“But your wife is almost the sole reason they decided to tell you how to break your curse. They are all eagerly looking forward to meeting her…”

Still, Edgar shook his head. There was no way he was bringing Rubica to meet the dragon’s underling.

Even he knew the name ‘Blanco’. So many adventurers had been killed by the ax she wielded, and it was hard to count their numbers. He had every reason to be worried.

“I want to go with you.”

“Rubica… they despise Claymore.”

“But they all like me. And if they hate Claymore so much, I shouldn’t let you go alone. It would be even more dangerous.”

Rubica clearly had made up her mind. And once she did it, there was no convincing her. Edgar’s head knew she was right. It’s just that he’d rather put himself in danger than to bring her to the cold and dangerous northeast.

“I must have Carl prepare a mana stone carriage.”

It was going to take them at least a week to reach Iber’s territory, even when using the fastest mana stone carriage they had. Ios could close the distance in a day, but his method involving drinking dirt all along the way. Plus, he could travel with only one person at a time.

“Your Grace, it will be too dangerous. I think we must gather adventurers who know how to fight the underlings and go with them.”

“It will take too long. Besides, they are helping me. I can’t go with an armed band of guards. It would be openly starting a fight.”

“I agree with you.”

“But… what if they just change their mind? We must have some kind of plan for it.”

Even though their mana stone carriages were huge, they weren’t huge for an army to fit in them. Carl was so worried, but Rubica came up with an idea.

“What if we take Ios with us? He can’t hurt the other dragons’ underlings, but he can help us to escape or defend us.”

“Oh, of course!”

Carl was delighted to hear it, but Edgar wasn’t happy about it at all.

“Escape? He can carry only one person at a time.”

“But… he won’t have to take us far. We’ll be safe once we leave the territory. A few seconds will be enough for him to do that.”

“But he’s even stupider than a lizard, he won’t be of any help.”

“He’s not…”

Even Rubica couldn’t say he wasn’t that hopeless, so she decided to say something else in his defense.

“You’re right, but he’s been improving. Now he doesn’t throw a fit as often as before, and most of all, he’s stronger than an entire army.”

The more she complimented Ios to make Edgar see how useful he could be, the darker his face became.

‘She can’t compliment him farther, it’s getting dangerous…’

Carl and Minos were stuck in the middle of it and glanced at Edgar. It seemed like Rubica didn’t know how she was making him feel worse and worse and was trying to improve his relationship with Ios.

“Why don’t we ask his opinion first?”

Minos managed to boldly chime in and raise an opinion. Edgar nodded only then. He had just been irritated to see Rubica compliment Ios so much, but he also knew they needed him.

“Huh? Iber’s territory? Umm… I don’t want to go.”

However, to their surprise, Ios refused the moment they told him about it. To him, shivering in the snow was a horrible experience he didn’t want to go through that ever again. Plus, he didn’t like that he couldn’t throw a tantrum in there as the area belonged to another dragon.

“Ios, you don’t have to go in there with us. Just stay nearby, and if we fall in danger, you come and…”

“Why would you ever be in danger?”

Ios’s eyes widened. He still believed Rubica was a nymph, so he couldn’t understand why she was even talking of any danger. Even Iber herself wouldn’t be able to defeat her, and she had that skill of putting her opponent’s head in her armpit and choking them!

“You must be afraid.”

Edgar, who had been listening quietly as Rubica tried to convince Ios, raised a corner of his lips and spoke. His voice was extremely low, but it reached Ios’s ears without a problem.

“What? Were you talking to me?”

“Yes, you don’t want to go just because they kicked your butt a couple of times? You’re so timid. Well, I guess you’d never been spanked before that, you just believe in your own power and mess around.”

“Edgar!”

Rubica couldn’t stand it and hit his shoulder. She had wanted to come alone, but he insisted on coming with her, saying meeting Ios alone was too dangerous. Did he even want to break his curse? But even as she thought so, he kept staring at Ios and kept on the childish fight.

“If you’re scared, don’t come. We don’t need a coward.”

“You think I will be afraid of those underlings!”

In the end, Ios jumped to his feet and pointed a finger at Edgar.

“We’ll see! If you don’t show up, I will smash up your butt! I don’t care if you’re Rubica’s cousin or not!”

Then he left, just like that. Edgar closed his bloodshot eyes only then and massaged them with his fingers.

“All done, now we just have to go after him.”

“You provoked him on purpose?”

“You can’t convince that idiot with reason. Well, we have a journey to prepare for.”

Edgar stood up, called Carl, and started to give him orders. He always frowned to hear Ios’s name and was constantly calling him an idiot and a hopeless lizard, so it was quite surprising that he actually knew how to handle him better than anyone else.

‘Maybe they’re closer than I thought.’

There were some kids who always fought but looked for each other when they weren’t together. Rubica decided not to try to bring them closer from now on, which was good for Edgar.

The journey was going to take only a week, but they had much to prepare for as they were going to Iber’s territory. While Edgar explained about it to the king and got written permission to cross the borderline, Rubica packed things with Minos’s help.

“You said the area is very lot cold and dry, right?”

“Yes, it’s still autumn here, but there, the snow had already piled up this high.”

Minos raised his arms high and jumped. Seritos’s winter was known to be severe, but it sounded like it was even worse in Iber’s territory. They didn’t have enough time to make thick fur coats, even with the new sewing machine Edgar had just invented.

So, Rubica had her maids’ help to find winter clothes in the mansion. It had everything, from a sable fur coat to a fox muffler. She chose and packed what was needed.

“That sly old fox! He hadn’t signed that permission yet!”

However, Edgar’s rank was too high to just leave when the preparations were done. Nobles of marquis rank or higher had to go through a much complicated procedure to pass the borderline. It seemed like the king was still negotiating.

“You haven’t left? Are you scared?”

In the end, Ios showed up at the mansion again and made fun of Edgar.

“We will leave soon.”

Then he muttered a curse, although whether it was toward the king or Ios, it was hard to know. He looked so grim that Ios couldn’t pick a fight with him anymore. He had no choice but to go to Rubica.

“What are you making? A coat?”

“Oh!”

Rubica had thought Ios would be waiting at their destination, so she was shocked to see him and dropped what she was making.

“But that’s too small to be worn there. It must come down to your ankles at least.”

“I wouldn’t make a coat with such a thin fabric. Look closer.”

Rubica showed him what it was. It was in size of a short jacket, but it had straps, ribbons, and frills.

“Is that… supposed to go on someone’s head?”

“Yes, I’m making it as a present for Iber’s underlings.”

Presa was a shop that sold clothes for humans, at least officially. But Iber’s underlings had huge ears for horns on their head, so they couldn’t wear ordinary hats. They must be wishing to wear hats that matched their new dresses.

She just didn’t want to waste her time doing nothing till the king gave his permission, so she recalled the monsters she had encountered and made headdresses for them. But as she had never met an underling before, she worried it might not suit them.