“Argh!”
“Izo! Let me go this instant!”
“Do you even know who you’re grabbing?”
“I am the Great Sovereign of the Frostlands, the Pale Dragon of the Blighted Dark! Vivian!!”
Looking at Vivian, who was squirming like a lizard in his claws, Izo was somewhat speechless.
He hadn't seen her for a year, and his little sister was still this chunibyou. He had no idea who she’d learned those phrases from...
“So, ‘Great Sovereign of the Frostlands, Pale Dragon of the Blighted Dark,’ why are you being held in my hand like a lizard right now?”
“That’s because... because I haven’t eaten my fill!!”
Faint blushes flashed across the scales on Vivian's cheeks. As if on cue, her stomach let out a loud “growl” just as she finished speaking.
“Did you hear that!”
“I just haven't eaten enough. Otherwise, I’d definitely beat you to a pulp.”
“I’d show you the power of the Sovereign of the Frostlands...”
“Prepare to die! Izo!”
“I will definitely defeat you and become the strongest white dragon in the Northern Territory!”
Leodero came sprinting over, mouth agape, drool flying everywhere.
From a distance, he truly looked like a goofy Husky.
Izo shifted his weight slightly. Holding Vivian with one claw, he gave a gentle sweep with his dragon wing, causing Leodero to trip and face-plant into the snow.
Dirt hidden beneath the snow churned up, looking as if the whipped cream on a tiramisu had been scooped out.
Carried by momentum, his sizable body slid ten meters forward before finally coming to a halt.
“Damn it!”
“Izo, I’m going to—I’m definitely going to—”
Before Leodero could even lift his head, Izo stepped forward and pinned him into the snow with a foot.
Izo didn't even need to listen to what came next; it would surely be toothless curses—nothing more than the barking of a loser.
He really couldn't understand why his little brother harbored so much hatred for him. Was it because he had stolen the other's eggshell at birth and used it to slap him in the face?
During the time they were raised by the Dragon Mother, besides occasionally stealing his food and giving him the odd beating, Izo felt he hadn't done anything truly excessive.
It shouldn't be enough to hold a grudge for this long...
After all, in a chromatic dragon household, to hit is to show kin-ship, and to scold is to show love.
I loved him so much; how could he still be so ungrateful?
It was hard work acting like an evil white dragon to be a good big brother. As a brother from another mother, it was only right that he shared his elder's burdens!
“Argh!!!”
“Let go! Izo!”
“Otherwise, when Mother arrives and finds out you’re still in her territory, she definitely won’t forgive you!”
Looking at the younger siblings squirming under his claws, Izo shook his head helplessly.
“Alright, stop shouting.”
“Why aren't you two staying in the dragon nest? Why did you come all the way here?”
Izo asked while releasing the two dragons.
“Could it be that the big mother dragon has become so lazy she’s unwilling to even feed her own children?”
At these words, the two dragons turned their heads toward the direction of the dragon nest, then back to Izo.
Silence was the Cambridge Bridge tonight; everything was understood without words.
“Wait, did I actually nail it?!”
“You were kicked out too???”
“No... Mother said we’ve grown up and can hunt for ourselves now.”
“She also said if we have nowhere to stay, we can live with her for a while, but we have to bring some food back for her.”
“But we’ve been looking for three days and can’t find any food. We didn’t dare go back, so we had to come find you.”
Vivian was the first to answer, sounding quite aggrieved.
Izo’s mind went blank for a moment.
Un-freaking-believable. He’d heard of children mooching off parents, but never parents mooching off their children.
Even for the red dragons, the strongest of the chromatic dragons, it would be extremely difficult for a four-year-old to hunt alone, fill their own belly, and still have surplus, let alone a white dragon—the shame of the chromatic dragons.
Did she really think her kids were legendary dragon species, born as legends?
Truly, ‘immortals are as common as hemp.’ He thought these two little ones were eccentric enough, but it turned out the elder was even more so...
“Fine, you two can follow me for now.”
As soon as he said it, Izo regretted it. Filling his own stomach was one thing, but obtaining enough energy for evolution was a massive hurdle.
Right now, he was like a nuclear reactor lacking fuel; no matter how much food he ate, he could consume it all.
His previous intake was barely enough, and now he had to bring along two burdens...
Sigh, what a pain.
But if Izo truly abandoned them, he wouldn't be able to bear it. After living together for so long, perhaps the nature of a silver dragon and his dragon soul were at work.
Ultimately, Izo decided to take them along.
“Hooray! Brother!”
“I knew you were the best!”
Hearing this, Vivian stopped calling Izo by his name and instead called out affectionately.
Leodero, however, gave a cold snort and turned his head away, acting as if he didn't care at all.
Izo didn't bother arguing with him.
Between the two, Vivian was clearly much smarter than his foolish brother; her intelligence seemed to even slightly exceed the normal upper limits for a white dragon.
“Alright, let’s go. If we wait any longer, my friends will get hungry too.”
“Friends?”
“Ha, they’re here.”
As Izo’s voice fell, the sky gradually darkened. The flocks of Snowrot Birds were like a curtain blotting out the sun and a piece of soft silk, constantly circling and changing shape high above.
Gazing at the absurd number of Snowrot Birds in the sky, Leodero couldn't stop himself from swallowing—not out of hunger-induced gluttony,
But out of fear.
Snowrot Birds were the scavengers of the Northern Territory’s ecosystem, acting as decomposers that handled all manner of rotting and frozen things.
At the same time, they were also among the top predators in the Northern Territory.
When the flock was large enough, they even dared to hunt dragons, using the rings of sharp mouthparts in their beaks to devour every visible nutrient like a swarm of locusts.
However, this sight was not common. It usually only occurred during the Snowrot Birds' breeding season. Combined with the fact that the Kings and Queens of the flocks usually deliberately limited the population size, the Northern Territory’s ecosystem maintained a delicate balance.
Whoosh—
The dense flock of Snowrot Birds swept past the three young dragons with extreme speed.
The overexposed low-frequency sound waves sounded piercing and sharp to the young dragons' ears.
Leodero quickly ducked down and raised his wings, doing his best to protect his body.
This was the best defense for a young dragon facing a flock of Snowrot Birds: let the flock nibble on unimportant parts first, then find a way to leave the core area.
If one couldn't run out, they could only pray that the flock wasn't large enough and that they could satisfy their hunger.
“Aaaaaah!!”
Vivian, on the other hand, was so terrified she let out a piercing scream. She felt her life as a dragon was ending before it had even begun.
After all, she had never seen such a massive flock of Snowrot Birds since the day she was hatched.
Rate on N.U.
