Franz had changed out of his bodysuit into a camouflage jacket and pants. The camouflage was mostly green because it was made for the jungle. Holoss had provided him with it and the rifle that he held. The rifle was traditional and shot bullets instead of energy. Holoss informed Franz that it was better for hunting because it caused less damage to the animal.

  Franz was by himself for this hunting expedition. In the future, Lutz would join him, and they would hunt monsters. But, for now, Franz had to hunt on his own and provide for Lutz. So, he sat within one of the trees and scanned the area with binoculars. He had never really hunted before, and Holoss had informed him of the basics. The most shocking thing to Franz was how boring it was. He did not expect to just wait around for something to enter his line of fire.

  Franz grew more and more anxious. He started to tap his fingers restlessly against his leg. Periodically, he pulled his binoculars out and scanned the area. It got to the point that he would set the binoculars down and then immediately pick them back up to search for an animal. In his mind, he knew that an animal would not suddenly appear, but he desperately hoped that one would.

  The worst part was that Franz could not even read or do anything. Despite his boredom, he had to keep constantly alert. With his luck, he knew that if he looked away for a moment that would be when an animal would appear and he would miss his chance. He wondered how anyone could enjoy hunting. He heard that some people took it up as a hobby, and he could not understand how someone could enjoy something so boring.

  Just as Franz could feel himself doze off, he saw far off movement. His drowsy eyes instantly snapped opened and he reached for his binoculars. In his excitement, the binoculars bounced in his hands, and he almost dropped them. He was able to save them from falling from the tree and put them up to his face.

  In the distance was a group of large deer-like animals. Their fur was a deep green with blue spots, and the leader of the group had large white antlers. The group stopped for a moment and looked around before they started to graze. Luckily, Franz was far enough not to be detected by the animals.

  Once Franz knew where his prey was, he readied his rifle. He looked down the sight of the gun and waited for a clear shot at the animals. They continued to graze a moment longer before they started to move from their spot. That was when the one with antlers got into his line of vision.

  Franz held his breath as he trained his sight on the leader. He tried to control his breathing as he pulled the trigger of the rifle. The moment he did, he was caught off guard by the recoil of the gun. Energy-based weapons had no recoil, and the shock of the recoil pushed him off balance. He quickly grabbed onto a nearby thick branch so he would not fall out of the tree.

  Franz pulled himself upward to rebalance himself. Then he grabbed his binoculars. He hoped that the recoil would not throw his shot off. If it did, then he would have to wait for another group of animals to hunt. He looked through the binoculars and zoomed in on the area of his shot. The animals had run off, and he thought that he missed his change. Then he could see a white horn poke above a bush. The animal had mostly blended into the foliage, and Franz was sure that it had gotten away. Once he realized that he was successful, he let out a sigh of relief and returned his binoculars to his side.

  Franz whipped his rifle across his body before he let himself down from the tree. He hung from a branch for a moment and let himself gently fall to the ground. Once he hit the ground, he carefully moved through the jungle. Even though he was able to successfully hunt something, he could not just run to it. There were dangerous animals in the jungle, too, and Franz could not make them aware of his presence.

  ***

  Luckily, Franz did not have to drag the animal back to camp. While he had to hunt it traditionally, he was still able to use his storage space to bring it back. The trip back to the Nublean settlement did not take that long either. Franz was especially grateful for that because he was more than ready to get out of the jungle.

  Lutz was playing with some children in the settlement when Franz arrived. Even Nublean children were tall; they were already almost Franz’s height. The only reason Franz could tell they were children was due to the youth in their faces. The group of children chased after Lutz through the settlement. They almost knocked over some of the adults as they ran.

  Franz did not immediately interrupt and allowed them to keep playing until Lutz noticed him. Instead, he walked through the settlement and waited. Eventually, Lutz made an abrupt turn as the children chased him. He continued to run until he reached Franz. It was not until the dragon reached Franz that he noticed him there. Then he instantly jumped into Franz’s arms. Franz was almost thrown to the ground by the force, but managed to keep standing.

  “Did you miss me?” Franz laughed as he held Lutz with one arm and used his free hand to rub the top of the dragon’s head.

  “Yes!” Lutz’s childlike voice came out as he nodded his head.

  “I missed you too. Hunting was boring,” Franz said with a smile. “But I did come back with a nice treat for you.”

  Lutz jumped out of Franz’s arms and ran in a circle in excitement. Then he jumped in the air. “Treat! Treat!”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Yes, a treat,” Franz laughed. “Let’s go somewhere else, so you can eat.”

  Lutz quickly nodded in agreement and followed Franz. The two walked a little outside the settlement. Franz figured that it was best that Lutz eat away from everyone. There was no point in having them watch Lutz tear into the animal. Even Franz could barely stomach watching Lutz eat.

  Franz extended his arm, and blue lines formed on the ground in front of him. The lines took the shape of the deer-like animal before they filled in completely with the animal. Once the animal was formed, Franz pulled out his tablet and opened a novel that he had been reading through. He preferred to distract himself while Lutz ate.

  “There you go, dig in,” Franz said to Lutz without looking up from his tablet.

  In Lutz’s excitement, he pounced onto the animal and started to tear into it. While Franz did not look up from his book, he could hear Lutz tearing with teeth and claws. The dragon also made exaggerated sounds as it swallowed chunks of meat.

  As Lutz continued to eat, Franz saw something enter his peripheral vision. He sighed as he looked up from his tablet. He did not want to see Lutz eat, but he knew that he needed to address what entered the vicinity. When he looked up, he saw that Holoss had joined their group.

  “What are you reading?” Holoss asked as he stood next to Franz.

  “Oh, this? Just a story about a pirate who is looking for the greatest treasure of all,” Franz replied.

  “A pirate reading about a pirate?” Holoss chuckled. “Seems kind of silly to me.”

  “I enjoy it. In the stories, there is always a grand treasure and grand adventure. Then the pirate somehow gets away with it all,” Franz shrugged. “It feels very different from how real life goes. Real life has all the struggle and very few grand treasures.”

  “That dragons of yours could be considered a grand treasure,” Holoss said.

  “You might be right. I guess I did it, I found the grand treasure,” Franz laughed. “Now I have to make my great getaway.”

  “Maybe you’ll luck out,” Holoss laughed. “Moving on, how did the hunt go?”

  “It was very boring,” Franz groaned. “Do I really need to do this daily? We have reserves of meat on the ship.”

  “Yes, fresh meat is best for a growing dragon,” Holoss replied matter-of-factly. “Right now, you are taking the role of Lutz’s parent. He will need around this size of animal on a daily basis.”

  “Is there even enough animals to sustain a diet like that?” Franz asked.

  “Don’t worry, there is plenty of wildlife for him,” Holoss chuckled.

  “Of course, I’ll just have to get used to daily hunts then,” Franz sighed.

  “It’ll be good for you. You can learn some patience,” Holoss said.

  “I don’t think many pirates in stories had to sit around and hunt,” Franz said.

  “That’s because the stories skip all the boring parts,” Holoss said with a pat on Franz’s back. “I’m sure they don’t include the intricacies of ship repair either.”

  “You’re right, they have to keep things exciting,” Franz nodded.

  The sound of tearing and swallowing came to an end. Franz looked towards Lutz to see that he was finished eating. All that was left of the animal were its bones. Lutz’s claws and mouth were covered in red blood from the creature.

  “Looks like he is done,” Holoss observed. “There is a well in the town. You can use that to clean him off. I’ll get rid of the bones.”

  “Oh, thank you, I appreciate it,” Franz said.

  Holoss waved his hand in a relaxed manner. “Don’t worry about it. I want to see if we can use any of the bones for tools. We try not to waste anything here.”

  “That makes sense,” Franz nodded before turning to Lutz. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Lutz and Franz walked through the settlement to the well at the center. Lutz walked without a care in the world, as if he did not notice that he was covered in blood. Once they arrived, Franz drew some water from the well into a bucket and threw the water on Lutz.

  The water splashed on Lutz and washed some of the blood off. Immediately, the dragon shook its body violently to dry itself off. This was useless as Franz threw more water on the dragon. Each time Franz threw water on Lutz, he tried to shake it off. Until finally, Franz threw a final bucket of water, and Lutz’s gleaming white scales were clean.

  Lutz shook his body at the last bucket of water. Water splashed in all directions, hitting Franz and some people walking by. The people quickly recoiled from the drops of water and tried to turn away from them. Franz quickly knelt down and rubbed Lutz’s head to try to calm the dragon.

  “You can’t be splashing everyone,” Franz tried to tell the dragon before he turned his head to passersby. “Sorry about that!”

  “Don’t worry, we know he is just a child,” one of the passersby acknowledged Franz and waved him off.

  Franz let out a sigh of relief that no one seemed angry, but still turned to Lutz. “You have to be aware of your surroundings. You don’t want to inconvenience others.”

  “Why?” Lutz cocked his head in confusion.

  Franz had to think for a moment before he responded. He never really thought of the reason why. People were just not supposed to inconvenience or bother other people. That was the way of things.

  “Well, how would you feel if someone threw dirt all over your food?” Franz asked.

  Lutz paused for a moment as he pondered Franz’s question. “I don’t know.”

  “You’d probably be upset,” Franz said. “Minor inconveniences like that can upset people, and you don’t want to upset people.”

  Lutz nodded slowly as he thought about Franz’s example. “Okay.”

  “Good, now let’s go check on the crew,” Franz said as he rubbed Lutz's head.