The next day, Nymera woke up very early.
So early that Yomogi looked shocked when she saw her.
When Yomogi learned that Nymera was planning to undergo special training with Master Utsushi, she was even more surprised.
Seeing the astonishment written all over her mother's face, as if it were screaming, "Are you serious?" Nymera felt both smug and a little indignant.
Sure, I enjoy a leisurely life, but I can still work hard when the time comes, okay?
"Then I won't bother making dinner for you for the next few days. You won't be coming home anyway."
"Why wouldn't I come back?" Nymera looked puzzled as a smiling Yomogi sent her out the door. "We should be back by evening, right? When Master Utsushi used to take us for field training, we always came back before dark and continued the next day."
"Training by the book is one thing. Special training you ask for yourself is something else entirely, you know. When that man gets serious, his passion can be downright scary.
Oh, right, give me two minutes." Having remembered something, Yomogi hurried back inside and returned with a bundle in her hands.
"There are rations in here. Make sure you eat properly while you're in the mountains these next few days, okay?"
Nymera was baffled.
With a bag of rations in hand and a growing sense of unease, Nymera arrived at the village's main gate. On the great crimson bridge connecting the village to the outside world, another figure stood beside Master Utsushi, and the sight of her took Nymera by surprise.
"Lady Maki?!"
"Mm-hm." Maki raised her chin in greeting. "Master Utsushi came to me and said you wanted special training in Wyvern Riding?"
"I..."
Before Nymera could say anything, Maki waved a hand. "Good! You've got spirit. My special training is very harsh, you know!"
"Understood. I'll be in your care, Lady Maki."
Nymera quietly put away the bag of rations. At this point, what could she do but agree and thank Maki?
Maki had been a little idle lately, and discovering a way to mend her lingering injuries had put her in high spirits. She grinned as she gazed at the young woman before her.
As one of the finest Hunters of Kamura Village's new generation, Nymera naturally commanded Maki's full attention.
If the girl had shown no clear desire to improve before, that was one thing. Now, for some reason, Nymera was suddenly displaying ambition. As her senior, how could Maki not give her exactly what she had asked for?
Special training! Proper special training! Maki could certainly spare a few days for it!
Master Utsushi felt the same way. The normally gentle Instructor was uncharacteristically fired up today. He clenched his fist. "Whoooaah! This takes me back to the days when I trained Maki in the Mounted Punisher!
This is a will burning as bright as flame! This is the torch of tradition being passed on!"
Nymera was beginning to feel a little scared, but she could hardly back down now.
She struggled to maintain a facade of seriousness and calm. "Lady Maki, Master Utsushi, what is on today's training program?"
"When it comes to special training, hands-on practice is best, don't you think?" Maki rubbed the small scar on her chin. "Anyway, let's warm up first. Keep up with us and head for the Shrine Ruins at top speed. Your feet aren't allowed to touch the ground along the way."
With that, she released a Wirebug and leaped into midair in a single bound. Soaring and weaving through the air like a great bird, she "flew" into the distance.
Master Utsushi followed close behind. "Don't fall behind now."
Nymera froze for a second, then hurried after them, pushing herself to catch up.
—--
By the time Nymera reached the Shrine Ruins at full speed, Maki was already standing atop the shrine's perimeter wall and had been waiting for some time.
Maki watched Nymera brace her hands on her knees and gasp for breath, then shook her head in disappointment. "Young people these days really are lacking in stamina."
"It's not even ten kilometers from the village entrance to here, and you're already this winded. Ride Palamutes less often and use your own legs more in the future."
You didn't use your legs either! Weren't you flying the whole way here?! Besides, would a normal ten-kilometer run leave me like this? Sprinting the whole way at a hundred-meter-dash pace is completely different!
"Y-you're right. I'll take that to heart." Nymera put on an expression of humbly accepting the criticism.
"Also, how many times did your feet touch the ground along the way?" Maki continued her critique. "A good eighty or a hundred times, right? That won't do. You aren't drawing out the Wirebug's full power. This is the foundation of everything. Master it, and both your Silkbind techniques and Wyvern Riding will improve."
"...Thank you for the guidance." Nymera lowered her head again.
This time, she meant it. Lady Maki's command of Wirebug techniques was on a fundamentally different level from hers.
The women were similar in build, and there was no difference between the Wirebugs they used. Each normally carried two, and both had casually caught a third for temporary use when they met at the village gate. Yet Maki could truly travel the entire way without her feet touching the ground, and she was still twenty or thirty percent faster.
The gap separating Nymera from Maki was probably even greater than the gap between Nymera and those Rookie Hunters.
"All right, there's no point teaching you how to travel with Wirebugs. Everyone has different habits, so just practice more on your own. For now, let me see your Wyvern Riding level." Maki folded her arms across her chest.
With Maki, the undisputed "number one," present, Master Utsushi barely participated in the instruction. Aside from occasionally shouting a few words of encouragement for both women, he simply served as an assistant Instructor off to the side.
Upon hearing Maki's words, he immediately put his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. Soon, the Cohoot circling overhead relayed a message.
"There, you heard it too. An Aknosom is wandering around inside." Maki tilted her head toward the Shrine Ruins. "Go in there and ride it out."
"Can I use a Puppet Spider?"
Maki let out a cold snort and said irritably, "You're only supposed to ride an Aknosom, not an Elder Dragon, and you want to use a Puppet Spider?! Not allowed! Use your own Wirebugs and figure it out!"
"Oh..."
Nymera jogged off into the Shrine Ruins.
Not long afterward, the "gya-ao" cry of an Aknosom echoed from within the Shrine Ruins. A few more minutes passed, and under Nymera's control, an Aknosom charged out, shaking its head from side to side.
Watching Nymera control the Aknosom, Master Utsushi nodded slightly. Truth be told, her Wyvern Riding was not particularly outstanding, but it was not terrible either. After all, not every Kamura Hunter could master the Mounted Punisher technique, and among the younger generation who could manage it, her skill was at least above average. This so-called "weakness" was weak only relative to her strengths.
Nymera pulled the Ironsilk threads at her fingertips, trying to maneuver the squawking Aknosom to a stop in front of Maki. Steering a Monster into a charge was easy, but bringing it to a steady stop was far more difficult. With a single misjudged application of force, the hapless Aknosom rammed headfirst into the very section of wall where Maki stood, collapsing a stretch of the crumbling, long-neglected barrier. The Aknosom, having nearly broken its neck, wailed as it toppled to the ground, flapping its wings and kicking its legs in a ceaseless struggle. Naturally, Nymera was thrown off as well. She tumbled across the dirt, covered in dust and looking thoroughly bedraggled.
Master Utsushi could not help covering his face. To some extent, he might be partly to blame. Since few Hunters could control a Monster as if it were an extension of the Hunter's own body, the way Maki could, he had taught novices a few "simplified" techniques for the Mounted Punisher. In short, the method amounted to steering a Monster straight ahead and making it ram into mountains, trees, rocks, or even other Monsters. Anyone who could manage that was considered to have grasped the most basic level of Wyvern Riding and could draw out some of the ultimate technique's potential. That was precisely why the one thing young Hunters excelled at most while Wyvern Riding was charging headlong into things, and Nymera was no exception.
Faced with Nymera's "sudden assault," Maki flipped onto the adjacent wall. She looked down at the collapsed section, then at the bedraggled Nymera, and felt a headache coming on. "Why do all of you ride just like Hinoa..."
* * *
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