Chapter Sixty-six: Aqua, You’ve Plotted Against Me!

Feilosys had already made up her mind: once they returned to the cabin, she would punish Aqua and force her to reveal Ruby’s true address. By her side, Mers had lost his wits entirely and kept mumbling nonsense about “what exactly are breasts,” over and over.

Just as Feilosys was about to retrace their steps and climb back over the wall, a sense of danger gripped her. She withdrew her right foot, and in the spot where she’d intended to step, a thick layer of frost rapidly formed. Ice spread outward, quickly encircling the two of them in a semicircular barrier.

“Two uninvited guests, leaving already? Don’t you think you’re looking down on Rhine Magic Academy a bit too much?”

The ice formed so swiftly that even the Poison Dragon couldn’t react in time. Once trapped within the frozen barrier, their body temperatures plummeted, surrounded on all sides by blinding white. Yet Feilosys quickly sensed another presence within the enclosure. The newcomer made no attempt at concealment, stepping forward from the icy mist—a man appearing to be in his late seventies, with hair silvered by time, though his face was unlined by age. Even in the near-freezing air, his complexion was ruddy and vibrant.

“We meant no offense. We’re merely here to find someone,” Feilosys said. She couldn’t tell how she’d been discovered, drawing the academy’s strongest to her, but she faced him without flinching—her draconic heritage allowed her to meet any Saint of Magic with composure. Violet mist drifted from her body, gathering overhead into the spectral image of a dragon, shielding both her and Mers.

“A dragon?” Harvey Terry’s expression grew grave. Had he not been on campus today, repairing the academy’s magical array, he would never have noticed these two interlopers. In truth, Feilosys’s infiltration had been extremely subtle—at first, the headmaster thought the magical array had merely suffered a minor issue, given its size. Yet, for caution’s sake, he’d come to inspect it himself, and the lingering trace of poison mist on the array caught his attention. He decided to wait in ambush, expecting little more than flies to fall into his trap. Instead, the strongest race on the continent had blundered right into his hands.

It was almost embarrassing for a dragon, but the truth remained: ice magic had always been the bane of dragonkind. The cold slowed their blood, sapping their energy and leaving them sluggish—making combat a losing prospect. In dragon history, the mutant Ice Dragon, Skarsa, nearly claimed the dragon king’s throne using this very advantage, though his foul temper ultimately led the Dragon God to banish him to the eternal snows as a lonely hermit.

“As you can see, we’ve done nothing to harm this academy,” Feilosys said, the chill rendering her, a dragon, far more patient than usual. She had learned from Ruby that sometimes less was more, and explained herself calmly.

“Very well. I’ll let you go.” Headmaster Harvey, after a moment’s thought, seemed equally disinclined to provoke a conflict with dragons. He dissolved the icy barrier and indicated that Feilosys could leave the way she had entered.

Unwilling to escalate matters, Feilosys grabbed the still-befuddled Mers and prepared to depart. But just as she was about to cross the threshold, disaster struck: a sharp icicle shot from a blind spot, aimed squarely at Feilosys’s back. She had maintained her guard and instantly accelerated upward, but even so, her calf was sliced open, crimson blood dripping onto the frozen ground.

“Despicable humans!” Feilosys snarled, turning back in fury. The wound was shallow, little more than a scratch, but the human’s treachery enraged her. No matter how many years passed, humans never changed. Whatever goodwill she’d developed for their kind because of Ruby vanished in an instant.

“From the traces you left, it’s clearly poison-attribute. And there’s only one poison dragon in this world. I never expected such a woman,” Harvey said coldly.

“Are you after my life, too, because of that damned bounty?” she snapped.

“This isn’t the place for a battle. I only wanted a little blood—call it an entrance fee,” Headmaster Harvey replied, shaking his head. He openly collected the frozen drops of her blood before her, making no effort to conceal his intentions. Judging from her actions, she was not reckless enough to provoke an all-out fight with him in this city of powerful magi.

“I’ll remember you. You’d better hope we don’t meet in the wild,” Feilosys threatened, her anger nearly making her grind her teeth to dust. But she truly did not wish to expose her identity here, so she left with Mers, her threat empty but pointed.

---

Back Mountain of Derys, beside Lake Aqua

“Waaah! I’m going to be eaten!” Aqua’s shrieks echoed along the deserted lakeshore. Yet so remote was this place, no soul heard her cries. Her whole body was clamped in the jaws of a black dragon. Were it not for her arms and tail bracing the dragon’s mouth open, she’d already have perished.

“It’s all your fault! If you hadn’t babbled that address, I wouldn’t have been defiled by humans! I’m no longer pure! How am I supposed to face my wife now?” wailed Mers, his voice muffled by indignation. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became—those humans had treated him so roughly, and he vaguely recalled bold girls taking advantage of the chaos to grope him all over. His lifetime’s shame was all thanks to Aqua’s babbling, and he vented his wrath on the mermaid.

“What are you even talking about?!” Aqua protested her undeserved misfortune, summoning a burst of strength to wrench herself free. She lashed the black dragon’s face with her tail, sending both mermaid and dragon splashing into the lake, waves crashing around them.

“Enough! I don’t think she did it on purpose.” Seeing the chase devolve into a one-sided pursuit, Feilosys finally intervened. If they kept at it, Aqua might play along until the end of time.

“Think carefully—did Ruby say anything else to you? For instance, where he’s waiting for the semester to start?” Feilosys asked.

“Hmm... A few days ago, he mentioned he was in the capital, treating someone’s illness.”

“Why didn’t you mention something so important?” Feilosys sighed in exasperation. She’d suffered a minor injury, and Mers had sustained a psychological wound—all thanks to the mermaid’s forgetfulness.

“Was it important?” Aqua looked puzzled. Seeing her innocent OvO expression, Feilosys realized this mermaid probably thought the imperial capital was just another part of the academy.