After the hunt ended, Izo, accompanied by the queen of the Snowrot Birds, began counting up their spoils of war.
In total, there were twenty-four Snail-Rabbits, mostly huge, old creatures with grayish fur.
Except for three little ones with snow-white fur.
There was nothing to be done; nature was just that cruel. Natural selection, survival of the fittest.
If the Snail-Rabbits knew Darwin's theory of evolution and had read Mendel's pea experiments, they probably wouldn't want these slow-running genes left in the herd either.
The queen of the Snowrot Birds flew off Izo's dragon horn. She picked out four Snail-Rabbits in better condition and pecked out their eyeballs.
Then she flew over to the Snail-Rabbit that had been split into pieces and pecked at the remains.
Vivian, who was supporting Leodero, walked over. Seeing the queen's strange behavior, she asked cautiously:
“Brother, what is it doing?”
“She means these ones are ours.”
“Huh? Just these few?”
Looking at the massive pile of Snail-Rabbit corpses, Vivian asked subconsciously, driven by a giant dragon's natural greed.
“What else?”
“They found the herd of Snail-Rabbits. I only did the work of killing one, and neither of you two helped at all.”
“Besides, these five...”
Pausing mid-sentence, Izo looked at the poor creature that had been blown into four pieces and corrected himself:
“These four and a half, we might not even be able to finish them all.”
In a single meal, Izo could eat three Snail-Rabbits at most, since digestion took time. The two of them would probably struggle to even finish one.
After all, an adult Snail-Rabbit was five meters long and three meters tall.
Having said that, Izo paid no more attention to the other two dragons. He walked over to the pile of shattered meat and began to eat.
He was not in the habit of wasting food.
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”
“But without the cheers and encouragement from me, the Sovereign of the Frostlands, you guys couldn't have won so easily, right~?”
“Leodero, did you see that just now?”
“That herd of Snail-Rabbits was scared out of their wits by me! They didn't even dare to counterattack; they could only run for their lives!”
Seeing that Izo didn't seem to have changed much aside from looking a bit terrifying earlier, Vivian started acting clever again. Walking over to an intact Snail-Rabbit corpse, she began devouring it heartily while boasting about her “mighty deeds.”
Except for the occasional cry of a Snowrot Bird, the air fell into a dead silence.
This was very abnormal.
Normally, it was quite common for Izo to ignore Vivian, but why was the other noisy guy so quiet as well? Right now, Leodero should have jumped up to refute Vivian.
“Why aren't you coming over to eat?”
“Leodero?”
Sensing something was amiss, Vivian swallowed the bloody meat in her mouth and turned back to look at Leodero.
Having just finished clearing away the shattered meat, Izo also noticed his brother's strange behavior.
Leodero just stood foolishly on the thick frozen soil, looking as if he had lost his soul.
Sigh, what nonsense is this foolish kid pulling now?
He couldn't really have been blasted stupid by a single water cannon, could he?
Feeling helpless, Izo walked toward Leodero while thinking.
Only when the blood-drenched Izo arrived right before Leodero's eyes did he tremble slightly. Yet, he still kept that dead-eyed, do-whatever-you-want-with-me bratty expression.
Izo scrutinized him for a moment and thought to himself:
I only wanted the Snail-Rabbits to take the wind out of your sails, not throw your spirit away completely!
Are dragons nowadays really this fragile?
A moment later, Izo decided he had to restore Leodero's fighting spirit in his own way.
It seems I have to shoulder the responsibility of being a big brother. I can't let him stay despondent like this!
Thud!
Izo grabbed Leodero's head in one swoop and slammed it violently into the ground. The heavy impact caused the surrounding gravel to tremble.
Clearly, reasoning, presenting facts, and feeding inspirational chicken soup to a white dragon hatchling was not Izo's style.
Besides, it wasn't like he hadn't tried that before. If he did that with metallic dragons, they might actually listen, but Izo was dealing with chromatic dragons.
Doing so would only invite ridicule for being weak.
Under their dragon mother's influence, Izo had learned a much more direct way of communicating.
Violence.
So don't blame me, little brother.
“Ahhh!!!”
Accompanied by a miserable scream, several of Leodero's teeth were knocked loose. Tears of grievance mixed with humiliation surged from his eyes like an uncloseable faucet.
Humiliating scenes of himself being hit by the Snail-Rabbits and blown backward kept flashing through Leodero's mind.
“I actually... actually lost to food...”
“What a piece of trash.”
“Have you forgotten what you said?”
“‘Scraping by just to survive is a cowardly act.’”
“Where is your pride, Leodero?”
Hearing Izo's mocking words, focus returned to Leodero's eyes, but it was quickly filled with fury.
“I didn't forget!!”
“Let go of me! A dragon like you who discarded his dignity, what right do you have to say that?!”
Thud!!
Greeting Leodero was another heavy hammer blow, which made him see stars and left his head buzzing.
“Mind your attitude, my foolish brother.”
“Now, I ask you...”
“Is scraping by just to survive a cowardly act?”
Just waking from his dizziness, Leodero opened his mouth to curse. Before he could speak, Izo's other claw slammed down directly over his mouth.
Lowering his head slightly, his sharp teeth pressed against Leodero's neck, his voice freezing cold:
“Think carefully before you speak.”
Looking at Izo drenched in blood and hearing those words dripping with killing intent, Leodero's pupils trembled uncontrollably.
If I answer wrong, I will really die!
There is no Mother to stop him this time!!
Leodero instantly realized his predicament, and the instinctive terror of a living creature surged into his heart right behind it.
Watching this scene unfold, Vivian extended her claw, wanting to step forward, but in the end, she didn't take that step.
Izo slowly moved away the sharp claw pressing down on Leodero's snout.
Leodero pursed his lips and swallowed the bloody froth in his mouth. He hesitated for a long while before finally struggling to speak:
“...N-No.”
Saying those few words seemed to drain every last bit of his strength.
Hearing this, Izo breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. After all, if the stubborn kid had kept insisting, he couldn't actually have killed him.
Simply put, his purpose was to make Leodero understand that compromising for the sake of survival—even abandoning pride and face—was nothing to be ashamed of.
Fight if you can win; run if you can't. Otherwise, when you're truly on the verge of death, you won't even have a place to regret it.
Izo slowly raised his head, looking down at Leodero from above:
“Louder!”
“No...”
“Louder! Have you not eaten?!”
“NO!! I HAVEN'T EATEN!!!”
Hearing this, Izo froze for a moment. He hadn't expected the kid to be so dense.
Uh... well, I guess that's actually true.
Crap, I got too used to hearing the drill instructor shout that during military training.
Of course, these were all Izo's internal thoughts; he couldn't actually say them out loud.
“If you haven't eaten, then get the hell over there and eat!”
With that, Izo removed his claw pressing down on Leodero.
“YES SIR!!!”
Rate on N.U.
