I quickly walked to the edge of the hole, looking into it. I grab a nearby stone and drop it. After about four seconds an impact sound resonated within the cave.

Not too deep.

I get out the rope that I prepared specifically for this situation. I quickly tie one side of the rope onto a nearby stone. I pull it multiple times to make sure that it can hold my weight.

All set,

I grab the rope and slowly start backing into the hole. With small jumps I lower myself, letting the rope slide between my leather gloves. After about two minutes of descending into the pit, I decide to create a white orb of light, the only magic that I was taught how to use until now. They say that every member of the white ones has at least a magical affinity to light magic (which is also healing magic) so they make the kids learn a few basic spells at an early age.

The white orb illuminates my imminent surrounding, the ground was less than 10 meters away but the rope only went on for about five. I slide down and grab on the last bit of rope, then I start oscillating. I kick my legs forward and then backward. I do this in a rhythmic sequence just as I did in my other life on the swing. after 10 swings I am able to reach both extremities of the tube-like pit. Then, without letting the rope go I start running on the walls in a circle. With my physical abilities, it doesn't take long to reach a speed where I can maintain myself on the wall. I let the rope go and descend the five leftover meters while running down in circles.

At a meters distance, I slow down until the wall doesn't have a grip on me anymore and jump towards the center of the pit while bracing for impact. I roll on the ground for a few seconds and then come to a break.

“feww, that was quite nerve-racking”

I bring the white orb to my hand and turn around to see for any openings. Certainly, there is a Big O-shaped cave entrance on the wall. I restrict my mana input and dim the white orb. ‘so this is the lair? I don't know the number of wyverns that could be inside but they are probably more than enough to tear me to shreds. Adult wyverns don't usually nest in the lair with many of the same species, this is a special case as their mating season just ended and the baby wyverns are just starting to hunt on their own. When the smaller wyverns will become independent the Adult ones will return to their original nests which are around the Northern territories.

‘Aaaaah, this is the worst possible time to attack a wyvern nest! there are at least two adult ones and probably about five smaller ones. My only possibility for victory is to get only one’s attention and make it come out here. After I defeat it I can tie onto my back or to the end rope.’ YOSSHI

I gather 10 small stones that lay around the bottom of the pit and put them in my sack. I move the orb in front of me and start walking into the second inner cave. I stay alert, waiting for any movement or sound. Nothing.

I continue to walk forward and sure enough, I hear the screams of the wyverns. Their screams were not normal though, their shrieking gave me chills to the bones. These were sounds of pain. Whatever happened the wyverns were in a lot of pain.

I decide to investigate further moving from one stone to another I disperse the white orb as I start to see the light of a lit torch. The closer I get, the stronger the screams.

After a few quick paced runs, I arrive at a point where I could see a macabre scene unfolding in front of my eyes.

The two adult wyverns were both opened up with their intestines hanging out from them. One of the two had its head cut off and the other its eyes gouged out. The smaller wyverns were in similar conditions except for two that were still alive. The first one was the wyvern that could be heard shrieking for the whole time. Two heavy armored men were peeling off the scales of the wyvern one by one while keeping it alive to suffer. Its wings were pierced with two swords and stuck to the ground. With each scale that was peeled off blood gouged from the hole. It’s whole body completely tainted with the red color of blood.

I looked away feeling ill. I held my hand to my mouth as I was trying to breathe normally and calm myself down. I slowly calm myself and try to analyze the situation. The two criminals are most likely going to sell the scales, as they fetch quite the high price in the market. the only problem is that tearing off the scales of the adults is too complicated so they usually sell only the baby wyvern scales.

The two men are most likely criminals, their tattoos on the back of the bald head represents the prison of the city, each convict receives a tattoo in the back of their head after they shave off all their hair. Depending on the crime they committed there are numerous tattoos. these two both had the murderer tattoos. A red circle with a skull in it.

I look back at the scene, the wyvern had stopped its shrieking and now lay collapsed on the ground. The two looked satisfied but nonetheless kept tearing off the scales of the lesser draconic creature. The other wyvern was also pierced down with two swords and was probablywaitingg for the same fate as the other one.

This is something I shouldn't do but… my disgust towards the scene that unfolded before me had settled into my brain and was now turning into a strong hatred. My blood started boiling inside of me as I tried to calm myself without success. You might think that I have no reason to do so as I was gonna kill one anyways, but this is different from that. The monsters hunt for survival and I kill either for food or for my standing in society. Either way, I don’t do it just for fun and I don’t torture the animals before finishing them off.

I take out the sword and slowly move towards the two. I already found an opening in the aromors of the two. They had taken off their helmets as they probably believed to be safe, but this led me to see their tattoos and to find a clear opening. I raise my sword and swing it down on the skull of the human. The sword smashes down with an incredible force destroying the skull and gushing out parts of brain matter. The other man looks at his comrade falling onto the ground with a dumbfounded expression. Next, I take out my knife and throw it straight at the man. The man who regained his composure blocks the knife with the left arm. The knife penetrated the arm and pierced through the other end.

“GAAAAAAH FUUUUCK”

The man shouts in pain, he gawks at me in disbelief. Obviously seeing such a five year old child is quite disturbing I think in my mind. I lift the sword from the previous man’s head and jump onto the second bandit with a vertical slash. The man perries and falls backwards.

“Ah, I get it now. You stupid brat are from the village of the whites.”

“so what?”

“Nothing, explains your strength. But strength alone is nothing against my experience, die at the hands of Garas!”

The man launches forwards with an intent to pierce my heart, I easily parry his attack and with my free hand, I punch him with everything I have, the man's chest cracks and caves in. The man is sent flying for for meters and when he hits the ground he is already dead.

I look around and find the torch on the ground near the body of the tortured wyvern. The wyvern is a bit bigger than my size. Even as a small one the Wyvern is bigger than me. When they grow up, their height can reach even three meter. They are sometimes used for transport or in the military as a mount. Although they are extremely hard to tame and thus cost loads of money.

I look at the only survivor, a wyvern exactly my size silently stares at me in pain. His green scales reflect the bright red of the torch, his eyes as piercing as a thousand needles. I slowly walk towards it. I raise my sword prepared to kill it.

“I can’t”

Not after what I saw. I put the sword back into the scabbard. I go around the wyvern and lift one of the swords that tie the wyvern down. The monster shrieks in pain. I quickly place my hand over the wound on its wing and heal it with light magic. The wyvern turned to face not sure how to act. It let out a shriek to intimidate me. His other wing is still stuck but if he wanted to he could have inflicted a lot of wounds upon me already. I pull off the glove on my right hand and slowly raise it to the face of the wyvern. The wyvern continues to shriek but still doesn't attack with his good wing nor with his razor sharp teeth. If he wanted to he could have taken my whole arm already I think in my head.

The wyvern stops itself. He smells my hand with a few puffs from his nose. ‘I hope he regards me as a friend because I killed those other two, I pray in my heart.’ it then gently proceeds to push my hand with its face and lowers his head. I place my hand on its head, and gently pat it. The wyverns moves a bit back but accepts my hand.

I then decide that it's time to take the other sword out too. I move to the other side of the wyvern and lift the other sword, immediately after I start healing its wing.

And now what… I think, not completely at ease with the situation. I grab a carcass of one of the wyverns and put in on my back, i turn to face the wyvern that accepted my pat and give him an abundant amount of the snake that I killed earlier. I throw the piece of the snake and he catches it with his mouth. Not even chewing huh? The wyvern puffs from his nose with a happy look on his face. I turn around and start heading out.