, always chose the vaguest answer he could. After all, he had a surprise prepared for them, and spoiling it now would ruin all the fun.

It didn't take long and the gates of Castor welcomed them once again. Unlike the places they previously visited, this one was no simple village. Although you couldn't exactly call it a metropolis either, the population here was considerable, and instead of the typical farms and wooden cottages of the countryside, here, one could see stone buildings with impressive yet unnecessary decorations, marketplaces constantly flowing with people, and establishments with names like "Blim's Bubbles", whose true purpose remained concealed by the strange name. The small party of travelers, however, was not interested in any of these places. Instead, they moved through the busy main streets and headed right towards the big marble structure sitting at the town square.

The local ruler put a strict rule against people hiring mercenaries, hunters, or any other freelancers through different means than the official notice board posted at the town hall. The reason for such a nonsensical rule was, as they usually are, mostly financial in nature. Registering an official request required the person to pay a fee, and although the price wasn't overblown, combine all the request fees together and you've got a pretty decent steady income into the city's treasury, or, in the case of Castor, into the ruler's pockets.

"Ah, mister hunter and his... offsprings?" the man behind the counter squinted and for a moment, he contemplated how could a dragon hatchling and a human child end up in the care of an elven adult.

"The creature has been removed from the eastern woods and relocated into the lake from where it originally came from. Just as we discussed, I am here for my payment," Glavas completely skipped over the offspring comment.

"Is that so? Well, and what proof do you have that the creature has been removed? I do not see you carrying its heart."

Glavas sighed and leaned a bit closer. "Listen, chap. I've been doing this long before your sweet and dear pa and ma weren't even thinking about spending a night together. I've seen all sorts of scammy tricks long before you could even say your first words. So don't try this with me."

"I'm sorry, sir, but this is a common business practice. The monster may have moved back to the lake on its own, simply said. You could've done nothing at all. There is simply no proof."

Surdi snapped his fingers. The sound echoed across the empty room. A small orb of fire appeared above his fingertips. He gently blew onto it and it flew high into the air, where it stayed. Once it stopped moving, he snapped again and repeated the whole process. Glavas frowned at the dragon, not quite sure what he was doing.

"Wow, you have a nice table here," Alma intruded into the conversation and gently ran her coal-dark hand across the light-brown desk. "It's very... wooden. What wood is that? I think... Ispis?"

"Umm... Arkin, actually. It's... uh... Arkin wood," the receptionist stumbled over his words as his eyes kept darting from the creepy eyeless spawn of darkness and the green-scaled pyromaniac.

"Arkin! That's nice. Good wood. It's often used in fireplaces, no? Since it's, well, so flammable," Alma continued and the two marbles in her skull were piercing the office worker with their gaze.

"It's not. Actually, it burns quite..." he stopped to look at all the numerous small fire orbs floating in the air. "...poorly. Umm, please wait here, mister hunter. I need to go fetch your reward. In the meantime, could you kindly... clean the airspace above my desk?"

Glavas, with his eyes practically exploding out of their sockets, mumbled a response: "Yeah. I will do so."

The man ran off into the next room and came back only a few minutes later, carrying a large bag filled with gold. "Here, feel free to count it."

Glavas took the bag into his hand and smirked. "You know, I feel like there is the exact amount. At least, I would strongly hope so. Well, thank you for your service. May your city prosper and whatnot." He passed the bag to Alma for safekeeping, then turned around on his heels and walked out of the building, followed by the two little devils.