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MHD Chapter 114: Jerky Diplomacy
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 04:45:39 +0000 UTCTime passed quickly. Two months later, the transport route between the Commission and the Fire Wyvern settlement was finally established. Th
Time passed quickly. Two months later, the transport route between the Commission and the Fire Wyvern settlement was finally established.
The Fire Wyverns, in their own way, had contributed.
Not that they actively helped in opening the route—rather, Logan had the cats operate along that path whenever possible, and he would occasionally spread word among the Fire Wyverns that there was a fine hunting ground further down that direction.
He wasn’t lying; there truly was a good hunting ground there. The only drawback was that, at some point, it had become a frequent haunt of a group of Seregios.
To secure prey and deal with the Seregios that disrupted their hunts, the Fire Wyverns would often form hunting parties of several males to go after them together.
When the cats working on the route encountered hostile monsters, they would handle what they could on their own. If they couldn’t, they would time things carefully and blow the rescue horn.
Passing Rathalos would then swoop in, enraged, to beat down and drive off whatever was “bullying” the cats.
Each time they blew the rescue horn, the cats felt a pang of guilt. Fortunately, the Commission provided a generous supply of Astera Jerky as payment, and after every battle, the Rathalos would leave satisfied.
In fact, sometimes the Rathalos returning from their hunts would even make a detour along that route, just to see if there were any cat in need of “rescue.”
...
That day, a Commission Felyne was using an Aptonoth to haul a cart loaded with supplies along the road—when, as expected, they were attacked by a large monster.
When the hunters were lured away by another monster, a Anjanath suddenly appeared out of nowhere and attacked the transport team again.
Without the hunters’ protection, the Felynes in the convoy—none of them strong fighters—had no choice but to abandon the supplies and flee for their lives. Just then, a Rathalos flying overhead on its way to hunt in the distance spotted the commotion below.
More precisely, it spotted the Aptonoth pulling the cart.
The moment the Anjanath pounced and brought down the Aptonoth, the Rathalos swooped from the sky. After a brief battle, it drove the Anjanath away.
Just as it was about to enjoy the Aptonoth for itself, it noticed a Felyne hiding beneath the cart.
At first, the Rathalos intended to drive the Felyne away—but under the terrified gaze of the little cat, it saw the identification scale hanging from its neck. This was something the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern clan had specifically provided to ensure the Commission’s convoys wouldn’t be mistaken for intruders.
The Rathalos’s aggressive demeanor shifted to a curious, almost friendly one.
When it saw that this unusual Felyne didn’t, like other Grimalkynes, promptly offer up Astera Jerky, it assumed the cat had simply forgotten its reserve.
This wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened. So, after sniffing the Felyne up close to memorize its scent—and while the poor cat looked utterly pitiful, convinced it was about to die—the Rathalos instead left behind one of its own scales before taking the Aptonoth carcass and flying off.
Later, when the hunters returned with the Grimalkynes sent to meet them, they understood the meaning behind the Rathalos’s behavior from the shaken Felyne’s account.
The Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes carried only a limited supply of Astera Jerky when traveling. Sometimes, more than one Rathalos would respond to a call for aid, and the jerky wouldn’t be enough to go around.
Over time, this had somehow evolved into an informal system: the Rathalos would memorize the scent of the cat and leave behind one of its scales. Then, once back at the settlement, the missing Astera Jerky would be delivered according to the scale left as a marker.
This particular Felyne happened to have fur markings very similar to those of the Grimalkynes from the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern clan, and with the special identification scale hanging from its neck, the Rathalos mistook it for one of their own—leading to everything that followed.
Once the Commission learned of this unexpected “procedure,” they quickly devised a plan: for every convoy departure, they would deliberately select Felynes whose fur matched that of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes and send them along with an identification scale.
Furthermore, whenever the Fire Wyverns offered assistance, hunters wearing the same identification scale would present Astera Jerky as a reward, gradually accustoming the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group to the hunters’ presence.
Over time, this had its effect. On occasion, when the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns encountered hunters while hunting in the wild, they no longer attacked on sight. If the hunter was wearing the special identification scale, they might not even mind the hunter’s presence at all.
Of course, this sometimes led to headaches for the Commission—cases where they encountered a Rathalos in the wild, not knowing whether it was from the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group, approached it by mistake, and inadvertently provoked its wariness, leading to an unavoidable battle.
Even with that significant risk, the Commission embraced the approach enthusiastically. After all, the “unusually friendly” behavior of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group had allowed researchers to make rapid, breakthrough progress in studying the Fire Wyvern ecology of the New World.
And so, with Astera and the settlement working in tandem, not only was the transport route successfully established within two months, but even with limited manpower, the occasional aid from the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns ensured that the route was kept secure.
...
To the Fire Wyverns of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern clan, these hunters were, in their eyes, nothing more than a neutral presence.
In other words, what the Research Commission regarded as “friendliness” was, to the Fire Wyverns, simply a matter of being creatures they could choose to ignore.
That so-called friendly, adaptive behavior was nothing more than allowing the wyverns to grow accustomed to their presence.
It was like encountering a golden retriever while outside. Everyone knows such an animal has the potential for aggression, so at first, one would remain cautious. But when that golden retriever actively showed friendliness and would obediently retreat when sensing a person’s obvious irritation, over time, even the most wary individual would lower their guard. At most, they might still avoid letting it come too close—uncertain whether it carried anything unclean—but they would no longer regard it as an immediate threat.
The Fire Wyverns’ current attitude toward the Commission’s researchers and hunters was not much different. Those without an identity scale—so long as they didn’t get too close or make any moves that could be mistaken as threatening—would not be targeted.
Those with an identity scale could approach a little more, and even perform certain actions the wyverns didn’t understand, which the wyverns might grudgingly tolerate.
However, if one wanted to be like the Grimalkyne and truly get close to the wyverns—interfering with their food, tending their wounds, or caring for their hatchlings—the wyverns would have no qualms about teaching them exactly what “the majesty of a Fire Wyvern” meant.
And at that point, not even having Astera Jerky would help.
Time passed under this peculiar mode of coexistence.
Thanks to the opening of transportation routes with the Research Commission, the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern clan’s cats were able to begin implementing their breeding program. Every breeding ground and facility had been chosen through the Commission’s careful selection.
Some unsuitable terrain was even remodeled, and protective measures were put in place one by one. Soon, the first batch of test animals was released. After a period of adjustments and risk assessments, the first batch of bred Mosswine and Gajau survived successfully.
Under the Commission’s guidance, the protective measures functioned exactly as intended, successfully deterring unwanted intrusions.
Though the results were still modest and the project was only in its early stages, it nonetheless gave the cats great confidence.
After some time, when the first batch of bred creatures was ready for harvest, a large number of cats would be able to achieve self-sufficiency. If the Aptonoth breeding effort also succeeded, there could even be surplus food to store for times of scarcity.
...
That day, Logan—as usual—was squatting on a platform within one of the leyline tributaries.
Suddenly, the illusory panel appeared before his eyes, the trait-extraction progress bar leaping to ninety-nine percent, and the life energy above the leyline tributary instantly became more active.
Over a month ago, the rewards from his hunt of the tempered Scarred Yian Garuga had long been used up. In this time, Logan had been relying solely on his own ability to actively absorb life energy to sustain himself.
He had even been lingering here longer each day to make up for the slight drop in his energy absorption rate.
Who would have thought that familiar sensation would suddenly appear again—so abruptly it left him completely baffled.
He hadn’t done anything at all during this time, had he?
