Ice Dragon (4)
“She must have run off…”
Such thoughts plagued Vergil’s mind as he made his way back, half expecting the Ice Dragon woman to still be in the cabin, trembling uncontrollably, or worse, having vanished entirely.
The interrogation had dragged on for at least an hour, but he had managed to throw the Dragonoids off his trail for now.
“How troublesome.”
If she had escaped, then that was the end of it.
He had saved her life, tended to her wounds, and driven off her hunters.
Whether she lived or died afterward was no longer something he could influence.
Vergil had already done far more than most would.
But the moment he opened the cabin door, what greeted his sight was disaster.
“......”
The kitchen, specifically, looked as though a blizzard had swept through it.
Plates lay shattered across the floor, utensils scattered everywhere, drawers hanging half-open, and every cabinet door swung wide.
In the middle of the chaos was the Ice Dragon woman, rummaging through everything like she owned the place.
"......"
Vergil’s brow twitched.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She didn’t even look guilty. Instead, she lifted her chin with perfect confidence.
“That potato soup. I must find it. Where are you keeping it, Vergil?”
“……”
‘So when she actually needs something, she says my name correctly?’
Vergil walked toward her.
“Sigh. You damn woman. It’s on the stove.”
“The stove?”
Vergil pointed to the iron pot sitting right where he left it.
“Yes. That. The big metal thing you somehow ignored while tearing the entire kitchen apart.”
“.....?”
She stared at the stove for a moment, then at him, then back at the stove again as if trying to determine whether he was playing a trick on her.
Once she confirmed he was being serious, she slowly opened the lid.
“I did not realize this contraption held food.”
“It’s a stove. You cook things in it.”
“Cook… Humans truly possess peculiar methods…”
“Then how does your kind do it?”
She paused, as if the question itself was strange, then looked at him as though he were the one lacking common sense.
“We hunt, then we eat. Fire is unnecessary. Ice Dragons do not fear the cold, and our bodies adjust to whatever nourishment is available.”
She ignored the comment entirely and peered into the pot with intense focus, as if deciphering the secrets of the universe through potato stew.
Her snow-white hair fell forward as she inhaled the scent like a starving animal wearing a noblewoman’s face.
“Move aside. I must confirm the flavor of this… potato soup once more.”
Perhaps unaccustomed to the concept of a ladle, she ignored it entirely and leaned forward, dipping her face toward the pot as she began slurping the soup straight from the rim.
The sound was both loud and unapologetic.
Vergil stared at her.
“…Do you not understand how utensils work?”
She pulled back, lips glistening with broth, completely unbothered.
“I do not know what that is. This form is already inconvenient enough. I will not complicate it with human tools.”
“It’s a spoon with a handle.”
“Then you use it.”
“......”
Vergil stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was messing with him or if she truly had no idea.
As a former member of the Imperial Guards, he had seen diplomats from every race.
Dragonoids, who often represented the prideful dragon clans, were one of the more dignified ones among them.
They knew how to hold utensils, sit, and eat with refined manners.
Even the Dragon Emperor, who could shift from lizard to human shape, conducted himself with impeccable etiquette.
In fact, it was practically a given that the Dragon Empire followed such customs.
Even the beastfolk who were once infamous for eating like savages now used utensils.
It was basic civilization.
Yet here she was… slurping soup out of his pot like a hungry animal.
This woman was utterly peculiar, as if she had crawled out of a forgotten age where manners had not yet been invented.
“Also, it is not ‘damn woman.’ It’s Seris.”
“Seris?”
“Yes. Seris von Eis Drache. You would do well to remember that. For one day, I will rule these northern plains once more.”
And then, without the slightest hint of contradiction, she went right back to slurping from the bowl like a starved stray.
“......”
Vergil almost dropped the ladle.
It was a ridiculously arrogant line. Yet his eyes widened all the same.
Seris von Eis Drache.
The name was familiar enough to alarm him.
He felt as though he had read it somewhere in the novel, perhaps in the recesses of the lore or a passing mention, but the harder he searched his memory, the more his head throbbed.
Eventually, he let out a breath and gave up.
Whatever the case, one thing was becoming painfully clear.
This woman was undoubtedly royalty.
And not just any branch, but the dynasty of a dying lineage.
In the two years he had spent in this world, there had been no passing word of Ice Dragons, let alone even a single appearance of them.
If Vergil’s assumption was right, Seris might very well be the last Ice Dragon alive.
“Seris.”
She glanced up at him with her mouth stained with broth.
Even with her crude eating habits, her features remained impossibly regal.
“Yes?”
“What happened to the Ice Dragon race? And why are they being hunted?”
“......”
Her brows pulled together, as if she found the question offensive.
“...I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I said what I said. I don’t know. A decree was suddenly issued, and we were driven out of the Draconian Palace. One moment I was there… and the next, everything fell apart.”
She looked down at her fingers, which were tightening around the pot.
“When I regained consciousness, I woke up alone. My people were gone. Our homes in this very forest were erased. Every Ice Dragon I knew had disappeared.”
“......”
“All I could find were Dragonoid patrols. And the moment they saw me, they attacked with no explanation. They hunted me, as if I were prey.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, as if trying to chase away a memory.
“I am an Ice Dragon. A descendant of Eis Drache. Yet even I have no idea why my kind was condemned.”
A survivor without a past.
Whatever had happened inside the Draconian Palace… it was something she had barely escaped from.
And whatever truth lay behind her missing race was far larger than a woman hiding in his cabin.
Seris met his gaze.
“All I know is this. When I opened my eyes, the world had already decided my people weren’t worth keeping.”
“......”
“But it’s fine. I will find a way. The Dragon Empire was ruled by Ice Dragons for centuries for a reason.”
Vergil listened, and slowly, a half-formed picture began to form in his mind.
It was never the Fire Dragons, nor the Wind Dragons, nor the Stone Dragons, and not even the lightning-born dragons, whose numbers were already few, had ever sat on the throne.
It was always the Ice Dragons.
They were the ones who governed the Dragon Empire for generation after generation.
And with that realization, the rest followed naturally.
They were hunted because they were feared.
If a royal decree had indeed been issued, then it wasn’t a random purge.
Vergil could only interpret it one way.
It was a revolt against the ruling bloodline.
“Then, don’t throw your life away.”
“I don’t wish to impede you. I will find my own way. From here on out.
“……”
The shamelessness of this woman was baffling. She claimed she didn’t want to impede him, yet the kitchen looked like it had been hit by a storm.
“You go out there now, and it’ll be the same story. Worse, even, when you can’t use your draconic form.”
“......”
“Give yourself time to rest. You can stay in this cabin as long as you like.”
Seris pursed her lips together, mulling over his words with a serious expression.
“…Why would you do such a thing?. You owe me nothing, yet you have already done so much.”
“Because I need you.”
There was no point pretending otherwise.
With a woman as blunt as Seris, dancing around the truth would only complicate things.
“To topple the human empire. I’ll need your power.”
For two years in exile, Vergil hadn’t been idle.
“In exchange, I will help you.”
His life in the north had been mundane, but his hatred never ceased.
The Imperial Family had humiliated him, destroyed his name, and stripped him of everything.
And Seris was exactly the kind of power he needed, even if she was far from her full strength.
“...Is that so?”
Her one remaining horn glinted under the light.
A broken royal of a fallen race.
A weapon with a broken edge.
But even a broken blade could still cut.
If given time, she could become far more than that.
“Very well. I don’t know your circumstances, and I don’t have the luxury of choosing my allies, but I must ask before proceeding.”
“What is it?”
“Will you vow to become my sword?”
“......”
Even the Dragon Emperor, ruler of the entire Dragon Empire, kept the strongest Dragonoid at his side.
For Seris to ask this of him now… it meant she was accepting him not merely as an ally, but as someone she intended to rely on.
“Your sword, huh.”
“A ruler stands tallest when the blade beside them is unwavering. If you wish for my strength, then give me your trust in return. Swear it.”
Vergil hadn’t expected this. He thought she would settle for a temporary transaction, a form of mutual agreement.
“I vow.”
But this… wasn’t so bad.
“So long as you stand your ground, Vergil Eichel-Streiber will be the one to cut down whatever obstacles block your path.”
A smile played across Seris’s broth-stained lips.
“That is a vow I can accept."
