Forty Years of This [Monster Hunter World]

Chapter 23

██ had no one her age in Astera, and even with the Admiral's son, she was still alone. He was five years older than her, and while such an age gap would mean little to an adult, it was a world of experience to her and the boy. Instead of companions her own age, she had a group of adults who'd taken her under their wing. So when she walked in the door one early afternoon announcing she could no longer continue studying under the Huntsman, the Commander spat out his drink.

"He's too handsome," she stated. A ten year old girl admitting a crush on a man her father's age. "It's very distracting."

"Uh. Ok." The Commander had never been plagued with a crush on one of his teachers in his youth.

"You have to tell him for me."

"He didn't do anything... did he?" His expression shifted from it's usual affable grin to a dark glare. He knew the Huntsman, and he knew the man would never touch anyone, but if his daughter called that into question, he would take every step a father could.

"Nooooo..." His daughter flopped on the table dramatically. "But he's called me out on being distracted, and I don't want to be found out!"

"I'm going to be honest with you, ██. I have no idea how to handle this, but do you want to keep working with the long sword or do you want to learn something new under someone else?"

She sighed, her entire body moving with it, before sliding off the table and onto a chair. "What weapon did you use? Could you teach me?" She looked up at him with wide, begging eyes. ██ knew he struggled to say no to her when she gave him that look, and it was harder when what she was asking for wasn't something he wanted to say no to.

"I can't teach you, and you know that." The statement tore through his heart. "But I used to use a switch-axe. It's a very bulky weapon that you don't start using until you're finished growing. The long sword is a good way to work up to it, but if that's out of the question..." He leaned back to think on who used what weapon when a blink of genius hit him. "The Admiral! He uses a longsword! Or at least he does when he's not using his fists. How would you like that?"

She deflated again. "I wanted my dad to teach me..." Her words and demeanor tore a hole through him, and he felt as though he deflated himself.

"I can't teach you myself, but I can be there for your lessons. I can give you hints the Admiral can't."

"Will you be there for my other lessons too?"

"I still have a day job, and you know my being there would distract the Quartermaster from teaching you math or whatever..." He squinted at the suspicious smile that suddenly found itself upon her face. "You're not going to trick me into lightening your lessons like that. I'll be there for your swordsmanship and I'll check in on your other classes, but I'm on to you, kiddo."

That evening, the Tracker returned. She came back quietly with little hubbub, but the moment the Admiral spotted her, he bellowed a greeting heard throughout the outpost.

"You're alive!" He roared.

"Stay back you filthy animal!" She laughed before swatting at him with her hiking stick. "I have a report to give, and a bath to take, so if you stand between me and that bath longer than you have to..."

He laughed before stepping aside and letting her head for the Commander. He was the admiral, but he'd long ago forsaken any administrative duties and dumped them on the Commander.

She found the Commander with the Quartermaster and his kid, and the moment the girl saw her, she charged her. Unlike the Admiral, the Tracker let the kid embrace her and patted her back. "Hey ██. Commander. Quartermaster."

"Welcome back, Tracker." The Commander dropped a hand on her shoulder. "You're early. I thought you were going to be roughing it for a few more weeks at least."

"I could have." She pried the kid off of her with a grin. "But I found a pass through the mountains."

"We still have a decade until the Third Fleet sets sail... What is the pass like? Should we start on a road?"

"I found it by following the natural trails left by ground based wyverns. The breeding grounds of anjarth and barroth seem to be the forest and the steppes, but I followed a few elderly wyverns to the mountains. Typically, they were wounded and killed before they made it to the mountains, but one barroth managed to make it. I followed that, and the path is wide enough for a big boy like that, but it's also pretty well traveled.

"The point of our commission is to study the ecosystem, Commander, not colonize. I suspect establishing a road like that would interfere in ways we don't understand, so we have a pass and a road, but we can't really use either."

"Why not? If we don't develop the road and instead send small research groups and supply trains until we have a self-sufficient forward base on the other side, I don't see why we can't use what nature's already given us."

"We'll be disturbing their migration, Commander. We need to be very careful about all of this. Why do the dragons go north over the mountains in their old age? If we start using this trail and interrupt that migration, then we're already defeating the purpose of the Commission."

The Commander ran his hand over his beard as he thought. "I don't want to send you back out there without a plan to support you. We're still working on domesticating the wingdrakes enough to control their flight, and I know you're dying to get back out there, but I do not want you going beyond our reach...

"If there's one pass, there's bound to be another. I want you to stay awhile, rest up, take care of yourself, and remain on standby while we come up with a plan. I'm thinking we'll need to start tracking the monsters by age and keep a close eye on the old dragons. We'll need to start limiting our hunts to cut out the particularly old dragons..."

"I'll give you the form for a detailed report tomorrow morning," the Quartermaster cut in.

The Tracker turned her grin on him then nodded. "The Quartermaster understands the value of a bath. I'll report to you tomorrow afternoon, Commander. With all of the paperwork your boyfriend and the Commission so deeply desire."