Chapter 520: A Cold Ssh of Reality.
<strong>[Humanize (Moderate)] </strong>inflicted on <strong>[Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]</strong>
“I thought I could rest easy, knowing Vifi was there to guard you, mydy, especially on Iceskale, but it seems like your bad luck is evolving. I should have realized this when you got attacked even in Iceskale!” Tasianna stated the moment we safely arrived back in Iceskale after yesterday’s disastrous encounter. pping her hands, two dragonewt maids approached Vifi and me to put a warm coat around us. “Mydy, I demand you to bring the twins and I with you no matter where you go, from this point on. It doesn’t matter if you are out shopping, training, or wanting to return home, I will apany you, yes? If you wish to go somewhere, I wish you to tell me.”
Tasianna’s forced smile was unable to hide the worry in her eyes, making them squint as if she was ring at me. Maybe she was, considering the amount of trouble she missed out ontely, or maybe she was starting to lose sleep. Kargryx was a dangerous ce, especially for a young rank B like me, but saying stuff like “it is what it is” would be totally inconsiderate of Tasianna’s emotions and entirely miss the point of her care for me.
“Considering what happened, you’re a permanent party member now, whether you wanted it or not,” I said with a deted sigh, making Tasianna smile for real this time. “I can still feel the frostbite around my scales from yesterday’s blizzard.”
The dragon support I called using the subspace arrived around midnight or so, consisting of Siegragxus, as he promised, and a few Nordor dragoons. We actually had to stay inside the cave for a bit as it was still storming, and nobody wanted to risk me getting frostbite while flying on Sieg’s back, and this wasn’t even mentioning how I had to defrost my body and scales during all that.
It took until morning for things to warm up. Survival shows already looked hard, but being in the middle of a blizzard, trapped inside a cave was kinda scary, admittedly. Although my core hadn’t regrown at this point, it still felt like my core wouldn’t be enough and I needed <em>far</em> more time spent inside our home’s basement to prepare my body for the uing expedition.
In a way, that meant that the scouting mission was a sess. I finally had an idea of the kinda cold I had to deal with. My body could now simte the pain as a reference; that pure, unbridled, destructive natural disaster unlike the “kind caress” of the blizzard underneath our home.
“I would suggest you level your [Ice Resistance] up to level ten, if possible,” Sieg said after transforming back into his dragonewt form. “I did have Tasianna warn you to not enter the ciers.”
“We didn’t!” I protested. “We were on the edge of it before a blizzard came in, summoned by a group of elementals and that ape I told you about.”“And as I have told you, while the greater ice elementals have the capacity to conjure up a small blizzard with their spells, the one we experienced together could not have been of their making. It was <em>natural</em>, anothermon urrence for our home, Princess Hestia. A fact you must understand as another hazard we must live with,” he argued. “That stormsted many bells and I could see that it was widespread enough to be considered a normal blizzard, just stronger than the ones you may feel down here, in the south. The expedition north will not be a joke. Do not me your careless weather watch on some elementals and a monster spawn.”
“And I also told you that Vifi’s lightning control is a good indicator of when mana is natural or not, as her ability can only work when the mana around her isn’t ‘tainted’ or molded by someone’s mana usage of any kind. If the blizzard was normal, we wouldn’t have an issue escaping that storm!” I retorted. “I’m not trying to sound like a brat here, or shift the me. I’m just telling you why we got into that situation. I had no intention of willingly endangering myself!”
Suffice to say, Sieg and I didn’t get off on a good foot when he found Vifi and me huddled together like two penguins to warm ourselves up. He thought I had disobeyed his warning, while I was angry he didn’t believe me. While I did understand that he has lived here longer than I had and understood thisnd better as such, it felt like I was talking to a brick wall, right now.
Maybe he was just being emotional about it?
“I have a duty to protect her, Lord Siegragxus,” Vifi suddenly stepped into our sights, prompting the both of us to look at her. “I do not lie about my abilities to myrades. Death awaits the arrogant and prideful, and to those distrustful to their own squad, a lonely death. Less you be a demonkin of pride or god, respectively.”
Sieg grimaced at her for a moment, before looking over at the dragoons, dismissing them before hissing at the sky. Seeing him giving up, I slumped my body forward, already feeling exhausted despite it being early in the morning.
“Sieg, could you at least look into the matter for me? That ape monster should be a native monster spawn of Frozen Nest, right? Then why did its description mention its ability to shrug off fire and lightning attacks with its skin? How would it be able to train or gain that biological feature on Frozen Nest? Do you have any fire wyverns around, or lightning?” I asked.N?v(el)B\\jnn
“As a matter of fact, we do have a n of ice-lightning dragons. Sadly, most of them were wiped out by a past feud with another n, resulting in thetter’s extinction. The mother and daughter of this draconic n should be somewhere in the ciers, training to regain their standing on Frozen Nest,” he answered, illuminating his reason for distrusting my fears. “However … I shall do as you wish, Princess Hestia. To be honest, those very dragons and the other cier-training dragonkin should finally fly south and show you the necessary respect! Our empress’s daughter has returned, and yet they do not answer my father’s call!”
<em>… Oooooor, maybe it is stress. Yeah, every single bureaucrat I’ve met has had signs of sleep deprivation that results in a cranky attitude.</em>
If our empire had been a conventional one with a more strict and enforced hierarchical system, Sieg’s tant disrespect would be looked down upon by everybody around us. I was the daughter of one of the empire’s empresses, while Sieg was the heir of a dragon ruler, a king, in how the empire worked.
However, we were dragons. Age had to be given respect and how he treated me couldn’t be considered disrespect at all. To everybody in attendance, Sieg was acting like an elder dragon to chastise a younger one for their mistakes. Regardless of how I felt about how he acted, at least I wasfortable with the way we could interact with each other disregarding our social standing.
Besides, I found Sieg <em>far</em> better than his younger brother, Rhekkraxus. Both had tendencies to be narrow-minded, a bit blinded by their own belief, but Sieg could find apromise as he just showed me. Rhekk, though, made me feel like he was avoiding me with how we hadn’t spoken since ourst fight.
In any case, after Sieg epted my proposals, he told me he would ask his father for some dragoon scouts to find the mandrill I had just fought. Hearing this, I also had to add that he should also look into the elementals, as they might be the actual culprits to everything. Sieg gave me a look as if he was getting fed up with me, but with a disgruntled sigh, gave into my demand like an exasperated family friend, unable to say no to the cute youngest.
After he left, Tasianna, Vifi, the twins, and I entered the mansion, and after a bath and a meal, I crashed on my bed, fully appreciating the joys of civilization and the warmth of our hearth once again. A part of me never wanted to leave this ce ever again, but such a reality was only wishful thinking as that scar of defeat still lingered in my mind.
That ferocious blizzard and the beast that dwelled inside like a veil; mypetitive drive as a dragonpelled me to fight on, pushing my survivalist side into wanting to train my cold resistance. A luxury offort was impossible with my impatient tail, smacking the ground softly to self-soothe myself.
“Lady Hestia, the empress had told us to inform you to contact her once you have settled back in,” Shay stated not a moment after Iid on my bed. “If you wish, we can speak with her in the afte—”
My body shot up before I pulled out my [Room] runes and threw them on the ground, to the surprise of my party. As the air was ripped apart, revealing the inside of Mom’s roost inside the subspace, I readied myself to speak with Mom after nearly a week of being apart, only to raise my brows when I heard an unfamiliar voice inside.
“Having a private space to rest and be away from all the bureaucracy and paperwork is such a privilege, Melloxtressa. Bing a void-touched at your age, and having a daughter who owns this subspace, you make me jealous. I might have to step my foot on Altrust for a bit; certainly all the fun and growth is happening in thend of humans and beastmen,” a woman said, sipping on tea while munching on pastries. “Wonderful treat. Marvelous.”
“I’ll tell Svena and little Prisci yourpliments then, Forminaxtrass. Honestly, a moment of respite after all the writing and talking is sure to heal our eternal souls,” another woman replied. This time I recognized that voice—it was Mom.
“Mom!” I called out after I looked inside, prompting Mom to jump from her seat. Her dragonewt ears wagged slightly as she snapped her body around, rushing over to me with a wide grin.
“My whelpling! <em>Ohh</em>, if it weren’t for the rules of this subspace, I would jump out and give you a hug!” she said, tion in her voice, before her face distorted into a frown. “How are you?”
“… A lesson learned.”
“Every Frozen Nest whelpling has to, and I am very d you came out of it wiser. Although, I had hoped you wouldn’t have to experience it so early, especially with your still immature skills!” Mom chastised, her voice clearly waning from worry to outright anger. It made Sieg’s fury seem like a precursor. “I won’t continue arguing this point to you, for I believe you are capable enough to understand the lesson here.”
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“Well, hopefully I did learn the correct lesson here, but it sure lit a fire under me … The expedition can’t happen any time soon. I am just not ready,” I stated. “[Ice Resistance] takes a while to level up organically, and I truly think level ten is the minimum I need to reach until I can enter the ciers. Seriously, the snow doesn’t even melt when I touch it!”
“You still have two years left before you may leave Kargryx, Hestia. You can spend a few months purely dedicating that time to self-improvement before you depart on the rest of your adventures. Aside from the session crisis, there is no need to rush anything here like you did on Altrust. Time and patience is the correct choice, to make sure that even the coldest region in the world cannot extinguish your me. If you can bear this blizzard, then even the oceans will kneel to you!” Mom stated with full pride, causing me tough awkwardly.
“Maybe not so ambitious, when even Kramps wasn’t so willing to go into the sea with all the scary stuff down there,” I replied, prompting Mom to giggle.
“That may be true, but we Nordors do no shy from this measly cold, correct? You can conquer it because you are my child. You are a Nordoramsul, Hestia.”
Hearing Mom say this in front of everybody was embarrassing, but it did fill my chest with pride as strong as an erupting volcano. Being called a Nordor, instead of just a Kargryxmor, felt like it had blown away any doubt I had about my ability to actually awaken my ice dragon bloodline. Frankly, a part of me did believe I had lost the majority of my Nordor heritage due to my early birth and evolution mutations.
Not a single time did the System give me the option to pivot to be an ice dragon, unlike how often Kramps’s choice reappeared time and again to remind me I was of his blood. It felt like I had to prove her words to myself, and that was another reason for me to enter the ciers.
I wanted to call myself not only a Kargryxmor, but also a Nordor. Proudly, at that.
“You must all prepare yourselves,”—Mom pped her hands as she looked at my party members with expectations, prompting them all to nod sternly. No signs of hesitation could be seen in their actions or eyes. “Good. Take the thought of the expedition off your mind for the next few months, and channel your energy into every single way you could prepare for your journey. You have all seen the cial wastes, and the one destination you must reach—the spire where the greater elementals dine in hopes of achieving apotheosis.”
“There lies my chance to be one with your true ice, Your Majesty,” Tasianna stated, clutching her arms, probably reminding herself how they froze and broke off when she used Mom’s spells.
“<em>Our</em> trial to be worthy to protect Her Highness,” the twins both dered, sharpening their gazes.
“Vengeance,” Vifi spat out a single word, her demonic features immediately showing as rage fueled her voice.
<em>And for me, somewhere there, I will need to find my grandparents’ relics. Maybe that, along with the empress’s crown, will shed some light into everything.</em>
“<em>A</em>, you are growing into your role as a mother, Melloxtressa!” Interrupting this moment, the unknown woman from before suddenly revealed herself, pushing Mom to the side to show herself to us.
d in a ck-violet one-piece dress that almost looked like the gown of a stereotypical witch, this dragonewt woman smiled with her pale elven face, gazing warmly at us with a single red eye as the other was hidden by her long purple hair, adorned by multiple dried-up scale essories. She seemed like a pretty normal goth woman, if you ignored the fact her chest showed her organs and skeleton.
Everything below her head was devoid of any skin or flesh, reced by a purple-glowing gel-like substance that kept her innards together in a dragonewt form. You could see her lungs, heart, and bone-structure if it wasn’t hidden by her dress or the patches of ck scales, freaking me out a bit, as it seemed like I was looking at those human anatomical models you saw in science sses.
However, <em>this</em> wasn’t the most surprising aspect of her appearance. It was the fact a skeletal dragonewt head rose from behind her back, floating around her through a purple gas. With a fat grin, the skeleton head also could speak … with the same voice the woman had.
“<em>Hahaha</em>! Taimatrak not assuming the same form I have will always cause such a splendid reaction. Marvelous glee indeed,” the woman stated, naming Taim, my fourth eldest half-sibling, and causing me to notice a simr ‘stench’ around her as I smelled around him. “Dear? Who am I? <em>Hmm</em>?”
The lichdragon of the empire of Kargryx.
“Will you stop teasing my daughter, Forminaxtrass!” Mom shouted, pushing the cackling woman out of the way. “Your son might act too modest for my taste, but at least he knows how to act properly!”
“<em>Pah</em>, a quality I wished I managed to have gotten rid of before my perfect little whelpling grew all up. So cold and reserved, even to his own beloved mother. I am teasing you to show you how lucky you are, my friend! Such a moment between mother and child is a rarity for us, outside when we finish a project together!” the woman spoke through her elven head, while her skeleton one let out a deep sigh.
Seeing the two act like this, I could only force out a meek answer, “Third Empress Forminaxtrass?”
The spoken woman snapped her attention back to me. “The question was a given at this point, but yes, you ‘guessed’ correctly! <em>Ahh</em>, my dear little Hestia … I would love to embrace you or show you as much affection as your mother showed you, but your scent disgusts me.”
My eyes twitched, but I managed to keep my smile up. “Holy dragon?”
“Yes … Taimatrak reported how much you smelled like those ambitious traitors. <em>Haaaaaaaa</em>, what a nuisance.” Forminaxtrass caressed her neck as she looked away, self-soothing herself with a pained smile before she turned around, closing her eyes to force a grin. “I’ve nothing against you, of course. You’re not a part of those treacherous snakes, and I even heard you told them off. Unlike your mother, though, I would have preferred if you hadpletely rejected them! Do not deal with Sacred Nest!”
<em>Ahh, I see. Mom did say the empresses hated the former dragon ruler of light. I guess Forminaxtrass hated her a bit more than the others.</em>
“Yuilengreill should have not broken so easily!” she continuedining. “I would rather deal with those skinks and their crass words if I could prevent them from influencing another damn imperial child! Hestia, I do not care what they promised you, you stay away—<em>Mrhmph!</em>”
Mom suddenly froze Forminaxtrass’s skeleton head as she grabbed her elven one, shutting her uppletely. “And you have nothing to say to <em>my</em> daughter! Dealing with Sacred Nest’s ambitions is mandatory, and this is something the rest of us agreed on. My daughter evolved into a holy dragon, and that is something we cannot change. She wants to lead this civil war into a peaceful conclusion, and this is <em>her</em> decision. Do not stop her from doing what she believes is best.”
A dark aura began surrounding the frozen skull before it started to disintegrate, reforming itself outside with the help of that purple gas. It replied, “Fine! Release me.”
Mom did just that.
“Our discussion has gone on for too long, anyways, with the amount of tea we’ve drunk. This is your responsibility, Melloxtressa. Not just your daughter’s. Remember what Sacred Nest did to Eltharion and how they pivoted and stabbed their own dragon ruler in the back to preserve themselves. They cannot be trusted with any modicum of power,” Forminaxtrass hissed.
Mom frowned, nodding her head slowly to the discontent dragon empress. “I know.” She then turned to me. “You caught us at a very tense moment, Hestia. I do apologize for her.”
Considering how Mom treated the first and fourth empress before they went ballistic at each other, I was starting to fully understand how the dragon empresses behaved around each other. Very dragon-like, but with love. But very dragon-like.
Mom then patted Forminaxtrass on the shoulder. “Come now, I did promise you in case my daughter spoke to me while you were around. Shouldn’t we see how much progress they have made?”
The lichdragon empress let out a deep sigh before she moved away from the portal’s opening, going by her lonesome through another door, leaving Mom to let out an exhausted smile. Crossing her arms, she began to pout. “Aside from that, we had another discussion. It also concerns that shipment of fire stones.”
Hearing ominous stuff was part of the course of Aurora, so I was already preparing myself for the inevitable. What was happening now?
“The leviathans are starting to cause trouble for us,” she stated, sending a chill down my spine. “They call themselves Wendriosa’s supporters and are starting to make their presence more known inside Coral Beard, all while shouting out their support of her while denouncing Kahmeet and his fire and volcanic dragonkin supporters. Somehow, the events concerning you and Maustoovaka were leaked.”
“I … I’m sorry, I know this must be important, but I can’t really think of the reason why,” I admitted. I wasn’t trying to y dumb here, I knew this was a smear campaign and so on, but I couldn’t exactly understand what sort of trouble this could really cause.
I mean, Kahmeet and Wendriosa were alreadypeting against each other as heirs, right? This felt sorta normal between two imant factions and unless the two of them started duking it out, I couldn’t imagine what Mom felt so exhausted about.
“Hestia, do you remember how Yuilengreill told you that <em>all</em> of Kargryx’s iing ships enter through Caedhul first for inspection, before they are allowed toe close to our empire<em> and</em> also Kel’Thun? The elves’ ind just in front of Coral Beard’s coast?” Mom asked, prompting me to nod. “Well, an influx of aggressive and stubborn leviathans means the oceans will be disturbed. Their mere presence means fishing and import and export operations arepletely halted due to the mini-tsunamis they can cause.”
“… So this is more than just a bunch of insults?”
“Yes, as you know, Wendriosa’s supportes mostly from the leviathans her maternal n are acquainted with. Your encounter with Maustoovaka not only reduced his prestige as a dragon ruler, but it also diminished the presence of the two dragon rulers of Inferno Nest due to <em>my</em> intervention,” she answered, causing me to groan. “Fortunately, that part wasn’t leaked, meaning whoever did it was strategically aiming at weakening Kahmeet’s support group, and not wanting to harm your reputation among the masses. Aside from also preserving Eltharion’s and my standing.”
Due to this whole event, Mom and the empresses had to maintain the peace as this tant disrespect from numerous leviathans had caused a massive discord within the southern part of the empire. Dragons and drakes of various nests were gathering there, unnerved and agitated by their rude guests. Even those who didn’t have anything to do with Inferno Nest couldn’t let this slide.
Dragons and leviathans always had a standoffish rivalry. Was the sky andnd better than the sea? Was the massive ocean of Goddess Plesia stronger than the empire founded by the ck Tyrant of the Skies? Yet, neither could reallypete against each other, as it was impossible for leviathans to rule the skies and dragons the seas.
Yet, aside from this rtionship, the respective countries—Kargryx and Caedhul—had a pretty amicable rtionship, almost simr to an alliance. At the very least, they had a non-aggression pact and were actively trading with each other, as both realms could offer goods the others could never procure by themselves.
So this wasn’t an international issue, this was purely a dragonkin issue. An issue between two forces that could destroy an entire ind, as I saw with Maustoovaka and Arkanator’s fight. Also, they were disturbing trade.
“I thought my stay was only to repent for my tantrum, but I think I would have had to go to Coral Beard anyways with how everything is going on,” Mom said. “Solving this without having to severely hurt any of the angered dragonkin will take our attention away. Hopefully, nothing will escte.”
“That’s a g.”
“Don’t jinx it!” Momined, making meugh as she understood my Earth pop-media lingo. After we shared a smallugh together, Mom snapped her fingers, actually having some good news this time. “As such, the fire stones your brother promised you cannot make it safely to Frozen Nest, since the wyverns do not wish to fly with everything going on down south. However, the objective was to transport the stones to Grimnir, right?”
The air behind Mom rippled open as she put her hand through it, pulling out a steaming, red stone. With a smirk, she said, “As such, I had everything ordered to be delivered to me, so I could bring everything into the subspace for him to receive.”
“Mom, you’re a genius!” I cheered.
“Common sense, my dear whelpling! Your mother has plenty of it, <em>ohohoho</em>!” Momughed in an exaggerated manner, causing Tasianna and the twins to p in celebration. “As such, Grimnir has been able to start making that armor for himself, Saori, and Eine. With your promise concluded, progress for your recorder project has finally begun. Would you like to see what they’ve been doing?”
“Yes, please!”
“Thene, my dear! Let your mother be the one to surprise you with your next advancement in your music career!”
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