35 - Wyvren riders

The air whistled past Ivan's face as he sat on the back of the wyvern, he was part of the elite wyvern knights, and currently, he was returning from the Engir kingdom with the rest of the 44 riders that were under his command, they had been pulled back in order to deal with the savage non-human tribes in the north in the coming spring, Ivan showed a slight smile when he thought about the empire of Helga expanding its borders his actions would bring further glory to the entire Helga empire, for that he was proud, soon another rider flew up beside him and made a few hand signals before he pointed down, Ivan looked down and saw a city on fire, he frowned before he made a few hand signals back before he led the other wyvern riders into a dive to take a closer look…

Merlin stood on the walls of the city he had woken up in and looked at the wyvern riders that were in the process of taking down the M3 Satan, so far 14 ridders had been killed or rendered combat ineffective, he showed a smile but for a different reason than the other people around him as he gave the final order to the M3 Satan

'Scuttle the tank'

A few seconds later the tank exploded from the inside, this was followed by roars of victory from the wyvern riders that soon spread to the entire city, Merlin showed a slight smile, the waitress that was in his arms still woke from the noise and asked

"What's going on..?"

"They killed it, the thing that was spewing fire"

"Really?"

"Apparently..."

Merlin walked over to the edge of the walls and put down the waitress and sat down next to her, for a time the two of them looked at the still-raging fire that had swallowed about half the city by now, Merlin took out the notebook he had looted from the mage and began reading, the waitress looked over and exclaimed

"Are you a mage!?"

"Me? No, my uncle left me this notebook, he is the mage… I came looking for him in this city, but now it's going to be impossible to find him"

"Oh… Sorry for getting you to spend all your money earlier..."

"I don't mind, I had a good time..."

"...And thanks for saving me from the fire…"

Merlin nodded, then he examined his mental state for a bit and quickly concluded

'I am still angry… Should I summon another M3 Satan..? No, that can wait for a bit… I need to think about what to do now… Let's just burn down their capital for now...'

A flash of extreme anger appeared in Merlin's eyes, he was not about to forgive Helga for killing him, Geo, and Jane… Time passed soon it was dawn the survivors had gathered in front of the lord's mansion where they received some soup from the lord as well as 2 silver coins per person as kind of a disaster relief bringing Merlin's funds up to a total to 3 silver coins, he also received a silver coin from the waitress when he passed her over to some of her relatives as a thanks for saving her from the fire, this wasn't much but given that their family also had just lost everything in the fire this was quite a lot of their total assets

'I should make my exit now…'

Merlin made his way out of the crowded plaza, though unfortunately, he bumped into a drunkard on the way out that yelled at him

"Watch it, kid!"

Merlin gave him a frosty gaze as he considered killing the drunkard, this proved to be a mistake, though not at once as he quickly decides against it and walked on without saying anything, he was quickly stopped once again though

"Hey, you there, stop at once!"

Merlin stopped and turned around and saw one of the wyvern riders making their way through the crowd

'Shit…'

Merlin cursed internally before he quickly decided to make a run for it, he kicked off the ground and ran quickly losing his tail as he weaved in between the buildings, then his ears picked up something and he stopped and faked heaving for breath as a wyvern swooped down and landed right in front of him, then he showed a surprised expression and quickly turned and tired to run away when the wyvern quickly grabbed him with its back leg as the person riding jumped off with a smile on her face she stated

"Did you really think you could run from a wyvern rider?"

Merlin struggled, though not with his full strength as he yelled

"Screw you! Soldiers are all the same!"

The female soldier was visibly taken aback and as Merlin began crying she was visibly panicked as she walked closer and quickly asked him

"What's wrong, little guy? Selby let him go"

The wyvern let Merlin go as the soldier walked closer and patted Merlin on the back as she asked

"What's wrong little guy, did Selby hu---"

Merlin abruptly slashed out with the bayonet that cut the throat of the soldier, at the same time he kicked off the ground and an instant later he stabbed the bayonet into the throat of the wyvern and ran the bayonet down the neck of the wyvern, making the bleeding larger, the Wyvern let out a howl, of course, all this happened within the mind of Merlin as he kept crying

'I can't take the wyvern down without it letting out a roar calling the other wyvern riders… Unless I stick my hand into its windpipe and block it that way…'

"---rt you?"

As his mind kept on formulating sinister plots he spoke

"Get away from me! Help, the soldier is going to kill me!"

The female soldier looked more and more flustered before she quickly spoke

"I won't hurt you, just calm down"

Merlin kept scurrying back until he was up against a wall and looked up as he yelled

"You're lying, soldiers killed my parents and you're going to kill me too aren't you!?"

The female soldier looked rather worried at that statement and quickly spoke

"Selby, back up a bit"

The Wyvern quickly backed up the street a bit and lowered its head feeling wronged as the female soldier removed her sword belt and laid it down on the ground as she raised her hands and spoke

"I won't hurt you, please just calm down…"

"Stay away!"

Merlin got onto his feet and ran away from the soldier, she still gave chase in the sky and followed Merlin from the air as he ran out of the city, Merlin stumbled a little away from the gate and fell to the ground as he heaved for breath after a bit a Wyvern landed next to him, the female soldier from before quickly jumped off her mount and approached Merlin, she took off her sword belt and walked up to him before she patted him on the shoulder and spoke

"Come, let's go back to the city"

Merlin crawled forwards away from the soldier that then showed a pout before she spoke

"Fine, if you won't listen to me I'll just carry you there"

The soldier walked over and plucked up Merlin that pretend to struggle, quickly the two of them were on the Wyvern that then took flight, only when it did Merlin showed a faint smile and called out the bayonet from his inventory and quickly held it up to the Wyvern riders throat as he spoke

"Fly away from the city!"

The Wyvern rider stiffened before she cursed

"I knew something was wrong with you kid! No normal person can let out so much killing intent at once!"

Merlin showed a smile as he pressed the bayonet closer to the wyvern riders throat drawing a faint amount of blood as the Wyvern took flight and flew away from the city, as they flew Merlin reached up and undid the soldier's sword belt send her sword flying off her hip and falling down below

"Hey, what's your name, boy?"

"...Merlin"

"Did soldiers really kill your parents?"

Merlin laughed before he asked

"Was I really that convincing?"

The soldier clicked her tongue, soon the wyvern flew over a large river, Merlin showed a smile and spoke

"I hope you can swim"

Then he grabbed the wyvern rider and rolled off the wyvern, before she realized what was happening Merlin twisted in the air and fired the Colt at the wyvern hitting it twice in the head which seemed to have killed it. Then he used the female soldier's body to break the fall against the river which directly knocked her out, from there he simply grabbed her and swam to the shore and picked her up over his shoulder as he dashed into the forest next to the river while the dead wyvern floated down the river...