Chapter 65: The Ice Princess who was happy
Chapter 65: The Ice Princess who was happy
All kinds of EXP lived hidden on Snowy Mountain M, and this wasn't only referring to monsters. A Magician full of dreams researching diligently for the sake of obtaining eternal life, a lily* knight bent on kidnapping her blood-related elder sister who had married into the wealthy family next door, a romanticist who set fire to the royal palace the moment he was dumped by his girlfriend... People also gave EXP.
(* T/N : Lily also means Yuri / lesbian)
However, today's objective was to climb to the summit of Snowy Mountain M the quickest I could and make the Ice Princess submit—If possible, before the sun rose tomorrow.
There was no time idle.
Peek: Are you going to run up the mountain?
'I don't use such ignorant methods, Miss Trainee Teacher.'
My 1st Playthrough experience was vastly extensive. Among those who lived in seclusion with their identities hidden around Snowy Mountain M and its nearby villages, I knew of a fellow I could make use of as a means to fly.
There was a solitary log cabin built a slight distance away from Village Q. In the lawn before it was a flowerbed and a small pond, while in the back garden there were several fruit trees. A hunter youth, who had taken one of those frail Elves as a wife, lived in this shabby home. He never went hunting, however, with the reason being that...
▷Race: Dragon
▷Level: 505
▷Job: Hunter(Wildlife→Hunt↑)
▷Skills: Chill(S) Hunt(A) Tolerance(A) Physical Strength(A) Massacre(B)...
▷Condition: Mimicry, Sleep
... he was a lazy dragon by nature. But this wasn't necessarily a bad thing—if all dragons diligently pursued the path of the mighty, as Oblivion King Noebius had, then the continents of Fantasia would have long fallen to ruin.
The same went for the Elf, who was sharing the bed with the human-transformed dragon—if the average breast size of an Elf wasn't that of the Sahara, but of the Rockies, then the leading race of Fantasia's continents would have been the Elves and not the humans.
And that wasn't simply a hypothesis. The Elves, who had a basic lifespan of 5000 years and anti-aging as a passive ability, would have wet dreams and menstruations almost until the day they died. Imagine them being able to pop out babies one after another on top of all that.
Humans wouldn't even be a match when it came to reproductive ability.
"Hmm... maybe this isn't just a breast problem?"
During the past 11 years, I had seen a great many Elf women who had settled down with members of other races like this dragon's wife here. Undaunted by their disadvantaged physique which had nothing going it apart from prolonged youth, they were on the considerably proactive side when it came to marriage, childbirth and so on.
In short, the problem lay in the feeble male side of the Elves. Perhaps it was premature ejaculation, or impotence. But whatever the case, they weren't a normal race of people.
"Gasp! Who are—Gueh?!"
Feeling the cold wind that entered through the wide open door, the dragon awoke from his sleep, and my hand moved as well; I grabbed hold of his throat without giving him time to even return to his original form.
"Master?!"
The Elf, who had woken up a beat late, let out an adorable scream. As evident from that manner of address, these two weren't in a normal marital relationship—the dragon was a pervert who worked his wife like a slave. There wouldn't be the slightest problem even if I attacked him.
"Lizard. Transform into your original form already."
"O-O human! What have I done to—Kegh-kegh?!"
"Listening to me while I'm talking foul will be better for your wife as well. I've given you a clear warning now, you hear?"
"... Very well."
Dragged outside the log cabin by the throat, the dragon returned to how he originally appeared.
Flash-!
From a small human to a huge flying lizard.
His hide was on the thick side so that he could live in cold alpine regions, and his scales were a fine white color that were good for camouflaging into the environment. Furthermore, in exchange for his wings being short so as to better resist heavy snowfall and blizzards, he had three pairs of them.
His body wasn't of a large size, however; compared to my dear companion, Oblivion Dragon King Noebius, he was extremely small like a iguana lying flat before a tyrannosaur.
"It's a dragon!"
"Gasp! A dragon appeared!"
"Could that white dragon be...!"
"Quickly wake up the heroes!"
Nevertheless, I mused that a dragon was a dragon, after all, as the residents of Village Q began to kick up a big fuss upon sighting the tiny dragon that had suddenly appeared nearby. But I could understand their feelings a little, at least, because dragons were known as the strongest creatures from a fantasy world perspective—even if it were a mere Level of 505.
This was because when it came to the race of dragons, the way Level calculation worked would become different. Although the margin of error was quite large depending on Skill set and rank, multiplying their Level by 3 would equal that of a human. In other words, whether it be a Hero or brave warrior, you would have to be Level 1515 in order to defeat a Level 505 dragon all by yourself.
'Real easy isn't it, Miss Trainee Teacher?'
Suggestion: Student Kang Han Soo, it would be even easier to achieve victory by working together with trustworthy companions.
Far from being of help, those bastards from back then were nothing but hindrances, dreams who uttered rubbish about protecting dragons just because they were few in number. And what was even funnier than this? They abided by a shocking law of equal exchange, killing one dragon to save one woman when they felt like it.
There had been no consistency to their actions and arguments.
"Quuuuuuu...!"
The white dragon stretched his maw open and let loose a roar, and then began to gather cold air between his jaws—it was dragonbreath. If unleashed, this entire area would be frozen over. In terms of pure strength, he was far superior whether it be in power or scope compared to the Ice Princess going out of control.
Before the dragonbreath came bursting forth, however, I exploded with laughter first.
"Hahah! That repertoire of yours is no different from the 1st Playthrough."
Although I had no intention of just letting him escape to the sky, if I were the white dragon, I would have used the time he spent opening his mouth to take air supremacy first.
I was already in front of his face.
Wham!
A Z-rank divine fist that contained Z-rank blessing landed on the dragon's lower jaw.
The likes of a dragon's racial advantage was easily ignored.
"Quuu-?!"
Puhwa!
Failing to spit out the breath of cold air held in his mouth, it exploded inside him! And with his tongue hanging out his mouth in an unsightly manner, the white dragon's eyes rolled back in his head—a temporary loss of consciousness and concussion.
But my attack had yet to end.
(C)
I erased the dragon's memories to the point where he could be easily tamed. Although I could have induced oblivion in him when I had him under control in human form, I had waited as it wouldn't do for him to even forget the way to return to his original form.
And now?
"Look into my eyes."
"Quuu...!"
Flap! Boom! Crunch!
The white dragon flailed about his wings, tails and so on; however, as he was already completely under my spell whether it be physically or mentally, his defiant resistance died down in no time.
"Lower your head."
"... Quuu."
The white dragon, who was only left with his instincts and fear towards me, obeyed my order.
Taming(F)→Taming(B)
Rearing(F)→Rearing(D)
Empathy(F)→Empathy(E)
The proficiency of my Skills had greatly increased, a growth that was becoming of a Hero with a bonus of 500% EXP. Since what I had done was no different than having tamed 5 dragons by ordinary Job standards, I even felt that this degree of growth was lacking; however, it was self-evident that my Skills would naturally improve as time went.
"I wonder if they'll count this as an achievement, too?"
"H-heavens..."
My eyes fell on the Elf, the dragon's wife, who had rushed out of the log cabin in a fluster with nothing but a blanket over her lingeries. She stared at me sitting on top of the white dragon's head like I was a monster.
As greatly irksome though it was...
"Look, Elf."
"I'll do anything so please spare me!"
The Elf had become inured to being servile. If left the way she was, then she would no doubt be kidnapped by the Dark Commerce with no one the wiser and go up on auction as merchandise.
Putting things right was my specialty.
"Go to the biggest pub in the village and you'll find a shabby-looking girl going by the name of Lanuvel. I'll make it so that you can have a steady job at the Sage's Tower, not as a slave like you are now."
"I wasn't forced to become his slave!"
The Elf thus uttered frustratingly.
"And you're not a normal wife either."
"Th-that's..."
"Any certainty in that you weren't brainwashed through magic? Do you feel no feel nothing out of place from feeling happy at the life of a slave? What do your family and parents say about you being like this? When's the last time you met them?"
I could tell from personal experience.
Because Saintess H was 100% brainwashed.
"Ah..."
"Take a rational look back on yourself and live the right way. Let's go, Baekgu."
"Quuuuu-!"
Flap!
After taking a look at his Elf wife with his head tilted, the white dragon then spread wide his three pairs of wings and powerfully took to the sky.
'I should collect them by color when there's time later. Hwanggu, Chunggu, Hukgu, Eungu, Nokgu2...'
(T/N: literally means Gold Dog, Blue Dog, Black Dog, Silver Dog, and Green Dog respectively. Baekgu is White Dog)
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On the summit of Snowy Mountain M, there were adventurers, frozen solid, covered by the perpetual snow fall. It would be a very big mistake to think that just because the resident was a beautiful princess, only hot-blooded men would make their way here. When you slowly looked around this 'ice grave', you would find there were far more women. The frozen women could be largely divided into two groups.
First, the women who had chased after a man who had formed a harem party. The one aiming for the Ice Princess was the man, who was the center of the harem, but when the party became wiped out, the deceased ended up being one man and many women. They died because they had followed after a sex-crazed man.
Second, the women who felt envy and jealousy towards the Ice Princess. If the male who represented the northern continent was the Sage, then the female was the Ice Princess. This was why from the moment women of the northern continent were born, they would be compared to the Ice Princess—in talent, looks, lineage, recognition... and this was also why there were extremely many women who found the Ice Princess an eyesore.
... As for the Sage? He was an Archmage capable of reducing even a country to ashes; thus, there were no idiots who provoked the man. Moreover, because he kept women at a distance without exception, far from envying him, there were an overwhelming number of those who admired his thorough self-management. He was a star of utmost popularity within the northern continent! Although the person in question actually kept himself in check as he didn't want to die from excessive blood loss, he had risen to the ranks of respected great individuals thanks to the masses misunderstanding as they pleased.
Shining Eyes: There's really nothing that Student Kang Han Soo doesn't know.
'This is only standard, Miss Trainee Teacher.'
I was qualitatively different from the fantasy world barbarians. I knew very well the importance of information as I had lived in the information society of the beautiful green planet Earth.
But I didn't consider myself uniquely special for this. Any Earthling who was abducted to an unfamiliar world dominated by violence would have made the same judgements as I had. They would no doubt thoroughly start from gathering information in order to survive the fantasy world natives, who always tried to solve everything with violence, lording it over them.
There was no way I was the only one who did this.
Wince: Th-that's right. Hoho!
When Baekgu and I arrived at the peak of Snowy Mountain M, I found that an intense war of nerves had already been taking place there.
"Leave if you don't want to die!"
A beauty, whose body was ideal to be the highest-grade hot water bottle, thus shouted while looking down from the top of a majestic fortress covered by ice and snow. She wore a beautiful outfit that looked like a white wedding dress; however, seeing her wear it in this awful weather where a blizzard was raging, I got the impression that she was more a crazy chick than a pretty one.
And that crazy chick was none other than the Ice Princess.
▷Race: Human
▷Level: 486
▷Job: Princess(National Strength=Charm↑)
▷Skills: Madness(S) Chill(S) Glamor(A) Survivability(A) Murder(B)...
▷Condition: Rampage, Sorrow
Her Status was impressive without change like it was in the 1st Playthrough. The combination of S-rank Madness and Chill was a fantastic one, and the amount of EXP she had gathered while killing the adventurers that came over to her was also rather excellent.
I heard a shout in response to the Ice Princess' warning sounding from below the fortress wall.
"O noble Ice Princess! I ask that you give birth to my child! If you, the supreme beauty of the northern continent, and I, a slayer of Orcs, were to come together, a child amazing enough to even take down a dragon will surely be born!"
A handsome man, who had brought along a line of pretty young ladies, thus proposed to the Ice Princess while making a strange assertion. The theory of evolution? Creationism? Laws of inheritance? Naturalism?
I wondered to myself: what was his confidence based on?
"A dragon, huh... Baekgu?"
"Quuuuuu-!"
The white dragon roared amidst the blizzard, and without giving the fools on the ground the time to even be astonished, blanketed them with a breath of cold air.
Fwoosh~!
Cr-crack-!
The harem party was wiped out in one go. The fate of the man who had taken the dragonbreath head on went without saying, while the young ladies who were in dressed in pretty short skirts in this cold weather had become nicely frozen as well.
The white dragon didn't even allow a final struggle to the adventurers.
"Land on top of the fortress wall."
"Quuu."
Boom-
Baekgu landed on top of a snow-covered watchtower, gripping it with his sharp talons, and I jumped down to the side of the Ice Princess.
"How did you tame a drag-... Ah?! Wait a moment! If you come closer, the rampaging chill will-...!"
The Ice Princess uttered a warning in the midst of blankly looking up at Baekgu, but there was no problem at all.
Shwooo-!
It was because the chill ceaselessly emanating from her body was absorbed into the golden orb at the end of the Sage's Staff. Although it wasn't completely absorbed, I felt that the temperature had risen from about minus 50 degrees to minus 10 degrees.
Virgin A's words had been right—the Ice Princess' power could be controlled with the Sage's Staff.
"C-could that staff be...?"
The sky-blue eyes of the Ice Princess, surprised at this absorption phenomenon, were opened wide. It seemed she recognized the staff, and this was only natural; she, too, was an excellent Magician first, and a princess of a country second. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that none among the outstanding Magicians in the northern continent didn't know of the Sage, including the staff that he always brought with him like it were his lover.
"As long as I have that staff, I can control my rampaging pow—Kyah?!"
"How dare you!"
In response to the Ice Princess presumptuously reaching out towards the Sage's Staff held in my hand, I gave a hard whack on her head with the staff. An ordinary weapon or magic spell would have become frozen solid before even touching her body, but the Sage's Staff wasn't so.
Shwooo-
It sucked in the chill surrounding the Ice Princess like a vacuum cleaner.
How very useful to use as a club.
"Hauuuh..."
"Princess who thinks herself the most unfortunate person in the world. Starting from now, you're gonna get a thrashing to the point of shitting blood each time you fail to control your power. Ah! And don't worry even if you die. I can have you resurrected 40 times. Any questions?"
I was going to teach her what true misfortune was.
Sword King Alex could vouch for that.