Though there were a few empty places, the glazed scales were now glistening within the night, as its body was strong and robust. It's once weakened neck was full of muscles, and it's once large head now balanced well with its body. The weak hoof-steps of the Drake were now filled with such powerful force, while currently in a dignified state where it lived up to the name of a Dragon subspecies. All of this was done no thanks to Sunhyuk's arduous effort, struggling through blood, sweat and tears.
The Drake ate a terribly amount. At first, maybe due to starvation… it was satisfied with a few morsels of food, but as time past by, it continued to complain of hunger. As such, not only did they have to stop multiple times, but also altered their path and continue through the longer route.
In the end, Sunhyuk had to start hunting for the Drake's prey. However, it was not a simple task. Hansen was not a great hunter, and Sunhyuk also had no hunting experience at all. As such, they had to search through the plains emanating their presence, but it was barely enough to briefly satisfy the appetites of the malnourished Drake.
They really worked their butts off. It ate, and ate again, and then later – ate some more, unable to locate any more wild animals, they then began to hunt for monsters.
The monsters that prowled the plains had lethal claws and fangs, and there were even some which were poisonous. Though there were some which were small, around the size of large dogs, there were also monsters who were as enormous as the Drake. If there was one thing that they all had in common, it was that they were all powerful existences which even a few soldiers could never contend with.
He realized then that there were such terrible, fierce monsters crouching and roaming the shadows and plains of a seemingly safe world, whilst the ordinary humans were merely nice chunks of meat for them.
Fortunately, he was not an ordinary man. With his overwhelming stats as a Dragon Rider, and the wind elemental Atiya, he was able to deal with these monsters, though it was very difficult and severe. The process was so arduous and relentless that he had even leveled up considering the slow increases of a Dragon Rider.
As such, he was able to obtain many corpses of monsters which the Drake gladly devoured. Then, after a few repetitions, the Drake had recovered some of its energy and vitality, finally it assisted in the hunts. However, since it had not yet fully recovered, the Drake ended up acting as a big shield, and they eventually had to suffer regardless.
They hunted monsters which reeked of blood, which in turn caused their noses to become numb, when the drake suddenly collapsed on the ground. Worried that the Drake had eaten a lethally poisonous monster, they had waited for a whole day, but fortunately, the Drake had woken up healthily.
It was starting from then, that the Drake began to change.
Due to having wasted so much time, they galloped without being able to take care of the Drake's condition, as the scales of the Drake began to fall out.
"What is this? Are you shedding?"
Having seen all sorts of things after obtaining an old Drake, Sunhyuk was frightened out of his wits. Rather than fur, the Drake was losing scales that covered its skin, so of course he assumed that it was shedding.
A few days later, he realized that new scales had emerged from places where the old scales fell off. In contrast to the old ones, the newly emerged ones were shiny.
"So you're shedding off the old or broken ones?"
He was finally able to notice how the changes on the Drake was experiencing, was not so different from that of a reptilian species shedding process.
After the Drake started to change, Sunhyuk had to appallingly work, working even harder than previously in order to prepare meals for the beast.
All of this had resulted in the imposing Drake in its present condition.
"Mo-monster!"
However, the change was too drastic. Because of their late return, the cavalrymen were clearly alarmed by the Drake's fearsome appearance, as they hurriedly searched for their weapons.
"No! No! This is not a monster!"
Though he hurriedly screamed to calm them down, the Drake timely roared defiantly into the sky.
Roaaaaaaaaaaaaar!
That vicious roar into the night sky relayed how the Drake did not like being considered as a hostile, causing the emergency bell on all the watchtowers to dangle as the outpost soon ensued into chaos.
"It's the enemy!"
"Archers to the watchtowers! Infantry to the wooden fences!"
Kim Sunhyuk, recognising the soldiers flocking into a formation in a rather fast-paced manner, caused him to show a regretful face that was already about to cry.
"I'm fucked!"
In the ensuing chaos, the army outpost had finally entered a peaceful state, only after the Captain himself had come out and settled them all down. Sunhyuk was then dragged into the tent of the Captain in front of the watchful eyes of Clarke and his comrades.
Briefly summarizing what had happened, the Captain fortunately congratulated him first rather than punishing him for the late return.
"How surprising. I have heard that somewhere beyond the Kingdom of Noctane, there were Griffin Riders that tamed Griffins, but now a Drake. I have never heard of this situation before."
After muttering that this was the true strength of a Dragon Rider, the Captain praised him, while Sunhyuk muttered to himself about how the Drake was not so impressive when there was a real Dragon which existed in this world.
However, he could not dare say this, as he wanted to avoid the chaos and uproar as much as possible.
"I understand. Military discipline is indeed important, but your special circumstances are an exception. As such, I will consider this event particularly an exception."
Sunhyuk barely let out a sigh of relief. But it seemed that it was too early for him to be relieved.
"However apart from you, Hansen, you cannot avoid your punishment."
"Huh, why?!"
Hansen, who was standing behind him with his head down, tried to make a grim face at the sudden declaration.
"If the situation is like this, then you should have rushed here first and reported. If it were you, wouldn't you have been able to return back to the outpost in time and immediately report this matter?"
Sunhyuk was too busy taking care of the Drake, and Hansen just did not have the notion at all to leave him behind. Consequently, they couldn't find a way to refute these words from the Captain.
"Two months of suspended pay, and in that duration, you'll be the Chief Officer of supervising the training of the new Heavy Cavalry recruits."
They say that, if you don't have a brain, then you suffer physically as well, so he was struck with such a harsh punishment. This was precisely Hansen in this kind of situation.
"Whew. What a relief. I was worried that I might be demoted or something."
However, despite having been injured in a critical place and losing his front two teeth, rather than complaining, he was rather relieved. (PR: So the author didn't forget the teeth, but he was also injured down below…)
"Is that a Drake? How did you tame it?"
"Is Dragon Rider originally a class that rides Drakes?"
"Does it bite?"
"Could you give another person a ride?"
There were a plethora of questions, of which he had to reply with the same answer countless times. Everyone he met asked the same questions, and he soon became annoyed. In the end, he made up an excuse that the Drake might go on a rampage, scattering the crowd.
"Whew."
Seeing the Drake that was contained in a warehouse at the outpost, Sunhyuk finally let out a sigh of relief. It had soon fallen asleep again, snoring peacefully but he couldn't soon find this appealing at all.
"Ahh, damn it. I'm gonna die at this rate."
The fatigue from the journey soon began to overcome him. Sunhyuk had appeared in front of his comrades in contrast to his thoughts of marching here fully dignified with his head held high mounted on top of the Drake. Now, the whole aftermath of this overwhelmed him all at once.
The Drake, unlike the horse, was not kind to the Rider that rode on it. The shaking and trembling of the Drake's back was excessively uncomfortable and hard to balance on. Not only that, since it had not yet completely yielded to him, it constantly turned its back and tried to shake off its Rider, as he succumbed to the painful attempts.
"What are you so surprised of…"
However, there was an overwhelming compensation. He felt very happy seeing the shock and surprise of his comrades at the appearance of a Drake. It was as if all the sorrow, sadness, and disappointment of being a Dragon Rider had disappeared in that one moment.
[Kim Sunhyuk]
[Level 7]
[Dragon Rider]
[Possessed Attributes]
Contracted Elementals
Basic Wind Elemental (Atiya)Tamed Dragons List
Drake (?) / Submission 53Condition: Hunger, Peace, Sleep
[Strength 29 / Endurance 28 / Agility 31 / Magic Resistance 38 ]
[Possessed Skills]
<< Dragon Taming >>
<< Dragon Riding >>
<< Charging (Wind) >>
<< Wind Piercing (Wind) >>
<< Attribute Weaponry (Intermediate) >>
<< Advanced Horsemanship >>
<< Standard Kingdom Spearmanship (Advanced)(Wind) ←→ Standard Kingdom Mounted Spearmanship Skill (Advanced) (Wind).]
<< Standard Kingdom Swordsmanship (Basic) ←→ Standard Kingdom Mounted Swordsmanship Skill (Basic) (Wind) >>
<< Heavy Armor Maneuvers (30kg) ←→ Heavy Cavalry Maneuvers (75kg) >>
<< Infantry Shield Skill (Intermediate) ←→ Cavalry Shield Skill (Intermediate) >>
<< Advanced Work Skills (Civil Engineering) >>
Looking at the Status window that he had opened up for the first time in a long while, a lot of things had changed. What caught his eyes amongst it all was the condition of the Drake, as he sighed once more while staring at the sleeping Drake.
"If I want to feed this guy, I'll have to end up devoting my life to the army."
Anyhow, he was already leaning towards this, but with this reasonable excuse, he finally made up his mind.
"So this is a Drake."
After hearing the report of a Drake, the Commander had quickly ridden from Mengsk Fortress to the outpost.
"I've heard many stories, but this is the first time that I've seen a Drake like this within our Kingdom. It is quite fierce and ferocious as it is rumored."
"Yes, well. That is so."
Sunhyuk almost laughed from this. Thinking back to that skinny, eccentric appearance of the Drake back at the fief, he wondered what kind of response the Commander would have if he had seen that. However, knowing that the appearance the Commander was looking at was its true appearance, he contained his laughter and answered.
"Can this guy allow others to ride it?"
"It is not possible at the moment, since it is not fully tamed. Even if I were to fully submit it, then, while I do not know, it is still not very likely."
Does he think a Dragon Rider is merely a Dragon Rider? He was barely able to forge a relationship with the Drake through the Dragon Taming Skill. It didn't seem possible for those without that skill to ride it.
"How unfortunate. If that was possible, I would've have used all my reserves in gathering these Drakes to the army and utilizing them."
As expected, the Commander only thought about the future of the Kingdom.
"So how was your vacation? After seeing how the people live here, has your thinking changed a bit?"
After marvelling at the Drake for some time, the Commander belatedly asked.
"There are some parts of my decision that I have changed, and others that have not."
"What an ambiguous answer. So, have you made a decision?"
With the Commander's reply, Sunhyuk hesitated for a moment, but he answered with a powerful and firm voice.
"I will devote my life to the army."
From that answer, the Commander smiled joyously. That talented person had returned with the taming of a fierce beast, so it was normal that his joy was several times more. He spoke once more to the face of the overjoyed Commander.
"So please bestow it to me. The title of nobility, and the envelope. I will accept them all."
TL Afterword:
Calvis: Transformation of the Drake = Success. Yes! More comrade time with the others. I feel so bad for Hansen. He doesn't deserve all this misfortune (so pure and kind). T-T
PR Afterword:
T0ngan: And so it begins.. A rider and his Drake.. An old Drake..
Borderline Masochist: Drake will eat the world one day. I wonder what will happen to Stella though… and can the Drake evolve into a full Dragon, or will it be abandoned along with Stella when the Dragon shows up?
Translator: Calvis
Editor: T0ngan/Borderline Masochist