Ridan puffed his chest, both hands on his hips with a smug look.

"And you know what you’ve been calling me this whole time? Hmm?" Ridan smirked, his puffball body shimmering with pride. "You always call me... Big Brother... ah, no... The Great Ridan-Sama!"

Hazuki looked up at Ridan with childlike wonder, his eyes wide and innocent. "Really? Oh, Ridan-sama!"

"Yeah! That’s more like it!" Ridan let out a hearty laugh while swirling around Hazuki in smug satisfaction.

Hazuki looked around at the icy landscape. "Umm... why am I here?"

"Good question!" Ridan paused with a cheeky grin. "You’re here because of your quest! A noble, honorable quest!"

"Uoohhhh!! Really?" Hazuki stood up in a rush. "So what are we doing here?"

Ridan smirked.

"We are on a noble journey, to collect the rarest herbs from the most dangerous places in the world!"

"Oh!!!" Hazuki’s eyes widened in awe. Then he noticed the girl standing a short distance away.

"Err... so who is she?" Hazuki glanced at Glacia.

Just as Ridan was about to explain, Glacia stepped forward, fidgeting nervously.

"Umm... you forgot already?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Hmm? Who?" Hazuki tilted his head.

"I’m... I’m your fiancée..." Glacia glanced away, cheeks tinted pink.

"Hah!?" Ridan glared hard at Glacia. "Since when are you his fiancée? Stop dreaming already, you delusional lizard!"

Hazuki opened his mouth to say something, but Ridan and Glacia were already bickering loudly, hurling insults back and forth.

"Errr... everyone? Hello?"

But he was ignored. The two kept arguing, mocking each other without pause.

Hazuki scratched the back of his head and glanced around.

His eyes landed on something beautiful, a shimmering, leaf-shaped crystal embedded in the ice nearby.

"Wow..."

He walked toward it, drawn by its gleam, and reached out to touch it.

Just as Ridan noticed Hazuki was inches from the Icy Leaf.

"Oi! Don’t touch that!!"

"Hmm?" Hazuki glanced back at Ridan, but his fingers had already brushed the frozen surface.

In an instant, Hazuki was frozen solid, encased once more in a thick block of ice.

"Ugh! What a dumb human..." Ridan let out a very long, deeply tired sigh, his puffball body slumping in mid-air. "I can’t believe he did it again... the exact same mistake, right after being freed from it. Even with no memory, he still finds the stupidest way to get himself frozen..."

Ridan landed on top of the ice block, settling on Hazuki’s frozen head like a tiny puffball hat.

"Man! It’s all your fault." Ridan narrowed his eyes toward Glacia. "Now we have to wait for another long hour, who knows how long!"

"How is it my fault!?" Glacia glared at Ridan.

"Huh? Of course it’s your fault. How dare you claim to be his fiancée just because he lost his memory, when you can’t even touch him! You forgot he already has a Pinky Promise, dumb lizard?"

"Ughhh!!!" Glacia grumbled, glancing away and mumbling softly. "I just wanted to have... umm... a chance... to be closer to him..."

"Now, because we were bickering, this Hazuki touched that thing and got frozen... again! Ugh!" He glanced up at the sky. "The sky’s turning dark soon." He looked at Glacia again. "How cold does this place get at night?"

Glacia tapped her chin and looked up. "Hmm... double or triple the current temperature, I guess."

He glanced at the frozen Hazuki. "I wonder when he’ll break out of that ice..."

Glacia looked at the frozen Hazuki. "But this human is really something, huh? Anyone who touches the Icy Leaf and gets frozen by it should be instantly dead, and yet this human could touch it twice. Not to mention he could resist the extreme cold without any gear. You also know any adventurer party often dies here, even with full preparation, right?"

"Yeah. Do you take me as dumb like you?" Ridan smirked. "Of course I know, because I’m a genius, and also, don’t forget, bitch, a thousand years ago, I was the one who defeated you... with EASY!"

Glacia glanced away, cheeks red. "Hmmph! You only won because you used underhanded tactics."

"Heh." Ridan smirked. "In a real fight, there’s no such thing as a fair fight. If there were, the Demon Kingdom would have won every war easily. They’d just send their strongest warriors and declare victory. But wars are won by strategy, deceit, alliances, and sometimes... cheating. You think honor matters when your enemy is aiming for your throat?"

Glacia shook her head and exhaled. "That’s true... In the end, survival is what matters. I’ve seen too many ’honorable’ dragons fall because they refused to strike first."

Ridan smiled faintly before glancing at the sky again. "If there were really fairness in this world, I wouldn’t have been killed by those shitty summoned heroes a thousand years ago."

He glanced back at Glacia. "So, lizard girl."

"Ugh! I’m not a lizard! I’m a dragon! Master of ice and water elementals!"

Ridan waved his puffy hand. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So tell me, girl."

"Hmm? What?" Glacia glanced up at Ridan and tilted her head.

"Since you’ve been living for so long already, tell me: what happened to the summoned heroes from a thousand years ago?"

Glacia chuckled. "You do know they were human. Do you think they’d be able to live for more than a hundred years?"

"Do you take me for dumb? This genius wizard? Hmm? I’m asking because I want to know what you know, not because I don’t understand humans." He narrowed his eyes toward Glacia. "Don’t forget, bitch, those summoned heroes were humans from another world. What if they all found ways to extend their lives? Ate Life Fruits like this dumbass? Discovered some dark ritual?"

"What if they learned an elven immortality spell to live for thousands of years? You forgot how Kenjirou was always focused on power? Do you think he’d give all that up and die peacefully? For someone heartless like that asshole?"

Ridan’s face turned serious.

"You also know he was willing to kill anyone, do anything just to gain power. All that was in his head was power, power, power. He didn’t hesitate to sacrifice innocent children, women, entire villages, anything and anyone, just to get what he wanted. That power-obsessed maniac didn’t think of anything else."

He glanced at the sky again.

"I’m sure he wouldn’t just stay silent and let his body wither and die from natural causes. I’m sure he wouldn’t let all his gains go to waste. What if he forced those elves to teach him? Hmm? You know how cruel he is, don’t you?"

Ridan glanced at Glacia with a serious face.

"Don’t forget, they weren’t ordinary humans. They were chosen, blessed, given power. You think they’d just grow old and die quietly? In your dreams."

( End Of Chapter )