Chapter 175: A Flower Blooming in Winter (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: A Flower Blooming in Winter (6)
The underground bunker where the dwarves had taken refuge.
Its vast interior was more than enough to accommodate all of them.
Compared to the chaos outside, the bunker was as peaceful as another world, with only slight tremors and muffled noises penetrating its walls.
But as a chill slowly crept in and frost began to form on the walls, the dwarves realized something was terribly wrong.
It was then that Wolfram descended into the bunker.
Wolfram explained the situation outside to Ulgdar, who was managing the shelter. Being one of the sharpest minds among the dwarves, he grasped the situation quickly.
Wolfram and Ulgdar stood before the crowd. The usual kindness in their expressions had been replaced by a grim severity, deepening the dwarves’ anxiety.
A dwarf raised his hand and asked, “Wolfram-nim, what’s going on?”
“The Ice Dragon’s attack is causing the flame of the Heart to die out.”
“What?”
A murmur swept through the hall.
Though man-made, the Heart of Magmora was the spiritual pillar of the dwarves, comparable to the World Tree of the elves.
The news that its flame was fading was more than enough to plunge them into shock.
“I knew it felt cold.”
“What’s going to happen to us…?”
“The dragon will pick us off one by one.”
The bunker descended into chaos.
Fear settled over them, a crushing weight.
“Calm yourselves. The battle is not yet lost, and the flame has only weakened. It has not gone out,” Wolfram said, his voice firm.
“But…”
“I have come here for one reason. We must rekindle the flame. And for that, I need your help.”
Wolfram explained the method Thorvar had told him, from beginning to end.
“Hmm…”
The dwarves who heard the explanation could only let out quiet groans.
They understood the situation.
But to be asked to leisurely hammer away at a forge while a dragon flew right above their heads…
A single sneeze from the dragon could turn them all into ice pops. For blacksmiths, not warriors, the burden was far too heavy.
In the end, the nature of a dwarf was that of a coward.
No one dared to step forward first.
They only exchanged nervous glances.
This was what Wolfram had expected.
He put more force into his voice, trying to move their hearts.
“I understand your fear completely. But if you do not act now, even that faint ember will be extinguished for good.”
“When that happens, there will be no turning back. This is our last chance,” Ulgdar added.
Still, the people hesitated to move. The sounds of battle that occasionally echoed from outside suppressed any will to rise.
“So we just have to go and swing our hammers?”
The one who spoke up in a dignified voice was a shabby-looking old man.
“That’s right.”
“Doesn’t sound too hard.”
The others tried to stop him.
“Old man, you could die if you go out there!”
Dwarves, the race of blacksmiths.
Though they had many outstanding artisans, any place where people lived was bound to have its exceptions.
The old man was one such exception.
He was a dwarf and a blacksmith, but his skills were abysmal. In Doomheim, where blacksmiths were a dime a dozen, no one used anything he made.
He had spent decades hammering away meaninglessly.
The old man was a disgrace to the dwarves.
“Is that what’s important? The day has come when my hammer can finally be of use.”
But the old man paid them no mind. While others had packed emergency rations, he clutched the worn-out hammer he had used his entire life.
He may have lacked skill, but he was a dwarf.
He was a blacksmith who had always hammered steel in a forge.
The others fell silent.
After the silence, another person stepped forward.
“Tsk. The old man got me. I’ll go too.”
“Smith?”
“If I want to become a Meister, I can’t just hide. I need to experience the battlefield for myself. There must be a view you can only see when you stand on the same line as the warriors. I will see that view and broaden my horizons.”
Smith was the old man’s opposite.
He was no ordinary blacksmith, but a master craftsman despite his young age. People clamored to use the items he forged.
Yet even Smith felt he was still lacking and continued to walk the path of self-improvement.
There was something in the will of the old man and Smith that moved the hearts of the people.
Starting something is always the hardest part, and getting a second person to join is difficult, but from the third person on, it becomes easy. One by one, the blacksmiths began to speak up.
“If that old geezer is going, how can we hide!”
“Yeah! I heard the princess even sent the warriors hearts! I want one too!”
“What? They got something like that all to themselves? Those pointy-eared bastards!”
A mighty roar echoed through the underground.
It was so loud that it drowned out the sounds from outside.
The frost on the walls melted away in the heat.
Wolfram watched them and smiled faintly.
“Your passion is making me feel fired up. Good. Let’s all go out there and have a blast swinging our hammers.”
*
We stood on the rooftop of the highest building in the underground city of Doomheim, the collapsed Heart of Magmora. We were watching the situation, waiting for the right moment—the moment Wolfram convinced the dwarves.
Our role was to buy time until the blacksmiths could breathe life back into the flame, and then to finish off Skadia.
Skadia, who had attacked a kingdom, gone through the trouble of freezing emotions, and sealed himself in ice for hundreds of years just to obtain Azyeth.
Even now, as Azyeth attacked him, he tried not to hurt her and didn't even take back his blessing.
Though he was an enemy, I had to acknowledge his feelings for Azyeth.
And I was going to exploit those feelings thoroughly.
Someone who loves only one person with unwavering devotion, or someone who likes that sort of thing, is colloquially called a sucker for pure love.
There are two ways to break such a person: a harem drift, or NTR.
I was going to put on a lovey-dovey show with Azyeth right in front of Skadia. The higher Azyeth’s affection for me, the more effective it would be, squared.
I didn’t even need to check her affection level anymore to know what it was.
He’s reaping what he sowed. Who told him to kidnap people?
He brought this on himself.
It was time to get to work.
I held out my hand to Azyeth.
“Miss Azyeth, would you care for a thrilling date with me?”
“…Okay.”
Azyeth didn’t hesitate.
She nodded and took my hand.
*
CRASH!
Skadia spun his body, swinging his tail.
The tail, like a giant’s mace, shattered the waist of a golem. The golem, which had been steadily freezing over, couldn’t withstand the blow and collapsed helplessly.
Looking down at the golem, now just a worthless pile of rocks, Skadia snorted as if to say, “How pathetic.”
“Foolish creatures, trying to face me with such toys.”
He had destroyed the last remaining golem.
Roxar’s shield had prevented him from extinguishing the flame completely, but it was a meaningless struggle. Skadia’s cold was already consuming Doomheim.
The flame would soon die out.
As would the dwarves’ ember of hope.
Just then, Azyeth flew before Skadia.
“Yes, Princess. Have you finally decided to come with me…?”
Azyeth was riding a giant bird of ice, but she wasn't alone. From behind her, Karami peeked his head out.
“Hello there.”
“And who are you! Who are you to be with my princess?”
“Hmm, me, you ask? As for me, I am…”
Karami reached his arms forward and pulled Azyeth into a tight hug. For good measure, he rested his chin on her shoulder and pointedly rubbed his cheek against hers.
His cheek was numbingly cold, but that wasn’t what mattered.
This was a chance to mock a dragon.
I absolutely can’t resist.
Karami grinned.
“I’m the person who has this kind of relationship with Miss Azyeth.”
Skadia had a weakness for beautiful things.
And truly beautiful things are not easily obtained.
That is what makes their beauty stand out even more.
It was what one might call the aesthetics of rarity.
“How dare an insignificant vermin like you touch my princess!!!”
So now that Azyeth was in Karami’s possession, she had become even more beautiful than the Azyeth he knew, and Skadia was enraged.
For a moment, his fury was so hot one might mistake the Ice Dragon for a Fire Dragon.
For Skadia, who had been a sucker for pure love for hundreds of years, Karami’s strategy was more effective than any attack. It was, in short, his ultimate move: Tag: Netorare.
Skadia charged forward without a second glance.
“Let’s run.”
“Okay.”
Azyeth stroked the ice bird’s head, and it flapped its wings, beginning a swift retreat.
An aerial chase began.
Skadia pursued the two, launching attacks.
A near-infinite number of icicles rained down like a storm.
“Rami. Hold on tight.”
“Yes~”
Karami wrapped his arms around Azyeth’s slender waist.
“Oh.”
What was this sensation?
If Mirabelle was a soft jelly cushion and Rin was a fluffy fur cushion, this was a refreshing cool cushion. I might just want to get one of my own to hug on different days of the week.
While Karami was idly making mental notes, Azyeth was casting her magic. She responded like a mirror.
She created identical icicles.
Icicles shot up from below, colliding with Skadia’s and shattering.
Skadia beat his wings.
CR-CR-CR-CRACK!
The air rapidly cooled, and a sharp wave of ice surged toward them.
Azyeth created a sword.
She swung it horizontally, wreathed in a sword aura the same color as her eyes.
A flash of blue light cut through the wave, halting its advance.
“Why do you resist, Princess! Did I not give you beauty, give you power!”
“I don’t need it.”
“You are the human this Skadia fell for. But at this rate, you, Princess, will become a middle-aged woman, then a grandmother, just like any other human! Why can’t you understand how I feel!”
His voice was desperate.
It was thick with longing.
The great Ice Dragon Skadia was pleading with a mere human.
At that, Karami couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter.
“How utterly absurd. You sealed Miss Azyeth’s emotions, yet you appeal to her with your own?”
“Who are you to interfere between me and Azyeth!”
“Well, it’s a relationship that’s a pain to explain. Why do you keep hitting on her? A dragon, of all things, hitting on another man’s woman.”
“Another man’s woman? Princess! Say something…!”
Azyeth placed her hand over Karami’s, which was still wrapped around her waist.
“I’m… Rami’s.”
Because she was a slave and he was her master.
That was what Azyeth meant, but it was filtered through Skadia’s ears and sounded completely different.
“I’ll kill you, you bastard!”
Skadia, who had just had his cherished princess stolen from before his very eyes, was thoroughly enraged.
He let out a roar mixed with vulgar curses, devoid of any draconic dignity.
It was a Dragon Roar, but Karami only felt his hair flutter; he didn't pass out.
Blessed by the World Tree, he was immune to most mental attacks. The energy of the forest kept his mind clear.
The problem lay elsewhere.
An ice age had come to Doomheim.
It was Skadia’s Absolute Zero.
The only one who could resist Absolute Zero was Azyeth, who held his blessing. The Blessing of the World Tree only blocked mental attacks; it offered no defense against external factors.
Azyeth quickly threw up a circular barrier, enveloping them both. She looked at the shivering Karami with concern.
“Are you okay…?”
“Umm. To be honest, not really.”
Karami’s teeth chattered.
He couldn’t even pretend to be fine.
Without Azyeth’s shield, he would have been frozen to the bone, an ice corpse by now.
Are those humans still not ready?
No matter how immune Azyeth was to the cold, she was ultimately a lesser version of Skadia. Fighting him head-on like this was insane.
They had to revive the flame, and fast.
At that very moment.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Far below.
On the surface of the underground.
The bunker doors burst open. The powerful roar they had been desperately waiting for erupted.
The counterattack had begun.
It was time for the eternal winter to greet the spring.