Prihart Temple
The dragon mother and daughter had been going at it over the hero. As their fight grew fiercer, the hero could no longer stand by; he drew his holy sword and struck the dragons down.
The fact that the battlefield happened to be a bed made the whole thing rather ironic, but in any case, after weathering that night of decisive battle, I opened my eyes.
Even after savoring the mother-daughter special all night long and liberally dousing it with tartar sauce, I still had energy left over. No—rather, vitality was overflowing. Enough that I could go three full days without sleep.
The Dragon Heart’s performance is seriously insane…
It’s no wonder every mage and alchemist salivates over Dragon Hearts. A vast wellspring of mana, the very essence that shatters human limits. Having consumed two such rarities, it would be stranger still if you remained frail.
True enough. In the original story, once Kang Junhyuk defeated Breeze and consumed her heart, he became untouchably strong—transcending even to the level of an awakened Demon King.
But Kang Junhyuk never fought Breeze in this timeline, and though it was only half, her Dragon Heart had ended up in me. Combined with the heart Rene had given me as well, the mana circuits inside my body had been completely restructured. That was how I had vaulted in a single leap from the sixth rank, where I had been stuck, all the way to the seventh.
If I could one day conceive and manifest my own unique magic, the eighth rank would be within reach.
A little bit of a shame, though.
Had the original Bern abandoned his attachment to Pingcheng and the academy, he would have grown far stronger than he ever did in the source material. Instead he clung to his regrets and stubbornness and failed. Looking at myself now—having already surpassed that original Bern—I felt a sigh and a laugh rise at the same time.
Picking up the hero’s dream he had abandoned midway didn’t seem like such a bad consolation prize.
“Mm…? Bern-nim?”
“You’re awake?”
“Yes. But… where is Mother?”
“Breeze said she had something she absolutely had to do and left the nest early.”
“Don’t tell me… the Red Dragon…?”
“No. Not a dragon. She’s gone to deliver proper punishment to the ones who did this to you.”
I gently brushed the broken horn on Rene’s head. Understanding the meaning at once, she nodded in quiet acceptance.
The one who had snapped her horn had been human, yet the demons were the ones catching the full brunt of the blame. I felt no pity for them. Rene’s kidnapping had been their plan from the start.
“By the way… you’re calling Mother by name so naturally now.”
“Ahaha…! It was her own strong wish, and I did receive her Dragon Heart, after all.”
Things had somehow ended up this way, and now she was family too. I could no longer speak of the Wild Dragon as if she were a stranger.
I wondered how my family down at the foot of the snow mountains would react if I told them. Curiosity was strong, but the thought of getting thoroughly scolded for “messing with a married woman” made me decide to keep quiet.
“I’m still not entirely happy that you accepted Mother, but… you said you wanted to grow stronger for our sake, so I’ll let it go. From now on, though, no forming bonds with any other dragons besides us! Understood?”
“Don’t worry. The only way I’d ever run into another dragon is…”
I carefully reviewed the places I still had to visit, and my mouth closed of its own accord.
There was the City of Pleasure I absolutely had to reach if I wanted a certain crucial artifact. Its ruler was a half-dragon woman just like Rene—an empress, they called her—and colluding with her was the only way to obtain what I needed.
“Why did you go quiet all of a sudden? Don’t tell me you already know other dragonkin besides us?”
“I don’t. Not yet…”
“What do you mean, ‘not yet’?”
Rene pouted, lips pushing out in clear dissatisfaction. I scratched my cheek and avoided her sharp gaze.
“It’s fine. Even if I do meet other dragonkin, nothing will happen.”
“Hearing you say it like that only makes me trust you less.”
“I’ll swear I won’t do a single thing even if I meet them. Please don’t doubt me.”
“……All right. When the time comes, I’ll just watch you like a hawk. That should take care of it.”
With that worry at least set aside for now, I slipped out of bed.
“Are you going down the mountain?”
“I could, but I still have unfinished business. There’s a place I absolutely have to visit.”
“There’s nothing on this snow mountain except the nest, is there?”
“That’s just what you think.”
There was a secret of the snow mountains that neither Rene nor even Breeze knew about. Midway up the snow-blanketed slopes, a hidden temple lay concealed—the temple dedicated to Prihart, the God of Cold who was said to have created the northern snow mountains, and home to countless ice spirits.
Frach, can you suppress your demonic energy as much as possible?
I can, but why?
I’ll explain. Just promise me no demonic energy leaks out for a while.
Very well. Speak quickly, then.
The Prihart Temple was connected to Bern, not Kang Junhyuk. The northern snow mountains had been destroyed by Breeze long before Kang Junhyuk ever set foot there. In other words, it was a location that only appeared through the side story of Bern while he was wandering under disciplinary suspension.
While staying at his family home, Bern had often come up to the northern snow mountains to train. One day a sudden avalanche buried him. Trapped in the snow and in real danger, he was saved by a spirit who happened to find him. That spirit then guided him to the Prihart Temple.
Though he was no believer, Bern offered a prayer before the stone statue and was on the verge of receiving Prihart’s grace beneath the spirits’ blessing…
…until, as always, the author of Adokchoe decided to screw him over. His jealous magic sword began spewing demonic energy, and the spirits immediately rejected him. Spirits loathed demonic energy to the extreme; they banished Bern far away and barred him from ever entering the snow mountains again. Instead of a blessing, he got the door slammed in his face.
A completely baffling side story for poor Bern, really. Who even asked for it?
“Is there truly a hidden temple in a place like this?”
“There is. If there isn’t, I’ll fry my own hand.”
Thud. Thud.
Recalling the endless snow-clearing duty I had done in the military, I shoveled snow with steady rhythm. The surroundings were a complete mess of white trash, but I kept working without complaint. Midway through, Frach suddenly voiced a question.
Contractor, if you mean to clear the snow, why not simply use magic?
Any magic that isn’t ice might put the ice spirits off, right?
I doubt they would mind that much.
It’s about the attitude. They’re probably watching us from afar. Showing this kind of sincerity should put us in a better light, don’t you think?
Hmm. There is some logic to that. But why go to such lengths for the Ice God’s blessing in the first place?
Call him the God of Cold. What’s with ‘Ice God’…
Technically not wrong, but the nuance felt off. If Prihart himself heard it, he might have taken offense. Even the inscriptions on the statue clearly referred to him as the God of Cold.
So? The reason?
Ignite is a fire dragon, right? If I receive a blessing of cold—the opposing attribute—I should be able to resist his flames.
Ironically enough, the key needed to counter Ignite was right here on the very snow mountain we were standing on. Originally I had no intention of visiting the Prihart Temple, but once I picked a fight with the Red Dragon, ignoring it was no longer an option.
“Found it…!”
From morning until the sun stood high overhead I had swung my arms and shoveled without rest. At last the packed snow collapsed with a heavy rush, revealing a gaping hole beneath. I tried a detection spell, but it bounced off without ever reaching inside. This was unmistakably the entrance leading to Prihart’s temple.
“There really was a space like this hidden inside the snow mountain.”
“It’s too early to be surprised. Wait until you see the inside—then you’ll really be amazed.”
Without hesitation I threw myself through the hole. Rene followed right after me. The moment we landed safely, a gasp of pure wonder escaped her lips.
“Ah… it’s beautiful!”
“Told you you’d be surprised.”
They had used the reflective surfaces of ice to hide the interior of the hole completely. From the outside it had looked like nothing more than an endlessly dark pit. Once inside, however, the view was entirely different.
A passageway of pure ice stretched ahead, lined on both sides by hundreds of ice statues. Flawless, transparent ice free of any impurity filled every direction.
“The floor’s slippery, so be careful not to fall.”
“Yes!”
There was nothing here but ice, so the ground beneath our feet was ice as well. Just like an ice rink, even a single step forward sent the body gliding ahead. I was used to it—my parents had taken me skating as a child—but Rene was not.
Like a puppy that had just discovered snow, our little dragon was having the time of her life sliding all over the ice path.
Still… this is strange.
What is strange?
The spirits are usually so curious, yet not a single one has shown its face.
Unless a human possesses a truly pure heart, spirits will never reveal themselves.
I’ll admit I’m nowhere near as pure as Rene, but do they really need to be this wary?
Considering what you humans have done to spirits, it is only natural.
What exactly did we do?
Portable onaholes.
…Sorry about the dick thing.