abcnovels
Chapter 328 The Scheming Oni
Chapter 328 The Scheming Oni
Chapter 328 The Scheming Oni
“That… actually looks troublesome.”
I took in the sight of the beast resting peacefully at the very core of the mountain. Unlike what I’d seen from most dragons, it had white, crystalline feathers that made it nearly impossible to spot in the snow. It had to be the second-biggest dragon I’d seen so far, the first being Charybdis.
“The Great Emperor of the [Winter Zone]! What a magnificent sight to behold!”
Of course, Julian was being Julian and idolising the grandeur of it all.
“Still, are you sure you want to do this?”
His tone suddenly got heavy.
I scratched the back of my neck, thinking back to the offer I’d made to Kanata-san.
I didn’t know how things worked here, in the [Winter Zone], but I got the gist of it from Kanata-san. True to the rumours, there was no proper organisation or hierarchy in this place. Strong eat weak. That was the best way to describe it.
The Kaiser was always asleep, but his very presence sent this place into an eternal frost that no one had been able to undo. The monsters evolved to live here, but with the unpredictable conditions, no one type could truly remain at the top for long.
As things stood, Kanata-san’s winter goblins were the only organised force in the [Winter Zone]. There were six other tribes, and only 4 of them had agreed to friendly relations with Kanata-san. The other 3 were too strong or too stubborn, and because of how things were, Kanata-san hadn’t bothered to go there to handle things personally. It was much better to survive in the most familiar place than to go out there and face a possible death.
In the first place, the goblin species were just intolerable when left unchecked. Put them in a place with extreme conditions, and they would get even more twisted personalities to survive. If anything, the 4 tribes that readily agreed to partner up with Kanata-san were the weird ones. It was no wonder his personality had been twisted to the point where I could barely call him human anymore. Or maybe he was already like that.
“It’s just a single feather. I trust you can easily procure it.”
The kaiser’s feathers had an effect called [Perfect Body]. The user could basically control the inner workings of their body in ways that simply don’t make sense to make it so they weren’t uncomfortable. It was probably how he’d been asleep for decades without needing to eat.
Obviously, Kanata-san couldn’t make use of such a thing, but possessing the item itself would boost his reputation amongst the other tribes. That was another one of the lies he was telling me, though. It wasn’t even funny, just how badly he was scheming against me.
I was curious enough to see what he wanted to do to entertain him.
“Y-You wish for this lowly servant to g-go d-down there?”
I could see beads of sweat starting to form.
“Oh? Is a servant refusing a request from his queen?”
I ended up playing along when I saw just how terrified he looked. It made it all the better when his pale face grew even paler.
“N-No, but... t-this lowly dragon can’t…”
“Can’t what?”
He started to fiddle with his fingers and looked away.
“What is it, Julian?”
“Y-You see, this may or may not, perhaps, be the first, second, or third time my person has had to interact with this entity.”
“Julian?”
“I… may or may not… have been indirectly responsible for the [Winter Zone]’s abrupt formation.”
“What did you do?”
“T’is not a matter of what I did, but who I di-”
<<The dragon will not be awakened by any external stimuli>>
‘That’s all I needed to hear.’
I kicked him down the hill. He wailed as he rolled down the heel, eventually coming to a stop right next to the dragon. If he was going to beat around the bush so much, I wasn’t even going to hear him out.
“Just pluck the feather, and we’ll be out of here.”
Even if the dragon did wake up, I could kill it and get all the feathers. The only problem would be how to maintain this permafrost.
‘I’d like to broker a deal with him, if possible, but he doesn’t even rule over this mountain. He just causes its problems.’
‘Killing him solves those problems but also makes the place more accessible to others.’
‘N-No. A-After decades of t-this cold, i-it’d just become another D-Demise Mountains.’
‘I’d agree, but give it a year or two and the monsters will start to die out because they can’t last in warmer conditions and soon, this whole range will become easy grounds for humans.’
‘And we lose our advantage.’
‘Guess Kanata-san is the only way for now.’
The plan was to start a transportation service here in the future, after trust had been built. The winter zone separates the Oxaivalon Empire from the rest of the continent. The only somewhat safe forms of travel were through the Black Tiger Sea and the Noak Sea.
The Black Tiger Sea is violent, and the Noak Sea is peaceful, but to get to the latter you have to go through the Dourean Desert. Over there, there was a company that provided transportation services through the desert.
In fact, they were the guys I got this idea from.
“I-I got it!”
Julian cried out, holding up one of the feathers. Tears and snot run down his face as he looked at me with a pleading expression, as if this was the worst thing, I could have done to him.
“Let’s go.”
I picked him up and flew off. Before leaving, I took one last look at the sleeping dragon. He showed no signs of waking up anytime soon, so I left it at that.
We gave Kanata-san the feather, after I’d analysed its properties to replicate it for myself, of course. With that, we bid him farewell and said goodbye to the Winter Zone. There wasn’t much to do there and it wasn’t fun, so I definitely wasn’t going to miss it.
****
KAKERU POV
“We’ll talk again later, Kanata-san.”
‘It’s Kakeru now, you little shit.’
“Yes. I will be expecting a visit from you soon.”
The monstrosity bearing the appearance of a beautiful giantess flew off with her vampire servant. After Kakeru could no longer sense them, he collapsed to the floor, finally feeling like he could breathe.
He put his hand to his face, holding back a hysterical cowl. If he could sweat, he’d have filled up buckets by now.
That was Kuromiya-san? Such a daunting presence and mind-boggling power. If Kuromiya of all people could attain it then it wasn’t impossible for Kakeru too.
In the first place, Kakeru had been here for only 8 years. Akira definitely had decades on him, so it was no wonder he was so strong. He wasn’t the first one Kakeru had found out about. There were two, no three more of his classmates he’d met before.
One of which he had no choice but to kill. How could he not kill her? She used to bully him back on Earth and in this world, she was nothing more than a human adventurer.
On Earth, she was definitely his superior. But in the realms of isekai and all things fantasy, it was his right to toy with her life. A bully deserved no place in this utopia he’d always dreamed of.
The most recent was the blue guy travelling with the green girl. They both got on his nerves, but his revenge for them would come soon enough.
The other reincarnator was… well, Kakeru didn’t like to think about him. He didn’t know his real identity on Earth, but he was definitely certain that he was one of the reincarnators. Till date, Kakeru could still remember the boy’s sword – steel colder than ice – against his throat. If only he had the [Appraisal] skill back then.
Kakeru held up the feather. It was light and felt warm, contrasting its very appearance.
[Would you like to trade [Frosyade’s Feather] for 10,000,000 store points?]
A holographic screen popped up.
“Yes.”
[You have received 100,000,000 store points]
[You now have 105,000,000 store points]
[Would you like to upgrade your membership to God-tier?]
“Not yet.”
A new screen appeared before him and he scrolled through it.
[SKILL SHOP
ULTIMATE SKILLS (LOCKED)
UNIQUE SKILLS
ADVANCED SKILLS
COMMON SKILLS
RACE SKILLS]
He tapped on the unique skills option. There, he quickly scrolled to the skill he’d been wanting to acquire ever since he was allowed to buy [Unique Skills].
[Name: Contempt Gambit
Type: Unique
Description: Both you and any person you believe should be beneath you must roll the Die of Fate for 6 rounds. Whoever holds the highest total value at the end of the six rounds will gain the right to give a single command to the loser.
Price: 90,000,000 store points
]
Kakeru then traded the remainder of his store points into stat points, which he poured into his luck stat.
“With this, the next time I meet Kuromiya, I will make him my slave. Kekeke.”
If Kakeru wasn’t laughing so much, he might have noticed that his shadow trembled.