Chapter 3 Hunter and Dragon Meet

The next day, in Yvytal City, Mylene was out in town, making her way towards a certain building for people like her. On her way there, she had been hearing gossips of an event that occurred yesterday.

"There's a Dragon Lover in our city?!"

"I thought those people were killed after the war."

"It's scary to think one of those are here..."

"You don't think the Dragon Lover is here to free the slaves, do you?"

"Even if they are here for that, it's impossible. The lord's mansion is heavily guarded. No thief can get in or out so easily, much less a Dragon Lover of all people."

"And with yesterday's incident, I can bet the lord will hire guards whenever he goes out."

The incident has been the talk of the city all day. As one civilian pointed out, Dragon Lovers, that is, people who love and worships dragons like gods, were all killed after the Great War. This was supposedly done to prevent a rebellion against humanity's hero, who had turned dragons into people and killed some, while enslaved the rest. However, to hear that there were still some survivors had put the people on guard, as Mylene could see. Thankfully, it was easy for her to hide her identity as a Dragon Lover, otherwise she would have already been caught.

It did not take much longer for her to reach her destination, as she stood in front of a big building with a bow and arrow sigil on it. She walked in and was greeted by a lobby that was not quite empty, but also not so busy. There were people dressed similarly to her hanging around the request boards on the walls, having some drinks or meal at the bar, or speaking to the attendants at the information desks.

Mylene went to the board, where there were several jobs posted on there. Hunting jobs, to be exact. Some asking for specific meat, some for fresh animal materials, and some just as extermination. Mylene took a job asking for rabbit fur from Horned Rabbits. The payment was not bad, and she could use some free provisions for when she leaves.

"I'd like to take this job, please," she requested an attendant.

"Right away," the attendant replied, taking the paper and analyzing the request. "Horned Rabbit fur?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"It's not that there's a problem, per say. Just last night, there were reports of a strange lightning in Hylan Woods, where you can find these rabbits, specifically the deepest part of the woods," she explained, getting a bit of paperwork done for Mylene's job.

The Dragon Lover raised a brow at the news. "Strange lightning?"

"Yes. Some people are saying that it could be a traveler practicing their magic, but others are assuming it to be a new monster. I really hope it's just a traveler..."

"It would be troublesome for us, hunters, if it were a new monster. Wouldn't want them to gobble up all our hunt," Mylene said in understanding.

"Indeed. And if you hunters lose your hunt, it'll be bad for business in this guild," the receptionist added. She took out a crystal ball and placed it on top of the request paper. "Okay. I just need your ID please."

Mylene took out the card and placed it on top of the ball. The object glowed green upon contact and transferred the glow to the paper.

"Alright. You're all set. Happy hunting," the attendant said, handing back the hunter's paper and card.

Mylene nodded in thanks, as she went out to do her hunt.

******

A few hours of hunting later in the woods, Mylene collected a good total of seven Horned Rabbits. While the number did not sound good, it was mostly due to how fast these critters were, thus making the hunt for them quite difficult. Plus, the payment for these was quite worth the struggle.

"These should be good enough," she decided, picking up an eighth Horned Rabbit. "Now to dismantle..."

If Mylene could be honest, this was one part of the job she was not happy with. She had done it for a long time, she should be used to it, but it was still something that makes her lose her appetite, as she took her dagger out of its sheathe, and sink its blade into the dead rabbit.

Meanwhile, not far from her, Arkadiuz was hunting for breakfast. The dragon had woken up late that day and was starving for some fresh meat. Unfortunately, he had been searching for a good half hour, and failed to find a single animal to feed on.

"I should've saved that wolf..." he muttered in regret.

Just then, he smelled something familiar in the wind, something that was getting his already-hungry appetite going. Arkadiuz followed the smell and spotted a human girl skinning a Horned Rabbit. Right next to her were several more dead rabbits, as well as a couple of wrapped packages.

"Okay. That's rabbit number three," he heard the girl mutter, as she had just finished removing the skin of the current hare and wrapped up the meat.

Arkadiuz saw this as an opportunity to save himself the trouble of hunting and doing human jobs to earn money. All he had to do was get the girl away from the hunt.

After wrapping up the third Horned Rabbit meat, Mylene was about to start working on the fourth, and lose more of her appetite, when she heard rustling in the bushes not far from her. Dagger in hand, she cautiously approached the shrub, slowly and carefully. Once she got there, though, there was nothing in the bush. A snap was heard behind her, and Mylene turned to see a thief dashing away with all her Horned Rabbits.

"Hey!" She tossed her dagger at the guy, only to narrowly miss him, as the guy ducked to the side and caused her weapon to struck a tree right in front of him, blade first. The thief was undeterred by her accuracy and continued his escape, prompting Mylene to give chase, as she collected her bow and quiver from the ground.

As she ran after him, Mylene tried shooting a few arrows at the thief in an attempt to slow him down. However, as she was running after a moving target, it was difficult to get a good shot in, and thus missed him repeatedly. Eventually enough... she lost sight of him.

"Shit... Where did that thief go?" she wondered, searching her surroundings. "This path leads to the deepest part of Hylan Woods. That receptionist said there was a report of strange lightning around there, and the monsters further in are stronger than the perimeter. I should be careful... There is no way I'm going back empty-handed, especially not after all that time I spent hunting those rabbits." Mylene knelt down to the ground and brushed her hand over it. "Whoever this thief is sure is fast, though. Not even the slightest footprint is left behind." She looked further ahead and saw something on the ground. Mylene approached and saw that it was a piece of the wrapping. Picking up the wrapping, she saw fresh blood on it.

"This... Is this the wrapping I used for the rabbits? But, I'm sure the wrapping was new. Don't tell me he ripped it apart during the run." As she tilted her head upwards, she saw red droplets on the ground, forming a trail. Mylene had a funny feeling about the trail and followed it.

As she headed deeper in the woods, she managed to avoid some dangerous monsters roaming around there, consisting of Alpha Wolves and Breaker Bears. Both are considerable dangerous, for Alpha Wolves have keen senses and are very fast, whereas the Breaker Bears can easily break down trees and rocks when in a frenzy. As such, it usually requires a small party of adventurers to take down even one of them. A Hunter Mylene may be, she knew better than to deal with monsters out of her league.

Thankfully, there are ways of avoiding both monsters. For the Alpha Wolves, as they relied on smell, it was wise to use the wind to direct one's scent away from them. As for the Breaker Bears, one must make as little to no movement as possible when going past them in their presence, as the Breaker Bears will chase after any fast creature, and these bears are quite fast for their big size.

After Mylene carefully walked past the two types of monsters, she found herself in the deepest part of Hylan Woods, where the source of the strange lightning was said to be.

Mylene cautiously looked around as she walked deeper in. "Where the hell is that thief?" she muttered under her breath.

It was not until she heard the sound of chewing that she was back on guard, observing the area for the source. From what she could hear, it sounded like it was coming from further in, where she could see a meadow up ahead. Mylene crept over to the meadow, and was met with quite the shocking sight.

Not only had she found the thief, she found him feasting on the horned rabbits... raw. As if that was not surprising enough, the guy had his hood down, revealing his blonde, wild spiky hair, and brown curved horns poking out of his head. Not only that, but from what she could see at her distance, the skin on his arms were actually scales. There was only one time she had seen a human, or anything human-like, have horns or scales. She thought they were all captured or dead, but the fact that this thief was here... Could he really be a...?

"A dragon?" Mylene breathed out.

Unfortunately, that was more than enough to give her away, as the thief turned to the hunter with wide amber eyes, and mouth full of rabbit meat and blood.