“So with different length axes, you can use the shorter one to go around the longer one.” Ren says. “It’s a defensive and weapon manipulation thing. It’s a bit advanced, but you can certainly try it. If you don’t think dual wielding is a good idea, you can carry a shield instead.”

  Lucia squints at the selection of axes presented before her.

  “If you want, you can pick them up and see how they feel in your hand.” the employee behind the counter says.

  “Is that allowed?” Lucia asks.

  “Don’t worry.” Ren says. “There are lots of magical wards that prevent theft and attacking employees and security.”

  “Wait what?” Lucia asks.

  “It’s perfectly safe for him to hand you a weapon. You can’t stab him because of magic.” Ren says.

  Lucia and Feru give Ren a very concerned look.

  “Anyway, try them out and we can go hunt some drakes.” Ren continues.

  The three spent the next hour having Lucia grab the handle of the collection of axes. Afterwards they head out of town to find some migrating drakes to hunt. With Ren’s expertise, or at least its expertise perceived by people who aren’t aware that there are 3 voices in her head controlling her, they find some drakes roosting in a nearby forest. Ren was prepared for an ambush. Lucia had no idea what she was doing and was holding her rented axes dangerously close to her face. Feru was carrying a basket on her back and in each hand.

  “Wait, how do I use these?” Lucia asks with a panic.

  “You swing the sharp end at the enemy.” Ren says staggeringly plainly. “You can make a horizontal swing. Those are good if you hit the neck. You can also use overhead swings. Those are good if you hit the head.”

  There is a brief pause. Lucia lightly tries to swing her different axes in both horizontal and diagonal swings that could hardly be called an overhead swing.

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  “See, you got it.” Ren says. “Let’s get going.”

  With those words, Ren rushes off to stab some drakes. Lucia cranes her head to stare at Feru with a look that begs for an answer. Feru is looking away and trying her best to whistle. It is apparent that she has no clue how to whistle. Before the silent standoff can continue, a drake flees Ren’s mad assault on it’s roosting flock. This little drake the size of a flying dog whips through the trees. In it’s haste it crashes into Lucia’s hiding spot behind a tree, knocking Lucia over and a yelp escapes her mouth. Both Lucia and the fleeing drake are knocked to the ground. The both of them clamor up to look at each other. The drake sees a girl with two axes covered in dirt like it were war paint. Lucia sees a dangerous monster she knows close to nothing about. Both Lucia and the drake yelp as they clumsily clamor to their feet and paws.

  Lucia swings one of her axes at the drake. It easily misses. The axe didn’t have enough reach. The drake tried to counter by whipping it’s tail out at Lucia. It also misses. The tail is too short to reach her. Lucia then shuts her eyes and wildly flails her axes at the drake. The drake also shuts it’s eyes and wildly flails it’s talons in Lucia’s direction. They are both woefully out of each other’s reach as they swing at each other. Feru looks on at both of them helplessly flailing.

  “You uh… you okay there?” Feru asks.

  “Why aren’t you helping?!?!” Lucia shouts back.

  “I’m an alchemist!” Feru says. “I can either hit them with a stick on the ground or light a stick of dynamite. There is no in between. I also want there to be a body to harvest so the dynamite is kind of out of the question.”

  During this exchange of harmless blows, a gunshot rings out. As the two shout at each other, Ren pokes her head from around a tree by Feru.

  “Did she get a few?” Ren asks.

  “No.” Feru says. “Did they all fly away already?”

  “Almost.” Ren says.

  Ren steps out from behind the tree and reveals that she has a musket in her hand and was thrusting a ram rod into the barrel. Ren finishes loading her musket before she points it up at a fleeing drake and firing. The distant drake drops from the sky.

  “That makes 8.” Ren says.

  “Wow! We’ve been here for barely a minute and you got 8?” Feru says.

  “Yep.” Ren says. “I can stab these guys. Wyverns seem to be a bit too much for my sword, but drakes seem to be fine.”

  A thump is heard in Lucia’s direction. Ren and Feru look over to see that both she and the drake she was fighting, if you can call that display a fight, had both collapsed exhausted. The both of them seem to have tired themselves out. Lucia was drenched in sweat, despite how little she achieved, and the drake wheezed labored breaths.

  “It- it’s only been a minute.” Feru says. “How is she already sweating?”

  “You okay?” Ren asks Lucia.

  “Augh…” Lucia groans.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Ren says. “Okay, let’s harvest what we can.”

  Ren and Feru walk off to start harvesting the wind drakes for valuable materials. Lucia clamors to sit up. She looks over to where Ren and Feru have gone. There she sees the both of them pulling teeth, scales and a variety of other monster parts. However, there is something that stands out to Lucia. The drakes that Ren had supposedly killed were about the size of horses. Lucia goes wide eyed and looked back to the drake she had been fighting. The one she had fought was the size of a large dog, but by no means anywhere near the size of the drakes lying dead over yonder. It has become apparent that what she had battled to a draw was just a baby.

  “Wha- I- eugh-” Lucia stammers.

  “It’s okay.” Ren says. “You can keep it as a pet. Not a lot of people get the chance to keep a drake as a pet. Maybe a mount one day.”

  Ren lightly jogs to both Lucia and the exhausted drake. She grabs them both and carries them off.