The dragon's harem

Chapter 972: The Cold World

When Isdis managed to gather herself and rest a bit, she finally walked out of the boat with shaking legs under Koryʼs worried eyes. ”Iʼm fine...” She grunted, ”Head still spinning, but Iʼll be fine walking around.” She shook her head and looked at the massive steel door before them.

”This thing is cold. Does it lead outside?”

Kory nodded, ”Be careful. Most people never walk out wearing clothes as thin as yours.” Isdis was wearing a full set of plate armor with linen padding inside. This was considered winter armor in the kingdom, the things they wore when fighting in the harshest snowstorms. But in this world, it was considered too light.

”The steel holds up the cold.” Isdis growled, realizing the problem. ”Fur wouldʼve been best.”

”Indeed, we have clothes to spare, but the queen ordered not to give you any.” Kory looked at Isdis, ”The queen can send us maids mental orders. She wants you to get used to the cold to unlock more of your power, giving you warm clothes would be counter-productive.”

”But...I kinda like to be able to feel my toes. This cold is gonna stick to my bones.” Isdis sighed as she looked at the gate, ”Will you open it up?”

”Yeah.” Kory shifted into her draconic form and pushed against the steel gate with her shoulders, forcing it to crack open. The moment a slit opened up a strong gust of freezing wind blew in with shards of ice and snow, grazing on Isdisʼs hair as she felt her eyelashes freezing from the cold.

With slow steps, Kory walked outside as Isdis followed in her shadow, using her massive tree- trunk-like legs as cover. As they got fully outside, Isdis realized that the wind from earlier was just due to the low pressure inside Isbertʼs castle pulling air in.

The sky was blue with very few clouds, and one tiny sun struggled to illuminate this vast world, but thanks to everything being covered with layers upon layers of blinding white snow, lighting wasnʼt an issue.

As she walked on the stone path, leaning out from a massive edge, she realized she was standing on a dragon-sized balcony. Isdisʼs whole castle was engraved in the heart of a titanic blue ice glacier that towered into the heavens. Looking down, she could see tiny specs of brown and black things on the ground, human houses scattered all around, seeking wealth and protection beneath the queenʼs castle.

”Those people rejected the gods, they refused to pray to any of them.” Kory said with a troubled face, ”Four thousand years ago Amaterasu sent them a miko to guide them, but those humanoids killed the miko and desecrated her corpse.”

”Wait...what?” Isdis gasped, she couldnʼt believe what she was hearing, especially with how worshipped Amaterasu was in Rurisʼ kingdom.

”Amaterasu was enraged, she thought of pulling her sun away and letting them freeze to death in endless darkness, but she changed her mind for some reason. Allowing them just enough light to survive, but not enough to provide any warmth. They were doomed to this freezing hell until she forgives them.” Kory sighed, ”Theyʼll never be forgiven.”

Isdis nodded, ”Knowing how forgiving Amaterasu is, I doubt sheʼs the one not forgiving them.” She looked at Kory, remembering a conversation that she had with Lydia. ”I bet itʼs the miko that didnʼt forgive them, not Amaterasu.”

”What are you talking about?” Kory stared at her, ”Not you, not me, no one knows what the gods think about.”

”Iʼm not saying that I know anything. This is just a suggestion, a guess.” Isdis looked down at the city and sighed, ”Letʼs go down and get this tour done with.”

”Youʼre right, there is no sense in mortals thinking for the gods.” She extended her massive claw toward Isdis to ride in her palm, but at that moment, Koryʼs palm came in contact with the sunlight falling around Isdis.

Kory instantly pulled her claw away, she had felt a bit of warmth. In this world, no matter what you do youʼll never feel the warmth of the sun. ”What was that?” She cried.

”Was what?” Isdis looked around confused, she was used to feeling the sunʼs warmth so to her that wasnʼt strange at all. It was the main reason she stood in the sun, to warm up since this place was too cold.

”The sunlight, itʼs warm around you.” Kory extended her claw and felt it. It was indeed warm.

Without hesitation, she called Isbert, ”Urgent call to the queen! Urgent call to the queen!Urgent call to the queen!”

”Kory...” Isbert replied, ”Strip down and bring me a whip. I hope Isdis is at least alive.” ”No, my queen! She didnʼt get harmed, relatively speaking. I called because something strange is happening, the sun, itʼs warm around her!” Kory was both panicking and terrified. ”Ah... about that, I forgot to tell you. Since she isnʼt a resident of this world, she wonʼt be treated like everyone else. Amaterasu would still grant her warmth, but Iʼve asked her to stop so she should stop soon.” Isbert replied, ”And, just to be clear, Sheʼs Aradʼs wife, and Aradʼs other wife called Eris is a demi-goddess supported by Amaterasu, and albeit neither Isdis or Arad are believers of Amaterasu, theyʼve gained favor with her, a lot of favor.”

”So youʼre saying...” Kory looked at Isdis who was standing before her with a tilted head and confused stare.

”That woman is more important than you think. Keep that in mind.” Isbert cut the line as she was already busy with paperwork, slaving away at the documents with her ten support maids.

Kory flew Isdis into the city. ”I thought this was a massive mountain, how come itʼs a mountain-like glacier? Those donʼt form on land, do they?”

”The queen made it with her magic to be her castle. I know you fought her for a while, but know she wasnʼt even trying against you.” Kory replied as they landed in the middle of a massive snow field surrounded by stone monuments with strange writing on them.

”This is the dracoport, a place where we dragons can land and take off in our draconic form. Itʼs around five hundred meters wide.” Kory lowered Isdis to the ground.

”So massive dragons must still use size magic.” Isdis said as Kory shifted into her human form and landed beside her. ”Indeed.”

Kory pointed toward stones surrounding the area. ”Those writing read {Dracoport, stay clear.}” She looked at Isdis with a smug smile, ”If anyone died here due to getting stomped by a landing dragon, the dragons arenʼt responsible for it.”

”I see... Itʼs like the wyvern landing port father thought off when he wanted to train wyverns in the past.” Isdis and Kory walked out of the dracoport, finally reaching the cityʼs street.

Unlike any other place, the streets were empty and the stone houses were locked, their wooden windows blocked with layers and layers of planks. Very few humans could be seen walking around.

Those humans wore several layers of fur and cotton clothes to the point they almost seemed round, their heads covered in multiple hoods and their faces covered with coiling scarfs to the point you canʼt even see their eyes.

One of the humans stopped, looking toward Kory and Isdis who just walked in. From what he saw, one drakaina landed, not two. The people were used to seeing the castle maids or servants walk around with minimal clothes {A full Victorian maid outfit was considered extremely light clothes, like seeing someone walking in a bikini in a ski resort}

The manʼs gaze quickly shifted toward Isdis. She wasnʼt a dragon maid as only one landed, and she wasnʼt wearing a maid outfit. She doesnʼt look like a servant either. What moor, she didnʼt even wear a maid hat, her hair was blowing raw in the frigid wind.

Isdis and Kory walked through the street, ignoring the peopleʼs gazes. ”Kory, I feel like they donʼt like me here.” Isdis whispered.

”Yeah, youʼre wearing full armor, but to them, youʼre naked. Itʼs freezing cold here and seeing people wearing more than their weight in clothes is common.” Kory led Isdis to a local

tavern as they spoke.

The tavern looked like a massive Igloo made of alternating ice and stone bricks. When they walked inside, they found the internal frame to be built out of wood with several locked champers to keep the cold at bay. The deeper they got inside, the warmer it got. When they reached the last room before entering the internal tavern, a large man was sitting there,

waiting.

He looked at Koryʼs face and turned toward the door, ”One of the queenʼs maids? Get in.” He

bowed his head.

Kory approached him, glared at his eyes, and then smacked him on the head. ”How many times did we tell you?” She sighed, ”How much is the entrance fee?”

”For you, itʼs free.” He replied with a smile. Kory didnʼt seem pleased, and her face shifted into a frown, ”Itʼs free to throw you into the cold. Iʼd rather you people be obedient than give us a free pass.” The air around her started getting colder, and he sighed.

”Fine, itʼs a thousand crystals per person.” He gave up quickly, and Koryʼs face cracked into a smile. ”Crystals are the last thing we white dragons lack. And unlike you, we can live in this cold.” She paid the full price and the two entered the tavern.

”Heat and warmth are this worldʼs currency as itʼs the thing people lack the most. If you want to survive here, youʼll have to pay.” Kory sat beside the counter and Isdis did the same, ”So, how do I get those crystals? She said I must make a million of them or something.” Kory put two crystals in front of Isdis, one white and the other red. ”The white is empty, and the red is filled. You charge a crystal by heating it in any way, magic, fire, body warmth, anything will do.” She put the red crystal in Isdisʼs hand, ”And when you focus your magic on it, it releases that heat.”

Isdis felt the crystal getting hotter and hotter. ”People use it to cook food, warm their houses, melt snow for water, and pretty much anything.”

”Itʼs the one thing everyone needs a lot of, so itʼs a currency.” Isdis smiled, ”I see, each world

works differently...”