"Welcome back, you three! It appears the words of my lady Frost Queen were true; you took care of everything." The Village Chief greeted us peacefully.
When we arrived at the village, we found the rest of our group resting over the floor almost completely exhausted. It seems that they had overused their power almost completely to maintain the barrier, an arduous task indeed.
"Phew, you're finally back, Drake…" Sighed Rakasha.
"Yeah, you took long enough!" Yuki complained.
"How was it?" Wondered Pekora.
"Were those mechs hard enough?" Asked Tisha.
"What do you mean "hard enough"?" I sighed. "They were not the easiest but we managed with Benladann… Those were certainly stronger than before though, and some even made to slay dragons. If it wasn't for my unique abilities, I might had truly died there… Thankfully, we grew strong enough in the inheritance."
"Yeah… Things should be safe for now." Benladann said slightly weakly. Overusing her Mold Legion powers and also using all three of her Chaos Familiars probably tired her too much.
"Ugh, I really want a break… No more fighting for a while, please." Miranda implored.
"Sure, sure, let's go back home after this." I said.
The villagers showed up right after we arrived, giving us their thanks. All of them also kneeled on the floor and began praying to us as if we were gods… well, we are gods now, so I guess it made sense. I decided to leave a pre-made shrine so they could dedicate prayers to me daily as well near the villager chief's house.
After that, the beautiful villager chief invited us inside her house as we enjoyed a small feast comforting herbal tea to calm down our exhaustion and body pain, and also all kinds of other dishes to enjoy.
In the middle of our leisure conversation, the Frost Queen and Belle were summoned out of nowhere. Apparently they could summon themselves as projections at my side now anytime they wanted. Giving me a Fragment of their Divine Realms seemed to also have given me such a power.
"Ah, grandmother! You're looking as young as ever." The chief said.
"Aria it is not nice to joke about this." Sighed the Frost Queen. "I am long dead so this body is just a projection of my prime. I was actually way older."
"How old?" I wondered.
"Like… as old as a wrinkly grandma." Said The Frost Queen.
"Oh, so like that old Draugann." Laughed Rakasha.
"Anyways, it seems that Oberon had caught up to you guys, and he ended managing to track you down. He most likely learned more about where you might be thanks to Red, whom has Ruby with her." Sighed Frost Queen. "It is no longer safe to stay here I suppose. Well, not like you were staying for too long either. But my village might also be in grave danger… so I've thought about bringing all of you inside my Tower."
"Eh?! Really?!" Asked Aria in shock. "But… Well, I guess it is not much of a difference."
"Indeed, it is dangerous to stay in here now that Oberon knows there's a village after so long since he attacked. It would be better to quickly bring you to safety. Now that we have merged divine realms with the Fox Venerable, I believe we can give you a more comfortable space to rest and grow. There are only souls in here so having living beings would be nice." Said the Frost Queen.
"Yeah, I guess your dreams will be tasty." Said the Fox Venerable with a menacing glow in her eyes.
"A-Ah…" Aria muttered, feeling slightly surprised. The chief of this village was always calm and majestic, but before two Venerables, she ended acting very low and humbly.
"I suppose that's the right thing to do." I said. "More importantly, do you know more about Oberon? Anything he's planning?"
"Hmm… It would need some techniques to learn more. But I believe I can do something for you about that." Said the Frost Queen.
"I can help too!" Said the Fox Venerable. "If we both combine our strength, I'm sure we can see glimpses of the future more accurately. Dream Attribute is a very mystical attribute after all, kon~!"
"Hmmm… I suppose you might be right." The Frost Queen agreed. "Let's combine our strength, Belle."
"You got it!" Belle seemed very cooperative.
It seems that the two Venerables have already become friends in this short amount of time, it was surprising. I really thought this was going to be harder as this was a cultivation world where everybody was incredibly untrustful of one another and schemed a trillion things against the other, but it seems they're being very honest.
I suppose it might also be thanks to my existence. As the Dragon King I have a lot of duties and I am very beneficial for the two. Belle forged a strong bond with me as she trust me a lot now, especially due to her reincarnation depending on me. And then the Frost Queen was always willing to support me as well so the two ended working together more easily and way faster than expected… thanks to me, of course.
I guess I feel a bit more of pressure now, realizing that I am maintaining this relationship with a thin thread is a bit terrifying… But it's not like I can do anything more about this.
FLASH!
After we finished having our meals, we were suddenly teleported inside of the combined divine realm of the two Venerables. The people of the village was enchanted by the change in the surroundings, the beautiful grasslands, and mountains in the background and more.
"Well, we are going back home for now, so thanks for everything now." I said.
"Yeah, take care!" Benladann said.
FLASH!
And like that, I mass teleported everyone back to my Divine Realm through my connection with Fuyu.
And when I finally reached the Divine Realm, I saw enormous changes occurring all around, as a part of the sky was turning pink and purple, and another part had suddenly grown like a frozen land!
"Drake! You're finally back! The Divine Realm had been going crazy for a while now! What's going on?!" Fuyu was panicking.
