"Dragon?"
The girl who called herself Talulah furrowed her brow and instinctively grabbed the longsword she had placed to the side.
The identity of the Draco race was a sensitive matter, but at the same time, the fact that someone could identify her species just by looking at her horns suggested that this person might know something.
Otherwise, Talulah wouldn't have kept her horns exposed all this time—this was, in a way, a sign of her confidence in her own identity.
At least among the people she had met in Ursus, no one should have been able to recognize her species so directly.
But now, Steven had asked this crucial question right to her face, making it hard for Talulah not to think that his objective was her.
Ever since that person died, no one had come looking for her. She had hoped that the upper echelons of Ursus had forgotten about the matter, but now it seemed that they had sent someone after all.
Subconsciously classifying Steven as someone sent to investigate her, Talulah tightened her grip on the longsword.
If it were just her being taken away, that would be one thing, but if it brought harm to Alina and the peaceful little village nearby, that was something she did not want to see.
"Yes— Oh, I remember now. To be precise, your kind should be called Draco, right? Like this thing."
Steven thought for a moment, then pulled out a picture of an Ender Dragon from his inventory and pointed to it.
His expression was just shy of shoving the picture into Talulah's face and asking if this was her.
"Uh... Is this what you think a Draco should look like?"
Talulah, who had been on the verge of losing control and ready to defend against any sudden attack, now showed a hint of confusion in her wary eyes when she saw the picture in Steven's hand.
Did this guy have some kind of misunderstanding about Draco? Although the dragon in the picture did share some traits with the Draco race, it was still uncertain whether such a creature even existed on this land.
"Isn't it supposed to look like this? You can't transform into this form?"
Steven scratched his head. He had thought that since the race was based on a legendary creature like a dragon, it should at least come with a cool "transformation into its original form." But from the looks of it, the appearance was fixed from the start, with no epic transformation involved.
It's a good thing Kal'tsit wasn't around to hear Steven say that, or she definitely would have taken the opportunity to educate this brain-dead guy that normal creatures simply couldn't violate the laws of evolution to do things like transforming.
Not to mention the whole human-to-dragon thing, which just sounded completely off the rails.
"I may be of the Draco race as you say, but the thing you're describing? I don't think anyone could possibly do that."
Talulah's confusion only deepened as she looked at Steven, but for this very reason, her previous wariness had lessened.
Every time this guy opened his mouth, it was with something unexpected, but the key was that he genuinely seemed to be asking her, not just trying to distract her.
And more importantly, from beginning to end, Steven had not shown even the slightest hint of hostility toward her.
Would the upper echelons of Ursus really send someone so unreliable to deal with her?
Talulah began to doubt her own judgment, continuing to look at Steven with a puzzled expression.
"Mr. Steve, why are you asking about this? Is my race that important to you?"
Narrowing her silver eyes, Talulah straightforwardly voiced her doubts. Instead of beating around the bush, it was better to directly ask him his intentions.
"Huh? Not really. I just might need your help with something later, but there's no rush. I was just trying to confirm it. After all, a friend of mine mentioned that it's quite hard to find a Draco nowadays."
Still caught up in his disappointment over the lack of a cool dragon transformation, Steven finally came to his senses.
He returned Talulah's question with a friendly smile before turning to his brewing stand behind him.
He took down three bottles of hot water that had been boiling inside.
"That's really all I wanted to ask. So, Miss Talulah, perhaps you could share your intentions as well? I doubt you came all this way just to apologize, right?"
He placed the still-warm glass bottles in front of Talulah and Alina. Steven himself picked up one of the bottles, looking quite content as he held it in his hands.
On a cold day like this, drinking a cup of hot water was truly a pleasure.
"That was the most important matter, but I won't deny it—I do have a few other things I wanted to confirm."
Talulah glanced at the two odd glass bottles emitting steam.
Though she showed no intention of touching them, Alina beside her picked up one of the bottles, mimicking Steven and savoring the warmth in her hands.
"Confirm what? Something related to me?"
Taking a small sip of the still-hot water, Steven tilted his head, looking genuinely puzzled about what someone like him could have to do with their inquiries.
They seemed like two completely unrelated worlds. Could it be that Alina had fallen in love with him at first sight?
He exchanged a look with the gentle-eyed Elafia girl who had been silently listening to their conversation. Steven quickly dismissed that thought, figuring his charm probably wasn't that extraordinary.
"Yes, after all, having a neighbor with a glowing pumpkin for a head makes it hard not to think of the legends about the headless specter on the snowy plains. But looking at you now, it seems I was overthinking things."
Talulah took another glance at Steven.
His hair might have been a bit messy and unkempt, but it couldn't hide his handsome features. She then smiled as she responded to him.
From what she could tell, aside from his odd personality and offbeat way of speaking, Steven didn't exhibit anything resembling an evil spirit—let alone the glowing pumpkin head that Alina had described.
Of course, no normal person would have such a twisted sense of humor as to wear—
Before Talulah could finish her thought, Steven scratched his head, and then—without any clear indication of how he did it—the handsome young man standing before her suddenly had his head replaced by a grinning, glowing, warm-yellow pumpkin.
"You mean this?"
The pumpkin head tilted slightly, and Steven's voice came from within the eerie grin.
"Th-this..."
Talulah was completely stunned, her whole body stiffening as she slowly turned her head to exchange a look with Alina.
"See? I told you it was weird. You just wouldn't believe me."
The Elafia girl, no longer surprised by this oddity, shrugged nonchalantly, as if to say, "That's just how it is."
Yesterday, when Alina told Talulah about the eerie pumpkin head, she described how it was impossible to discern the source of the light within it. What was even more unsettling was how the pumpkin head seemed to grow directly out of Steven's neck, and it could even show subtle expressions.
She knew how absurd this sounded, but it was the truth.
"It's really just a helmet, you know. When you're out and about, you've got to have some kind of disguise or protection, right? Gotta keep a low profile. You'll get used to it."
Steven tapped the pumpkin on his head, producing a crisp "thunk thunk" sound, and then smiled warmly as he explained.
He had thought they wanted to verify something serious, but it turned out they were just worried about whether he was actually a human or not.
On second thought, Steven realized their concern made sense. His appearance certainly didn't scream "normal human."
"…"
Faced with Steven's seemingly joking answer, Talulah found herself at a loss for how to respond.
The strangest part was that she could easily tell he was likely being completely honest.
After being trained for years by Kashchey as his potential successor, Talulah had become quite adept at reading people. But even so, she found herself increasingly unable to understand what on earth Steven was thinking.
If he truly wanted to conceal his appearance and stay low-key, wouldn't it have been enough just to wear a hood and cover his face? How could wearing such an eye-catching pumpkin helmet be considered "low profile"?
"So, that's all you wanted to ask me? Nothing else?"
Steven realized continuing this topic would only make things more awkward, so he decisively changed the subject.
"If there's something else… Well, actually, I came to ask you again, Mr. Steve, if you're really not willing to sell those potatoes? Compared to the villagers, I can offer you a much better deal."
Talulah cleared her throat to ease the awkwardness and didn't forget her real reason for coming.
Unlike Alina and the old man, she understood the true significance of a potato that could thrive in such a harsh environment.
This crop could potentially transform the lives of all the lower-class farmers throughout Ursus.
She had already noticed it at the door—the potatoes that remained lush and vibrant even in the wind and snow looked more like a magical creation than an ordinary crop.
"Huh? You're asking about that too? I already said no. Just think of it this way: the reason those potatoes grow so well is tied to my Originium Arts. In short, it's not something that can be easily mass-produced."
Steven, the master of lies, showed no hint of guilt as he spoke of this.
After all, what he said was technically true.
At least without his approval, mass-producing and distributing those potatoes would not be an easy task.
"Of course, if you want the baked ones, I've got plenty of those."
<+>
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