Chapter 543: Care To Repeat It Again?
Chapter 543: Care To Repeat It Again?
The Dwarves, who were watching the battle using binoculars and telescopes, all stiffened upon seeing Darran reappear as a block of ice.
They thought that only Ethan was a menace, but it seemed that the young lady accompanying him was just as monstrous.
'Good thing we were very hospitable to her during the time that she was with us,' Degel thought.
The other Dwarves, who had the same thoughts as him, breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.
Half an hour later, when Nicole's body temperature had finally stabilized, she finally walked toward the frozen Elder Dragon and lightly tapped it with her rapier.
Cracks started to spread throughout the block of ice until finally it shattered, allowing the leader of the Ice Dragons to break free.
Darran collapsed on the ground, drained of strength because the block of ice actually absorbed his energy, weakening him greatly.
"So are you going to be my mount, or do you prefer being an ice statue?" Nicole asked with a smile. "I'll be nice and count to five. If you don't answer me, I'll turn you into an ice statue and gift you to the Dwarves as furniture."
"I-I will become your mount!" Darran replied.
"No, I changed my mind," Nicole smirked. "You're too weak to become my mount."
The pink-haired girl then turned around to look at the other Ice Dragons, making almost all of them flinch.
She gazed at them one by one and stopped at a Dragon who was visibly smaller than the rest.
Nicole summoned her flying broom and flew in the direction of the Ice Dragon who was only half the size of its peers.
But unlike the other Ice Dragons who moved away in fear, the small Ice Dragon simply looked at Nicole with curiosity and a hint of expectation.
"Do you have a name?" Nicole asked.
"Snowflake," the dragon answered through telepathy. "That's my name."
The Ice Dragon was only two meters tall, and yet, her Dragon Scales glistened faintly as if they were crystals, reflecting the light of the sun.
"You have a good name, Snowflake," Nicole said. "Would you like to become my Dragon Partner?"
"Can I?" Snowflake asked back. "You're so strong. I don't think you need me."
Nicole smiled and raised her hand to cup the Ice Dragon's face.
"You might not be strong now, but I guarantee you that you will become strong in the future," Nicole replied.
Her Legacy was telling her that Snowflake was not as simple as she seemed. For this reason, she decided to choose the smaller dragon as her partner.
Perhaps Snowflake also felt something, so she nodded her head and agreed to become Nicole's Dragon Partner.
Darran, who had been completely ignored, felt a bit embarrassed because Nicole had said that he was too weak to become her mount.
But after seeing that she had chosen the clumsiest Ice Dragon in his group, he couldn't help but sneer in his heart.
The other Ice Dragons also had no idea why Nicole chose Snowflake.
But since she had already chosen, they felt relieved. Finally, the two Humans would leave, allowing them to regain their peace.
"Let's go, Ethan," Nicole said with a smile. "I found my Beast Companion."
Ethan nodded, and the three of them returned to the Battleship of the Dwarves to bid them goodbye and thank them for their hospitality.
After that, the two teenagers sat on Snowflake's back as she flew down the mountains of Khaled Bor to return to Brynhildr Academy.
A day later, the Ice Dragon suddenly thought of something and told Nicole about it.
"Nicole, why don't we visit other Dragon Habitats and see if you can ask them to follow you?" Snowflake asked innocently. "I can tell that, within your body, there are two other elements.
"They might not be as strong as the Legacy you possess, but they are still the powers you were born with. So, I think it would be a good idea to have Fire and Water Dragons as well, don't you think?"
Nicole only giggled after hearing Snowflake's words, but she merely told her that she only needed one Dragon Partner, and that was her.
This made Snowflake happy, so she no longer insisted that Nicole tame other Dragons to become her partners as well.
The journey back was smooth, but it took a bit longer than usual because some of the cities that had Teleportation Gates in them didn't want to allow a Dragon to use them.
Only after Nicole showed her badge as an Honorary Knight did they stop questioning her and allowed Snowflake to fly through it.
However, just as they were about to arrive in the last city with a Teleportation Gate that would bring them closer to the academy, several Wizards and Witches blocked their path.
Leading the group was none other than the Patriarch of the Asta Family, Oscar Asta.
He had a calm expression on his face, but the rest of the Wizards and Witches were glaring in Ethan's direction.
The news of Vladimir's and Constantine's death had reached their family, and they didn't take it lightly.
This was especially true for Constantine's death, which was personally carried out by Ethan.
"Can we help you?" Ethan asked as he gazed fearlessly at the members of the Asta Family.
Dark clouds formed out of nowhere and blocked the sun. Soon, the sound of booming thunder reverberated inside the heavens, making Oscar narrow his eyes.
"You killed Constantine, but are you also the one that killed Vladimir?" Oscar ignored Ethan's question, and asked a question of his own.
"I didn't kill him," Ethan answered. "Happy now?"
A frown appeared on Oscar's face because the lie detection artifact that he carried with him didn't react to Ethan's answer.
This meant that the teenage boy was telling the truth.
Technically, Ethan wasn't really the one that killed Vladimir.
It was none other than Dainsleif who happily ate the Magistratus Candidate because Ethan had no intention of letting him live.
"Why didn't you spare Constantine?" A Witch shouted in anger. "You could have talked things over! Why didn't you choose a more peaceful way of handling things?"
Ethan gave the Witch a side-long glance before shifting his attention back to the Patriarch of the Asta Family.
"Then you should have told that to Constantine before he started killing people," Ethan commented. "I can see it now. It's alright if people from your family killed people, but when it's your turn to be killed, you suddenly feel indignant about it? Talk about double standards."
"You!" the Witch was about to attack, but Oscar held up his hand, forcing her to hold herself back.
"Why did you kill Constantine?" Oscar asked. "You could have exchanged him for wealth and the favor of the Asta Family."
"Why should I not kill him?" Ethan asked. "As to gaining a favor from your family? No thanks."
"Patriarch, you should recede your order to not harm this brat," a Wizard shouted out loud.
"Calm down," another Wizard stated. "How about we teach him a lesson by taking his grandparents hostage? I'm sure that he will have to listen to our orde—."
The rest of the man's words were drowned out by the sound of thunder.
A moment later, the smell of burning flesh spread in the surroundings, making the members of the Asta Family look in horror as the Wizard who spoke earlier screamed, holding his right hand that had been burned into charcoal.
"I didn't properly hear what you said earlier," Ethan said, his voice cold and oozing with killing intent. "Care to repeat it again?"
At that moment, rain started to pour from the sky, making the frown on Oscar's face deepen.
He could clearly feel the killing intent that Ethan was exuding from his body, and that feeling alone made him understand that the boy in front of him hadn't killed just a few people in the past.
He must have killed hundreds, perhaps even thousands, which made the members of the Asta Family grip their wands tightly in preparation for a skirmish that was about to unfold.
Nicole, who had no love for the Asta Family, also unsheathed her rapier and prepared to fight.
Snowflake, who could tell that things would not end peacefully, raised her guard.
This was her first time fighting against Humans, and truth be told, she wasn't too confident that she would be able to fight them.
However, the two people on her back were giving her a reassuring feeling.
It was as if, even if all the bad humans in front of them were to attack them at the same time, the one who would end up with the short end of the stick were the bad people, and not them.