The snow continued to pile up, growing deeper with each passing hour. Shoveling it was an exhausting chore. I discouraged the use of magic to melt the drifts, as the resulting water would simply freeze over and create an even more dangerous hazard.
Aegis, the phoenix chick, was busy clearing the roofs with his flames. For some reason, the snow his fire touched evaporated instantly into steam rather than turning into water, so he was a welcome exception to my rule. Returning to my point, explosions were just as bad as magic. They merely scattered the snow, and any that did melt would quickly turn to ice. Beyond that, the vibrations could cause the heavy snow on the roofs to slide off all at once. That was a risk I couldn't take.
Because of that, I refused to grant permission for Kuro and the others to use their magic horns. I stood my ground, no matter how much Kudel tried to wheedle it out of me.
...Then she used our daughter, Laladel, to sway me. That was playing dirty. In the end, I caved and granted her permission to use five of them. I found myself reflecting on the sheer weakness of my own willpower. I did tell her not to use them anywhere near the village, but honestly, blowing things up in the middle of nowhere didn't help with the snow removal at all. She accepted them with a beaming smile, which made it clear she just wanted to do some high-speed dive bombing practice. She was the same as always. As I played with Laladel, I prayed that she wouldn't grow up to inherit that particular trait.
When Laladel eventually drifted off for her nap, I went to lay her in her bed. I had intended to stay and watch over her, but several of the Angels volunteered for the duty. These were the ones who had recently moved to the village and had become quite fond of the little girl. I asked if they were sure, as it would be a boring task, but they didn't mind. They planned to take turns reading books while keeping an eye on her. Apparently, Angel children were extremely rare, and they simply wanted to be near her. Since they had already cleared it with Tia and Kudel, I saw no reason to refuse.
I left her in their care and told them to notify the High Ogre maids or the spiderlings on the ceiling if they needed anything. When I pointed upward, several of Zabuton's children raised their legs in greeting. The Angels seemed impressed by the perfect security of the room. I could only nod; Zabuton's children were truly elite.
With Laladel settled, I wandered the hallways and eventually looked out into the courtyard. I saw an unusual trio building a snowman: Guronde, Ol the Orthrus, and Hiichiro. Well, Guronde and Hiichiro were doing the actual work, while Ol was mostly just circling Guronde's feet.
I put on my winter gear and stepped out to join them. "Hey there. Where did Raimeiren go?"
"Raimeiren-sama went out to build a snow mountain," Guronde replied. "She took her husband and Dos-sama along as laborers."
That explained why Guronde was looking after Hiichiro. I felt a bit bad about it. I wished Raimeiren had just left the boy with me or Hakuren.
"Perhaps she felt that if she left him with you, he would be returned to her far too quickly?" Guronde suggested with a smile.
She had a point.
"Besides," she added, "Hakuren-san is currently occupied with Hikaru and Himiko."
True. I wanted to help care for the twins as well, but they couldn't control their dragon powers properly yet. For safety's sake, I wasn't allowed to get too close. It was a bit lonely, but I didn't want to risk the children accidentally hurting me and being traumatized by the incident.
I turned my attention back to the present. "Shall we build this snowman together, Hiichiro?"
"Yeah!"
As we worked, I realized someone was missing. Gural was usually wherever Hiichiro was, especially when Raimeiren wasn't around to whisk him away. "Wait, where’s Gural?"
"She’s dressing up," Guronde informed me. "Zabuton-san made some winter clothes for her before she started her hibernation. Gural went back inside to put them on."
Ah, I see. She was likely planning to show off for Hiichiro. As long as she wasn't forcing him into a matching outfit, I didn't see any harm in it. I mused on this while shaping the snowman's head. Hiichiro was handling the body. As his father, I wanted to show off a bit of my own strength, but the gap between our species was simply too vast. I even had to ask him to help me lift the head onto the torso. Still, it looked good.
Guronde had finished hers as well. It was a strange design—a semi-circular, kamakura-style body with a round head on top.
"I originally intended for the body to be a functional snow hut, but I realized that if I carved a hole in it, the head would just fall through," she admitted.
That sounded about right. Kamakura huts popped up all over the village during the winter, so she was familiar with the concept. She had tried to give the snowman a practical purpose, but the physics hadn't cooperated.
"The plan was a bit of a failure," she sighed.
"Don't let it get you down," I said. "I tried something similar once and actually dropped the head. You were smart enough to stop before that happened."
"Fufufu."
We decided to build a proper kamakura next. Hiichiro was full of energy. Ol, meanwhile, had climbed onto the head of Guronde's snowman and was sitting there with a look of immense satisfaction.
Before long, Gural made her entrance. She was wearing a stunning winter outfit in black and red. My immediate impression was that she looked like a priestess. Despite being winter wear, it wasn't overly bulky; it had a dignified, sacred air to it. I asked if she was cold, but she seemed fine. Against her gray scales, the colors looked magnificent.
Wait, it wasn't for her human form—she was in her dragon form! I had wondered why she was taking so long, but dressing a dragon was bound to be a time-consuming process.
"Whoa, watch your landing!" I called out. Gural was coming in for a touchdown. "The snowman will break! We're building the hut right there! Land over there... and do it quietly."
She managed a graceful landing. I nudged Hiichiro, prompting him to say something.
"S-so many wings..." he stammered.
...Well, he wasn't wrong. In her dragon form, Gural had three pairs of wings instead of the usual one. I blinked, trying to remember if she had always been like that. I'd seen her dragon form a few times, but I could have sworn she only had one pair.
"She simply hadn't learned to manifest them all properly until recently," Guronde explained.
That made sense. Even if she claimed she couldn't handle them well, seeing her move all six wings to strike a pose while hovering in the air was undeniably impressive. I kept the thought to myself, but the "priest" look combined with the wings made her look more like a dark priest or a fallen angel. I congratulated myself for staying polite and sticking with the "priestess" label.
Still, Hiichiro’s reaction was a bit lacking. I whispered some advice to him. "Do you want to wear cool clothes like that too, Hiichiro?"
"Yeah! Gural, your clothes are really cool!"
He finally gave her a compliment. Gural looked quite pleased with herself. Then, she shifted back into her human form.
"Wait, Gural... what happened to you?"
She had transformed into a version of herself that looked like a teenager—about high-school age. Apparently, she had an outfit for her human form as well, and she had grown her body to fit the adult-sized robes. She looked great, but it was a tactical error.
I glanced at Hiichiro. He was clearly sulking. He and Gural were usually the same age, and seeing her suddenly take a leap forward into maturity stung. For a boy at that sensitive age, jealousy was far more powerful than any appreciation of beauty. Gural seemed to realize she'd struck a nerve.
"Hurry up and become a man who is worthy of standing by my side," she challenged him.
A bold provocation! She was really stepping up her game. Guronde watched on, nodding with an air of deep pride. Ol the Orthrus looked a bit bored, so I decided it was time to finish the snow hut.
"Gural, can you stay in that form forever?" I asked.
She shook her head. She eventually shifted back to her usual child-like self, and the magic clothes resized themselves to fit her perfectly. She looked adorable—kind of like a child dressed up for a traditional festival back home. When she asked what I meant, I told her it meant she looked lovely.
I left Gural to handle the sulking Hiichiro. No, that didn't mean I was acknowledging her as his future wife yet. As I’ve said before, they are both too young for that. Hiichiro needs to grow up and be able to make those decisions for himself.
Later, we all warmed up with hot soup inside the completed kamakura.
"If the clothes can be stored with magic, can't you put them on with magic too?" I asked.
"For that to work, the magic needs to 'record' the state of the clothes being worn first," Guronde explained.
"So... Gural had to manually put the clothes on twice? Once as a dragon and once as a human?"
"That's exactly right."
"That sounds like a lot of work."
"She’s a girl," Guronde said with a knowing look. "She doesn't mind the effort."
Lu chimed in from the side. "The Village Head's understanding of a woman's heart... I was the one who raised him that way."