Chapter 494: A Crucial Frost Beast
“Is seeing me here also part of the ‘future’ you saw?” Dmitri stared at Ghirlandaio, speaking bluntly.
Dmitri took away the cigar. Then, as his deep and magnetic voice sounded, the smoke spewed out of his mouth naturally, “Your Excellency Ghirlandaio?”
Hearing Dmitri’s address, Leona was startled and looked at Ghirlandaio in astonishment.
She was not one of those lower social status civilians who knew nothing about the transcended world.
In the current state, she realized her situation:
Dmitri addressed Ghirlandaio in the honorific of “Your Excellency” and mentioned the word “future”. Also, he has a silver ring that appears quite complicated, which I initially mistook as an ornament.
Could he be a Great Wizard of the Prophet School?
“Ghirlandaio” was taken aback when he heard Dmitri addressing him in honorifics, “Oh?“
However, he did not reveal his ident.i.ty directly, nor did he ask how Dmitri knew this name.
Instead, he grinned at the corners of his mouth with interest, showing a gentle and harmless smile, “I haven’t heard that you have the habit of smoking.”
“Ah, I only got into it in recent years. It’s not a good habit.” Dmitri replied casually.
He stared at Ghirlandaio and said slowly, “I suggest you clarify everything.
“Since you can see the future, you should also know why I came here.”
Ghirlandaio replied with a smile, “I don’t know.”
—Nonsense.
Dmitri did not believe the nonsense of the Prophet Wizard.
However, he did not dare to attack the wizard simply.
Those who could see the future would never be troubled by any “accidents” or “troubles”. When they took the initiative to appear in front of others, either things were adequately arranged, or it did not matter anymore. Thus, those who act would fall into their plot.
Dmitri was a little fidgety.
He got up and went to the wine cabinet. Then, he took down a small barrel of fine wine. Later, he laid silver coins into the shallow grooves where the wine was placed. The number was the same as the label on the top of the wine barrel.
This self-service tavern was a leisure facility unique to Austere-Winter.
It appeared like an ordinary dwelling, but the door was never closed. Besides, the door was covered with a thick black animal skin curtain. There was no one inside, only a counter full of wine, a single lamp, and a barrel of sauerkraut [1] for free. Other than that, food, wine, and a small round table were available.
Austere-Winter was cold, so Austerians fancied wine.
Even in the winter year when crops could not be grown, Austere-Winter Dukedom would purchase ample wine, plus the Noah Kingdom’s grain to make wine. People would tend to frequent the taverns. After all, those places were lively, and there were hot meals. However, the price of the wine in the taverns was much higher than the actual price. After all, they opened the business to make a profit.
So some people would bring their own appetizers and find a cheap private tavern to drink and chat with friends. Those who had no money could have some sauerkraut directly. Of course, some were dedicated to drinking only.
The private tavern owners usually ran multiple “stores” at the same time. Typically speaking, they were responsible for restocking because they had other jobs.
Since Austerian worried that the boss would be unable to continue working or lose too much money, the customers would spend money there. They would give a little more if they had spare money. Austerians valued reputation quite a bit. Thus, there came the most derogatory insult in Austere-Winter, a “Wine thief”. It combined the meaning of being poor, uneducated, and their whole family dead.
Of course, if a beggar had no money and was about to freeze to death, they were acquiesced to enter the tavern and get the cheapest wine to warm up themselves and survive.
After all, life was tough for everyone these days.
As the Grand Duke’s son, Dmitri naturally would not dine and dash. However, his character was not the kind of person who would pay more money.
He poured himself a gla.s.s of crimson wine, glanced at Leona again, and poured her a gla.s.s. Then, he poured Ghirlandaio a gla.s.s without hesitation.
It was different from Leona’s approach in pushing Annan to drink endlessly.
Dmitri did not even finish his drink before taking another puff on his cigar.
He took another puff before his cigar was lit for long so that it would taste a bit bitter.
However, this bitterness made him more energetic.
Forget it, there is nothing to hide.
“You should have seen the convoy yesterday. The convoy was transporting the Frost Beasts.” After getting Ghirlandaio’s reply, Dmitri continued in a low voice, “They are just pa.s.sing through this place. Logically speaking, they should set off for Frostwhisper Province in the morning.”
Dmitri exhaled the smoke slowly.
He glanced at Leona.
“However, they found that they had lost an important Frost Beast this morning. It is said that the Frost Beast is also in this city now. I am near the Razor Territory, so I rushed over immediately.”
“Ghirlandaio” immediately thought of the wolf that belonged to Doreen, “One Frost Beast should not bring Your Royal Highness Dmitri to come and find it in person, right? Is it dangerous?”
Even though Doreen had acted as a [Spirit Thief] more than once, it should not be the case.
Moreover, it was just a Frost Beast.
Frost Beasts were not rare in Austere-Winter, whereby they could be found everywhere in the wild. Only after the domestication of the Austere-Winter family could they get “the Frost Beasts that had been trained”.
What made the Frost Beasts precious were those that were domesticated.
Frost Beasts were uncontrolled and attacked other creatures at will. Only its fur and blood could be sold for some money. It was not anything particularly valuable, just a natural disaster.
Even lone Frost Beasts were roughly equivalent to the Noah Kingdom’s brown bear level of deterrence to hunters. Anyway, the hunters would be dead if the beasts managed to get closer. Their defense power was solid, so there was no significant difference.
Considering that the smaller-size Frost Beasts were more agile, their threat level soared even higher.
“If it’s only the typical Frost Beasts, I’ve seen them all, whether it’s the Frost Beasts in the shape of rabbits, foxes, or even crows.” Dmitri glanced at Ghirlandaio and patiently explained, “You should also know the nature of the Frost Beasts.”
“There are the beasts that have absorbed the curse from the Old Grandmother’s Dragon’s Breath.” Ghirlandaio nodded.
It was not a secret.
Essentially, the “Winter Heart” and the strength that caused the Frost Beasts to mutate, as well as the Frost Beasts’ ability to suck the emotions of creatures, were the other manifestations of the same power.
“That’s the problem.” But Dmitri said slowly, “Man is also an animal.”
Hearing this, Ghirlandaio was taken aback.
His pupils shrank slightly.
Noticing this detail, Dmitri immediately felt a lot of relief in his heart. I didn’t expect that you nagging Prophet Wizards would have something you didn’t know!
“To be precise, it’s a werewolf.
“When she was transformed into a wolf, she was attacked and fell into a coma in the wild. After waking up, she found herself transformed into the Frost Beasts. But the problem is…” Dmitri said slowly, “After she has returned to human form, she still possessed all the unique abilities of the Frost Beasts. At the same time, she also regained her rationality. Her name is ‘b.u.t.ter Biscuit’, and she is the only human form of the Frost Beasts. Do you get the meaning of her existence?
“The primary mission of the convoy this time is to escort her to Frostwhisper Province. But this morning, the person in charge of the convoy told me that he lost b.u.t.ter Biscuit.
“So, Your Excellency Ghirlandaio. Please tell me. When did you arrive at Razor Ridge? When are you leaving? What are you planning to do here?”
The man was biting his cigar. His voice was a little fuzzy; his right arm reached out from under the overcoat, holding the wine gla.s.s and raising it to Ghirlandaio while asking in a low voice, “Can you answer my question, brother?”
Ghirlandaio froze for a moment.
He chuckled.
He also picked up the wine gla.s.s and clinked it lightly with Dmitri.
“Why not, my brother?” Ghirlandaio narrowed his eyes and said with a half-smile.