Chapter 252 - Dragon Hunting, Part Two

The days of hunting dragons with Nanahoshi pressed on.

Honestly, it was a pain.

Dragons are rare. Having a lead doesn't mean you'll actually find one.

The Red Dragon was the exception — easier to track down than most...

But today, Nanahoshi said she'd found another one.

Since I'd promised Windsor and Eris last time, I brought them along.

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"Rudeus! Is there really a dragon here?"

"Probably."

"Yes! I've never killed a dragon before! I'm so excited!"

Windsor, standing beside Eris, was the same. She pressed her lips together, eyes bright with barely contained excitement.

Nanahoshi glanced back at the three of us and spoke.

"It should be somewhere around here. Rudeus, do a magic survey."

"Got it."

I touched the Arrogant Water Dragon King to the ground. Mana spread out along the earth, reaching hundreds of kilometers until it blanketed the entire mountain range.

At the peak, I found something massive.

Snowy mountain... that's probably a Frost Dragon.

"Found it. The mountaintop."

"Okay, let's move!"

I turned to check on Eris and Windsor.

Neither of them was dressed warmly enough. I cast a quick spell and adjusted the temperature around them.

Eris wrinkled her nose.

"Rudeus, it's too hot!"

"We're heading to a snowy mountain. Deal with it."

"Oh! Fine!"

Windsor didn't seem bothered by the heat at all.

As for Nanahoshi, she's a Dragonoid now, and perfectly capable of handling it herself. Casting the spell on her too would've just been pointless.

So I left Nanahoshi out of it and activated Gravity Magic, lifting all three of them at once. We rose into the air and flew toward the dragon.

Gravity Magic carried us higher and higher.

The forest below shrank to nothing.

The distant peaks turned white.

Cold wind began to bite.

"Is there really a dragon up there?"

Eris pressed herself against the edge of the magic barrier, peering forward, completely impatient.

"At the peak."

"Is it strong?"

"Should be a decent fight."

"Perfect!"

Eris pumped her fist, grinning like a kid on the way to a field trip.

Windsor stayed quiet, but those red eyes, so much like Eris's, had already lit up.

Nanahoshi kept her head down, flipping through her notes, muttering to herself.

Before long, the snowy mountain filled our view.

I deployed the detection magic again and swept the area.

My brow rose slightly.

Nanahoshi caught it immediately.

"Something wrong?"

"It's a little strange."

"The dragon moved from the peak?"

"No. It's still there."

I paused.

"There's just more than one."

Nanahoshi looked up.

"How many?"

"Two."

Eris's eyes went even brighter.

"Two?!"

I already knew what she was thinking.

I smiled. "Two of them. Think Eris can manage?"

Eris broke into a grin on the spot.

"Rudeus, back me up! Windsor too!"

Nanahoshi pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Eris, be careful. Windsor, you as well."

Mother and daughter nodded together. Neither looked like they'd heard a single word.

We landed on a rocky ledge not far below the peak.

Wind screamed.

Snow whipped in every direction.

Visibility was almost nothing.

In the white haze ahead, only vague, enormous shapes were visible.

I raised my hand and cast Wind Magic. The snow and wind scattered instantly.

Two massive dragons came into view, lying prone on the summit.

One large. One small.

The large one stretched nearly 20 meters, its entire body plated in ice-blue scales.

The small one was roughly 10 meters. Clearly much younger.

Eris blinked.

"Huh?"

Windsor stared too.

"Dad..."

Nanahoshi set down her notes and frowned.

"Mother and child?"

I nodded.

"Looks like it."

The young one hadn't even fully grown yet.

The excitement drained from Eris's face.

"Rudeus... do we have to kill her?"

I looked at Eris. Then at Windsor.

That energy, that eagerness — gone from both of them. Like mother, like daughter.

Eris had gotten much gentler after becoming a mother. The old her wouldn't have hesitated for a second. She'd have already had her sword out and been halfway across the ledge.

Nanahoshi looked at the two of them, then at me. She let out a short, quiet laugh.

"Looks like today just got more complicated."

Right at that moment, the adult Frost Dragon opened its eyes.

Those vertical pupils locked onto us.

Then the roar hit.

ROAR,!

Deafening. The whole mountain shook with it.

Snow broke loose from every slope and came crashing down in a wall of white.

It never reached us. My barrier stopped it cold.

The Frost Dragon rose slowly to its feet, wings spreading wide.

Its shadow swallowed the sky.

Behind it, the young dragon pressed close to its mother, watching us with wide, wary eyes.

Eris scratched the back of her head.

"Rudeus."

"Yeah?"

"She's protecting her child."

"I know."

"So what do we do?"

I could see it on Eris's face. She couldn't bring herself to go through with it.

They're both mothers, after all.

I looked at Nanahoshi.

"We don't actually have to kill it to get the blood, do we?"

Nanahoshi nodded.

"Theoretically, no."

"Then it's simple."

I stepped forward.

The Frost Dragon snarled. A warning.

Cold poured off its body in waves. The temperature plummeted.

Didn't make much difference to me.

I looked at it calmly and activated Gravity Magic.

The Frost Dragon hit the ground, pinned completely still.

Fear crept into those vertical pupils.

Dragons are intelligent, long-lived species, after all.

"Don't resist," I said. "We're only taking a little blood. We won't hurt you."

Whether it understood or not, I couldn't tell. Those eyes stayed locked on us, unblinking.

Didn't really matter either way.

I turned back to Nanahoshi.

"Go ahead. Take the blood."

Nanahoshi tugged the corner of her mouth upward and pulled out the container she'd prepared.

"If you could do this the whole time, why did you just kill that Earth Dragon before?"

"That was a commission. I killed it on the way out."

"Fair enough. We did take that commission."

Nanahoshi moved in close. I raised my hand slightly, and a thin Wind Blade slipped through the gap between scales.

A few drops of ice-blue dragon blood dripped into the container.

Nanahoshi's smile turned a little odd.

She always says she's doing this for my sake, but honestly, watching her right now, I think she genuinely loves the research itself. At least a little.

On the other side of the ledge, Windsor walked slowly toward the young dragon.

The young dragon was scared. That was obvious. But with its mother pinned, it had nowhere to run.

Windsor hesitated, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of dried meat.

"Want some?"

Eris got curious and wandered over too.

The young dragon sniffed at the dried meat.

Then swallowed it whole.

Nanahoshi glanced up.

"You two made friends faster than I drew blood."

I laughed.

Up on the snowy mountain, the wind and snow drifted down again.

Windsor crouched there, feeding the dragon piece by piece, and reached up to pat its head.

Eris circled the adult Frost Dragon in slow, deliberate loops, studying it from every angle, clearly still trying to figure out the ideal place to land a strike.

She still wanted to fight, no question about it.

Nanahoshi stood apart from them all, notebook tucked under one arm, writing something down.

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When it was time to leave, I released the Gravity Magic.

The adult Frost Dragon was smarter than I expected. It had figured out we weren't really a threat.

As we lifted into the air, the young dragon suddenly bolted out from behind its mother and let out a short cry toward Windsor.

Windsor paused.

Then raised her hand and waved.

"Goodbye."

The young dragon tilted its head, uncertain what it meant.

But it cried out again anyway.

We climbed high into the sky. When I looked back, it was still standing there on the snowy mountain, watching us go.

Eris smiled.

"It likes Windsor."

"Yeah."

"You think when it grows up, it'll come find her? To repay the kindness?"

"Probably. Dragons are smart."

Nanahoshi nodded at that.

"They are. Dragons are very smart."

"...You've fully accepted who you are now."

"It's simply fact. A dragon's intelligence is nothing like a beast's."

"I suppose you're right..."

Windsor was still craning her neck, looking back toward the peak.

"Dad."

"Hm?"

"If it really does come find me someday — can I keep it?"

"...It probably can't survive in the environment we live in."

"But Dad's here, isn't he?"

Fair point. Building something like a snowy mountain environment wouldn't actually be that hard.

And more importantly, Windsor was the one asking.

I nodded.

"Sure. If Windsor wants it, and it shows up, we'll keep it."

"Thank you, Dad!"

Eris nodded beside me, thoroughly satisfied.

...So you wanted this too, huh.

➤ Next: Dragon Hunt, Part Three