The tundra had returned and even consumed the once prosperous land of Laria. Stoned into ice, the forest, the cities, and even the mercenaries who'd come in search of plunder were all frozen solid by the breath of the maddened dragon.
Even from afar as their wagon struggled through the raging blizzard, the silhouette frame of Klianstien Ironfrost could clearly be seen resting on top of the Frost castle. Moving closer and closer to the outskirts of the duchy, the very liquid in their bloodstreams was slowly freezing into shards.
Bleeding from every pore in their bodies, Haruki and his companions kept healing each other to keep each other far away from death's door. The one exception to the effects of cold was the shrunken Lamia who'd been forced to shift into a similar human form to that of her snake-like body.
"Is it really that cold?" She asked, feeling no discomfort at all.
"It is…" Bleeding through her gums, Riley shot her a contempt-filled gaze.
'Don't talk and test everyone's patience.' Medusa quickly realized exactly what that look in Riley's eyes meant. Heeding that warning from her new overseer, she decided to keep her mouth shut until they reach their destination.
After traveling a bit further, the horses submitted to the cold and perished. However, making use of their souls, Fay turned them into a pair of undead beasts that could draw the wagon without their mortal vessels. Drawn by their translucent figures, Haruki and his companions were finally brought over to the minotaur dungeon.
Taking the wagon right in through the cave-like entrance, they were all comforted by the warmth breezing inside the dungeon walls. Finally feeling somewhat better, everyone settled down into the wagon without having to worry about healing the wounds from their blood freezing inside their blood vessels.
The deeper they ventured the warmer the weather got, and after a certain point into the dungeon they even noticed patches of grass layering the floor along with lantern-lit farms with mushrooms shooting through the ground.
"The goblin queen must've worked everyone to the bones to finish all this so quickly," Margarette said, her eyes scanning through even more mushroom farms up ahead.
"Yeah, and thank lord for the roads or else we would've had to walk all the way to the settlements inside," Moriyana added.
Peeking out himself, Haruki noticed the paved road they were traveling on running in between the farms on both sides of it. Shooting his gaze forward, he could spy out some faunas playfully skipping about with a small herd. And as if that wasn't impressive enough, getting even deeper they stumbled upon animal pens with sheep, cows, and even some horses.
'She really did build her tribe back.' Seeing numerous goblins, Arachne as well as some elves working together to take care of the animals, Haruki was in utter awe of what the goblin queen had managed to achieve inside the dungeon. 'I still haven't named either one of the queens.'
Reminded of how they weren't too keen on the idea of getting names, Haruki turned to Medusa wondering why she had a name as a monster while the rest of the monsters preferred not to have one.
"I still have a lot of questions for you, but first, why do you have a name? Most monsters I've come across only go by their title," Haruki asked, his eyebrows frowning with curiosity.
Suddenly being addressed by him, it took a while of just staring at Haruki before the question even registered in Medusa's mind.
"Oh!" As if pushed out of some limbo, she finally spoke with a hint of shock. "I-It's a custom, only queens get names as a lamia, and we all carry the same name as our primordial progenitor, Medusa."
'Primordial progenitor of lamias? Hmm, I wonder if I can find any kind of information about her in the records of the world.' Still hoping to get his hand on the book with records from the past, present, and future of the world, Haruki made a mental note to check about primordial Medusa if he someday got his hand on the book.
All of a sudden as the wagon came to a stop, Haruki turned to the drawn curtains. Looking onward, he noticed the goblin queen along with Arachne queen and a ginger elf bowing in front of the wagon with an army of monsters doing the same behind them.
"Welcome back to the dungeon, oh great lord!" Looking up at Haruki, the queen of goblins greeted him with a crazed smile. Her eyes wide open, gleamed like a rainbow as she raised to her feet. "I cannot emphasize enough how much your presence here means to your servants!"
Growing more and more hysterical with each word, the goblin queen appeared like a zealot. In fervent hopes of serving a master that could one day lead the world, she seemed to have grown obsessed with the idea of serving under Haruki.
"We're all tired, take us somewhere more comfortable so we can rest," unsure whether to consider the changes in the queen positive or not, Haruki decided to worry about it when it was actually needed.
"Very well!" With the same crazed look, she turned around and began leading the charge to venture even deeper into the dungeon.
While following right behind her, Moriyana told Haruki all about the ginger-headed elf general. At first, he wanted her to join his group as well, but then looking around at how cramped things were getting everywhere he went, he decided against it.
'We can have her train the monsters to get stronger, so we can farm drain level out from an entire army whenever we want.' Trying to come up with a plan to finally make use of the monsters, Haruki decided to make them level themselves up so their level can definitely be drained by him and his companions.
Looking around at the monsters leading them deeper, something striking caught Haruki's attention. At first, he'd failed to notice it since he was so used to living around women, but upon closer inspection of the female monster and elves, he realized that they were all wearing clothes that revealed a lot of their assets.
"Moriyana…" Turning to the illusionist, Haruki wore a puzzled expression. "Did you not tell them that I can't make anyone naturally pregnant as an incubus?"
"I did," letting out a tired sigh, Moriyana seemed defeated. "But I don't think they're taking my word for it."
"Judging from the goblin queen's demeanor, I doubt they'll stop spreading their legs for you even if they find out the truth," Margarette added with a light chuckle at the end.
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