Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Chapter 549: Dragon Chef

Nidhogg continued to hold Kael by the shoulders with a dangerously affectionate enthusiasm, while its enormous scaly tail swung behind it like a satisfied colossal dog. The cozy living room of the small dimensional house remained warm by the central fireplace, filled with the sweet smell of freshly baked biscuits and the soft crackling of slowly burning enchanted wood. After the crushing embrace and the emotional threat of spontaneous adoption, Kael finally managed to regain enough space to breathe without immediately risking disappearing among draconic curves again.

Elion, still sunk into the armchair with an expression of spiritual defeat, watched the scene holding a cup of tea.

"That was too fast," she murmured. "It usually takes weeks for Nidhogg to start wanting to keep people at home."

"He’s comfortable," Nidhogg replied immediately, as if that explained everything. "Besides, he hugged me first."

"I was being polite."

"And it worked wonderfully."

Kael slowly massaged his forehead before sitting back down in the enormous armchair near the fireplace. As soon as he settled in, Nidhogg reappeared beside him with absurd speed, adjusting the blanket over his legs like an overly devoted mother protecting a child from a nonexistent breeze.

"You really don’t need to keep doing that."

"Yes, I do."

"It’s not cold."

"That’s exactly what cold people say."

Elion chuckled softly.

"Give up. She defeated primordial entities using emotional persistence."

"It wasn’t just persistence," Nidhogg replied proudly. "I also used bites."

"I believe that part."

Kael picked up his mug of hot chocolate again as he watched the two women. Despite the chaotic energy of the conversation, there was something absurdly peaceful about that place. The house built inside the root of the World Tree seemed to exist separately from the rest of reality. No political court. No immediate conspiracy. No dimensional war about to erupt.

Just a gigantic dragon trying to feed visitors to exhaustion.

Nidhogg finally sat down in the enormous armchair before him, crossing her legs as the dark fabric of her dress clung to her bulky body. Her golden eyes lost some of their exaggerated animation and took on a more attentive glint.

"So..." she said, resting her face in her hand. "Let’s talk about the annoying tree problem."

Kael nodded slowly.

"I want to get to the Original Kingdom."

"I know." Nidhogg sighed dramatically. "Yggdrasil is hiding that place like it’s a shameful family secret."

"She’s avoiding me."

"She’s desperately avoiding you," Nidhogg corrected. "There’s a difference."

Elion rested his chin on his hand.

"She’s emotionally panicked."

"Rightfully so," Nidhogg replied. "You destroy the emotional stability of the women in that tree without even trying."

Kael decided to completely ignore that comment.

"What exactly can you do?"

Nidhogg slowly uncrossed his legs and pointed to the glistening roots beneath the house floor.

"I know the ancient paths between worlds. I know the deep roots that Yggdrasil can’t completely hide." His scaly fingers slid across the living wood of the table. "I can take you there."

Kael looked up.

"But?"

Nidhogg grimaced immediately.

"But I can’t go in."

Silence lasted a few seconds.

"She hates you to that extent?" Kael asked.

Nidhogg placed his hand on his chest, offended.

"Kael, I’m a misunderstood victim."

Elion almost choked on his tea.

"You literally gnaw at her roots."

"With affection."

"You DEVOUR parts of the World Tree."

"Only sometimes!" protested Nidhogg. "Besides, it grows back!"

Kael observed the dragoness in silence.

Nidhogg looked away for a moment before sighing dramatically.

"Okay... she has some reasons." She crossed her arms under her generous bust. "But you need to understand that it’s very tasty."

"...What?"

She then leaned forward with absolute seriousness.

"Its roots."

Kael remained completely still.

Elion brought a hand to his face.

"This conversation never gets better."

"You don’t understand," Nidhogg continued with spiritual conviction. "The original roots have a marvelous texture. Crisp on the outside, full of concentrated mana inside..." Her golden eyes practically gleamed. "It’s like chewing on divine energy seasoned with existence."

Kael blinked slowly.

"You’re describing the World Tree as a snack."

"Because IT IS."

"You’ve just confirmed all the accusations against you."

"Political propaganda!" Nidhogg retorted indignantly.

Then, to Elion’s immediate horror, the dragoness leaned to the side of the armchair and pulled something from a basket near the fireplace.

It was a small fragment of golden root.

The piece seemed to pulse gently with ancient energy, luminous lines running beneath its surface like veins of liquid gold. A strange and pleasant aroma emanated from it—something between fresh wood, pure mana, and sweet fruit.

Nidhogg raised the branch with absolute pride.

"Look at this."

"Nidhogg..." Elion murmured slowly.

"Just a little bite," she insisted, handing the fragment to Kael. "You’ll understand immediately."

Kael held the small branch between his fingers, watching the gentle energy coursing through its surface.

"...You want me to eat part of the World Tree."

"Exactly."

"That sentence is absurd."

"Trust me."

Elion was already shaking his head.

"Don’t feed my son forbidden cosmic matter."

"You say that as if you’ve never licked a magic stone."

"It was once."

"You glowed for two weeks."

Kael continued to observe the small luminous branch in silence.

Then he sighed.

"...Just one bite."

Nidhogg’s eyes instantly glowed.

"HE WILL UNDERSTAND!"

Kael cautiously brought the fragment to his mouth.

Then he bit into it.

...

Silence.

The sound was absurdly crunchy.

The instant his teeth pierced the outer layer of the root, a gentle burst of energy coursed through his tongue. The taste was impossible to describe properly. Sweet, fresh, warm, and absurdly addictive all at once. It seemed like an impossible combination of ripe fruit, ancient honey, pure mana, and something primordial that simply shouldn’t exist on the human palate.

The energy flowed down his throat like comfortable liquid fire.

Kael stopped completely.

Nidhogg immediately leaned forward in absolute expectation.

"AND THEN?"

Kael chewed slowly.

Then he looked at the small remaining piece of root.

Then he looked at Nidhogg.

"...I hate to admit it."

Nidhogg grinned widely.

"IT’S GOOD, ISN’T IT?!"

"This is ridiculously good."

"I KNOW!"

Elion stared at the two in utter moral disgust.

"You’re literally sharing forbidden snacks from the World Tree."

"Want a piece?" Nidhogg asked.

"...Maybe."

"TRAITOR," the dragoness replied immediately before handing her another fragment.

Kael was still observing the small branch remaining in his hand.

Now he partially understood the problem.

"...This really does seem illegal."

"Because it is illegal," Elion replied before biting into his own piece. Then his eyes widened slightly. "Wow... this batch turned out particularly good."

Nidhogg looked absurdly proud.

"I picked it near the core of a primordial root last week."

Kael slowly closed his eyes.

"I’m in an interdimensional house eating forbidden pieces of the World Tree with an ancient dragon."

"And cookies," Nidhogg corrected.

"And cookies."

Kael still held the small remaining fragment of the golden root between his fingers as he watched the soft glow pulsing beneath the surface of the living wood. Its energy continued to slowly course through his body, spreading a warm and absurdly pleasant sensation across his chest. It wasn’t just the taste. It felt as if the very mana of the World Tree reacted to being consumed, as if tiny sparks of ancestral vitality still lived within the root.

The problem was that Nidhogg clearly perceived his reaction.

And she was far too pleased with it.

"See?" she declared triumphantly, crossing her arms beneath her generous bust as her enormous scaly tail swayed behind the armchair. "I don’t chew roots out of malice. There’s a culinary culture involved."

"This still sounds like dimensional crime," Kael replied calmly.

"Crimes are just misinterpreted traditions."

"Elion," he said without taking his eyes off the dragoness, "does she always talk like that?"

"Always." Elion took another sip of his hot chocolate, observing the situation with lazy amusement. "The worst part is that she believes her own justifications."

"Because they are excellent justifications!" Nidhogg protested. "Look at that texture! This is cosmic culinary art!"

She picked up another small golden fragment from the basket beside the chair and dramatically raised it in the fireplace light. The luminous lines traced the root like living liquid gold.

"Yggdrasil spends millennia cultivating primordial mana in its deep roots. I just... appreciate her effort."

"You’re describing botanical cannibalism as gastronomic appreciation."

"Exactly."

Elion rested his face in his hand.

"She’s already tried to argue this before celestial courts."

"AND I ALMOST WON."

"You threatened to eat the judgment table."

"Because they were being unfair."

Kael slowly massaged his forehead.

The longer he spent in that place, the more he realized that normal logic simply ceased to exist around those two women.

Still...

He looked again at the small piece of root in his hand.

Then he took another bite.

The crunchy sound echoed softly through the room.

Nidhogg immediately pointed at him as if he had just won a historic argument.

"HE GOT MORE!"

"Because it’s addictive," Kael replied without apparent emotion.

"Yes!" She practically jumped out of her chair with excitement. "The first bite awakens curiosity. The second awakens happiness. The third creates spiritual dependence."

"That explains a lot about you."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t a compliment."

"I chose to interpret it as a compliment."

Elion watched the two with an increasingly tired expression.

"This is going much better than I expected," she murmured.

"You expected disaster?"

"With you involved?" She looked at Kael. "Always."

Nidhogg then leaned slowly forward, resting her elbows on her knees as her golden gaze took on a more attentive gleam.

"Now seriously," she said, finally lowering her playful tone, "the Original Realm really isn’t going to be easy."

Kael nodded slightly.

The atmosphere seemed to shift slightly along with her voice. The soft crackling of the fireplace continued to fill the house, but now there was more weight to the dragoness’s words. Even Elion uncrossed his legs and turned his full attention to the conversation.

Nidhogg pointed to the ground below them.

"Deep roots connect all worlds," she explained. "But Yggdrasil has rearranged the Original Realm so that only certain specific currents can reach it. It has practically hidden the entrance within the Tree’s own structures."