Chapter 242

Chapter 242: Sweets

Sweets
Chapter 242. Sweets

Ruri set down the teapot.
The hand she placed on the table was clenched into a fist.
“Didn’t I always tell you?”
Ruri asked without turning her head.
“That Ferda-nim was to become Valdrova-nim’s bugun! That you had to be careful!”
“You did…”
“Knowing that full well! Why! Why! All on your own!”
Ruri’s voice, which had risen in pitch, died down.
Ruri’s hand went to her face.
“All on your own…”
She could not conceal her eyes welling with tears.
“I hate Ferda-nim so much.”
“…”
“With what face do you plan to show that hand to Valdrova-nim?”
What followed was resentment.
Ferda could not utter a word.
Ferda already knew.
That it wasn’t simply that he was hateful.
It was merely that she was furious at being unable to protect Ferda with her own ability.
She was throwing a tantrum because she felt her frustration would not settle otherwise.
Ferda looked at his right hand.
“If we speak with the Order, we can obtain aid.”
“…”
“However, if I learn black magic and they oppose that, my position will become very precarious…”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Ruri wiped her tears and turned her head.
Biting her lip hard, she spoke with reddened eyes.
“If they refuse to treat you because Ferda-nim is a black magician, I will tear that Order to shreds.”
“…”
“Even if they say it is difficult to restore, I will tear everything apart. I will make them do it somehow.”
Ruri was more sincere than ever.
How to appease this angry chihuahua… was a genuine concern.
It was then.
“Ha, ha! Don’t do that, aga. Isn’t that too pitiful for those who trust in God?”
A nasal voice came from behind Ruri.
The moment she heard the voice, Ruri’s hair stood on end.
“From the outside, it looked terribly ordinary. But as expected of the dragon’s fiancé, even the tent is splendid.”
The one who walked in was a girl with her hands behind her back.
Her face was young, but her mannerisms were no different from those of a hunched old man.
Ruri swiftly rubbed her eyes and returned to a flawless maid posture.
No, that was a bit difficult.
The emotions swelling for Ferda and the nervousness over the unexpected guest mingled and agitated her.
The existences capable of unnerving her to this degree were limited.
Ferda would also soon learn the reason.
“Are you our aga’s fiancé, yes?”
As she pulled back her robe, lush golden hair and horns were revealed.
Ruri uttered her name.
“I greet the Golden Dragon, Odograsado-nim.”
While making a polite bow, Odograsado turned her head.
The girl, Odograsado, though her eyes were closed, faced Ruri as if observing her.
“My, my, a child who received the blood of Silverwind. Are you our aga’s attendant?”
“That is correct.”
“Ha, ha! I heard Silverwind selected material for a Great Warrior, so I expected a burly, rugged warrior, but to think she would not only be small and delicate, but even possess beauty.”
“…”
“Even so, compared to this body, you are infinitely insignificant, ha, ha!”
Ferda knew that Golden Dragon through rumors.
Among dragons, the largest frame, over 50 meters long, dwelling beneath the third underground floor of the city, so enormous that merely lifting her head would show her face inside the Cathedral.
Yet, this girl right now?
‘A narcissistic brat?’
Only the horns were slightly similar, but her size was smaller than Ruri’s.
‘And no dragon presence at all.’
Valdrova was difficult to approach at first, and of course Storeus, even Frontesis, their phases could be felt.
Yet this girl was genuinely no different from a human girl.
And, suspiciously, she gave off the scent of ham.
Let me get up for now.
Thinking that and trying to stand, Odograsado stopped him.
“My, my, stay seated. I have no intention of forcing a sick child to get up.”
Ferda leaned back down.
Not by his own will, but because Odograsado had used magic.
The girl approached leisurely and let out a lively laugh.
“Heh, heh, quite a handsome man. Just a few sweet words and our innocent aga would fall head over heels.”
“…”
“By the way, where did the hand go? Did you boil it in soup because you were hungry?”
“…”
“A child who doesn’t know how to joke! Pwa-ha-ha!”
It was not a situation for jokes; how could one laugh?
“It can’t be helped. Since your sense of humor was severed along with your right hand, if one lives, will the other return?”
Suddenly, she flipped her hair and made a motion as if pulling something from the back of her neck.
In that moment, a brilliant light flooded the tent.
“Odograsado-nim, that is…!”
Ruri showed an expression of astonishment.
“Mmm? Do you know what this object is?”
“Golden Grace… Isn’t that a scale from Odograsado-nim’s body? Something so precious…”
To the extent that Ruri would say that, the Golden Grace was a precious artifact.
An existence akin to an elixir crafted drop by drop over decades in the depths of the World Tree.
True to its name, Phase of Faith and Light, it grants miracles.
“Brat, if not now, when would I use it? Besides…”
“Besides?”
“I don’t want to see the Order of our Holy Nation torn apart in your hands, pwa-ha-ha!”
Ruri’s face turned crimson once again.
Laughing like a brazen person, she unrolled the bandages on Ferda’s hand.
Ruri had applied healing magic, but the wound had not yet healed properly.
“It will hurt a bit.”
She thrust the sharp part of the scale directly into Ferda’s right hand.
The pain from the insertion of a foreign substance was brief,
“Keuk…!!”
A far greater agony enveloped Ferda’s arm.
Sensations that had been empty until now were slowly taking shape in the air.
Ferda knew this.
One of the torture drugs he created, life of shit.
It was an agony greater than when he drank that.
It meant dying and coming back to life.
Ten minutes passed like ten hours.
Instead of Ferda, who was out of his senses from the pain, Ruri let out an exclamation first.
The world……
Ferda’s vacant right hand had returned cleanly.
Ruri held that hand with care.
Touching each finger joint, she asked Ferda.
“Ferda-nim, can you feel it?”
Ferda, covered in sweat, could barely catch his breath; he merely nodded slightly.
Ruri could not let go of that hand.
Meanwhile, Odograsado stroked Ferda’s head like a grandmother.
“Good, good. You endured well. Very praiseworthy. Praiseworthy. A praiseworthy child deserves a reward. Hey, attendant.”
“Yes, please speak.”
“Is there nothing sweet?”
“Sweet things……?”
“You have that thing you like so much, don’t you? You would carry an entire container, am I wrong?”
Ruri’s face turned bright red.
“I will bring it.”
Shortly after, Ruri retrieved a jar from her luggage.
Upon opening and presenting it, Odograsado’s expression morphed into one of pure bliss.
“Oh, my goodness, just looking at it rots my teeth. To think such an unholy crystallization of pleasure exists.”
…..
“Allow me to taste it. Where……”
Odograsado brought one of the pieces she received on a skewer to her mouth.
Her face was bliss itself.
“Oh, my goodness, unholy, unholy! How can something so unholy exist!”
…..
“If you only eat things like this, your teeth will melt and your belly will bulge unsightly, and yet you carry around something so unholy?”
“I do not…… eat much.”
“Right. That is why you are so beautiful, ha-ha!”
She brought another to her mouth.
“You see, perhaps the heavens are jealous, but because I received this tremendous beauty, my self-control is a bit lacking. So they only feed me tasteless bread every day. If the believers hadn’t secretly slipped me delicious treats, I truly would have had zero joy in life.”
“Is that…… so?”
Even while talking, the honey-preserved fruits she popped into her mouth exceeded five.
“Oh, my goodness, I ate like this again. Anyone would call me a bastard sow.”
Saying that, she popped about three more before finally offering one to Ferda.
“Here, eat one. It is a reward from the Golden Dragon-nim.”
“It is fine.”
“My, don’t sweet things make you feel better? Look, watch me eat.”
Odograsado popped the honey-preserved fruit into her mouth and put on a blissful expression again.
“Mmm-yuung. This is the flavor. Yes. A pleasure as if demons were dancing inside my mouth.”
…..
“Of course, it’s not that I’m happy. It means it will be like that. Now, eat.”
Watching the absurd behavior, even though he didn’t want to eat, it ended up in his mouth.
“I heard your story from Greg.”
She was referring to Gregory, the Pope of the Holy Nation of Odograsado.
“Story, you say……?”
“He told me. That a novice with the ambition to conquer the Demonic Land appeared at the Grand Council. And that our aga’s fiancé said such a thing.”
Laughing heh-heh, she popped honey-preserved fruit into her mouth.
“I thought he was quite an interesting fellow. I also thought he was a novice. But since I know what the Demonic Land is like, I thought he would soon taste bitterness and give up.”
…..
“Yet he did not. To think he could utilize those demons… I never imagined it. So Greg had a reason to plead so earnestly.”
Odograsado chuckled, patting Ferda’s right hand.
“To possess enough self-sacrificing spirit to boil this right hand in soup, pwa-ha-ha!”
Faith and Light.
Hearing those words, one would assume she was a terribly solemn and heavy dragon, yet she was this frivolous.
So frivolous that the skewer she had been moving non-stop scraped the bottom, making her click her tongue.
“Oh, my goodness, I ate so absentmindedly that I finished all your honey-preserved fruit.”
“It is fine.”
“What is fine? Bring one more.”
“Pardon?”
“Hurry. I know there is one more container.”
Odograsado snapped her fingers, and Ruri brought another container with a stunned expression.
Upon opening the lid, the mixed aroma of sugar and fruit stimulated the nose once more.
“Unholy things like these must be eaten and wiped away. What else is this if not a real exorcism? Ha-ha!”
One could feel the gratitude for having saved Ferda gradually vanishing from Ruri’s expression.
Odograsado’s words continued.
“So, when I return to my home country, I plan to speak with Gregory.”
“If it is such a good story, how about stopping by the castle to talk?”
“My castle?”
“Since you call Valdrova ‘aga’, you seem close; wouldn’t it be good to see her face?”
“Mmm…… that won’t be possible.”
Odograsado’s characteristic at-her-own-pace atmosphere crumbled slightly.
“I may call her our aga, but I have committed far too many sins. Trying to see her face now, when I have ignored her until now, just because I can breathe easier—that is a cruel act.”
As the mood that had lifted threatened to drop, Odograsado slyly asked Ferda.
“Come to think of it, I heard Frontesis came to the castle; did he meet with Valdrova as well?”
“Yes.”
“What did he give that child? That fellow wouldn’t just pass by empty-handed.”
“I gave her a wedding ring.”
“A wedding ring…… that damn bastard. Trying to score points with our aga like that?”
Odograsado exhaled, pondering.
An atmosphere resembling some sort of competition was brewing.
“Then I will officiate your wedding! How about a ceremony officiated by the Golden Dragon herself?”
“To think you would consider that, I am only grateful.”
“Of course, whose idea do you think it is? But before that, we need to get along…… Fine! I will demand full support so that they aid in conquering the Demonic Land as well!”
Gregory’s promise.
It proved that the promise to spare no support if Ferda showed resolve was not in vain.
“Thank you for saying so.”
“Indeed.”
Odograsado stretched once and said.
“Anyway, this old woman shall take her leave now. Heh-heh, refrain from strenuous exercise for a while.”
Odograsado covered her head with her robe.
With the horns hidden, she was merely a young girl.
She looked at the container of honey-preserved fruit in her hand and apologized to Ruri.
“Aga, I’m sorry. I already ate half of it.”
“It is fine.”
“I drooled a lot while eating half, so might it be a bit disgusting for you to eat?”
“I am fine—”
“I will take this and finish eating it.”
…..
“Then, farewell, ha-ha!”
The Golden Dragon, tucking the container of honey-preserved fruit into her robe and leaving just like that.
The two of them watched the tent entrance flutter with faces as if a storm had just swept through.
“……Ruri.”
“Yes.”
“For some reason, I want to eat ham.”
“I will prepare the meal.”
Odograsado, where sanctity dwells in the place where she stays.
The place where she stayed was filled with the smell of ham.