Diana walked around the back, looking for Howard, when she saw a wild wyvern leaning over her grandfather. Pulling out her sword, which she had previously snuck back to her room to retrieve, she prepared to charge at the beast and save her grandfather. After all, despite how infuriating he was, he was still family.
She paused upon hearing the old [Knight] laugh. Patting the wyvern’s nose, Howard chuckled as the wyvern’s long tongue doused his face. She blushed and quickly sheathed her sword, scared that anyone had noticed. Just as she was about to walk away, Kiara passed by her, leading a squealing pig on a leash. Diana watched in sick fascination as Kiara told Howard to back away and trapped the now frantic pig inside a pen next to the huge wyvern.
The wyvern stared hopefully at Kiara, and the cat-girl put her hands on her hips. “Now, Jeffry, what do you do when you want food.” Diana felt a bit flustered upon realizing that the Jeffry mentioned before who had been fooling around with some ladies was actually this giant wyvern.
The huge wyvern reluctantly sat on its haunches while eagerly staring at the pig. With a laugh, Kiara waved her hands, and the wyvern rushed toward the pig, culminating its panic with a quick snap of his jaws around its neck. The pig squealed for almost a minute before it finally collapsed on the ground. Kiara turned to face Diana who felt like she was about to throw up.
Kiara apologized, “Sorry! I would have warned you about what was going to happen had I noticed you were there.” Kiara licked a bit of stray blood that had sprayed onto her wrist, her long tongue lapping it up. Once she was sure her fur was clean, she turned back toward Diana. Diana watched her, aghast.
Seeing that Diana wasn’t feeling well, Kiara sighed. “Let me clean up a bit, and I can introduce a bit of the town to you. It’s actually really cool once you know more about it.” Diana dumbly nodded as she walked back to the door. Only once she had turned away did her mind start working again. She furiously berated herself. How could she have frozen up like that? She was a [Knight], blessed with rare Skills and capable of fighting the forces of evil! She paused, realizing she’d never actually really fought a beast, save for the few hunting expeditions she’d attended or the occasional wayward monster that was too sick to realize there was no one around worth terrorizing that she’d be hired to stop. With a sigh, she doubted whether she would ever truly be a great [Knight] once more. Lost in her thoughts, she was startled to attention when Kiara bounded down the stairs in a loose sundress. Both girls looked beautiful, their dresses revealing wide swathes of sun-kissed skin.
Kiara happily asked, “So Diana, what do you want to see first?”
Diana paused. “Are there training grounds or anything? I haven’t been able to truly practice my sword Skills recently.”
Kiara shrugged. “There’s the castle grounds and the Academy, but not really much else… If you want though, you can try sparring with me!”
Diana looked at the thin Hersha incredulously. “You can fight?”
Kiara looked almost offended. “Of course. I have a racial class [Beastman Berserker].” She proudly puffed out her rather impressive chest. “Not only am I a [Maid] for Master James, but I also help defend his interests…” Her ears flattened against her head. “Although he doesn’t really like it when I act in my |Berserk| form…”
Diana suppressed a shudder. She had heard of what the Beastman tribe warriors could do when in a rage. Few beings were more fearsome than the nearly indomitable warriors who could exert their strength to rip through a [Knight]’s shield with their bare hands.
Diana hastily waved her hands. “No, no. It’s fine. I wouldn’t want to impose on you.” She didn’t mention the fact that a battle with an untrained [Berserker], like she strongly suspected Kiara clearly was, almost always ended up with someone dead.
Kiara opened the door, letting Diana through. She paused, “All those [Knight]s in the castle ever do is sit around and be rude to people who pass by… So what do you do?”
Diana smiled. “You know what, why don’t I show you what a [Knight]’s duty is. Let’s go visit the Adventurer’s Guild.”
Kiara shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno why you’d want to go there. All those hero types strut around here all the time and beg Master to make them things. Then he usually kicks them out.”
Diana frowned, “It’s against the law to refuse an adventurer on a sanctioned Quest.”
Kiara pointed to the sign on the front porch. Diana paused, a gust of wind tousling her hair as she read the wooden sign. “One: all items, objects or things considered the property of the master are protected by the master. If damaged or stolen, the individual or group responsible is subject to the master’s judgment and wrath, so approved and decreed by royal and holy oath. Two: all negotiations done by the master are final and considered absolute. Renegotiation of prices is done at the discretion of the master, so approved and decreed by royal and holy oath. Three: all official Quest items, side or otherwise, cannot be modified or repaired here. Four: I do not buy or sell weapons, armors, or items to those who beat up my security [Knight].” She hesitated before asking, “Does he really have the right to do this?”
Kiara snorted, “Who cares. Well, actually before we go to the Adventurer’s Corner, why don’t we stop by at a few stores? Let’s try to replace some of your stuff that got lost during your trip.”
With a nod, Diana followed the Hersha toward the path leading from James’s home. She’d been dying to find some decent clothes ever since she had lost them: cotton could be pretty abrasive on her skin. Double-checking her belt pouch to make sure she had a couple thousand Seedz, she closed the door behind them.
