Changed the name from Heaven Aureole Dragon --> Heaven Vein Dragon.
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The journey began the morning after Flamme made her decision—
Agusheed's family moved quickly.
They hardly needed to pack any luggage.
The continent on the Heaven Vein Dragon's back had everything they needed.
The castle's stored clothing and supplies were sufficient for their daily needs.
So after Agusheed informed the Heaven Vein Dragon about the "journey"—
The family boarded the "Heaven Vein Dragon" on schedule that morning.
Thus began their two-month winter trip.
First day of travel, morning—
The lazy winter sunlight spilled across the Heaven Vein Dragon's broad back.
In front of the castle, Frieren wrapped her coat tighter and slowly followed behind Flamme.
She had just been dragged from her warm blankets by Flamme and was still drowsy.
"Flamme... why did you wake me up so early?"
"Even Agusheed would let me sleep in during the morning..."
Frieren yawned, her silver-white hair fluttering gently in the breeze.
"Silly disciple..."
Flamme chuckled to herself but continued walking forward without looking back.
"Just follow me. Since I called you out, there's a task for you."
Frieren pouted, listening to Flamme's riddles while reluctantly taking steps forward.
Because the Heaven Vein Dragon had lowered its flying altitude, rarely staying above the clouds,
The garden outside the castle was now covered with a thin layer of snow.
Snow-covered petals sparkled with tiny flashes of light in the sunlight.
After taking a couple steps in the snow,
Seeing Flamme's completely unguarded back ahead, Frieren got a mischievous idea.
The little magic sprout carefully bent down and gently formed a snowball.
One, two, three—
Finding the right moment, Frieren was about to throw the snowball.
Then she saw Flamme suddenly turn around.
Thump—
A snowball the size of a sandbag hit her squarely in the face, making her plop down in the snow.
"Don't laugh, Flamme—"
The white-haired elf looked indignantly at her grinning teacher and shouted loudly.
"Hehe... silly disciple..."
Flamme continued laughing, and under Frieren's glare, she innocently looked up at the sky.
As if the snowball created with "Magic That Never Loses at Snowball Fights" hadn't come from her hands.
"Flamme, if you keep doing this, you'll lose me eventually..."
Frieren brushed the snow off herself and spoke again with full resentment.
But instead of Flamme's comfort and apology—
Another five-meter-wide snowball came flying at her.
"Flamme!"
When the little sprout gets angry, it's terrifying.
Terrifying enough that even though she never hit Flamme once from start to finish, she still chased Flamme the whole way.
The two of them playfully fought their way through the garden.
Before they knew it, they had reached the edge of the dense forest outside the castle.
The trees here had grown much taller than Frieren remembered.
Thick trunks were covered with a layer of snow, neither too thick nor too thin.
Occasionally, Frieren could see a few squirrels jumping among the branches.
"Where exactly are you taking me..."
After being pelted with snowballs by Flamme the entire way, Frieren finally chose to give up the chase.
She had realized that Flamme was deliberately leading her to this place.
"Silly disciple... haven't we already arrived?"
As Flamme's words fell—
In Frieren's mana detection, a familiar magical power came from nearby.
It was Agusheed's mana.
Almost no need to identify it.
Because in Frieren's memory, only Agusheed and Serie possessed such enormous magical power.
"Agusheed... what is he doing?"
Frieren looked in the direction of the mana fluctuations and asked Flamme with confusion.
"You'll know when you come over."
Flamme took Frieren's hand and step by step pulled her toward the Heaven Vein Dragon's shoulder area ahead.
Passing through several towering trees and crossing two already-frozen streams,
Frieren vaguely saw Agusheed's tall figure.
—And in front of him, a ferocious dragon head as massive as a mountain range!!
Agusheed stood beside the Heaven Vein Dragon's enormous head.
Between his hands, he held a brilliant orb of magical light.
In Frieren's sight, that light flowed like a living thing in his palms.
Sometimes expanding, sometimes contracting.
The rising and falling rhythm emitted mana fluctuations that made Frieren's heart skip a beat.
"So... Flamme, what exactly is Agusheed doing?"
Following Flamme's footsteps and stopping, Frieren turned her head and asked quietly.
"The Heaven Vein Dragon needs additional mana supplementation when flying at high speeds."
Flamme pinched her cheeks, answering her confusion.
"Agusheed is feeding it with his own magical power."
Feeding the Heaven Vein Dragon—
With food...?
Frieren was somewhat surprised and opened her mouth, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
In fact, after living and studying on this floating island for so long, this was the first time she learned that the Heaven Vein Dragon needed artificial feeding.
In her impression, this massive creature had always been self-sufficient.
"Agusheed, I brought Frieren—"
Flamme extended her hand and gently waved toward her busy husband.
"Bring her over."
Agusheed said while slowly pushing the mana orb in his hands toward the Heaven Vein Dragon's slightly opened giant mouth.
That light, large enough to fill half the dragon's mouth, slowly slipped in.
As it was swallowed into the throat, the Heaven Vein Dragon contentedly let out a deep, rumbling hum.
Frieren even felt the continent beneath her feet vibrate slightly.
But both Flamme and Agusheed looked completely used to it.
After freeing herself from Flamme's grip, Frieren curiously stepped closer.
Hum—
The Heaven Vein Dragon seemed to notice Frieren's gaze, and its massive eyeball turned.
Its sky-blue pupil contracted and then rapidly expanded.
As if examining this strange yet familiar little elf from top to bottom.
Frieren's fingers twisted together somewhat unnaturally, and she unconsciously stepped back half a step.
But soon, she gathered her courage and walked forward again.
"Does it only eat magical power?"
Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked Flamme and Agusheed.
"No, it can eat anything—even rocks and poisonous fruits can serve as snacks."
Agusheed pushed another mana orb into the dragon's mouth while answering his disciple's curiosity.
"It's just that injecting magical power is the simplest and most convenient method."
"What does it like to eat?"
"Green apples, blueberries, grapes... it likes most fruits."
"Of course, it's even better if they're eaten with mana orbs."
Listening to Agusheed's answer, Frieren nodded thoughtfully.
She moved her gaze back and forth between Flamme and Agusheed.
Just for a moment—
Detective Edogawa Frieren roughly guessed the "task" Flamme had mentioned.
"You're not going to make me feed the Heaven Vein Dragon, are you..."
Frieren pointed at herself, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly.
"Very clever."
Flamme smiled gently and patted her little head in praise.
"Can you please stop exploiting me? Just practicing magic every day is already tiring enough..."
Although she was indeed somewhat interested in caring for the Heaven Vein Dragon,
Frieren, whose free time was already limited, still tried to refuse this task.
"If you take care of the Heaven Vein Dragon, those classes can be canceled..."
Flamme's words echoed like heavenly music in Frieren's ears.
"Really?"
Frieren suddenly raised her head, her face full of expectation.
"Really."
Agusheed on the other side nodded for Flamme.
"This was my suggestion to Flamme."
"After all, feeding the Heaven Vein Dragon can also improve your mana control..."
"Of course, the prerequisite is that you don't starve the Heaven Vein Dragon to death—"
"If it gets hungry, it becomes very angry, and even I have trouble calming it down."
Frieren immediately straightened her back and confidently patted her chest:
"In that case, leave it to me."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't let it go hungry!"
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