[Vol. 9] Chapter 24: I Don’t Want to Get Married, Waaah!
Thinking this, Violet jumped down from the dragon’s back at the edge of the frozen land. She gently patted the big head of the blue dragon that leaned closer on its own, then waved her hand.
“Thanks for helping this time. This is far enough. Be careful on your way back.”
Quietly enjoying the priestess’s gentle touch, Alexia’s icy-blue dragon eyes moved between the two girls. But instead of leaving as Violet expected, she suddenly spoke up.
“Lady Violet, may I follow you and Lady Xiao Guang on your travels for a while longer?”
“?”
The black-haired girl froze a little, and even the dragon lady standing nearby looked surprised. Violet thought for a moment, not giving a direct yes or no, and instead asked:
“Why do you want to come with us? You’re not low-ranked in your clan, shouldn’t you still have many things to deal with there?”
“My big brother can handle all that. With or without me doesn’t matter much. You should know, our dragon clan guarded the sealed land for 300 years. Now that we finally have some freedom, if I just go back, I’ll end up stuck in some cave again, sleeping away my days. So this is a rare chance…”
Seeing the blue dragon girl’s slightly evasive look, Violet rolled her eyes.
“Tell the truth, or we’ll leave without you.”
“Wait, wait! Fine, I’ll say it…”
Realizing the priestess had easily seen through her, Alexia, who hadn’t really seen much of the outside world and was still like a young girl, quickly flapped her huge wings, stirring up clouds of dust, looking embarrassed as she hurried to explain.
“A-actually, it’s because a few annoying dragons keep bothering me. I already told them I don’t like them, but they just won’t stop…”
“It wasn’t so bad before, but in our clan, once you turn 500 you’re considered an adult and have to choose a partner. To avoid those idiots, I came all the way out here with Sister Cielru as an envoy. But who knew they would still follow me all the way here? It’s so infuriating!”
With her words and wild hand gestures, Violet quickly understood the blue dragon girl’s situation.
No wonder. Earlier, when Violet asked Cielru for a dragon guide to the frozen land to save some effort, Alexia had eagerly volunteered herself. At first, Violet found her eagerness strange. Now it seemed this was her plan all along.
Even though their cooperation with the God of Paradox wasn’t something they wanted too many outsiders to know, adding just one more Alexia didn’t really matter. Since she had already helped them, refusing her outright would feel a bit too cold… Violet thought it over, then turned to the dragon lady at her side.
“What do you think, Xiao Guang?”
“Eh?”
She didn’t expect her master to ask her opinion. The Dragon God, who had been frowning slightly, froze. At first she wanted to refuse, but then looked at Alexia’s pleading, pitiful eyes. In the end, she couldn’t harden her heart.
“...Tch. Fine. If Master agrees, then I have no objection.”
“~”
Hearing this, Violet smiled and nodded slightly.
“In that case, Miss Alexia, you can come with us. But I’ll say this first, you must follow all commands, you can’t just fight people as you like, and you can’t show that spoiled high-dragon attitude. Otherwise, we’ll send you straight back. Understood?”
Hearing this, the blue dragon girl was overjoyed. She nodded again and again like pounding garlic and patted her chest, happily promising:
“Of course, of course! Back when I traveled outside with Her Majesty the White Emperor, I was her attendant. So I do have plenty of experience dealing with ordinary people. You can rest assured!”
“Mm…”
Violet only gave a short reply. Seeing Alexia’s uncontainable excitement, the priestess said nothing more. She only turned her head, quietly gazing at the far northern sky.
“This wind… it’s getting louder and wilder.”
…………………………………………
The Northern Countries formed a loose international alliance, with the Ice and Snow Empire, one of the world’s five great powers, at its core.
Of course, this “alliance” was not a real alliance. In the northern world, cut off by the Extreme Cold Zone, the Ice and Snow Empire was the absolute ruler. No nation or force could challenge its power. Naturally, none dared to defy it. They could only offer tribute and obedience in exchange for protection and peace.
So, although there were more than ten kingdoms of different sizes in the North, and even many scattered tribes too small to be called nations, they rarely fought or went to war with each other. In a way, they could be seen as a single whole.
This pattern of “one strong, many weak” had lasted for over a thousand years, deeply rooted in people’s hearts. Especially after the spread of the Snow Empire’s state religion, the [Eternal Winter Temple], which gradually became the common belief of the entire North, no one dared to even think of resisting the Snow Empire. Calling it a true unification was not an exaggeration.
Thus, while the North might look like a web of complicated powers, in terms of order and unity it was actually the most stable region of the Origin Realm. Even when the last world war was burning fiercely elsewhere, the flames of war never truly reached this snowy land. If not for the barrier of the Extreme Cold Zone, this place might have been the perfect refuge from conflict.
But unfortunately, no one could stay untouched in a changing world. With the large-scale invasion of the World Sustainers, the nearly thousand years of peace here also seemed to be slowly coming to an end.
……………………………………………
Ice-Sea Principality, Nofenburg.
“Oh? The fortress is already closed? Why?”
Beneath towering ice-blue city walls, the black-haired, white-robed girl tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the fully sealed gates, guarded so tightly by soldiers that not even water could pass through.
The power distribution in the Northern Countries was simple. The Ice and Snow Empire stood in the very center, occupying the most fertile lands, while the other kingdoms and countless tribes spread out in all directions around it like stars surrounding the moon. The southern side was no exception.
For example, the Ice-Sea Principality was one of the northern countries closest to the Extreme Cold Zone. If the southern nations really found a way to cross the Extreme Cold Zone and launched a northern invasion, this place would undoubtedly become the very front line of war.
Because of the divine interference left behind in the Extreme Cold Zone by the God of Ice and Snow, Violet and her group ended up far off from their intended route when they crossed it. After much effort with the map, they finally confirmed their location and found the nearest city. Their plan was to rest here for a while, observe the situation, and then decide what to do next.
But to their surprise, things started off poorly. They were shut out right from the beginning, refused entry at the city gates.