“Are you surprised, my dear?”
Xia Lun could feel the large leg wrapped around his waist slowly tightening.
“My Lady Goddess… you seem to care a lot about that guy?” Aina’s forehead was pressed against Xia Lun’s. Although Aina still had a faint smile on her face, Xia Lun smelled a hint of danger.
“After all… My Lady Goddess was once my benefactor. It was she who gave me power, made me an Adventurer, and changed my life…” Xia Lun spoke quite honestly.
“Oh?” Aina’s blood-red pupils flickered with a faint light, and an ineffable smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. “So what do you plan to do now? Kill me to avenge your benefactor, Adventurer?”
“Don’t say such things, Aina… You are my wife, I would never hurt you.” Xia Lun looked calmly into Aina’s eyes.
“The Goddess gave me power to deal with you, to protect the human race from the demon race… And I have already done so, albeit in a different way. But in my limited life, there has been no war between the demon race and the human race… So I have completed my mission and repaid the Goddess’s kindness.”
“Ha, ha-ka, ha-ka-ka––” After a moment of silence, Aina tilted her slender, swan-like neck and let out a strange, idiosyncratic laugh. “So that’s it, that’s how it is! So that’s what Xia Lun you were thinking.”
“Is something wrong?” Xia Lun was a little puzzled by Aina’s sudden cheerfulness.
“Nothing, you answered very well, Xia Lun… That’s right, the Goddess, that bitch, just used you as a tool against Us, and now you are Our possession.”
Xia Lun could tell that Aina was indeed quite happy now, otherwise she wouldn’t have used “Us” as a self-address.
Accompanied by a slight sticky sound and a hint of wind, two blood-red bat wings once again spread out behind Aina. “Very good, excellent, We are extremely satisfied with your answer… We will reward you well, My Adventurer…”
The warm blood wings once again enveloped the two, forming a translucent cocoon that fell onto the bed.
…
The freezing Snow Territory was not suitable for human survival; it was the habitat of snow spirits, but the precious resources within the Snow Territory still attracted a large number of Adventurers and explorers.
Humans die for wealth, and birds die for food. So, those Adventurers whose purpose was to find precious materials such as ten-thousand-year profound ice and ice crystal snow lotus, or to hunt snow wolves and ice bears, settled down here and gradually developed some villages.
Lake Village is one of the few human villages in the Snow Territory, located in the southeastern direction of the Snow Territory, close to the Alan Empire.
“Mother, when will Father be back?”
In a thick snow house, ten-year-old An Anna looked up and asked her mother.
“Soon… He’ll be back very soon…” Her mother stroked An Anna’s head.
An Anna looked out through the transparent ice window. The howling blizzard outside and her mother’s trembling hands made the unease in An Anna’s heart grow stronger.
“Good child, don’t think too much, trust your father… He’s so capable, nothing will happen to him.” Her mother tightened the gray animal skin coat An Anna was wearing. “Be good, go to sleep. When the sky brightens tomorrow, Father will surely be back…”
“The patrol team is back!”
Someone outside shouted.
Her mother’s face immediately showed an expression of ecstasy. She impatiently put on a thick cloak, came to the door, and was about to go out.
“I’ll go meet your father. You stay at home, don’t come out, it’s windy outside.”
An Anna nodded obediently, relieved.
Soon, Father and Mother returned, and An Anna joyfully rushed over.
“Father!”
“Oh, An Anna! Praise the Snow God, I’ve returned safely.” After her father took off his outermost robe, which was frozen as hard as armor, he picked An Anna up.
It was then that An Anna noticed there was a man following behind her parents.
He was a gray-haired middle-aged man, with a tall and upright figure, quite imposing, only slightly shorter than her father, who was nearly two meters tall.
However, his face was much softer and handsomer compared to her rugged father’s.
What surprised An Anna the most was that in such a cold place, this man was only wearing a thin magic robe, seemingly without any cold protection measures.
“Sir… aren’t you cold wearing so little?” An Anna couldn’t help but ask.
The man smiled: “My robe is enchanted with warming magic, so I’m not cold, little sister.”
“This is Warren De, a Grand Mage from the Alan Empire.” Her father said humbly, “Fortunately, we met Warren De in the blizzard. Thanks to his magic’s protection, we were able to return safely.”
Then her father instructed her mother: “My dear, quickly bring out all the sausages we cured last year, Warren De wants them all.”
Although her mother was puzzled, she immediately complied.
Warren De offered a reddish gem, and her father quickly declined: “Sir, you saved our lives, how can we possibly take your things?”
“Then consider it a welcome gift for this child.” Warren De directly placed the gem into An Anna’s arms.
Subsequently, under An Anna’s surprised gaze, a pile of sausages brought by her mother instantly disappeared the moment they reached his hand.
An Anna looked at the gem in her hand. A warmth emanated from the smooth, dragon’s eye-sized gem.
“Alright, I should go.” Warren De waved his hand, not giving them a chance to keep him. Without even opening the door, his figure disappeared inside the snow house.
In the ice and snow, a red firelight flashed by, leaving a scorched mark on the snow surface.
In a short while, Warren De arrived in front of a majestic mountain peak.
This was the central most location of the Snow Territory, Holy Peak, and also the place where the Snow God, as the villagers of Lake Village said, resided.
Boom—
At the mountainside of Holy Peak, a pair of wings that covered the sky and sun suddenly spread out. Then, accompanied by a powerful storm, a hundred-meter-long frost dragon landed in front of Warren De.
“Long time no see, Warren De.” The dragon spoke, its voice completely unfitting its massive and majestic body, clear with a hint of immaturity.
“Long time no see, Mida.” Warren De lifted his head, familiarly chatting with the huge dragon head. “It’s inconvenient to talk like this.”
A blue light flashed, and a timid little girl, about twelve or thirteen years old, appeared in front of Warren De.
Warren De took out all the sausages he had brought from An Anna’s house earlier, and Mida unceremoniously began to gnaw on them.
“I came to find Aina…”
Mida took a bite of sausage and nodded: “I know, but you’ve come at a bad time.”