Though Sungchul had invoked the Emperorâs name, Imperial Commander Colonel Brev was not in a position where he could allow Sungchul to act freely . After a long deliberation, the Imperial Commander reluctantly lent him a single soldier .
âGâŠGreetings!â
It was a greenhorn Wyvern Knight . She gave off the image of a naive young girl from the countryside visiting the capital for the first time .
She gave a trembling introduction to the infamous Enemy of the World .
âI am an Imperial Wyvern Knight . My name is Stew!â
Sungchul who was particularly sensitive to topics surrounding food reacted to this name and spoke out the words as if testing them .
âStew?â
âWâŠwhat you think is probably correct, itâs the food Stew! But itâs my real name!â
Naming their children after food was a common practice among the poor in the Empire . It was a combination of a wish that their children will be able to eat plenty of the food of their namesake, as well as having far too many children to care too much about it .
âHow strange . For a Wyvern Knight to be someone not of the noble birth . â
It was not unexpected for Sungchul to find this strange . Wyvern Knights were the type of soldiers that were typically sponsored by wealthy and influential aristocratic families, and were usually sons of the family . The reason was that Wyverns, affectionately called the Prince of the Skies, were very highly sought after, and it was no easy task obtaining an egg of the Wyvern .
There was no possibility that this Stew Wyvern Knight trainee was an ordinary person . And the reason why she became a Wyvern Knight was just as ridiculous .
She just happened to come across a large egg while tilling the field, and while she was storing it in her room to eat later, it happened to hatch and see her . Baby Wyvern has an instinct to recognize the first person they see as their parent .
This unmarried girl from the remote countryside who unwittingly became a mother to a Wyvern hastily informed the village elder, who then sent her over to the military .
Because Wyverns were so rare, it wasnât a resource they could give up easily, so the Imperial enlistment officer had no choice but to register this country bumpkin as a knight .
But unlike children of the Aristocrats who received considerable backing from their family to complete a variety of quests to raise their stats from a young age, this Stew girl was just an inexperienced maiden who happened to know how to ride a Wyvern . From the start she was thought as a nuisance who couldnât do anything but the most basic of trainings and was sent from place to place until she finally ended up all the way here at the Tower of Recluse .
âAnd here I was wondering why they were assigning a Wyvern Knight . â
Not 10 minutes passed since Sungchul met Stew until he came to the conclusion that she was a hopelessly useless person .
âSo, um . There over there!â
âWhere is there?â
âThere is⊠well, there⊠Ooh⊠I know exactly where it is from the sky!â
Sungchul listened to Stew and used Fly to follow alongside her, but the winds were particularly strong today and stew was unable to properly find the way . In the end it was just a waste of mana .
Because the Wyvern flies at such a high speed, Sungchul had to raise his mana output into Fly spell to maximum to keep up . And in part because of this, his fatigue became worse .
âThere! Please go over there!â
The instruction from Stew in the midst of this served only to fan Sungchulâs irritation .
âI already asked you, where is âthereâ?!â
âThere! Over there! Next to that tree . â
âDo you think there is only one or two trees in that direction? Go down first and wait for me . Iâll be right behind you . â
âTâŠthatâs difficult! I can get killed if I go alone . â
She was very fearful . Of course this was not difficult to understand considering all the other knights she had witnessed being killed, but this was already after Sungchul was past his limit for patience .
ââŠâ
Sungchul couldnât stand it anymore and decided to use his trump card . He immediately returned to the village and headed to Tangritâs residence . Baron was still quietly hanging around Tangritâs grave .
âIt might hurt, but bear with it . â
Sungchul stroked Baronâs sizable neck for a moment before placing his hand over the crippled left wing .
âWhat are you trying to do?â
Sungchul increased the strength of his grip on Baronâs wings .
C-Crack
A bone larger than the human thigh snapped . Therefore the sound that it made was loud and unmistakable .
Baron flinched in pain slightly once the bone broke, but it did not scream out loud . He must have understood that Sungchul had broken his wing not out of malice but to help .
âAs I thought, heâs very intelligent . â
Sungchul realigned the Griffonâs wings to its correct position before securing it firmly with simple bandage and splint . A typical care would likely finish with a potion or the line, but Sungchul had no time to waste .
âIt would have been ideal to wait for the bone to reattach naturally with time, but I donât have any to spare . â
He needed an emergency solution . So he opened his Soul Storage to retrieve the precious Elixir .
The curative potion of incredible rarity that not even humans can get an access to went into Baronâs mouth .
âWhat? Such a valuable thing!â
Stewâs eyes grew wide . Sungchul glanced at the stunned Stew indifferently before taking out another Elixir to feed Baron .
âHeâs so large that the wound isnât healing very well . â
Sungchul continued to feed Baron more Elixirs so that the broken wings could be made whole again . But there would be no effect after the fourth vial, because the potions suffered from a penalty known as Potion Overlap .
Luckily, Baron was restored to full health after the third elixir .
âKuuu!â
Baron felt his wings restored, so he pushed off the ground mightily and began to flap his wings vigorously . Though unable to speak as he may be, his large eagle eyes were full of great joy . Sungchul stroked Baronâs body and consoled him .
âYouâve endured it well . Now you are able to fly once more . â
Bertelgia also approached Baron to stroke his white feathers with the corners of her cover .
âGood job, cutie!â
But there was one among Sungchulâs group that didnât like Baron all that much .
âMmm⊠You canât be suggesting that we ride this thing?â
Marakia was still having a strong aversion to Gryphons .
Sungchul wasnât having any of it and stuffed Marakia into his pocket before mounting Baron .
Baron permitted Sungchul to ride on his back without any resistance .
The flight began shortly after .
Although fierce winds blew at high altitudes, winged creatures intimate with the winds glided through the air comfortably as if riding on a wave .
It was incomparably comfortable from flying by using Fly spell .
Sungchul was able to look down at the lands spread out before him much more leisurely than before .
Stewâs Wyvern that was leading the way turned around .
âItâs that way . That direction . â
She lifted up her Wyvern Rider lance towards the direction of a heavily wooded forest .
âIâll say this again . Where is âthat directionâ?â
âItâs straight ahead that way . â
The fact that he was now riding Baron wasnât magically going to make Stew any brighter, but it did make it a much more comfortable and relaxed environment to be having a conversation with her in the air .
After a very long time struggling to communicate with her, he descended alone towards the location where the Order of Extinction was allegedly hiding . Stewâs Wyvern was flying in a 8 formation in the sky to indicate he was going the right way .
âWow⊠How can anyone be that dumb?â
Even Bertelgia, who showed amicable attitude towards most women they met, seemed to have been exhausted by Stewâs idiocy .
Marakia made things even worse .
âThat human, I donât even want as a slave . She might make all the livestock stupid . â
Though Sungchul had many things to say, he was an adult so he buried his words deep in his heart and turned his eyes towards the problem at hand .