After the two women vanished, Sol focused on the two remaining ones.
‘I wonder who they are.’
He couldn’t help but ask himself.
One was in a get-up that seemed to show as much as possible. The leaves on her barely concealed her luscious body and if Sol didn’t have as much experience, he would have been lost as he gazed at her two large hills.
The other one was the complete opposite. Not even one inch of skin was visible in her case. She was completely clad in dark from head to toe.
What surprised him though, rather than the amount of skin the clothes were hiding, was that he knew this uniform.
It was one used by doctors on earth in the past during the plague. Those clothes had the purpose of protecting the doctor from any external contact and even the mask was specially made.
“Phoebe, it has been a while.”
The woman with leaves for clothes, Phoebe, bowed in greeting. She had stayed silent until now because it wasn’t her place to intrude in the earlier events.
In fact, she was surprised that the golden-haired young man had the audacity to stand between Tiamat and someone she was about to judge. Even more so by the fact that Tiamat didn’t contradict him.
However, no matter who the boy was, it didn’t change her situation
“I salute the Dragon Empress.”
Tiamat showed an exasperated expression but didn’t comment. She knew that this politeness was ingrained in the way Dryads were raised by Yggdrasil. No matter what she said, nothing would change.
“You are really stubborn. Even more so than your old man.”
“I am delighted by your praise. I will make sure to tell father.”
Tiamat laughed and placed her gaze on the fully clothed girl.
“Do I need to ask you to reveal your face?”
Keeping such an attire in front of Tiamat was in a way extremely rude.
“I…I do not want to cause any problem.”
Sol had expected many things, but the gentle and sweet voice that came out of the mask was not what he expected.
“Should I care about your desire?”
Sol frowned a little but this time stayed silent. He might have forgotten because of how gentle and caring Tiamat was toward him, but in reality, Tiamat was no gentlewoman.
She was a cold and ruthless Empress who would accept no slight. An extremely domineering woman who only put her pride aside for a select few.
Clearly, the girl wasn’t one of those.
His earlier action was already pushing it but he had an excuse since the matter seemed to be related to him.
This time though, it was a matter between Tiamat and one of her descendants. As a junior himself, he had no place to say anything. So he stayed silent and simply observed.
“....Understood.”
In the end, the masked girl released a sigh and began by taking away her gloves.
*Whoosh*
The moment she did so, a slight fragrance floated in the air, and immediately, all the pasture around her withered.
“Oh my…”
Sol and Tiamat’s eyes narrowed while Phoebe showed no surprise. After all, she had been one of the people who trained Nidhogg.
“Intriguing. I felt those clothes were special. But to think Yggi did this for you.”
After inspecting the gloves more closely, she could feel that leaves of the Yggdrasil itself had been used on them. Otherwise, it was impossible for normal clothes to block such a deadly aura.
Tiamat moved her hand slightly and light seemed to reflect around Nidhogg before everything went back to normal.
“I have isolated you in a different layer of space. Disrobe yourself now.”
Nidhogg nodded. She had no more reason to hesitate now and she could feel that Tiamat’s patience was running thin.
As such, slowly, she began to take away all the clothes that covered her body until she was left with a small black and transparent camisole.
“I am sorry for my earlier impudence.”
“No matter. You are certainly quite prideful and understandably so. Your power really evolved to become something quite impressive. But learn to not let it go to your head.”
Tiamat scoffed. The reason she said all this was because the earlier actions of Nidhogg were implying something pretty impudent.
She did not take off her clothes earlier because of her power. In short, she was worried that her power could hurt Tiamat in a certain way.
The simple fact that a Duke-level existence had such a thought was ludicrous and made Tiamat wonder if she should ask Kiyohime to harden the training she gave to younger dragons.
Sol meanwhile was assessing the physical appearance of this new girl.
‘She is so pale.’
The girl behind the mask was extremely beautiful. But Sol was already used to such beauty. To this day, he didn’t remember meeting someone who wasn’t handsome or beautiful.
Like all divine beasts, Nidhogg had beautiful golden eyes. She also had long black hair with tints of green near the end.
Figure wise, there was nothing much to write about. She wasn’t exactly voluptuous and rather had a more slender frame despite her height. In a way, she looked like a top model from his old world.
However, what really caught his attention was something else.
“Her ears…”
Hearing his murmurs, Nidhogg trailed her eyes toward him and introduced himself.
“I am Nidhoog Superbia. Granddaughter of Hydra and daughter of Siegfried.”
“Hah…”
Sol was left speechless.
‘If I remember right, Siegfried killed one of Hydra's favorite children right?’
How could he forget the story Kiyohime told him and the others on his first day here.
Even though that dragon, Ladon, had gone insane, the fact that Siegfried was the one to kill him was a reality that couldn’t be erased.
But even then he gave his daughter to Siegfried?
Or perhaps he was already married to her before tyat?
‘Well, not like it’s my problem.’
He hadn’t even talked to Hydra.
“I am Sol Luxuria, son of Blaze.”
Nidhogg squinted a little as the light of understanding flashed in her eyes.
The reason she came back was to fight for the title of Prince and it seemed that this was the one who gave her this opportunity.
“Thank you.”
“...??”
“Thanks to you, I will become the new Princess of the tribe.”
Sol stilled before his eyes narrowed dangerously. But in the end, he only let out a small chuckle.
The meaning behind her words was quite clear. She did not see Sol as an equal opponent and was already sure to win the title for herself.
Being underestimated so much was quite a weird feeling for him. It was something that hadn’t happened since the time with the Gorfards and even then they had been quite cautious of him.
“Wake up to reality.” [1]
Sol didn’t know how powerful Nidhogg really was but from the earlier display, it was clear that she was extremely dangerous. Sol wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating her.
If even after becoming a Duke he couldn’t win against people of the same rank as him, it would be an insult to all the natural gifts he was born with.
—-
While Sol was getting to Know Nidhogg, Verdandi was having a meltdown as she raised Skuld by the throat.
“Are you trying to get us killed!?”
Verdandi was positively and righteously furious.
The situation had been grave.
Not only did Skuld jump on someone related to Tiamat, but she also showed open hostility toward the Empress.
Even if Tiamat had heavily wounded them then and there as a punishment, not even their elder sister would have been able to say a word.
Even though she was raised until her feet dangled in the air, Skuld didn’t show any struggling expression.
In the first place, like all Titans, she didn’t even need oxygen to survive and lived by absorbing mana through her entire body.
Still, she knew she should have controlled herself more there.
Sighing, she pushed away her hands and landed calmly on the ground.
“I am sorry, I let my feelings take over my mind.”
“I don’t need words of apologies, I need answers. Tell Me What Happened.”
Verdandi enunciated each of those last four words very deeply and Skuld understood that it wasn’t the time to play around.
While she was willful, she knew that actions shouldn’t cross certain lines.
“I don’t want to explain a second time. So I will wait for Darling to come back. But…Do you remember why we left Chaos?”
Verdandi’s eyes narrowed.
When the three of them left Chaos, the fight between the two sides was still going strong. So there was no reason to change sides.
The reason was that Skuld had insisted they did so.
Verdandi and Urd had been skeptical, but they trusted Skuld’s power and knew that she wouldn’t joke around about their life so they did as she proposed.
When Chaos lost later, she thought that Skuld had already foreseen the defeat and made them change sides before they were forced to flee like helpless rats in the Abyss or worse–die.
Now though, from what Skuld was showing and her earlier actions, it was clear that it hadn’t been the only reason.
“Is that boy really that important?”
Verdandi frowned but not out of distrust towards Skuld. It was just that the situation was too unbelievable.
A Hybrid Divine Beast and a Blessed one at that? It wouldn’t be wrong to say that such an entity should be the antithesis of Titans like them.
“Furthermore, Skuld, do not let the future affect your emotions.”
Verdandi warned with a deep but worried voice.
Titans were even more attuned to their concepts than divine beasts. After all, divine beasts had the inherent limitation of the goddesses above them.
Meanwhile, there was no such thing for the Titans. They had the absolute freedom to follow whatever path they wished to.
As the one with the deepest link to Fate, if the three of them did not pay attention and delved too much in the time they were linked to, they could easily lose their sense of self.
This danger was even more prevalent for Skuld since she was linked to the future.
“Don’t worry. I am alright.”
“You should know that the more you say it, the more worried I become.”
“I am really alright. As for Darling…”
Skuld’s eyes shone with a fervent light.
“Everything will be alright. I will make sure of it.”
She would never let that awful future happen.
[1]: I wonder if anyone can catch this reference. It’s the starting sentence of one of the greatest speeches made in anime.
