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"Since we were in the jungle that I knew it was going to be hot. That place was very hot and humid! And now here we are, being bathed by such strong sunlight I feel like its killing me…" sighed Yuki. "Aaaagghh… Having so much fur is horrendous. I need to shave it."
"I think you're exaggerating a lot, you also got ice magic…" I said. "Just use it to cool down your body."
"Ah?! How can I even…" she muttered, until she opened her eyes wide in surprise over the realization. "Y-You're right…"
Suddenly, she covered herself by a faint icy aura that cooled her down. She was quite small and had fur around her chest, arms, legs, and other areas, so she was having a hard time.
Frost was also having a hard time dealing with the heat, but he did the same thing that I told Yuki to do, and he suddenly felt more relieved.
"Good thing we wore some more loose clothes, this dress is just ideal." Said Benladann. "Although I feel like I should have some armor on."
"Well we are on a trip; we don't need to be walking around with some armor and other stuff." I said. "That's just annoying."
"I suppose you're right." Said Benladann. "And even then, I think my skin is as hard as armor! Ah… Wait a second, how are we going to justify that Benladra got scales and a tail, and horns?!"
Benladann had just realized this, they would certainly find a half-dragon girl weird, especially because there are no such things as a dragon-kin in this world.
"Don't worry, I got it covered." I said, I had already used Illusion magic and my Ice Smith to create a special accessory, a necklace that Benladra was already wearing which gave her the ability to hide those features.
"I created that necklace she's wearing; it hides her draconic features and make her seem like a pure ice giant. The horns look like ice giant horns, so she might still be seen strangely by others because ice giants with horns usually are from royal families… Well, they'll see you rare as well as you got such horns as well." I sighed. "You can retract your scales at any time thought."
"I see, so that's the necklace for… And oh yeah, my scales! I haven't used them in a while. I wonder if I will grow a tail one day." Said Benladann. "I can even unleash a breath attack."
Benladann had been evolving into something of a half-dragon after she drank my blood, but it wasn't until her latest evolution where she gained the power to create scales and fire a powerful dragon breath attack from her mouth.
I guess it could be said that I am the one creating half-dragon species by giving everyone my blood… But that's the good thing about it, everyone is growing stronger by getting dragon bloodline so its all good on my book.
"Babahhh!"
Benladra pointed something with her tiny claw, as we reached an area that seemed like a beautiful forest made of the same trees all lined up. Wait, this doesn't seem much like a forest, it is like a farm of trees because they're all so perfectly lined up.
They were all around the duchy, surrounding the road, and there were many farmers of varied races attending the trees, there were no slaves that I could see, so probably this entire duchy had abolished slavery, that's nice.
There were ice giants, beast-kin of varied races, ice elves, and there were even normal elves and humans! I see, there might be some groups of humans and normal or light elves in these warmer areas.
"There are a lot of different races living together in harmony, this is a first." Said Benladann.
"It seems that the countries that have a lot of trades with other countries and continents are way more open to other cultures and races." I said. "I think they said that to me."
"Yeah, Mikohime said so. It appears that they accept more races but ice giants and giants are the primary race anyways, although I can see a denser population of giants now." Said Yuki. Quite insightful for the dork she always seems to act like.
"Interesting, I guess the "normal" giants live in these less colder areas." Said Miranda. "Jotunheim is not Niflheim after all, it is a land for all giants, not just ice giants!"
"Yes, it appears to be the case, there is a ton of giants around… They actually look a lot like ice giants but their skin color is often brown, like coffee… I suppose it is a color more adapted to these warmer temperatures and the unforgiving sun." I said. "Interesting… What do giants have in special that differentiates them from ice giants and fire giants though?"
"I would guess they're more flexible? Ice giants have harder time around warmer territories, although the ones in here can still do it just fine, but still, they're better at colder areas…" said Benladann. "Meanwhile, fire giants probably can live in warm areas and even in volcanoes for all I know, but colder places kill them…"
"I guess that's right, there is a difference in resistances and weaknesses while the normal giants are just neutral to all and more adaptable to both types of temperatures…" I said. "Oh, look, there is a small village up there!"
"Viwage!" said Benladra.
Indeed, there was a small village composed of a few dozens of houses lined up, they were probably the village of the farmers that worked in the Orange Trees. I think no more than a hundred people would live in there.
"It is almost as big as the winter lotus sect though! Is this really a village?! Wow, nations are really just in another level of development…" said Benladann. "Indeed…"
"Yeah, this should be a village… Looks nice, let's go inside, there are some stalls with people selling oranges it seems." I said. "Let's buy some juice."
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