Chapter 36: Gaia and Ailin’s Encounter

Chapter 36: Gaia and Ailin’s Encounter

“I know. Of course, I know. You came up the mountain to kill me, so the Ice Dragon Clan living here would be left leaderless. At that point, you humans will take the opportunity to attack and wipe out all the Ice Dragons.”

The Ice Dragon King stated this with exceptional calmness, as if Gaia was not about to kill him at all.

Seeing the Ice Dragon King unexpectedly calm, Gaia was utterly bewildered. However, one thing was certain—he was already feeling scared, and even considered turning around to escape the palace quickly.

“Don’t be afraid. Sit down and have a drink to warm yourself up. After all, climbing up this mountain means you’ve had a rough time. Come on.”

Noticing that Gaia stubbornly refused to approach, the Ice Dragon King understood that Gaia was afraid he might poison his drink.

“You’re worried I’ll poison the wine, aren’t you? If that’s the case, let me prove it to you. Drinking wine is a noble act.”

The Ice Dragon King poured a little from Gaia’s glass, took a sip, then placed it back on the table.

“How about that? See, the wine is just fine. Surely, we can sit down for a proper talk now.”

“Talk? What is there to discuss? Your Ice Dragon Clan runs rampant, causing constant distress for the people of Panimir.”

“What a joke. What has our Ice Dragon Clan done? We just want to live peacefully on this mountain. What wrong have we committed? What running rampant nonsense? It’s all nonsense!”

As soon as Gaia accused the Ice Dragon Clan of running rampant, the Ice Dragon King instantly got angry. He and the other Ice Dragons had simply lived honestly on the mountain—who did they provoke to deserve such a ridiculous rumor?

“Then tell me, what exactly do you want to talk about?”

After some thought, Gaia decided to sit down and listen to what this Ice Dragon King had to say, curious about his true intentions.

“Of course, it’s about eliminating the fear the people of Panimir have toward the Ice Dragon Clan. To be honest, I’m quite troubled too. Living up here, we haven’t done anything heinous. Yet, we are inexplicably feared and hated by you humans.”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

Gaia could sense that the Ice Dragon King’s tone hinted at some clever solution that didn’t involve fighting or bloodshed.

“Naturally! Ailin, come here!”

At the Ice Dragon King’s command, a female Ice Dragon walked out from behind the throne, looking at Gaia.

【I feel like she’s looking down on me.】

With the way Ailin stared at him just now, Gaia suddenly had that feeling.

“Let me introduce you. This is Ailin, my daughter. She will also be the future Ice Dragon Queen. Ailin, this is Gaia, the king of Panimir I mentioned before, and your future husband.”

“Oh. Hello, Ailin… wait, what?! Husband? Me?!”

After Gaia finished greeting Ailin, he realized something was off. What the heck! How did he suddenly end up with an Ice Dragon wife? And she was even going to be the future Ice Dragon Queen!

“Hello, human. While Father claims you are my future husband, I haven’t acknowledged that yet. If you don’t impress me, I wouldn’t mind eating you.”

Unlike Gaia’s polite demeanor, Ailin showed him a very unfriendly attitude.

That was only natural; after all, Ailin was a proud dragon, and it was expected she would look down on a lowly human like Gaia.

“Ailin, how did I instruct you? He is your future husband! Is this how you greet him?”

Seeing Ailin act this way towards Gaia, the Ice Dragon King became furious and made Ailin correct her attitude.

“No, no, no. Wait, what’s with this husband business? Ice Dragon King, your solution wouldn’t actually be to betroth your daughter to me, would it?”

Gaia quickly asked for clarification. The situation was so fantastical that his mind could hardly keep up.

“Ah, let me explain slowly. You humans of Panimir fear us Ice Dragons. To eliminate this fear, I will betroth Ailin, my daughter, to you. This way, our Ice Dragon Clan can become allies with you humans of Panimir. Isn’t that the solution?”

“No, no, no! I’m a human and Ailin is an Ice Dragon. There’s no way humans and Ice Dragons can marry! Furthermore, if this gets out, the public pressure on me would be immense!”

Gaia could already imagine the massive public outcry when he returned to the kingdom with Ailin, announcing her as his wife.

“I know that. But you’re a king, after all. A little public pressure shouldn’t be too much for you.”

“Easy for you to say while standing here, huh?”

Seeing the Ice Dragon King’s nonchalant attitude made Gaia roll his eyes. After all, he wouldn’t be the one facing the backlash.

“Of course. As the son-in-law of the Ice Dragon King, if you can’t handle a bit of pressure, how will that work? Besides, the more important thing is, I received the will of the God, instructing me to entrust my daughter to you.”

“What? The will of the God? What kind of joke is this? Why wasn’t I informed? What did the God’s will say?”

Hearing the Ice Dragon King mention the will of the God piqued Gaia’s interest. He wanted to hear what this will entailed. Was this Ice Dragon King just making up stories?

“The will of the God told me that soon, a group of beings calling themselves the Ultimate Life Forms would come to try and take my daughter away. If I wanted to protect her, I should betroth her to Gaia, the king of Panimir. Only if they join forces can they hope to resist the Ultimate Life Forms.”

“That sounds way too ridiculous. You don’t actually believe that, do you?”

Listening to the Ice Dragon King recount the so-called will of the God sounded like some made-up fairy tale to Gaia. Was it truly the will of the God? It didn’t seem likely.

“Initially, I was just like you, disbelieving. I thought it was a ruse to trick me. But soon after, a group claiming to be the Ultimate Life Forms did come to the mountain, wanting to take my daughter. As a father, I obviously didn’t want my daughter to be kidnapped, so I reacted immediately.”

“Alas, alas. Those who called themselves the Ultimate Life Forms seemed to have some serious skills. In the battle against them, quite a few of our Ice Dragon clan perished. At that moment, I remembered the will of the God.”

“So, you’re really planning to follow this will of the God and betroth your daughter to me?”

Gaia still found it hard to believe that this Ice Dragon King would so easily hand over his daughter.