The Magus of Genesis c1-62

Table of Contents
Volume 1
The Magus of Genesis Chapter 4
Volume 1 Illustrations
The Magus of Genesis Volume 1 Chapter 2
The Magus of Genesis Volume 1 Chapter 25-27
The Magus of Genesis Volume 2 Chapter 29-30
The Magus of Genesis
Ishinomiya Kant
Source: https://novelonlinefull.com/novel/the_magus_of_genesis
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The Magus of Genesis c1-62
1. Volume 1
1. The Magus of Genesis Chapter 4
2. Volume 1 Illustrations
3. The Magus of Genesis Volume 1 Chapter 2
25. The Magus of Genesis Volume 1 Chapter 25-27
53. The Magus of Genesis Volume 2 Chapter 29-30
A Dragon's Breath 竜の吐息
Each time I exhale, a blessing escapes.
... Literally.
The next day.
"Morning..."
Nina rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes as she spoke, her mouth wide open due to
yawning.
"Good morning."
Still trying not to look at her b.u.t.t-naked body to my utmost, I greeted her back.
"Still tired... you were so noisy last night..."
"Sorry."
Complaining, she held out her hands and the trees shook as they inclined their leaves
toward her, having the dew on them drip into her palms. Once Nina was done washing her
face, wind blew away the remaining water on her face. Next, the silk she'd tossed over on
the tree branch floated over to Nina, wrapped around her body, and turned into clothing.
As ever, magic is a magnificent thing.
I decided to call her race elves for convenience's sake. It's just for convenience because, be
it their abilities, lifestyle, or physical characteristics, they differed heavily from the design
laid out by the great 20th century novelist named Tolkien---they even differed from the
variety of elves that existed within Norse mythology, the á lfr.
I guess it might have been more accurate to call them dryads or nymphs, but there's no
reason I have to match it with Earth's mythology either way. She lives in this world and is
an existence of this world, after all.
"So what was that think you were on about? An academy?"
"Yeah. I'd like you to help me build one, Nina."
Typing up her golden hair with blades of gra.s.s, she asked me about what I brought up last
night.
I nodded---her cooperation was imperative for the academy I pictured.
"I don't really mind."
Elves seemed to live very monotonous lives.
That's also the reason she was even a.s.sociating with a strange dragon like me. I also think
that it's because it meant that she'd be able to live without having to work, though.
"What is that academy thing, anyway?"
"An academy is a place you live at for a long time, somewhere to teach youths about the
world. Your parents taught you about the world, right?"
"Well... yeah."
Tilting her head to the side as she recalled her past, she nodded.
"Humans are a race much younger than yours. When it comes to what they need to survive,
they know next to nothing. I will build a magic academy and teach them magic."
"... Magic?"
Magic was another world that didn't exist in Elvish. Nina repeated the word I'd spoken in
j.a.panese back to me.
"Nina, you know how you manipulate trees? That's magic."
"Eh---"
Her eyes opened wide in surprise.
"Teach, you say... how?"
She looked as though she had no idea how that could be done.
"Nina, how do you do it?"
"How...?"
Saying that, Nina looked over to a tree and extended her arm toward it.
The tree rustled and moved to place a branch on her palm almost exactly like she'd given it
a command to [Shake] like one might give to a dog.
"Like that."
Nina knit her brows, troubled. She didn't have any further explanation to give me.
I see. I guess that to her, moving trees is like moving her own limbs.
"I mean, you'd be stumped if I asked you how you breathe fire, right?"
"Ah. So that's magic, too, then."
It's rather obvious now that I think about it. Breathing is something done to take in oxygen,
how would I be able to do that if my lungs were filled with fire? It's simply impossible. So,
obviously, that has to be magic as well.
But she is right, though. I wouldn't be able to explain to her how I'm breathing out fire. It's
just like breathing normally to me. I myself don't even feel the heat from it. That fact often
causes me to forget that I breathe fire, though.
"Nina. Can you move your arms without moving trees along with them?"
"Yup."
When I thought of something and gave asking Nina about it a shot, she quickly held up her
arm. As expected, it appears as her action itself isn't the requirement for it. In other words,
I should be able to both breathe fire and not breathe fire.
"Could you try moving them this time?"
"Sure."
This time, Nina just looked at them without changing her stance.
A tree branch squirmed, shaking up and down.
"What did you do different?"
"Umm, I... imagined it?"
So it's all about the image, is it? Let's give it a shot.
I closed my eyes and imagined myself from before I reincarnated, back when I still had the
body of a human.
A body standing on two legs. A back with no wings. An upright neck.
I breathed in slowly, the air filling me lunged.
Then, keeping that image in my head... I breathed out.
"Kyaah!? What're you doing!?"
"Ah! Sorry!"
Panicking, I beat out the flames that had started to spread into the trees.
It seems like doing it right won't be easy.
＊＊＊
The firewood crackled, making popping noises.
"So you do eat meat, huh..."
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
Nina was digging in to some roasted deer meat, enjoying its flavor immensely.
"You don't think that it's pitiful or anything, do you?"
"Huh?"
Hearing my question, Nina tilted her head to the side and replied like I'd just said
something weird.
"Ah, sorry. It's nothing."
I guess that's the normal response? That kind of thinking is something that only more
plentiful societies would have. But it's really surreal seeing a dainty elf chow down
ravenously on a hunk of roasted meat.
I say that, but I'm even worse in terms of sophistication.
Having a dragon's body even changed my sense of taste, so things taste delicious even if
they're raw.
Juices ooze out of the meat when it gets burned by the flames in my throat. It's extremely
delicious.
Munching on the deer meat, I thought about magic.
It seems that this world's magic isn't something that requires incantations or motions to
invoke. It's simply as natural as breathing.
Being able to freely manipulate something that I'd liken to an imaginary arm is difficult.
Watching the flowers that somehow managed to not get burned, I held back my desire to
sigh.
I was able to get to the point that I could freely move my wings about though.
I had neither wings nor a tail back when I was a human, so they were puzzling things to me
when I was born.
But I got used to them after a few years, I don't even any discomfort from them at this
point. I'm now able to use them as naturally as I can use my hands.
... Hmm?
I suddenly questioned my own thoughts.
... Is it really like moving an imaginary arm?
Right now, I have wings so that I may soar through the skies, scales so that I may protect
my body, and fangs so that I may chew deers whole.
If that's how it is...
Isn't there also some organ within my body so that I may breath fire?
I closed my eyes once more.
This time, I pictured myself not as a human, but as a dragon.
Where is the source of my fire?
In my throat?
No. That deer meat I ate earlier was being burned even after pa.s.sing through my throat.
Then is it in my lungs?
But flames still flicker out of my mouth even if I stop breathing.
In that case... in my abdomen? The moment I thought of that, I felt something strange.
Like there was something hot located near my stomach.
Picturing myself blocking that off, I looked down and breathed out.
The flowers blooming before me fluttered, no fire to be seen.
Volume 1 Illustrations
Soulshift 転生
Everything has but one end.
Only sausages have two.
---A German Proverb
Have you ever felt like wanting to soar through the skies?
Or perhaps like wanting to become invisible and play a prank?
Or maybe you've wanted to talk to animals at some point?
Anything is fine.
Mankind has dreamt of countless things since time immemorial, solving each through the
power of science.
Starting with the first manned flight by the Wright brothers, aircrafts eventually evolved
into rockets powered by ion engines and personal flying vehicles.
It's kept to military uses only, but even something like optical camouflage has already
reached maturity. It's said that the use of ether is a commonly used means of finding the
enemy in modern battles.
Although conversing with animals that don't have the intelligence to understand speech is
closer to being joke material, the application of highly efficient machine translation has
long since broken down the walls separating the human race from itself. There's even been
some amount of cultural exchange beginning with dolphins, some squids, and chimpanzees.
The past century could easily be called the age of science.
But.
But, even so, I still couldn't abandon my yearning.
My yearning for the wondrous fruit, the miracle of miracles, something far removed from
the modern way of thought.
Namely, for magic.
I couldn't even remember whether or not I had an impetus for my desire by now.
Rather, there might not have existed one to begin with.
I was but a youth when I'd realized that I was captivated by the concept of magic,
something that was not of this world, and set out to pursue something that couldn't be
explained by science.
Rune magic, calligraphy magic, European rune magic, alchemy, astrology, witchery, sorcery,
wizardry, esoteric shamanism, yin yang techniques. I studied all sorts of magic from all ages
and countries, putting their methods to the test.
My interests didn't stop at magic, of course.
Apparitions, spirits, mysterious sightings, psychokinesis, deities, and demons. I studied
every last piece of myths, legends, and folklore the world over. Whenever I came across
mention of someone with some unexplained ability I would attempt to meet them if at all
possible.
At some point while I went on about doing that, I came to be known as a world famous
occult researcher.
It'd put my eighty-nine years of life into it.
Spending my life on pursuing the mysterious, I came to a conclusion.
This world has no mysteries.
The world was too robust.
Everything had been done. There was not a single mysterious thing left, the only things that
appeared to be were simply due to misconceptions.
Of course, it wasn't as though I'd verified everything. There were occasionally things that I
could only define as strange.
But even those things were far from being what I could deem as mysterious.
I don't know how future generations will a.s.sess those things, but subjectively, the effort
that took my whole life ended as being all for naught. Seeking that which did not exist, I
finished my life with neither wife nor children.
It would be a lie for me to say that I had no regrets. I have innumerable regrets.
However, I never once regretted the way I lived my live.
If I were born ten more times, I'd live my life in the same way another ten times.
Besides, at the very end, there's only one enjoyment left to me.
I'd like to be disappointed one last time.
But this is the first time that I don't have to worry about being disappointed. If you must
know why, it's because right now, the existence of 'Me' is coming to an end.
Giving away to my fading consciousness, I slowly closed my eyes.
My world was swallowed by darkness.
I died.
---To be exact, I should have died.
＊＊＊
The area around me was pitch black when I next came to.
I'm aware that I had died. Is this the afterworld?
Also, I keep hearing the sound of moving water in my ears. Given that I can't even see
anything now that I've died, shouldn't it be more quiet? I think it should be, at least.
Moreover, I feel unusually cramped. Immediately after I tried holding my hand out, the tips
of my fingers. .h.i.t something soft. I can't see anything, but it seems like there's something
there. With that there, I can't even stretch myself out. This is weird. My body feels as light
as a feather, yet I can't move around too well at all. I can't even brace my feet against the
ground to press against the wall. Something weird is going on here.
I have to get out of this confined area. Just as I thought that and started to struggle, I heard
a voice coming from somewhere. I couldn't hear it that clearly, but I could still understand
that I'd never heard the language before.
But I could somehow understand what the meaning behind those words were.
I also somehow began to understand where I was.
It seemed as though I'm not in the afterworld. Quite the opposite, in fact. I gently touched
the wall I'd so rashly pressed against a moment ago.
The voice I heard before was an affectionate one, a woman's. A voice worrying about the
child in her belly.
In other words, I appear to be in the living world.
Alone, I had trembled within my mother's womb.
Reincarnation. Moreover, a form of reincarnation that allowed me to be reborn with
memories of my previous life.
Is there anything as mysterious as something like that? To be honest, I practically didn't
believe in things like life after death and reincarnation.
I thought that I would stop existing upon dying, the existence of myself and my thoughts
ceasing to be.
It's not as though I'm not feeling just a little disappointment that I'd had to part from my
world to experience this. Being so robust, it was the world that had continually betrayed
my life's work. It was something of a rival to me, pushing me forward to persevere that
much harder.
However, that small amount of disappointment was dispelled by the sheer delight and
feeling of satisfaction spreading through my chest. If I was pushed to say, I'd say that
dissatisfaction was something of a victor's right. Although there's a possibility that I will
end up losing my memories as I grow up, that's alright. I will bow out and quit while I'm
ahead.
But still, I have to be born safely... well, even if I'm eager for it to happen, there's nothing I
can really do about it. I guess I could be careful and make sure I don't go out feet first? I also
have to avoid stupid things like strangling myself with my umbilical cord.
Once I thought about that, I realized something. I don't have an umbilical cord attached to
me. What? What!? I felt around my stomach in a panic, but there really isn't one attached.
When I tried turning my body in circles as a test, I was able to keep on going forever. I'm
wireless here. What happened?
Just when I started panicking, the pressure around me suddenly started to increase. No
way...
No sooner than I thought that, I felt my body forcibly pushed somewhere. I couldn't resist it
with my strength as an unborn child, so I allowed myself to be taken by it.
My pitch black field of view was suddenly filled with light, so I shut my eyes to block out the
light. Like that, I was quickly dragged out by gravity and fell to the ground.
It looks like I was able to be born safe and sound. While on the subject, I can't say I know
what a baby's supposed to do right now, but I a.s.sume I should be crying?
Thinking about something as trivial as that, I opened my eyes a little and saw both of my
arms covered in red. I get that babies are a bit red, but aren't I a little too red? I was single
in my previous life, but I have seen my younger sister's baby. That baby was definitely not
this red. I'm practically scarlet.
I tried putting some strength into my body and heard the sound of something wet on my
back. Still on the ground, I looked at my back.
It was also red. No---the redness didn't matter. What's important is that there's something
I've never seen before there. And it looks like wet clothes. They're probably wet since I just
left my mother's womb. But as far as I know, there aren't any creatures born with clothes
on.
Someone licked my head while I was busy being confused. When I looked up out of reflex, I
saw a huge face many times larger than my own staring back at me. Its mouth was open, a
familiar voice coming from it. It was the voice I'd heard inside her womb. In other words,
she's my mother.
She had a long, snakelike neck on her scarlet, scaly body. Her golden eyes with vertical
pupils watched me fixedly. Teeth filled her reptilian, elongated mouth and some number of
horns grew from the back of her head as well. There were knife-like talons sprouting from
both her long and dexterous forelegs and her thick and weighty hind legs. A long tail
extended from her hips and batlike wings were situated on her back.
The things on my back are probably similar, mini-sized versions of hers. Seeing her body, I
remembered something.
That something was an existence that anyone would know, let alone someone who
researched all of the world's mysteries like me.
That is, a dragon.
Just a moment ago I was wondering if there was anything that could be more mysterious
than reincarnation. But now I'm beginning to realize that that line of thought was wrong.
I've finally found one of the mysteries I've been searching for. It just happens to be me.
Soulshift 転生
---A German Proverb
Anything is fine.
power of science.
But.
Namely, for magic.
possible.
occult researcher.
I died.
＊＊＊
child in her belly.
ceasing to be.
much harder.
ahead.
way...
on.
she's my mother.
That is, a dragon.
Soulshift 転生
---A German Proverb
Anything is fine.
power of science.
But.
Namely, for magic.
possible.
occult researcher.
I died.
＊＊＊
child in her belly.
ceasing to be.
much harder.
ahead.
way...
on.
she's my mother.
That is, a dragon.
The Sacrifice 生け贄
Since time immemorial, gifts given
to that man have been cursed.
Cursed in that they cannot be returned.
"I did it! Nina, check it out!"
Seeing me so excited about something, Nina looked at me strangely.
"... What did you do?"
"Can't you tell by looking?"
My eyes still wide open in surprise, I pointed at my feet with a finger on one of my forelegs.
There were a few centimeters' gap between my feet and the ground.
"I'm flying right now!"
"You've been doing that since I met you though?"
Nina's response to me---still uncontrollably excited---was rather indifferent.
"So you can't tell... what I'm doing right now is floating."
"What's the difference?"
I'm stumped on how to respond, honestly. There's no expression capable of easily making
the distinction in Elvish.
"I mean... oh, see how I'm staying in the same spot even without flapping my wings? I'm not
flying like a bird, I'm just drifting in the air like a leaf in a pond."
"What's so good about that?"
Nina's simple question put me at a loss for words.
If I had to pick between good and incredible, what I'm doing right now is by far incredible.
"It's magic, Nina. This is magic, too."
I can't say I know just how heavy a dragon's body is, but there's at least one thing that's
clear.
The lift that my wings produce definitely isn't enough to support my ma.s.sive body.
I'm still fairly young as a dragon, yet my body is at least two heads taller than Nina. I'm
probably around three meters tall if you included everything to the tip of my tail.
So I'm much, much larger than a bird, let alone my mother, who's easily ten times my size.
Common sense would dictate that things like us couldn't fly.
Given that I can do something that shouldn't be possible, magic has to have something to do
with it.
And my hopes. .h.i.t the mark rather magnificently.
"Weren't you happy about not using magic just a bit ago?"
"That was for fire. See? I'm not breathing out fire at all anymore."
I deliberately exhaled in Nina's direction.
"... Yeah... l-looks like you stopped breathing fire..."
"S-sorry!"
My breath caused Nina to tremble all over and to have to reign in her now-disheveled hair,
so I quickly apologized.
"And you're going to teach that magic thing?"
"Yeah."
"How?"
Given the same question she'd asked last night, I suddenly noticed...
---I still hadn't solved that problem at all.
All I'd done was become able to purposely use magic.
"I'm beat, I give up."
I smiled wryly and Nina stared at me pointedly.
"What's up?"
"Weirdo."
Nina suddenly looked away when she noticed I'd started staring back at her.
"You said you give up, but you don't look stumped at all."
"Eh, no, I really am stumped..."
"Liaaar."
Nina looked back toward me and pointed at my mouth, an innocent smile on her face.
"You've been grinning ever since last night!"
When I reached for my mouth because of her pointing it out, there really was a smile on my
face.
Yeah... this is what it feels like.
"I'm happy that I'm stumped."
My previous life didn't have magic, so it wasn't even possible for me to be stumped like this.
Being stumped means that there's a problem.
There being a problem means that there's room for trial and error.
And what a wonderful thing that is!
"Weirdo."
I hadn't conveyed my thoughts to Nina, but she was able to guess most of it just by seeing
how delighted I must look and repeated the same thing as before yet again.
Nina's expression suddenly turned serious as she turned around.
"... Something's coming."
I wonder if Nina's perception is some sort of magic as well? She's keen enough to find a
rabbit hiding in the brush.
Although a dragon's perception is considerably sharp compared to a human's, I only
noticed by the point they'd practically arrived.
"You guys..."
The people that arrived were the humans that I tried to contact a few days ago.
They were two of the men that threw spears at me and the girl that I'd landed right in front
of. I didn't take myself for someone that could remember people's faces too well, but a
dragon's memory is a fearsome thing indeed.
I even managed to remember their faces despite only catching a glimpse of them.
The men were somewhere between thirty and forty years old from the looks of it. They had
solid builds, but weren't too tall. They were only a little taller than Nina, so maybe around a
hundred and sixty centimeters or so?
They definitely seemed to be warriors given their spears and the structure of their fur
clothing, but it didn't feel like they intended to attack. Placing Nina behind me just in case, I
looked to see what they would do.
The two men suddenly knelt, leaving the girl standing.
[Offer.]
It was short, but the word clearly held some meaning.
With that, the men stood and left the girl as they dashed away.
"Uhh..."
Left behind, the girl looked up at me and trembled.
The girl was even younger than Nina. She looked to be around ten or so.
With her black hair, yellow skin, and shallow facial features, she looked similar to the
j.a.panese I'm familiar with.
Although this era didn't have elaborate clothing, her hair was decorated by flowers and she
wore a necklace made out of carved turquoise-colored stones. She was obviously decorated
for a specific reason.
"I guess... this is that, isn't it..."
"A sacrifice."
Nina said the word I was thinking out loud.
"I wonder if we can send her back..."
"I guess they want you to kill her to appease your anger?"
"I'm not even angry though..."
I was excited about seeing humans for the first time back then, but now that I think about
it... I did soar down from the sky with both fire and a loud voice roaring from my mouth.
It can't be helped that that caused them to think I'm angry.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you."
I spoke slowly so that I might calm the trembling girl down.
"Your name is...?"
Oh, she doesn't have one, does she? They still haven't even developed a language to
communicate with, after all.
"Right. Ai. From this day forward, your name is Ai."
A name that's short and easy to p.r.o.nounce should be easier for a child to learn.
"A-i..."
Ai blinked in puzzlement when I called her with her name a few times before clumsily
imitating me.
"It's good to meet you, Ai. If you are willing---"
With mine and Nina's abilities, we shouldn't have a problem with our daily lives even if we
have to take care of another person.
But more importantly, this meeting of ours might actually be a good thing.
"Would you be my first human pupil?"
His First Pupil 初めての生徒
That's one small step for man,
one giant leap for mankind.
---Neil Armstrong
"Welcome, back. Mentor."
Her face full of smiles, Ai ran over to me when I landed at the forest's entrance.
"I'm back. But Ai, you shouldn't leave the forest."
"You didn't say that she couldn't greet you. And besides, she's still barely in the forest, it's
alright."
Nina popped up from behind Ai, sighing.
This world was filled with dangerous animals.
Although there weren't many fierce beasts like the Armored Bear, there are many animals
that could be dangerous to a young girl like Ai in both the forest and the gra.s.slands
outside of it.
They'd be able to stay out of danger so long as they're in the forest because of what Nina
can do, but I get worried when they're at the forest's boundary like right now. But although
I get worried--- "Mentor... did I, do bad...?"
"No, you did well. Thank you for coming to greet me."
I just couldn't find it in me to berate Ai after seeing her get so dejected like that and forgave
her.
... Which caused her face to light up into a smile as she clung to my muzzle.
"What was this kind of thing called again... a [Doting Dummy]?"
Nina snorted as she poked fun at me.
I only said that term one time... good job on remembering.
What she spoke with and what I've been teaching Ai wasn't Elvish, but j.a.panese.
I was a bit troubled over which language I wanted to teach Ai.
If I went with j.a.panese, I'd have to teach it to Nina as well.
But I decided on teaching her j.a.panese even after taking the disadvantages into
consideration.
I mean, there is a remarkable difference in the amount of vocabulary between Elvish and
j.a.panese.
Elvish uses simple ways to express things and is staggeringly restrictive for more complex
matters.
For example, there isn't a word that means [Word]. There aren't even any other languages,
after all. It has neither [Magic] nor [Academy] and even lacks words for [Elf] and [Human].
I wouldn't be able to run an academy with that many limitations.
I'd just been subst.i.tuting j.a.panese words into Elvish for words it didn't have, but I felt
that it would be faster to just have her to learn j.a.panese itself.
Which is why I taught the two of them j.a.panese. They still falter a bit when they speak, but
it's gotten to the point that they're able to have everyday conversations without being too
troubled. It didn't happen in a simple few days like it did when I learned j.a.panese, but it
has been several months since I first began teaching them. They're both astoundingly fast
learners.
"Nina-san. Mentor, not a dummy."
Ai started puffing out her cheeks in anger.
The girl who'd trembled in fear at the mere sight of me had grown very attached to me
these past few months.
"No, I mean that he's wonderful at that."
Meanwhile, Nina was the same as ever.
It feels like she's grown attached to me as well, though.
"What do you mean, that?"
"Alright you two, stop quarreling. How about we have some lunch?"
Saying that, I held up the fish basket I was carrying on my foreleg.
Although dragon forefeet are surprisingly dexterous, it's not to the point of being able to
weave baskets.
The basket was made by Nina.
"Let's head home."
Yes, home. The era of us living with tree boughs as our roof has long since come to an end.
It isn't much to look at, but we have a house.
It's not far off from the forest's entrance and was surrounded by some sporadically placed
trees.
We made the house out of wood, so it's simple, yet st.u.r.dy. It doesn't even break when I
enter it either.
Well, although it is large enough that I'm able to move around inside it without being
inconvenienced, I probably won't be able to fit sooner or later, given how mother's size
makes it appear that dragons continue growing forever and how I'm already larger than a
horse.
But that's not all. It's all made from wood, but we have furniture, too.
Nina took out an unglazed pot as Ai arranged our dishes on the table.
What a civilized sight this is.
It's an incredible leap in progress compared to the time we were eating roasted dear
outside.
"Alright, roast it."
"Yeah."
I blew a few minor flames out onto the fishes she'd stuck sticks through to skewer them. I'd
caused quite a lot of our meats to burn into nothing at first and had even almost burned
down our house at one point, but I've since gotten used to doing it.
Grilled in the blink of an eye, a fragrant smell spread through the house.
That done, Nina started Nina sprinkled some salt that she'd gotten from the pot onto it all.
"Now then."
"Well."
"Yeah."
""" Time to eat! """
Our voices overlapped.
Picking up a skewer with the tips of my toes and placing it on my tongue, I threw it back
into my mouth and ate it all at once. An irresistible umami flavor spread through my mouth
as the grease and salt mixed together.
"It's so good!"
"Hey! Be careful!"
"Whoops, excuse me."
Nina shouted at the sight of me accidentally flaming at the mouth.
I've gotten to the point I can just about control the flames, but they sometimes make their
way out when I get excited.
"It just means the fish you salted was so tasty that my fire wanted some too."
"How irresponsible, really now."
Nina puffed out her cheeks.
Seeing us like that, Ai giggled.
"By the way, Ai, is there anything inconveniencing you in everyday life?"
"Incon... venien...?"
Whoops, I haven't taught her that word yet, have I?
"Sorry, I mean---is there anything that's troubling you or hard for you to do?"
She's living apart from her parents despite still being so young, after all.
There should at least be one or two things like that.
"No, none."
But even so, she just shook her head.
"Mentor, I, umm..."
She started trying to say something, but she probably still didn't have the vocabulary to say
what she wanted to.
"Umm, umm..."
She kept trying to find the words for it.
"I understand. Just let me know if you find something difficult, alright?"
"Yeah!"
Ai nodded cheerfully. What a good kid.
But that's exactly why I have to be more careful.
"Incidentally, how is your magic practice going?"
I asked Ai another question as I ate some fruit Nina had fetched for dessert once our meal
was over.
"Sorry... I still, can't use."
"It's okay, it's nothing worth worrying about."
Seeing Ai fall despondent, I quickly did a follow up.
Even I can't do anything other than breathe fire and float a bit.
Life itself has been smooth sailing, but my research into magic hasn't advanced at all.
"Isn't breathing fire and flying in the sky something only you can do?"
What Nina pointed out put me at a loss for words.
It's true, I hadn't thought of the possibility of that.
I'd had Ai test out various things, but none of it bore fruit.
"It's okay, I'll try my best."
Ai spoke bravely.
While on one hand that made me feel grateful, it made me a bit sorry on the other.
But still, the only thing I can do for this world's humans is teach them about magic.
The scientific age I lived in had a highly specialized division of labor as its norm. Very few
people actually understood how the whole of something worked. There probably wasn't
even a single person that could reproduce something without already having all of the
materials and infrastructure needed.
Even of I managed to make a house out of wood, I don't know how to use a furnace to smelt
iron, nor how to refine oil, nor how to design an electronic circuit, nor how to make a
quantum computer.
When it comes to magic, however...
When it comes to magic, who in this world would know it better than me?
To quote Arthur C. Clarke, a famous twentieth century science fiction writer: "Any
sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
a.s.suming that that's true, any magic should be indistinguishable from sufficiently
advanced technology as well.
As a matter of fact, the magic that causes my hefty body to float is indistinguishable from
the recently developed quantum levitation techniques from my previous life.
If I can use magic to do it, even someone like me should be able to develop a civilization.
"Couldn't Ai do it more like how I do? She looks like me, after all."
A strand of ivy crept in through the window and twined around the finger Nina held up.
"Maybe... but I get the feeling that creating fire should be easier than manipulating plants."
Besides, the problem is that Nina practically can't explain the feeling she has when she uses
magic at all.
"What's a plant?"
The two got caught up by another matter as they both tilted their heads to the side.
"Trees, gra.s.s, flowers. That kind of stuff."
They simply tilted their heads all the more when I answered, though.
"Huh? Why would you call different things the same name?"
Nina's question surprised me for a moment. She still didn't understand the notion of
generic terms yet?
"It's because of convenience. We give things that have similar characteristics or
appearances a broad term that cover them all. For example, things that are able to move
about and think like all of us are called living things. Deer and fish are living things, as well.
Stuff like stones or water are not. They are materials."
"Hmm..."
Nina understood me, but it looked like Ai was still trying to figure out what I meant judging
by the serious expression on her face.
"But that means what I move aren't plants. I can't move [Trees That Have Shed Their
Winter Leaves] and [Branches That Have Been Cut Off]."
The two things Nina listed off there were names for kinds of trees and wood in Elvish.
There were countless ways to say things related to flora in Elvish, each having slight
nuances to them.
Kind of like how j.a.panese has a decent amount of ways to define rain.
"That so? That means you can only move trees that are still alive then?"
"Living? Trees, are alive, too?"
"Obviously not."
Nina retorted to Ai's simple question, but I nodded my head.
"Trees and plants are different kinds of living things. It's not like trees die when they shed
their leaves for the winter... I guess it's more like they are asleep?"
"Living, things... plants..."
Ai fumbling over the words I said as she repeated them to herself.
"But then why can't you move the gra.s.s sprouting out of the ground?"
"It's because they don't have that stuff---bones."
Nina spoke like it was common knowledge as she sat there eating an apple.
Bones... well, I kind of get what she was trying to say, at least.
"I don't think trees have bones either though...?"
"Then what's that stuff that's left over when you burn it?"
"Charcoal."
"Umm... Mentor?"
It had happened at the point we ran off into a tangent.
"Is this... okay?"
Within Ai's cupped hands was a leaf moving to and fro.
The Origin of Magic 原初の魔法
Then G.o.d said, "Let there be light,"
and there was light.
---The Old Testament, Genesis 1:3
"How did you do that!?"
"I-I don't know."
When I moved my head over to Ai in excitement, Ai looked at me, her body frozen as
though she was frightened.
"Hey, settle down."
My horn suddenly yanked by Nina, I calmed down.
"Sorry. Did I frighten you?"
"No..."
Ai had put her hand over her heart like she was trying to keep it from exploding out of her
chest.
Even if she's gotten accustomed to me, I really do look like a terrifying dragon.
Of course she would react like that when I get closer to her so suddenly.
I wind up forgetting about it since I can't see myself, but I have to be mindful of it.
"It's alright, let's go through it piece by piece, okay? Are you able to stop doing it?"
"Yeah."
Following Ai's response, the leaf that was dancing about on her hand stopped moving.
"Can you do it once again?"
"Umm... this, okay?"
"Amazing...!"
Seeing the leaf start moving again, I let out a sigh of admiration.
"Hey! Don't I keep telling you about your fire!?"
"Whoops, sorry."
"Come on! Are you trying to burn down our house after all the effort we put into it!?"
"No, really, I'm sorry."
I apologized to Nina, who was standing there and scolding me with her hands on her hips.
"But Nina, this is a huge step in the history of magic. It'd be impossible for me to not be
excited."
"What are you talking about? Can't I do that too?"
Holding up her hand, a tree branch came in through the window, making rustling sounds all
the while.
"Ai, can you do the same thing as her?"
"I will, try."
Knitting her brows as she focused, Ai performed a gesture that looked like she was praying.
With that, the branch that Nina had guided inside began to move slowly and awkwardly.
As would be expected, there was a noticeable difference in its precision between Ai and the
more experienced Nina.
"Do you think that you could explain how you did it for me?"
Ai looked somewhat troubled when I asked her that question.
"Umm... like this..."
After moving her hands around like she wanted to demonstrate something, her shoulders
drooped.
"I can't, say it..."
"I can't explain how I do mine either, so please don't worry about it, alright?"
Trying to explain the sensation behind using magic would be like telling someone to
explain how they move their arms. It's something extremely difficult to put into words and
is something that you'd have to experience with your own body.
Even if I don't understand how it's used right now, just knowing that it can be done is easily
an extremely important step in the right direction.
"Now, Ai, how about this one?"
I held up a finger and carefully emitted a flame from its tip.
Not from my mouth, but from my fingertip.
"Eh? When did you start being able to do that?"
"Just recently."
I'd suddenly had a thought: if my ability to produce flames is due to magic, doesn't that
mean that it doesn't have to be emitted from within my throat?
Of course, if it wasn't magic and I was simply born with some sort of gas pouch that I could
ignite whenever I want within my body, I shouldn't be able to do something like this.
Still though, this world's magic truly is magical. It's incredibly similar to my previous
world's ignition reactions. In that case, shouldn't I be able to produce fire from places other
than my mouth?
Thinking that, I'd decided to give it a shot. I turned out being considerably smaller than
when I exhale it from my mouth, but I am in fact able to emit fire from my fingers.
"Mmm~..."
One again squinching her brows, Ai stared at the tip of her finger rather fixedly.
Nina and I watched her attentively as we gulped back our saliva in antic.i.p.ation, but one,
then five, then ten minutes pa.s.sed without even a spark appearing.
"Sorry..."
"No no no, it's nothing to worry about. Fire and trees are completely different things,
there's no way it would happen so easily."
Her shoulders drooping, I comforted Ai with as gentle a tone I could muster.
I'd honestly like to pat her on the shoulder, but my clawed hands might just end up fearing
her again. Having a dragon's body is difficult.
"Hey, which one is that?"
Unexpectedly, Nina asked me a question.
"What do you mean, which?"
Her eyes were staring at my hand.
"That. The fire. It's part of you, so it's a living thing? Or is it a material?"
"Oh, that... it's energy."
Let's see, how should I explain energy?
Organizing my thoughts, I tried explaining it to them without distorting the facts too much.
"Energy..."
"Ener, gy..."
With it being a borrowed word from English, they repeated the word back to themselves.
I thought about keeping it in j.a.panese with words like power, work, or force, but I gave up
on that after figuring out that I'd run into an impa.s.se sooner or later. It's probably going to
turn into me having them wrack their brains and learn another alphabet, but there's no
other choice than to just do it.
"Energy is neither a living thing nor is it a material... it's shapeless, the power needed to do
an action. Take this for example..."
I placed my hands under Nina's armpits amd carefully lifted her up so that I wouldn't
sc.r.a.pe her with my claws.
"What I used to lift Nina up just now was a force I exerted... and her going back down when
I let go is due to the ground always exerting a force that pulls us down toward it."
"Don't just go and use me for your explanation without asking... I don't really mind though."
Landing back onto the ground as quietly as a cat, Nina puffed her cheeks out.
I've seen her jump down from a few surprisingly high places, is she able to do that because
elves live in trees, or is it yet another variety of magic? She also appears to like tall places,
she didn't even look mad even though I used her as teaching materials on my own accord.
"Force... energy..."
"For fire, its energy is in the form of both light and heat. It lights things up and feels hot,
yeah? Those are both forms of energy and is what we call fire when they happen together."
I was a bit uncomfortable with the explanation I gave. Although my lecture was rather
inadequate as an explanation, Ai payed attention to it all the way through with keen
interest. My area of study was of the occult, I've only learned the basic amount when it
comes to science. I'm not confident in being able to explain any further than this.
"Energy..."
But luckily, Ai closed her eyes and muttered the word again, not pursuing the topic.
"Ai? What are you..."
It happened the moment I noticed something about how she was acting and bent in toward
her face.
"Woah!"
"Gyaah!"
Seeing the flames flickering up from her palms, both Nina and I shouted at the same time.
The house we'd built large enough for me to live in easily even with my huge body was
around four meters tall. The flame was big enough that it reached even our house's tall
ceiling.
"Ai, put it out! Quick!"
"Eh, h-ho-how---"
"Uhh, like this!"
Glomp.
All three of us panicking, I acted on impulse and put out the flame Ai produced.
My body was extraordinarily resistant to heat, so I figured that at least the fire wouldn't
spread if I put it into my mouth.
"Are... are you okay?"
Nina asked me in a trembling voice.
It looks like I was able to put out the fire, thankfully.
"I'm alright... or rather..."
What did this mean?
"You're not in pain? Are you sure you didn't get hurt?"
I wonder how strange of an expression I have on right now. It was at least strange enough
that Nina looked to be on the verge of tears just by looking at me. When I looked over to Ai,
she was trembling with a pale face, too.
"I'm alright, really. There's nothing wrong with me, so please, don't worry."
When I carefully placed a fingertip on each of the two girls' shoulders, they both let out a
breath and seemed to calm down.
"Ai, could you try creating that flame again?"
"B-but..."
"It's alright. I'll just eat it again if there's a problem."
Seeing her nod, it looks like me saying it with a deliberately gentle tone managed to
convince her that it's alright.
She then closed her eyes the same as earlier and caused a flame to appear above her palm.
It's a surprisingly adorable fireball compared to last time, I wonder if that's because she
was being careful this time?
"... So it's like that after all, huh?"
Seeing the flame again, I was convinced about it.
"Nina, try touching it."
"What!?"
"It's alright. It's not very hot."
I put my forefoot into Ai's flames.
"That's because you're a fire dragon!"
"U-umm... not, hot. Really."
Ai spoke falteringly. She's the one emitting the fire above her palm, so she'd also noticed
that it wasn't hot.
"See? ... It doesn't even burn the leaves on this."
I broke off a part of the branch that Nina had moved inside earlier and placed it into the
spire. The flames just continued to flicker uneventfully, not spreading to the leaves.
"... It's true. Although it's not... cold, it's lukewarm."
Nina looked curious when she spoke after timidly putting her hand into the fire.
My body won't get burned by flames, but it's not like I don't feel heat. Rather, it feels like I
can tell how hot something is or isn't much more accurately than I could as a human.
As I said, the flames Ai made were awfully cold. About the temperature of water at room
temperature.
"I see. I'm slowly starting to understand..."
I didn't tell Ai something important when I explained what fire was to her earlier.
That something... is combustion.
The reason I hadn't explained it is because I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to
explain it in simple terms, but as a result of that, the fire Ai had produced was just a bundle
of light and heat that didn't truly combust... in short, it turned into [Something That Only
Looks Like Fire].
In other words, things brought forth by magic depended greatly on the perception of the
person creating them.
So then, what does it mean to perceive?
"Could you two move that tree over there?"
I pointed to a different tree than the one that had come into the house through the window.
Even while tilting their heads in confusion, Ai and Nina moved their hands over in the tree's
direction--- And only the branch Nina had pointed her hand to appeared to move, verifying
my thoughts.
"Ai, let me teach you something else."
I thought about how I should say it. There wasn't a name to call this one in j.a.panese. It did
exist in Elvish though, fortunately.
"This kind of tree is called a fuggi."
"Fuggi..."
The instant Ai spoke that word, the branch she was holding her hand out towards
trembled.
This was evidence that, just now, her horizons had broadened.
---Yes.
This world's magic was one comprised of names.
Talent 才能
Practice is the best of all instructors.
---Publilius Syrus
"We call the force that pulls things down towards the ground gravity."
"Gravity..."
Repeating what I said, Ai wrote it down.
It's still extremely primitive, but what we're doing right now is having a cla.s.s.
Although Ai has already mastered the alphabet, she's still working on her digraphs.
As a result of thinking about whether I should teach her how to write or whether I should
research magic, I decided to do both together. I believe that writing is important for her to
remember things that I teach her, after all.
Still though, it went in an unexpected direction.
"Alright, now go ahead and try turn gravity off. If you do, you should be able to float in the
air like me."
"Okay!"
Ai gazed at the wooden board she'd written on a moment ago in earnest.
"Gravity, off. Gravity, off. Gravity... off...!"
After chanting to herself a few times, her body suddenly began to float.
It wasn't by much, but her body had definitely unshackled itself from gravity's chains.
I folded my outstretched wings back and sighed in relief.
"Why were your wings spread out?"
"Just in case."
I was afraid that she might've suddenly shot into the sky at orbital speeds after completely
turning gravity off. That obviously doesn't appear to be the case, though.
I already know that this world is the same as the Earth in that it is a planet spinning
through s.p.a.ce. By looking towards the horizon when I am flying in the sky, I can see that
the world is round as well as see that there is a moon rotating around this planet, which is
itself rotating around the sun.
By the way, Nina accepted that as fact unexpectedly easily when I told her about it.
I'm not sure if it's because her comprehension is great or if it's because she doesn't have
much in the way of prior knowledge prejudicing her from new ideas, though.
"Good, you did well."
"Yeah! Thanks to the words, Mentor taught!"
Ai smiled in delight, hugging the wooden board tightly.
It appears that names are extremely important in magic. No matter how hard someone
tries, it is impossible to use magic to move something that they haven't named. The world
expands through the amount of names you know, allowing you to do more things. Also, it
seems that there is a force within the word that strengthens the action.
I'm not actually sure if there is a force in the words used or if it's because it makes it easier
to picture mentally, but the success rate of Ai's magic had definitely improved after she
understood the concept through writing.
Although there was some magic that wouldn't show much of an effect even when I taught
her initially taught her the names, there hadn't been a single one that hadn't at least shown
some result after she learned how to write them.
"Dinner's done, you two~"
When Ai and I were happy about her magic succeeding, Nina's voice came down from the
sky.
Seeing the girl waving her hand with her small body soaring through the sky, Ai's smile
quickly clouded over.
Thinking about it, she'd just barely gotten to the point she could float and Nina's already
flying about freely, not just floating.
It appears that even magic is something that relies on talent---or is at least something with
individual variation.
It's not as though we could make a simply comparison between the three of us since we
weren't born or raised the same at all, but Nina is definitely the best among us when it
comes to manipulating magic.
Either due to some abnormally good intuition or being exceptionally perceptive, Nina's
been able to improve her magic noticeably quickly just by being given clues to start with.
She's even better than me, someone with knowledge of j.a.panese, so I don't think it can be
explained as simply as it being because she knows Elvish.
"Nina-san, is good, magic..."
"Yeah, she really is."
I nodded, then spoke from the bottom of my heart.
"I'm glad that you became my pupil, Ai."
"Eh---"
Seeing Ai's astonishment as she looked up at me, I smiled towards her.
"Nina advances too quickly. Furthermore, as she herself isn't able to explain how she does
it, it wouldn't make for good research at all. So really, Ai, I'm happy that you're here."
It was the same kind of thing in my former world, but geniuses can't understand the
feelings of those who can't do things. Although Nina is an excellent partner, she isn't
suitable as a pupil in the least.
In that respect, I can say that Ai is the best at being a pupil.
She's earnest, hark working, patient, and diligent.
Personally, I believe that her disposition of advancing step-by-step, properly understanding
things as she goes, is much harder to come across than even Nina's talent.
"I'm unreliable as a mentor, but I hope that we can continue as we always have, Ai."
"Yeah!"
A smile lighting up her face, Ai nodded.
"Ah, just now, I didn't mean, Mentor is unreliable...!"
"I know, I know. It's alright."
It took a bit of work, but I later managed to pacify her from continuing to take back what
she said in a panic.
＊＊＊
"I think it's about time."
Hearing me say something with us all sitting around the dining table, Ai and Nina tilted
their heads to the side.
"I think that I'll give going to the village Ai lived in another try."
With a clanking sound, the wooden spoon Ai had been holding fell to the ground.
"No!"
"Eh---?"
"Why don't you want me to?"
"I, don't want leave, here!"
She clung to my leg tightly.
"Even if you say that, I---"
"As always! You said...!"
Ai shouted, cutting me off.
This was the first time she's ever raised her voice, so I wound up being overawed by a tiny
girl not even half my size.
"Continue, as always! Even though, you said!"
Hmm?
"I stay with Mentor, forever---"
"Please, wait a moment. Aren't you misunderstanding me?"
I touched Ai's shoulder and looked into her eyes.
"I will not leave you."
"Eh?"
Her eyes dripping tears, Ai blinked.
"Magic research isn't something we can do with us three alone, and my goal has always
been to enrich people's lives with it. For that, we need to share the results we've found so
that the next generation can inherit them."
"Generation...?"
Oh, is that another word I haven't taught her yet?
"I'm saying that it has to be taught to children, as well as those children's children and so
on."
Finally realizing her misunderstanding when I said that, Ai blushed in embarra.s.sment.
"So for that, I have to get in contact with Ai's family and the other villagers."
"Y-... yeah!"
Seeing Nina understand and nod her head, I felt relieved.
"Nina, you'll also... is something wrong?"
When I looked next to me, Nina was holding her hand against her forehead and gazing up at
the sky.
Gifts 贈り物
People generally dislike clichéd things.
Isn't that because they don't want
the same thing every time?
"... It's ready!"
Still using my tail to stir the spring water I'd brought to a steady steam by breathing fire
onto it, I raised my voice.
"You took long enough!"
"Excuse, me."
Then, from behind my back, I heard the sound of water being splashed into. Following that
was the sound of someone gingerly dipping into the spring. The sounds had come from
Nina and Ai respectively entering the spring. Only at times like these did I find having the
sharp hearing of a dragon disagreeable.
"Aah, this feels great... the temperature is just right."
"So good..."
Contrasting the girls' relaxation, I couldn't settle down at all. The reason being that the two
girls behind me had entered the spring as naked as can be.
"Hey. Why do you always look away? Turn around."
"No, that'd be a bit..."
"Don't want, to see my face...?"
"No, it's not like that. Just..."
Ai usually takes my side on things, but it turns into a trial for me whenever we do
something like this.
"Tell me why you don't want to look over here!"
Nina suddenly caught a hold of my lengthy neck with her arms and yanked on it.
But I don't think that I could explain it that well at all.
I mean, these girls don't even have the notion of being ashamed by nudity.
Perhaps that notion isn't something that humans have inherently, but is rather
enculturated? Like something that is learned by paying attention to parents being
embarra.s.sed by nudity.
"Well, it's because... you two aren't wearing any clothes right now?"
"Aren't you the one that told us to take them off?"
"I did, but..."
"Is it... because I don't, have scales...?"
"No no no, that's not the problem at all."
Hearing her sound like she was about to fall into despair, I shook my head.
"I'm a man, and you two are women. A man seeing a naked woman is, well... not too good of
a thing."
"What? Isn't a woman seeing a naked man fine though?"
"That's also not too good of a thing, I think..."
"But aren't you always naked?"
" !! "
A sudden shock.
Now that I think about it, it is true. I hadn't minded it much since I'm a dragon, but I
definitely haven't been wearing any clothing.
Which means that I've been nude this whole time.
"No, no, no, it's different! Wait, please. Look, I... I'm a dragon. So I don't need clothes."
"So then doesn't being a man or a woman have nothing to do with anything?"
Nina came right back at me with a sound argument.
She's right. Me being naked because I'm a dragon makes the logic of men not exposing their
bodies to women seem like a fallacy. It's what's called a double standard.
"... Alright. I admit defeat."
I turned around... reluctantly. The spring water was crystal clear, so it didn't conceal the
two girls' bodies in the least. Moreover, since they weren't exactly trying to hide
themselves, I had a full view of them from top to bottom.
"Umm, Mentor... are you okay? Am I, gross?"
"No, that's not it at all."
I shook my head in response to Ai's uneasy question.
"But, then... why aren't you, looking at me?"
Because your body developed way more than I thought!
I didn't say that out loud, though.
Both of them were in their early teens. They were still children. I'd been embarra.s.sed, but
I don't think I've ever looked at them with indecent thoughts.
"... Right, it's already been a year, hasn't it?"
"A year?"
"Yeah. It's around the same temperature as it was when you came to me, isn't it, Ai?"
This world's year is four hundred days long, a bit longer than Earth's. It's been three
hundred and eighty-four days since the day I met Ai if I recall correctly, so it's been just
about a year. Her appearance has undergone a great deal of change in this past year.
"Come to think of it, Ai, you got bigger than me at some point, didn't you?"
Yeah.
Neither mine nor Nina's physiques had changed much at all. Ai was the only one who'd
grown.
She'd probably lacked nourishment. She was only about tall enough for me to see her as a
ten year old, but now she's steadily surpa.s.sed Nina. Even her skin-and-bones look has
started to fill out to look more womanly. Now she's looking closer to fifteen or sixteen... and
her chest, how should I put it... well, it's making its presence known.
It's to the point that looking straight at her is a bit difficult.
"Mentor doesn't want to see me, because I got bigger?"
Seeing Ai look down in worry as she said that almost made me spit out fire.
That's a very dangerous topic.
"No! It's just, umm..."
I suddenly regretted having almost no experience with women in my previous life. I'm
never able to think of what I should say at times like this.
"It's just that Ai has become so beautiful that simply seeing you makes me embarra.s.sed."
When I said the only thing that came to my mind, Ai went silent and blushed.
"Hey."
Feeling my tail be pulled on, I turned around to face Nina.
"What about me?"
In that regard, Nina was relatively easy to look at. She definitely is a refreshing beauty, but
not in a lavish, fleshy way. She's like a work of art. Or maybe I've simply just gotten used to
seeing her since she prefers to sleep in the nude?
Honestly, her chest had indeed swelled a little, but it lacked that strong, gaze-inducing
power like Ai's. Although it's impossible for me to stare as a gentleman, for someone as
unsociable as me, it definitely holds a sense of appeal to it.
"Nina, I like you the way you are."
"... I don't get why, but it feels like you're making fun of me!"
Thankfully, the mood didn't turn go in a weird direction because of Nina making a fuss.
＊＊＊
"Well then, Ai. Are you ready?"
"... Yes."
Her voice sounded stiff when she replied from the top of my head. She was probably feeling
nervous.
"It's alright."
I spread out my wings, shielding her body.
"I'll protect you if anything happens."
"Y-yeah..."
Her response sounded even more strained this time. Did I make her feel more nervous?
Well, it's not like I can't understand why. This is the first time she'll be going there in a year.
Moreover, for her, now that she'd gotten completely used to speaking, her family are
people she can't communicate with at all. To be honest, even I'm a bit afraid.
However, I had a plan.
My birthplace is j.a.pan, a land proud of its culture.
A gift for each season, a gift for each festival, and a gift for the year's end.
Summer, winter... even spring and autumn. I'd been giving Ai's family things like deer meat,
fruits, and nuts as gifts. They haven't even been too afraid of me recently and, while it may
be my own self-conceit, I believe that I've been able to build up good relations with them.
And then there's Ai.
She'd cleaned herself to a sparkle in the bath, had her hair combed and tied up by Nina, and
had also decorated her form-fitting outfit with leaves and flowers. She had been brought to
me in a similar way as a sacrifice, but she's since blossomed into true beauty with her
current nutrition.
With her previously unkempt hair glossy smooth and her previously skinny body rounded
into a more womanly figure, she'd now smiled countless times.
Just by seeing her, there should be no mistaking that I have cherished her even if they can't
understand my words. Even though it caused me some embarra.s.sment, just having her
take that bath has showed its results.
Moreover, rather than fly through the sky, I slowly walked to their cave in an attempt to not
seem as intimidating. My intention of being friendly with them should be understood now
that I've done this much.
"Come to think of it... they do have some words, don't they?"
"Yes. More like signals, than words, though."
"Then, could you translate---I mean... if they say something, whatever it is, could you tell me
what it means?"
"Okay, leave it to me!"
I heard the sound of her thumping her chest from behind my head together with her
response.
Well, rather than a thump... maybe it'd be better described as a boing?
I'll stop there. Let's forget about yesterday.
Around that moment, I saw three men coming out of the cave.
[Back!]
Ai spoke before they'd even reacted.
"Ah, just now, that was like 'I'm home'."
"I see."
It's a bit late, but I just realized that it would have been better to learn these signals in
advance if they were going to be this simple.
I was even able to learn Elvish in such a short amount of time, so I don't think it would've
been too hard.
Which means that my so-called perfect preparations weren't perfect at all.
The men placed the spears they were holding on the ground and knelt.
The situation looked safe, so I lowered my head and let Ai off.
One of the men saw Ai and gasped in wonder.
"Mentor, that is my dad."
Ai turned around, saying as much with a tinge of shyness.
Now that I think about it, it does feel like he was among the the ones who brought her to
me.
"Well, h.e.l.lo. It's not much, but..."
Lowering my head in a bow, I placed the wild boar that I was carrying in front of him.
Seeing that, he and the two other men cheered in joy. I call it a boar, but it's a pretty big one
at about the same height as Ai.
A few more people started popping up from inside the cave after hearing the men's
cheering.
And so the feast began.
I lit up some firewood, roasted the wild boar, and divided it up with my claws.
Even the children which I hadn't seen before now came out and ate the meat.
Everyone surrounded the fire, the men stamping their feet and dancing as the women sang.
I also roared along with the lyric-less tune.
There were still a few people that glanced over at me in fear, but it wasn't something that
could be rushed. At the very least, they hadn't thrown any spears at me, so it feels like I was
able to bring a few people around.
I should be able to get into closer contact with them and teach them language now.
It was at that moment, as I was feeling relieved.
A reverent look to them, some brought a young girl to me.
I was a.s.saulted by a sudden wave of déjà vu, but Ai was sitting next to me. It was a
different girl.
Although they weren't holding spears this time, this was exactly the same as the previous
time they presented a decorated girl to me.
[Offer.]
The men knelt and uttered the same word as that time.
"Ai, what are they..."
[No!]
Ai shouted something before I could finish asking her.
[I, Wife!]
She pulled on my foreleg and shouted two short sounds.
[Unneeded!]
She then pointed at the girl who'd been brought out and shouted.
The men retreated with a surprised look to them, their heads hung low.
"Hey, Ai, what did you just say?"
"Nothing at all."
Ai spoke with a smile. However, for some reason, her smile felt just a bit scary.
"No, you definitely just---"
"Nothing. At. All."
Still smiling, Ai repeated herself.
No matter how many times I asked, Ai never told me what she said that day.
The Magus of Genesis Volume 1 Chapter
10
Magic Incantations 呪文詠唱
An excellent caster of magic is, namely,
an excellent singer of song.
"... Here's one...!"
While very, very discreetly making my way through the forest's foliage, I finally found my
prey. A deer.
I call it a deer, but it's not exactly the one I know of. It has a strikingly geometric pattern
down its whole body, a heroic-looking horn, and is a being that could easily push down a
tree by pushing against it.
Be it me or that Armored Bear, doesn't this world's wildlife have too much in the way of
combat effectiveness?
"Ai. Can I leave it to you?"
"Yeah...!"
When I whispered to Ai on my back and felt her nod, the trees in front of the deer rustled.
Noticing that it was clearly different that being rustled by the wind with its senses, it
jumped backward on reflex.
---In other words, it was heading right toward us.
Using that chance, I jumped out from the bushes and swung my claws. However, just before
I made contact, the deer quickly changed its course and dodged my swipe.
"Missed!"
Spreading my wings, I a.s.saulted it with a gust of air by flapping them. Although the deer
did lose its balance for a moment due to that, it vanished into the forest before I could give
chase.
"Another failure, is it...?"
"I'm sorry, Mentor..."
"Oh, no, it's not your fault. It's my clumsiness."
I'm not too good at hunting to begin with.
To the point that I would've been doing good by being successful one out of ten times.
I've gotten to the point of succeeding once every seven times thanks in no small part to Ai's
help, so it's definitely not her fault.
Although it isn't...
"What should I do..."
Our current way of life has stumped me.
There are a total of sixteen people in Ai's village. Adding me, Nina, and Ai to that, it brings
to total to eighteen people and one pretty big animal.
Even if it was possible for me to cover us three with my current success rate at hunting, it's
difficult to maintain it for that many people.
They were able to live in this world up until now, of course. It's just that although they
could live on their own, they did so with a major lack in nutrition.
And that they had no time to do anything else in their life.
They would set out to hunt in the morning when the sun rose and sleep when it went down.
That was almost their entire life. Even so, it was a question as to whether or not they would
have enough food to eat. Many of them had died of starvation, half of those sixteen were
children.
I was feeling quite acutely that having the time for education was itself a luxury that they
didn't have.
"Oh well, let's call it a day and head back."
"... Alright."
Seeing that the sun was in the middle of the sky, I spoke to Ai.
Today's harvest was nuts, fish, and sh.e.l.lfish. Things like these are fairly stable in
harvesting compared to large prey, but the fact that it's easy to over harvest them makes it
difficult, so I only take what's needed for the day.
"I'm back."
"Welcome back."
"Welcome back~!"
"Welcome back!"
When we returned to the cave, Nina and the children greeted us. Hearing the downpour of
lively greetings, I smiled.
The children's learning capabilities truly surprised me. Even though it hadn't been too long
since we moved our base closer to the cave, they'd already begun memorizing the more
simple phrases.
"You weren't able to catch any large prey today either then, I take it?"
"Yeah... sorry."
"It's not like I particularly mind..."
Taking the hunt's spoils from me, Nina quickly put them into jars.
"Really, wouldn't it be better for me to go with you?"
Hearing Nina's question, I groaned.
It's true, the efficiency of my hunting would improve dramatically if she came along.
Elves are basically the children of the forest.
They can sense living things much more keenly than any wild creature and could even out-
creep an insect, not to mention how they could trap their prey by using all of the
surrounding trees. If I go with her, even my lackl.u.s.ter hunting skills would get a boost up
to producing a success once every other try.
"Well, I'll try it out with Ai a bit longer. I'd like you to handle this place a bit longer."
Yet even so, I have a reason as to why I don't want to take Nina.
"Please protect the children."
"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
Nina agreed. Her cheeks were puffed out in displeasure, though.
She and I were the only two that could do something if this village were attacked by some
invader.
It would leave me uneasy if we both left the village at the same time.
Although it was fine when I just had to take Ai hunting as well, it's a whole other story now
that there are eight other children to think about. Not to mention the fact that two of them
are still just babies.
"Well, Ai is steadily improving with her magic, so it should change for the better soon
enough."
As long as we can all stay alive, things will get better and improve.
That's what I believe, at least. For that sake, I absolutely cannot allow these children to die
simply because they might end up easily dying even in the best of times.
"How about we start today's lesson?"
When I said that, all of the children raised their hands and screamed in delight.
It may be because I give them berries after each lesson, but they are generally all truly
enthusiastic about learning. The fact that Ai, a girl who learned magic from me, is here as
well might also have a big part to do with it. Some have been zealously learning new words
from Nina even while I'm not here, there's even a child that's succeeded in using simple
magic.
"Mentor! Fire, appear!"
The one advancing the quickest amongst them is a young boy named Ken.
"Oooh, good job! You're amazing, Ken."
I'd say that he looks a little younger than Ai.
While not quite to the point of feeling like his ability to understand was at genius levels like
Ai's, he was still plenty fast. He was absorbing everything I taught him as fast as I could
show him. The concept of [Energy] seems to be particularly difficult for them to
understand, the children other than Ken would be doing well if they could move a leaf just a
bit.
While the children were learning enthusiastically, the problem was the adults.
Although it was due to them being busy because of needing to hunt, they hadn't tried to
learn any words at all, much less magic.
To be honest, magic isn't too useful right now. Although it's different for people who can
handle it as skillfully as Nina, even Ai's level of magic can't be used for much. If it's
something like rustling trees, a could of men or one of my arms would be enough to do the
job. Her fire magic can't ignite firewood, either. The only ones who can produce flames that
are able to ignite other things are still just Nina and I.
And although it's not as though they are attempting to interfere with me teaching the
children, I would at least like them to try learning how to speak.
I had Ai teach me the form of language they used, but it wasn't of much use.
How to move when out hunting, what to do in everyday life, and how to do specific things...
if they hadn't acc.u.mulated that sort of knowledge, there wasn't much meaning in me
teaching them a language anyway.
They all lived together and shared the majority of their lives, which is why having those
simple signals were enough for them. They hadn't had a reason to use words to explain
things to other people in the first place.
Well, it's not like I'd understand the subtle details in such a short amount of time. Even me
learning what they know might not have much of a point. My physique is simply too
different from theirs. If I, someone who isn't human, lived life the same way as them, I
might not experience the same things.
Which is why although I'd like them to learn a language, something that would allow them
to converse with those that held a different set of values, I'm not able to convey just how
useful being able to use one is to them exactly because they do not already know a
language.
"Fire! Appear! Fire! Appear!"
As I was lost in thought, Ken was happily putting out and reigniting the flame. Come to
think of it, I also kept having fun with the fire coming out of my mouth just after I
reincarnated in this world, didn't I?
Children were things that loved to play with fire.
"Ken, even if it isn't hot, you shouldn't..."
You shouldn't play with it too much.
As I was about to chide him, I got a surprise.
The flame he'd created was considerably hotter than usual.
If the flames Ai could produce were like warm water, his was definitely closer to hot water.
"Ken!? How did you do that!?"
I unintentionally shouted that out, causing Ken to be frightened as he put the fire out.
"I'm sorry, I'm not angry. It's alright. Could you please try appearing the fire again?"
Nodding, Ken timidly caused the flames to appear again. What appeared above his palm
wasn't any different from what Ai could create... no, it was actually at a somewhat lower
temperature.
"Huh? Could you make the same fire as a moment ago?"
When I asked Ken that, he looked troubled.
"Why...? Is it like he ran out of MP or something...?"
Although I wasn't particularly worried about it thus far, I hadn't been thinking that magic
was something that could be used indefinitely without some sort of cost to it. It probably
used willpower, mana, or something similar to fuel it.
"Isn't it because he's not saying 'fire, appear' now?"
As I was wracking my brains, Nina spoke up with a quip while she continued sc.r.a.ping off
a fish's scales with her stone knife.
"No, there's no way something... so... simple?"
Half doubting myself, I urged Ken to try doing it while speaking.
"Fire... fire, appear!"
A flame arose from Ken's palm as he shouted out with gusto.
It wasn't just an illusion formed by heat and light. It was a true flame.
"I see... so that's it?"
Why didn't I notice something so simple?
"Magic incantations."
It looks like we've been ignoring the incantation part this whole time.
Grimoire 魔法書
May it be that a voice shall fade,
books will forever light the way.
"Oh branch, move!"
As though obeying me, the water apple tree's branch shook slightly.
"Oh flames, soar upward!"
However, the words I followed up with vanished into the air without the branch so much as
rustling.
"Hmm... Oh water apple tree branch, stretch and send one of your leaves to me."
Following what I said, a branch extended out toward me and dropped a leaf at my feet.
I looked at the leaf and began to chant vigorously.
"... Oh tree of forbidden wisdom, Darkness Water Apple, rise from purgatory and bestow
upon this being your fruit---"
"What're you saying?"
"Uwaaah!?"
Hearing a voice suddenly come from behind me, I literally jumped up into the air.
"N-Nina. You're early."
"The trees were rustling so I thought something was up. What was that a second ago?"
Even though I chose to do this before the sun even came up so that no one would see...!
No, let's settle down. She doesn't know about the concept of [Chuuni].
There shouldn't be a problem in me telling her.
"It somehow felt like you were saying something super weird?"
This girl definitely has a sixth sense!!
This is the first time I've resented her characteristic ability to sense things.
"You thinking it's strange can't be helped. I was testing out a ground-breaking way of using
magic just now. It may even increase the power magic has a few levels. However, I have to
try out various things in order to find the most effective way, so I'm making sure to test
things that sound awkward as well."
"Let me hear what you said a moment ago."
"... Please spare me..."
I graciously accepted my defeat.
"Still though, it really is easier to use magic while speaking."
"You knew?"
"Sort of. I thought it was just like that for me though."
Nina held out her arm and asked the tree to give her one of its fruits. When she did that, the
water apple tree placed a water apple into her hand with movements as dexterous as a
person's hand.
What amazing precision.
"Apparently, the longer the incantation, the better the effect."
"Is that so?"
While not exactly knowing why, I nodded all the same.
"Also, anything said that is irrelevant to the magic itself it meaningless, no matter which
way you try arranging it."
"Isn't that obvious?"
She sounded a bit c.o.c.ky.
"Well, it might be something obvious for you, but we have to examine each and every
possibility thoroughly."
"Hmm."
She nibbled on the water apple as she halfheartedly listened to my explanation.
"Hey, you said that the longer, the better right?"
"I don't know the reason why, but yeah."
Nina tossed the water apple's core away and closed her eyes.
[Oh trees, those which spreads their roots through the ground, those which flourish with so
many leaves, those which bloom with flowers, those which produce fruit.]
This was something I hadn't heard in a while. She was speaking in Elvish.
[Listen to wind's whispers as it pa.s.ses through the groves, to the leaves' mutters as they
fall and flutter to the ground, to the sound of your roots absorbing water, and to my voice.]
She spoke her words like composing a poem, like weaving a tapestry.
[Use your supple arms to seize and deliver unto me my nourishment, the quadruped beast,
the white thing that bounds to and fro.]
It happened just as the verse finished.
---All of the trees, they... roared.
It wasn't something so simple as it being noisy. The trees themselves trembled as they
undulated, squirmed, and bellowed.
The earth shook as birds took to the sky in attempts to escape the trees. The roar of various
beasts resounded from places off in the distance.
"Mentor, are you alright!?"
Surprised by the sound, Ai leapt out of bed and came running to me in whatever she was
already wearing.
The men peeped outside of the cave, spears in hand.
And then---
Plop.
With a starkly quiet sound compared to the uproar from just before, a single rabbit was
thrown to Nina's feet.
Both me, Ai, the people in the cave, as well as the rabbit itself, couldn't understand what
just happened, our eyes opened wide. The first one to make a move without that stunned
silence was the one to cause the commotion... Nina.
"I caught it!"
Quickly reaching out toward it, she caught the rabbit by its long ears. It tried to escape, but
it was already too late.
"That surprised me... I didn't think anything like that would happen."
Keeping the struggling rabbit away from her body, Nina patted her chest in relief.
"That really surprised me, too."
"Was that, Nina-san's magic?"
Still holding my foreleg, Ai's eyes darted back and forth between Nina, the rabbit, and the
trees in bewilderment.
"To think that the incantation holds that much influence on the result..."
Let's never make use of an incantation for fire magic.
"Can I do it, too?"
"It might be a bit early for you, Ai..."
With a huge vocabulary to construct an incantation, one must also have a suitable skill in
sentence construction.
Not even Nina was able to construct her incantation in j.a.panese.
Ai had also gotten to the point of knowing quite a lot of words, but it was probably still too
hard for her.
"Is that, so...?"
I wanted to do something when I saw her hang her head in despondence, but this is one of
the few problems that'll just needs times to overcome...
Just as I finished thinking that, a certain thought flashed through my head.
"No, that's not it."
I'm not sure if it'll go well, but it's worth a shot.
If it does work, various problems might all be resolved in one go.
"Alright, let's try something. Are you willing to cooperate with me?"
"Yes!"
The finally rising morning sun shined down on Ai's delighted smile.
＊＊＊
"You who is clad in white clothing, the comrade of all ice, the snow spirit, oh Jack Frost.
Send to me your breath. Fill this with your frost."
Holding an unfired jar, Ai looked at the wooden plank I was holding as she recited the
incantation. Something that looked like a white fog spread within the jar. My eyes
perceived that it was definitely water in the air going below the freezing point.
She quickly used a large leaf to cover the jar's opening, put a plank above that, then sealed
it with a stone.
It was a simplistic freezer, like what used to be built in primitive times.
It wouldn't last as long as the real thing, but it should still allow a gutted fish to last two or
three days. Living should get a lot easier if we can preserve and store easily-acquired fish
and sh.e.l.lfish for later.
"I did it!"
"Yeah. Thank you, Ai. You did well!"
Seeing Ai unusually act so proudly, I gently patted her head with my fingertip.
"It's all thanks to Mentor, that I could make this."
Showing signs of embarra.s.sment, she pointed at the board I had modestly.
On it was the incantation she recited a moment ago.
It was the oldest grimoire in the world, so to speak.
It was written on a wooden plank with charcoal entirely in hiragana, though.
There wasn't any need for her to think about what to say for the incantation herself. A third
party may think that, but there were three factors as work.
What were those three factors? Meaning, intention, and design.
Firstly, you had to understand the meaning of the incantation's words.
I tried having Nina test it out by telling her to do it phonetically in English, but, as expected,
if the person themselves didn't understand the meaning of the words they spoke, they
wouldn't work as an incantation.
Secondly, the intention. Even if both the meaning and design requirements are met, the
effect wouldn't come to fruition if the magic is used without there being an intention
behind it. Just speaking an incantation without thinking anything wouldn't invoke the
magic.
And lastly, the most important, is the design.
The design is why the words spoken were used in the incantation... in other words, there
has to be a relationship throughout it all. Nina said that it was natural, but it wasn't
something as simple as that.
Just repeated the same words wouldn't work.
[Oh trees, those which spreads their roots through the ground, those which flourish with so
many leaves, those which bloom with flowers, those which produce fruit.]
Like how Nina had recited, even though she said things that all meant tree in the end, she
designed it such that each individual statement was a different way of saying the same
thing. And in proportion with the level of design given, the magic's effectiveness would
increase.
To put it another way, having only ever used magic without the incantation, we had only
ever used magic through meaning and intention.
"Mentor, can I ask you, something?"
"What?"
"Mentor, have you ever seen, Jack Frost?"
I was at a loss on how to answer Ai's question.
Jack Frost. A spirit of ice and snow that appears within England's myths.
I didn't know whether or not spirits actually existed within this world. But since it's easier
to refer to a concept like him after personifying it, I simply decided to do so and include it in
the incantation.
"Yeah, I have."
The incantation might just lose its effect if she realized that he doesn't exist.
Thinking that, I lied to her.
It's be troubling if we lost the help of that cold incantation now.
Besides, it wasn't necessarily a lie either. I have met him.
... It was inside a game, though.
"I want to meet him, too."
"Yeah. If you work hard in studying magic, you might just be able to meet him some day."
I never thought that my white lie would lead to something outrageous in the distant future.
12
A Concern 懸念
Bad premonitions are often right on the mark.
"Fireball, salamander, stick out your tongue. Use your tongue to make fire!"
When I heard Ken chanting inside the village, I saw a bundle of kindling begin to burn.
"That one's gotten fairly popular..."
What Ken just recited just now was something that could be heard in various places around
the village nowadays.
Still, I've realized that it's easier for them to memorize incantations that use simple
sentences, so after making a few, even those that aren't able to read words yet are able to
memorize several incantations.
As a result, most of the villagers have gotten to the point of being able to use magic that can
produce true flames.
Ai and Ken have been learning magic that's reached the level of being actually useful and
would follow up by displaying their practical uses to the adults.
And the simple freezer has improved enough so that we can now store fish inside of it for
three days and it still be safe to eat after cooking. To put it another way, we now only have
to go fishing once every three days.
Moreover, even the children are able to manipulate plants and trees well enough to pick the
fruits and berries that are usually too far out of reach. There's even been some instances of
them catching small birds and animals.
Our general food situation has improved greatly, so there are even some adults coming
with the children to learn magic. Language too, of course.
Everything has been going smoothly.
---Except for just one concern.
"Mentor."
It happened at the time I was worried about how to handle it.
The one who called out to me was the eldest man in the village.
Ai's father, Guy-san... My nonexistent naming sense is awful.
"Hunt, go. Come?"
"... Alright. I'll go with you."
Well, it's not something that'll be resolved just by me sitting here thinking about it.
Thinking that a change of pace might help, I decided to follow Guy-san and the others on
their hunting trip.
"Mentor! I'll go too!"
Just as we were about to leave the cave, Ai came shooting out towards us.
"No."
However, Guy-san thrust his arm out suddenly, stopping her.
"Hunting, man, do. Woman, wait."
"But..."
With Guy-san sounding as though there was no room for a reb.u.t.tal, Ai looked toward me.
Their society was patriarchal, with fathers holding absolute authority. I've been overlooked
as far as that rule is concerned due to being an irregularity, but as a human woman, Ai
wasn't allowed to go out hunting.
Or maybe I should say that even her wishing to defy her father's intentions itself wasn't
allowed?
She wasn't even able to complain about being offered as a sacrifice.
I've come to believe that they practically treat women as objects; however, they do decide
things with at least some rationality. At the very least, I don't think it's a good idea for me to
b.u.t.t into the matter simply out of my own ego.
"It's alright. We'll capture something big, so be a good child and wait here, okay?"
"... Okay."
Hearing what I had to say, Ai hung her head and reluctantly nodded.
"Be careful!"
"Try not to goof up too badly!"
With Ai's and Nina's voices sending me off, we headed out to hunt.
Their customs and the thing I'm concerned about are, honestly, in agreement with each
other.
Not about women's position in their society, I mean.
It's that there simply aren't enough people.
Not including me and Nina, this village has seventeen people in it.
Of them, eight are children. Of the adults, five are men and four are women.
Given that there are eight children and nine adults, that means that their population is
currently in a downward trend. That isn't to mention how there isn't even the concept of
medicine or medical treatment in this world. There's no guarantee that those eight children
will live until adulthood.
As those that give birth to the next generation and maintain their population, women are
incredibly important. Therefore, they aren't allowed to do something as dangerous as
hunting. At the very least, the old-fashioned custom of having women protect the dwelling
is reasonable, given the circ.u.mstances. I am in one of those pre-modern eras, after all.
Even so. No matter how I think about it, as a dragon, I am unable to have children with
them. It would be impossible for them to give birth to something as large as a dragon in the
first place.
The only things I could do were: defend them, hunt prey, and develop magic as much as
possible while I am still alive.
"... Huh?"
As my train of thought was travelling down that fruitless path, I noticed just how far we had
walked away from the cave.
"Could it be that we're going to leave the forest?"
When I asked Guy-san that, he nodded in response.
Both they and I generally only hunted within the forest.
It's partly due to me building my base close to the cave, but it's also partly due to the things
we could hunt in the plains being particularly more difficult.
First was the fact that the trees Nina could manipulate into helping us were much fewer
than what she could in the forest.
She's able to manipulate gra.s.s as well nowadays, but it's almost impossible to catch the
giant beasts that live in the plains with gra.s.s.
I thought that I might be able to catch them easily if I swoop down on them from the sky,
but that ended in vain, too. The moment they saw my figure in the sky, they would run
away into cover and make it very, very hard to find them. Unfortunately, moving faster
makes it so that I lose my ability to make tight turns. Making the tight turns needed to catch
prey that's trying to escape as I'm in the middle of a dive is incredibly difficult.
Guy-san and them were having similar troubles with hunting in the plains, so they had
generally only been hunting in the forest.
Pa.s.sing by the old base Nina and I made (it's been several months since we left it, but it's
already in ruins), we left the forest.
Come to think of it, I just realized that this is the first time I've left the forest on foot.
Surprisingly, it didn't take too long despite having to weave through and over the forest's
underbrush.
It's not to the point of Nina's being able to do it without even a single strand of hair getting
caught on something, but seeing Guy-san and them walk just as fast through the forest as
when they walk on flat ground, it looks like they're right at home.
Rather, we're walking at a fast enough pace that I might be what's holding them back.
Once we reached the plains, Guy-san and the others set out unhesitatingly.
I can't really tell if they have some destination in mind or if they're just walking. Either way,
I trusted their sense of direction and followed along.
[See.]
Just then, Guy-san suddenly raised his voice and held up his spear.
That's supposed to be the signal for when they've found prey, but I can't tell where it is at
all.
When I started looking about the vicinity, they set out once more. They weren't crawling
and hiding, nor were they running away in a hurry. They were just walking normally.
Did he make a mistake?
Following them as I tilted my head in befuddlement, I suddenly noticed it.
Guy-san definitely had seen something. But it wasn't the prey itself.
What he found was its footprints.
I'm only saw gra.s.s growing on the ground, but Guy-san bent down to check the ground
repeatedly.
[See.]
We had continued on in this manner for somewhere around two hours. Guy-san said it
again, but this time, he'd seen the prey itself.
"Mentor, there."
And so he spoke to me, politely using the j.a.panese I had taught him.
"Yeah... I see it. Alright."
More like, there's no way that I wouldn't see it.
"Do you really intend to hunt that?"
When I asked to make sure, they all nodded together.
"I mean, that? Really?"
Listening to the thuds resound from its steps, I looked up toward it.
The biggest thing I'd seen since mother was moving slowly.
"It's as big as a multi-floored building though?"
Those who could understand what I just compared this gargantuan to did not yet exist in
this world.
13
Herculean Strength 剛力
Grasp it, picture it, then release it.
That's magic.
The first thing that came to my mind as I attempted to compare that creature to something
was an elephant.
It had four thick legs, a huge body, and long tusks growing from its mouth.
But that's as far as it went for looking like an elephant. Supported by a long neck, its large
head looked more like a rhino's or a hippo's. It had horns growing from its temples like a
cow, too. Its very, very long crocodilian tail completed the look.
Still though, what stands out the most is by far its size.
Even on all fours, it's so tall that I have to look upward to see its head.
Let alone Guy-san, its size is definitely sufficient for trampling me into the ground.
"Spear, throw. Mentor, fly. Bite."
"Ah, so I'll be the one that has to stop it after all..."
Guy-san's explanation was concise.
Guy-san and the others would surround it in a semicircle and throw their spears at it while
I met it head on.
We'd hunted a number of beasts with this strategy before this.
But the largest thing we had successfully hunted that way was a wild boar, something not
even a tenth the size of this giant.
"Mentor, strong. Win."
I appreciate him putting so much faith into me, but isn't he overestimating me a little too
much?
"Well, let's give it a shot... hold out your spears."
Holding my palm out before the five spears held out toward me, I recited an incantation.
"Oh those that are long, sharp, and may pierce anything. Bend thy ears and heed mine call,
bask in the light of mine flames and shine out in glory. Become spears without equal, thine
aim never faltering, thy strikes unblockable. Act as shooting stars, capable of piercing even
the most colossal of beasts."
Then, once I carefully breathed fire out onto the spears, the stone spearheads began to
glow red.
This happened due to an incantation I'd devised.
The effectiveness of magic usually isn't immediately recognizable to the eyes. Accordingly,
it's also just as often hard to tell how long the magic's effect lasts.
Which is why I decided to add the glow as one of its effects.
... Things having some sort of glow after having magic used on them is basically a sure thing
when it comes to fiction, but it honestly does have a practical reason behind it, too.
"Make sure you're ready to go before the glow fades."
Unfurling my wings, I flew off in a slightly different direction and took a detour so that that
giant wouldn't see me.
Come to think of it, I should give this kind of beast a name.
I say that, but there's only one name that comes to mind.
Behemoth.
Behemoth, a monster from the Old Testament.
I sincerely hope that there's no creature bigger than this thing.
Once I had flown high up into the sky, Guy-san and the others surrounded the behemoth in
a semicircle and threw their spears at it. The glowing spearheads tore through the air just
like how I'd imagined them doing and pierced into the behemoth's body.
"It really is tough, isn't it."
I muttered that as I saw the spears only stab half their length into it.
The magic I'd imagined was one that would have spears piercing the behemoth all the way
through, shooting out its other side.
The fact that that was all that happened despite me reciting such a long and thought-out
incantation just went to show how solid and firm the behemoth's hide was.
I'm not even sure if my fangs can pierce it, honestly.
Fortunately, the behemoth didn't turn toward Guy-san and the others. Instead, it actually
started to run away from them.
The behemoth would have been able to crush Guy-san and them if it felt like it, so I felt
relieved that everything was going well.
Given its scale, it would be like it getting pierced by toothpicks. Even so, it looks like this is
the first time it's felt even that much pain.
Following the behemoth's retreat, I began to descend towards it in a steep dive.
Even with me being such a poor hunter, there's no chance at me missing such a huge target
running straight away from me. Imagining myself biting through its windpipe, I snapped at
its neck with my fangs.
"Gyuuu..."
A strange sound came from the behemoth as a mixture of blood and air streamed out of its
neck.
So hard!
The behemoth's neck was tremendously tough, like biting into an iron pillar. Its skin was
hard enough that I wondered how those spears had even pierced it.
I used all the strength I could muster to squeeze down with my jaws, pushing my semi-
pierced fangs further into it. It felt horrible, like I was biting into a roll of aluminum foil. Not
breaking despite going up against this ridiculously hard skin shows that my fangs are
considerably tough, but the skin's firmness was even more tough.
By the time I'd managed to bite into that small portion of the behemoth's neck, it started
swinging its ma.s.sive head in an attempt to resist. I couldn't let myself be thrown off, so I
dug my claws into it and managed to hold on through its efforts.
I then heard a horrible slicing sound, which was followed by its neck going limp. In that
moment, I tore off the piece of flesh I was working on.
My timing was terrible.
Losing the support from my mouth, I lost grip with my claws as well and fell from the
behemoth, it's flesh still in my mouth.
When I tried unfolding my wings to catch the wind, a huge shadow pa.s.sed over me.
"Ooooooooo!"
A thunderous reverberation accompanied the beast's deep roar.
I stared at a spectacle that I never thought I would see.
That thick, hard neck that not even I could bite through... was sliced off in a single blow.
Having lost its head, the behemoth's body tumbled to the side and crashed into the ground,
one final roar coming from it. Flapping my wings several times, I descended to the ground
while staring at it.
... Big.
It was definitely small compared to the behemoth, but even so, it was still around the same
height as me.
Its arms and legs were as thick as logs and its muscles were like chiseled marble.
It had peculiarly red hair and a lion-like mane.
In terms of physique, it was smaller than the armored bear, let alone the behemoth.
However.
However, this creature that looked like a gorilla, lion, and bear were mixed together--- [Tch,
I missed the lizard?]
---seemed to be a human.
[Elvish... you can speak Elvish?]
[Oh, so the lizard can speak?]
It looks like we both managed to surprise each other.
I can't tell how old he is, but judging by his voice, he seems unexpectedly young. In his
twenties at most.
[I don't know what that Elvish thing is... but you've learned from those long ears too, then?]
[Yeah, something like that. I don't randomly attack people, so please don't worry about
that.]
[Hmm.]
Hearing my response, the man answered back halfheartedly.
We can communicate with each other, but it doesn't appear that he cares about me.
What had sliced through the behemoth's neck was a weapon fashioned out of a giant
boulder.
I'm not sure if I'd call it an axe or a sword, but it's definitely a very large and roughly
processed weapon.
And it was able to slice off the behemoth's neck even though my fangs could barely pierce
it.
No, what's even more strange is that he leapt at least ten meters off the ground while
wielding that huge weapon. No matter how muscular he is, that should be impossible.
He did something that should have been impossible.
In other words, he was a magus as well.
---And one with herculean strength, at that.
To be honest, I don't have any confidence in winning against him.
[Hey, you s.h.i.ts. Get out here and work on this thing.]
When the man raised his arms overhead and yelled out, ten or so men appeared and
started dismantling the behemoth's body.
[Please wait. That's prey we attacked first. We're fine with just taking a part of it, so could
we split it up?]
I'd be troubled if the thing we spent this much time hunting was taken away just like that.
[What's that?]
The large man spoke in dissatisfaction and gave me a piercing glare.
The pressure I felt from his glare was way worse than what I felt from the armored bear's.
I honestly felt horrified enough to start trembling, but I resolved myself and glared back at
him.
... I was prepared to take off into the air at the drop of a hat, though.
[Eh, sure. I finished it off so easily thanks to you flailing about, after all.]
Saying that, the man ordered his subordinates to leave one of its hind legs to us.
My heart still pounding, I felt relieved. It was a large enough portion that even if we
distributed it to everyone in the village, we'd have enough for several days and then some.
It would've been impossible for us to return home with all of it anyway, so this result is
good enough.
[Thanks. It's a big help.]
I signaled for Guy-san and the others to come and get the behemoth's leg.
[Hey, you.]
I heard the man speak from behind me as we started to carry the meat back.
He's not going to say that he changed his mind, right?
[Want to come to my village?]
What I heard when I looked back toward him was, unexpectedly, an invitation.
14
Horribly Awry 不覚
That man was strong, wise, and beautiful.
he was also too nice.
[This is amazing...!]
[Right?]
Hearing my involuntary remark, the man---who appears to go by Darg---grinned with a
laugh.
What laid before my eyes was a remarkably different village than ours.
Many triangular buildings were lined in a row. From their looks, they were pit-houses.
Trails of smoke rose into the sky from here and there while woman carrying earthenware
and men carrying bows roamed about.
There were at the very least a few dozen people living here, maybe even upwards of a
hundred.
It was a splendid village.
My chest filled with hope at the thought that if we could merge with this village, our
population issues could be solved all at once.
[I'm back!]
Hearing Darg's well-known voice in the village, the villagers gathered together.
As expected, or rather as was natural, he was this village's leader.
The villagers all had the same physique as Guy-san and the others. It was just Darg that was
so abnormal.
Given that I was somewhat insecure about what I'd do if a ton of men similar to him came
out, I felt relieved.
[Take it.]
When Darg waved towards the behemoth's meat, the women grunted in response to show
that they understood.
I c.o.c.ked my head to the side upon seeing that.
[What're you doing? Follow.]
[Ah, yeah. I'm coming.]
My thoughts interrupted by Darg's voice, I followed behind him in a panic.
Reaching the village's center, I saw a building constructed to be noticeably larger than the
others.
The floor was dug out slightly with the roof constructed in a pyramid-like shape. There was
nothing that could be called furniture, only some straw spread out across the ground and a
few earthenware items.
[Hmm? Sit. A meal is on the way.]
Saying that, Gar lowered himself onto the straw.
The house might be this big simply to house his large build.
Even I could sit down in it without feeling cramped.
[Still though, what you did back there was amazing. For you to be able to sever the neck of
such a large creature...]
[It's nothing to fuss about.]
[Can anyone else do the same thing then?]
[Not likely, eh?]
Darg answered my question along with a derisive smile.
[Why are you the only one who's so big and strong?]
[Because that's how it is.]
As expected, he's similar to me and Nina in that he's a [Natural Magus].
It's wasn't due to technology or study, it was due to his own talent.
[What about you? Are there many big lizards that talk?]
[No, that's just me.]
To be precise, dragons do have their own language.
But even so, I haven't met any dragons other than mother. So, at the very least, there being
many of us isn't the case.
Thinking about it more, it was natural. If there were so many over-engineered creatures in
the same place, their surroundings would quickly be left bereft of food.
Which is probably another reason why mother urged me into leaving the nest after ten
years.
[Heh.]
Even though Darg was the one to ask, he simply responded halfheartedly.
It was around that point that our food was brought to us.
[Ooh... this is...]
I started to speak out in admiration.
Because it was a soup made out of various wild plants, mushrooms, and beast meat poured
into a clay pot.
This is the first time since I've come to this world that I feel like I've seen its [Cuisine].
[It's delicious, try it.]
[Yeah...]
As he recommended me to do, I poured the soup into my mouth.
I had a sensitive tongue when it came to heat in my previous life, so I was happy at being
reborn as a red dragon, something that would never be burned by eating even the most
steaming hot foods.
"Ooh...!"
Tasting it on my tongue, I let out a groan.
Even while being so chewy, the wild plants weren't overpowering at all.
The dried meat oozed flavor the more I chewed it, the mushrooms' ability to exude a
mellow taste as they melted when they touched my tongue was mysterious.
And the soup that was able to merge all of them together was delicious. Very delicious.
As though nourishment permeated into my core the moment it touched my tongue, it was
delicious enough that I trembled. I feel like I'd gulp down however much of this they could
give me.
Since they headed back to the village, I feel sorry for Guy-san and the others for not being
able to try this.
[You're just a lizard, but you can still tell it's delicious, eh?]
Seeing me gulp it down and sigh in satisfaction, Darg made a comment.
Now that he mentions it, it's true. It feels like it might be due to there being no recreational
amus.e.m.e.nt besides meals, but in my previous life, I was rather uninterested when it
came to food. Maybe it's because dragon tongues are better than human tongues?
[Could you tell me how this is made?]
I asked the woman who brought us the soup.
However, she only looked back at me with a puzzled expression.
I suddenly recalled that sense of incompatibility I felt when I arrived at this village.
Could it be...
[This person doesn't know the language?]
[Yeah, that's right.]
Darg shouldn't be the only one that knows how to speak.
At the very least, the men that went with him were able to follow his orders.
Which means they understood what he was saying.
[You didn't teach the language women?]
[Of course not?]
Darg frowned, his brows knit in confusion.
What's this guy talking about?
That's what his expression seemed to say.
[What meaning is there in teaching women how to speak?]
I somehow managed to keep myself from grimacing.
I kept telling myself that there's nothing I could do about it.
This world and the era it's in dictates that that line of thought was mostly reasonable.
[Seeing how you like eating that, what do you think of this?]
As I was thinking about a few depressing things, Darg showed me a large pot with
something that smelled good in it.
[What's this?]
Smelling a mysterious scent I hadn't smelled before, I sniffed it.
It was like fruit, yet far more potent. However, it was a different kind of sweetness than
what candies had. It was more rich and had more of a depth to it.
[Try drinking it.]
Urged on, I slowly stretched my tongue out to it and licked it despite the anxiety and
antic.i.p.ation to this unknown substance.
Immediately after, lightning coursed through my body.
"Th-this is..."
The first thing I experienced was the mellow and rich sweetness of berries. Not just on my
tongue, but within my nasal cavity as well.
Then, a moment after that, a stinging stimulation tickled my throat.
But it wasn't something that felt unpleasant.
No, it actually felt like I wanted to have more. I inclined the pot towards me.
It felt as though my throat grew hot and like vitality was bursting from my belly.
"This... is alcohol?"
By the time that wound up drinking enough to fill a cup, I finally realized it.
I hardly enjoyed drinking alcohol at all in my previous life. I didn't much like its taste and
just one or two cups was enough to make my face redden.
But what about this promising flavor? I even felt comfortable simple by exhaling in this
pleasant aftertaste. It's so good that I'm suddenly feeling bad about not being able to enjoy
this in my previous life.
[It's a good drink, isn't it? Come now, have more.]
[No, I couldn't possibly...]
Even while saying that, my gaze unintentionally drifted towards the alcohol.
It wasn't just that it was delicious. It felt like my whole body longed for it.
[Don't hold yourself back. A man's generosity includes how much alcohol he offers.]
Darg spoke, he himself drinking some alcohol.
[Maybe just one more...]
I lost to the temptation and took an additional cup.
It goes without saying that it didn't end at just one cup.
＊＊＊
"Mm..."
Raising my head up, I realized that I had fallen asleep.
"c.r.a.p."
When I jumped to my feet, I wasn't in my usual house, but in Darg's.
Fortunately, I could still remember everything.
I got drunk and didn't fight my drowsiness, instead listening to Darg's encouragement and
wound up falling asleep.
He wasn't in the house, so I reluctantly left the building.
"Wow, it's already this late..."
With the sun high up in the blue sky, I realized that I'd slept till noon.
Had Darg already left for hunting?
I didn't see any men nearby to send him a message and the women wouldn't be able to
understand me.
Oh well, Ai and the others are probably worrying about me right now, so let's head back.
Suddenly coming up with an idea, I took off a scale and left it inside Darg's house.
It stung, but it was only about as bad as pulling out a beard hair.
Flapping my wings, I took off into the air. It shouldn't take long to get back if I went through
the air.
All things said, I guess I'm still weak against alcohol.
Well, I don't think that drinking four of those large pots could be considered weak, so let's
say that I'm weak when it comes to resisting its temptation. But now that I think about it,
be it eastern or western myths, dragons being weak against alcohol was basically a
standard. I should be more careful.
Nina's probably angry, huh. Ai will be worrying...
Soaring through the sky while thinking about that, I reached Ai and the others' village
surprisingly quickly and descended. Now then, time to listen to Nina's scolding...
"Mentor!"
Those thoughts vanished immediately upon seeing Guy-san and the others' injuries and the
look on Ken's face.
"Nina, Ai, they---!"
"What's happened?"
Seeing that it obviously wasn't something trivial, my heart started beating rapidly.
"Take away, left!"
It felt as though the ground beneath my feet had collapsed.
15
Rage 逆鱗
Don't get normally gentle people angry.
I didn't know what I'd caused
---The Sword Division's Founder, Darg What? No, no way.
I did, what, no---
A myriad of confused thoughts and regrets swirled in my mind.
"Ken. Tell me what happened."
I asked everyone that saw.
"Who did it?"
I'll regret however much I need later.
"Super, big man... strong man, red hair."
"So it was him."
That has to be Darg.
He got me drunk and used that chance to kidnap them.
In that case.
In that case, that was his intention from the moment he invited me to his village.
Even though I was drunk, I can remember everything that happened. I didn't tell him how
to get to our village.
Which means that he had his followers chase after Guy-san and the others, got information
about the village from me, and came here either last night or early this morning.
I should still have time.
Hurriedly, I took off into the sky.
"That which protects my all and which shines red in the sunlight. Oh scale of mine, become
my ears and let me hear, become my mouth and transmit my voice!"
Dashing through the air with all I had, I composed an impromptu incantation.
It was a magic that would allow me to use the scale I'd left in Darg's house to send him a
message.
Things that were originally part of a whole and had been separated into something else
were still connected---it was a very magical way of thinking.
So then wouldn't a similar thing be possible using this world's magic?
It failed the first time I tried it out. I'd filled the magic with uncommitted feelings like how
it'd be nice if it work back then, but this time I seriously prayed for it to work.
[Release me, you savage!]
As soon as I heard Nina's a.s.sertive command, I truly felt relieved. Hearing her like that, I
don't think she's experienced anything terrible yet.
[What a noisy girl. This long ear one is boring. Should've just brought this one alone...]
[Let go of Ai!]
[Whoops.]
Together with the sound of a sword swinging through the air, I heard something be cut.
[Unfortunate, you can't do anything to me with such a clumsy technique.]
It looks like what did the slashing was a plant that Nina manipulated.
I thought my heart was going to stop there.
[Annoying. I was thinking about gifting you to one of my men, but I'll kill you if you keep on
yapping.]
[I'd like to see you try!]
She responded t.i.t for tat.
I can't let that happen!
[Stop!]
The clamor paused the moment I raised my voice.
[Where are you!?]
[That lizard b.a.s.t.a.r.d, eh?]
"Mentor!"
Following that, three voices overlapped each other. Good, it sounds like Ai is for now as
well.
[Are you sure? Just try laying a finger on either of them. I'll burn down your village.]
[Hah.]
Darg sneered at my threat.
[Big words for someone that's been afraid of me the whole time.]
He saw through my fear of him.
[Yeah. I'm a coward.]
However.
[Which is why I'm a huge coward when it comes to losing. So, again. Are you sure? I can just
rain fire over everything and stay out of your prided strength's reach, it'd be easy.]
I'm not so young that I'd be intimidated by a younger that's not even a quarter my age!
Hearing my dirty threat, even Darg fell silent.
Meanwhile, I flapped my wings and rushed to Darg's village.
"Mentor!"
When I landed in Darg's village, Darg held Ai and Nina back as they tried to run to me.
Both of them were tied up in rope, but neither looked to be noticeably wounded. That
neither of them had anything horrible happen to them caused me to feel momentarily
relieved.
Our conversation was done in Elvish, so Ai probably doesn't understand the situation that
well. She was looking around in unease. Meanwhile, Nina's expression felt more like she
was actually worrying about me. I have to say that it does feel like something she'd do, but I
would appreciate it if she stopped being so unreasonable despite being tied up like that.
[Give them back.]
[Sure.]
Holding up the same boulder-made sword as before, Darg spoke.
[But you'll have to beat me for them.]
[Why should I accept a condition like that?]
[I kept my word. Now it's your turn to do what I say.]
I was worried. I don't think that I could win a close range fight against him.
Darg's sword had easily ripped through that behemoth's neck. I'm fairly sure it'd go
through my scales as well.
I can't to take off into the sky either. He could use that time to jump and quickly catch me.
In other words, willing or not, I have to fight him.
[You were the one that kidnapped them against their.]
[So what?]
What should I do? What should I do?
I thought frantically while dragging out the conversation.
[Doing things against another's will is bad. It is your fault, so you have an obligation to
return them.]
[Haaah?]
Darg looked like he was facing a fool.
Even if I say so myself, what I just said was idiotic.
In this world, in this age, obligations and ethics were of no use and held no sway.
[What're you on about? I took them. They're mine. Why would I have to give them back?]
His words were frank.
[Well, it doesn't matter. I'll give this one back.]
Saying that, he pushed Nina a little forward.
[In exchange for this one. How bout it?]
... And then jerked Ai closer.
It can't be helped. There's nothing I can do.
I persuaded myself.
[... I understand.]
[What!? What are you saying!?]
Nina started making noise when I agreed.
[Sorry, Nina.]
I sighed as I looked into her eyes, my head bowing deeply.
Reluctantly, Nina's head hung low.
[Remove this stuff.]
Darg cut open the rope that bound Nina.
[Well then, this girl here is mine. Yeah?]
[Of course...]
I spoke.
[... not.]
[Hah. It's a fight then?]
As usual, Darg brandished his sword.
Because he knew that I was afraid of it.
[Yeah, we'll do just that.]
[What?]
Seeing me nod, Darg knit his brow in suspicion.
[We'll start at my signal. Sound fine?]
[Signal?]
Not answering his question, I stayed standing there and began to recipe an incantation.
"That which is more red than my scales, which is even stronger than my fangs, which holds
more heat than my blood, and which shines stronger than my eyes---"
[Oi, I said, what's the signal?]
It can't be helped. There's nothing I can do.
"The spear that singes all, the sword that destroys all, the arrow that pierces all, and the
hammer that smashes all---"
[What are you grumbling over there?]
Darg didn't understand me.
j.a.panese had the concept of spell incantations as well.
"Bundle yourself, wind tightly and bore through creation, create a blinding flash of light---"
Truly. Every last one of them.
Over and over, they treat Ai as some object.
No matter how normal or ordinary it is for this world and this age, my reasonableness has a
limit.
Therefore, me being unable to put up with it... can't be helped.
Yes, what I persuaded myself about.
Ai is not an object.
She is my important---
"Your name is---"
First pupil!
"DRAGON BREATH!"
A flash of light burst from within my throat.
"Haah---------"
[Hah... ... ...]
After everything settled, Darg and I stared at each other.
"Haha..."
[Hah, hah, hah.]
Both of us started to laugh.
"Hahahahaha!"
[Hahahahahahahahaha!]
We couldn't do anything but laugh.
"Th-this isn't something to laugh about!"
Yeah. Guessing that I would breath out my fire by my gestures, she grabbed Ai and ran to
the side to escape it. This was the fruit of her being doused in my sighs many times.
That flash... my full powered breath broke Darg's sword into pieces, blew away the house
behind him to dust, continued on to the forest behind him by carving out a cylindrical hole,
then finally opened up a beautiful ventilation hole in the side of the mountain beyond that.
It was something that you could do nothing but laugh at.
[Next time... That, will be aimed at you.]
Darg immediately dropped to his knees upon hearing my threat.
16
The Cowardly Dragon 意気地なしのドラゴン
Just as how I can see what cannot be seen,
there are things that I cannot do.
What will he do now?
[I give up. It's my loss!]
Standing before Darg as he let his head fall forward and placed his hands against the
ground, I wasn't sure what I should do.
I should kill him here and now if I want to sever my anxiety about being deceived again in
the future.
However, can I kill a person? I don't think I can.
If I could, I would have erased him with that attack.
I even ended up avoiding him with it despite feeling so much rage.
There's also the fact that Ai and Nina were unharmed. It was the same with Guy-san and
the others; although they were somewhat injured, they weren't injured enough to threaten
their lives. If something had actually happened to them or the girls, I believe I just might
have ended him in my anger.
However, no one suffered any real harm and it's already impossible for me to do something
like that now that I've settled down.
And most importantly, I really do not want to kill someone in front of Ai.
That is not something I can do, not as her teacher. This, I firmly believe.
[... Alright. That's enough.]
[Enough...?]
Darg looked up at me, speaking very carefully.
I don't think he knows about the notion of prostration, but neither his current posture nor
my mood are very good.
[So long as you do not do anything like this again, I will overlook what happened this time.]
When I said that, Darg stared at me in puzzlement.
[Overlook...? In what meaning?]
[If you don't do anything else, I won't do anything else either.]
[You won't kill me, and you won't take the women?]
[Correct.]
It seemed as though it was a difficult way of thinking for Darg to understand.
He kept blinking his eyes and tilting his head back and forth.
[I don't get it. What do you get out of it?]
[Nothing. I simply don't want to believe that taking something from another is the natural
thing to do.]
[What...]
Looking both stumped and confused, Darg spoke with a strange look to his face.
[Don't you think that I'll attack you all again?]
[If you want to die, I am fine with granting you your wish.]
[Wait! That's not what I meant!]
When I took a firm step forward and said that, Darg shook his hands in front of him as he
backed away in a panic.
[Good. If you don't reflect on what you've done and break this promise, you will not have
another chance.]
True, I may be naive.
I also recognize that I am coward.
But this is because Darg hadn't broken my last line.
[And if that time comes, I will make you regret being born in this world.]
I didn't entirely intend for it to happen, but flames wound up coming out together with my
words.
If he goes against me and attacks yet again, I'd have no reason to forgive him.
Rather, if he does, I won't hold back in the least.
I wonder if he grasps the weight of my words?
Darg did nothing but stare at my face, his eyes opened wide.
He suddenly stood up and approached me slowly.
Just as I began to wonder if he actually intended to resume the fight, it happened.
[Brother!]
Darg abruptly clasped my arm and said that.
[Can I call you Brother!?]
[... Huh?]
That Elvish word wasn't one that indicated kin.
He used a word that indicated personal respect, a special t.i.tle of sorts.
[Up till now, I never thought that there would be anyone stronger than me. I believed that
because I was strong, it didn't matter who I took what from. That's why now that I've lost,
the natural thing to do was for you, the person who's stronger than me, to take my life.]
His eyes shining, Darg continued speaking somewhat fervently.
[But... you're different. Someone who's truly strong. You don't even steal. Even without
doing that, you are living. You're so confident that you aren't even anxious about letting
your enemies free!]
[W-well... I guess so...?]
I honestly just feel like it's something that any modern peace-loving idiot would do, but he
wasn't exactly wrong with his favorable interpretation of it.
[I want to attain a strength like yours. So, can I call you Brother?]
[Uhh, I mean, you can call me what you want...]
I said that, but I only answered like that because I couldn't cast away the suspicion that this
might be some sort of trick to get me to lower my guard against him.
[Really!? Thank you!]
Darg leapt into the air in delight, looking much like a child.
Seeing that, I suddenly recalled a certain thing.
[The one eternally by your side, yet unable to be seen by sight. With thorns yet no petals
and with fangs yet no mouth, my foe shall become my ally. Do you pledge to be that
person?]
[Mm? What do you mean?]
Unable to understand the meaning of the incantation I recited in Elvish, Darg c.o.c.ked his
head to the side.
[I asked if you could swear on never going against us again.]
[Oh, of course then. I'll never go against Brother ever again!]
He nodded earnestly, but there weren't any visible changes.
... d.a.m.n. I improvised the incantation and forgot to include something into it that would to
allow me to check if it was successful.
[Could you please try punching me?]
[Eh? Why?]
[Don't worry and just do it.]
Him being confused about me telling him to do that immediately after having him say he
wouldn't oppose me was to be expected, so he looked at me in doubt while swinging his
fist.
[Gah!?]
"Guh!"
Together with a dull impact, both of us groaned in pain.
... It hurt a lot more than I thought it would.
I thought that he wouldn't be able to damage me through my scales without that sword of
his, but that wasn't the case at all. My cheek started throbbing, the pain coming and going
like a pendulum's swing.
[The heck!? My body hurts a ton!]
It looks like the magic was successful.
What I pictured was a painful deterrence to attacking us, something that would activate
whenever he tried doing so.
[Looks like it worked. It'll hurt like that if you ever try to attack us, so be careful.]
[That's fine and all... but did I actually need to go and hit you? It hurt before I even swung
my fist.]
He punched me despite feeling the pain? What amazing willpower.
[I was making you undergo some pain as an experiment, so I felt it was only right for me to
feel some as well.]
When I gave that as my answer to him, Darg burst up laughing.
[Haha, we really aren't enemies, ahahahaha.]
It was a pure kind of laughter, one not tainted by derision.
＊＊＊
"Ready? Make sure you hold on tight."
"Okay."
I felt Ai hold on to one of the spines on my back tightly.
I knew that it was being touched, but I couldn't feel much through it. Similar to hair.
I was both thankful and sad about that fact.
"What are you waiting for? Stop being so slow and come on!"
"Hold up, I can't maneuver as well as you."
I unfurled my wings as I responded to Nina who was flying over me in the sky.
Flapping them powerfully, my body propelled itself into the sky in one go and hurling past
Nina in the blink of an eye.
"Eh? Ah, hey, hold up!"
"Stop being so slow and come on, then!"
Using her own words against her in a joking tone, I flapped my wings once again and
opened a huge distance between us. Now that I think about it, this is the first time I've
flown side by side with Nina.
"Ai, are you alright? It's not too scary, right?"
"I'm okay."
---It's also the first time I've flown with anyone but Nina on my back.
"... I'm sorry for scaring you."
"Eh? But I'm not afraid?"
Hearing Ai's confused response, I shook my head.
"Not that. You having to go through such a horrible experience was entirely my fault."
I told her everything.
That I did as Darg told me and followed him to his village.
That I fell asleep, drunk due to the alcohol's influence.
That he mocked me because of my weak att.i.tude.
Each and every step of the way, it was my responsibility.
"But I wasn't, I wasn't afraid."
Ai repeated herself in a gentle tone.
"Because I was sure you would come to save us, Mentor."
"That's just what you think after knowing the results..."
Although it ended up going well, she might have went through something terrible if I made
even a single mistake.
Just then, Ai giggled.
"Ai...?"
"Sorry, it's just funny."
Holding back her laughter, she continued.
"Because, Mentor. Isn't magic something that creates the result you want directly?"
Ai's words caught me by surprise.
It definitely was as she says.
If fire's combination with oxygen causing heat and light was science, magic was something
that would simply produce that same heat and light from nothing.
I couldn't hide my surprise at her suddenly understanding magic so deeply.
"Which is why this result was bound to happen."
Ai continued forward, speaking with pride.
"After all, my Mentor is the number one Magus in the world!"
"... You're overestimating me. I'm not that great."
"No!"
Ai denied me with a tone that left no room for me to talk back.
"There is no person that's stronger, more gentle, or more wonderful than Mentor."
This was something that concerned me.
"I'm not a person though, am I?"
Cracking a joke to hide my embarra.s.sment, Ai put all her strength into her embrace on the
spine on my back.
"Even so, Mentor, more than anyone, I---"
At that moment, the wind suddenly picked up.
The sound of the air blowing past us drowned out Ai's voice.
"Sorry. Did you say something just now?"
I asked as such.
"... No."
And Ai responded as such.
"Nothing at all."
She just shook her head.
Ahh...
---I truly am a coward.
17
Growth 成長
I've been treating you as a child this whole time, so you missed out on something
important.
Hearing the sound of wooden boards being struck together, I woke up with a start.
It was the signal that something invaded the area near the village.
Likely having woken up at the same time as me, Nina dashed out of the small house
neighboring mine.
"The enemy is to the south, just outside of the village."
Running side by side with me, Nina found their exact position by listening to the trees'
voices.
"Their numbers---"
Her words were interrupted as the forest's trees were thrown down one after another.
Following that, the fence surrounding the village was burst open.
"... Just one."
Looking at the beast that had appeared directly before her, Nina spoke with an irked
expression.
It's because her memories concerning this type of beast weren't too good.
What invaded the village was an armored bear.
Moreover, its size was bigger than the one Nina and I had encountered when we met.
"Nina, I'll leave the villagers' safety to you."
"Mm. You'll probably be alright, but be careful..."
"Please wait."
Leaving my back to Nina and taking a step forward, a bell-like voice held me back.
"Mentor. Could you leave it to me?"
It was Ai.
"... Alright. But don't push yourself too much."
"Okay."
Nodding happily, Ai moved in front of me.
Nina didn't have much of an objection to it either.
Having stopped moving due to my glare, the armored bear was angered by seeing such a
small human take the stage and rushed forward with a growl.
The usually cautious and humble Ai asking to do something like this was rare.
Me wanting to respect her request was the reason I didn't stop her.
"My arms, like a bear's; my legs, like a deer's; my skin, like a rock; my strength---"
It was also simply because both Nina and I knew how strong she was.
"---like a dragon's!"
Ai caught the armored bear's paw with her bare hands. It was three or four times taller
than her, but rather than being pushed back, Ai's arms actually forced the armored bear
backward.
"Huooh!"
Following her yell, the armored bear flew into the air. Hurled back several meters, it once
against crashed into the fence.
"He who is clad in ice clothing, who sheds autumn's leaves, and who melts in spring's light,
the spirit of both ice and snow, Jack Frost! Grasp it with your palm and dye it with your
breath!"
Ai stuck out both her palms towards the armored bear and a fierce blizzard shot out, fully
covering the armored bear in snow in the blink of an eye and causing it to freeze solid.
"Tomorrow, we're having bear stew!"
Taking a few more seconds to make sure that the armored bear wasn't going to start
moving again, Ai looked back and did a triumphant pose.
"... I thought she was raised as a kind woman. Man, not even I can win against her
anymore."
"So slow. Why're you so late?"
Nina complained at Darg, who'd said that with a slight tremble.
"It's not like I had to do anything, right?"
He shrugged his shoulders, looking at Ai drag the frozen armored bear with a smile on her
face.
He'd lowered himself after recognizing that he lost against me, but he's been deliberately
laudable recently after being urged forward by Ai's development.
---It's been five years since then.
And it's been a bit over six years since I took Ai in.
There were a few conflicts, but in the end, Darg's village and ours merged together.
Darg's village was one formed entirely through his own charisma and strength.
As he went under me and became my follower, none of his people had much of a problem
with it and we were able to merge without many issues at all.
I thought that Darg would be crude, quick-tempered, and egoistic, but he was actually
unexpectedly amiable to the people in his group.
He might treat them as possessions, but it does also at least mean that he doesn't hurt
them, instead putting his own life on the line to protect them.
On the whole, he isn't a bad guy to have around.
Darg's village wasn't the only one that merged with ours, either.
There was a village that wished to join us because they were unable to provide a sufficient
amount of food for themselves.
There were also villages that considered us a foreign enemy and attacked.
Darg was most useful whenever that happened.
After all, they could tell that they were no match against him just by looking at him.
While I would do the same in that respect, him being of the same race as them was even
better. They might fight to the bitter end thinking that I'd eat them since I'm a dragon, but
since Darg was just barely human enough, they would surrender quickly.
... Well, the most effective thing to do was for both of us to threaten them together.
Like that, the population of our village increased steadily and rapidly, bringing us to over a
thousand people. Taking the standard of this age into account, it's probably fine to consider
this as a top-cla.s.s population level.
"You're our security officer, do your job."
Nina's sermon continued as I was reminiscing over the past few years.
"C'mon. You didn't have to make me the officer of anything."
Darg shot Ai a quick glance.
"This village has four strong magus in it after all."
Just on time, a youth ran over to the girl.
"Sis, are you alright!? Let me take it."
Having completely overtaken Ai in height, the young Ken tried to take over the armored
bear's corpse from her.
"I'm fine. I can do it."
However, Ai had easily warded his hand away with her weak-looking arms. Seeing as how
she has the strength of a dragon right now, it's no wonder.
"Mentor, you too. Don't make her do something so dangerous."
He aimed his verbal attack at me as I was thinking about that.
"Even if you say that, she herself said she wanted to do it and she more than has the ability
to do so. You're not a child anymore, so don't disregard her feelings and unilaterally try to
stop her."
Ken stared at me discontentedly when I said that.
"Not a child..."
Muttering to himself, he ran off.
Still silent, Nina walked over to me and elbowed my side.
"Yeah, I know..."
Although our livelihood and the magic academy were going well, there were still things that
caused me distress.
I was deeply aware of that fact.
＊＊＊
"Sis!"
I, who was heading over to chase after Ai, stopped moving when I heard Ken's voice.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing Ai's soft tone, I could picture her expression in my head.
I could hear her clear as day with my ears, but she was far beyond my visible range.
It was an exchange happening far in the distance.
I feel a bit uneasy about how this seems like eavesdropping though.
But I wasn't exactly able to make an appearance, nor could I plug my ears and leave.
"... No matter what, I'll help you."
"Thanks, but if anyone other than me touches it, they'll cling to it and freeze."
She was probably talking about the armored bear she was dragging along. As a woman that
could manipulate the cold at will, she herself also seemed to have formed a resistance to it.
It's similar to how I won't get burned.
"Not just that! Everything... always. I want to help you."
Ken spoke zealously and straight to the point, similarly to how he manipulated fire.
"I love you, Sis. Please, be my wife."
His words went as I thought they would.
My legs freezing in place was also as I thought they would.
"Thank you. I'm very happy to hear your feelings, Ken."
"Then...!"
"But I'm sorry."
... And Ai's response was, again, what I thought it would be.
"Why... why, am I that useless...?"
His question sounded entirely like a lamentation, yet Ai was unable to respond.
Hearing Ken's footsteps sound as though his strength had been drained, I took a deep
breath.
＊＊＊
Outside of the village to the north was the cave that Guy-san and the others had once lived
in.
This small cave that had been filled with just ten-odd people was now used as an ice room.
With the entrance sealed up with clay and only a small entrance inside, cold magic was
regularly used inside it.
I'd previously used pots as a subst.i.tute for a freezer, but it was tough using magic on each
one individually. They were also bulky and bad at insulating themselves from outside heat.
Although turning the cave into an ice house solved all of those problems in one go, what
made it possible was Ai's earnest progress with her magic.
It appeared that magic has something similar to apt.i.tude.
Just like how I couldn't use cold magic at all and how Nina was exceptionally skilled with
manipulating plants, each and every person had some kind of magic they were and weren't
suited to.
Darg and Guy-san were practically blank slates for anything that wasn't magic that
enhanced their own body, while Ken was good at fire magic. And Ai was our village's best
magus at using cold magic.
She was rather hard working, so wasn't limited to only using cold magic and could use
various kinds, but she was particularly skilled at it. Of everyone in our village, she's the only
one that could use magic to cool down the entire cave. Not even Nina could create the
blizzards she's able to.
"Hey, Ai---"
Lifting up the hanging fur that was acting as the door, I found myself at a loss for words
when I saw Ai come out of the ice house.
"Mentor. Is something wrong?"
Her clothes were adorned by many separate slivers of ice, each shining and glittering in the
moon's light and bringing about a mysterious G.o.ddess-like beauty.
"... No."
Unable to say that I was awed by her appearance, I shook my head.
"It felt like you were charmed by me, though?"
My thoughts easily seen through, I coughed.
"Yeah. You've gotten beautiful."
---Truly.
"Thank you. Even if it's just a compliment, that makes me happy."
Her smile as she said that truly was charming.
And it was troubling.
It had only been six years.
In that short amount of time, that young girl had matured into a beautiful woman.
The hair that she'd had in a quirky short cut now fell to her waist, l.u.s.trous.
Her body had changed from its flat, skin and bones look similar to that of a boy's, to a
curved, womanly appearance.
Her features still gave the feeling of innocence, as well a gentle allure.
"Ken is a good boy."
"I know."
Hearing what I said, her smile vanished, immediately to be replaced with a stern tone.
Exactly because she's this attractive, she'd had to turn down not just Ken, but many other
men.
The fact that she had turned them all down was something that I knew.
As well as what was likely her reason for doing so.
"I... I want you to be happy."
Of course, just getting married and having a child is not happiness.
Yet even so, I want her to live and experience ordinary happiness as well.
"Mentor, I---!"
At that moment, something white fell down on to Ai's nose.
Seeing things floating down on us from above, we looked up into the sky.
"Snow...?"
"This... is snow? It's the first time I've..."
The climate around here was warm, it hadn't snowed here up till now at all, not even in the
winter. I'd taken Ai to see snow that had acc.u.mulated on the top of a mountain so that she
could understand what snow was, but this should be the first time she's ever seen it falling.
"Hoh hoh hoh."
A strange voice came from inside the ice room.
"Hoh hoh hoh."
It lifted up the fur pelt at the entrance with sluggish movements, once again making that
sound.
"Jack Frost...?"
Ai muttered into the air.
As though to answer her, the fur froze over.
18
The Ice Spirit 氷の精霊
Walking on frost and accompanied by ice, he appears with the snow.
is that he looks so cute.
"Hoh, hoh, hoh."
It crept out of the ice room slowly, as though to see what we were doing.
Each time it took a step, needles of ice would appear at its feet. Touched by its hands, the
ice room's walls froze.
It wasn't too tall. Around the same height as Ai, perhaps?
It had a big, round head sitting above its round body. Its mantle had icicles hanging from it.
Staring into its black round eyes was like staring into the abyss, its emotions unreadable.
"What the..."
I muttered.
It was a being entirely unknown to me for this world. Bears, deers, rabbits, names like that
could be applied to just about all of the animals here. The evolutionary trend headed
toward much larger bodies, more feet, or more horns, but it could all be explained simply
by thinking of the trend as being more diverse.
I could understand that the things living here were similar. Evolution would converge on
certain things according to function. Birds needed wings to fly in the sky, for example. Not
even in this magical world would something as basic as that change. Magic was something
born from the development of their original capabilities, after all.
But then there's this.
Jack Frost was a fict.i.tious existence. That is, one from Earth's fiction.
"Mentor."
Her eyes fixed on Jack Frost, Ai whispered, her tone firm.
"Please, run."
Jack Frost opened his mouth and a terribly cold wave of air blew out from it.
Driven by reflex, I opened my mouth wide and spewed fire against it. The flames and
storming cold air collided with each other, negating themselves.
"... No way!?"
However, my flames couldn't last against the never ending flurry as they started to
dwindle. After all, me breathing fire was me exhaling. I quickly took a hold of Ai, unfurled
my wings, and took to the sky.
"What in the world is he?"
"Mentor, this won't work! We have to land!"
Together with the falling snow, a storm blew against my body. I made an effort to stabilize
myself by flexing my wings, but I wasn't able to move them well due to the freezing cold.
I started to spin in circles as I fell toward the ground.
Bad, this is very bad! I have to do something!
I embraced Ai closely, wrapping my tail and wings against her so that I could at least
protect her.
However, the impact I felt several moments later wasn't the crash I had expected. I'd been
caught by soft branches and leaves.
"What're you doing?"
"Nina!"
Standing on the elongated branch like a little bird, Nina looked down at me.
"Oooooh! Raaah!"
Hearing a barbarous cry come from below me, I looked down.
Darg had just sliced Jack Frost in two with his crag blade.
A burst of snow scattered and Jack Frost crumbled apart.
But immediately after that, snow clumped together and formed the snowman once again.
"What!?"
Darg opened his eyes wide and slashed at it again, as well as taking a distance.
"Bother, what the h.e.l.l is this thing!?"
"Well... I don't know, either."
I understand that it's Jack Frost.
I understand that, but what is it?
A demon? An apparition? A sprite?
Even in this world that has dragons in it, this is the first time I've seen a creature that
doesn't die from falling apart like that.
"Brother, can you deal with it with your flames?"
"His breath was stronger."
"Wha---!? Stronger than that?"
Darg was probably recalling the matter from five years ago. He took a glance at the
ventilation hole still in the side of that mountain.
"The was after I recited an incantation with all I had. What lost against it was a chantless,
ordinary breath."
"Could you defeat it if you use that incantation?"
"I think so, but..."
I answered Nina's question with a shake of my head.
"Even a short incantation would probably blast away the ice house."
"Let's think of another way then."
Nina instantly shot down her idea.
Fire was simply too compatible with me.
If I went and used an incantation, I wouldn't be able to hold back at all.
"I'll do it!"
The one who broke into the conversation was Ken.
"Ken, you came too?"
True, we might just be able to defeat this Jack Frost with his fire magic.
He's better than me when it comes to adjusting his output.
"Are you guys done talking!?"
Repeatedly cutting Jack Frost to pieces, Darg shouted out to us.
Even though it immediately reconstructed itself, it wasn't as though his attacks were
entirely useless.
At the very least, it didn't seem like he could attack while he was destroyed.
However, things froze just by touching his body. Darg's crag blade itself was covered in
white and his arms were starting to freeze.
Rather, just how is he even swinging his sword in that state?
"I'll give you a chance then. Ken, take it out in one big shot."
"Alright."
Ken nodded and Nina leapt to the ground soundlessly.
"You know."
He looked my way with and spoke.
"Mentor, you can let Sis down now."
Hearing him, I finally realized that I was still holding on to Ai.
"S-sorry!"
I hurried down from the tree and let go of her.
"It's okay... I have to stop, that child..."
After looking down in what appeared to be a trace of embarra.s.sment, her expression
hardened as she gazed at Jack Frost.
"Oh trees, roots, branches and leaves! Grow and form a cage!"
Responding to Nina's incantation, all sorts of roots and trees broke through the ground and
enclosed Jack Frost.
However, just because it finished imprisoning him, Jack Frost waved his hand.
That alone was enough to cause what he touched with his palm to freeze.
"Come one! Why're you growing so slow!"
The plants that usually sprouted up like eager serpents were moving awfully awkwardly.
It was due to the surrounding temperature itself being considerably lower.
"Fire!"
Leaping up, I turned my head to the sky and uttered a single-worded incantation.
A giant fireball erupted from my mouth, illuminating the night sky like a newly born sun.
"Woah... that's crazy."
"Oh vines, tangle and twine!"
Rays of heat raining down on the surrounding ice incessantly, it all evaporated in an
instant. Nina took advantage of that and caused the nearby ivy to extend towards Jack
Frost. The ivy that tangled around him froze the instant it touched his body, fixing it in
place.
"That which extends its tongue of red, which is clad in garments of flame, oh salamander,
consume it as kindling---"
Jack Frost slowly turned to look at Ken, who was reciting an incantation.
Then, a snowstorm blew from his crescent-shaped mouth.
"Icy mantle of frost, to me!"
Immediately following Ai's quick shout, icicles stood towering before Ken like a shield.
... Right. If it's just for defense, isn't ice more effective than fire?
"Use your tongue to bore through and eradicate it with your breath!"
Ken, completing his incantation, fired off an unbelievably hot ball of fire from his fingertip.
It easily penetrated the ice pillars Ai had produced, as well as continued on to pierce Jack
Frost in the same manner.
The sound it make was like a red-hot metal rod being thrust into water, Jack Frost
disappearing without a trace.
"Phew, you did it..."
"Looks like it."
After confirming that it wouldn't sprout back up, Dark thrust his sword into the ground and
caught his breath.
Nina seemed to lose her tension as well.
I could finally calm down.
"Still though, Brother, to think that you were to strong was the problem."
"I'm really not good at regulating my fire. Even so, I can handle average opponents with my
ordinary breaths and my claws."
I should probably come up with some attacks that use something other than fire.
I'm alright at manipulating wind, but it's not too suitable for attacking with since air is too
light.
"Sis, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's nothing..."
Ai shook her head.
Her words made it sound as though she was thinking about something.
I wonder what it was?
She turned to me.
"Umm... Mentor. Could we talk for a moment?"
"Oh, sure. I don't mind."
"Then let's go to my house."
I nodded and started to follow her back to the village.
"Can... we not hear it, too?"
Just then, Ken stopped us.
"It's not that you... can't."
"Then---!"
"Hey."
Nina rose her voice as she looked up into the sky, cutting Ken off.
"It didn't stop snowing?"
A flake of snow floated down and landed on her outstretched palm.
Following that, the snow that was falling down whirled together, gathering in one place.
Reforming from the head down, Jack Frost's mouth drew into the shape of a crescent moon.
Ai's actions as she turned around from facing me... they felt like they were in slow motion.
"Don't!"
She spread her arms wide and shouted.
And a white wind was blown.
The next instant, Ai's body had frozen completely solid.
19
A Guiding Fetish 誘導呪物
Do you have someone you hate?
Pick whichever you like, bring it to me
--- Shaman Sawari
"Ai!"
Calling her name with a voice close to a shout, I blew out flames to melt the ice.
But far from melting under the heat of my breath, it even continued to enlarge as it
engulfed Ai, turning into a large pillar-like crystal.
"Hoh, hoh, hoh."
Jack Frost let out a happy-sounding noise and bounced upward.
Its round body floated buoyantly as it ran away, looking as though it was sliding through
the air.
"Ah! Get back here!"
Darg chased off after him. Jack Frost had taken to the air in order to escape, so I, as
someone who could fly the best of us all, should have been the one to do the chasing.
However, that's something I simply couldn't do.
"Ai, Ai! Dammit... what should I do!?"
No matter how much I breathed on it, the ice pillar didn't melt.
"Mentor, move aside!"
His incantation complete, Ken blasted a large ball of fire against Ai.
I was about to say something about what he intended to do if he burned her, but when I
saw the result, my worrying was unneeded.
Not even Ken's magic had caused so much as a drop of water to melt.
"That which is more red than my scales..."
"Cut that out!"
Now that it's come to this, all I can do it use an incantation. Just as I started putting that
thought into action, Nina pulled on my tail with a jerk.
"You probably would manage to melt it, but you might end up doing the same to Ai along
with it!"
"But if we don't...!"
Her entire body was covered in ice, there's no way she could be able to breath in it.
Suffocation causes damage to the brain if it doesn't get oxygen within five minutes. We
don't have time to be slow here!
"I think she'll be alright, event if we don't rush. Mmm, like what happens to trees when they
shed their leaves."
However, starkly contrasting my impatience, Nina was odiously serene.
"... Like hibernation?"
"Yeah yeah, like that. Hibernation. At the very least, she isn't about to die right away."
Nina's usual flippant wording and att.i.tude managed to bring me back to my senses.
"But are you sure? How do you know that?"
"Eh? You tell from looking though?"
... It looks like I'll need to hear more about how from her later on.
"But it's not like we can just wait for spring to come. Do you know how we could melt the
ice?"
"It should melt on its own if we defeat that thing."
I also felt like that's how it'd be.
Though it might be better to say that I only barely thought of it, rather than truly knew it.
"But for us to defeat it... it didn't even die when it was blasted to bits. How could we kill it..."
"Why not just burn it as many times as it takes?"
"... The answer was that simple...?"
Snow was, in short, frozen water. Water doesn't disappear when it evaporates, it just turns
into a gas. That should be the reason Jack Frost was able to revive himself like that.
If we a.s.sume that fire is just as useless as smashing or slicing him, what should we do?
's.h.i.t! Sorry, Brother! I lost sight of the b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
Darg came running back, panting.
"I could tell that it was heading outside the forest though..."
The village was surrounded by forest on all sides.
Rather, maybe it'd be better to say that we cut out a part of the forest in order to make the
village?
What continued on after the edge of the forest was a vast gra.s.sland.
"... That's troublesome."
Between a forest or a gra.s.sland, it'd be easier to hide in the forest.
However, that kind of common sense didn't apply to us.
Because we have the incarnation of the forest, the trees' chosen child, Nina.
Whether he tried hiding in a bush, in the trees, or underground, so long as he was in the
forest, finding him would be as easy as Nina flipping over her hand.
But when it comes to searching through those vast gra.s.slands, Nina's power is useless.
There's almost no lighting in this primitive age to light the dark, so I wouldn't even see
anything from the sky.
"We'll have to wait for morning. I'll keep an eye on Ai, so you get some rest."
"But..."
Jack Frost might not be in the gra.s.slands by the time morning comes around.
No, it wouldn't be strange even if he'd already left it.
I didn't feel like just laying down at a time like this would help anything.
"We know that it's not in the forest. In that case, the only one capable of searching for it is
you. I'll wake you up just before the sun rises, so hurry up and get some rest to preserve
your stamina."
Nina's argument was so sound that I had no room to rebut it.
But even so, my feelings weren't so willing to bow to logic.
I gazed silently at Ai's figure trapped within the pillar of ice.
Both of her arms were stretched out to he sides with her head down and eyes closed. She
looked like a crucified Christ.
She'd protected me.
There's no way I could ever just leave her like this.
But I don't have any idea what to---
"... Wait a second."
Unexpectedly, I realized something.
"That which is rock solid, yet as invisible as the wind. What is stale as a shadow, yet as
dazzling as light, I call upon you! Heed my voice, show me your creator's face...!"
I realized something about the ice that had trapped Ai.
Given that my flames couldn't melt it, it couldn't just be ordinary water. It was obviously
magical in origin. In other words, it was closely connected to Jack Frost. One might even say
that it was a part of him.
There's a magical connection between items and what those items were once a part of,
similar to how I transmitted my voice through a scale of mine a while back. I've decided to
call objects like these fetishes.
Fundamentally, you aren't able to use magic on things that are outside of your scope of
vision. This is because magic needs you to perceive and realize what something is, so you
can't use it on what you can't see.
However, so long as you have one of these charms, you can use magic even on things that
you can't see. Nina's ability to monitor everything in the forest is because all of the forest's
trees are fetishes to her.
"It worked!"
It was my first time using magic directly on a fetish itself, but I succeeded in tracing it back
to him. The surface of the ice pillar displayed Jack Frost as he climbed a mountain. It was
the mountain to the south beyond the gra.s.sland, but it was transmitting the video of him
rather clearly.
"Nina, take this."
I removed one of my scales and handed it to her.
"You know how to use it, right? Please, keep me updated on where he is."
It's not like Jack Frost would just stay still while I spent time catching up to him. I need
someone here to keep track of where he goes. Nina should be able to do it as easily as I did.
"... Alright."
Nodding, I spread my wings out wide.
"Wait!"
It was Ken.
"Mentor, please take me too!"
Hearing his plea, I hesitated for a moment.
It's not because I thought we was hostile toward me or anything like that.
It's because although he definitely is a strong Magus, he hasn't had much real battle
experience at all.
Meanwhile, although Darg's only able to use physical reinforcement, he is enormously
powerful.
Above all, he's accustomed to fighting.
Even if I'm a dragon, I'm still only around three meters long at the most.
I can only carry a single person.
I feel like taking Darg along would be better since we'll be at the top of a mountain and I'll
be able to wield my power not having to worry about collateral damage.
"Ken, sorry, but..."
"Brother, take the kid!"
Surprisingly, Darg himself threw Ken a lifesaver.
"I'd only stop that thing from moving at best. The kid should be more useful than me
against that thing!"
"Old man..."
"I'm not that old, call me bro."
The two of them knocked fists and grinned at each other.
I envied their relationship a little.
It wasn't a good time for me to do that, though.
"Hold on tight, Ken!"
"Yeah!"
Ken on my back, I took off into the night sky.
"W-o-o-oaaaah...!"
Ken screamed.
"Amazing...!"
I guess it was more of an exclamation than a scream.
Come to think of it, this is the first time I've flown with him.
Nina and Ai were the only two other Magus able to fly, so this is probably the first time he's
seen things from this high up.
"... So this is the scenery Mentor always looks at..."
Ken muttered.
"There's all of it, but nothing we can see."
To be frank, the night is pitch black.
The moon was out a little while ago, but it's been hiding behind the clouds so I really can't
see anything at all. I can just barely make out black shapes on the ground below me.
Paying attention so that I wouldn't crash into anything, I headed for the mountain.
And then I vaguely noticed something floating in the sky.
There weren't many things that would fly around in a night as dark as this.
Thinking that I may have seen it wrong, I blinked twice and took another look.
Right there, in the dark night---
Was Darg's. Burly. b.u.t.t.
"Pfft!?"
Seeing something so ridiculous, I accidentally spat out fire.
[Nn. It looks like it worked?]
Following that, Nina's voice came out of it.
"Nina, the heck? What happened?"
Darg's b.u.t.t kept floating near me as I flew through the sky.
I didn't have the presence of mind to think about it much, but honestly, it was seriously
unpleasant.
[Telling you in words would be annoying, so I'm showing you what I'm seeing.]
Darg's b.u.t.t vanished, but what followed was a close-up of Ai's bust.
"What you're seeing, huh... how?"
[Dunno. I just tried it out and it worked.]
This genius...!!
[So yeah. That guy is...]
A finger appeared. Nina was probably looking at her finger.
[Around here on the mountain.]
"... Please don't ill.u.s.trate it with her chest."
What Nina pointed to was the tip of Ai's bulging chest.
[But it's easier that way.]
Well, it's true.
Rather, Nina, aren't you staring at Ai's chest too much?
a.s.suming that whatever appears in this illusion is what she's looking at, she's practically
only staring at Ai's chest...
"Either way, thanks. I get where I need to go."
[It doesn't look like he's moving now, so you should be good heading straight for him. I'll let
you know if he starts moving again.]
Done talking, she cut off.
"Mentor, is that it?"
Unexpectedly, Ken spoke up after the illusion vanished.
"What?"
"There. That!"
It felt like he was pointing forward, but I couldn't exactly see turn around to look at his
finger. However, there was still quite a distance to the mountain.
The mountain was so far away that I could barely make out its outline. I've been to it before
and know how far away it is, so I couldn't believe he'd spotted something on it.
"What are you talking about?"
"I just said, that! Can't you see it? It's so close!"
"Close? Ken, we're currently moving really fast. If it's so close, we should've overtaken it a
while ago."
We're going so fast that there's nothing I can really compare it to. I've even had to protect
him with magic so that he wouldn't get blown off my back. He might've mistaken our speed
because of that, but we're actually moving five or six hundred kilometers per hour right
now.
"But it's been there this whole time---..."
"But there's only---..."
We frowned simultaneously.
Because we finally realized.
We realized what we had been misunderstanding from each other.
And that Nina's information was wrong.
Jack Frost wasn't at the top of a mountain.
One of the two mountains in front of us was Jack Frost.
20
Mana Link 魔力結合
Do you know what he said back
"Mentor, you really are amazing."
---The Verdant Witch, Nina
"W-was he that big!?"
"Obviously not!"
I definitely do remember there being a mountain there.
Rising into the heavens, it had turned into Jack Frost's round head, eyes and mouth
included.
"Did it absorb the snow at its summit and get bigger...?"
Still though, that's way too big!
Now that it's grown this much, wouldn't I not be enough anymore?
While Ken and I were shuddering at the thought of taking it on, Jack Frost opened its
crescent mouth with a rusty machine-like motion.
"Salamander, bring forth your fire!"
"Oh flames, burn everything!"
We each recited our own incantations. Immediately afterwards, a thick snowstorm
a.s.sailed us.
Our two streams of fire twisted around each other and shot out. It was barely enough to
compete against the snowstorm's strength, but us two combined managed to be on par
with it.
---No, it wasn't enough.
"Mentor...! How long is this going to keep up!?"
With my mouth preoccupied by spewing out flames, I couldn't answer Ken's shout.
However, I could tell from his voice that he was also approaching his limit.
Similar to how I'm unable to breath while spewing fire, it's impossible to continue using
magic indefinitely.
Be that as it may, it seemed like Jack Frost's snowstorm was inexhaustible. If things
continued on, we'd lose against the snowstorm and get blasted down to the ground.
It'd be great if we could protect ourselves with ice like Ai did, but I'm incredibly bad when
it comes to ice magic. Even if I miraculously managed to succeed in invoking it, I wouldn't
be able to create an ice wall.
What can I do, what...!?
"Kuh---sorry, Mentor!"
Exhausted, Ken's flames stopped. Just after that, the snowstorm began pushing back my
flames and gradually drew closer. I'd tried my best at flying sideways to dodge out of the
snowstorm, but Jack Frost was able to change its direction. There were no signs of me
being able to get out of it.
My flames would soon reach their limit.
Similar to a collapsing dam, the icy snow surged at us all at once after I stopped spewing
fire.
"Split it---"
But just on the verge of getting blasted, I recalled it.
Rather than using the opposite of something to defend against it, it's easier to manipulate
something similar.
So although I couldn't produce ice---
"Wind!"
Manipulating wind was one of my specialties!
The snowstorm split in two and streamed past us to both sides. It's not a type of magic I
have to emit from myself, so I'll be able to keep it up for however long I need like this.
Even so, I have to concentrate to be able to accurately divide the snowstorm apart.
So much so that using fire magic as well would be difficult.
"Ken, I'll keep the snowstorm at bay. You attack!"
"Alright!"
I headed toward Jack Frost while tearing apart the wind. Even if it isn't that effective, we
have to do something to shrink his giant body.
"That which extends its tongue of red, which is clad in garments of flame, oh salamander,
consume it as kindling---"
Listening to Ken's incantation, I suddenly thought of something.
a.s.suming that there is an ice spirit, wouldn't summoning a salamander---a fire spirit---be
able to entirely oppose it?
I immediately sc.r.a.pped the idea after thinking of it.
It feels like summoning it would be possible.
But I couldn't take the chance of losing control of the salamander.
"The spear that singes all, the sword that destroys all, the arrow that pierces all, and the
hammer that smashes all. Bundle yourself, wind tightly and bore through creation, create a
blinding flash of light!"
A flash shot out from Ken's outstretched palms.
Easily piercing the fierce storm, it bore through Jack Frost.
"That's...!"
The second half of the incantation was what I used when I was truly angry at Darg.
"... Mentor, I respect you."
Panting, Ken unexpectedly said that.
"You're stronger than anyone, know more than anyone, and are more gentle than anyone.
Ever since I was a kid, you've been my goal."
Come to think of it, he was more simple-minded back when I met him five years ago.
"But it's different for Sis. You know, right? Sis always, always rejects my courtship. Why?
Why..."
Yeah.
"---Why, why does she only ever see me as her younger brother?"
Of course I know.
I've known for a long, long time.
"So why, why don't you respond to her!?"
That flash magic must have been a heavy burden for Ken.
"Or maybe... Mentor, do you not think anything of Sis!?"
Out of breath and intermittently firing attacks, he asked me a question.
"Answer me. Without putting on airs, without treating me like a child."
I-it's---
"If you don't, I'll force---"
"It's obvious that I like her!"
By the time I realized it, I'd roared out my response.
"There's no reason that I wouldn't like such a hard working, gentle, earnest, cute child...!"
"Then why---!?"
"Because I'm a dragon!"
It was something I hadn't admitted to at all up till now.
"We couldn't walk together holding hands. We couldn't have children---I couldn't even
embrace her in my arms."
Around where the chest and throat meet on a dragon is where the reverse scale was said to
be in my previous life.
There isn't a reverse scale there, but it is instead the location where my body temperature
is at its highest. If a human touched it, a simple burn wouldn't be the end of it. If Ai were to
embrace me, that would be where her face rested.
"For such a good child to be forced into being with someone like me... she doesn't deserve
having her life ruined. Don't you agree?"
This time, Ken said nothing in response to my words.
Just then, several huge pillars of ice appeared around Jack Frost.
Did he change his method of attacking after seeing that he couldn't kill us with a
snowstorm?
Ice arrows... no, those are closer to spears or battering rams. I don't think I could defend
against those with wind.
"Wind---"
But I did have a trick to use.
"Carry my wings!"
If you can't move your opponent, you can just move yourself to them.
Responding to the intense gust, my body shot up, down, left, and right at high speeds.
However, I wouldn't be able to avoid it like this forever.
Ice spears were flung toward us one after another, gradually becoming smaller and more
frequent, its supply seemingly inexhaustible.
It realized that quant.i.ty was more important than quality here.
"Mentor. I understand how you feel, and although I don't agree with you..."
Sounding like he'd broken through something, Ken spoke.
"Will you lend me your power?"
I didn't know what he was thinking.
But of one thing, I was sure.
He and I were both thinking about and fighting for Ai from the bottoms of hearts.
"Yeah, of course."
Therefore, I had no reason to refuse his request.
"That which extends its tongue of red, which is clad in garments of flame---"
Ken began reciting his usual incantation.
"---which has sharp horns, and which is the bearer of sagacious wisdom."
No, it's different. His incantation, it's---
"Oh compa.s.sionate salamander, the fire dragon whose strength lords over all---"
---addressing me!
"Grant me your breath and scour that menace with your majesty!"
I felt the heat within my belly soar.
Yeah, sure.
Take it, take it all!
From Ken's palms shot a giant flame.
It was different from the flash that aimed solely to bundle its power tighter together.
It was a hot, intense crimson flame.
This was the breath of a genuine dragon.
The giant flame wrapped around Jack Frost, evaporating it and all of the flying ice pillars
around it, continuing on to burn the entire mountain.
Everything ended up burning.
"... Mentor, you really are amazing."
Relieved, Ken muttered those words.
"No, not yet!"
I forced my wings back toward me and dove to the mountain's tip that Jack Frost had been
concealing.
The snow still hadn't stopped.
Sure enough, the falling snow was reforming, trying to revive Jack Frost.
"What should we do!? Mentor!"
Taking a look at it, I was convinced.
This was the place I had brought Ai so that she could see and understand what ice was.
This Jack Frost was something Ai had created after all.
Something she had produced with her magic, something that had gone out of control.
In that case, I have a good solution for this.
I opened my mouth wide and---
Chomp.
---ate Jack Frost.
Thinking back, I had eaten the first magic she'd produced back then as well.
Magic would disappear once it entered my body, something that was itself magical.
Even if that weren't so, it would constantly be melted by the flames within my body, never
getting the chance to reform into Jack Frost.
My conjecture appeared to be correct, as the snow that had been falling in the vicinity
stopped immediately.
The dark clouds disappeared with surprising swiftness, allowing the rising sun to shine
from beyond the horizon and for it to illuminate the mountaintop.
21
Disenchant 解呪
It was the exact opposite of those fairy-tales.
The causes, the genders, even the order of it all.
"Why!?"
I cried out in spite of myself.
"Why... why isn't it melting!?"
Yeah.
Even though we killed Jack Frost, Ai remained frozen.
"That Jack Frost guy should be gone now..."
Even Nina was frowning, her tone stiff.
"Yeah. He should be."
According to Nina, Jack Frost's reaction vanished a little after I ate him. There wasn't a
reaction even after she casted magic on the ice encasing Ai again, and the snow falling
around here disappeared as well.
Rather than believing that Jack Frost had devised some countermeasure against detection
magic, it would be better to think that the magic's effect has continued on even after his
disappearance.
But if we a.s.sume that, what should we do?
"Mentor."
The one who came to the place Ai was frozen at was Guy-san, worried.
"Guy-san... sorry. Because of me, Ai..."
"Not, Mentor's, fault."
Guy-san shook his head as he spoke with some difficulty.
"But..."
"Mentor."
Guy-san called my name as I was shaking my head, feeling like I wanted to vanish.
"I, don't know, magic. I no good, at words, too."
As he said, he still wasn't well practiced with his j.a.panese.
But I understood what he was trying to convey and looked into his eyes.
"But Ai, I know. A little."
He turned his gaze toward Ai, touching the pillar tenderly.
"I think, Ai did this, herself."
"Herself? Why would she..."
"To be with Mentor, forever."
I was shocked at the gravity of Guy-san's brief statement.
It was all connected.
"That which is rock solid, yet as invisible as the wind. What is stale as a shadow, yet as
dazzling as light, I call upon you!"
I uttered an incantation.
Not towards Ai, but towards the ice inside the ice house.
"Please teach me. Teach me what you heard, the words you've stored."
At that moment, countless words streamed toward me.
I finally understood it all.
The only people in this world that knew what Jack Frost looked like was me and Ai.
The two of us visited that snowy mountain.
She had used cold magic over and over in that ice house.
It was conceivable that Jack Frost's manifestation had to do with Ai's magic. However, I was
wondering if it was a side effect of her magic or an accidental outcome from using the
magic so much.
But I was wrong.
Ai is a very patient child.
I've never seen her complaining or being dissatisfied in front of anyone, not even once.
But it wasn't like she didn't have any complaints to give.
That that was obvious, I hadn't realized at all.
Jack Frost didn't just suddenly appear last night.
It had stayed within that ice house for a long time, listening to Ai express her true thoughts.
Then, when he saw that I wouldn't accept her, he showed himself.
Jack Frost wasn't running away.
In his own way, he was trying to realize Ai's desire.
"... Ai."
I turned to the frozen Ai and placed my paw against the ice pillar.
Ai's height was around a hundred and sixty centimeters.
Although my height was two-ish meters, my head's position at the end of my neck was a
little lower, just enough so that I would look her straight in the eye.
Yeah.
The perspective of this young girl who'd always clung to my forelegs was already the same
height as mine.
Meanwhile, I hadn't grown at all.
It wasn't as though I wouldn't grow any further---that much could be seen by looking at
mother.
She was more than tenfold my current size.
My lifespan is long. Overwhelmingly so.
Although Ai was now a matured woman, I still hadn't left my adolescence as far as dragons
are concerned. That's just how it is.
Because of that, Ai would overtake me in the blink of an eye, continuing on to a far away
place.
The thought of that scared me, it was painful. Therefore, I kept her away.
I wholeheartedly pretended not to notice that she longed for me.
What, I wanted her to be happy?
It was just me running away.
Ai understood that we were so different, yet still chose to be with me... to the point of
freezing herself.
"... I don't want that."
My true feelings tumbled out.
But her magic was strong, strong enough that perhaps only she herself could undo it.
In that case, this magic would never be undone.
... No.
There is a way, just one.
Just like how Ken called out to me and summoned my flames, I just need to call out to Ai
and use her magic.
"... Ai."
The way I had been speaking to call out to all of the various objects followed an incantation
theory I came up with.
Nevertheless, I completely ignored that method and the first thing to come from my mouth
was her name. I racked my brain trying to think of how I should continue.
"If... if us being together forever means you being frozen, I don't want that."
Not stopping, I continued to speak like an unreasonable child.
"That fish I ate with you... was terribly delicious."
Unable to think of a good incantation, I was instead only able to recall our memories
together.
"I truly enjoyed living together in the same house as you and Nina... though bathing
together was embarra.s.sing."
Oh, so that was it?
I suddenly realized it.
"It's all thanks to you that everyone is able to live so prosperously now. You, who's been
with me this whole time."
Up till now, I didn't understand what magic was at all.
"Tomorrow, next week, next year, even beyond that."
Why is it that magic gets stronger as the incantation grows larger?
"Forever and ever... I'll always want to see your smile."
It's because you're filling it with your thoughts, your heart.
"Please, come out. Ai."
I embraced the ice pillar.
"I---love you."
At that moment.
The ice pillar suddenly lost its hardness and crashed down as water.
"I love you, too---"
Her voice trembling, Ai looked at me with teary eyes.
"I love you, Mentor."
"Ai!"
Enduring the impulse to hug her as tightly as I could, I gently placed my claws on her
shoulders.
With that, she jumped toward me and hugged my head tightly, kissing me on my brow.
Her soft touch and gentle scent tickled my nostrils.
"Congratulations, Brother!"
The heavenly joy I felt quickly drowned out Darg's voice.
Which reminds me.
I'd lost myself and forgot about them, but Darg, Nina, Ken, and Guy-san had all watched
that.
Rather, the sun had risen and many of the villagers were gathering around us.
"Maaan, I thought they'd get together at some point, guess it finally happened."
"Now I can, be, relieved."
"Really, I thought it'd take a few more years."
"But Mentor did his best yeah?"
"For him to say I love you in front of so many people..."
"Even so, it's a good thing."
"Yeah, but too bad for Nina."
"Hey now, I'll comfort her."
"Nina's too flat, I'll pa.s.s."
"She will punch you, you know."
The villagers cheered and jeered amongst themselves.
It was at this moment that I was glad at being born a red dragon.
It's not like my face could get any more red, after all.
22
An Uneven Clock 不揃いの時計
"Compared to me, your life is like the second hand of a clock."
"No... I'm the clock itself."
It was a rainy autumn day.
We were on a small hill, spa.r.s.ely populated by small trees.
"You were mighty, wise, and brave."
Our voices overlapped as we slowly recited the incantation.
"You were sometimes tough, sometimes gentle, and forever heroic."
There, dozens of people had gathered. Ahead of them all, I prayed.
"Please, I pray you rest in peace."
---It was Guy-san's last rites.
His body was gently laid down into the hole we'd dug open in the hill.
The various villagers had mournfully thrown flowers into the hole to lay with him.
It wasn't that I'd told them to do so.
The villagers, with their own simplistic sensibilities, had established their customs as a
matter of course.
"... Mentor."
"Yeah."
Ai calling my name with tears in her eyes, I nodded.
Then, I inhaled deeply---and breathed out toward Guy-san.
Even without using an incantation, it was a dragon flame at high enough of a temperature
to deal with an armored bear.
Breathing that out into the hole, not even his bones remained.
"Soil, take this person into yourself."
When Nina solemnly uttered the incantation, his ashes were buried within the ground.
"And sprout anew."
A very small sprout burst from the soil, growing rapidly. Before long, it had grown to be
around the size of the surrounding trees.
I'd decided on cremation as a means of warding away the possibility of infectious diseases,
but it was surprisingly accepted by everyone readily. I don't think their reason is just that
they trust in my flame though, I believe it's also because of the magic Nina just invoked.
"Mentor."
Staring at that small tree, Ai once again called my name.
"Is there really a world after death?"
No, though I don't think I should answer like that.
Jack Frost's materialization was most likely due to my lie becoming reality through Ai. As a
result of her calling out for Jack Frost day in and day out, her thoughts and emotions
acc.u.mulated, turned into a significant ma.s.s... and eventually became spirit.
An afterworld may be made through a similar way.
"Yes, yes there is."
Therefore, I answered so.
"There is a world after death, really. So it's alright, Guy-san is spending his time there in
peace."＊＊＊
At a location several minutes of flying north from the village we live in.
It may just be a few minutes, but on a dragon's wings, that means twenty or thirty
kilometers.
My birthplace was there. This was the first time I'd returned to it in many years, my
birthplace located in a cave nearby a caldera.
It's a cave, but it's not a naturally formed one.
There weren't any stalact.i.tes or stalagmites to be seen and the pathway was a beautifully
straight circle.
I used to wonder how this cave was build, but now I know. She'd melted it with her breath.
Just like how I'd opened up that mountain's ventilation hole.
Once I got to the end of the pathway, I reached a large, s.p.a.cious room. Immediately next
to me was a simmering pool of magma, the temperature here was probably too high for
normal humans to withstand. I couldn't even bring Ai here to inform her of our marriage...
Well, I didn't tell her either way. If I told her something like I married a human, she might
doubt my sanity...
"Oh? Welcome home."
"I'm back, mother."
What appeared to be a giant red wall at first glance was actually my current life's mother.
A single one of her outstretched wings were even larger than my entire body.
"I was just about to eat, would you like to join?"
Mother thrust the leg of some giant creature into the magma---it looked weirdly similar to
dipping a fry into a dipping cup.
"Time to eat, then."
Following her example, I put the meat into the magma before eating it as well. This is how I
always used to eat my meals when I lived here.
"Yeah, tasty."
I don't think that anything other than red dragons would find it tasty at all though.
I've heard that the sense of saltiness in taste is just a feeling of heat and pain on the tongue.
I can't say for sure if it's the same for dragons, but putting magma directly on a red
dragon's tongue is definitely painfully hot. It gives us a tingling sensation.
For dragons, magma is salty.
However.
Chewing on meat side by side with her, I got a hold of myself.
Even though this is my first time coming back in quite a few years, she's been acting
normally.
I was troubled by whether this was because dragons were patient by nature or if it was
because mother was especially leisurely.
"Mother. Could I ask you a question?"
"What is it?"
Mother leaned her giant head down until we were only around my tail's length apart.
"Mother, how old are you?"
"Twenty-six!"
I had to stop myself from spouting back at her to not hide her age.
"How could that be? Right now, I'm around twenty."
"Twenty? ... Ooh. You're counting by the seasons?"
Mother closed her mouth most of the way and blew out a thin, long flame against the
ground. Easily melting the hard rocks, she drew a detailed picture on the ground. Be it in
heat or control, she exceeded me by far.
"This is the sun shining in the sky. And this is the planet we live on."
The picture was of our planet revolving around the sun in an elliptical orbit.
"Once the cycle of morning and night repeats four hundred and twenty times, this planet
returns to more or less the same position. However, the orbit isn't fully complete there, the
ellipse itself moves little by little."
Like a petal, the ellipse revolved around the sun as it spun.
"So then, after ninety-eight times, it will return to roughly the original orbit. That is one
year."
My mouth fell open in my surprise.
Let alone Copernican theory and her understanding of the concept of orbital trajectories, I
was shocked by the fact that she was nearly twenty-six hundred years old. No, since the
revolution cycles themselves are longer than Earth's, she's over twenty-eight hundred in
Earth's years.
From her perspective, she would probably view the fragile, weak humans incapable of their
own language and that relied on stone tools as no better than ants. Once again, I was
stunned by the vast chasm between humans and dragons.
"... Mother, so far as you know... who's the oldest dragon?"
"Let me see, I think your grandfather was more than two hundred?"
Two hundred... times ninety-eight.
Even in this world's year length, that's nineteen thousand, six hundred years old. Isn't that
basically immortal?
"... You gave birth to me pretty young, mother."
That's all I could manage to say.＊＊＊
"Welcome home, Mentor!"
Ai ran up to me when I returned to the village.
"I'm back. Sorry, you must have been lonely."
"No, I'm okay."
Ai hugged my foreleg tightly, laughing with a smile on her face.
Could I continue living for hundreds, thousands of years after losing her?
No. I'd never make it.
But I also know that I don't have the courage to end my life with hers.
In that case, there's only one thing I can do.
Eternal youth.
I have no choice but to realize mankind's dream in this world.
23
A Red Dragon's Blood 赤竜の血
Cutting your finger when you're cooking happens often enough, but I'd prefer not having to
cut my finger in order to cook, if possible.
Darg held his crag blade aloft as he slowly sidled up to me.
Raising my left foreleg up as a shield, I breathed out.
"Huuu!"
Just as I did a quick exhalation, he swung his sword down.
I felt no pain from it at all.
"A-are you alright, Brother!?"
"Yeah. That was splendid."
Ripping off one of my scales from where he struck me, I could see blood start to flow out
and was glad.
Honestly, it looked like Darg was the one in pain, given his expression as he rushed over to
me.
Be it the west's time-honored legends or the east's, they all point to a dragon's blood being
a panacea, an all-purpose medicine.
In the German epic poem [The Song of Nibelungens], a hero named Siegfried acquired an
immortal body after bathing in the blood of a dragon that went by the name Fafnir. In
China, it's said that a clot of dragon or qilin blood is a traditional medicine so often that one
may think they take it for the truth.
Which is why I suspected that my blood might also have its uses.
"Uhh, well then, I'll just..."
"No, wait a moment. Nina, a rabbit, if you would."
"Nn."
Stopping Ai from starting to lick from my wound with her tongue, I spoke to Nina.
Following her nod, the forest suddenly began rustling and a rabbit popped out from it.
It's like the forest is one large vending machine to her.
"We can't have you just suddenly try it, Ai."
Placing the rabbit's mouth against my leg, I forced it to drink the blood.
The effect was both instant and immense.
"Pi-------!"
Letting out a cry, smoke blew out from various parts of the rabbit's body.
Meanwhile, the rabbit started struggling wildly and managed to escape my grasp. Two or
three leaps later, its white pelt caught on fire, causing it to writhe on the ground. Before
long, it stopped moving at all.
Despite that entirely unexpected event leading to an awkward silence, Nina suddenly lifted
the rabbit by one of its legs and bit into it.
"!! ... Delicious...!"
Her eyes opened wide.
"It was cooked all at once from the inside, so its juices are completely sealed in...! And it's
still just hot enough. Even its skin is crunchy, there's no need to deal with it at all!"
"A failure..."
We managed to accidentally find a great way to cook rabbits, but there's no way that would
be good for Ai. So this didn't work either, huh...?
"I'll use today's magic on you then."
"Okay."
Motioning for Ai to come over, I put my paw on her head.
"That which crawls through the dark, which walks the world's abyss, which exterminates
breath and seeks to hide all radiance, which swoops from the skies, the world's edge, life's
final destination. The owner of many names, the flow of time, death itself. Remove yourself
from this person, vanish!"
It was the incantation for life prolonging magic I'd been using while groping around for a
solution.
We'd confirmed that it was safe to use, but unfortunately, we aren't sure on its true
effectiveness either. I'd tested it out on insects and other small animals with a very short
lifespan, but I didn't see much of a result. If there was one effect, it would be that it eased
their pa.s.sing.
---I want to extend her longevity and be together forever.
Ai didn't seem worried about accepting my unilateral selfishness, though.
Panicking somewhat, I explained the disadvantages and other concerns of having a long
lifespan.
Getting tired of living, seeing your loved ones die off one by one, as well as being unable to
die even if you wanted to if the method used wouldn't allow it.
[So Mentor, that means you'll have to go through all those terrible things, too?]
Out of all my prepared responses, that one line ended the discussion.
But even though I've gotten her permission to do these things, I haven't had any
breakthroughs in the least.
Setting aside the standard ways to live a longer life, I've also tried various other methods,
but they've all lead to having no effect. Even this dragon blood method wound up being
unusable, despite me putting so many expectations into it.
"That didn't go very well, did it."
It was Nina, she was still gobbling up the rabbit and licking the meat juices that had
streamed down her fingers.
She eats a disproportionately large amount compared to her slender figure. I wonder
what's going on with her metabolism?
"Come to think of it, Nina, how old are you?"
Her appearance basically hadn't changed at all since the time we met.
She still looked to be in her mid-teens.
It's not much of a problem since her beauty was already completely there, but is she
growing?
"Hm? Let's see... I can't remember exactly, but around a hundred thirty I guess?"
No way, she's my senior?
I died at the age of eighty-nine, so she's my senior even after including those years.
"Nina-san, you're that old?"
"Longears live a looong time, seriously."
Having not known her age either, Ai and Darg's eyes were both opened wide.
"... Just to be sure, is there a secret for longevity or anything?"
"Maybe, I don't know though."
Ah-ha!
Even if it's just a sliver of a chance, I can't let this go.
"I'd like to ask another elf about it. Nina, do you know where any are?"
As soon as I asked that, a shadow was cast over Nina's face.
"... I don't know. It's been a really long time since I, umm, left the forest, so..."
She always spoke straightforwardly, but right then, she was strangely inarticulate.
"Brother, if it's about where longears live, I know a place."
Just then, Darg raised his hand.
Oh right, he was able to speak in Elvish.
Which means he'd naturally had to have met an elf.
"Could you lead me there?"
"Yeah, sure. It's not too far. Around half a day's walk."
"We should be able to make it there and back today if you get on my back, then."
Darg was even heavier than he looked. I had to put up with it though, things like this
require sacrifices.
"Wait."
Nina stopped us as we were about to head off.
"... I'm going too."
She looked like she was worried about something as she said that.
＊＊＊
"Right over there. I met the longears in that forest."
We were further out than the village Darg and the others used to all live in.
The slow flight took around an hour in all.
"... Brother, are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, maybe..."
Breathing heavily, I answered Darg's question.
"Sorry, maybe I should have stayed behind after all?"
"No... it's okay. It's not your fault, Ai."
In the end, Nina insisted on coming along with Darg, so then Ai decided she wanted to come
as well. Leaving the village's management to Ken and my other pupils during our time
away, the four of us set off for the elven village.
However, it would've been a decently long distance to walk.
So then I wondered if we could all fly there by using magic.
Thinking that was definitely a mistake.
Darg on my back and Ai held with my arms, Nina was holding on to the tip of my tail.
I was thinking along the lines of: couldn't Ai and Nina fly even in those weird postures since
they can use flight magic? In a sense, I was right. In another, I was wrong.
Honestly, I feel lighter than usual thanks to Ai's cooperation.
The problem was our positioning.
Feeling Ai's soft body wrapped in my arms, I wondered about whether she was really the
same kind of living thing as Darg.
Even more important than those wicked thoughts, I was afraid that I might exert too much
force and accidentally crush her, so I haven't been able to feel at ease this entire past hour.
"Nina, were you alright like that?"
"Nn. Good."
Nina nodded, only responding in a bare minimum when I turned around to ask her after
landing.
I was worried since I couldn't keep an eye on her on the way here, but it seems like she was
alright.
She looked a little pale, but it's probably not due to the flight.
"Nina. You can wait here if you don't want to go in."
When I said as such, she shook her head in silence.
"Sis says she's good so she's good. Let's go, Brother."
"Yeah..."
Feeling a little uneasy about her lack of a response, I consented and headed to the forest's
entrance with Darg.
The moment I took a single step, I felt the sensation of the hairs on my neck raise on end.
I don't exactly have hair though, so maybe I should say I felt my scales raise on end...?
"... We're being watched."
Ai leaned close to me and whispered in a low voice.
She probably felt the same thing as me.
[Hey, Longears! Get out here!]
Meanwhile, either Darg hadn't noticed them or all or did notice and didn't care. He just
gave a nearby tree a kick and shouted out in Elvish.
[As noisy as ever, Bearmonkey.]
The one who had appeared without making a sound was an incredible beauty.
From the looks of it, she was around a hundred and seventy centimeters tall.
With her tall stature, her limbs were slender. Her visage held frighteningly well-ordered
features.
Not face, visage. I want my impression of her to be understood, so I'm saying it like that.
Although Nina's also a considerable beauty, her beauty is still childlike in a way.
Though given her lack of a chest, I can't even be sure of her s.e.x in the first place. But either
way, this elf here... she's beyond beautiful.
[What a strange a.s.sembly you have there. Bearmonkey, a Lizard, and a Kidmonkey. As
well as... aah. Dropout, huh?]
The elf raised her eyebrow exaggerately.
[Dropout?]
I responded with a question, parroting her word in spite of myself.
Bearmonkey has to be Darg. He's simply too fitting for it, there's no sense of incompatibility
between that term and him at all.
Lizard is naturally referring to me. I'd never think otherwise, seeing as how I've been called
that so many times up till now.
As for Kidmonkey, that would be Ai. That honestly irritated me, but I endured it.
In that case, I know who dropout was meant for through process of elimination.
[... Long time no see, Ultramarine.]
Our genius is, unexpectedly... a Dropout?
24
The Elven Princess エルフの姫君
Those beings are exquisitely elegant and do not grow old, shining ever brighter as the years
elapse. As for one of their princesses... hah.
"Are you complaining?"
[What are you doing, returning here so shamelessly?]
[There's a question I want to ask.]
Nina responded to the elf she called Ultramarine---who'd reacted with an expression that
looked like she was flaring up---with an almost uninterested tone, as though she didn't
mind the comment.
[I figured that since you call me Dropout, you'd obviously know the answer.]
[Hmph. Obviously. There's nothing I don't know.]
Ultramarine thrust her chest out haughtily.
[What is the reason we live so much longer than rabbits, deers, and these ones?]
Nina glanced at Ai and Darg as she gave her question.
[Hah.]
Ultramarine laughed derisively.
[... Why should I bother teaching you about that?]
With that, she diverted her eyes. A drop of sweat slid down her face.
Yeah, she doesn't know.
"Doesn't look like she knows..."
"Doesn't know..."
Entirely similar to my thoughts, Ai and Darg muttered at the same time in a low voice.
[Well, looks like you don't know either then.]
[I do know! I know, I just don't feel like telling you is all!]
[So this girl is Ultramarine. She's a bit of an idiot, but she's not too bad, she did greet us.]
[Who's an idiot!?]
Nina turned her back to the girl and spoke to us, ignoring Ultramarine's clamor.
"I know the way inside, let's go."
[Hey, what did you just say!?]
Ultramarine ran over to Nina, who'd started walking at a brisk pace.
[Listen to someone when they're speaking! You're not about to try going to Eldest, right?
He isn't a person someone like you can just go and see! Hey! Are you listening to me!?]
Ultramarine continued trying to stop Nina, but she ignored her.
[... Huh? Can she really not hear me? Heeeey! ... Maybe she can't see me either? A-am I
invisible?]
Misunderstanding something due to Nina entirely ignoring her, Ultramarine started
dancing about in a way that looked comical. Almost pitiful, actually.
Even so, despite not seeing anyone else, I felt people looking at us. It appears that there are
quite a number of elves living in this forest.
I'd thought that elves lived solitary lives, but it looks like Nina was the exception.
Nina continued walking while ignoring the yapping Ultramarine. Before long, we saw a
huge tree.
The biggest trees on Earth were baobab trees, around ten or so meters in diameter if I
recall. But this tree here, its diameter was easily beyond a hundred meters. I can't even
begin to guess how tall it is.
Fruits growing in cl.u.s.ters along its branches, there was a large cavity opened up in the
middle of its trunk. A broad stairway led into the cavity, making it look very much like a
temple.
It was a wonderful tree. If I had to express my feelings about it, it was like a fusion of an
orchard and a dwelling. I wonder how many people could live comfortably in just one of
them. It'd probably take a considerable amount of time to grow, but I wonder if I could get
them to give me a seedling?
Showing no hesitation, Nina went up the stairs as I thought about that.
[Come on, stop! Bearmonkey, stop Dropout!]
Ultramarine shouted that out, appearing as though she had no intention to continue and
enter the tree herself. Her voice continued to call out from behind us as we stepped into the
large tree.
"This... is amazing."
Looking around, I was amazed.
The tree's cavity was filled with light coming down from the sky. The wood's thoroughly
polished white surface reflected the sunlight, leading to an even more mystical atmosphere.
Within the abundant light was an elf whose whiskers were as long as he was elderly. Given
that his white beard was long enough to cover his entire body, the elf was obviously rather
advanced in his age. Nevertheless, his figure betrayed no signs of the standard withering of
old age. His body simply held an austere atmosphere, similar to this tree or some sacred
mountain.
"I have already heard of your story."
Hearing the elf who appeared to be referred to as Eldest speak, I opened my eyes wide.
Because he was speaking in j.a.panese.
"You can speak our language?"
"Plants exist anywhere and everywhere, oh dragon child."
Is he saying that so long as there are plants, he can monitor the area?
I'd honestly like to take it as a bluff, but at the very least it appears that he understands
what we have been doing to some extent.
"To get to the point---I know several paths that could be taken to reach the life extension
you desire."
"Really!?"
Hearing him speak without beating around the bush, I practically jumped into the air.
"Please, please tell me! I'll do anything!"
"There is no need for that. I am already in your debt."
"In my... debt?"
Hearing something I couldn't understand at all, I tilted my head.
I've burnt the forest with a beam before, but I don't remember doing anything that would
cause the elves to be thankful.
"After saving our princess, you even returned her to us."
All of our gazes immediately turning over to Nina, her expression changed to look more
uncomfortable.
"Nina, you were a princess?"
"... Kind of."
Nina nodded with an unpleasant expression.
It seemed to be a topic she didn't really want to talk about.
"Allow him to guide you."
When the Eldest suddenly raised his hand, another elf came to lead us away.
I started to follow him, but I turned around.
Because Nina hadn't moved with us.
"Nina?"
"This---this is where we part."
"Why!?"
"Remember? I'd ran away."
The Eldest said that he was in my debt for returning her... oh my.
Did she come back here so that my wish could come true?
That calmness she had, composed to the point of looking pale, was that because she didn't
want to do this?
"Don't look at me like that. It's not like we'll never see each other again."
Guessing my thoughts, Nina spoke.
But, contrary to her words, she appeared to be in some kind of pain.
"But Nina---"
"Hurry up and go, leave!"
Shouting out with a voice that sounded more like a cry, I flinched.
Had she ever raised her voice like that in all the time I've known her?
"Goodbye. The past ten years I spent with you... I was happy."
She followed up with that and a smile.
It was a smile fragile, though, like someone laughing despite being in pain.
[This way.]
Before I could say anything, the guiding elf urged us forward in a tone that seemed to leave
no s.p.a.ce for denial.
Nina waving her small hand to our backs, we left the large tree's den.
As soon as we left the cave, I saw someone staring at us with a hatred. It was Ultramarine.
She looked like she wanted to say something to me, glaring at me intently.
But she instead took off into the grove, not saying anything to me in the end.
"Mentor... was that really alright? Leaving Nina-san?"
I wasn't able to answer Ai's question.
She was a princess, so she also probably had a role to fill in this community.
If she didn't accomplish that role, the elven settlement itself might be troubled.
If that doesn't match up with what she herself wants... I don't know which side I should
back.
[Please wait here. I will prepare the medicine.]
As soon as the guiding elf arrived at a tree that was similar to the one before, he had us wait
outside as he went inside. It was similar, but this tree was quite small compared to the
Eldest's. Even so, it was still a large tree at around ten meters in diameter. It seemed that
elves liked to open caverns in still-living trees to live in.
[It's complete. Please swallow this.]
A while later, the elf came out of the tree with a wooden bowl.
There was a powdery medicine inside the bowl.
It looked like several different things were ground up in a mortar to make it.
It was ground into fine grains, but there were a few colors mixed together in it.
[What was this made from?]
[Desert spider tail, the root of a white spring flower, clubfish liver, as well as several
varieties of mushroom.]
That wasn't all I wanted to ask.
I wanted to ask if there were any side effects, but I didn't know the Elvish word for it.
Besides, I was also just a little hesitant in asking the maker himself if it had any ill effects.
"I'll take it, then."
Putting her mouth to the bowl, Ai tilted her head back.
Immediately before the powder reached her lips, I knocked it out of her hands.
[What's wrong?]
"Mentor?"
Both elf and Ai were surprised by my sudden behavior.
[That clubfish, was it something like this?]
I picked up a tree branch and drew a picture of it on the ground. I'd thought of something
right before Ai started to take the medicine.
No, rather than thought of something, maybe I should say I remembered something?
[You know of it?]
The fish definitely did look like a club.
Before it inflated.
[This medicine, does it only extend longevity? Are there any other effects?]
[There are. In addition to extending one's life span, the one who drinks it will also become
quiet and obedient.]
The elf answered as if it was natural.
So that was it after all. I knew the name of this medicine.
It didn't have the life prolongation effect on Earth, but its name made me recall it.
The medicine's name... was Zombie Powder.
25-27
Misunderstanding 誤った理解
That man was always half right, half wrong.
That's twice as bad as being entirely wrong.
Zombie Powder.
It was a drug used by those who put their faith into what was called Voodoo back on Earth.
Made with a combination of several toxins, it was a drug that could induce a dead-like state
in humans if enough was ingested due to the Fugu's tetrodotoxin within it. I'd owned some
myself in my previous life. I didn't actually use it though, of course.
On Earth, it was simply just a poison. Depending on the amount used, it truly could induce a
state similar to death, luckily---no, perhaps unluckily? That same process would lead to
one's frontal lobe being destroyed, resulting in a zombie-like state. That was all.
[In other words, it prolongs one's life by breathing the tree of life into a body that's reached
a dead-like state, is that it?]
[... Probably so.]
Once I'd compiled the information I got from the elf that had guided us, that's what it
seemed to be.
[Is it impossible to breath the tree of life into someone who hasn't taken this medicine?]
[Without first taking the medicine, it is not possible.]
It had likely already been tried.
[So to put it simply, it destroys one's foundation of life... what we call the soul?]
The elf stared at me in puzzlement as I said that.
According to what he said, not even he understood the theory or principles behind it. He
just comprehended that that was what worked through sheer experience.
[Soul? Livestock have souls?]
It wasn't contempt, but genuine doubt.
As elves themselves were long-lived, they had no reason to use Zombie Powder on
themselves.
It appeared to be something meant for use on goats or cows---livestock.
And although they weren't actually livestock, humans were in the same category as far as
the elves were concerned.
It could be thought of as cruel treatment, but it wasn't too great of a difference compared to
what the humans on Earth did.
Even favorite pets like dogs or cats that humans treated practically the same as other
humans would be sterilized through surgery. Neutered males were said to gain a more
calm personality, while spayed females would go out of their way to avoid the act of
conception. Having the surgery done was even considered a natural thing to do since the
culture around it said that it would cause the owners to be even more so the target of the
pet's affections.
From human society's point of view, it was a justifiable reason. The animals themselves
may have had a different opinion on the matter, though.
And in this world, the person I love is on the animal side.
[Thank you. I will try asking Eldest-san for another method.]
He said that he knew of several methods.
It other words, this shouldn't be the only one.
And besides, I concerned about Nina.
Bidding farewell to the elf that led us here, we decided to return to Eldest's cave.
Walking through the forest, I suddenly heard something.
It sounded like two hard things. .h.i.tting each other. However, I couldn't imagine hearing
something like that in a forest where there's nothing but trees, leaves, and gra.s.s.
Continuing to advance after thinking I'd imagined it, I heard the noise even louder than
before.
I looked around to see where it came from since it sounded like it was close, but I couldn't
find it.
"Mentor, is something wrong?"
"No, but have you heard any strange noises?"
"Strange noises...? Not really."
Ai looked confused after seeing me, but neither she nor Darg seemed to hear it.
A fist-sized rock struck against my t.i.tled head, making a sound.
[Ah, whoops.]
When I looked towards where the rock came from, I saw Ultramarine looking at me with an
expression that seemed to say, "I've done it now..."
So that's what was making the noise?
[Y-you finally noticed, lizard!?]
It seems like she'd been trying to catch my attention by throwing stones at me. My scales
were too hard, though, so I didn't feel anything from the small pebble. Not even that larger
rock from a moment ago made me feel any pain, I only felt that I'd been hit by something.
[---san!]
When I turned to glance at Ultramarine, she added the honorific in a panic.
[What is it?]
[Are you all trying to go to Eldest's place?]
Now that she mentions it, she was trying to keep us from going there last time.
Is she planning on forcing us to stop now that Nina's not with us?
[That's our intention, can we not?]
Raising my head up and looking at her, I looked at her with a simple threat.
It was the kind of stance I took back then with Darg.
It was obvious that I'd managed to frighten her more than intended.
[Are you going... to save Dropout?]
But despite her trembling, Ultramarine asked me something unexpected.
[Save her? Is Nina in a situation she needs saving from?]
[Idiot! Who would use someone's name as sprightly as that!? Call her Dropout!]
Ultramarine criticized me with an angry look.
She didn't say it with contempt or disdain, it was more like anxiety and concern.
[What do you mean by dropout?]
I had regarded the term as something to use in derision, but judging by Ultramarine's
att.i.tude, it doesn't seem to have that meaning.
[What do you mean what does it mean? It's as I said.]
Ultramarine frowned, puzzled.
[The one whose flowers drop and whose leaves fall out. The princess' task is to be us forest
people's cornerstone.]
It was just as I began to think that I had no idea what she meant...
[If you don't do something, she'll be turned into a tree.]
[... What!?]
What crossed my mind in that instant was the method of prolonging life by breathing in the
tree of life. And then that huge tree.
[No way, that tree the Eldest lives in...]
[Yeah. It's become very old, so they have to change it soon.]
No way, were all of the house-trees they lived in here previously elves?
By the time I realized what I was doing, I was already running to the giant tree the Eldest
lived in.
"Eldest!"
"You came to ask about another life prolongation method... at least you had, at first."
The conversation from a moment ago would be known to Eldest due to the surrounding
forest trees. It appeared that Ultramarine throwing those stones at me was originally in an
attempt to induce me out of the forest. It's unfortunate, but that didn't go well.
"Please return Nina."
"Speak of something else. The princess is not yours."
It was a sound argument, but I couldn't back down.
"She is someone important to me, I don't want her to become a tree."
"She's important to us as well, it goes without saying. Still, it is necessary so that our clan
may continue."
I'll just destroy it then---is something I very much couldn't say.
Sacrificing a piece for the whole is not wrong as a survival strategy.
It just so happened that that piece was my friend.
I couldn't destroy them for the sake of my own ego.
"In that case... I'll protect you."
However.
I couldn't fail Nina anymore.
"I'll defend you all, help me cooperate with you. There must be some other way than
sacrificing Nina."
Eldest drew his brows together in regret.
"I am thankful for your feelings, oh dragon child. But that is not possible. Be it as it may that
you are a fire dragon, you are still too young. With your small body, you couldn't be even a
century old. Far from defending us, you likely wouldn't even be able to defeat us."
Understandable.
I didn't want to admit it, though.
"Well then, this will be easy."
The one to break into our conversation was Darg.
"How about you and us have a fight?"
"Mortal, it is surprising enough you could learn how to speak. Let alone the dragon, you
wouldn't even make it a fight for us."
He was neither mocking him nor was he being careless.
Sure, there were no humans that could fight an elf.
"Try me."
Darg laughed fearlessly, his fist held up. He didn't even wield his crag blade.
[... This one is the company of the dragon we owe. Do not kill him.]
An elf stepped forward when Eldest said that.
At the same time, countless tree roots sp.a.w.ned from the ground and tied themselves
around Darg's limbs.
Elves were all natural-born magi. Humans weren't a match for them.
---However, that was only if the human wasn't a magus.
"You're someone we're talking about protecting. I won't kill you."
Darg threw the words back. He tore off the roots that bound him and sunk his fist into the
elf's stomach, moving almost fast enough to make my eyes lose him.
"Now then, who's next?"
Darg smiled wildly, like a tiger.
Duel 決闘
"Hey you, let's take this outside."
"Unnecessary, we're already outside."
Our surroundings turning into an empty lot as he spoke, I realized that I'd made a mistake
in picking a fight against him.
"... Sure then, why not. If that's what you want, I will admit that you all are strong enough if
you can defeat my three elites. This place is too confined, though."
Saying that, Eldest led the three of us outside.
Swinging his hand after we moved outside, the surrounding trees began to rusle, moving
away as though they had minds of their own and quickly left behind an open area. He
manipulated the trees even more skillfully than Nina and didn't even need an incantation to
do it.
[Are you sure you want to move your weapons so far away?]
[It won't be a problem. Evergreen, go play with him.]
[Yo, Pipsqueak. You're planning on going against me head on with a body like that?]
He was small compared to Darg's more than two meter tall muscular body.
[Do you know why Eldest said that it wouldn't be a problem, despite moving the trees
away?]
[Because it won't change how you're about to lose?]
Darg responded to the elf's question in jest.
[Nah---]
With a sound similar to crackling bones, Evergreen's physique swelled up.
A number of muscles on his arms turned into thick, reddish-brown branches. Scale-like
bark covered his body as it turned into a thick trunk.
[---it's because we ourselves are the forest, Pipsqueak.]
He was around ten meters tall.
Having turned into a large tree, Evergreen literally looked down on Darg as he shook his
leaves.
[Heh.]
Looking up at him, Darg responded noncommittally, seemingly uninterested.
[Try not to die, alright?]
The giant tree's branch rose, then slammed down on Darg.
Like that, he stood and allowed himself to be crushed.
"Darg-san...!"
Ai called out from my side.
[I wonder...]
However, we heard his usual banter come from beneath the shade of the elf's leaves.
[This tree's your body, yeah? If I wrecked it, would you die?]
[Nah. It's just a temporary vessel. No need to worry about it.]
After answering, a crack began to travel along Evergreen's body.
[Sounds great.]
Darg spoke as the giant tree continued splitting in half.
[It'd suck if you wound up dying from that.]
[Admirable...!]
Appearing from within the ruined tree, he fell to his knees.
[You still good for more?]
Hearing Darg's question, Evergreen refused with a bitter smile.
[C'mon, who's next? May as well send both of them, doesn't matter to me.]
[Violet. You go next.]
Ignoring Darg, Eldest sent the next opponent forward.
This time, it was a pet.i.te elf.
[I will be your opponent.]
The elf named Violet spoke politely, holding her left hand out in front of her.
Following that, her body was covered in thorns in the blink of an eye, further turning into a
shield and armor. From her hands grew the stem of a long rose she used to point at Darg
with like a sword.
[I see, Violet, eh?]
Understanding, Darg nodded.
Violet roses appeared here and there amongst the thorns that made up her armor.
I thought that Evergreen and Violet were simply unusual names, but now I see that it's
referring to the magic they use. It should be the same with Ultramarine, she should have
some leaf or flower colored ultramarine.
But a.s.suming that's the case, what about Nina?
Ultramarine called her Dropout... the one whose flowers drop and whose leaves fall out, if I
recall?
But Nina can't make dead trees move?
Even as I was thinking about that, Darg and Violet's duel had begun.
[Tch...!]
Darg drew back and clicked his tongue. Fresh blood was dripping all along the area from
his fist to his chest.
[Harder than it looks, seriously.]
Not even Darg's attack would break the thorn armor that easily.
The thorns pierced his fists when he went to attack with them, so Violet was able to
continue flicking away his attacks with her weapon, keeping him at bay.
[It will be dangerous if you continue bleeding. Please, resign.]
Violet pointed her weapon at Darg.
The only kind of magic Darg could use was strengthening magic.
If he were able to summon fire or snowstorms like me and I, it would have been easy to win
against Violet.
He might not have bled so much if he had his crag blade, at least.
But that wasn't the reason he was driven so far into a corner.
[How sweet of you. Guess I should apologize before this, then.]
Hearing Darg say that dismissively, Violet c.o.c.ked her head to the side.
"I am quick. I am solid. I---"
It was an amazingly simple incantation.
Darg could only use magic that strengthened him.
That much was certain.
"---am STRONG!"
By by no means did that mean he was weak.
The single attack Darg used wasn't a closed fist, but a fully stretched palm.
Sounding like a truck ran into her, Violet's body---armor and all---got blasted back.
Continuing for a ways, she eventually crashed into a tree trunk at the edge of the of the
open area and fell, unmoving.
[She didn't die, right?]
Blood dripping from his palm, Darg grumbled.
[... I... surrender...]
Seeing Violet somehow manage to raise herself back up, Darg clapped his chest in relief.
"Bro would've beat me half to death if I killed a woman."
Well, looks like Darg's much better at not treating women as objects... I think?
He probably would have won a lot easier if it weren't for his agreement with me.
[Send over the last one. Let's hurry up and get this done with.]
"I'll go."
Darg quickly paled upon seeing who stepped forward with a cold voice.
The third person was even smaller than the pet.i.te Violet.
Hair pinned up and shining gold due to the sun's light making its way through the trees, her
eyes were as clear a blue as a sacred spring's water. She looked innocent, but not in a
childish way. Her refreshing expression was filled with composure, with dignity.
She had a mysterious beauty, like some mythical G.o.ddess. Looking at her, I feel relaxed,
my anxiety calming down---like I'd been living with her for decades.
"... Hey. Can I surrender?"
"No."
To be more precise, it was Nina.
Swords, spears, axes, hammers, scythes.
Various sorts of weapons made from wood lined up before Darg and threw themselves
together at him all at once.
"Wait---I said wait! Please wait, Sis!"
Even though Darg was able to avoid the first, break the second, catch the third, deflect the
fourth, and endure the fifth, they wooden weapons Nina continued to launch at him were
never ending. Having to face that overwhelming a.s.sault head on, Darg wasn't able to keep
up and was pushed back.
"Ridiculous..."
Saying that, Darg fell to the ground.
I agree with him.
The one who remains after the leaves drop from their branches, after the flowers fall out.
The seed.
In other words, Nina's ability---[Dropout]---was to freely birth and grow plants.
I see, that's definitely a fitting power for one called a princess.
I'm not sure whether she has that power because she's a princess or she's a princess
because she has that power, though.
Either way, I can't figure out why she's opposing us.
"I guess I'm misunderstanding something though."
Nina looked at me with cold eyes and spoke.
"Coming back to this forest, that was my decision. Don't b.u.t.t in."
"That's a lie."
Unexpectedly, Nina was bad at lying.
She can't forget where she grew up due to her amazing memory and her uneasy expression
is saying that she didn't return out of actually wanting to. Even I can understand that much.
"You're pushing yourself for Nina's sake, aren't you?"
"... I'm not pushing myself to do anything."
Responding in a pout, Nina diverted her eyes.
"You don't care about me. You only ever think about Ai."
"I do care!"
Nina's very unusual response upset me, causing me to unintentionally raise my voice.
"That's not what I mean! You should only care about what's important---"
"You're plenty important to me too, Nina!"
Nina's mouth shut tight, glaring at me like she wanted to say something.
"You---"
Enough. This fight is our win, admit defeat."
Nina started to speak, but Eldest interrupted her.
"Wait."
However, Ai spoke up.
"I will fight."
"... Why...?"
Hearing Nina's unbelieving mutter, Ai looked at her and smiled.
"Because you are important to me, too."
"... Is she insane?"
Eldest didn't ask Ai that, but me.
He wouldn't even recognize her enough to talk with her directly.
"She---"
I responded.
Among us, Ai was the only non-inborn Magus.
She was a genius when it came to magic.
Darg becoming a Magus was due to his naturally blessed physique.
He was only able to use self-strengthening magic due to his belief in his own strength.
Nina and I were similar to that as well, in a way.
I happened to be born a dragon. She happened to be born an elf.
Therefore, we were strong.
In that sense, Ai was the most talented among all of us here.
Perhaps the most talented was Nina.
Similar to how Darg was born so strong, Nina was a genius even among the elves.
Given that Evergreen and Violet are both obviously older than Nina, seeing as how her
appearance hasn't changed in more than ten years, they're at least a century older.
Even so, Nina's stronger than them. No matter what, that could only be called a genius.
Which is exactly the reason why.
"She... is strong."
Ai was the best one suited to showing off the strength of the human race.
"... Give it a try, then."
After closing his eyes for a moment, Eldest accepted it.
Ai and Nina confronted one another quietly.
"I won't go easy on you."
"I know."
Ai nodded in response to Nina's words, then smiled.
"Neither will I."
I get the feeling that there are sparks flying in the air between the two of them.
Huh?
Wasn't Nina fighting for Ai's sake?
"I won't give you the chance to recite anything!"
As soon as Nina shouted that, innumerable trees shot up from the ground and reformed
into weapons, the same as earlier.
No, she really isn't holding back, just like she said.
The myriad of weapons she arrayed against Darg only appeared in front of him, but she's
surrounded Ai with them entirely. It was a complete lockdown, impossible to escape.
Ai, lacking the time for a drawn-out incantation, faced the weapons and pointed.
"Appear."
All that Ai recited was that short statement.
In the next moment, the duel was decided.
"Once again---"
She sounded truly frustrated.
"---you improved, didn't you..."
Everything around them was frozen, their surroundings a world of pure white.
"Hoh, hoh, hoh."
Jack Frost's voice echoed loudly against the frost.
Control Magic 掌握
Like introducing yourself in a forest.
--A metaphor for avoiding danger pa.s.sed down through the Scarlet Clan "Thank you, Jack
Frost."
"Hoh, hoh, hoh."
The snow spirit faded away laughing once Ai patted its head lightly. Just then, the wooden
weapons she'd had frozen in the air clanked down onto the ground.
The ice that covered the ground and trees also melted away.
The strong point of humans was their growth speed.
Not just in body, but in mentality, technology, and magic. It all improved and grew at a
frighteningly rapid pace. This, of course, held true for Ai, who was able to control Jack Frost
himself.
It had gotten to the level that I'd lose if we fought now and I didn't take it seriously.
"We should be able to go back together now, right Nina-san?"
Ai looked over to Nina who had sank to the floor, crestfallen.
"... Oh well then. A deal's a deal."
Nina sighed in relief and turned away, but she answered clearly.
"No!"
Yet even so, Eldest raised an objection.
"After something so ludicrous... why would I approve!?"
Despite knowing j.a.panese, he still didn't understand Darg and Ai's strength yet.
Us being able to take Nina back after winning the bout was never an established condition.
However, while that may be true, that was something I wouldn't back down on.
"A promise is a promise. I will be taking Nina."
When I approached the still-sitting Nina to take her hand, Eldest deliberately rose from his
seat and stood in front of me.
"This will be the end."
He scowled at me with a severe look to him, declaring haughtily.
"I will be your opponent."
What was magic but a collection of meanings? Whether I use the incantation or not, it
doesn't change.
In other words, the longer you've been alive, the more you know of, the more it is
strengthened.
There was no doubt that Eldest, an elf that had lived for unknown centuries, would be a
powerful Magus.
"Although I say that..."
What sort of magic will he use?
Thinking that in vigilance, Eldest quietly held his hand up toward Ai.
"It won't be a fight."
Just then, Ai's body fell to the ground.
"What did you do to Ai!?"
"Hmph... as expected of a dragon, I suppose. What? Don't be so anxious. I just put her to
sleep."
Saying that, he then held his hand up toward Nina, causing her to slump to the ground in a
similar manner.
What in the world is going on here!?
Finally, he put Darg to sleep, then turned toward me.
I don't get what sort of magic he used at all.
He put them to sleep, so did he spread some gas or pollen with a sleeping effect?
But even those wouldn't be able to cause the three of them to fall asleep that fast, unable to
show even the smallest glimmer of resistance.
"You've produced four people, so that means I can fight now."
"That's quite alright, I don't mind."
Eldest nodded in a grand manner, reaching his hand out toward me.
I don't understand what he did, but I should knock him down before he has the chance to
do anything.
However, it feels like approaching him carelessly would be just as dangerous.
"Freeze."
Eldest spoke in the moment I hesitated, I instinctively stopped moving.
"As expected, even a dragon stops moving if I speak?"
What... does he mean?
"You were too careless, too ignorant. No matter how strong the magic you can use is, you
cannot defend yourself."
I didn't understand what Eldest was getting at.
"Now then, you nod off too."
Eldest faced his palm out to me and my eyes slowly closed.
For now, I'll give lightly biting his hand a shot.
"Guah!?"
Just as I did that, Eldest screamed and held his hand.
"How!? How can you move!?"
Even if you ask me why...
"It's not like I stopped being able to move to begin with though?"
I stopped in spite of myself when he told me to, but it wasn't as though I stopped being able
to move.
When I tried out moving my tail, it moved as faithfully as ever.
"What idiocy... stop! Freeze! Mentor! Do not move from there!"
Oh, so that was it?
I finally recognized the type of magic he was using and was disappointed by my own
stupidity.
Why didn't I realize it until now?
Magic was driven by knowledge, one's awareness of the world. That very awareness was
shaped through names.
In that case, one must not expose one's name to a Magus.
That's probably the reason why the elves all refer to each other with the names of colors.
It may not be easy for anyone other than Eldest to do it, but there's no harm in doing it.
"Sorry, Eldest-san. It looks like your magic doesn't work on me."
In truth, it's just that my name isn't Mentor, though.
I placed my claws against Eldest's shoulder and spoke with flames rising back in my throat.
"Now then, will you accept defeat, or do you want to turn into a pile of ash? It's one or the
other."
"... ... ... ... I give up."
This time, Eldest admitted his defeat.
＊＊＊
"Gaaah! Stupid! You idiot...!"
"Don't be so angry, didn't it turn out well?"
Nina had been in a bad mood ever since we left the elven village.
But I don't know why she's angry at all.
"We got Eldest-san to recognize an alliance between our village and his, we got a method
on how to prolong life, and you could come home with us, what's so bad about any of that?"
"Gah... that's why I'm saying you're an idiot!"
Nina punched my neck over and over from her position on my back.
"Nina, you didn't want to turn into a tree, right?"
"What are you... wait. No way, you're not telling me you took those words literally, right?"
"What do you mean?"
Hearing that, Nina pressed her hand against her forehead and sighed deeply.
"Becoming a tree... means that I will work as busily as a tree does in growing leaves, making
flowers, and producing fruits as the seasons change."
"Eh... b-but Ultramarine said that Eldest's tree was too old so it needed to be changed to a
new one?"
"That kind of tree is troublesome to take care of until it grows big. I hated doing it, so I had
Ultramarine cooperate in me escaping the forest..."
Taking another glance at my face, Nina sighed again.
"Honestly, helping you is way more troubling. People don't turn into trees..."
Nina spoke in a way that made it sound like she was amazed from the bottom of her heart.
I'd normally agree with her, but there's no way I'd know that, everything in this world goes
against my common sense!
But really, being preoccupied with taking care of trees is just way too different. Just how
carefree are those elves?
"Then why did Eldest dislike the idea of me taking you away so much?"
Hearing her explanation, I stopped feeling a sense of urgency like them being destroyed
without Nina there. But still though, it felt like Eldest was awfully desperate.
"Well yeah... what do you think a parent would do after seeing their daughter run away
from home and come back with a dragon?"
"Eldest is Nina's father...?"
Thinking about it, isn't that natural?
The elves were obviously a community built with its eldest member leading it.
In that case, Nina---the one they call their princess---would naturally be his daughter.
"Then... Nina, did you not want to return with us?"
Did I end up forcing her into something she didn't want because of my misunderstanding?
In that case, Nina being angry would be natural.
Just as I started to think about that, Nina silently pulled on my horns with a jerk.
"Ouch, Nina, that hurts."
"You did something unnecessary, that's all. Even though I'd prepared myself for it..."
Nina spoke in a low, muttering voice.
"But... I want to stay with Ai... and you too, I, umm..."
"Yeah. I also want to be with you, Nina."
Unable to hear what she said as her voice trailed off, I gave her a firm response. However,
she gave my horns another strong tug.
"I said that hurts!"
Even so, I get that she did it to hide her embarra.s.sment.
"Sis wanted to stay because of me too!"
"I don't care about you."
Darg spoke up to poke fun at her, but she instantly shot him down.
"So cruel!"
Darg smiled, shouting as though he didn't actually mind as his voice echoed through the
sky.
"Really, you're so stupid---"
Nina spoke both astonished and somewhat amused.
"But Nina-san staying with us makes me very happy!"
Seeing Ai smile free from worry, Nina couldn't stop herself from smiling back.
"Oh well, guess there's nothing to it but to hang around a bit longer."
An elf's a bit might be a fairly long time.
Relieved at that hunch, we returned home.
---Those days were the happiest I'd ever been.
I had no idea how many times I would later think back on them.
28
Time Spiral 時の螺旋
I spin round and round, yet never pa.s.s through the same place twice.
What am I?
"I'm here! Bring out the food!"
"You're back again?"
Nina was amazed by Ultramarine immediately saying some very bandit-like words first
thing upon arriving.
"You have a lot of free time, don't you?"
She said that, but she still started defrosting the frozen behemoth meat. I took a jar of oil
from the shelf and carefully heated it with my fire so that it wouldn't ignite. All things said
and done, those two are close friends.
"Hmph. You know, you don't seem to like being called Dropout at all for some reason!"
"I told you to call me Nina. Dropout means [Dunce] in the humans' language, it feels
horrible getting called that."
When Nina put the behemoth's meat into the hot oil, it started bubbling with a crisp sound
as a savory fragrance spread through the room. I'd like to use wheat flour as well if I could,
but, unfortunately, let alone the millstone that would be needed, I haven't even found
anything similar enough to wheat yet. Ah well, frying it alone ends up being delicious
anyway.
"Mm, it does, huh... but are you fine having such a simple name?"
"I'm fine with it. Besides, anything's fine for a nickname."
There were two general ways to avoid being affected by magic that uses one's name to
dominate them.
First, hide your true name and only give others a sort of nickname. Even simple true names
like Nina's can be used to great effect. You have to know that it is definitely their true name,
though, you couldn't just guess to try and find it out---that wouldn't work.
The other way was the exact opposite. Rename yourself and fully embrace it, keeping it to
yourself. Ai and Darg seemed to have done so, I don't know the names they thought up
either.
Ai said that she'd tell me her's, but I refused her. I'll never manipulate her like Eldest did
back then and at least this way, there's no chance of it being overheard. I want to eliminate
as many loose ends as possible.
"Alright, it's done. Don't burn yourself."
The best part about being a red dragon is that I don't get burned even if hot oil splashes out
of the pan at me. Actually, I'm fine even sticking my fingers straight into the pan. Putting
the sliced, deep-fried behemoth onto plant leaves Nina created, I handed it over to
Ultramarine.
"Aaah! Haah! Hooot!!"
Ignoring the advice I gave her since it was just deep-fried, Ultramarine stuck it straight into
her mouth and was suffering as a result.
"You should listen to what people tell you..."
"No, it tastes better if you eat it like this!"
Ultramarine held fast to her reasoning as Nina watched her in astonishment, all the while
pouring more water into her cup. I can't sympathize with her anymore---even if I tried by
eating magma---but I understand her feelings on it.
"There really is a ton of delicious things out of the forest."
Still smacking her lips, Ultramarine raised her hand for seconds.
Food was abundant inside the forest as well, but gargantuan creatures like the behemoth
could only be found in the gra.s.slands. Contrary to how you might think something that big
would taste bland, it actually had a rather enriched flavor throughout all of its elastic,
chewy meat. I could also understand at least a bit of why Ultramarine wanted to leave her
forest to come here and eat.
"Ooh, smells like you're eating something good here. Mind if I join in?"
I heard a certain person's deep voice calling in from outside the window, he was probably
lured over by the smell.
"Peeping through windows is bad manners."
"Heheh, sorry Sis."
Nina's nonchalant criticisms caused the large man to bend forward as he walked in through
the entrance.
"... Mmm?"
Seeing that, Ultramarine knit her brows gracefully and frowned.
"Bearmonkey, did you shrink?"
"Who's this self-ent.i.tled longears?"
Dargo pointed a finger at Ultramarine while stuffing an entire strip of fried behemoth into
his mouth.
"Don't talk with food in your mouth. Don't point at people."
"Whoops, sorry."
Dargo's shoulders froze, similar to how Darg's used to.
"Ultramarine, he's Dargo. Darg's---the person you call Bearmonkey's---son."
"Oh, you know my old man?"
Reaching for seconds, Dargo nodded as he figured out who she was.
"His son...? Humans really do grow up fast. Maybe not to the point of Bearmonkey, but he
looks pretty strong. Evergreen was talking about wanting to have a rematch, but both him
and his kid might end up losing to the two of you again."
Ultramarine had spoke casually as she licked her fingertips, but Nina and I both sunk into
silence.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"Well, my old man can't really do that anymore."
"Can't do what?"
"Fighting."
"Eh?"
When Dargo responded, Ultramarine stopped eating and her mouth fell open as a vacant
response slipped from her lips.
"What? He can't fight? Did he lose his arms?"
"No, he's just getting old. He practically hasn't even went out to go hunting since he hurt his
lower back year before last. He was like a rock when I was a runt, but nowadays he's gotten
more like a withered tree."
Ultramarine had trouble processing what Dargo said, her eyes blinking in succession.
"Wait... what? Did I make a mistake somewhere in learning your language? I don't get what
you're saying!"
"Ultramarine."
"Bearmonkey's the number one warrior among everyone I know! He even swept the floor
with the biggest elf, Evergreen---not even Violet can get a hit in on him, and she's the
strongest! That man... a withered tree?"
"Ultramarine. Please..."
Nina's chiding voice not quite reaching her, Ultramarine had continued to speak out in
confusion.
"Oh, Ultramarine-san, you came over?"
Then, at a time like that, it happened.
Ai appeared from the back room.
"Long time no see. You haven't changed at all, have you?"
Ultramarine's eyes slowly opened wide.
"Who... are you...?"
I clenched my jaw, my teeth grinding against one another.
"I'm Ai. The last time we met was... somewhere over ten years ago, I think. I've turned into
an old lady since then, you probably don't recognize me by now, do you?"
Ai hadn't changed at all, she was still beautiful... but now there were deep wrinkles lining
her smiling face.
"Ultramarine. Come on, go home already."
"Eh!? But I just got here!?"
Nina probably felt the same as me. Semi-forcibly, she drove Ultramarine away.
Having the reality of slowly growing old thrust in front of you like that was painful.
In the end, be it stopping Ai's aging or even just extending her life, nothing we did worked.
The second method of prolonging life that the elves' Eldest taught us was to turn into a
monster that lived off of drinking blood and was unable to exist in the sunlight forever
through a ceremony of the shadow people that lived in the desert.
The third method was to petrify her through the use of a venom from a type of two-headed
lizard that lived on a continent on the other side of the ocean.
The fourth method was to eat a certain fruit that could be found at the edge of the world.
The fruit didn't exist.
There was no way I could ever make Ai become an immortal through those methods, so I
flew all over the world looking for another way. Literally, all over the world.
I fought with the lizardmen of the east to gain their recognition through force, but they
were a simplistic tribe that only relied on their bodies to survive and were unable to use
magic.
I spent a number of years on visiting the fishmen of the south to gain their trust and was
eventually able to differentiate between, along with learn magic for curing wounds.
Unfortunately, it didn't allow for perpetual youth like what could be found in Earth's fables.
I met with mountain giants. With centaurs. I even met with other dragons.
Some welcomed me amicably, others escaped thinking that I was their enemy.
However, not one of them knew of a method for achieving eternal life.
I spent years, decades even, searching, searching, and searching---and then, on a certain
day, Ai spoke to me.
She said that rather than being separated as I looked for a one in a million possibility, she
wanted to live with me as long as she could.
Ai's first---and possibly last---act of selfishness.
I ceded to her.
"... I'm sorry."
Her body curled into a small ball in despondence, the way she acted since back when she
was ten years old hadn't changed at all.
"There's nothing to apologize for."
I stroked Ai's now white-tinged hair.
Even magic had things that it couldn't do.
I realized that fact in the worst possible way.
29
A Promise 約束
Words of the future from a time long past.
Sixty-nine years have pa.s.sed since I met Ai.
Both Darg and Ken... as well as all of those that had lived in the cave Ai came from have
already died.
Living amongst their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Ai was the last one
left.
"---... The owner of many names, the flow of time, death itself... Remove yourself from this
body of mine, vanish."
Finished reciting the very, very long incantation, Ai breathed out a sigh and laid down on
the bed.
It was a specially made felt from the wool of a sheep I'd captured from another continent.
It couldn't hold a candle to what modern Earth was capable of, but Ai smiled nonetheless,
saying it was remarkably better than sleeping on straw on the ground.
"Ai, are you feeling alright...? Don't push yourself, it's okay."
"I'm fine, it's... like my daily routine, now."
Ai spoke slowly, her tone unsteady.
The extravagantly lengthy incantation to prolong life took somewhere around ten minutes
to recite. She'd been reciting it each and every day, even when I wasn't there. She
practically couldn't even stand anymore, but she still continued with the custom.
I thought that the magic might have had no effect, but seeing as how Ai has had such a long
life, it looks like it may have unexpectedly worked somewhat.
But even so, it was just to the level of being mere consolation.
"Besides... either way, I won't have... much longer."
Unable to respond to her, I just combed her bangs.
Nina had told me the same thing.
Ai had just a few more days to live.
I couldn't imagine a world without her in it.
Meanwhile, on that thought, I could feel a sense of resignation spreading through my chest.
She, as a human of this era, had lived long beyond her time.
Her aged body had grown weak, no longer able to run through the fields, unable to talk
cheerfully, unable to hear much of anything.
Watching over her like that was painful for me.
"Mentor."
Ai gazed at me intently.
"Could I ask you... one last thing?"
"What? I'll answer anything."
Please don't let this be the last, the end.
Desperately pinning that feeling down as it threatened to overwhelm me, I just barely
managed to force a smile on my face.
"I want---to know... Mentor's name."
"My name?"
Dragons don't live together, not even with their own children for very long.
They held an incredible amount of knowledge, so they were probably also knew how to
seize beings by understanding their name.
Which might be why they don't bestow names.
It felt strange to give myself a name, so I'd told Ai to just call me Mentor. That alias had
spread to the people in the village, only two people didn't call me that. Those two were
Nina and Darg.
"Didn't I explain it before? Dragons don't have names. That's why I said for you all to call
me Mentor, it's my name."
"What I want to know... is Mentor's name, as a human."
Her words caused me to suddenly remember it.
Right. I used to be a human.
I didn't forget about it, of course.
But I'd almost lived as long as a dragon as I did as a human.
I'd grown accustomed to living as a dragon, enough so that my awareness of having been
something else previously began to dim.
"So... you noticed?"
I'd never told anyone that I was formerly a human.
It wouldn't particularly be a problem if they did know, but I thought that no one would
believe me either way.
"I know everything... about you, Mentor."
Ai spoke with a slight smile on her face.
She wasn't exaggerating, it was probably true.
Her ears were failing, but for some reason, she never stopped being able to hear me.
"I... yeah. I was a human. I wasn't a human of this world, though. I was a human that lived in
an entirely different world."
Ai, not appearing to doubt me in the least, nodded as she listened.
"That world didn't have magic... no, I suppose I should say it only had one. That magic... was
my reincarnation into this world as a dragon."
"Reincarnation..."
Ai played with the word, ruminating on it.
"Ryouji. My name from when I was a human is Ryouji Sekiguchi. Written like this."
Saying that, I wrote the characters for my name in the air.
"... Ryouji... san..."
The instant Ai muttered that, my entire body felt as though it were burning.
Be it when I soaked in hot water or when I accidentally set some trees that had been
surrounding me on fire---not even the time I bathed in magma---I had never felt a heat this
hot.
This was the first tense I felt hot since I was born as a dragon.
My belly burned, my arms twisted, and my vision blurred.
However, the mysteriously, it wasn't painful.
The feeling pa.s.sed just as abruptly as it began.
"Ryouji-san... is that...?"
Blinking several times upon seeing Ai look strangely close to me, I realized--- "... It appears
so."
---that my appearance had changed into that of a human.
"This... is you?"
"Probably... I think."
Her eyes opened wide, Ai stared at me fixedly.
I stretched out a trembling arm and gently placed my hand against her cheek.
And then embraced her closely.
Not even something like this.
Not even something like this... could I do until now.
Embracing the body of the woman I loved so dearly for the first time, she felt small and
delicate, like she might break if I put even the smallest amount of strength into my
embrace.
"Ah..."
Ai's arms reaching around my back, she let out a content voice.
Her moistened eyes glittering like starlight, she looked at me in earnest.
Honest, earnest... her eyes, looking straight into me, wouldn't change no matter how much
time pa.s.sed.
She'd come to me as a sacrifice---young and innocence, our spring.
She grew up to be lovely, like new leaves sprouting on a tree---the girl I'd yearned, our
summer.
Beautiful as a vividly colored flower---when she confessed her love, our autumn.
Countless wrinkles biting into her skin---the woman that supported me as my wife, our
winter.
Through the years, her eyes had only ever seen me.
"I was happy."
Me too.
Even though I had to say it, my mouth didn't move.
"That I could meet you... and stay with you..."
Don't go, please.
It was all I could do to keep myself from spouting my own selfishness.
"I was really, really... happy."
Even if my form had turned into a human's, a portion of my senses appeared to remain as a
dragon's.
For the first time since I was reborn, I cursed that I was born as a fire dragon.
The magic that had turned me into a human seemed to have taken the last of her strength.
Steadily, the warmth drained from her lips, her eyes, her fingers...
That she was gradually dying was frightfully clear to me.
How easy would it be for me to beg, to scream, for her to not leave me alone?
I'd pondered whether I should end my life with hers many times.
I didn't want to imagine living for hundreds, thousands of years in a world that didn't have
her in it.
"Yeah... meeting you made me... really, really happy, too..."
Enduring the agony a.s.saulting me, I finally managed to squeeze out my voice.
I had to tell her.
To tell her that she had given me just as much happiness, that her smile was the sun that lit
my world.
"Mentor, you're... so gentle. I love you."
But Ai smiled in response, seemingly able to see through all of my thoughts.
"So, again... I'll---"
Mustering the rest of her strength, Ai mouthed her words.
She was so weak that she couldn't even cause the air to vibrate.
It was her final breath.＊＊＊
"... It's over?"
"Yeah."
After nodding back to Nina's quiet question, I suddenly noticed.
"Not going to react?"
"There's nothing different though? Same gold eyes, same red head."
Even though my appearance was completely different than when I'm a dragon, she had no
reaction at all and responded as much.
"Well, if forced..."
She looked up at me and continued.
"I thought you'd look more like a kid."
"I really am as a dragon though."
I can't be sure since there's no mirror in sight, but judging by my arms and legs, my form is
around that of a twenty-year-old human. I can't say how long a dragon's lifespan is, but that
should at the very least be considered young for a dragon.
"... You're less depressed than I thought you'd be."
"No, I'm staggeringly depressed."
If Nina weren't here right now, I'd be crying my eyes out.
However.
"Nina. Let's make a magic academy."
I spoke the same words to her that I'd used long ago.
"...? Didn't you make it?"
Ai really was a wonderful wife.
She thought of me to the very end.
"A bigger, better school."
Dragon's ears truly are sharp.
Sharp to the extent that they could hear Ai's last words, words that didn't even make it past
her mouth.
Therefore, I'll believe in the words she left me and look forward.
"Let's make such a wonderful academy that everyone in the world knows about it."
Because.
Because someday, she will return.
30
Reincarnation 転生
Have you ever thought that you wanted to fly through the sky?
Whenever I look up at the blue sky, whenever I see a white cloud floating through it,
whenever I see birds soaring through it, that's what I think.
How fun would it be to fly?
I can't really remember what I thought about before learning how to talk, but I think that I
felt the same back then too.
My life revolved around never having enough food. Going out to gather fruits and nuts, run
from beasts, and see my brothers head out to die, that's all.
It's not that I was dissatisfied with it, though.
It's just that that was my world, I never thought about there being any other way.
... Not knowing that there was anything beyond the sky and thinking that I'd die before
long, I think that I'd resigned myself to it.
What blew it all away was a big, big dragon that descended from the sky.
I was frightened when I first met the dragon, thinking that it would be what ended my life.
However.
"It's okay, little miss. It's okay, see? I'm a good dragon."
I wasn't able to understand what it was saying, but I could tell from its tone that it was very
gentle. While I didn't know the meaning of its words, I could tell what he was trying to say.
Which is why when dad went to pick out a child in order to offer them to the dragon, I
insisted that I be the first one.
If I went to that red dragon that could fly through the sky, something would change.
I fully embraced that whimsical hope.
In truth, it wasn't the kind of tale where something simply changed.
That dragon... Mentor was tens, hundreds of times weirder than I thought, the kind of
person I'd never be able to fit into a single category.
We didn't even have a language back then, in the first place.
Names. Wooden houses. Cooked food. Clay containers. Salt. Spoons. Concepts. Sorting
between plants and animals. Energy. Letters. Combs. Baths.
And finally, magic.
All of what Mentor dreamed up were things we'd never seen or heard of before, so, for the
youth that I was, falling for him was a matter of course... that feeling developed into a deep
affection before long, too.
And as I watched Mentor from the side, he somehow came to notice the awfully ordinary
me.
He loved peace, wasn't very good at fighting, and while was gentle, he did get angry at
times.
And he was very cowardly---that is, he was just a pinch indecisive.
Even though he was a stronger dragon than any and knew there were things he didn't
know despite being so knowledgable, he was an ordinary man on the inside.
Rather than thinking that Mentor was weird, all of that came together in making him more
friendly than any other dragon, causing me to become more and more fond of him.
... Well, I do think that me speaking so frankly to Jack Frost about my feelings that he
cooperated with me might have been a little overdoing it, but no one other than Nina-san
found out about that, so please just chalk it all up to youthful indiscretion and let me off
about it.
I don't know how other people will think of me.
Never having children, never coming to know that final pleasure a woman could have, and
dying just after finally embracing my beloved for the first time, pople might think that I was
an idle woman.
Nina-san, for example.
She was a person that said stuff like that entirely clearly.
But I don't think I was.
I really, truly enjoyed the life I spent alongside Mentor.
I don't have a shred of regret about it, nor could I think of a better way to spend it. If I had
ten more times to do it, I'd go through all ten the same way.
Magic was something comprised of names.
Mentor told me that countless times.
He was, of course, just talking about the principles of magic.
But for me, that wasn't all it was.
What he gave me since the very beginning.
That was surely the most wonderful of all magic.
As a teacher, as a father, as a brother, and as a husband.
Mentor showered me with nothing but overflowing, pure love.
Which is why I, eventually, was also able to use magic.
He was the one that told me I could.
So please.
It may take tens, hundreds, or thousands of years.
But I will definitely meet him again.
Please, wait for me. Ryouji-san------
A Creeping Ruin ゆっくりとした破滅
It came upon us like a shadow,
catching us unaware.
"I give up..."
Stopping the pen in my hand from continuing to write on the wooden board, I was at wits'
end. No matter how many times I recalculate it, it's always the same.
"What should I do?"
Just as I started wracking my brain with my head held in my hands, the area outside the
room suddenly grew noisy. Shifting my gaze to the window, I looked toward the now red-
tinged sky and, noticing the time, sighed.
"Mentooor, see you!"
"Yeah, see you later."
I waved and smiled at the village's children running outside the window, smiles on their
faces.
They were the village's precious beings, those who would one day inherit the village. Which
is why I cannot overlook this issue.
"Haah, so tired. Finally done for the day."
"Good work today, Nina."
I welcomed Nina as she walked into the faculty office. Though well, Nina and I are the only
faculty.
"What's wrong? You look more miserable than usual."
She spoke as she looked me over. It's been somewhere near five hundred years since I met
her. Now that I think about it, we've known each other for quite a long time now. We're
able to more or less understand how each other feels with a simple look-over.
Her expression didn't change much at all, but her current expression was the one she used
when she was concerned.
"Oh, well..."
It happened when I began to speak.
"Big broooother~!"
I caught the tiny figure that jumped at me and shouted with a rather energetic voice.
"Finished my stuff!"
With her red hair drawn into two separate tails, a brilliantly sparkling smile lit up her face.
Although her large, shining red eyes spoke well of her future beauty, she herself acted
mostly like a tomboy with a sword carried at her hip.
"Oh? That's great, Yuuki."
This young girl who's energetically clinging to me was one of the children attending school
and has taken a particularly keen liking to me.
"Excuse me, I think I saw Yuuki heading this way... oh. So she did come here."
Shortly after Yuuki's sudden burst into the room, a boy whose face looked just like hers
appeared. He was a beautiful youth who, with his similarity to Yuuki save for his calmness
and slightly grown out short-cut hair, could easily be mistaken for a girl.
"You must have it hard, Amata."
"No, I apologize for how my sister always inconveniences you."
His conduct as he lowered his head in a bow was, despite being only one or two years'
different in age compared to the childish Yuuki, very calming. That said, I do think that it
would be alright for him to act more his age; he's still a child, after all.
"Come on Yuuki, we have to head back!"
"Don't wanna---!"
For example, he could be more like Yuuki here, who's now clinging to me as tightly as she
can, not wanting to go home.
"... So."
Despite what was happening, unexpectedly, Nina spoke up.
"What's bothering you?"
Eh? You're asking me that right now?
"It's not really something I want to talk about in front of children..."
"Oh come on, they're both Swordsaints. It's fine."
"Yeah! I'm a Swordsaint!"
Hearing what Nina said, Yuuki's eyes immediately gleamed as she started waving her hand
in the air. Taking in a deep breath, I raised my hands in surrender. Well, talking about it in
front of these two won't make much of a difference.
"To be honest... I found out that if things continue on how they've been, this village will go
under."
"Eeh!?"
Nina's eyed opened wide, Amata took in a sharp breath, and Yuuki shouted in surprise.
"That said, it should take somewhere upward of one hundred years, and even then only if
we don't do anything right now."
"Ooh."
"That surprised me a bit!"
Yuuki and Amata felt relieved at hearing what I followed up with. Right, one hundred years.
It'll only take a century.
"What do you mean though? Did you see the future?"
Speaking in a serious tone, the only one who felt the same as me was Nina. For Yuuki and
Amata, something that won't happen for another century was of little concern to then and
would very likely only occur well after their deaths. However, that's not the case for Nina
and I. That amount of time could pa.s.s with a surprising swiftness.
"It's not precognition, it's a prediction. Simple mathematics."
Me, Nina... and I. The magic academy that started with just us three grew up along with this
village that has come to be known as Scarlet. The number of people living here has been
increasing to the extent that magical research has progressed far enough to make life in the
village relatively comfortable. Closely following the village's development and growth, the
magic academy's student base has increased as well, causing a positive feedback loop in
growth.
Neither the village nor the academy has had any major problems of concerns--- It went too
favorably, in fact.
"The problem is that if things continue on, we'll run into a food shortage."
The village's food is still dependent on hunting and gathering. Although we've long since
pa.s.sed the sustainable population size that normal hunter-gatherers could maintain,
we've even been able to store winter rations and then some for emergency. This has all
been thanks to magic.
The ice house constructed through the usage of cold magic can preserve meat for a long
time and the hunting of that meat itself has become much more simple by using magic to
cause spears and arrows to hit their mark even if they would have normally missed. By
manipulating trees and listening to the voice of the gra.s.s, even small children could safely
divide themselves into groups to collect fruits from high up in the trees in the forest.
Nina and I defend everyone from external threats and there hasn't been a large epidemic at
any point so far, so we've come this far without any problems.
So one finally arrived.
"The amount of edible plants and animals have been decreasing slowly year by year.
Meanwhile, our population has only ever increased. As is, everyone would have to eat rice...
but again, that's only what would happen in one hundred and twenty-eight years."
Unable to fully comprehend my explanation, both Yuuki and Amata stared at me with
somewhat dazed faces. Only Nina nodded in understanding.
"But big brother, you'll manage it somehow, right?"
"Yeah, of course."
Of course. There's no way I would allow this village to fall. I have to make this school even
bigger, big enough so that its known the world over.
"You know what to do already?"
I nodded in affirmation to Amata's eager question.
"It's time to begin cultivation."
Tanngrisnir 魔法の山羊
That which grinds its teeth,
pulls our carts and becomes our food,
will not break so long as its bones are uninjured.
"Wow, we're up so hiiigh!"
"Make sure to hold on tightly, Yuuki!"
A bit concerned due to her shouting so happily from on top of my head, I flapped my wings.
It had taken about three years, but I did eventually return to my original form as a dragon
and took to the skies once again.
Dragon and human. The magic Ai had left me with gave me the ability to freely change
between these two forms. It would be convenient if I could remain in my human form and
just take out my wings of just switch to having human fingers in my dragon form, but I
wasn't able to do anything like that at all. Perhaps its due to my name as a dragon and my
name as a human?
"Alright, let's go down."
"Yeah!"
Hearing her energetic response, I went to the landmark I was aiming for in front of the
forest and descended.
Simultaneously twisting my wings backward and spreading them around me like a coat, I
transformed into my human form and caught Yuuki by the legs in a piggyback.
"Aaah, that was fun! Big brother, let's do that again!"
"When we head back. Now hold my hand and don't let go, okay?"
Pacifying Yuuki from her delighted giggling, I held out my hand to her. Although she's a
fundamentally honest and obedient child, she's energetic and beyond curious. There's no
telling where she'd zoom off to if I didn't hold her still.
"Okay, big brother!"
"... I wonder if there's anything we can do about you calling me that..."
"But big brother is big brother?"
I'm not sure why, but Yuuki has been calling me big brother for a long time now.
Even though she has a full-fledged elder brother, she just calls him Amata.
In terms of age, I'm too old to even be her grandfather, let alone her brother.
"Halt."
A little ways into the forest, we were stopped by a sharp voice.
"What business do you two monkeys have in our forest?"
"Hey, Ultramarine. It's been a while."
When I waved my hand at the elf who was gazing at us in a stinging manner, she appeared
to grow all the more severe.
"How do you know my name?"
"No no no, it's me, the red dragon. What's with you always forgetting, really."
Ultramarine's expression softened.
"Oh, oooh, what, you're that lizard Dropout keeps around! Hah, right. You've changed both
your forms, so this one here's Dropout? You two got pretty small!"
While saying that, she began to bang against my back with her hand and pat Yuuki's head.
"What? This child here is Yuuki, a child from our village. Nina stayed home this time."
"Huh? What are doing here then?"
Her expression grew suspicious, but it wasn't unreasonable. I've visited this elven forest
several times now, but each time was under the guise of letting Nina visit her home. Now
that I think of it, this is the first time I've come here without her.
"I came to see Pea Green-san."
"Hmph, well alright. If you want Pea Green, he's this way."
She'd nodded like she was uninterested in it, but began walking anyway. It appeared as
though she was going to show me the way.
"Hey big brother, who's Pea Green?"
"He's the person that looks after the domesticated animals in this forest."
Still walking, I answered Yuuki's question. Yes, the elves had supposedly already been
successful in raising domesticated animals. I haven't actually seen the farm itself, but I have
heard stories about it.
I'd said that I would start us raising animals, but I don't know how to go about that at all.
Since that's the case, I decided that we should come to the elves' forest and borrow their
wisdom as they'd already started doing it. Them telling me exactly how and what to raise
would be the best case scenario, but even them only telling me what species of animals are
suitable for herding would be a great help.
When I looked for them myself, I couldn't find any animals suitable for it in this world. Even
the animals that resembled cattle and pigs were both strong and ill-tempered and would
easily end up wrecking whatever fence we built for them.
"Hoh, Mentor. Long time no see."
"You too. My apologies for not contacting you for so long."
It had been somewhere around a century since I last met with him. Even so, he managed to
remember my face, unlike Ultramarine.
Pea Green-san lowered his head in a bow.
"I see. I don't mind. Besides, Eldest had told me to teach you how anyway."
"He did?"
Once I'd explained my situation to Pea Green-san, he agreed and responded with something
that caused me to incline my head.
I can't say that Eldest---Nina's father---dislikes me, but he doesn't like me either. I doubt
he'd ever help me without us asking for it first...
"This way."
What Pea Green-san guided us to was neither a fenced enclosure nor a pen. It was an open
area overrun with gra.s.s and weeds. There were the deer-like and goat-like animals I'd
often hunt grazing on the greenery, but they didn't look like they were going to run away
even after we approached them.
"You're just in time. I was thinking it was time to harvest some meat."
Saying that, Pea Green-san put his hand into some of the tall gra.s.s that was growing
nearby him. Immediately after that, the gra.s.s grew even longer and he took out a thin, pea
green-colored blade of gra.s.s. I suppose this is the magic that his name originates from?
The blade of gra.s.s held a long edge and had a sharp tip, much like a sword. Picking out a
moderately sized goat from the group, Pea Green-san swung his gra.s.s blade down.
"...!"
Seeing the goat have flesh cut away from its flank, I inhaled sharply.
Be it the blood overflowing from the wound or the clean cut itself, the goat didn't appear to
react at all, not even giving so much as a single bleet.
When Pea Green-san placed his gra.s.s blade against the goat's wound, it stuck to the
wound with a supple flexibility that betrayed the image of its solidity from a moment ago.
He wrapped it around the wound like a bandage, even going so far as to add two or three
more blades of gra.s.s.
"If I do it like this, I'll be able to harvest meat again in about a month's time."
"By not killing it... you're able to heal its wound and harvest meat from it over and over?"
"Yeah."
Pea Green-san nodded as if it were natural.
Looking at his reaction, I finally remembered. What Eldest had told him to teach me was
the thing I found back when searching for how to gain immortality. The process of
manufacturing Zombie Powder.
They didn't run, weren't frightened, and simply continued to eat the greenery. The goats
must be under the effects of that medicine. That was the original reason I'd even met Pea
Green-san, I'd entirely forgotten about it.
"So what do you think?"
Pea Green-san inquired as though curious.
He wasn't particularly cold-hearted or cruel, he was actually a rather ordinary elven youth.
---However, our sense of values were different..
To me, I could only pity the goats being unable to die despite being sliced from forever and
saw it as repulsive. Then again, for the elves, that was no big deal, similar to how we think
nothing of taking fruits from trees year after year.
"Big brother?"
I glanced to my side at Yuuki. She looked curious.
That's just the sort of era we live in. She wasn't some young lady that would be frightened
by the corpse of an animal. Rather, she'd be delighted to join the hunt. It was something
similar for me, I'd sometimes end up eating my prey still alive.
I think that how things live and go about their lives is more important than how they die.
An efficient method like this could save hundreds or thousands of people's lives.
But even so, I can't choose a method like this.
I don't want Yuuki to become accustomed to acts like this. That's what I believe.
"... It appears that this won't help you much."
He probably guessed what I was thinking from how I looked. Pea Green-san's shoulders
drooped, discouraged. In his own way, he wanted to be able to help.
"Yeah... we don't have a way to cut its flesh so cleanly, nor magic to use to heal its wound."
Even if I set aside what I like and dislike about it, it's a fact that Scarlet would be unable to
carry this out. Pea Green-san's magic was simply magnificent. Even I could use magic in
order to heal something on the level of a small cut, but healing a wound as big as that in a
single month would be impossible.
Same with slicing its flesh so cleanly, it would be difficult even using my claws.
Nina might be able to manage it, but there's no way I could have her handle the ranch on
top of teaching the children.
"Why not have her teach him then? She's better at cutting than Pea Green."
"True, that might be a good idea."
Unexpectedly, Ultramarine spoke up after being quiet until now. Pea Green-san nodded in
response.
"Who?"
"You've met her before. Violet!"
Like that, the name of the strongest woman in the forest popped up.
Inheritance 継承
For hunting beasts, spears are good. Their long handles lets you strike things as they run
away.
For killing enemies, axes are good. Their heavy blades cut and sever through strong armor.
But what they selected was neither of those---
Violet-san is an elven warrior whose name comes from the vibrant violet-colored flowered
that bloom along with the thorns she uses to fight. I'd first met her as an opponent in a duel
with her working as Eldest's guard, but nowadays we occasionally meet each other as good
friends.
"She's had a lot of spare time recently. It's your fault."
"Mine?"
Ultramarine started speaking when Pea Green-san parted ways with us along the way.
"Lizardmen, giants, everyone's been quiet. Violet's job was to glare the lot of them away,
but they've been docile the past hundred years so she's had nothing to do."
"Well... peace is a good thing."
Lizardmen and giants are both extremely warlike races and would come to attack without
any particular reason to spur the a.s.sault.
They'd come to attack Scarlet multiple times as well, but Nina and I managed to fight them
back, finally managing to negotiate with them through extreme patience and perseverance.
"Peace, huh... so you're still talking about stuff you don't understand. Ah, here's Violet."
Before I had a chance to ask about what it was I didn't understand, Ultramarine waved her
hand.
"I will listen to your story. Come."
Violet-san spoke, showing me into her home. She guided me into a cave made in a huge
tree. Elves could know what's generally going on within the forest by listening to the
murmuring of the trees. It appeared as though she already knew what we came to say.
"I take it you wish for me to teach you how to handle a sword?"
"Well, yes..."
Seeing Violet-san cut to the chase, I began with what I came up with when I was listening to
Ultramarine earlier.
"If you are fine with it, would you, Violet-san, come to our village yourself?"
"Me...?"
Violet-san blinked her eyes in surprise. She probably didn't think I would make an offer like
that.
"Yes. I believe that with both you and Nina, we could not only have you teach the art of
using the sword, but magic as well."
Even if we could slice through flesh as cleanly as Pea Green-san, I have no intention of
putting together a ranch like that in Scarlet.
So although we have to figure out another way to raise animals in a way that suit our needs,
our current situation puts us at a lack of capable hands.
Anyhow, the village has a lot of children. A single person should teach several dozen at
most, yet just Nina and I have been the only two teaching the hundreds of children in the
village. We do teach on separate days and times, but we haven't had much time, not even
for research.
I've consulted Nina about how we need to acquire more teachers to prepare for the ever-
increasing number of children several times. For that need, Violet-san is a great candidate.
"... I do have an interest in your school, Mentor."
After taking a moment to think, Violet-san responded.
"However, I am the guardian of this forest. I cannot leave it out of interest alone."
"Sure, but didn't you lose to Bearmonkey?"
Ultramarine joined the conversation to point that out, but Violet-san only nodded,
unphased.
"Yes. I could get permission if it were in order to acquire that strength. However, it has
been several centuries since then. I am aware that human lifespans are short. That child is
no longer alive, is he?"
"... Correct."
Holding on to the stone ornament hanging from around my neck, I nodded. Even now,
every time I think back on those days, I feel like I might burst into tears.
"Don't you have a ton of free time anyway?"
"That is not the problem."
Violet-san shook her head in response to Ultramarine's question.
"You could have Ultramarine go with you."
"I really don't want to though?"
Even though Ultramarine was encouraging Violet-san to do it, once the subject changed
over to her she denied it as though that was the obvious answer. Well, that's just the kind of
girl she is. I can't see her being a teacher, anyway... Come to think of it, I haven't even seen
Ultramarine use magic yet, have I?
"I would not mind teaching you how to use the sword if you came over here, though."
"Thank you. I'll take you up on your offer if I get the chance.
I stood up from my seat and bowed to her. That said, I wasn't sure if I'd ever have the need.
At least for me, I'd be better off on the battlefield in dragon form using tooth and claw
rather than relying on a sword to fight.
"I don't get it, all the way..."
The moment I started out to head back, Yuuki spoke up.
"But if I'm stronger than you, Violet-san, you'll be a teacher?"
"... I am well aware that Mentor is strong. I very likely would not be a match for him in his
original form... however."
Violet-san displayed her ability and thorns grew from her hand, forming into a sword.
"This strength is a power I was born with. Being a dragon is an even greater strength. That
is not what I desire. Using the sword is a skill, something that is refined and polished after
one is born. That is what I pursue, child."
Darg was also someone born strong. However, the reason for him being victorious over
Violet-san was due to him learning magic from me. He would have been defeated if the
challenge had come before he'd met me.
"Yup! Then---"
Yuuki drew the sword sheathed at her waist. What was contained within that wolflion
leather scabbard was a blade made out of wood with a piece of stone cut to act as its edge.
Not a spear, nor an axe, but a sword. Her family was the foundation that we called the
Sword Clan.
"When I win, you'll come?"
Violet-san's eyes narrowed in response to Yuuki's phrasing. Her smile visibly disappearing,
she looked Yuuki up and down.
In terms of height, Yuuki only made it to Violet-san's chest. Seeing that Yuuki was clearly
still a child, Violet-san turned to look at me as though to infer my thoughts.
I wonder if Nina predicted this happening? I was originally going to head to the forest
alone, but she'd told me to bring Yuuki along. She might have figured that there was no
other way.
"Try to not get hurt."
I spoke to the two of them.
"Yuuki is strong."＊＊＊
They each took a stance and faced one another, their swords held aloft. Violet-san held a
shield made from thorns weaved together along with her small, sharp stalk formed into a
sword. Yuuki held her stone-inserted wooden sword one-handed. Their physiques and
equipment were entirely different, but they nevertheless looked similar.
"Alright, make sure to stop once you believe the match is decided, immediately pulling your
sword away. Especially you, Yuuki. Alright?"
"Yep!"
Yuuki nodded cheerfully, but I was still a little worried. Even so, it's impossible for me to
stop them now that I've already acknowledged the match.
"Well then... begin!"
The first one to make a move following my signal was Violet-san. She shot out a thrust with
lightning-like speed by extending her arm to an unbelievable length. Closing the distance
Yuuki thought herself to be safe out in the blink of an eye, she aimed her attack at Yuuki's
hand.
"I am quick!"
In that instant, Yuuki's body disappeared, leaving only her voice. However, Violet-san only
lost track of her for a short moment, finding her once more within a tenth of a second.
Within their forests, elves will never lose track of their opponents.
"I am solid!"
Yuuki parried an attack coming right at her with her empty hand. That attack, what could
have blown a hole open in a thick tree, sounded like it was shoved aside by a boulder when
it was deflected.
"I am strong!"
And with that, an accelerated slash swung straight for Violet-san's throat. Violet-san
quickly brought up her shield due to sheer instinct and was able to deflect it. The stone
blade easily tore through her thorn shield, severing its upper half.
"Kuh...!"
She appeared to have finally realized that this small girl was not an opponent she could let
her guard down against. As though fully working together with Violet-san's movements as
she leapt backward, an armor of thorns began to cover her entire body.
But that was a poor move for her.
"You are slow!"
As soon as Yuuki shouted that out, Violet-san's movements slowed noticeably.
"You are soft! You are weak!"
Violet-san seemed like she was going to try for another attack, but her legs lost their
strength and her stance crumbled.
"Light! Be what seizes all and slices it apart!"
In that moment, Yuuki's blade began to glow with what appeared to be flashes of lightning
covering it.
"That's enough!"
As I shouted that out, Yuuki's shining sword blade had cut Violet-san's thorn blade in two,
stopping just after breaking through her helmet.
... As harsh as ever. After reinforcing herself and weakening her opponent, she finally
strengthened her weapon, making it so that her opponent would be unable to evade or
block. Her attack had enough power to kill an armored bear in one stroke. It was a simple
yet polished way of fighting that one wouldn't believe a nine year old child was capable of.
"That... from just now, who do you learn how to do that from?"
A stunned look on her face, Violet-san asked Yuuki a question."
"My dad!"
Hearing Yuuki's response, Violet-san seemed to be taken by surprise. Although her small
stature and cute features were entirely different, her red hair and eyes were just like his.
"And dad learned from grandpa. And grandpa from his dad. We've taught sword techniques
forever and ever!"
Swordsaint, my final gift to Darg. To the best of my knowledge, it is the world's first family
name.
"But... your fighting style is entirely different from his."
Violet-san's voice was trembling.
It was as she said, Darg's style was much more hearty and dynamic. Although the magic
strengthening them was the same, how they wielded their swords and how they moved
their bodies were entirely different.
"Yep. Our ancestor made the magic, but how we use our swords, well, it's different."
It wasn't as though all of Darg's descendants had the same excellent const.i.tution as he did.
So Darg smashed down his crag blade into a smaller stone blade and came up with a way to
fight that worked with smaller, lighter swords.
"We mimic how that suuuuper strong person in the forest was!"
She was referring to the story handed down through the Swordsaint clan, the story of his
adventures with a dragon, an elf, and a girl.
"So Violet-san, I'm so so so happy I got to fight you!"
Her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g in delight, Yuuki spoke in glee.
"... I would like to see where the future of this child's strength and of my sword leads."
Wiping the corners of her eyes with her fingers, Violet-san's att.i.tude changed.
"Then that means..."
"Yes, please, I would love to be allowed into Mentor's school... If Eldest permits it."
The words she tacked on at the end made me groan. She wasn't able to make her own
decisions after all? I suppose I'll have to get Eldest's permission."
"It's alright."
Seeing my frown, Violet-san smiled to put me at ease.
"I am sure that he will not deny me---"
Giving us a meaningful smile, Yuuki and I tilted our heads to the side.
Hunters of the Gra.s.sland 草原の狩人
Just give up. Continuing to chase after their target anywhere and everywhere is in their
blood, they'll never stop.
"Oh, big brother, is that a behemoth?"
Yuuki pointed at an animal lumbering its giant body across the huge gra.s.sland and raised
her voice.
"It is, and it's the first time I've seen one in a long time... we used to eat them a lot a while
back."
"Are they tasty?"
"Ye---whoops, yeah."
I started to nod as I answered her, but stopped myself in the nick of time and just
responded verbally. Right now, I'm in my dragon form with Yuuki sitting on my head. My
back would be preferable over my head as far as stability is concerned, but that's just too
far away for us to have a comfortable conversation.
"... They got so small."
I muttered to myself. Even considering the distance between us, the behemoth Yuuki
pointed out looked rather small. It wasn't as though they'd all actually gotten smaller,
though.
I'd simply gotten bigger.
I'd say my body's around close to ten meters long right now. I'm still smaller than the
behemoth, but it's not to the extent of the huge gap in body size there used to be. I'm
confident that I could even take it in a head-on fight now.
"Going to hunt it?"
"No, even if I did, we wouldn't be able to bring it home with just the two of us... and there
aren't many of them left."
Behemoths were large and strong. But they weren't invincible. A master hunter from
Scarlet would be able to take one down with just a few people. However, as one might
imagine from their ma.s.sive builds, their birth rate was abysmally small and it took a long
time for them to come of age. If we'd continued to hunt them whenever we wanted, they
would have been wiped out quickly.
"Kaaay."
"Come now, let's go down. They're waiting."
Calling out to Yuuki, who responded in a slightly dissatisfied manner, I descended toward
our destination and turned into my human form..
"Big brother, where are we?"
Yuuki asked me a question as she saw the unfamiliar buildings and looked around here and
there. We were at a small village in the middle of the gra.s.sland.
Yuuki's and everyone else's houses were built out of wood, but all the buildings we saw in
this village were tents and pavilions constructed out of animal pelts and hide. With their
framework made from behemoth bones, they were portable and easily deconstructed.
"This is the lykos' village. There's supposed to be a child here that'll be an exchange
student, but..."
"Then... where are the lykos?"
That's odd. I don't sense anyone in the village. Even looking into one of their tents, I don't
see anyone. There's still a fire lit in the fire pit, so there should have been people here until
just a moment ago. Even if they went somewhere, not even seeing any children is strange.
"Big brother, over here!"
Yuuki pointed to the ground and shouted urgently.
She was pointing to a good number of footprints. Given the sharp claws they showed, they
were from some kind of carnivore.
"They were attacked just a bit ago."
Her face serious, Yuuki traced a footprint. The footprints were all made in loose soil and
would be quick to disappear. In other words, the tracks' owners could still be nearby--- By
the time I felt their presence, I'd already been pushed down by the beasts.
They had four legs, sharp claws, silver fur, and appeared to a.s.sert just how ferocious they
were. With their long, thick legs placing more emphasis on stamina than explosive strength,
they would chase their prey for as long as it took with their sharp sense of smell. Their
bodies were similar to a wolf's... save for one particular point.
The group of them pinned my body down, biting down my shoulders and arms as growls
resounded from their throats.
"S---stop!"
I cried out on reflex, but the wolves didn't cease their attack.
c.r.a.p. They might get injured if I don't...!
"Hey---stop it! You're troubling Mentor!"
Just as I was about to return to my dragon form out of my sense of impending crisis, a
young girl called out. Immediately after, the children that were piled on me stopped what
they were doing and Yuuki lowered the hand she was about to use to unsheathe her sword.
"Thanks Luka, you saved me there."
Relieved, I thanks the girl who spoke up for me. Her reaction was delayed since she didn't
feel any bloodthirst coming from the children, but any longer and she might have cut them
down.
"You could have pushed them away if you wanted to, right Mentor?"
The girl---Luka spoke to me half in amazement, holding her hand out to me.
"They might have gotten hurt if I did that though. Besides, it doesn't hurt even when these
children bite me, it feels more ticklish than anything, actually."
"It's just that Mentor is so kind, everyone got excited."
When I took Luka's hand and stood up, Luka puffed out her cheeks adorably. She was no
different from a human girl.
... Other than her lower half being a wolf's, that is.
Judging by human looks, I'd say she's around fifteen or sixteen years old. Truthfully, they
have longer lifespans than humans, but races with longer lifespans tend to also grow into
adulthood slower.
Triangular ears popped up from under her similarly silver head of hair. Everything below
her waist was like a wolf, including her currently wagging tail.
"These kids are... lykos?
"Yes. Half human, half wolf."
I looked around to the children who all looked similar to Luka and nodded in response to
Yuuki's question.
To put it simply, these girls were all the wolf version of centaurs. Their human-like upper
body was situated exactly where a wolf's neck would have been. They live in small packs,
similar to actual wolves.
Luka's brothers and sisters always jump at me whenever they see me, play-biting out of
playfulness. They weren't actually hurting me. They were completely different from
ferocious wolves in the first place, they were all calm and friendly. If anything, they were
more like dogs than wolves.
We'd talked to them and have exchanged things for a while now, so the first group I
thought of when I came up with having exchange students was them.
"So Mentor, what business do you have here today?"
Still handling her younger siblings that were still playing around with each other, Luka
cleared her throat and spoke.
"Well... I came wondering if you would like to be one of my pupils, Luka."
"Really!?"
Come to think of it, I didn't think of a way to ease into the subject, did I...?
But Luka's eyes all but sparkled the moment I mentioned pupil.
"Mentor, ever since I first heard about what you do, I've always wanted to go to your
school!"
Her tail wagging back and forth energetically, Luka clenched her hands together against her
chest and spoke enthusiastically.
"Ah, but..."
However, her tail quickly fell limp, followed by the two ears on her head laying flat.
"But... I'm sorry, Mentor. I can't go."
"Eeeh? Why not?"
Yuuki spoke in dissatisfaction as she looked at Luka cast her eyes down.
"Because I need to look after the children."
Sad, Luka spoke as she patted the heads of her younger siblings.
"... No way, your parents...?"
Understanding what I hesitated to say, Luka nodded her head. Female lykoscentaur live in
packs of around a dozen, forming communities that don't infringe upon another group's
territory. The village's elders would care for its youths while they learned to hunt, the
youths eventually forming a new pack of their own.
Normally, Luka would also be part of the group still being looked after...
"What happened?"
Lykoscentaur are considerably strong within their ecosystem. They have both the strength
of wolves and the wisdom of humans and are by no means weak. There are creatures even
stronger than them in this world such as dragons or giants of course, but having both
parents die at the same time was very uncommon.
"It's gotten hard to find recently, so..."
"They left you all?"
"Yes. They went somewhere far away..."
Hearing her excessively tragic story, I frowned.
"Then have you all been able to get enough to eat?"
Luka shook her head no.
"I'm hungry..."
A young girl pressed down on her stomach and grumbled how hungry she was---it was
heartbreaking.
"Alright."
I nodded, determined. I'm not sure what I should tell Nina when I get back home though.
"I'll be everyone's---"
"I'm back, Luka!"
---parent. Just as I was about to finish my sentence, I heard a deep voice call out from
behind me.
"Welcome home, father! Mother!"
Luka's face glowed as she saw her parents return carrying a large amount of prey.
Oh. So when she said somewhere far away... she meant physically...
"By the way, Mentor, what were you about to say?"
Luka tilted her head to the side very adorably.
"Nothing, nothing at all."
Mighty 強者
I'd thought that using weapons was cowardly.
However, I came to learn the truth soon after.
Not using them was even more so.
---Shig, the Skyarms.
"Unnecessary. We have no need to partake in that."
"Oh, alright."
I couldn't help but nod back due to his matter-of-fact response.
"But Beol---"
"Mentor."
Interrupting me with his deep voice, Beol folded his four arms and looked at me with
arrogance.
Lizardmen. Those of their race were hunters that relied on their physical strength.
To briefly describe his appearance, he was like a four-armed lizard that walked upright.
With a thick, long tail and green scales covering his body, he held an amazing level of
strength. His thin, sharp pupils gazed at me motionlessly.
I was currently in my human form, so I felt a tremendous sense of intimidation wafting off
of him.
"I acknowledge you. However, that is not due to the techniques you refer to as magic."
Ambition filled his entire four-meter tall body to the brim.
"You are strong. This magic you continue to talk about is irrelevant to that."
In the past, I had fought against him and won. I'd done it back when I was looking for a
method of prolonging Ai's life.
"But... there are things that cannot be handled by strength alone. Magic has the possibility
to solve those things."
"I don't believe that to be so."
Beol ignored my attempts at persuasion.
"You red dragons, are you not the very embodiment of strength?"
Conversely, his words struck home, causing me to let out a groan.
It's true. I've never come across a creature stronger than a dragon. I'm not talking about
myself, of course, but my mother. It was only one time, but I have seen her fight.
Her opponent was a blue dragon, one easily twice as large as I am now. The dragon had
attacked by using lightning that had clad its entire body, swooping down and letting out
extremely loud roars. Mother had casually swiped her leg at it, turning it into that evening's
meal.
Even for me, my research into magic has nothing to do with being able to continue living.
For that, I could simply continue hunting behemoths whenever I need.
I feel like I've come to understand Mother's unnecessarily extreme knowledge of
astronomy. Dragons are too strong and too smart to simply use their time on surviving.
"Beol, is there no one else who might be interested in it?"
"We do not have someone so weak as to---"
Beol suddenly stopped himself, hesitant.
"No. Among my comrades, there is no one like that."
It was a rare break from his usual matter-of-fact way of speaking, but Beol quickly restated
his response.
"... Alright. Thanks anyway."
Judging that I wouldn't gain anything by attempting to negotiate further, I left the cave he
lived in.
"... You kept quiet?"
Yuuki walked over to me when I had made my way out of the cave. I asked her a question.
"Yeah..."
Her head hanging, Yuuki answered weakly. The reason I asked was that was because, given
her personality, I was secretly afraid that she might try to challenge him to a fight like she
did back with Violet.
"That person there, he's super strong. I don't think I'd win."
Yuuki spoke, vexed.
"Yeah. He would be difficult for you."
Beol was more than three time's Yuuki's height. Their physical abilities would be about the
same after Yuuki strengthened herself and weakened him, I think. a.s.suming they were of
equal strength, the larger one... that is, the one with the longer reach would have the
advantage. Adding on to that, Beol would have two extra arms compared to her.
"Aww..."
Frustrated that I admitted it outright, Yuuki groaned.
"Yuuki, you're still growing up. Beol's lived even longer than me."
There's no way he'd let himself lose face by losing to someone just a few years old with his
strength he'd tempered for several hundred.
"You would probably even give him a good fight in ten or so years."
"But that's sooooo long away!"
Yuuki pouted. For a girl as young as her, something a decade away probably felt impossibly
far away. I wonder how long its been since I last felt like that?
"Well, it appears there's nothing more we can do here. Yuuki, get on my back...?"
"Big brother."
It was easier to put her on my back before turning back into my dragon form than doing the
opposite. When I turned around and bent down to let her on, she, no longer sulking, faced a
direction with a sharp glint in her eyes.
"Someone's fighting... there!"
As soon as Yuuki said that, she sprinted off toward it. I chased after her in a hurry.
As my physical strength suited my human form's looks, I was adequately slow. It was to the
point that I would fall behind if I didn't take it seriously. I ran frantically in attempt to
somehow catch up to her... and when I finally did catch up, what I saw was a spectacle I
couldn't quite call a fight.
Judging from their physiques, they were still children. Lizardmen all around one and a half
meters in height surrounded a single lizardman that was about a head shorter than the
others.
The small lizardman took sent a punch out to one of the ones surrounding him, but his fist
was grabbed and twisted, bringing him to the ground rolling.
"Just give up, Skyarms. You're no match for us."
The lizardman that appeared to be their leader called out, grabbing hold of the smaller
lizardman's arms and legs with his four arms and raising him into the air.
I quickly came to understand the reason the small lizardman was called Skyarms. Of the
four arms lizardmen had, his upper pair of arms stopped at their elbows.
"Stop! Let go of me!"
The youth they called Skyarms shouted, biting the arm of the lizardman holding him up.
"You...!"
Grimacing at the pain, the lead lizardman let go of him and stuck his body with the
remaining three.
"That's enough!"
Seeing the young Skyarms once again roll across the ground, I shouted to interrupt the
rowdy lizardmen.
"Bunching up on someone smaller than you, is that how you lizardmen do things?"
"... This guy here's the one who started it."
When the leading youth said that, he turned his back to me and stalked off. Imitating their
leader, the other lizardmen did the same, leaving the young Skyarms alone as Yuuki and I
ran over to him.
"Are you alright?"
"... Who asked you for help?"
However, the youth looked away from me and responded in a provoking manner.
"Well..."
Did his pride get hurt there?
"I don't care!"
In my hesitation, Yuuki responded instead.
"What?"
"Whether or not I help gets decided by if I help or not, not if you ask!"
Her objection was rough, but it was true in a sense.
Unable to think of a way to respond, the boy just kept quiet.
"If you don't like it, get stronger!"
"What are you saying I should do then, huh!?"
Finally responding to Yuuki's continued chiding, the boy snapped back.
"Just look at my arms! Even my body's smaller than theirs. No matter how much I train, I
can't bulk up. How can I get stronger with a body like this!?"
Seeing him clench his teeth and fists, Yuuki responded in puzzlement.
"Eh? Aren't there lots of ways?"
"... Huh?"
"Use a weapon. Use magic. Use the terrain. Use tactics. The biggest thing you can do, use
them thinking you're weak against them. And taking on so many alone is just a bad call."
The boy's eyes opened wide after hearing her oh-so-obvious response---no, it actually was
obvious for her.
"By weapons, you mean what you all use... that, that right there?"
The boy spoke, pointing at the stone sword at Yuuki's waist.
"This?"
"Isn't using that cowardly?"
"Eh, why would it be?"
"Using something like that is like admitting you're weak."
"Yep."
I had to hold in my laughter after hearing Yuuki answer so honestly.
"I'm weak, so I improve."
Humans were weak. Weaker than beasts, dragons, elves, lykoscentaurs, merfolk, and
lizardmen. Overwhelmingly weak. Accepting that as natural, Yuuki puts in effort so that she
can win. Not only for herself, either. For over five hundred years, the Swordsaints have
inherited from each other in an unbroken line of succession.
"You are bigger than me, have more arms, have a tail, claws, and scales."
Yuuki stood in front of the boy and compared his height to hers, showing him her skin
against his.
"But if we fought, I'd definitely win. Even though I'm weak."
"What was that?"
As expected, he didn't overlook that.
"Want to give it a shot?"
Calm and composed, Yuuki provoked the now-flaring up youth.
"I don't think you should..."
"Shut up! This shorty's making fun of me and you're wanting me to sit back!?"
Ignoring my advice, the youth shouted and struck toward Yuuki--- In the next instant, he
was flying through the air.
"Eh... wha---...?"
He probably couldn't figure out what just happened. Rolling a few times upon landing back
on the ground, the boy was fl.u.s.tered. Yuuki used neither weapons nor magic. She just
threw him by using his own momentum against him.
I'd only taught their family the rough concepts of the akido style of martial arts, but they
managed to sublimate the skill splendidly through several centuries of trial and error. What
an amazing clan.
"If you come to big brother's school, you'll get stronger, too."
Yuuki reached her hand out to him. The boy didn't make eye contact with her... but he took
her hand.
"Ouch---owowow ow, ow, ow, ow! It's gonna break!"
Turning his hand upside down, Yuuki studied his joints.
"Don't worry! I haven't broken it yet."
"Yet!? What do you mean by yet!?"
I knelt next to the struggling youth.
"Let's see... your name is?"
"Why're you... Shig! I'm Shig! I said it, stop!"
When Yuuki put some force into it, the youth... that is, Shig confessed his name in a panic.
"If you believe that you're ready to use any means to become stronger, I believe that I could
be of help to you."
"... You?"
Shig looked at me in disbelief. Well, I don't look strong at all, so it's a natural enough
reaction.
"Yeah. At least, to the extent that you could defeat someone at my level."
"... I think I could do that right now though?"
Seeing my smile, Shig responded.
"Then how about you come to the school if big brother wins?"
Letting go of his hand, Yuuki gave him an offer.
"And if I win?"
"Eh, that's definitely not happening, so don't worry about that."
Yuuki answered Shig, who was holding his arm Yuuki had investigated so thoroughly,
without any ill-will. She wasn't intending to provoke him at all, she was just being frank.
"Just you wait and see!"
But as a result of that, Shig held up his fists and turned to me.
"Ah, yeah... well then."
I kind of feel like I should apologize for swindling him. Thinking that, I returned to my
original form.
The coat that had covered me fluttering and changing as it clung to my skin, the hems
where the coat split rose up to the sides and turned into wings. My limbs swelled up as
talons grew from my hands and feet. Turning into a muzzle, my mouth extended up my
cheek as my teeth reformed into fangs.
Staring at me with his eyes wide open, he looked to be caught in a daze due to my
transformation.
"Come at me."
When I breathed out flames with my provocation after having turned entirely back into a
dragon, Shig was overwhelmed and fell backwards as though shoved by the pressure of my
words.
"A... a dragon------!!"
"Yep, I'm a dragon. Sorry about that."
I apologized to him.
"Uwaaaah!"
Screaming, Shig jumped to his feet and started running.
However, unexpectedly, he didn't run away. He ran straight at me.
Raising his fists, he threw a punch at my muzzle as strong as he could.
"Ah."
I let it connect and he hit my nose.
"Ooooow...!"
Holding his hand against his stomach, he writhed in pain.
"Be careful now. I'm pretty hard."
Thankfully, his injury didn't seem to be too bad. It's probably a good thing that he's not too
strong, hitting me with a herculean strength would just end up hurting your fist.
However, Shig's fighting spirit didn't abate as he aimed at my legs over and over. He struck
with his palms, his feet, his tail, even with his teeth. His attacks were all-out, but they didn't
even feel like mosquito bites to me.
"Shig."
It had been over ten minutes and he was more than exhausted, but he was still keeping at
it. Bringing my face down near his as he bit at my toes, I spoke his name.
"Why... why, why...!"
Still biting at my toes, he shed tears and glared at me. I'm sure this is an incredibly
mortifying experience to him.
"You are very strong."
Not just Shig's, but even Yuuki's eyes opened wide when I said that.
"I was mistaken. You are strong."
Seeing him continue to bite down with all the strength his jaw could muster, he likely
thought I was being sarcastic.
"There are not many among even the lizardmen who would so boldly face a dragon. Even
when Beol had fought me, he was double your size and I was half mine."
However, as I continued to speak, he stopped biting down on me.
Challenging a creature much larger than yourself is a truly frightening thing. Especially if
you know that it is stronger than yourself.
Even Yuuki was unable to challenge Beol, someone she knew would defeat her.
"Your strength of spirit is rare. It is just that your body and skill cannot match up to it."
The polar opposite of me. While thinking that, I returned to my human form and knelt in
front of him, bringing my eyes to his.
"I believe that I can help you if you come with us."
"... Enough to defeat you?"
Shig looked straight at me, his eyes tinged with both doubt and hope.
"Yeah. Defeating me is pretty simple."
I was speaking honestly, but the doubt in Shig's eyes strengthened.
"... Alright. I have my doubts, but... I'll believe in what you're saying, at least a bit."
But he just sighed and chose to believe.
The First Step 最初の一歩
It's said that everything that can go wrong will go wrong on your first try, but that doesn't
mean it won't happen again the second time.
"Here are our three exchange students. Luka, Rin, and Shig."
Finished with the necessary arrangements, the three exchange students all came to Scarlet.
The lykoscentaur girl who came with a lot of luggage due to her worrywart father, Luka.
The young mermaid who'd already wrecked three wheelchairs in her excitement, Rin.
The lizardman youth who left his home with just the clothes on his back, Shig.
"... They're all kids though?"
Looking at the three in turn, Nina voiced her dissatisfaction.
"That just means they have promise. Besides, I have another reason."
"What reason?"
Half-suspicious, Nina sent me a look
"We'll eventually be trading with where each of them are from... I believe that it will be
mutually beneficial."
The mermaids can easily catch fish from the sea, so if we can trade for the meat they can't
eat themselves with fruits and vegetables, even the lykos children too small to hunt will be
able to help out their families. The promises of that working out with the lizardmen... but
it's not like they just live and eat, so we should have at least a chance at making the
negotiations work out.
"Our first order of business here is getting the villagers all used to the way they look. They
shouldn't be too scary since they're children, they're easy to get along with."
Unlike how the elves look practically the same as humans, all three of our exchange
students are visibly different. They're used to seeing me in my dragon form, so I don't think
they'll be too resistant, but they still may find them strange. I'm hoping to remove as much
of their racial discrimination as possible.
"Hmph, it all sounds a bit forced to me, but sure. Why not."
I was honestly surprised at how interested Nina sounded. It's true that what I said is how I
really feel, but I only thought of it after I decided to bring Rin. The lizardmen had no one
that would come other than Shig, so it's just a coincidence that all of them are children.
"At any rate! I thought this would be a good opportunity for Violet and these three greet
each other as our Scarlet Magic Academy's first ever exchange students and show them
around."
Clearing my throat, I changed the mood and spoke.
"I look forward to learning more about all of you."
"Heya~!"
"Ah, umm, mmm, h-h.e.l.lo."
Following Violet's warm greeting, Rin answered back with her hands waving back and
forth in the air. Luka lowered her head, timid.
"... I'm not here to make friends."
But Shig merely said that, his mouth bent into a frown.
"Well aren't you a cheeky one."
Suddenly narrowing her eyes, Nina raised one of her thin eyebrows.
"What. I came here to become stronger. I won't listen to what a weakling says. Or are you a
dragon too?"
"No, she isn't a dragon, but..."
"You're coming with me."
I tried to stop what was about to happen, but Nina just seized Shig by the neck and dragged
him outside the cla.s.sroom.
"Be careful, she's stronger than a dragon... ah, looks like I was too slow. Oh well, then."
I turned to the other three.
"He didn't bring any luggage so we can help him later. Let's go, I'll show you to your
rooms."
I decided to entirely ignore the scream coming from outside. ＊＊＊
The next day.
"Well then. I'd like to start with our first lesson."
Looking toward the four exchange students side-by-side in our newly-built small
cla.s.sroom, I began.
There are two major subjects taught in our school: general knowledge and magic.
For their general education, they will be taught the alphabet, words, and simple arithmetic
with Scarlet's other children. However, when it comes to magic, I decided to use another
time slot to teach them because this is very experimental.
Nina's attending this first attempt as an aide, but I'm the one that'll be leading them. The
general education lessons will be left in Nina and Violet's hands.
"If you have any questions, raise your hand and let me know."
We didn't have any chairs or desks for them yet.
The reason for that is because I've been unable to prepare suitable furniture for anyone but
Violet.
Setting aside Rin, who's unable to move after getting off her wheelchair, Shig is unable to sit
on a normal chair due to his tail getting in the way and I can't even begin to imagine a chair
that Luka could use comfortably with her four legs.
So, unfortunately for Violet, I had everyone but Rin sit on the floor as equals. Many of our
students are unable to even write the alphabet yet, so it goes without saying that desks
were unneeded.
"I have a question!"
I was lecturing on the basic fundamentals of magic. When I brought up the most important
part, Rin shot her hand up."
"What's a name?"
"Eh?"
But hearing a question I didn't antic.i.p.ate, I was taken by surprise.
"You don't know even know something like that? You have a name, it's Rin."
Sounding just as surprised, Shig interjected.
"I know thaaat. I mean why is it Rin?"
"Why...? Because that's what your parents named you, duh."
Shig responded with a somewhat dampened vigor once Rin asked him a strangely
philosophical question.
"Then you'd be Sleepyb.u.m if I called you that?"
"Of course not! And don't give me such a weird name!"
Rin's question left me at a loss for words.
"... So is the important part what is first first, then?"
"Nope. True names can be changed, after all."
Nina responded to Violet's confusion, her arms folded and a difficult expression on her face.
True, be it plants, minerals, or animals, humans have given everything names to wield with
magic. On the other hand, it's impossible for someone to reference another unless they
have a true name they are aware of themselves. I haven't even thought about that until
now. Just what is the difference...?
"Umm... Mentor?"
"Oh, right."
Luka's reserved question pulled me out of my thoughts and back into the lesson.
"At any rate, you know how you can more or less understand that things have names and
recognize them by it even if you don't know what the basis behind what having a name is?"
Everyone nodded when I asked that, causing me to feel a little relieved.
"What's important is that you know something's name. If you don't know its name, you will
be unable to use it with magic."
I stuck my index finger upright.
"Fire, my friend. Please ignite a very, very small flame on my fingertip."
A tiny, candlelight-like flame ignited at the end of my finger once I chanted the incantation.
I'd get a flame large enough to burn down the entire building when I used fire spells in the
past, but I've made advances in magic these past five hundred years. Not just in how much
the incantation can influence its strength, but in my suppression over its output as well.
That I have to use two verses for something as small as a candle's flame is a bit sad, though.
"This is Fire. Fire is..."
"What kind of fire?"
Once I attempted to begin explaining as I recalled what I said when I first taught magic, Shig
interrupted me with a question.
"What do you mean?"
"First to roast meat, fire to warm the body, fire that burns trees, there's lots of kinds."
Oh. Come to think of it, didn't the lizardmen's original language have many different ways
to describe fire due to them living at the base of volcanoes?
"Is fire not simply fire?"
As I was thinking about how I should respond, Violet asked a question of her own.
"Hey, what is fire?"
Rin inclined her head to the side.
"Excuse me, umm, Mentor? There are different kinds of fire?"
Hearing Luka raise her hand and ask her question seriously, I was stumped on how to
respond.
Each of them recognized fire differently, very different from one another.
Shig, a lizardman, grew up with fire as his ally, something so close to him that he had a way
to refer to it for each of its uses. On the other hand, Rin, a mermaid born and raised in the
ocean and who was on land for the first time, didn't so much as know of fire's existence at
all.
As an elf who spent her life living in a forest, fire was akin to being the symbol of danger,
the thing that could take the roof over her head away and ruin her surroundings. However,
for Luka, a lykos who lived as a nomad in the gra.s.slands, it was just a tool to cook with and
warm up.
... Teaching all four of the exchange students at once may have been a mistake. When I tried
to look to Nina for help, I found that she'd disappeared.
Sh-she ran away!?
"Teach me how to be stronger than fire."
"I would prefer to go over something else."
"Umm, uhh, I..."
"Hey! What's this fire thing?"
There were only four students in all, but I couldn't keep up with them in the least with
them all talking at once.
I thought back to my very first pupil.
Ai. How patient and diligent she was, the ideal pupil.
She studied under my inexperienced teaching, never complaining.
How blessed was I for that?
It's been five hundred years since and I'm only just now realizing.
10
Cla.s.s Leader 学級委員長
Don't let tonight's meal be decided by the dragon.
Often misused to mean 'It's an unnecessarily perilous experience', a proverb pa.s.sed down
through the Scarlet Clan.
"So tired..."
"Good work."
Nina pitied me indifferently as I returned from the day's cla.s.ses and sat back against a
chair.
Ten days had pa.s.sed since the transfer students' special cla.s.ses began. The clamor that
happened on the first day has steadily gotten worse, so the cla.s.ses have only been
proceeding at a snail's pace. Each time I try to teach something about magic, it turns into a
giant fuss despite my best efforts to avoid it.
"Are things moving along well with general education?"
I ended up leaving that side the education entirely to Nina and Violet, but I haven't heard
much in particular about that from them at all. However, thinking about it carefully, Scarlet
village's population has been increasing so quickly and there's been so many children that
they should be having an extra difficult time.
"Pretty much, there haven't really been any problems. Shig and Rin start making a fuss now
and then though."
"Those two, huh..."
Hearing their names, I imagined the two of them making a clamor.
Luka had an obedient and honest personality, and Violet was an adult. Even if they were
confused by the differences in their environment and the culture they'd leapt into, they
weren't the kind of people to make problems for others.
The ones making any problems would be one of the two youths, or perhaps even both of
them.
Adding on to that, those two seem to have trouble getting along with each other, leading to
them bickering with each other right away. I say that, but given how Rin just jumps into
things headfirst, I get the feeling that it's Shig who's suffering. Rin doesn't understand the
concept of avoiding conflicts at all.
"How do you deal with them when they go at it?"
"You want to know how?"
Following her response, Nina moved her fingers. Vines grew up from the ground, coiling
around me and lifting me into the air.
"That's how."
"I get it, I get it already, let me down!"
I shouted, panicked.
I grew more uneasy than I thought I would at having my body's freedom taken away and
my feet lifted from the ground. Even if it wasn't that far up, I still felt fear at wondering if I'd
just be dropped all of a sudden.
"And if they still don't listen, well..."
When Nina waved her fingers again, my body was shaken up and down rather violently. My
vision blurred at the jostling, I started grabbing on to the vines on my own volition in fear
of being tossed away due to the g-forces I felt. It might look humorous to those seeing it, but
it was nothing of the sort for those going through it.
"They started to behave around the third day."
Obviously they would!
Finally released and left to fall back to the ground, I wanted to shout out but found myself
unable due to fighting my nausea.
"Big broooother! Wait, huh? What's wrong?"
It looked like Violet's cla.s.s let out. Yuuki, who came by the office on her way back as she
usually did, jumped on top of me even while I was still trying to get up. It was alright,
though. She didn't weigh much.
"No, it's nothing... I'm alright."
When I told her that it was nothing, she turned and went over to Nina.
"What happened?"
"He said the special cla.s.ses haven't been going well."
Oh, come on!
Yuuki just asked the same thing over again and Nina let it slip.
"Oooh. I get it. Rin and Shig right?"
Yuuki immediately figured out the two culprits, probably due to them always being like
that.
"It's not like it's either of their faults. It's mine."
Regardless of their methods, Nina and Violet had been able to continue teaching their
cla.s.ses perfunctorily.
"Yeah. I agree!"
Unfortunately, Yuuki agreed with me so fast that I felt a bit sad.
"Big brother's waaay too soft."
She didn't stop there either, she even pat me on the head.
I might cry here, you know?
"A leader should be strong!"
"... A leader?"
I responded to Yuuki, whose words seemed to hold some deeper significance.
"I'm saying, big brother doesn't feel like a leader."
It's true, even I don't think I'm suited to being a leader. Scarlet doesn't officially have a
village chief, but it's de facto leader is the head of the Swordsaints. That is, Yuuki's father,
Amaga.
"Leader... a leader, hmm."
The leader of a village is its village chief, the leader of an academy is its headmaster.
However, the leader of a cla.s.sroom is not its instructor.
"Yeah. Let's decide on a leader."
Suddenly thinking of it, I spoke.
＊＊＊
"Cla.s.s... leader?"
"Yeah. Cla.s.s leader. Leader for short works fine too."
Hearing Shig ask back my words like a parrot, I responded with a nod. Cla.s.s Chairman
wouldn't have been a good fit since there wasn't a committee to be in charge of, so I
thought that cla.s.s leader would be a more appropriate fit. It's similar, at least.
"What I'm saying is that let's decide who the number one person in the cla.s.s is, that's all.
What that person says, goes. Easy, right?"
"Shouldn't we do what you say, Mentor?"
Violet proposed a legitimate question.
"Yes. Of course, I will be ranked above you all as your instructor. But that's also the reason
why I cannot be your leader. It's up to you all to determine who the leader is."
"... I see. So it's like being a scout leader? Using that example, Mentor, you would be like
Eldest?"
Taking a moment to think about it, she understood and responded with that.
"Hey, hey, what kinda thing is it~?"
"Well now... in other words, Mentor, you're saying that we can think of it as choosing the
next person in charge after you?"
Seeing Rin pull on the hem of my clothes, Luka explained what she understood in her own
way. It wasn't entirely accurate, but it was probably easier for her to understand it that way
for now.
"I'll do it!"
"Sounds fun, I wanna do it too!"
Then, as expected, both Shig's and Rin's hands shot up right away.
"If it's alright, could I?"
Then, unexpectedly, Violet joined in as well. She probably felt some measure of
apprehension towards letting either of them decide everything. She should be aware of the
problem itself, as well. As a woman who served as one of the scout leaders she'd spoken of,
Violet being the leader would definitely be a great help to me.
---However.
"Nothing would change if I decided on it myself, now would it? Take me choosing Rin, for
instance. Shig, you wouldn't consent to that, would you?"
"Let alone someone with only two arms, I could not follow someone without any legs."
I suppose the lizardmen's sense of values places importance on how many limbs they have?
"Rin's tail and waist fins act as her arms and legs, so she has the same amount as you, Luka,
and me... but, well, let's leave that for some other time."
I didn't exactly have enough time to explain Darwin's Theory of Evolution just then, nor did
I even know for certain if that applied to this world.
"At any rate, we'll be deciding who through an impartial method."
"Impartial... like with a fight?"
Shig seemed to look nervous as he glanced over to Violet. Come to think of it, Violet's cla.s.s
hasn't been having any problems either, has it? I feel like I understand that look of his,
somehow.
"No, it's something everyone is about equal in."
As I spoke, I took out what I had prepared beforehand.
"Rocks and... wood?"
Seeing what I'd taken out, the students all tilted their heads.
12
Hide and Seek かくれんぼ
Hiding in the trees when chased by an elf in a forest isn't
too bad of a plan. Just give a few seconds' thought about what the
meaning behind an entirely meaningless action might be.
Somewhere around half a year pa.s.sed since I began giving our exchange students special
cla.s.ses.
"That's why you're an idiot! Shouldn't you be able to get it just by thinking about it?"
"Eeh, but whyyy? I don't get it!"
Today, just like every day, I could hear Shig and Rin squabbling with each other in the
cla.s.sroom.
"Alright you two, that's enough!"
However, more recently, Luka's been starting to break them up.
"I was wondering what would happen when she started, but it looks like it turned out well."
Looking at the situation progress from a little ways away, Violet smiled. Luka was fairly
hesitant at it at first, but she already had lots of experience in this after looking after her
younger siblings for so long. She seemed to have come into her stride the past few weeks,
so we've all seen Shig and Rin get scolded by her quite a lot.
"You two really are like siblings."
In response to Luka chiding him with her hands on her hips, Shig muttered out a response...
which provoked yet another warning from her. Rin, laughing at his misfortune, was equally
scolded in turn. Rin generally just went about doing things her way without letting anyone
trip her up, but it seemed as though Luka was able to get through to her with her scoldings.
"To be honest, I thought that I would be the one who would need to a.s.sume that role. Luka
seems suited to it, though."
Watching Luka patting their heads after chiding them, Violet spoke in a gentle tone.
"Rather than being like an older sister, Violet, you're more like their mother. It feels like
you're always watching over them."
"Oh?"
Unexpectedly, Violet's eyes opened wide upon hearing my comment. Perhaps she's still too
young to be likened to a mother?
"Then that would make us something of a couple, would it not? Mentor is the cla.s.sroom's
father."
What she responded with was just as unexpected.
"Oh, well, umm, sorry, I didn't mean---"
"No!"
Yuuki shoved herself between Violet and I, who'd become somewhat incoherent.
"I'm who's gonna be big brother's bride!"
"Are you now?"
Seeing Yuuki cling to me with so much gusto, Violet smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"I've said it many times now, but I'm already married."
Even while patting Yuuki on the head, I admonished her. Of course, I took Yuuki's words as
those of a youth's short-lived yearning. However, I knew from past experiences that it
would hurt her if I didn't answer them straight on.
"Hmph."
Yuuki scrunched up her lips in discontent and grumbled, but that was all. It didn't look like
her feelings were hurt.
"Now then, how about we start cla.s.s?"
Clapping my hands together to gain everyone's attention as soon as there was a lull, I
waited for my students to get back to their seats.
Setting aside Violet's, Yuuki's, and Shig's chairs which all had standard backings to them---
along with a hole in Shig's for his tail---we also had version fifteen of Rin's light-yet-robust
wheelchair and a st.u.r.dy ottoman for Luka to sit her belly down on. Quite a line up, if I
don't say so myself.
"Mentor, what are we doing today?"
Luka wasn't the only person who'd come into her own in the cla.s.sroom. Through many
trials and tribulations, I'd also gradually come to understand what I should do.
Giving them some goal and allowing them to go about it in their own way generally worked
out better than just giving each of them the same thing and teaching them directly.
"Right... today, we're going to play hide and seek."
"Hide and seek?"
Rin parroted back the game's name, followed by Shig and Luka both tilting their heads in
confusion.
"But that's a kid's game."
"What is hide and seek?"
They did so for opposite reasons, however. Shig, because he knew what it was, and Luka,
because she didn't.
"It won't be any standard hide and seek, of course. You'll be using magic to escape and hide.
The person who's it can use magic to give chase, as well. Being found is alright, but you're
out if you get touched. If you can keep away until nightfall, you win."
"Sounds fun! I wanna be it!"
As soon as I gave Luka and the others the explanation of what they'd be doing, Rin's hand
darted into the air.
"Then I want to too!"
Compet.i.tive as he was, Shig raised his hand as well.
"Sorry, but I've already decided on who'll be it."
"Bleh."
Shig grunted in dissatisfaction.
"Who's gonna be it, big brother?"
It was rather unusual for me to unilaterally decide on a role for them, so Yuuki asked me in
curiosity.
"Today, you all---"
Smiling, I continued.
"---are going to be attempting to escape from Violet in the forest."
＊＊＊
"I will be off, then."
"Have fun."
After the other students went and hid in the forest, Violet counted to one hundred and
followed after them. Seeing her off, I took a few small red scales out of my pocket. They
were things I'd removed from my dragon form, parts of me.
"Those that are strong enough to defend against any and everything, that hold a crimson
l.u.s.ter and gleam in the sunlight, that are fragments of the dragon that is me. Be my ears
and let me hear, be my eyes and give me sight beyond sight."
Scattering five of them on the ground and reciting the incantation, flames rose up to show
me each of my students. I had handed each of them matching scales to use this magic,
enabling me to see what they were doing.
The first one to catch my attention was Yuuki running through the forest with Rin on her
back. It would be difficult for Rin to move about in the forest---a place with no pavement
and scarcely no flat ground for her wheelchair---so I had her pair up with Yuuki.
Rin generally looked small due to her youthful appearance, but her lower body was fairly
long. If you compared her full length to Violet, who was rather tall, Rin might just come out
on top. She was somewhere around forty kilos, too. For Yuuki to be able to dash so easily
through the woods despite bearing her weight as well spoke a lot of her strength.
On the other hand, Shig and Luka's pair seemed to be wandering aimlessly through the
forest. They didn't necessarily need to pair up, but I told them to do so to be similar to Rin
and Yuuki. Both of them held better natural physical capabilities than humans, too. The
speed they traveled at as they went through the brush was comparable to a human
sprinting on flat ground.
And following behind them was Violet in a very relaxed manner. She looked as though she
were talking a stroll in the park, not hurrying in the least. She had the composure only an
elder could, seeming as though she'd be able to capture them the instant she got seriously.
"... Those are some pretty harsh conditions."
When I turned around upon suddenly hearing a voice, I saw Nina gazing into the flames.
"Are they?"
It's true that the forest was vast with many places to hide. Normally speaking, this would
make it so that it'd be highly impractical to find someone hiding in it by yourself. However,
Violet was an elf. Although it wasn't the forest she grew up in, I think she should have many
ways to search for them...
"Well, whatever. What about food?"
"Ah, whoops. I forgot. Well, there's fruits and nuts everywhere in the forest, so they can just
grab something when they get hungry."
I don't think they'll have enough time to actually hunt... but maybe Rin and Yuuki's pair
might be able to?
"Want me to make their's while I make mine?
"What, dinner?"
"I'm talking about lunch, obviously."
Nina shook her head, acting as though I said something stupid.
"Oh, they're not coming back for lunch. Perhaps I should have set up a rest break for them?"
"... You know---"
Shaking her head once again, Nina sighed.
"They're not going to last till lunch against Violet."
"Caught you, Shig."
I heard Violet's voice almost simultaneously with what Nina said.
When I turned around in surprise, I saw Violet catching up to Shig in no time flat and
grabbing his arm. I only looked away for two or three minutes. When did she...!?
It looked like Luka had managed to escape, as she was dashing away at top speed while
keeping an eye on her rear.
"You are me, I am you. Beat with my feet and swing with my arms, we run---shadow clone."
Once Luka finished the incantation, her shadow suddenly seeped up from the ground and
reformed to look exactly like her before continuing to run straight ahead. Seeing her
shadow off as it left indistinct footprints on the ground and broke twigs as it ran, Luka
stealthily hid behind a shrub so as to not leave any traces of her doing so.
She couldn't be seen from outside of the shrubbery, but she could see her surroundings
rather well. Luka strained to listen with her perky ears as she concentrated on listening for
anyone approaching her. She had senses that surpa.s.sed even the most excellent hunter
due to being a lykoscentaur, her hearing and sense of smell were so sharp that they were
incomparable to human senses. If she concentrates, there's nothing that could get the jump
on her.
"Got you, Luka."
---Other than an elf in a forest, that is.
"Pyaaah!?"
Her neck caught by the arm that quietly avoided the bushes' leaves hanging down
overhead, Luka let out a queer shriek.
"Oh? Looks like she isn't putting much strength into it, but the way she's holding her neck
right there's pretty much impossible to escape without getting your neck dislocated first."
"Violet isn't going to injure her right!?"
Hearing Nina's calm explanation, I shouted out in a panic.
"Don't worry about it, she wouldn't do something so imprudent."
Alighting down to the ground, Violet pat Luka on the head.
"Well then, two more to go."
Saying that with a smile on her face, her eyes were trained exactly on Yuuki and Rin's
current location.
13
A Game of Tag おにごっこ
Alright everyone, that's enough. Time to eat!
---Scarlet Magic Academy's Vice-President, Nina
"... This is a little troubling."
Pressing a hand to her forehead, Violet looked at the spring as she tilted her head. In the
deep bottom of the water, Rin could be seen. However, although this was hide and seek, the
rule was that you wouldn't be defeated so long as you weren't touched. She needed to
somehow get close to Rin underwater.
Just like how the forest was Violet's territory, so was the water Rin's. Although it wasn't as
though Violet couldn't swim, it was sheer folly to attempt to capture a mermaid
underwater.
After hesitating over what to do for a little while, Violet left the area. Although Rin was
staying still at the bottom, she was an excessively energetic girl. She quickly grew tired of
waiting and became impatient, so she swam up to the surface to look around and make
sure that Violet had left.
"Rin, watch out!"
Hearing Yuuki's warning the moment she approached the sh.o.r.e, Rin quickly dove back
into the water. Violet, her body clad in leaves to mimicry the trees, reached out her hand
and grew th.o.r.n.y vines from her fingertips. The thorns caught Rin's tail, however...
"Yaah!"
Together with a shout, Rin shot something out from the water and easily tore through the
vine rope.
"Mentor, what about that?"
"Hmm. I guess she's safe. You have to touch them with your own body."
"The thorns are like a part of me though..."
Unexpectedly, Violet complained. She was probably feeling a bit vexed at losing her target.
She looked about, but Yuuki had erased signs of her presence completely.
As if to tease Violet, Rin sent bubbles up to the surface.
"Mentor, this is Rin's home, correct?"
Violet spoke in her usual calm tone.
"Yes..."
"Would it be a problem if I made it unlivable for a while?"
Oh, it looks like she's more annoyed than I thought.
"That would be a bit much... Rin, if you don't want it to be destroyed, get out, okay?"
I transmitted my words to Rin. Violet looked like she was growing impatient.
"Please do something to prevent it then, alright?"
Saying that, Violet raised her arm and grew briers all over it, hands included. It grew larger
and larger, eventually resembling what looked like a gigantic glove. Honestly, it looked
exactly like a glove a giant would wear.
She then placed her hand into the spring. Although Rin did her best to avoid the fingers,
Violet wasn't aiming for her. Far down in the water was a great big rock.
"I, am strong."
Putting her finger onto the edge of the rock, Violet recited an incantation. It's the
Swordsaint's---!
The thorn glove expanded even further and lifted the rock with a jerk. When she pulled it
up to the surface, she threw it away to the side. Where she threw it was the entrance for the
spring's source of water. A small river of flowing water.
The spring had a single stream where water came into it two where water left. By damming
up its only entrance, she intended to dry it up.
Just as Violet went to grab a second rock, Rin started vigorously producing more bubbles.
Upon taking a closer look, the bubbles she'd been producing for a while now were drifting
in the water, none of them had disappeared. Pushed on by the newly produced bubbles,
they jumped out of the water's surface and began to enclose around Violet.
"That's...!"
Even so, it wasn't as though the bubbles were some offensive ability. They were just
ordinary, powerless bubbles. Which meant---it was a feint!
Violet, arriving at the same conclusion as me, lifted her free left arm and produced a thorn
sword. Then, an instant later, Violet used her sword to clash against the one that came at
her from the trees above.
"Ah, you realized!"
What Yuuki was holding wasn't her usual stone sword. She probably figured that it would
be a bad idea to use bladed weapons in a game of hide and seek. It was just a long, wooden
stick. That said, it appeared to be strengthened through magic as it was able to hold up
against Violet's sword unharmed. Violet reached her hand out toward her, so Yuuki quickly
took a distance. Unlike their match from before, this was hide and seek. Even if she could
defeat Violet, Yuuki wouldn't win. All Violet had to do to win was touch Yuuki. No matter
how good Yuuki was, winning a one on one against her with that condition was too hard.
---But this wasn't a one on one.
"Take this---!"
Resurfacing, Rin shouted at Violet from behind. Well done. Yuuki had just escaped to a
position that placed Violet directly between her and Rin. She then used magic to shoot a
bubble... no, a water ball. Was that what she used to cut through the vine a bit ago?
Violet immediately caught the blow using her thorn glove as a shield, but the water ball had
enough force behind it to tear through the thorns. Moreover, Rin could shoot them rapidly.
Although Rin's aim was insufficient even with her using an incantation due to her
lackadaisical personality, dodging so many of them shot back to back looked like it was
tough on Violet.
"You are slow!"
Just then, Yuuki used her magic. It caused Violet to lose her balance, however...
"I am fast!"
It was was immediately countered by her own magic.
Even Violet found it impossible to move normally while strengthened through magic.
Therefore, she burdened herself with the thorn glove as well as waited until she could
counter Yuuki's magic with it. What a wonderful plan.
However, Yuuki wasn't one to miss a chance presented to her. At practically the same time
as Violet did that, Yuuki aimed low with an attack. It was something that Violet, who'd lost
her balance, wouldn't be able to cope with.
Yet Violet lept up into the air through very unnatural movements and dodged it.
"No way!?"
Even if Violet could have done something like roll to avoid the blow, there's no way she
should have been able to jump with the stance she'd had. Not foreseeing the turn of events,
Yuuki opened her eyes wide. Violet had extended a vine from her arm and latched onto a
tree branch, using it much like an action wire.
She then extended another th.o.r.n.y vine to a different tree and used it to move through the
air. This method of moving about was what she'd used to catch up to the other students so
swiftly.
Unable to do anything, Yuuki looked up at Violet moving around at high speeds overhead.
Rin shot more water b.a.l.l.s at Violet, but none connected due to how fast she was moving.
While this was happening, Violet extended another vine to Yuuki to catch her.
Even so, Yuuki wouldn't allow herself to be caught so easily. She slapped it away with the
wooden stick in her hand, cutting it through. Her balance destroyed once more through the
shock of that attack, Violet fell to the ground.
---However, this was a trap.
It enticed Rin to shoot her water b.a.l.l.s lower down to collide with Violet. Unfortunately,
Yuuki was now in the path of those b.a.l.l.s.
"Uwaaah!"
It turned into a great example of friendly fire. Yuuki, having grown entirely negligent of Rin,
was struck in the back by the water b.a.l.l.s and got knocked tumbling. Her body was then
surrounded by Violet's thorn vines.
"Not like this...!"
Yuuki tried to cut away the vines with her stick by thrusting it between them, but the vines
lifted her body up into the air before she was able to and flung her away.
"E-eh, ummm, hah!"
If Yuuki kept on as is, she'd collide right into Rin, who'd popped up through the water's
surface. Rin opened her arms wide and caught Yuuki. However, unable to absorb the
impact entirely, the two of them shot down into the water.
Yuuki did her best to get out of Rin's hold on her, but it was already too late. Two huge,
thorn-made hands enclosed them and grasped them firmly.
If it were just Rin there, it probably wouldn't have went so simply. Capturing the girl who
was able to swim freely through the water while launching water b.a.l.l.s to keep her
distance would have been a herculean undertaking. However, Violet had thrown Yuuki at
her to give herself a chance at catching them both. Violet's split-second decision led to her
victory.
"See? Don't you they wouldn't make it till noon."
Pointing to the sun that was just now beginning to reach its zenith, Nina spoke in triumph.
"Yeah, looks like you were right. Let's go have lunch with every---"
"Mentor, one more time! Let us try it one more time!"
Interrupting me, Shig spoke up in frustration.
"Wouldn't it be be alright to wait until after..."
"Umm, Mentor, I would also like to try again. I'm not hungry yet, so..."
Then even Luka started to ask for the same.
"Me too! I wanna do it too!"
"Big broooother! I wanna do it another time too!"
Agreeing with the others, Rin and Yuuki spoke up in insistence as well.
"I don't particularly mind... but what to do...?"
I meant about not eating. It wasn't too much of a problem for Luka as her species could go a
while without eating, but the others were still growing children that needed to eat
regularly.
"Couldn't you all just wait until after eating?"
"No way!"
Shig shouted in response to Nina. With that, Nina narrowed her eyes and glared at him. It
was something she did whenever she felt irritated at something.
"Alright then, sure. Let's do it again. Just---"
Nina spoke in a penetratingly cold voice.
"This time, I'll be it."
After that, everyone---Violet included---was caught within five minutes.
14
Metrology 度量衡
One meter is the distance covered by communication magic through a fetish in
1/299,792,458th of a second.
---The 22nd International Weights and Measures General a.s.sembly, Dragon Year 5463
"That which is hot, which is red, o' fire. Gather in my palm."
The whispering, high-pitched voice of a young boy could be heard coming from the
schoolyard. The sun still hadn't risen.
"Morning. Giving it your all so early, Shig?"
"---...! Oh, Mentor? You surprised me."
Jumping at my voice, Shig turned around with an embara.s.sed look.
I wasn't sure when he'd started doing it, but I recently noticed that he'd been secretly
practicing magic by himself in the morning.
"... I really just can't get my head around these magic flames."
Shig muttered, looking at the small flame floating above his palm. It shook somewhat
before whiffing itself out. The flames he produced weren't able to stabilize.
It's the same with how my compatibility with fire is too good, controlling it doesn't go so
well.
"But they're lasting longer than before, right?"
Shig's expression grew mixed in response. He was someone who usually stayed away from
others, but this expression of his was easy to get. At the very least, he didn't seem happy.
"I am hard. I am fast. I am agile. I am heavy. I am strong..."
Layering up various incantations on himself, Shig clenched his fists. Controlling
reinforcement magic was a difficult thing. However, as far as he was concerned, that was
nothing. Taking a step forward, Shig thrust a fist out toward me.
After being trained by Yuuki, the way he carried his body was so smooth that his former
self couldn't compare.
---I caught his fist. Not as a dragon, but in my human form.
"Hey, Mentor."
He was getting stronger. There was no doubt about that. But even so...
His progress was too slow.
"When, when will I be able to win against you..."
I didn't have an answer for him.
＊＊＊
"I think it's about time we started farming large scale this year."
"Really!?"
Yuuki's response wasn't surprising.
It had been around five years since we started this special cla.s.sroom. We'd been trying to
cultivate plants on a small scale since the second year. It all withered on our first attempt,
but the second attempt and on has been successful, with each harvest yielding more than
the last.
Even so, there was a reason that we hadn't started seriously farming on a large scale.
"If we're going to do this seriously, we'll have to prepare a large field."
"Ugh... we'll have to do that again...?"
She seemed to be thinking back to what we'd had to do. Yuuki frowned in reluctance.
Digging up dirt to till it, as well as the deweeding and stone removal were all necessary
steps. Even just a small field took a considerable amount of work. Let alone heavy
equipment, we didn't even have the more common farming machines or tools.
"How big will it need to be, I wonder?"
"Yeah, that's the first problem to figure out."
I nodded in response to Violet's question. How big do we need? Even now, I still don't have
the means to give an answer to a question like that. The reason being that I still haven't
decided on a basic measurement. Not just for length either, but for weight and volume as
well. I haven't made any progress in deciding on our system of weights and measures at all.
Of course, since we're using j.a.panese as our language, we can still use words like meter
and kilogram. Still though, saying exactly how long a meter is is what's stumped me.
If I recall, the meter was based off of the size of the Earth or the speed of light. That said, it
wasn't like it was easy to settle on, making it so that they had to keep a close eye on its
establishment.
Extreme accuracy is unnecessary at our level of civilization, of course. For example, saying
something like a foot is easy to understand because its name implies that it's based off the
size of a person's foot. Although it is easy to understand, using it in this world comes with
its own problems.
The fact that our body types are so different being the first to come to mind. Lizardmen
never stop growing and just continue slowly getting bigger, while lykoscentaur, similarly to
wolves, only touch the ground with the tips of their feet, so deciding whether it'd be foot or
leg size becomes its own problem. Then there's merfolk, who don't have feet at all.
It's not limited to difference races either, it applies to humans too. Compared to humans on
Earth, the humans here are much more varied. Although having a giant on Darg's level is
still rare, there's still many who are considerably tall or, on the other end, short.
"It'd be nice if there was something that always had the same length..."
I could use things like stones or trees standards, but stones are heavy and difficult to use,
and trees fade away before you know it.
"There is though?"
I looked at Nina as though to ask her what she was talking about.
"I'd be happy if it was something that didn't change in length over a century or two, but..."
"It doesn't change though?"
Huh, was there something like that?
I tilted my head.
Nina didn't look like she was changing, but even she was growing ever so slowly. She's
gotten the slightest bit taller since I met her, and she's matured.
"In at least these five hundred years, you haven't changed at all."
"Huh? No, I've grown... too..."
I started to respond, but then I realized. Even though I did grow as a dragon, my human
form's appearance hadn't changed at all. I didn't know if it was due to the magic or due to
dragons' longevity being so extraordinarily long, but I stayed looking like a twenty-
something year old youth.
"My height hasn't changed at all?"
"Nope."
Nina answered me immediately. She's seen me practically every day, so it's probably not
wrong if she says so.
"Then maybe we should base it on me...?"
If I recall correctly, I was a hundred and seventy-five centimeters tall in my previous life. I
might've shrunk somewhat in my later years, but I remember getting to that height and
staying there for ages since it was such a nice, easy-to-remember number.
"Yuuki, can you make a mark on it at my height?"
"Sure. Don't move, okay?"
Once I stood next to a column that was supporting the cla.s.sroom's roof, Yuuki unsheathed
her sword and in a single motion leapt forward. The wind following her movement caused
my hair to move slightly and I heard the sound of the wood above my head be cut.
"Now we divide this into seven... mmm, splitting it seven ways is difficult..."
You get twenty-five after dividing a hundred seventy-five by seven to make it easier to use,
but splitting it up into seven was unexpectedly difficult.
"Oh, right. Violet, could you hand me a vine of about this length?"
"Certainly."
Still not knowing what I intended and tilting her head to the side, Violet easily grew a vine
from her finger and handed it to me. Once I cut it to my exact height, I made a circle and laid
it onto the ground, drawing a seven-pointed star inside it.
It's difficult to divide a line into seven, but it's relatively easy to draw a seven-pointed star.
As an occult enthusiast, I'd drawn it over and over in my previous life, after all. I never
thought it'd be useful for something like this, though.
Seven is the only single-digit number that cannot divide evenly into three hundred sixty
degrees. One week is seven days, there are that many holes on a face after adding together
eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It holds an importance in magic. Well, I suppose there was no
meaning to it in my previous life, then.
... Come to think of it, I haven't thought about it till now, but I wonder if magic formations
would be useful for any of this world's magic?
"What's that?"
"It'll be easier to get an even split if I do it like this."
Answering Nina's question, I cut the circle wherever the points of the star touched it and
gathered the pieces up. The seven pieces of vine were all the same length.
This time, I drew a pentagram in the same fashion and divided one up into five centimeter
lengths. I'd be able to accurately draw a pentagram if I had a mariner's compa.s.s and a
ruler, but doing it manually like this is quicker. For an occult enthusiast like me, this was
the basics of the basics.
I could draw another pentagram and divide them into centimeter pieces, but the vine itself
is too pliable, so that'd just increase the margin of error. It should be fine without going
down to such detail for now.
"Hey hey, Mentor, what's that~?"
Not really seeming to understand what I was doing, Rin spoke up after seeing me divide the
vines up into pieces. Everyone else seemed to be just as confused, so it looked like no one
got it.
"Alright. If I had ten water apples and three scarlet potatoes, which do I have more of?"
"There'd be seven extra water apples!"
Rin raised her hand and answered energetically, so I nodded in response. It was simple
mathematics, but it was surprisingly hard to get her to be able to understand the
comparative difference in volumes. It was the result of Nina's steady efforts in educating
her.
"Alright, now, between Violet and Nina, who is bigger?"
Rin looked from Nina to Violet and back again and placed her finger against her forehead in
thought.
Then, realizing something, she pointed at Violet's b.r.e.a.s.t.s and spoke.
"Violet's twice as big!"
"I'll punch you."
Nina clenched her fist after hearing Rin's honest response... Come to think of it, those hadn't
grown at all either....
As soon as I thought that, Nina swung at my head.
... Seriously, ow.
"Not that... their height. Even if you understand that Violet is taller, you'd be stumped to
answer by how much right?"
"About this much---wouldn't work, then?"
Shig showed their height difference with his hands.
"Oh! So you mean to give a name to that feeling of about this much?"
"Yeah, exactly!"
I responded emphatically, practically clapping.
"Just like how you can count how many nuts there are or how many objects or animals
there are, you can enumerate the length of something with a centimeter. Each of these
small vines are five centimeters. For example, my height becomes a hundred and seventy-
five centimeters."
"Hundred... seventy-five..."
Rin hadn't had to deal with such large numbers usually, so she repeated it over again to try
and wrap her head around it.
"Hey. How about me?"
The first person to ask that was Shig.
"Violet, could you give me another vine?"
"Sure. One moment, please."
Violet picked up one of the twenty-five centimeter vines I cut and, concentrating, closed her
eyes with it in her hand. Following that, she moved the vine in her hand around a few times
while slowly producing another from her hand.
"Will this be fine?"
"That's amazing!"
I exclaimed upon seeing the vine she produced. The vine Violet made had a thorn every
twenty-five centimeters along it. It was very convenient. It also consequently showed that
she understand the concept of unit lengths.
"Alright, then stand in front of the column. Let's see..."
After making a mark on the column to match Shig's height, I measured the mark's height
from the ground with the vine I got from Violet. It was just a little higher than the fifth
thorn, and was practically just right after adding a five centimeter vine.
"Shig, I'd say you are around a hundred and thirty centimeters tall.
"Big brother, measure me too!"
"What about me? What about me?"
"I'd like to know too."
Everyone seemed like they wanted to know their heights and started to speak up, so we
suddenly ended up having our first body measurement session.
Nina was a hundred and fifty-five centimeters tall. Violet was just a little shy of a hundred
seventy. I was a bit confused about where exactly I should measure to on Luka, but the
height to her head from her standing upright as she normally did was a hundred and sixty
centimeters. Rin was about a hundred centimeters when I measured her the same way, but
she was a hundred and seventy when I measured the full length of her body from head to
tail.
"Yuuki is... a hundred and thirty, I'd say."
"Eh, the same as me!?"
When it was finally Yuuki's turn, Shig was surprised.
"Oh, pretty much."
Yuuki waved her hand above her and Shig's head as they stood back-to-back. Five years ago
when they first met, Shig was a good bit taller.
"Yuuki, how old are you now?"
"I'm fifteen years old!"
It's already been that long? She has grown a lot, both in her height and that her former
boyish body has gotten more feminine.
"These got bigger too~"
"Yep. They have."
Yuuki answered Rin, not seeming to mind the fact that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were latched onto by
Rin in an eagle grip.
I guess the reason I didn't feel like she'd grown up much was because of her ever-present
childish personality. Her climbing my body like some monkey's never stopped, after all.
"Stop that, it's shameless."
I rebuked her out of habit, but I appeared to be the only one embarra.s.sed among the
mostly female group here. Even though Shig was also a man, lizardmen females didn't
develop b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so he didn't have that same feeling about them.
"It'd be nice to get our weights too."
"Exercising~?"
"I mean figuring out how much we weigh."
Rin tilted her head and I answered her.
Even though I said that, measuring weight is much more difficult than height. How should I
go about making a scale?
I couldn't even consider it, honestly. Draw water and measure it with a balance? I don't
even really know how to make the scales though.
"Weight has a number too?"
"Yeah. Most things can be represented by numbers."
"Then... magic, too?"
Hearing Rin, my breath caught. It's true, magical strength comes in all sorts, but I've never
even thought of how to go about representing it numerically.
After all, magic's strength varies way too greatly depending on the person that uses it. I
don't think it'd be possible to measure it with a single standard like height... wait.
"Maybe so."
Coming up with a certain idea, I spoke.
If I can't measure it with a single standard, why don't I just use multiple?
15
The Four Major Elements 四大属性
All things consist of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, the four major elements.
The elements are united by Love, and separated by Hatred.
"Elements is the way to think about it all."
Drawing out a picture on a stone board with a stone for the first time in a while, I started to
describe my thoughts.
Writing letters on the huge stone board I'd brought back to the cla.s.sroom with the soft
while stone was practically the same as using chalk on a blackboard. I could easily erase it
all with a wet cloth, but we hardly used this special cla.s.sroom at all. Teaching our students
in the field was a far better way to have them remember.
However, it was necessary to understand something mentally first.
"All of the things in this world are made by combining several attributes, that line of
thought. Among those attributes are four that are particularly basic, what we'll call the four
major elements. Fire, earth, water, and air."
Drawing pictures to ill.u.s.trate the four with burning fire, a hard stone, dripping water, and
leaves blowing in the wind, sure enough, my students all had figurative question marks
floating above their heads.
"Using a living thing to describe it should make it easier to understand. Water---blood---
flows through our veins, we breath in air, our bodies will eventually return to the earth,
and the fire of life fills our chests. Any living thing will die if they lack even a single one of
these."
"Our bodies are made of dirt?"
At about that moment, Shig looked doubtful and asked a question.
"It just belongs to the earth, I didn't mean that it was itself of the earth. Like how blood isn't
actually water."
"We learned about something similar from Nina some time ago. The three phases of matter,
yes?"
I suppose I should say the wise elf came to the rescue. Violet has an amazing memory. Not
only does she remember things well, she picks things up at an alarming speed.
"Three phases... what're they again...?"
Although Rin had definitely been there for the cla.s.s as well, she tilted her head. Judging by
their expressions, neither Shig nor Yuuki could really remember them either.
"Visible things like stones and dirt and have a shape are solids. Although you can also see
water, it doesn't have a constant shape, so it is a liquid. Things you can't see and have no
shape, like air, are ga.s.ses."
"Oooh, I get it now!"
Listening to Luka's polite explanation, Rin, as well as Shig and Yuuki all let out sounds of
amazement. Luke was very good at describing things the way each of them saw them.
"Right. Solids, liquids, and gases. These correspond to earth, water, and wind. Fire is
energy... the power that moves things. All things in this world are comprised of these four."
"Even water?"
I was at a loss for how to answer Rin's nonchalant question. Her way of thinking wasn't
bound by the usual stereotypes, so she tended to freely and often pierce right to the heart
of the matter.
"Idiot. Water's just water, so it can't have the others."
"That's not actually the case."
And as the owner of a respectable commonsense, Shig was the exact opposite. However,
due to that commonsense, it was hard to explain things like this to him.
"You know that water turns into steam, a gas, after warming it up and that it turns into ice,
a solid, after cooling it down, correct? In other words, the water contains both earth and air
as well. If you add fire to water, it turns into air. If you reverse that, it becomes earth. Being
able to do that also means that the water had fire in it as well."
"Oh, really? These fire and water things, they're like colors. Fire red is the color of fire, but
it's not fire itself. Like that?"
"In a sense, that's right, yeah."
I nodded in response to what Yuuki, who'd struck her fist onto her hand, said.
Understanding the elements through colors was a good, easy to understand way for her to
go about it. Her sensibility was a bit peculiar, but she was terribly good at getting the knack
of things in her own way.
"... So, then, what about these colors?"
The explanation was probably feeling like it was dragging on to Shig who, looking a bit
irritated, asked about what was next.
"Right. If everything in this world is made through a combination of elements, I thought
that magic should be the same. In truth, you are all to some extent a collection of the
attributes."
Living in forests, elves are deeply connected with the earth.
Living in gra.s.slands, lykoscentaur follow smells on the wind.
Living in the sea, merfolk live alongside water.
Living in volcanos, lizardmen are intimate with fire.
I've had a hunch that the four elements have been deeply involved with magical apt.i.tude
for a long time now. Kind of like how I, a fire dragon, can't use magic concerning the cold at
all.
My conception of it was been fairly vague until Rin gave me the idea though.
"I think I'll have you all measure your apt.i.tudes with the four major elements today."
＊＊＊
"Everything's ready, Mentor."
"Yeah, thanks. You're a big help, Amata."
I thanked Amata, who'd courteously bowed at the waist.
The formerly girlish youth who looked like Yuuki had grown up rapidly, his height out
pacing his younger sister who hadn't grown at all, and turned into a fearless adolescent. His
burly arms easily picked up a wooden pillar easily several times the size of him, which he
put in the center of the schoolyard.
"But what are you going to use this stuff for?"
He'd prepared several small wooden tubs, a scale, and a single big stone the size of a fist.
Amata was very skilled with his hands, particularly with treating wood, and a.s.sembled it
all wonderfully.
"These are what we'll use for measuring. Nina, if you would."
Giving Nina the signal, I returned to my dragon form and prepared to use the vine I'd gotten
from Violet.
"Yeah... Fire."
Simultaneously with Nina muttering that, flames coming from her hand went up like a
pillar.
"Let's see, about here I guess. Yuuki, hold where Nina's hand is."
Once I'd floated up to the top of Nina's flame with the vine by using magic without using my
wings, I had Yuuki grip the vine where Nina's hand was. With that, we'd be able to know
how long the flame was.
"Yeah. About five hundred sixty centimeters."
"Nina... Fire... five sixty..."
I had Luka record the numbers on a wooden board.
"Next up is water."
"Water."
Reaching her hand out to me, who was holding a wooden bucket, Nina recited her short
incantation.
I caught the water with the tub so that none of it would spill.
"Hmmm, eight hundred.... and twenty-ish?"
The bucket was made to be ten centimeters in all three dimensions. In other words, it
would be one thousand cubic centimeters upon being fully filled. Every centimeter of
height the water had was a hundred cubic centimeters. Anything inbetween was measured
by eye.
Following that in the same way was wind. The wind blowing from Nina's fingertip
following her, once again, short incantation blew the leaf I'd put on my hand away.
"Exactly one thousand six hundred, I'd say."
We just measured the distance from her feet to where the leaf flew.
"And last but not least is earth."
I was troubled on how to measure the earth element. Only elves like Nina and Violet could
cultivate plants, but on the other hand, it also seemed impossible to just produce soil out of
nothing.
"Become heavy."
So what I thought of what weight. Gravity is the ground's power. Magic that increases
weight should be under the earth category. Immediately following Nina's incantation, the
scale started to screw greatly to one side. I put water in the bucket on the other side to
keep the balance.
"Looks to be about four hundred."
The empty bucket and stone were balanced with each other otherwise, so the amount of
water I had to pour into the bucket was equal to the amount of weight the stone gained.
Since water was just about one kilogram per liter, I could know the weight through the
volume of water.
"Oh, big sis, earth is your worst one?"
Looking at the number Luka put down, Yuuki spoke up.
"No, there isn't much meaning in comparing the differences in the numerical values
between elements."
If you did, for example, it would be like comparing your grip strength with your long jump.
What we'll be able to understand through this is how the students compare to one another.
"Now then, please measure measure yourselves in whichever order you prefer. I'll be in
charge of fire. Nina will take care of water and air, with Amata taking care of earth. Only use
the single-worded incantations that you heard Nina use just now."
I honestly get the feeling it'd be better if we measured it all without using incantations at
all, but there are students who can't use magic without them. That being the case, I decided
that using a single word is the rule.
"Then I'm gonna do fire~!"
I didn't expect it, but Rin came over to me first.
"Fiiiiiire!"
She held her hand up as high as she could and a flame popped above it. It was a pretty cute
flame compared to the one Nina produced, but...
"Ninety... no, one hundred."
Even so, the flame was a meter tall. I thought it'd be worse since she was a mermaid, a race
that lives in the water, but it was actually an alright result.
"It's my turn now I think?"
The next to come was Luka, looking a little nervous.
"Fire...!"
Cropping up from her hand like a water dribbling upward was a small flame. It's length was
about fifty centimeters, but it was really easy to measure since it was stable and not as
violent as Rin's flame.
"I suppose I am next... Fire."
The third person was Violet. A focused flame extended up from her index finger about
thirty centimeters. She was an elf the same as Nina, but her output was greatly different. I
don't know if it was due to individual differences or the time they'd practiced, though.
Rather, wait, Rin's the best so far. What?
"Big brother, measure me, measure me!"
Just as I started worrying about that, Yuuki jumped over and up onto me. It's because she
acts like this that I can't help but see her as a small child. Well, she is actually quite small,
so...
"Fire!"
A vigorous flame burst up from Yuuki's hand. Despite its intense flame that reminded me of
a jet engine's, the force of the flame was stable. Not only does the length vary with the exact
same incantation between person to person, but so does the form and power of the flame.
Upon measuring it, it was ninety centimeters tall. Regrettably, it didn't quite measure up to
Rin's.
"I lost to Rin---!?"
With Yuuki groaning in frustration, the last person up to be measured was Shig. With an
unusually calm and serious expression, he held his palm up.
"... Fire."
He lived in a volcano, is familiar with fire, and practices every morning. I predict that he'll
produce a rather huge flame.
However.
What appeared was contrary to my expectation.
A very, very small flame, the size of a fingertip.
16
Weakness 弱さ
Strengths come in various forms.
The moment I learned the true meaning behind those words was when I realized that
weaknesses, too, were the same.
---Shig, the Skyarms
"...---!"
"Ah---Shig!"
Shig, seeing the flame he produced, ground his teeth and suddenly dashed away.
"Wait, Shig!"
Ignoring me entirely, he'd jumped out of the schoolyard surprisingly fast.
Now that I think about it, I'd never seen Shig produce a flame with a single word before. He
always used long incantations, but I just thought that was to prevent himself from produce
too much fire.
"Mentor, umm..."
Timidly, Luka handed the wooden board with his measurements on it to me.
Pitifully low results were written on it. A hundred for wind. Twenty for earth. Zero for
water. Let alone Nina, his was the lowest among the five students.
Shig being shocked by the results he was getting is definitely the cause. I didn't think about
this enough. I'd thought that Shig would discover his strengths and weaknesses through the
numerical values and learn what he needed to work on, but it turned out to have an
entirely adverse effect.
"Shig...!"
"Wait."
Nina stopped me from leaving to follow after him.
"What are you planning to do after catching up to him?"
I couldn't answer her. Honestly, I couldn't think of anything.
What would I tell him? Me, someone who's obtained this much strength without any
hardships at all.
"... I don't know."
I shook my head feebly.
"But I'm his teacher."
I couldn't just leave him alone.
When I said that, Nina struck me on the back.
She's probably angry for me not being able to think of anything.
"Alright. Good luck."
However, contrary to my belief, she was actually smiling.
I nodded back to her, returned to my dragon form and unfurled my wings.
"Big brother, wait! I'm going too!"
Just before my feet left the ground, Yuuki grabbed onto my tail.
"Watch out!"
"I'm okay!"
The moment I took off into the sky was when my body would be subjected to the most
pressure. However, even during that, Yuuki easily maneuvered up my tail and took her
usual spot on my back, grabbing a horn on my head.
"... I'll find him."
Not wanting to shake her off, I pointed my head downward only slightly as I flapped my
wings.
Dragons had keen senses. Their eyes, ears, and nose were incomparably better than a
human's. My highly developed sense of smell quickly caught track of Shig's scent and when
I looked in the direction it came from, I could see his tracks in just as much clarity.
"That way."
He was headed for a forest that grew near the village. It was a place we'd often used for the
cla.s.s' game of hide and seek. Shig's scent weaved through the trees and brush, moving
from place to place like a beast trail. Sniffing out his trail from up in the sky, I followed after
him.
However, it suddenly stopped.
"That's weird. He definitely pa.s.sed through here."
I circled back around at checked the scent again, but at a certain point, Shig's smell just cuts
off."
"I'll take a look."
As soon as she said that, Yuuki jump from on top of me down into the trees' branches,
descending to the ground.
"... Big brother, it was magic!"
After looking around for a few moments, she shouted back up.
Descending into the forest from above, I changed to my human form and went over to her.
Having such an over sized body was a nuisance at times like these. On the other hand, my
human form's senses felt dull and it was physically weaker, so it was a bag of mixed dice.
"See? He kept going without bothering to avoid anything."
Yuuki showed me a broken bush's branches and his footprints. It was true, the signs
pointed to him not avoiding any obstacles at all, but then it gets to the big tree's trunk.
"Did he camouflage it so we couldn't follow?"
Luka often used magic that could create shadow clones.
Moreover, these didn't only leave traces, but smell as well.
"Are you going to get Violet or big sister?"
"... No."
Shaking my head no, I touched the traces he'd left. The fact that smell created by magic
were still there meant that there must be magic remaining as well.
"You are him, he is you. Shadow that imitates and disguises. Wake, oh shadow of shadows. I
bid you to guide me to your master."
That being the case, I will turn it into a fetish that guides me to Shig. A shadow rose from
the footprints left on the ground and took the shape of a young lizardman running in
reverse.
Chasing after it, the shadow turned at a certain point and pa.s.sed through an area of trees
that grew oranges before un-jumping into the river that was there. Upon entering the
water, the shadow blurred out like ink and disappeared. The smell here had been erased, as
well as the magic.
"Guess he went through the river?"
"I wonder. I would if I were Shig."
Water was a thing to be avoided for me. I had a go at the four major element measurements
myself, but I couldn't even produce a drop of water. There's times that Shig is obstinate and
inflexible, but he's not actually slow in the head or anything. If he wanted to throw me off,
he'd definitely do it with water.
But even though he's escaped through water, it's not like I have to use water magic.
"That which spreads its roots through the hard earth, which grow its plentiful bed of leaves,
which produces beautiful flowers, and which births delicious fruit. I bid you to tell me,
which direction did the lizardman youth go?"
When I asked a citrus tree, its leaves shook and pointed downstream. It's a magic that Nina
was easily able to use without an incantation, but even I could do it if it's just for something
like this.
"Thank you."
I said my thanks to the tree and followed the river bank.
"After this is..."
"Yeah."
I nodded in response to Yuuki, who'd realized where Shig had headed first. After this was
the spring where Yuuki and Rin fought against Violet in our first game of hide and seek.
Sure enough, Shig was sitting beside it.
"Shig!"
When I called out to him, he turned toward us in surprise, his expression off. Like he was
angry, like he was sad---and yet, like he was happy.
"I was looking for you."
I didn't know what I should say, so I said the first thing that came to mind. He closed his
mouth, drawing it into a line.
"... Liar."
His words stabbed my heart.
"Liar. Liar. Liar."
Shig repeated it over and over, like he'd forgotten every other word.
"You told me. You said I would get stronger. Didn't you!?"
"Don't talk to him like---!"
"No, it's fine, Yuuki."
I reigned Yuuki in from retorting.
"It's like you said. I am a liar."
Shig spoke cutting words, but he said it with a hurt expression the whole time.
"But you've misunderstood something. Even more than you think, way more---"
"You're talking about my progress in magic? You're always telling me that. But you know? I
already get it... I'm not suited for magic. I don't have any talent in it."
Sure, it's true that his magic is progressing the slowest amongst the students.
"No, that's not true. But that's not what I'm saying you've misunderstood, either."
"What did I misunderstand then?"
Hearing his vexation, I bowed my head forward.
"Far more than you realize... I... I'm weak."
"... Huh?"
He probably never thought he'd hear those words come from my mouth.
Shig let out a voice like he'd just seen something really weird.
"If you don't believe me, let's try fighting."
Saying that, I held up my fists and looked at him.
"No, that's not---"
"If you're not going to come at me, here I go!"
I shouted and flung a fist at him.
"Uwah, hey, wait up!"
Shig stood up in a hurry to dodge.
Easily avoiding my following attacks, he simply turned his body to avoid my kick.
"Really, what are you doing!?"
After I turned back around after stumbling forward a few steps, he grabbed my arm and
threw me down to the ground. The impact on my chest was so hard that I had trouble even
breathing.
"Are you making fun of me!?"
"N-No, I'm---not..."
I had trouble managing to respond to Shig, who shouted angrily.
"This, really is, my best."
I'd hunted many times. Same with fighting to protect something. But a fist fight? This was
the first in my life. Beating an opponent you don't want to hurt is harder than you could
imagine, but I knew that I could give it all I had without even being able to put a scratch on
him.
Because he had grown up splendidly.
"Your best?"
Shig glared at me, indignant.
"Let alone not your dragon form, you're not even using magic, what kind of best is that!?"
"This is my true full strength."
Bearing the pain, I sat my body up and answered him.
"There was a time, when I was a human."
"A... human?"
Shig looked at me in suspicion.
"A second ago, you said that you had no talent, right?"
His face grimacing, Shig nodded.
"But I really do have no talent. I'll tell you something about me. I couldn't use magic at all... I
died, not even able to make a tiny flame or a tiny breath of air, that's the kind of man I am."
My lack of talents aren't just in magic. I couldn't even land a fist on a boy more than forty
centimeters shorter than me. If I didn't depend on a small girl, I wouldn't have even been
able to put together the cla.s.srooms. That's the kind of pitiful man I am.
"... What are you talking about? You're alive."
"In the past, I was a human. I researched magic my entire life, yet I died without ever using
it... When I came to after that, I'd become a dragon."
I heard the sound of Yuuki breathe deeply beside me. I'd only ever told Ai the story of my
previous life until now. It wasn't that I meant to hide it, it was just too absurd of a story.
"There's no way that---"
"Then hey, have you ever heard of a dragon that could take human form other than me?"
Shig kept quiet. Dragons were things that stood out. Although there were terrifyingly few of
them, anyone would talk about them after seeing one. Even if someone had never actually
met one before, they would have heard of someone else that did at least once or twice.
I've actually met some as well as heard stories about others, but I'd never once heard about
a dragon that could take human form. There was no reason for a dragon to want to use
magic to weaken itself in the first place.
"That's why I know. I know what it's like to put in all your effort and get nothing for it. I
know the pain of seeing no results."
Me reincarnating as a dragon was nothing but dumb luck. I didn't obtain this power nor
this magic because of my effort.
Which is why this form is the real me... Confessing this in front of them, who idolized me as
their mentor, was extraordinarily hard.
"But even someone like me has one thing---just one thing that I won't be beaten at by
anyone."
"... What thing?"
Shig asked half out of doubt.
"I'll never give up."
I smiled.
"Although effort doesn't always pay out, you can be rewarded if you never give up. Who
knows, you might just get lucky at some point."
"But then... then it could still turn out as pointless?"
"Yeah, which is why I'm not telling you to not give up. That's not it."
I nodded back in response to the youth's question and spoke.
"Give me another chance. I won't give up. I will definitely make you stronger."
Shig's red eyes reflected my face.
"... So, in the end, aren't you telling me to give it my all and not give up anyway?"
"Eh? Uhh, yeah... I think?"
A short moment later, I inclined my head and answered him.
No matter how I think about it, there's no way he'd achieve anything without putting in his
own effort. So I guess it ends up as me telling him to not give up after all?
"Whatever, sure. It's not like I ran away because I didn't like the results or anything
anyway..."
"Eh, really!?"
Surprised, I held my mouth closed. I didn't breath fire in my human form, but it was a
remnant of my early habits as a dragon.
"Yeah. I don't mind them."
Shig spoke with an expression that looked somehow over it. Well, I guess it's alright if he
says it's alright, but still...
"Then I was the one to make a mistake, everything I said was for nothing..."
"I-It wasn't for nothing. It did make me happy."
"Yeah! Besides, big brother, you looked so cool like that!"
The two hurried to cheer me up after I slumped forward.
"Cool, huh..."
Objectively, all I did was suddenly try to punch and kick Shig but get thrown to the ground.
Then, my two students had to comfort me from feeling so down after thinking about it. Huh,
that's weird. I could have sworn I'd come here to encourage Shig?
---And doing all this in the middle of the forest, there's no way that Nina didn't see it all.
I, having returned to the school, was amazed yet again.
17
Winds of Change 変化の兆し
Every living creature in this world,
regardless of their desire to do so, will never stop changing.
Mortals, those with long lives, and even those immortals share this fate.
"Chaaaaa---!"
Two small figures dashed across the ground together with a high-spirited cheer. They were
Shig and Yuuki. Their back-to-back attacks had such little timing between them that it
made it difficult to tell who was doing the attacking and who wasn't at any given point.
"So by shifting the scale's pole from the center, I've improved it so that we can measure
weight without having to constantly adjust the weight on the other side with water."
"That's amazing, I hadn't thought of that."
Amata spoke to me, not taking his eyes off of what he was doing. He swept Yuuki's legs out
from under her while simultaneously managing to grab onto Shig's arm and fling him. The
two were both knocked flat on the ground.
"... You really are amazing."
"Thank you, you're too kind."
Amata bowed respectfully. Shig saw him bow and thought it'd be a good chance to land a
hit in from behind, but Amata knocked his fist away with his hand and flung him away with
the parry.
No matter how much I see it, it's like he has eyes on the back of his head. It's just another
kind of magic, though.
Since then---since I promised to definitely make Shig strong, the pitiful, weak me has been
relying on Amata. I'm still exploring ways for Shig to succeed as a Magus, of course, but
even though I'm teaching still him magic, I knew that this was the quickest and most
reliable way.
Amata agreed to help, leading to them practicing like this. To put it another way, he's this
world's first physical education teacher. I'd only intended to have him teach people
interested in hand to hand combat techniques, but after Yuuki and Shig started, Violet
wanted to learn as well. Seeing her start it, Rin thought it looked interesting, so then Luka
followed along after everyone and eventually we just wound up with everyone joining in.
At this point, the other three are all lying down on the ground, or perhaps I should say
they're sitting down taking a rest? The only ones still up and going are Shig and Yuuki, but
they'll probably be hitting their limits here soon. Their movements were already started to
slow down. Meanwhile, Amata wasn't even winded.
"Mentooor, how about thiiis!?"
As I was watching their battle continue on despite not really being able to follow it, I heard
my name from a far distance away.
"Wait up, I'll be right there! ... Alright, go easy on them, Amata."
"Yeah. I will do my best to meet your expectations of me, Mentor."
Amata nodded, his face masculine. Halfheartedly considering that I may have done
something a bit bad to Shig and Yuuki, I headed to the back of the school building. What
was there were the faces of the villagers, all of which were covered in dirt. As well as a field
prepared and corded off with rope.
"Yeah, good job! Thank you everyone, this will be perfect!"
I thanked my students for their work on the soil. I didn't know if the soil itself was of a good
quality, but removing the weeds and rocks should be enough.
Doing that through magic was unexpectedly difficult. Aside from just digging up the ground,
doing delicate work like deweeding and removing stones was by far faster when done by
hand.
It wasn't an amount of work that could be completed by just a few people, so I decided to
borrow the villagers' labor for it. Now that we'd decided on a system of weights and
measures, they were even able to do it exactly how I wanted.
"I guess we'll be planting scarlet wheat here."
The village's main crops were wheat and potatoes. They look like and taste very similar to
actual wheat and potatoes respectively, but we decided to at least temporarily call them
scarlet wheat and scarlet potatoes. I can't tell the difference between different types of
wheat too well anyway, so I wasn't confident enough to call them the same thing.
"Earth, bless these seeds. Let them rest through the winter. Let them rest well and grow
big."
We sowed the seeds while reciting that incantation. It started as something Rin said, but I
can't say if there's any meaning for us to or not though. It's like a just in case thing at this
point."
"Let them rest through the winter. Let them rest well and grow big."
That said, it's true that working at something with everyone chanting the same thing makes
it go by faster than doing it in silence.
Even in my previous life's world where we had mostly mechanized agriculture, the things
that had to be done were more or less been the same since before the modern calendar
became a thing.
It was an extremely straightforward, demanding task that was no different in this world of
magic.
"Alright, that's enough for today everyone. Good work!"
Finished with sowing the seeds we'd prepared, I showed my appreciation to my students. I
felt a little guilty at making them do farm work for cla.s.s, but they didn't seem to mind
much. Rather, it seemed like there were a lot of children interested in planting and growing
plants with their own hands.
I've also been teaching how to measure lengths and weights in general studies recently. As
well as how to find amounts from weight. I'm also teaching about the transitions from one
season to the next as well as how to read a calendar and the like. The list of things I have to
teach has been growing bigger and bigger.
"Good job today."
"Good job."
Just as I was stretching out my stiff waist, Nina came over. Despite having just finished
working in the field, her clothes didn't have even a single speck of dust on them. I'd expect
nothing left this child of the forest.
Though if everyone could use magic like her, we wouldn't have to struggle like this.
I'm not sure if it was because I was thinking about her, but Nina just knocked me in the gut
like it was the right thing to do. It didn't hurt since she didn't put any strength into it, but
did I do something to make her angry?
Though just as I was wondering that, a smile cropped up on her face.
"Ehh, what?"
"Nooothing."
Looking like she wanted to say something contrary to what she actually said, she leaned
back against me. I don't really get it, but I guess she's happy? If so, everything's fine.
"Haah, so tired~"
Yuuki popped up and clung to me from behind, nearly hanging from me. It turned into me
having Nina in front of me and Yuuki behind me."
"Good job, Yuuki."
"Yep! But really, that Amata, he reeeeeeally doesn't hold back!"
Yuuki was complaining, but she barely had any scratches that could be considered
scratches. Despite rolling around on the ground so forcibly like that. Amata's extreme
competence at teaching is so good that it's long since pa.s.sed the level of me admiring him,
I'm flat out amazed at this point.
"But our ancestor was stronger, right?"
"Hmmm, I wonder?"
In terms of techniques, they're definitely more refined nowadays. Enough that Yuuki's skill
would win out. However, imagining them actually fighting together, I can't picture Darg
losing at all.
"Hey, can I hear a story about back then?"
"Yeah, of course---"
I started to say that I didn't mind when I suddenly realized something off. Something was
different from usual.
"You've been acting weird."
Nina spoke up and I finally realized what it was.
"... You noticed? Guess it's weird for me..."
"It's not weird!"
Feeling Yuuki freeze up, I shook my head and denied it. Yuuki has been growing her hair
out recently and it wasn't just her appearance that's changed, either. Her personality was
becoming more feminine, too. Like how she asked for a story instead of demanding it. At
the very least, no one would mistake her for a boy like they might have when she was
younger.
It's not like I think that women have to act a certain way to be feminine or anything, I just
mean that she's definitely changed. In a world in an era like this, I'd say it's something to be
happy about.
"... Well, whatever. Alright."
Even so, Nina's voice lost the cheerfulness it had a moment ago. It was back to her usual
indifference. But this was something that only I could tell, this was the voice she use when
she was secretly angry.
Eh, why am I the only one that would know?
Because I've known her for a really long time. I know how to deal and interact with her.
Like how I shouldn't approach Nina when she's angry like this. She won't tell me why no
matter how I ask and just asking makes her mood get worse.
"That's great! It's a date, big brother!"
Sandwiched between the happily smiling Yuuki and Nina, who was leaning on me in a bad
mood, I was confused.
18
Pastoralism 牧畜
There are six conditions for an animal to be suitable for pastoralization.
Small appet.i.te, fast growth, high fertility, docile, quiet, and large herds.
"They fit two of them."
"How positive of you."
"Shig, that way!"
"I got it!"
Answering Violet's quick direction, Shig stood in front of the escaping deer and spread his
enlarged arms wide.
"I am strong!"
When he stamped his foot down following him finishing his incantation, the noise that
boomed out was heavy and deep, unbecoming of his small body. It was evidence that his
body had been affected by his reinforcement magic.
Growing with Amata's instruction, he'd reached the point of mastering reinforcement
magic--- "Uwaah!"
---but it wasn't enough.
I looked up, following Shig as he got launched into the air by its huge antlers.
The deer easily destroyed the wooden fence and escaped.
"... Are you alright, Shig?"
"Yeah..."
He got up as I spoke to him.
At least his safety was guaranteed by the scales covering his body.
"Sorry."
"No, there's nothing you could've done there. It was a long shot from the get go, it's not
your fault."
I wasn't just trying to console him, it was a fact. Shig wasn't the only one that couldn't stop
the deer, Yuuki, Violet, Rin, and Luka had all had similar problems with it.
This year will be the tenth year after starting the special cla.s.sroom. While things on the
agricultural side have developed rather well, we've practically made no progress with
livestock. The creatures of this world were just too strong.
They weren't the only things that were strong, of course. We could use magic, so killing
them hasn't been an issue. But when it comes capturing them alive, however, the difficulty
skyrockets.
And even if we managed to somehow capture one, raising it comes with its own set of
impossible issues. They're able to easily destroy our fences and run away, and most
importantly the wild animals simply don't grow accustomed to being around people.
No matter how much we feed and care for one, they never let down their guard toward us
and run away the moment they see a chance to.
"What about rabbits? I love them."
"Hmm. I don't know..."
Nina randomly decided to recommend going for rabbits. Although rabbits were extremely
proficient in breeding, they were the same in never growing attached to people, so it'd be
hard for me to say whether we could successfully domesticate them. It's true that we could
make a fence that the ordinary rabbits wouldn't be able to break through though.
But that said, there's very little to be had for food from a rabbit. Most of what you see on
them is just fluffy fur. Moreover, they have a lot of small bones so the amount of meat you
get from them is comparatively small to the amount of preparation work that is required to
cook them.
It's not like there isn't another way to eat them without preparing them like that, though.
"I'd like having some of that blood bake again~"
"Cutting your finger when you're cooking happens often enough, but I'd prefer not having
to cut my finger in order to cook, if possible."1
I shook my head in response to Nina bringing that up. By blood bake, she was talking about
the cooking method that bakes a rabbit from the inside out by having it consume a red
dragon's blood. The rabbit's fur would burn off after being cooked from the inside out and
its bones would grow brittle, allowing it to be eaten whole. According to Nina, it's the most
delicious way she's ever eaten a rabbit.
However, that cooking method was not reproducible through magic, let alone ordinary fire.
Nina had tried many different ways to try reproducing it, but she eventually came to the
conclusion that it only worked with my blood.
"With that one gone, none of them have worked out so far..."
Her tail and ears hanging down, Luka made a big x-mark on the wooden board. Great
horned deers, six-legged goats, horned wildcats, fanged boars, we even gave breeding
things like frogs and giant insects a shot to try changing it up, but none of it worked out.
"Next is... armored bears?"
"You know that wouldn't work."
Nina gave her suggestion with a serious look, but she was just joking. She had a habit of
saying jokes too seriously. It's true that armored bears were actually rather delicious, but
they were beasts among beasts. No matter how I think about it, I can't see them ever being
domesticated.
"Then how about something on the opposite end... rats?"
On the other hand, I was troubled over whether what Violet said with her usual
earnestness was actually a joke. I don't think anyone would take it as anything but a joke
normally, but she said it so naturally...
"We wouldn't be able to contain rats either. If we could, we wouldn't be as troubled as we
already are."
"Oh my... now that you say so, that is true."
Looks like she was being serious. Embarra.s.sed and placing a hand to her cheek, Violet
tilted her head to the side.
Outside of our problems with pastoral farming, we've had trouble with rats. Our farming
was going well, but we've had many troubles with preserving the food. Rats would end up
eating the potatoes and wheat we'd been storing.
I'd tried building a raised-floor type of storehouse with rat guards using the vague
memories I have of them, but it didn't work at all. This world's rats could break through the
rat guards as well. At any rate, they were way too strong.
They were weaker at low temperatures so the food would be safe from them, but then the
wheat and potatoes would go stale from being too cold. It's not like we wouldn't be able to
eat them at that point, but the texture would be poor.
Cats, popular as pets in my previous life's world, were said to have originally been
domesticated as an anti-rat measure. I'd tried breeding horned wildcats in hopes of
recreating that, but it was an utter failure. Treating that particular animal improperly made
it more troublesome than even an armored bear. It was extremely nimble and boundlessly
ferocious, so they came dangerously close to injuring people.
I definitely recall the importance of starting pastoralism and horticulture in the same era,
but I never thought it'd end up being this difficult. Well, it might just be a problem
particular to this world, and even so, same era could easily mean a difference of two or
three hundred years, given that what we're talking about it something that had happened
in the cla.s.sical era.
"Mentor, if even you're having trouble with it, pastoralism must be a really hard thing..."
I felt a complicated mix of emotions from Luka saying that as she knit her brows.
It's said that the first animal domesticated by mankind was a dog. Their ancestors were
wolves... but rather than using them as livestock, humans grew attached to them and called
the wolves dogs. All through history, they were mankind's best friend.
However, there weren't any wolves in this world. There were species similar to cats, bears,
goats, and deer, but no wolves. There was only the half-human half-wolf race like Luka. By
the were, there weren't any horses either. Just half-human half-horses.
Whether the half and half races wound up filling the same niche that the original species
would have filled or everything just eventually evolved into a half-human type, I don't
know. All I know was that there being none seems to be a certainty.
They'll probably become even better friends with mankind than dogs. They're a very
friendly, calm, and intellectual race... but definitely way too wise to be treated like a
domesticated race. They're basically the same as humans, after all.
As for the human race... or perhaps for her race, I'm not sure if that will turn out to be a
blessing or a curse.
"Let's see, it's fine as long as it's an animal that doesn't run away, right?"
"You have one in mind?"
Shig responded to Rin, who'd suddenly spoke up. He'd always denied Rin's opinions
without giving her a chance to explain, but he hasn't done that recently. He's also growing
into an adult bit by bit.
"Yep! The behemoths!"
"Oh come on, seriously!?"
And just as I thought that, he immediately shot down Rin's suggestion.
"Really, I don't think that'd be possible... it's just so big."
"Making a fence big enough to enclose one would be difficult."
Even so, it wasn't just Shig doing it. Both Luka and Violet seemed to agree with him.
"Behemoths... behemoths, huh?"
I thought of the behemoths I'd seen before. Their huge mouths and long tusks. Their faces
that looks like a mix between a hippo and a rhino, their cow-like horns.
I've never measured them, but they had to be at least ten meters tall. Easily twenty or thirty
meters long. Four times the body size of an african elephant. It was like a blue whale living
on land.
---However.
"You..."
Nina looked at me, my eyes half-closed in thought.
"You're thinking about giving it a shot, aren't you?"
Sure enough, she saw right through me. I mean, I really was thinking about it.
Any man alive would be excited by owning a dinosaur-like creature.
"Eeh, really? Mentor..."
Shig spoke with an astounded look to him.
"Why not? It sounds soooo intersting! Big brother, I wanna give it a shot!"
Yuuki spoke, raising her hand in the air despite everyone's overall negative mood to the
idea.
"I knew you'd agree, Yuuki. You always get how I feel."
"Really? Ehehe..."
Yuuki reacted bashfully as I pat her head.
"I give up. There's no stopping you when you're like that. Get ready, everyone."
Nina spoke, her fingers against her forehead like she was trying to hold back a headache.
I'd already starting coming up with my plan on how to capture a behemoth.
19
The Magus of Genesis v2 --- Chapter 19The Hole 穴
I'll tell you something good.
This strategy of yours and donuts have something in common.
---The Verdant Magus, Nina
"Oh, right. The first time I'd met Darg was when I was out looking for a behemoth, too."
"Our ancestor?"
Walking down a path in the gra.s.sland, I nodded to Yuuki, who was walking alongside me.
This was the way we'd looked for behemoths long ago. Following their tracks was the best
way. Looking all around the gra.s.slands was hard even if I took to the sky, not even a
dragon's keen eyesight could make out their tracks from high in the sky.
So we were walking side by side, following its old tracks on the ground.
"It turned into a spout over our prey. There was a bit of trouble after that, but we ended up
becoming friends as a result."
He always called me his brother in respect, but there wasn't a hierarchical relationship
between us.
Best friend. If he'd called me that, I would have agreed. Nina's obviously a second-to-none
friend to me as well, but it feels like she's a different kind of friend to me than he was.
"What kind of person was our ancestor?"
"Hmm..."
I thought for a moment before speaking.
"He looked exactly like Amata does now."
Amata looked exactly like a young girl back when he was small, but he grew up rapidly and
became a masculine young man... then he took it another level beyond that and grew into a
giant. The fact that he's still as polite and gentle as ever is a bit amusing though.
"There are times that I think that that child is atavistically growing into Darg."
I looked at Yuuki and was happy that she didn't look the same. Polar opposite to Amata,
Yuuki's height practically hadn't changed at all. If I recall, she was just a hundred and forty
five centimeters last time we measured heights. Rather short for a twenty year old woman,
even for this world.
She still had most of her innocent, cheerful personality, but she used to come off as a boy
when she was a child. It might be because of her waist-length sidetails that make the
difference...
It's probably also because of her grandly self-proclaiming b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"Hm?"
Noticing my gaze, Yuuki turned toward me and smiled.
Her smile there felt shockingly mature, causing me to look away.
"Ah---big brother, there it is!"
Yet just as I thought that, the way she tugged on my clothes after spotting a behemoth was
just like how a child would. Iterating between a child and an adult like a pendulum, people
would steadily grow into adults. Then, everyone---everyone would leave me behind.
"Big brother?"
She looked at my face in curiosity.
"Oh, yeah, let's go."
I nodded, fl.u.s.tered.
I already knew that that would happen, I've known it for a long time.
"Yeah!"
Yuuki nodded and hopped up onto my back. Feeling her hold onto me with her body was
very embarra.s.sing, so I hurriedly moved into my dragon form.
As Rin said, behemoths were creatures that just didn't run away. Sure, they'd attempt
escaping if they were wounded, but they wouldn't run away from something approaching
them. They usually had nothing to be afraid of from other animals with their huge body and
hard skin, after all.
Behemoths wouldn't even try running away if a red dragon like me appeared in front of it.
I'm not sure if I should call them brave or nonchalant, but that made them so easy to hunt.
Perhaps calling them dunces would work?
"Alright Yuuki, if you would."
"Yeah!"
Nodding, Yuuki stood on my head and readied her spear.
"Thou who is long, sharp, and may pierce anything! Become a spear without equal, thine
aim unerring, thy strikes unblockable. Act as a shooting star!"
Throwing the spear at the behemoth's rear end as she finished the incantation, the spear
left a trail of light in its wake. Just afterwards, the behemoth let out a low-pitched sound
and started to move sluggishly. We'd intended for it to run away... but it's so slow. Of course
it's because their bodies are so large that their speed is, accordingly, slow, but it doesn't
even look like it's in a hurry at all.
"Nina, can you hear me? We found a behemoth. We'll be pursuing it from here on."
Following the behemoth that was running ever so slowly.... rather, following the behemoth
that was walking, I contacted her with magic.
"Got it. But it's going the wrong direction. It needs to be a bit more to the left."
Eh, how did she detect where we were? Well, it is Nina, I guess...
Following our brand new Nina Nav, Yuuki threw a few more spears at the behemoth to
correct its course. A while later, I saw a huge wall rise up on the horizon. It was something
Nina produce, a tree cage.
It would have obviously ended up destroying any old normal cage, so we had to come up
with a few solutions to prevent it from escaping. One was having long spear-like logs
growing toward the inside the cage.
If it tried run through it, it would see them and stop. Though honestly it's doubtful whether
or not they'll actually be able to pierce the behemoth's iron-like hide, Yuuki throwing
spears at it is teaching it that sharp objects give it pain. We're hoping that it will be alarmed
by the spears and stop in its tracks.
"It's in!"
Adjusting the behemoth's course, we herded it into the cage. I was worried that the cage
would be a bit narrow for its body, but the behemoth was able to get into it. Then, cautious
of the spears we'd pointed inward at it, it stopped itself from continuing to move.
Did we do it...?
The moment after I thought that, the behemoth opened its mouth wide and sunk its teeth
into the tree logs sticking out at it, chewing them.
It just continued on eating the cage itself. Once it was happy and done with its meal, it just
walked off. There's nothing we could do but sit and stare.
"... Behemoths... eat trees, I guess...?"
Yuuki muttered from on my back.
"Come to think of it..."
I'd just realized that I hadn't even known what behemoths ate until then.
We wouldn't have been able to care for it even if we'd managed to capture it, huh?
"... Well, at least we know what to bait it with now?"
"I take it you haven't given up on it yet then?"
Hearing me mutter, Nina replied half in amazement.
"I get the feeling that we're on to something here."
All of the animals we'd tried so far escaped with all their might. The behemoth at least
stopped moving. I think they'd be much easier to handle than the deers or goats.
"Maybe we could use trees that are too hard for a behemoth to eat...?"
"Professor Nina, can you produce trees that are harder than those were?"
"Impossible."
Hearing my idea, Shig tried asking Nina but was immediately shot down.
We hadn't made the wooden cage from trees we got from the forest, but from what Nina
produced herself. Making a large enough cage to surround a behemoth out of trees we
felled ourselves would be impossible with a day's work. But using Dropout Nina's
capabilities, it wasn't hard at all.
If she says it's impossible, it's impossible.
"Maybe we could use wood it doesn't like to eat...?"
"Wouldn't it just bite it and spit it back out then?"
"How about if I added a large number of my thorns to it?"
"They'd be too small to hurt it. Behemoths are pretty tough."
"What if someone stood by the cage and stabbed it with a spear if it got too close?"
"Who'd want to do that...?"
Luka, Violet, and Yuuki each came up with ideas, but Shig shot all of them down. Not that it
was his fault, though.
"Then what if we used rocks instead of wood?"
"Where would we get that many stones... wait, no, maybe we can use stones just for the
spears' tips? They'd be like proper spears then."
Shig got an idea from Rin's proposal and asked me about it.
I'd come to know about it recently, but he was good at identifying any pitfalls in a plan,
filling them in, and constructing plans for practical measures. Rin used her flexible
mentality to come up with ideas and Shig followed by shaping them into workable things.
We'd come to see similar conversations play out often recently.
"Stones might not be durable enough..."
"So it's a no go? I thought it might work, too..."
Shig's shoulders slumped forward.
But I was meaning it the exact opposite way.
"Putting it another way, so long as we can do something about their durability, it'd work.
We just need something harder, more durable, and sharper than stone."
"Does something like that exist?"
"Yeah."
Metal.
"The problem is... I don't know how we should go about getting it."
I'd thought about how we could use metal several times before. After using stone tools
comes the shift to the bronze age. Well, I'm not certain if this world even has copper or tin
in it.
I have no inkling of how to go about excavating a mine. I'm pretty sure you can't even mine
rocks with wooden pickaxes, it's difficult enough even using stone ones.
I'd thought that you needed metal to excavate a mine, but that puts me in a catch twenty-
two. Did the chicken come before the egg, or the egg before the chicken?
How in the world was it done back on Earth?
"You know where it is then?"
"Yeah. Inside mountains... Really, inside them. You'll get it from digging into a mountain...
probably."
It wasn't something I was entirely certain of either. What sort of mountains did iron or
copper come from? What sort of mountains held no metal at all? It was a topic I knew
effectively nothing about.
"Hmm. If you just have to open a hole in a mountain, don't we just need to go over there
and take some?"
"Where?"
Nina just pointed behind me in response.
She'd pointed to a huge, magnificent mountain. Mount Hole, as we'd come to call the
mountain.
The story of how it got its name is a simple one---it's because of the giant tunnel-like hole
that goes through it halfway up.
"Oh... there!"
And the thing that caused the hole was, well, me. Around five hundred years ago. Five
hundred and eight, to be exact.
I'd grown angry in a fight against Darg and opened the hole with my breath.
20
The Magus of Genesis v2 --- Chapter 20A Red Metal 赤い金
There is always treasure laying underfoot.
Holding the meaning of 'There is always happiness to be found', a proverb pa.s.sed down
through the Scarlet Clan.
"Wait, Mentor made that hole!?"
Luka, staring at the huge cave opened in the mountain's side, was wide-eyed.
"Reeeally?"
Finding it hard to believe, Rin tilted her head in a tinge of doubtfulness.
"He did. I remember that day well, too. Even in our forest, we all saw the flame that Mentor
produced clearly."
Nodding along, Violet gave her side of the story. Even for the elves, something from five
hundred years ago can be said to be a while back.
"Well I don't doubt it one bit. Even if Mentor's usually calm, he does some absurd stuff now
and then."
Shig struck my back with a grin.
"How nostalgic."
"You weren't there, Yuuki. Alright everyone, get down."
I put my nose to the rock and tilted my head to act as a way down. With my current body, it
wasn't very difficult carrying all of our students on my back.
"So... what does this metal thing metal look like?"
"Honestly, I don't know."
I shook my head as I returned to my human form, answering the question Nina asked upon
entering the tunnel.
"How should I put it... it's like a glittering thing, something with a different feel from
ordinary rock."
"Glittering...?"
Nina took a quick glance through the tunnel.
Sunlight didn't make it into the, so it was practically pitch-black on the inside.
"So... you?"
"No, not like me... I mean like it'll reflect light more intensely."
How should I explain metallic sheen?
"Like water?"
"Oh, yes, a bit like water."
Making it about water despite me talking about stones was very like her, but it's true that
metal can reflect light on its surface in a way that's similar to water.
"In that case... please shine on us, small sun."
A small light burst from Luka's hand, floating up an becoming a sphere of light much like a
small sun, as the incantation indicated.
"Great stability there."
"Eheheh... thank you."
When I praised Luka for producing a light orb that didn't flicker, her tail wagged back and
forth in embarra.s.sment. Maintaining a fixed output to the magic was much harder said
than done.
"Still though, it went further than I thought it did..."
The tunnel's hole made by my breath had a gla.s.s-like surface. It had melted everything it
came into contact with. Though judging by the various holes and rubble inside the tunnel, it
looked as though it had collapsed here and there.
"I suppose we will have to clean the area up first?"
Violet made her hands larger by gloving them in thorns. Taking that as the signal to begin
picking up rocks, everyone started to clean up using their own methods.
"Floooat like fluffs aaaand... bam!"
Reciting her incredibly unique incantation, Rin floated rocks into the air and their them
toward the entrance.
"Woah! Hey, be careful with those!"
Holding a rock with his arms, Shig shielded his head from the rocks she sent over his way
with his upper arms and complained back at her. In his case, he could move rocks without
relying on magic because of his physical strength.
"Luka, these are for you!"
"Okaaay."
Meanwhile, Yuuki was slicing through the larger rocks and leaving them to be carried out
by Luka. A very cooperative way to deal with the more difficult ones.
Even if a dragon's legs aren't suited to carrying objects, I decided to return to my dragon
form and deal with the much larger things by putting them in my mouth and sweeping the
debris with my tail.
Next to me, Nina was doing the same thing; just in a magical sense. When she waved her
arm as though to move the air, the debris moved accordingly. I couldn't understand the
principle behind how it worked at all, but even if I tried asking her about it, she'd just
answer with something that wouldn't actually answer anything.
"Haaah, I'm wiped!"
"Hey, get back to it."
Rin was giving it her all in making the debris fly away, but she also quickly exhausted
herself and fell prostrate on the ground. Seeing her lying down like that, Shig spoke up.
"Hey hey, Shig, you know, couldn't these be round?"
Not paying him any mind, Rin spoke up while striking some of the rubble with her tail.
"Round? What are you talking about?"
Seeing Shig be confused, Rin pointed at her wheelchair a few times.
"Ooooh."
Understanding what she meant, Shig nodded and sat down the rock he was carrying.
"Those who are hard, who are heavy, and who are the children of the earth. Reform
yourselves as my hands desire."
It happened slowly, but once Shig completed the incantation and pressed his hands against
the stones, they began to alter their shapes. A short moment later, it was as round as a ball.
"Now I'm gonna shove it out!"
"I said to be careful with those!"
Rin, giving it a big shove and shouting, pushed it out of the tunnel like a bowling ball.
"Shig, that magic you just used..."
"Eh, did I do it wrong?"
"No, that's not what I mean... I mean, you thought of something great."
He'd changed the rock's shape like it was clay.
Far from me not teaching him that kind of magic, I'd never figured out how to do it in the
first place. So magic can do that sort of stuff as well...
"... I just changed its shape though?"
Shig answered back, confused.
"It's simpler than producing fire or water from nothing or flying without wings, yeah? I
mean, you could always change a rock's shape by hitting it anyway."
Hearing his obvious explanation, I got hit by a mental shock.
I'd held the notion that magic was mysterious, something unexplainable.
To put it another way, I'd completely missed the concept of being able to use magic to
reproduce something normally possible.
"Those who are hard, who are heavy, and who are the children of the earth. Reform
yourselves as my hands desire."
Replicating Shig's incantation, I patted the rock. It did immediately begin to distort its
shape, but it was hard for me to shape it as properly round as Shig did. I might've used too
much water on it, judging by how it felt more like watery mud than clay.
"This truly is difficult."
"I didn't soften at all..."
The other students also attempted to replicate the feat, but while Violet was also unable to
properly change its shape, Luka's attempt at the magic didn't appear to have any effect at
all.
"Shig is so good!"
"Why're you so proud about that?"
Rin said that as she puffed out her chest in pride and elbowed Shig, who was smiling in
embarra.s.sment.
"Hmmm."
Making a sound simply to make a sound, Nina stretched out a rock with her hands, not even
bothering to use an incantation. It looked like thick pasta noodles. Seeing our resident
genius do it so easily dented Shig's hard-earned bit of happiness.
It would've been nice if she held back even a little.
Suddenly, something dropped out of her noodle rock.
"Hey, is this it?"
What Nina picked up was a red mineral with a distinctly different l.u.s.ter from the
surrounding rocks.
"Yeah, that's it!"
When I examined it in my hand, it was heavy for its size and rather cold.
It was some kind of metal, there's no mistaking it.
"... Shig, can you change this thing's shape as well?"
Suddenly coming up with something, I asked Shig if his magic would work on it.
"Sure, but... what's its name?"
It's name.
My mind blanked.
"I can't use magic on it without a name yeah? Should I go with metal?"
"No, give me a moment..."
I hadn't thought of anything in that direction at all. It looked to be neither iron nor copper.
It had a red color to it, but it was rather different than the dark red tinge rust would give. It
was a vivid red, like a flame. Maybe I should go with a name like how I did with scarlet
wheat and potatoes?
"Scarlet iron... no, wait. Right---let's call it scarlite."
Thinking up a name for it, I decided to call it that. Although it might not turn out to live up
to the legendary metals j.a.panese fantasies had like adamant.i.te or mithril, I hoped that
the name would fit the red metal well.
"Got it. That which is hard, which is heavy, and which is a child of the earth---scarlite!
Reform yourself as my hands desire and..."
Tripping up midway through the incantation, Shig stopped enunciating the incantation and
looked at everyone.
Looking to Yuuki as if to ask what he should make, he appeared to have come up with
something as the perplexity disappeared from his eyes.
"Reform yourself as my hands desire and become a sword."
Seeing him perform the task, I realized that the processing difficulty depended on the
material itself. Although it took several strokes of the hand to turn stone into a ball, the
scarlite formed into a sword in the blink of an eye.
"Here."
Shig gave Yuuki the sword, which was formed from its tip to the hilt area, with the point
facing himself.
"It's heavy..."
Contrary to her words, Yuuki easily brandished the sword.
She swung it down, then up, then thrust it forward followed immediately by a pseudo-
parry. It moved so fluidly in her hands that it was like she'd had it since birth. Wanting to
give it a proper test, Yuuki's expression turned serious and she faced a nearby rock.
"Hah...!"
Together with a sharp breath out, she slashed.
The rock was cut cleanly in two.
"Wow, it's amazing! Big brother, this is amazing!"
Yuuki jumped up and down in delight.
"Umm, could I see something?"
Luuka brought her nose to the sword in Yuuki's hands, giving it a sniff.
"... Huh?"
... And tilted her head.
"What's wrong?"
"Umm, Mentor?"
Luka, troubled and furrowing her brows, spoke to me hesitantly.
"If this is what you're wanting, there's a lot of it near the academy."
"Eh---?"
Hearing something I never thought she'd say, I couldn't stop my voice from coming out.
"Err, do you remember that stone I threw when we were deciding on the cla.s.s leader?
That was this."
"Eeeeh!?"
Q: Without metal tools of their own, how did ancient civilizations first obtain metal?
A: In those times, there was ore to be found on the surface, not needing to be dug up first.
Now that I think about it, it was a simple answer.
For some reason, I thought that you wouldn't be able to find metal without digging into a
mountain first. Although metal ores are originally produced deep underground, mountains
themselves are just ground that has risen upward. Following that logic, it's possible for
minerals to be unearthed at the surface given a long time period.
Then again, the reason I hadn't thought of something that simple is because in my era, the
ores that could be found near the surface had long been excavated.
However, there was still more than enough metal ore on the surface in this world. If I have
all of our students go and look for it after this, we should have enough gathered to go
around to help everyone in the village.
21
The Magus of Genesis v2 --- Chapter 21Magic Formations 魔法陣
It is unknown as to who first came upon this world's magic formations.
However, that person must have undoubtedly been a graceful, gentle individual.
Around a week after discovering scarlite.
"Hey, hey Mentor! Look look look!"
When I turned around to Rin who'd shouted in delight, she literally jumped onto me.
"Rin!? What's the matter?"
I caught hold of her out of reflex, my opened my eyes wide in surprise.
She was wheelchair-bound, but it wasn't as though she couldn't leap.
"Ehehe, look, look!"
Moving herself away from my body slightly, Rin pointed at her waist. She was pointed at
was her waist fins, now large enough to look like a skirt. Although it had grown quite a lot
in the past ten years, it was obviously much larger than yesterday.
"Such rapid growth...!"
"Hey, a bit back, remember the sword Shig made?"
She very abruptly changed the topic, but I took it in stride and nodded.
"I was like, can I change their shape? So then I tried, and I could."
Rin's concise explanation put me at a loss for words.
When I took a better look at her waist, she still had the same number of annual rings.
"Rin. Please, let me know before you want to use magic on your body, alright?"
"Okaaaay!"
Rin cheerfully raised one of her hands into the air. She's so obedient.
I don't know if I should be happy she was willing to use her body for research or be
frightened by it, though...
"What're you doing? What's that?"
Rin tilted her body to the side and asked to peek at what was behind me.
What was behind me was what looked like a poorly made snow hut built out of clay. It was
made to be hemispherical with a hole in the front. You could see flames burning inside the
hole.
"This is a kiln."
After the events of a few days ago, I came to know that we had a large amount of metal
nearby.
However, it wasn't like there were no problems with it. Unlike the condition of the metal
found at Mount Hole, the majority of it wasn't in a crystallized state, but rather as ore
mixed with rock.
"I've been trying to extract scarlite from the rock using this, but..."
It should be fine as long as I can extract pure metal... I think. Since the temperature at which
the metal melts is lower than that of the rocks, in theory I should be able to melt only the
metal when I heat it. Probably. All I had to give me the information I was working on what
this poorly constructed kiln.
I'd tried applying flames to it directly to see if it would melt, but the flames I produced from
my dragon form after going so long without breathing them out were much too strong and
wound up evaporating the scarlite ore instantly.
I figured in that case, I should just control my output in my human form, but then it
wouldn't melt no matter how much I heated it up.
Creating a flame somewhere in between was bringing me all kinds of stress. Using magic at
any steady amount of power was earth-shatteringly difficult. Although I was able to
regulate it to some extent, keeping a constant temperature or constant strength wasn't
possible to do so easily, so although I could do it, it was awfully tiring. It demanded an
extreme level of concentration and stamina.
To compare it to something, it was like blowing dandelion fluff. You could easily blow it
weakly or forcibly, but just trying blowing it with a constant strength than could keep it
hovering at a single point in the air.
Therefore, I decided to rely on science, rather than magic. Instead of heating it directly with
magic, I would increase the heat in the kiln to melt the metal. With this method, I should be
able to increase the temperature without going too far.
"Woah!"
---And that shallow reasoning blew up in my face, along with the now-exploded kiln.
"Amazing! Do it again!"
"... That was a failure."
Rin was happy as could be, but I just sighed with my shoulders drooping.
Was it the structure's fault? Or maybe the materials I used? Either way, when I increase the
temperature up to a certain point, the kilns end up exploding before the scarlite melts. No
matter how carefully I increase the temperature, the same thing always happens.
Just in case, I wasn't using just soil for the kiln. On top of using properly prepared clay, I
also used reinforcement magic on it. At the very least, it seemed impossible to make a kiln
that could withstand the heat necessary to melt metal with my scant knowledge in the field.
"Why not ask Luka how?"
"... Luka?"
I parroted back her question.
"Yeah, Luka's good at this kind of stuff!"
It's true that she is good at keeping her magic output stable. Speaking only in terms of
output though, she ranked as the second lowest next to Shig. However, that was hardly
helpful. I'd initially thought that talent was something that you were born with based on
your species or personality, but it might be something you can learn the trick of. Like
getting the hang of juggling, for example.
Striking while the iron was hot and deciding to give it a go, I headed to the schoolhouse
with Rin in tow.
She was chatting with the other students.
"Oh, Mentor. How are you... huh!? Rin, you're walking on your own!?"
When Luka turned toward us, she saw Rin next to me and stared in wonder.
"How'd you do that!?"
"Ahem...---I'm awesome right!?"
Rin boasted with her chest puffed out in response to Shig's surprise.
Looks like she came to me to show off how she could move about on her own now. It's a
fairly simple thing, but I'm a bit.. no, I'm very glad.
"Luka, I want to ask you something. Is there any trick to stabilizing magic?"
After Rin was done showing off the effects of the magic she'd used on herself to everyone, I
cut into the conversation.
"Any trick...?"
"Yeah. Luka, you're incredibly skilled at stabilizing the output of your magic, right? I'm,
well... I'm like this. Light, produce a tiny light at my fingertip."
As soon as I finished my incantation, a dazzling light overflowed from my hand and
immediately enveloped the surrounding area in brightness.
"I said my fingertip!"
Closing my hand as I shouted at it, the light calmed down like a stifled fire.
"Ooow, my eyes..."
"Mentor's magic is as intense as ever, I see."
"That control though."
After accidentally staring directly at the light, Rin used her hands to cover her eyes. Violet
voiced her admiration, while Shig just said that sarcastically.
"Oh come on. It's not like you're amazing at it either."
"Not as bad as you at least."
"You give it a shot then."
Having a verbal back and forth, I urged Shig on.
"Sure."
Shig agreed to it, not the least bit hesitant. Even if I'd only meant it as a joke, him accepting
the challenge could be called progress.
"Light, you who are white, who are dazzling. Come to exist on my palm."
His incantation finished, light burst from his hand. It repeatedly pulsated from weak to
strong and back, eventually going out.
"Big brother, it's not that different from yours."
"Geh..."
Hearing Yuuki say that so frankly, Shig and I groaned at the same time.
"Alright then, Luka. I believe it is your turn now?"
"Ummm... Light."
Prompted to go by Violet, Luka recited her simple incantation and made a bowl with her
hands. A ball of light appeared within her hands. It wasn't dazzling like mine, nor was it
changing its intensity constantly like Shig's. And above all, its shape was beautiful.
The light sphere she produced was a virtually perfect sphere. It looked like a full moon in
the night sky. Compared to that, Shig's looked like a flame with an ambiguous, constantly
changing outline. Mine probably would've looked like that as well. If you were a hundred or
so meters away, maybe.
Although Yuuki and Violet were both much better than us, not even they could produce a
light with such stability.
"I got it!"
Unexpectedly, Rin popped up.
"If you do that with your hands, it goes good!"
She pointed over to the bowl Luka formed with her hands.
"If you think it's that simple..."
"Light!"
Interrupting Shig, Rin mimicked Luka and shouted with her hands together.
"No way...!?"
"Oh my."
"That's awesome!"
Shig's eyes were wide, Violet had placed her hand over her mouth, and Yuuki cheered in
excitement.
What appeared in her hands was a slightly distorted sphere of light. It was distorted, but it
could easily be seen as a sphere.
Rin's magical stability was low amongst the students. On the other hand, her output was
high. Although imperfect, that Rin managed to stabilize her magic.
"L-Light! ... Oooh!"
Shig followed suit and put his hands together, followed by him letting out a voice of
amazement as a small spherical light appeared above the palms of his hand. Violet and
Yuuki did so as well, likewise also confirming that their magic would be stable.
No way, could it really be that simple...
"Light!"
I cupped my hands together and shouted out in high spirits.
---A moment later, the cla.s.sroom was filled with light.
＊＊＊
"I'm still seeing spots..."
"I'm sorry, really."
I bowed to Yuuki and the others, who were all blinking repeatedly and grimacing.
Apparently, my magic diffuses much too much.
As a result of stabilizing and concentrating itself, the strength of the light that came from it
was so much that it could at least momentarily blind someone. Even though I'd
immediately stopped invoking the magic, all of the students were complaining about being
unable to see properly.
I'm not sure if it's because she's particularly sensitive to light, but the usually energetic
version of Rin was no where to be seen---she was basically limp with her eyes shut. I
checked and it looks like I don't need to be afraid of potential blindness, but still...
"I never thought that how you held your hands would affect the output of a magic..."
It's true that magic normally comes from one's hands. To be exact, a place slightly off of the
hand. Even so, I'd never concerned myself with the shapes my hands had made until now.
We've all just been using magic with whatever way was most convenient at the time.
"I'm not sure why... but I've always imagined that the light is settling into my hands."
Looking as though her eyes had recovered somewhat, Luka said that as she once again
formed a bowl with her hands.
It's true that the light sphere she'd produced was about the same size as her palms.
"I see. I agree that when you have something to use as a standard for size, it becomes easier
to manage."
Violet also once again formed a bowl with her hands and produced light.
It was more stable than before, perhaps due to her now understanding the principle.
"So that's how it is..."
"Don't do that again!"
Seeing me make another bowl with my hands, Shig spoke up in a panic.
"A standard size...? Luka, how many centimeters are your hands?"
"Oh!"
Hearing Yuuki's casual question for Luka, I accidentally shouted out loud.
"Wh-What's wrong, big brother?"
"That's it! That's it, Yuuki!"
I grabbed her hands in excitement and shook them up and down.
"Violet, could you please create a vine? A suitable size will be fine."
"... Here you go."
Binding one end of the vine Violet made to a stick, I tied the other end to charcoal. Then,
drawing a spot on a desk using the charcoal, I stood the stick up on its other end, held the
charcoal against the desk just far enough away so that the vine was taut, and drew in a
circle. With that, I had a proper circle drawn on top of the desk. To put it simply, I'd made
an impromptu mariner's compa.s.s.
"Luka... actually, no."
There was a possibility that Luka's would be too perfect for me to be able to see a
difference at all.
"Yuuki, could you please try making a light while imagining it fitting perfectly into this
circle?"
"Okay! ---Light."
I asked Yuuki, who had good intuition and could probably figure out what I was planning,
to do it. Holding her hands around the circle, she spoke the inccantation. With that, light
emerged not within her palm, but above the circle. It was a beautiful sphere of light, like a
full moon lighting up the night sky.
A circle.
The simplest of magic formations.
What significance do magic formations hold in this world? The answer is something I
realized intuitively.
They are rulers for magic. Not to measure a line's length, but to allow for drawing the line
straight in the first place.
22
The Magus of Genesis v2 --- Chapter 19The Hole 穴
I'll tell you something good.
This strategy of yours and donuts have something in common.
---The Verdant Magus, Nina
"Oh, right. The first time I'd met Darg was when I was out looking for a behemoth, too."
"Our ancestor?"
Walking down a path in the gra.s.sland, I nodded to Yuuki, who was walking alongside me.
This was the way we'd looked for behemoths long ago. Following their tracks was the best
way. Looking all around the gra.s.slands was hard even if I took to the sky, not even a
dragon's keen eyesight could make out their tracks from high in the sky.
So we were walking side by side, following its old tracks on the ground.
"It turned into a spout over our prey. There was a bit of trouble after that, but we ended up
becoming friends as a result."
He always called me his brother in respect, but there wasn't a hierarchical relationship
between us.
Best friend. If he'd called me that, I would have agreed. Nina's obviously a second-to-none
friend to me as well, but it feels like she's a different kind of friend to me than he was.
"What kind of person was our ancestor?"
"Hmm..."
I thought for a moment before speaking.
"He looked exactly like Amata does now."
Amata looked exactly like a young girl back when he was small, but he grew up rapidly and
became a masculine young man... then he took it another level beyond that and grew into a
giant. The fact that he's still as polite and gentle as ever is a bit amusing though.
"There are times that I think that that child is atavistically growing into Darg."
I looked at Yuuki and was happy that she didn't look the same. Polar opposite to Amata,
Yuuki's height practically hadn't changed at all. If I recall, she was just a hundred and forty
five centimeters last time we measured heights. Rather short for a twenty year old woman,
even for this world.
She still had most of her innocent, cheerful personality, but she used to come off as a boy
when she was a child. It might be because of her waist-length sidetails that make the
difference...
It's probably also because of her grandly self-proclaiming b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
"Hm?"
Noticing my gaze, Yuuki turned toward me and smiled.
Her smile there felt shockingly mature, causing me to look away.
"Ah---big brother, there it is!"
Yet just as I thought that, the way she tugged on my clothes after spotting a behemoth was
just like how a child would. Iterating between a child and an adult like a pendulum, people
would steadily grow into adults. Then, everyone---everyone would leave me behind.
"Big brother?"
She looked at my face in curiosity.
"Oh, yeah, let's go."
I nodded, fl.u.s.tered.
I already knew that that would happen, I've known it for a long time.
"Yeah!"
Yuuki nodded and hopped up onto my back. Feeling her hold onto me with her body was
very embarra.s.sing, so I hurriedly moved into my dragon form.
As Rin said, behemoths were creatures that just didn't run away. Sure, they'd attempt
escaping if they were wounded, but they wouldn't run away from something approaching
them. They usually had nothing to be afraid of from other animals with their huge body and
hard skin, after all.
Behemoths wouldn't even try running away if a red dragon like me appeared in front of it.
I'm not sure if I should call them brave or nonchalant, but that made them so easy to hunt.
Perhaps calling them dunces would work?
"Alright Yuuki, if you would."
"Yeah!"
Nodding, Yuuki stood on my head and readied her spear.
"Thou who is long, sharp, and may pierce anything! Become a spear without equal, thine
aim unerring, thy strikes unblockable. Act as a shooting star!"
Throwing the spear at the behemoth's rear end as she finished the incantation, the spear
left a trail of light in its wake. Just afterwards, the behemoth let out a low-pitched sound
and started to move sluggishly. We'd intended for it to run away... but it's so slow. Of course
it's because their bodies are so large that their speed is, accordingly, slow, but it doesn't
even look like it's in a hurry at all.
"Nina, can you hear me? We found a behemoth. We'll be pursuing it from here on."
Following the behemoth that was running ever so slowly.... rather, following the behemoth
that was walking, I contacted her with magic.
"Got it. But it's going the wrong direction. It needs to be a bit more to the left."
Eh, how did she detect where we were? Well, it is Nina, I guess...
Following our brand new Nina Nav, Yuuki threw a few more spears at the behemoth to
correct its course. A while later, I saw a huge wall rise up on the horizon. It was something
Nina produce, a tree cage.
It would have obviously ended up destroying any old normal cage, so we had to come up
with a few solutions to prevent it from escaping. One was having long spear-like logs
growing toward the inside the cage.
If it tried run through it, it would see them and stop. Though honestly it's doubtful whether
or not they'll actually be able to pierce the behemoth's iron-like hide, Yuuki throwing
spears at it is teaching it that sharp objects give it pain. We're hoping that it will be alarmed
by the spears and stop in its tracks.
"It's in!"
Adjusting the behemoth's course, we herded it into the cage. I was worried that the cage
would be a bit narrow for its body, but the behemoth was able to get into it. Then, cautious
of the spears we'd pointed inward at it, it stopped itself from continuing to move.
Did we do it...?
The moment after I thought that, the behemoth opened its mouth wide and sunk its teeth
into the tree logs sticking out at it, chewing them.
It just continued on eating the cage itself. Once it was happy and done with its meal, it just
walked off. There's nothing we could do but sit and stare.
"... Behemoths... eat trees, I guess...?"
Yuuki muttered from on my back.
"Come to think of it..."
I'd just realized that I hadn't even known what behemoths ate until then.
We wouldn't have been able to care for it even if we'd managed to capture it, huh?
"... Well, at least we know what to bait it with now?"
"I take it you haven't given up on it yet then?"
Hearing me mutter, Nina replied half in amazement.
"I get the feeling that we're on to something here."
All of the animals we'd tried so far escaped with all their might. The behemoth at least
stopped moving. I think they'd be much easier to handle than the deers or goats.
"Maybe we could use trees that are too hard for a behemoth to eat...?"
"Professor Nina, can you produce trees that are harder than those were?"
"Impossible."
Hearing my idea, Shig tried asking Nina but was immediately shot down.
We hadn't made the wooden cage from trees we got from the forest, but from what Nina
produced herself. Making a large enough cage to surround a behemoth out of trees we
felled ourselves would be impossible with a day's work. But using Dropout Nina's
capabilities, it wasn't hard at all.
If she says it's impossible, it's impossible.
"Maybe we could use wood it doesn't like to eat...?"
"Wouldn't it just bite it and spit it back out then?"
"How about if I added a large number of my thorns to it?"
"They'd be too small to hurt it. Behemoths are pretty tough."
"What if someone stood by the cage and stabbed it with a spear if it got too close?"
"Who'd want to do that...?"
Luka, Violet, and Yuuki each came up with ideas, but Shig shot all of them down. Not that it
was his fault, though.
"Then what if we used rocks instead of wood?"
"Where would we get that many stones... wait, no, maybe we can use stones just for the
spears' tips? They'd be like proper spears then."
Shig got an idea from Rin's proposal and asked me about it.
I'd come to know about it recently, but he was good at identifying any pitfalls in a plan,
filling them in, and constructing plans for practical measures. Rin used her flexible
mentality to come up with ideas and Shig followed by shaping them into workable things.
We'd come to see similar conversations play out often recently.
"Stones might not be durable enough..."
"So it's a no go? I thought it might work, too..."
Shig's shoulders slumped forward.
But I was meaning it the exact opposite way.
"Putting it another way, so long as we can do something about their durability, it'd work.
We just need something harder, more durable, and sharper than stone."
"Does something like that exist?"
"Yeah."
Metal.
"The problem is... I don't know how we should go about getting it."
I'd thought about how we could use metal several times before. After using stone tools
comes the shift to the bronze age. Well, I'm not certain if this world even has copper or tin
in it.
I have no inkling of how to go about excavating a mine. I'm pretty sure you can't even mine
rocks with wooden pickaxes, it's difficult enough even using stone ones.
I'd thought that you needed metal to excavate a mine, but that puts me in a catch twenty-
two. Did the chicken come before the egg, or the egg before the chicken?
How in the world was it done back on Earth?
"You know where it is then?"
"Yeah. Inside mountains... Really, inside them. You'll get it from digging into a mountain...
probably."
It wasn't something I was entirely certain of either. What sort of mountains did iron or
copper come from? What sort of mountains held no metal at all? It was a topic I knew
effectively nothing about.
"Hmm. If you just have to open a hole in a mountain, don't we just need to go over there
and take some?"
"Where?"
Nina just pointed behind me in response.
She'd pointed to a huge, magnificent mountain. Mount Hole, as we'd come to call the
mountain.
The story of how it got its name is a simple one---it's because of the giant tunnel-like hole
that goes through it halfway up.
"Oh... there!"
And the thing that caused the hole was, well, me. Around five hundred years ago. Five
hundred and eight, to be exact.
I'd grown angry in a fight against Darg and opened the hole with my breath.
23
The Magus of Genesis v2 --- Chapter 23
A Decrease font size. A Reset font size. A Increase font size.
An Ominous Omen 不吉の前兆
Ruin always follows one's footsteps.
Unless those footsteps themselves are ruin.
"Oh, Mentor? Good morning. You look unwell, are you alright?"
"Morning... I'm alright."
I grudgingly replied to Violet, who was looking at my face in worry.
I was hesitant to tell her I had a hangover.
"Um, where's Yuuki?"
Unable to find her red hair in the wheat field, I asked Violet where she was.
It had been a decade since I began the special cla.s.sroom and started teaching them, so I'd
taught them just about everything I could. They'd graduated from daily cla.s.ses for a while,
so they were now generally working as school teachers, out in the field, or as coaches for
raising livestock.
"I believe she is still sleeping?"
"Really?"
She's always been an early riser, but I suppose even rare things happen sometimes.
Just as I thought that, though---
"She said that you rejected her and was drinking and crying until late last night."
Violet said it like it was nothing.
"Y---... You heard about that?"
"Oh yes. Rin, Luka, and I were comforting her."
She was smiling, but not of that smile made it into her tone. Rather, she sounded scary.
"... I'm sorry..."
"Am I truly who you should be saying that to?"
Once I gave an apology, her tone finally softened.
"You're right.."
"However."
Seeing me like that, Violet continued.
"I understand your feelings as well, Mentor."
She touched one of the wheat stalks with her hand, muttering.
"I have lived among these humans, I understand. Their lives pa.s.s much too quickly. Let
alone trees, they are more similar to flowers."
Come to think of it, Ultramarine coming to that realization may be why she refused to stay
here.
"So, what about pairing with me?"
Just as the conversation had taken a solemn turn, Violet changed the topic with a jest.
"Err, umm, sorry..."
"Oh? It appears I have been rejected as well."
Violet let out a reserved chuckle.
I honestly can never tell how serious she's being.
"I think that I will return to the forest once this harvest is complete."
"... Alright."
I didn't think of her as cold-hearted. It was because of her feelings that she could
understand my pain.
"Just... whether the harvest ends well is another story."
"The rats?"
Violet nodded, her expression serious.
The scarlite rat guards were working out well. Seemingly unable to gnaw through metal,
we've managed to prevent them from getting into the raised storehouses. However, the
rats didn't give up. Since they were unable to eat our stockpiles, they'd turned to attacking
our fields the moment the crops grew.
We'd been taking several countermeasures against them doing so, such as making traps
and including poisonous food, but the harm they do to the crops seem to get worse and
worse as the years go by.
"We will think of another way to stop them."
Leaving with that, I decided to go see my other students.
I stopped by the school building on the way to the ranch. Luka was teaching a cla.s.s in the
cla.s.sroom. The girl, once rather introverted and quiet, had turned into a splendid teacher.
Watching her teach the cla.s.s, I heard the sound of the bell signal the end of the session.
Luka, hearing the bell, turned to look outside the cla.s.sroom. Our eyes met.
"Wh-What are you watching for, Mentor---!?"
Immediately after that, she blushed and ran over to me. Her students could all be heard
laughing in the background.
"Cla.s.s is over, over! You can leave---!"
When Luka cried that out, the students scattered as they left the room.
"Looks like you're adored by your students, that's great."
"Oh Mentor, that's embarra.s.sing. How long were you watching me?"
"Not for long. I did watch for long enough to see how good you've gotten at Professor Luka,
though."
"Please don't tease meeee..."
Luka's voice trailed off in embarra.s.sment.
"But being a teacher is fun. I was worried about whether it would suit me when I started."
Unusually for her, she was smiling in a carefree manner.
"Does being with human children... err, not trouble you?"
I hesitated over outright bringing up their longevity and asked it in that way instead. Upon
doing so, Luka inclined her head slightly in thought and responded.
"Right. Human children... they grow up so fast, don't they? Yuuki was like that too, even."
"... Yeah."
Hearing her name suddenly come up, I nodded.
"But that's why teaching them is so fun. I get to see them steadily changing."
However, her following words surprised me.
"They might not be able to do something one day, then suddenly be able to the next. And if
they can't do it the next, maybe they can the day after. Every day's so exciting, I keep
thinking about how amazing they all are."
So you could think about it all like that, too. Really, she's much more suited to being a
teacher than I am.
"Ah, but... I think I want to go back to the gra.s.slands soon?"
"Why!?"
Which is why I was so surprised at her saying that, causing me to move forward and
unintentionally shout.
"Eh---I mean, I haven't been home in more than ten years... wouldn't you want to see your
family's faces?"
"O-oh... yeah."
"Don't worry, I'll definitely come back."
"Really? Err, I mean, that's great. Thinking that you were going to leave surprised me!"
Taking her hand, I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"E-excuse me, Mentor... would it be that troubling for you?"
"Yes, it would. I'd be really troubled if I didn't have an excellent girl like you around, Luka."
"Oh, okay... eh? E-Excellent!? Me!?"
Luka suddenly began to panic when she realized I was talking about her.
She served as the cla.s.s leader the whole time, managed the young problem children, and
helped kick start the general idea of magic formations. If you couldn't call her excellent, no
one could be called excellent.
"Of course! Thank you, and I hope you continue to be just as excellent."
"Okay..."
Parting from the thoroughly-embarra.s.sed Luka, I headed toward the ranch.
"This is why I keep saying you're always like this!"
"Eeh, but wouldn't this way be so much more fun?"
Even before I saw them, I could hear a certain pair arguing.
"You two never change..."
"Oh, Mentooor!"
"What, you came all the way out here? You have that much free time?"
When I made my appearance over the fence, Rin came flying over at me and Shig gave a
wry comment.
"What are you two arguing about this time?"
"Get a load of this. She never sticks to the program. She's wanting to clean them before we
feed them."
"Oooh..."
At the end of it all, but plan to breed behemoths ran into an impa.s.se. We'd succeeded in
enclosing them, but... well, dealing with their excrement turned out to be impossible.
Behemoths both took in and gave out in an amount appropriate for their body size.
Although Luka said that their feces could probably be reused as fertilizer, with them being
confined into such a small area, it had too much of a concentration.
Dealing with a tremendous amount of smelly manure every day back and forth to the
gra.s.slands was a job no one wanted to do, it also just wasn't practical given the sheer
volume to process.
However, we did make progress in raising animals. Fences reinforced with scarlite
managed to endure the deers' rush, and magic kept continually active through magic
formations proved useful to prevent escapes. They still hadn't become accustomed to
people yet, but we did succeed in managing to keep them without an unreasonable
difficulty.
"Why did Rin want that?"
"I think it'd be fun..."
They weren't tame, so we used the time while their eating to clean the ranch. We would
serve them scarlet potatoes in a food trough, close the pen the trough was in, then get to
work cleaning while it was closed and let them back in when we were done. Otherwise, the
deers that recognized the ranch as their home would attempt to remove any invaders.
However, the current Rin does have enough strength to say that it would be fun. Although
her magical output is still unstable, it is shocking in its sheer strength. Even if she didn't use
incantations, she'd easily fend off the deers.
"But there is a chance that you may end up injured, right? Even if you were alright, the
deers may get injured. Shig's way of doing it helps make sure that doesn't happen."
"Okay..."
When my gaze met with Rin's, she nodded.
"Good. So you'll listen to what Shig said, right?"
"Yep!"
"Even though you didn't listen to me at all...!"
Shig clenched his fist and shook it at Rin, who was nodding at me so obediently.
"By the way, the field is having some trouble with rats, do you have any good ideas?"
I'e recently been trying to ask these two for their perspectives when I get troubled.
"Hmm... make the field be in water?"
"Like that's possible!?"
Shig couldn't help but react to Rin's idea that she said after a moment's though.
"Oh. But if the rats can't swim, maybe we could put a river around it?"
"That might work out."
What was it called again? Hmm... irrigation? Although if it turns out that the rats can swim,
maybe I could make the ca.n.a.l in a way that they won't be able to move about its channels?
"Thanks, I'll give it a try."
Really, these two were reliable for stuff like this. They're a great team.
"It was nothing!"
"Hey! That was obviously my idea! I was the one that said it!"
They bash heads quite a lot though...
＊＊＊
Shig's idea for an irrigation channel worked out very well. It looked like the rats weren't
too good at swimming. It helped for both farming and the ranch.
We've even managed to solve the problem with our lack of teaching staff, so we should be
able to avoid the falling into ruin in a hundred years I'd predicted. It seemed like everything
was going smoothly.
Right.
Everything except that I still hadn't been able to talk with Yuuki.
That is, it's not like I literally haven't talked with her. We've been able to talk if needed and
greet each other. But every time I try to make a good opportunity to apologize for what I
did, she always ends up running away for one reason or another, and she's stopped
approaching me at all. Even though she's been the one sticking to me all this time.
I know that my refusal was selfish of me, I did something horribly cruel to her. I had hoped
that Yuuki's behavior would return a little closer to normal as time went on, but it actually
just made it even harder to close the gap and apologize.
"A bridge?"
I heard about it on one of the days I was worrying about Yuuki.
"Yes. That is the only thing I can see it as."
What Violet showed me was a branch laid out across the ca.n.a.l.
"It appears they used this to get across..."
Fresh wheat grew in the field. At their bases were pieces torn out. The indents indicated rat
teeth.
"... It probably isn't that a branch fell from a tree and landed there accidentally... right...?"
We'd made the field out of what used to be forest, so its side was right next to the forest.
However, it wasn't so close that a branch could just fall from a tree and land on the ca.n.a.l.
It looked more like that someone deliberately moved the branch over it.
"Is there any possibility that some children were playing and accidentally left it?"
It was hard for me to believe that rats orchestrated it and carried the branch there
themselves.
"I did try asking to see if that was it, but no one seemed to know anything about it."
"Hmm. Well, maybe it'll be alright if we just tell them that the rats can get in if it happens
and to be more careful?"
I don't want to believe that there is anyone in the village who would knowingly damage the
village's food supply. Even if we have room to spare, it's not to the point of being easily
coped with like modern j.a.pan could.
"I understand, I will have it be known."
"Sorry, and thanks."
However, I still wasn't aware.
---Aware of how lightly I'd taken this world's creatures.
24
Dragon Era 竜歴
p style="text-align: right;">I never thought that even after becoming this old, my birthday
would still be celebrated.
---The Magus of Genesis
"Mentor, something bad has happened!"
Hearing Violet's shout, I jumped to my feet. Nina, who'd climbed onto my back at some
point, tumbled off me and let out a strange grunt upon hitting the ground, but I ignored
that.
"What happened!?"
"The field, it....!"
When I went into my human form and went outside, Violet pointed to the field with an
unusually serious expression. What I saw after being lead there by her was hundreds of
collapsed wheat stalks, ruined.
"What... what happened here?"
Approaching the field in a blank daze, I saw something strange. Set over the irrigation
channel were innumerable tree branches.
"That's..."
"I thought it would be for the best if I let you see it for yourself, Mentor. I saw it happen
with my own eyes."
Violet spoke, her voice strained.
"The rats carried these tree branches here and made use of them."
"No way..."
That could be possible---is what I was about to say, but I stopped myself.
Red dragons spout flames instead of breathing. Elves live for millennia. Merfolk,
lykoscentaur, lizardmen. In this world where you could find such fantastical creatures as
those, I shouldn't find the concept of rats using bridges strange. They were a familiar
creature to me, so I had overlooked them with my preconceptions of them.
"... Let's clean up for now."
"Agreed."
Collecting the branches and piling them up, we burned them. However, if we only tidied up,
that would just lead to the same thing happening again. We had to put some sort of
measure against them in place.
"Let's figure out some countermeasures. Could you call for Shig, Rin, Luka... and Yuuki?"
"Alright."
Nodding, Violet ran off.
"Umm, I'm here... good morning, big brother."
Feeling awkward, Yuuki showed up just after Violet left.
"Morning. Right, you were in charge of the field too, weren't you?"
"Yeah..."
She nodded, lacking her usual cheerful mood. An awkward mood filled the air between us.
"Yuuki, I---"
I have to fix this---
"The heck!?"
But just as I thought that, my voice was drowned out by Nina's shout. Come to think of it, I
totally forgot about her. Thrown off and roused awake, she was probably heading to see me
in a bad mood. Upon seeing the the ruined field, however, her brows rose in anger.
"The rats ruined it. It appears that they spanned the channel by using bridges..."
Also now that I think about it, I hadn't told Nina about what happened before. I'd thought
what happened last time was just a prank or something, so I didn't think I needed to tell her
about it.
"... Wait. Is the warehouse still alright?"
Hearing my explanation, Nina asked as such.
"The warehouse. Yeah, it's..."
The raised floor warehouse had scarlite mouse guards. I was about to say that it was still
good, but then I realized. If they could build bridges over the ca.n.a.l, maybe they could do
the same for the warehouse?
"We need to check it out...!"
"I already have. It's safe."
The person to say that as I was about to rush off to the warehouse was Shig.
Behind him was Rin, Luka, and Violet.
"That's great. Thanks, Shig."
"Luka suggested it, thank her."
"Really? As expected of the cla.s.s leader... though I suppose she's a professor now? Thank
you, Luka."
"Please stop, Mentor."
Although Luka, who's head I was petting, wiggled her shoulders in embarra.s.sment, she
didn't seem dissatisfied by it at all. She actually angled her head so that it would be even
easier to continue.
"Still though, bridges...? Doesn't that mean the rats are smarter than Rin?"
"I'd just swim!"
Rin just puffed her chest out in pride at Shig's sarcasm.
"Given how fast this happened... I get the feeling our only option would be to put up walls."
"What would they be made out of if we did? They'd just gnaw through wood. They
definitely wouldn't get through a scarlite wall but we don't have enough of that."
I nodded in response to Shig's justified opinion.
"Perhaps we could set up a night watch? Even if they are just small rats, I doubt we could
miss them going across the channel with bridges."
"Unless anyone else has a better idea, I think it's worth a shot."
As someone who'd long defended the elves' forest, Violet's proposal was a pragmatic one.
"Rin, do you have any ideas?"
"Hmm..."
The young mermaid started thinking seriously after being brought into the discussion, her
brows knit. It was unusual for her to seriously think about things, she tended to just say
whatever came to mind first.
"I think Violet's idea is good..."
A few moments later, she said that indecisively. Picking up on her indecision, Shig glanced
at her. After that, I asked Luka, Yuuki, and Nina for their opinions, but they couldn't think
up anything else, either. In the end, I decided to put Violet's plan into action.
"Alright then, let's have the villagers cooperate and keep lookouts in shifts. I wonder how
long we should have the shifts be..."
"I suppose two dracos would be fine?"
"Two... dracos?"
Hearing a unit of time I'd never heard before come from Violet, I tilted my head.
"Mentor, you know how you decided to call the time it takes for a lykos kiln to finish a
lykos?"
"Yeah?"
I'd partly done it in jest, but I did decide to call it that.
"Most of the villagers are not used to saying lykos, so when it came time to teach them how
to measure time, that is how it eventually came out with their accent."
Luka's the only lykoscentaur in the village, so them not hearing it often couldn't be helped.
Lykos... draco... I both get it and don't get it.
"The ending is hours yeah? And I thought the ly part in it meant dragon... Luka told me
what it actually meant later on though.1"
"So you're the cause!?"
Seeing Yuuki grin in embarra.s.sment, I couldn't stop myself from retorting. I definitely do
remember telling her how I came up with lykoscentaur and how it meant half-human half-
wolf... oh well, it was when she was a lot younger.
"By the way, since people figure a draco is the base measurement, people are using: twelve
dracos to a dracoday, thirty-four dracodays to a dracomonth, and twelve dracomonths to a
dracoyear."
"Why though!?"
I shouted after hearing Nina's brief explanation. I just couldn't understand why they added
draco to everything.
"Also, this year is year five hundred twenty-two of the dragon era."
"Wait, that's my age!?"
With Violet's reveal of the finishing blow, I felt my face redden.
"By the way, I'm the one that came up with dragon era."
"Why though!?"
I shouted in despair. No matter how I think about it, it's just too similar to Christianity's
way of naming eras with stuff like AD and BC. Still though, the only person I told about that
was Shig. He'd ask me about my previous life sometimes, so I'd tell him stuff like that
whenever he brings it up.
But is he putting me up there with Jesus Christ...?
"Everyone loves Mentor, that's why!"
With Rin shouting back in glee and not the slightest ounce of ill will, I couldn't say anything
in return.
"... We've gone off topic. Let's see, we'll do it in a two... no, a four draco shift. That much
should be fine. That way, we can have the shifts be between two shifts per night... we'll put
some more people working in the field and have whoever works night watch have the
following day off."
"Understood. I will figure out the details with Yuuki and report back to you."
"Please do."
Sighing deeply, I asked for Violet to take care of the arrangements. However, despite the
current turmoil, it feels like I was actually able to talk normally with Yuuki. Maybe I should
take it as a silver lining?
The rats should give up and move on if they can't get any food for a few days. If not... then
we'll just have to think of something else.
Hoping that this would solve our problems, we ended our meeting for the time being.
＊＊＊
"Attacked...!?"
However, our hopes were fragile and were shattered on the following day.
"Yes. Fortunately though, there were no major injuries."
Worried about the damage that occurred due to her idea, Violet looked pensive.
"The problem is that they attacked the warehouse."
After setting people up on watch duty at the field, it appeared that Violet set a few more up
at the warehouse as well after recalling what Luka said. However, it was the warehouse
that was attacked.
It's true that the warehouse was less well covered, but the field being entirely ignored was
just too weird.
"No way... were they listening to us...?"
The moment I said that, Violet turned on the spot and shot a vine out of her fingertip. It
stretched out like lightning and caught a tiny creature that then let out a shriek.
What she capture was something that could fit into someone's palm. A small black rat.
"Can you... understand us?"
Still feeling as though it was impossible, I asked the rat if it could. However, the rat didn't
answer, it instead just struggled.
"Even if it can understand us, that doesn't mean it can speak."
Nina's remark caused me to realize that fact.
"Rin. You're always thinking up weird stuff. What do you think?"
"Hmm..."
Urged on by Shig, Rin spoke, reluctantly.
"They might... have a home..."
"Right! In that case, Luka could trace them back to their nest. Then we can just solve it all at
once!"
Shig immediately agreed with Rin's simple idea. The rats' nest was likely a hole in the
ground. Rats couldn't swim, so we could exterminate the vast majority of them by flooding
the hole.
"That would be troubling."
Just then, we could hear a high-pitched voice. We all looked to the rat that Violet had caught
out of reflect, but it was completely exhausted after attempting to struggle free.
"I am here."
This time, I heard that voice come from right next to my feet.
Once I looked down, I saw a pure white mousing looking up at me.
"Let us negotiate."
Opening its mouth, the white mouse clearly said as such.
Alright, this sentence was finally the one to defeat my localization efforts. I couldn't change
this in a way that would fit seamlessly as I've done before. Explanation: Lykos (JP: Ryu Ko
Su) is very similar to Dracos (JP: Ryu U Ko Ku). Ryuu means Dragon, while Ly (JP: Ryu) is
simply the start of Lykos, taken from Lykoscentaur. Kos (JP: Ko Su) turning into Co (JP: Ko
Ku) is explained as being due to the humans' accents. As an ancient way of saying a period
of two hours, the ending to drakos (JP: Ko Ku) can be taken as what Mentor intended with
twelve Lykos per day, further reinforcing Yuuki's perception of Draco (JP: Ryu U Ko Ku)
being correct.
25
Algernon, the Speaking Mouse 喋る鼠、アルジャーノン
Fateful meetings are not always wonderful things.
"As for a name for you all to call me, anything is fine. Refer to me as you wish."
Although it did have a few oddly placed intonations in its speech, the white mouse spoke in
fluent j.a.panese.
"Then for the sake of convenience, we'll call you... I've got it---Algernon. Al for short."
"It's like you don't have any naming sense at all.
I just smiled wryly back to Nina's jeer.
Al, sitting on demurely on the desk, was even smaller than I'd imagined. He was just about
as big as you'd expect a house mouse a be. That said, I'd only ever seen a wild mouse once
in my previous life, and I was but a youth back then.
It was much larger, grotesque, and seemed furious. In comparison to that, Al was either an
albino or perhaps simply white-colored and rather cute.
"Al, are you the only one able to, well, speak?"
"Affirmative."
Al answered with a stiff tone, unsuited to his appearance.
"There are other individuals able to unravel and understand language as well. However, I
am the only one capable of speaking it."
All considered, Al's tone was strictly confined to a formal one. He seemed to be talking even
more firmly than Rin, somehow.
"Would it be alright for me to consider you as the leader of the mice... a great mouse, so to
speak?"
"Negative. I am merely able to speak, leading to me conducting the negotiation."
"Then doesn't that mean there's no meaning for us to negotiate with you!?"
"Negative."
Al responded calmly to Shig's temper.
"My negotiation will be the consensus of us all."
"In other words, we can a.s.sume any demands we give to you will be transmitted to all of
the mice?"
"Affirmative, more or less."
Hmm... so then does that mean there's some form of chain of command among the mice?
"In that case, could you please stop ruining our crops? There should be more than enough
food for you all in the forest, right?"
"Negative."
Al responded in indifference.
"It is much more efficient for us to collect our food from your fields."
"But our crops are only grown after putting a lot of effort into them ourselves, having all
that taken away is troubling. Particularly when you eat our crops whole, taking away even
the seeds we need to plant for the following year."
As I was responding to him, I got the feeling that something was off. Rather than coming to
negotiate, it felt more like he didn't come with the intention to concede anything at all.
"For example, if you could help or cooperate with us somehow, we could offer food back as
compensation. But just taking it one-sidedly is troubling."
Al twitched his whiskers as though in silent thought to my statement.
"What could mice as tiny as this guy do for us anyway?"
Looking down at Al, Shig muttered in dissatisfaction.
"You are correct, we are diminutive."
Al admitted, rather upfront about it.
"Consequently, it is a simple matter for you all to provide us with food."
"And we're saying that there's no reason for us to do that."
Al merely tilted his head at Nina.
"Why? Is having your crops taken away not troubling?"
He asked in what appeared to be genuine confusion.
"If you do not provide us with food, we will simply take it."
"Oh come on!"
Shig shouted, bringing his face threateningly close to Al's.
"We're asking for a trade. If you continue taking away our food, we will burn out all of your
nests."
"That would be troubling."
Al uttered the exact words he did earlier.
"Right? So stop it."
"Why?"
Seeing Al tilt his head cutely, Shig frowned.
"You just don't get it, do you? You don't want your friends dead right? So I'm telling you to
stop."
"Why?"
The mouse simply repeated himself, but for me, they had taken on a whole new meaning. I
don't have any grounds for my hunch here, but...
"The group losing numbers would be troubling. However, that is no reason to not take your
food."
He was using the same language as us, but did he truly understand the language?
That's all I could think.
"Why...? Your friends would die, but you still...!"
Shig stopped himself midway. He opened his eyes wide, like something shocked him.
"Shig?"
"No... it's nothing."
When I called out to him, his shook his head weakly, like his energy had been taken.
"... Alright. However, providing an endless supply of food would be impossible, so decide on
an amount. Moreover, as I said earlier, we would like help around the village."
"Accepted."
Setting aside ordinary pests, I don't want to end up having to kill a group capable of sharing
their opinions. For now, I decided to recognize them as an intellectual race and set up an
agreement with them.
"You know what will happen if you don't stick to your side of the agreement, right?"
Nina called out to Al sharply as he left.
"... Of course."
Answering with that, Al left.
"I guess... that's settled? For now, at least."
As I said that, everyone showed a slightly complicated expression.
"... I don't want to give them our food."
Shig muttered.
"I doubt they'll stick to the agreement. We should have just killed them."
They were words filled with confidence. The sentiment wasn't just his, either. Everyone
there appeared to agree.
I don't think they'll stick to the agreement, either.
"If that happens, we'll just do it then."
"... Professor Nina really is strong."
"What are you trying to say?"
Nina c.o.c.ked an eye back at what Shig implied.
"Shig, you've been acting weird for a little while now. What's irritated you so much?"
"Your, well, naivety."
Saying it as though having to spit it out, he looked me in the eye.
...?
What?
Unable to understand what his intentions were, I could only stare back into his eyes.
"I won't stay here anymore."
Shig left the room a few moments later, giving his parting remark over his shoulder in a
disgusted tone.
"Shig, wait..."
"Let him go."
Nina spoke up to stop me from calling out to him, lowering my outstretched hand.
---Later that night, Shig left the village.
＊＊＊
"I see, so he didn't listen to you either, Rin...?"
"Nope..."
Lacking her usual energy, the merfolk girl nodded. If forced to rank everyone, she would
probably have been the person closest to Shig. Even so, Rin couldn't understand why Shig
left, either.
His tracks stopped after they reached the edge of the forest. Unlike inside the forest, it was
very difficult to follow people in the gra.s.slands. At the very least, he definitely wasn't
hiding in the forest like he did before. Nina couldn't find Shig, so that much was certain.
Which meant that we had no clue where he went at all. It would take ten days for Shig to
get back to his hometown on foot. Without supplies, that wasn't a distance someone would
take by themselves. Besides, he was looked down on in his hometown and neglected. It
wasn't the sort of place he'd want to return to.
That said, I had no idea where he'd go instead.
"Well, he'll probably come back when he gets hungry."
The one to say that so matter-of-factly was Nina. She seemed to be very angry---in her own
way, at least.
"It'd be great if so..."
It felt different from the last time he rushed out of the academy. Thinking about what he
said before he left, he left because he was disgusted by me... However, those eyes. What was
with his expression as he looked at me?
Although lizardmen expressions were harder for me to read, was it dissatisfaction,
disappointment, or disgust...? It felt like it was something else entirely.
"So what happened with the mice?"
"Oh, we came to an agreement on how much to give them for now."
I set up a lookout to keep watch just in case, but there haven't been any raids since last
night.
It looks like Al was able to mediate.
We'd agreed to hand them around a tenth of our current overall produce. It wasn't exactly a
small amount, but it wasn't so much that we couldn't go on.
"I guess we'll need to expand the field a bit more?"
And since it wasn't a tax, it wasn't as though we had to give them a percentage.
The more we expand our fields, the less the overall percentage of our produce goes to
them.
"Yeah."
Yuuki nodded. She'd stopped avoiding me after our meeting with the mouse.
That said, she hadn't gone back to clinging to me like before. She kept a moderate distance
between us.
It felt a bit lonely, but that's just my own selfishness.
Jobs that feel worthwhile, comrades you can rely on, and children depending on you. Being
dissatisfied with such a happy life sounds like it would be a curse. Although there were
some minor problems, we just had to solve them one by one.
"... Let's give it our all."
I muttered, almost as though to persuade myself.
26
Loss 喪失
More than anything, loss proves something's existence while simultaneously reminding
you it's gone forever.
"I demand a revision to the payment amount."
"Again?"
My voice shook in amazement in response to Al's statement in his usual formal tone.
"Didn't you increase it just last month?"
"Our group's size is increasing. The currently supplied amount is no longer enough."
Al, on the other hand, was indifferent. He felt no shame, merely stating the facts.
"And you guys only demanding more is troubling. What happened to the promise of helping
out? Haven't you guys done basically nothing?"
"We have done nothing."
"What's that?"
Having been laying on the bed up until that point, Nina sat up upon hearing that.
"You said you understood back when we made the agreement."
"Affirmative."
Al nodded in response to Nina.
"The dragon said that he would like us to help around the village. We agreed to that."
"Then---"
"There was nothing in that agreement which requires us to help."
Declaring that, Al had stumped both Nina and I in dumbfounded silence.
Still though, getting this far was actually refreshing. Recently, I've been growing more
aware of Al's personality. He---or maybe she, I'm not sure---as a mouse, is a complete
utilitarian. He only considers things using rational judgment. To put it bluntly, me saying
would like instead of something more concrete was a blunder on my end.
"I see, that's true. How about we do it like this, then? If you do not help with the work, we
will not increase the supplied amount of food."
"Describe the contents of the work."
Now that I'd spoken concretely, he instantly responded as such.
The rats might possibly be even smarter than me.
"It's about time for us to sow the seeds. You just need to help us with that. Right... if you
help us with ten fields, we will increase the number of bags provided by one per month."
"... Accepted."
Nodding, Al departed. I let out a deep sigh upon seeing him off.
"I feel tired..."
It wasn't just the mental fatigue of having to deal with the small mouse. I've been mentally
and physically drained these days. The main reason being that our manpower shorted
cropped back up.
In the end, Shig had never returned. Moreover, as she said she would, Violet helped us
finish harvesting the wheat and returned to the forest. And while Luka wasn't wanting to
leave us with things being so rough, she asked for a favor in being able to go back home
midway through.
With half of our exchange students gone, Rin and Yuuki also felt a bit down about it.
"Maybe we should look for more exchange students?"
"Sounds annoying. Go have a look about if you want."
Even with everything around us changing, one of us had managed to stay the same---Nina. I
smiled.
"Mentor!"
Just as I felt my mood improving, the door flung open and Rin burst inside.
I wonder if she's starting to feel a bit better?
"Utai... she's..."
My optimistic thought far off the mark, Rin clung to my arm and cried out in a teary voice.
"She's dying!"
＊＊＊
With me in my dragon form and with Rin and Yuuki--as well as the merfolk who'd come to
inform us of the urgent news--on my back, I hurried to the sea where Utai lived. Even with
my wings, it was a distance that wold take thirty minutes to cross. The merfolk had used
the river that went to the sea, swimming upstream the whole way. It must have taken a
considerable amount of time.
I flew with a feeling close to praying---could I make it in time?
... Finally reaching the coastline, I spotted Utai sitting leisurely on a reef in the sunlight.
"Utai! Are you alright?"
"Oh my... Mentor. You came all the way to see me?"
This was the first time I'd seen Utai in nearly thirteen years, but she was as beautiful as
ever.
She even responded to me with a tone that sounded very unlike she was on her deathbed.
... However, the graceful waist fins she'd always had around her hips that looked closer to a
wedding dress had shrunk considerably.
"Utai!"
Rin lept from my back, landing in the sea and shooting back out of it like a flying fish before
clinging to Utai.
"How was it? Being on land, that is."
"It was so much fun! There are so many things, Mentor is so kind, the food's great, Shig is
amusing, Yuuki is strong, Luka gets scary sometimes but oh well, Violet is just wow, Nina is
fun to learn from, and, and...!"
Rin spoke of all the experiences she had up on land while Utai stroked her hair and listened
to everything with her eyes closed.
Seeing that, I realized that she truly didn't have too long left.
"But why... are you sick?"
"No, Mentor."
Utai's mouth tensed as she answered.
"I'm already a granny with great-grandchildren. I've lived a long life."
It was as she said, but I could only see her as a woman in her thirties.
However, the hands she used to stroke Rin's hair gave the feeling of withered trees.
"But for me to see Rin with such a beautiful smile and body in the end... I'm so blessed."
Her hand made its way to Rin's large waist fins.
"Yep! I made them bigger with magic! I can already walk on my own! I could even walk with
you now, Utai!"
"Yes..."
Utai nodded with a delighted smile.
But it was obvious that the withered fins at her waist were already too small for her to walk
with anymore.
"Listen to me carefully, Rin."
Utai placed her hands on Rin's cheeks, looking into her eyes as she spoke.
"After this, two things will visit you. One very wonderful, another very painful. These will
happen at the same time."
"The same time...?"
Rin repeated back Utai's mysterious warning in wonder.
"Yes. At that time, you will need to do whatever your heart tells you, so listen to it well...
Please."
"I will..."
Yeah, she definitely will. Even I wound up nodding.
I've never seen a child as free and honest to herself as Rin.
"That's good. I'm sure you'll be fine then, my great-granddaughter--my pride."
Utai smiled lovingly at Rin.
"... Hey, Mentor?"
Taking her hand from Rin's head, she slowly turned to face me.
"Would it be alright for you to come by at the end...?"
"... I will."
Having Yuuki and the merfolk get off, I changed back to my human form and stepped into
the ocean.
A floating sensation surrounded me and my vision was filled with water and froth. Either
due to me being a dragon or due to Utai using some sort of magic on me, I didn't feel stifled
at all.
With that, Utai pulled on my arm and we drifted under into the ocean.
Pulled by a strength stronger than I thought she could muster, she placed her palms on my
cheeks. A moment later, I felt a soft sensation press against my lips.
"I'm sorry for being a granny like this."
"It's not as though I've changed with age, either."
I shrugged in response to Utai's jest. She really had done something to me. Even though we
were both underwater, I could both hear her perfectly as well as respond.
"Besides, it's the first time I've admitted this... but honestly, I like them older."
"Oh my---"
Overlapping Utai's face as she laughed, I could see Rin's face.
No---I could see Utai's face from long ago, when I first met her. The face of the younger Utai.
"My thanks. That made me happy... you... you were my first love."
Saying that, Utai left my arms.
"Utai..."
"... Even if you look at me like that, I won't die just yet."
You won't turn to foam and disappear?
Seeing me look at her, Utai spoke in an amazed tone as I had to hold back my thoughts.
"Now, Mentor, you should head back."
But then, as though to crush my relief---
[Hurry back---the mice, they're attacking.]
Nina messaged me, her voice impatient.
27
The Sixth Student 六番目の生徒
It was the world's earliest example of shadowing a cla.s.s.
Hurriedly beating my wings and gazing upon Scarlet, I was at a loss for words.
What I saw before me was an inky black spot within the village.
... No way, those are all mice!?
As I was caught up in the sight, a flame rose like a firework from the center of the village,
the area that had become the village's public plaza. It was probably meant to be a signal
after seeing me soaring in the sky. There's only one person who could do that.
"Nina, are you alright!?"
"You took way too long, idiot!"
Oh good, she looks alright.
Listening to her complaints, I descended to the plaza still in my dragon form.
Just as I landed, I swept away the rats that were rushing toward us from all directions with
my tail. My strong tail was able to handle them easily, but it didn't feel like I'd dented their
numbers at all. It was like dealing with a carpet of blackness.
"Yuuki, do not get off my back, no matter what!"
"Alright!"
Not even Yuuki would be able to do anything with how many of them there were around us.
There were countless mice attacking me from all directions, but their gnawing couldn't do
anything to my scales.
"Nina, what the heck's going on!?"
"Like I'd know!? They just started attacking out of nowhere!"
Judging by the countless corpses piled up around her and how the mice weren't giving up
their a.s.sault, she'd probably been defending this spot solo the whole time.
"Stop it! You all should be able to understand us right!? Why are you doing this!?"
Even when I tried calling out to them, the mice didn't react at all. Seeing that, I reluctantly
began to fight back against the mice with flames. Can they really understand me?
How long did this go on? I couldn't see their numbers decreasing, but the rats seemed to
notice their attacks were showing no progress and began to lax with their a.s.sault.
"How are the villagers?"
Finally having the chance to speak, I asked Nina the question that was burning on my
mind?
"We had them evacuate to the ice house. Amata's protecting them."
"They should be alright then... probably isn't something I can say right now, is it?"
Yuuki would be there as well, but the Swordsaints' fighting style was based on the concept
of fighting a small number of mighty opponents. Consequently, they weren't too skilled in
magical attacks that affected wide swaths of the battlefield at once. That being the case,
Nina likely chose to remain in the central plaza to take care of a large number of mice at
once. They would have had to pa.s.s through here to make it to the ice house, after all.
Just then, something clapped me on the head with a light bang.
"Big brother!"
I spread my wings to protect Yuuki on reflex. Pebbles poured down on us like rain.
"They're throwing stones...!?"
Tiny, tiny stones---pebbles. So small that I practically couldn't feel them even as they fell
upon us. Still, I wasn't able to hide my surprise.
I mean, mice... throwing stones?
"Ow---!"
Nina screamed. A thin stream of blood snaked its way down the front of her beautiful face.
"You... little...!"
Following an angry shout, all sorts of trees started sprouting from the ground. Turning into
innumerable weapons, they floated in the air. However, countless bubbles shrouded her
vision before she had a chance to launch any of them.
"What the...!?"
Swinging her arm, Nina stirred up a fierce wind. However, all the wind did to the wall of
bubbles was cause it to shake and warp, the wind disappearing before the bubbles blew
away. A large number of rats jumped into the wall from its other side.
"Insolent---!"
Abandoning the thought of aiming, Nina launched her wooden weapons like arrows.
Cutting down each of the rats on the innumerable bubbles, the wall vanishes... but.
"Nina, watch out!"
I shouted out to her in warning. No matter how strong Nina's magic was, their corpses
wouldn't just vanish without a trace. They were made with magic, like moving shadows.
"Kyaaah!"
Just then, Nina screamed. Tons of rats were clinging to her body.
"Big sis, don't move!"
Brandishing her scarlite sword, Yuuki jumped down from my back. Making sure to not hit
Nina, she cut away the mice clinging to her body.
"Hurry up, get on my back you two...!"
Just as I started to say that, I felt a sharp pain.
"... No way."
Turning to the pain, I let out a groan. A small mouse was holding an appropriately sized
scarlite sword for its body and had thrust it into my leg.
's.h.i.t... Nina, use fire!"
When I shouted that, Nina immediately guessed my intent and launched a huge flame
straight at me. Although it was merely a pleasant wind as far as I was concerned, its heat
was deadly to the mice that had started running up my body. Once I got them all off me, I
grasped Nina and Yuuki in my forelegs and took to the sky at a dash. Here, at least, they
shouldn't be able to follow us.
"What the... no really, what...?"
With a voice tinged in both irritation and fear, Nina spoke.
"Big brother, that magic..."
"Yeah."
I nodded.
"It was ours."
Stones. Bubbles. Shadows. That sword. They were all things we devised and practiced in
our cla.s.sroom. I doubt it was a coincidence.
The mice had been listening in on us, hidden, for a very long time.
"Still, for them to even make a sword... ouch---"
Renewed pain running through my leg as I spoke about the sword, I flinched.
"Yuuki, sorry, but could you pull out the sword stuck in my leg?"
"Yeah."
Although the mouse that had been holding it was incinerated by Nina's flames, its sword
remained stuck in my leg. Bringing Yuuki closer to my hind leg, she reached out and pulled
the sword out of me.
"... Big brother, this isn't a sword."
Pulling it out and staring at it, Yuuki spoke.
"It's a nail, one of the ones we used to reinforce the fence."
I see. They probably destroyed the fence and took it out. It's true that nails would be about
the right size for them to use as swords. I guess it really would be a bit much for them to be
forging swords of their own.
"... This is bad."
"Yeah."
As for why, this wasn't the only scarlite nail. There were hundreds of them.
"I'm worried for Amata. I'm going to hurry up, hold on."
Putting Yuuki and Nina on my back, I flapped my wings even harder.
＊＊＊
There was an ice house outside of the village to the north. This was the the first house in
which Ai's family used to live, a small cave in a certain hill. The usually-closed entrance was
flung open with a wall of ice standing as though to surround it.
That was good. Using the cold air inside the ice house to create a wall of ice, the mice
should be unable to make it inside.
"Mentor!"
And Amata stood at the entrance like a gatekeeper, his entire body dyed red as he called
out to me. A tremendous number of mouse corpses were strewn about at his feet, telling
just how hard the fight had been.
"Amata, are you alright!?"
"Yes, don't worry about me. None of this is my blood."
Amata answered casually when I landed and inquired about his safety. His shoulders were
heaving up and down, showing just how out of breath he actually was.
There were practically no buildings near the ice house and all of the forest that used to
surround it had long since been cut away. With that, we should be able to use fire without
having to worry about it affecting the village.
"You returned?"
It was just as I inhaled to deal with the group of mice that it happened.
A white mouse appeared from among the black ma.s.s.
"Why did you do this, Al?"
"There are three reasons."
Hearing my angered words, Al answered with his usual flat tone.
"The first: your strength was at its weakest. To be exact, while you, the strongest
combatant, were gone, it was necessary to reduce the humans' strength to some extent. The
second: to secure food. The amount you offered was no longer sufficient. Therefore, we
moved to plunder. The third: to decrease the food demand. There were too many creatures
to feed with the food. Therefore, we thinned them out."
With no evil in his tone nor any pride or ridicule, he spoke as if to simply notify us of the
facts. He emotionlessly gave his report. Hearing that, I asked a question in response with a
certain feeling in my gut.
"By creatures... are you referring to humans, or mice?"
"Either."
I had the hunch that I just couldn't understand Al's way of thinking.
We were using the same words. We understood their meaning.
However, we weren't communicating.
Perhaps... to Al, this was neither a matter of malice, nor of ill will. He held no thoughts
concerning cheating or violating agreements. He could, so he did---that was all.
"Al... Algernon. Leave, now. Never return to this village."
Calling out Al's name with strength filling it, I gave him an order.
It was his true name. There were cases where a name given by others was effective, as well
as cases where it wasn't. Although I didn't understand the exact mechanism behind it, there
was one thing I did know. If a creature recognized something as its name, that became its
true name.
That's why I decided to go out of my way to call him Al as a pet name. That way, he would
see his other name, Algernon, as his true name. That, at least, shouldn't be different
between humans and mice.
"You have been calling me Al for a while now, but---"
However, Al... the white mouse---it just cutely tilted its head and responded.
"---that individual has already died."
28
Acceleration 加速
Seizing and striking whoever is trying to escape.
It was that kind of magic.
"Our lifespan is approximately one year. The individual you called Al died four
dracomonths ago. Around twenty days after he first spoke with you."
Al... rather, the white mouse I'd believed to be Al, answered as such.
"In that case... the white mouse we've been talking to since then has been you?"
"Negative. That individual has also died. This is the first time I have talked with you."
What I heard in response to my question shocked me. Be it the mouse's appearance or its
voice, I couldn't tell it apart from Al at all... no, to be accurate, the way it spoke was
different. The first white mouse, Al, spoke its words with an awkward intonation. I'd just
thought it had grown more proficient at speaking.
"Do you intend to kill us?"
"Yeah."
I nodded in response to this new Al. Even with everything, not even I am good-natured
enough to forgive them. Above all, I don't believe we can truly understand each other.
"That is troubling."
The white mouse uttered the same words Al had once spoke.
"We have a transactional offer for you."
However, the words that followed were quite different from what Al's were.
"We have spare food. We propose exchanging it."
"Spare? I thought you were stealing more of ours?"
"That is correct."
Not breaking a sweat and with no sense of shame, the mouse nodded, causing me to let out
a sigh.
Really, I couldn't overlook this. I had to annihilate them right then and there.
"This is our spare food."
However, what the mice brought out caused my eyes to grow wide.
"Father!"
"Dad!"
"There are still a considerable number remaining. Will you enter negotiations?"
Hearing the mouse's words, I bared my fangs. How many had they managed to capture?
Invalids, children, elderly---all those who were too slow in escaping. It was already a
wonder that Nina and Amata had been able to save the number they did before the mice's
a.s.sault.
"It's okay, he's still breathing."
Nina, seeing Amaga, secretly whispered to me.
"... Alright. I will turn a blind eye to you all. Release everyone you have captive."
"I have not yet presented my demands."
The white mouse simply responded as such after hearing my anguished decision.
"... What? I said I would turn a blind eye to this though?"
"Affirmative. However---we have gained further negotiating material."
It was already to late by the time I noticed. The rats that had been surrounding us flooded
into the ice house. Did they notice their chance, seeing us get so distracted by Amaga?
"Return to your human form."
I wouldn't be able to take care of the mice all at once like this, it would cause the villagers to
be affected as well.
Although I could attempt to cause their command to collapse by eliminating the white
mouse, Al told me that he although was the only one of the mice able to talk to us, he
couldn't command them. That was probably the truth.
a.s.suming that to be the case, killing this white mouse would only serve to make
negotiating impossible and increase the damage we sustain.
As I was told, I changed into my human form.
"So, what are your demands? Is it to provide food, like before?"
"Not only that. We also demand the elimination of the possibility of exterminating us."
"Elimination of the possibility?"
"Murder the person who can be our enemy."
Oh, so that's all? I felt like laughing at that moment.
In other words, the mice were trying to domesticate humans.
"I take that to mean my death?"
"Negative."
If that were the case, I would just be in the way. Just as I thought that, though, the white
mouse answered unexpectedly.
"We recognize that you are useful for efficiently providing us food. We cannot afford your
elimination."
---No way.
"The eradication of the individuals called the Swordsaints. That is our demand."
"Don't screw with me!"
My bad feeling coming true, I yelled in response.
"There is no reason for me to accept a demand like that!"
"In that case, we will kill our spare food."
Meanwhile, the white mouse didn't panic and just responded indifferently.
"Big brother."
Seeing me at a loss for words, Yuuki called my name to soothe me.
"The Swordsaints exist to defend the village. Although I am mortified at not being able to do
so... I am willing to give my life."
"But Yuuki---"
"... I feel the same."
With a serious look, Amata spoke, continuing--- "If the choice is three people or the entire
village, there is nothing to consider... please, stand back."
Bowing his ma.s.sive frame, Amata deeply lowered his head to me. Taking that as consent,
the flocks of mice squirmed and writhed to surround them. Deciding to start with the one
who appeared to be weaker, the wriggling black ma.s.s rose like a tsunami, attacking Yuuki.
"If I knew it would come to this... I wish I'd been less reserved in being with you."
The instant I heard her say those words, I ran. However, she was too far and my legs were
too slow. We were a mere several meters apart, but it may as well have been an ocean.
Every single mouse had its jaws open wide, exposing their fangs and saliva.
Although the world slowed as if time had stopped... I wouldn't make it.
I couldn't reach her.
I don't care who, but please, anyone---lend me your power!
"I---"
That prayer dominating my mind, an incantation burst unbidden from my mouth.
"---am fast!"
In that instant, my body left a sonic boom.
My surroundings became a torrent of shining stripes in my vision while my skin twisted as
it fought against the immense wall of air and accelerated. In stark opposition to the
blisteringly swift-moving scenery around me, my extremities felt like they were moving
through thick mola.s.ses. Even so, I frantically gave it my all.
She's---she's the only one I can't let go!
In the next moment, everything returned to normal and another explosive sound
reverberated through the air.
The time that had been moving ever so slowly went back to flowing as it always did, the
black mice blown away by the shock wave as my body rolled across the ground--- ---with
my arms embracing small girl, shielding her.
"Thank goodness... are you alright? Yuuki."
"Y-Yeah..."
She nodded, embarra.s.sed.
Meanwhile, an intense pain a.s.saulted my mind. Looking to its source, I saw my right leg
broken partway up. I suppose this is from me moving with everything I have after using
reinforcement magic.
If pressed, I'd say my reinforcement magic demonstrates the strength I have in my dragon
form, the reason being that that is the strongest power I can imagine. Therefore, it doesn't
do so much when I use it in my dragon form. After all, my body weighs somewhere
between five and six tons. Using that strength in the body of a human that's maybe sixty
kilos total is like strapping a rocket to a bike. Of course that's how it would turn out.
"Does this mean that you do not accept our demand?"
"... Sorry."
I apologized. Not to the mouse, however, but to the villagers.
"It seems this girl is more important to me than I thought."
I couldn't help but think I just did something stupid. Now that my leg was broken, I couldn't
put up as much of a resistance. The majority of the villagers would likely be killed. No,
depending on how many of them there were, there was even a chance that I myself not
make it out safely.
"Mentor, if you say so, there's nothing to be done about it."
Saying that with his sword prepared before him, Amata looked refreshed.
"I'll fight until this body of mine gives out... and I'm not the only one who feels like that."
The villagers who were caught in the ice room also glared at the rats as they brandished
whatever they were holding onto as weapons. Not one of them grumbled about my choice.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
That's when it happened. A very out of place laugh sprung up, echoing.
"Aren't you embarra.s.sed at having such a hard time against such teeny things, lizard?"
A husky voice and an arrogant manner of speech.
There's only one person who'd talk to me like that.
"I came to save ya, Dropout!"
"... The village is finished."
Hearing the elf's---Ultramarine's loud proclamation, Nina just covered her face and let out a
groan.
"Ultramarine, why...?"
"Why? Hmph."
Why are you in the village? Why did you come running along right now? Why are you so
self-important sounding? To all of these questions swirling in my head, Ultramarine
answered in her same tone as ever.
"... Wait, why did I?"
Nay, she didn't answer.
"What...? What is going on?"
For the first time ever, the white mouse's tone was tinged with emotion. It was perplexed.
Perplexed at a truly incomprehensible situation. For it, a ma.s.s of rationality, Ultramarine
who just goes wherever she felt like with gusto was an entirely incomprehensible
existence.
Even I couldn't really understand what she was trying to accomplish.
I could understand that she was here to help... I think. Probably.
But even with her here, she alone wouldn't be able to stop the inevitable.
"Nina, is Ultramarine strong?"
Asking Nina just to make sure, she looked up to the sky in absolute denial of everything as
she responded.
"... She's incompetent."
Yeah, I kind of got that feeling from her.
"Who's incompetent!? Come on! I was even the first one here!"
Ultramarine heard Nina with her sharp ears and shouted at her.
... First one here?
Just as I questioned what I heard, various things happened simultaneously.
The mice that had surrounded the villagers in front of the ice house were suddenly
penetrated with thorns that sprouted from the ground. A gigantic flame flew towards them
with tremendous momentum, entirely incinerating them. A rock protruded from the
ground, wrapping around Amata, who'd embraced Amaga, as if to protect them.
"What... the...?"
I doubted what my eyes were telling me.
"It looks like we made it in time."
It was the voice of a man I hadn't seen in a while, it lower than the last time I'd heard it.
It was Shig... as well as Violet, Luka, and Rin.
The students of my special cla.s.sroom had a.s.sembled.
29-30
"Man, why are you so surprised?"
Seeing me at a loss for words out of amazement, Shig spoke.
"I mean, you, why..."
"We can talk later. We have to do something about these guys first."
Around half of the mice had been destroyed by everyone's a.s.sault a moment before, but
reinforcements seemed to suddenly come out of nowhere. The heck, how many thousands
of them are there?
"Mentor, can you give me some fire to work with? Just a single-word one would work."
"Fire... Is this alright?"
"Thanks."
Creating a flame like he asked, Shig suddenly thrust his hand into it.
"Shig!?"
"That which is red, which is hot, the flame that burns everything. Follow my guidance and
become my sword."
Shig's hand dragged out the flame. Stroking it with his other hand to form it into a
cylindrical shape, he held it and recited an incantation, transforming it into a shape more
similar to a sword.
"Here. Yuuko, you help out too."
"Eh? U-uh, okay."
Handing the sword to Yuuki, Shig returned to facing the mice.
"Umm... big brother? I-It'd be helpful if you let go of me...?"
"Huh? Oh, s-sorry!"
Realizing that I was still embracing Yuuki, I hurriedly opened my arms.
"I'll be back."
Yuuki's expression quickly grew serious after a final smile at me before running toward the
mice.
"Hey Shig, which side of this is the bladed side!?"
"Oh come on it's fire, just swing it!"
"Even if you tell me that...!"
A mouse jumped up high to attack Yuuki just then, so she swung the sword down on reflex
to slice through it. With that, the sword extended straight and far out, gouging through all
of the mice it came across and reducing them to ashes.
"Woah, Mentor, your fire's crazy strong."
"There's no way I can use a weapon this dangerous though!?"
It was just for an instant, but seeing that flame extend far into the horizon, Yuuki shouted
out almost as a scream.
"You can. That's a sword made from Mentor's flame, and you are a Swordsaint."
But Shig just responded matter-of-factly. Staring at the sword in surprise, Yuuki took a
moment before nodding.
"Alright. I'll leave my back to you... Rin!"
"Yeah yeah here I go~! Big flame, go boooom~!"
Following the merfolk's energetic incantation, a huge, explosive flame shot from her
fingertips.
"Become my spear and eradicate this person!"
Seizing the flame midair, Shig shaped it into a spear like clay before throwing it in one,
mighty stroke. It penetrated into the group of mice where it distorted before returning to
its original flame-like state and exploding, scattering the mice about in a burst of heat and
force.
"You are me, I am you. Howl, run, and travel on, we have work to do---shadow clone!"
The flame creating a stark shadow behind Luka, a number of figures stood up following her
incantation. Splitting away from her, they ran on their four legs and collected the mice that
had been attempting to escape the flames into one place. Once the pitch-black forms spread
their arms open wide, they turned into ten fangs and pierced through the mice.
"It is not like I could allow you to head this way, now could I?"
Violet pointed her supple hands to the mice that were trying to escape the fangs piercing
through their ranks. Just as I saw thorns grow along the bramble sprouting from her
fingertips pierce into the ground, that bramble sprung up through the ground from under
the mice.
"Yep, I got the hang of this thing now!"
Yuuki freely altered the length of her fire sword as she swung it, erasing the existence of
any mouse it came across. Standing in the center of a ring of charred corpses, she focused
on any of the mice that were aiming for her comrades who were focusing on magically
controlling the battle.
Luka controlled their positioning, Rin created opportunities, Shig utilized any chances he
saw. Violet filled any gaps that were opened in their defense, while Yuuki backed any of
them up.
---It reminded me of how the cla.s.sroom once was.
"Guess I don't need to help out, sounds good to me."
Taking in a deep breath, Nina said such an out-of-place thing.
"Wouldn't not helping not be not bad?"
"Oh shut up."
Nina responded, her tone obviously disappointed in my sense of humor.
It wasn't as though she meant she wasn't going to do anything. She was treating Amaga,
after all. Using magic to heal wounds is excessively difficult. It required both strong magic
and highly proficient control, so Nina was pretty much the only person that could use it
practically at this point. Even for her, emitting even a tiny flame will be impossible for her
for a while after healing as much of Amaga's wounds as she did.
"Professor Nina, thank you."
"Yeah yeah, it's fine so just make sure to protect us, okay?"
Nina just waved her hand in response to Amata lowering his head deeply to her. Amaga, a
man who couldn't move with his legs broken as they were, and Nina, a woman who was out
of mana. The mice obviously wouldn't let such easy prey go.
Amata slashed downward with his stone sword, his head still bowed toward Nina. I didn't
understand what I'd just seen even though it just happened right in front of me. He was
skilled for certain, but he must have been exhausted----and yet that technique was
absolutely precise. He truly was fit to carry the Swordsaint name.
"Wait!"
Perhaps deciding that the current battle was progressing unfavorably, the white mouse
shouted.
"Have you forgotten? We have your brethren as spare food."
"Spare... food...?"
Not liking the sound of that, Shig's hands stopped moving.
"Correct. If you continue attacking us, we will take all of our spare food and---"
"By spare food, do you mean this?"
A deep, baritone voice contrasted the white mouse's high, shrill pitch.
"---Beol!? Why---how!?"
Carrying a number of villagers using his four arms, the lizardmen patriarch stood proudly
despite the wounds covering his body.
"I cannot say that everyone is safe... but please, Mentor, be at ease."
Pulling a tray loaded with some sick villagers on it, Luka's father, Tauro, smiled cheerfully.
"Please show me your wounds. I will treat you."
With that, Pea Green, the elf, came up and rolled a number of yellowish-green leaves over
my legs.
They weren't the only ones. A lizardmen clan, Luka's siblings, even a few elves I hadn't seen
before all appeared one after another.
"Everyone, why...?"
"What do you mean why?"
Elated, Shig responded to my confused mutter.
"I brought them along, obviously!"
"But... how in the world did you do it?"
Now that I think about it, Rin being here's obviously strange.
I flew almost straight back here from when I left her. There's no way she could be here now
unless she could move as fast as me flying.
"I'll tell you the secret afterward."
Shig spoke, then turned toward the white mouse.
"Let's make a deal."
"What sort of deal?"
The white mouse responded to Shig.
"The spear lord offered his right eye to obtain wisdom."
"... What are you talking about?"
Both the mouse and I tilted our heads in puzzlement.
"The merfolk princess offered her voice to obtain legs."
However, once I heard his following sentence, I realized what was wrong. He wasn't talking
to the mouse.
"I offer two of my arms. They may have no fingers nor elbows, but they are still my prided
arms."
---It was an incantation.
"Give me the power to soar through the sky!"
Shig's upper arms, the two lacking anything at the elbows and beyond, spread out as they
made a cracking noise.
They were wings. Not the feathered wings you'd see on a bird, but more like a bat's---no.
They were undeniably dragon wings!
Flapping his wings, he danced through the air like an arrow loosed from a bow.
Immediately afterward, be thrust into the group of mice and accurately seized the white
mouse like a bird of prey.
Given his current appearance, it was probably more suitable to call him a dragonkin than a
lizardman.
"So Mentor, what do you want me to do with this guy?"
The white mouse, held by Shig, had already given up and was just staring fixedly at me with
its red eyes, not raging or trying to escape at all.
"... Right."
After taking a moment to think, I responded.
"If you answer my questions and promise to no longer make any moves the village, I'll turn
a blind eye."
"You're still saying that, after all this...!?"
Placing my hands on Nina's shoulders to calm her down, I winked at her. She glared at me
in obvious dissatisfaction, but she didn't take it any further. Her expression told me that
she wouldn't hold back if she didn't agree with what I did next.
"Acknowledged."
"Alright, then now for my questions."
Seeing the mouse in Shig's hand nod, I spoke.
"Algernon said that he was the only one able to talk. Is that true?"
"Affirmative."
"Then are there now rats other than you that can speak?"
"No."
It wasn't lying, probably... rather, the mice couldn't lie.
That's the kind of feeling I got from them, at least.
Because lies were things meant to be used for deceiving another person. To deceive
someone, you would first need to understand them. Also I'm sure the mice are able to
predict our actions to some extent, I doubt they can understand us.
Similar to how we can't understand their way of thinking.
"After you die, how many mice capable of speech would there be?"
"One."
---So that's how it was.
"The heck?"
Hearing the white mouse's contradictory answer, Nina frowned and spoke in irritation.
There were no mice who could talk other than the white mouse, but somehow there would
still be a mouse that could talk about it died. Thinking normally, that was off.
However, I was thinking about the possibility of what that meant.
"They're a colony. They treat themselves as one living thing."
That's why they weren't afraid of death, as well as why they considered there to only be a
single mouse capable of speech.
Like how a person didn't care about haircuts, and like how they only had a single mouth
that spoke.
"Even if we killed this white mouse, they would just produce a new white mouse."
"Affirmative."
That's why even if this mouse was unique, it wasn't the leader.
"That's why I'm certain... certain that killing the mice here is meaningless."
"Affirmative."
If I wanted there to truly be meaning in killing the mice here, I'd have to entirely
exterminate them... However, doing that didn't seem possible.
They weren't foolish. They've almost definitely left a minimum number of themselves at
some other location.
Although I don't know to what extend they are able to do so, they are able to share
memories. They a.n.a.lyzed our strength through this battle. With that, they would build up
their strength so that they are able to win the next time.
"That's all I needed to hear. At the very least, I'll reduce your numbers... so that the day of
your counterattack will be as far away as possible."
I produced a ball of flame and suspended it above the surviving mice.
"You said that you would turn a blind eye."
"Yeah, I did. There are still a number of you out there somewhere, right? I'll be turning a
blind eye to them."
To be accurate, I had no choice in the matter. I didn't know where they were and I had no
way to find however many of the small mice there were out there.
"Oh."
The white mouse muttered. It didn't cry out, nor did it criticize me.
"I see."
Leaving behind something that sounded more ominous than grudging---the mice burned,
leaving behind no traces.
====
"By the way, Shig, there's a few things I want to ask you..."
We'd removed the ice walls that were affixed to the ice house's entrance and were
protecting the injured villagers, and we were currently working on repairing the broken
fences and cleaning up the mouse corpses. I'd been wracking my brains about how we were
going to deal with the damage we'd sustained due to their a.s.sault when I decided to finally
ask the lizardman youth.
"Why did you come to help?"
"Why?---Wait, you're serious?"
Shig responded incredulously.
"I knew that the mice would eventually attack the village, they were just waiting until they
were sure they could win. I've been preparing so that we could fight back... I mean, I even
made sure you knew."
"... Huh?"
"Remember when I had you look into my eyes?"
He was talking about back when he left the village. Sorry. I didn't get what you were doing.
I just looked back since you were looking at me. If I had to put his expression from then into
words, even with his frustration, he didn't seem disappointed or disgusted... to be honest,
he looked trustworthy.
"So you pretended to split away from the village like that because you knew the mice were
eavesdropping, huh... but you thought this many would attack?"
I could understand if it was just him, but he even came with the lizardman, the
lykoscentaur, and the elves. If the mice hadn't been so confident, they wouldn't have gone
so far.
"... They're very similar to me. Small, weak... but unable to stand it."
Gazing into the sky, Shig spoke in self-ridicule.
"They don't think anything about their comrades... But that's the same as lizardmen. The
weak are the ones at fault. That's why you just have to be strong. No one even thinks about
trying to help or save their dying comrades. It was the same for me, too... yeah, was."
It was then that he looked back to me.
"That changed when I met a certain softhearted idiot of a dragon!"
Saying that, he just smiled freely. It was the first time I'd ever seen Shig smile so innocently.
"I'd always known they were listening into our talks. That's why I left; so I could return to
my hometown. I even had a convenient method to get it done, too."
He spread his wings at that. Wings... he had wings.
"Remember when we were talking about how we all had six limbs?"
Did we talk about that? Oh yeah, it was about me, Rin, Luka, and him.
In my previous world, all vertebrates were four-legged. Some, the humanoids, evolved into
their forelimbs being arms, while others' developed into wings, as the birds' had. However,
in this world, evolution diverged into those with four---humans and elves, for example---
and those with six---dragons, lizardmen, and lykoscentaur to name a few.
The merfolk muddled that concept somewhat, but you could take their waist fins as what
their legs turned into.
"Which is why I wondered. What if I could have wings like you, Mentor?"
Saying that, Shig unfurled his wings to display them.
"But how did you get even Beol to come?"
"Oh, that part was simple. I'm stronger. Therefore, he followed what I said. That's just how
the lizardmen sense of values work."
"You won!?"
Yuuki's eyes opened wide in surprise. I knew that Shig was getting much stronger, but I
never thought he'd gotten strong enough to take on and defeat Beol. His four arms were
able to unleash an incredibly powerful and fast stream of blows. Amata would even
probably have a tough time against him in an honest fight.
"It's not like he lost. I mean, none of them use weapons, they don't even throw stones. All I
had to do was fly high enough that he couldn't reach me while I attacked with fire."
Oh.
"You mean like a...?"
"They all kept saying that I was being a coward. That it wasn't true strength even if I won
that way. However, they all went quiet when I asked them what true strength was."
It made sense. To them, the peak of strength was a red dragon. Shig's combat strategy
mimicked that of a red dragon on the hunt.
"After that, I kept tabs on what was happening by keeping in contact with Violet, as well as
using the elves to track what the trends of the mice. I figured that Luka would be heading
back to her home eventually as well, so I figured they would count her out for the village's
strength."
"But what about Utai d---... dying?"
Did the merfolk lie about that to present a fake opportunity for the mice? When I looked to
Rin after coming upon that thought, she shook her head slowly.
"Utai, mm... she---right after you flew off, it, it happened..."
Her brows knit tightly, Rin started shedding tears. She wasn't a child that could act out such
a cruel joke as that.
"She was doing everything to last... to see us..."
"O-Oh..."
Even so, I hoped it was all a joke. It's something I've felt countless times so far, this sense of
loss. Like a cold feeling from something inside you disappearing.
"I think... I think she didn't want you to see her last moments, big brother."
Yuuki mumbled.
"Why?"
"It's just a feeling I get."
Yuuki spoke with her hands clenched firmly together.
Like she was praying for something.
＊＊＊
"Big brother, do you... have a moment?"
It was evening by the time Yuuki came to my house.
Somehow, a part of me had expected her visit. Taking care to not wake Nina, who was
doubtlessly exhausted and was sleeping like a log, I left my house and followed Yuuki.
"Um... well."
We stopped in front plaza outside the ice house. The mouse carca.s.ses that had piled up
were burned in fear of disease, so there were few traces of the tragedy that had happened
earlier that day.
Bathed in moonlight, Yuuki looked up to me.
"I've... I've been thinking about it a lot. What you told me that day, big brother."
I knew exactly what she was talking about, it was impossible for me to forget.
[It would turn out the same, even with you. In less than a century, I would be alone again.]
I still hadn't apologized to Yuuki for the words I spoke.
"I'm sorry, Yuuki, I..."
"No. I'm the one that should apologize."
However, Yuuki lowered her head before I had a chance to.
"I hadn't thought about how you felt, big brother. About what it would feel like to be left..."
I couldn't find it in myself to blame Yuuki for that, though. Anyone, even I, would find
thinking about something like that to be not something so simple.
"He who wears clothes of ice, who drops the autumn leaves, who melts to spring's
sunlight---the spirit of snow and ice, Jack Frost. Please, show yourself to me."
Facing the ice house and reciting her incantation, flakes of white began to fall despite it still
being early autumn. Gathering into a single ma.s.s, it slowly formed into the shape of a
small snowman.
"It's been a while... I suppose?"
"Hoh, hoh, hoh."
Jack Frost hooted an owl-like sound from his crescent mouth when I greeted him.
"Jack Frost. Could you bring it?"
Hearing Yuuki, Jack Frost turned to study her before returning to face me. I could never tell
what he was thinking behind those blank eyes of his.
"Hoh."
However, possibly in consent, Jack Frost temporarily entered the ice house.
"What's inside?"
"A secret handed down through the Swordsaints... I suppose."
Yuuki responded when I asked her. Was there something like that? No one told me though?
After waiting for a while, Jack Frost came back from inside the ice house holding a block of
ice.
"Jack Frost, please."
"Hoh."
"---It's been a long time, Mentor."
Hearing that voice, her voice, I stiffened.
It was as soft as the morning sun, as gentle as spring wind.
Something I would never forget. Ai's voice.
"Ai!?"
"Shh. Keep quiet, big brother."
Yuuki put her finger to her lips and had be quiet down.
"By the time you hear this, I don't think I'll be by your side anymore."
With what Ai said next, I understood everything.
It was a parting message. A trace of her voice frozen with magic.
"If you're hearing this, I suppose it'll have been at least ten years? Maybe a hundred? If not,
I'll be sad."
It's been four hundred and fifty-four, Ai.
Four hundred and fifty-four long years since you pa.s.sed.
"... I lied. To be honest, no matter how long it's been, I'll be sad. Because I'll have left you
alone."
Both her voice and her way of speaking was exactly how I remembered her.
"But I'm sure that even now, Mentor, you'll still listen to my selfishness. Oh, well, if I'm
totally off, please don't listen to anything after this, okay? Please?"
I had no clue know what sort of selfishness Ai was talking about. I don't think she ever said
anything selfish to me. Still though, there's no way I could ever not hear what she wanted to
say.
"Maybe it's Utai? Or perhaps Jergo's grandchildren? Or maybe it's something I don't know
about at all... or maybe..."
Just then, Ai hesitated and stopped talking.
"No, anyone's fine. I'm sure whatever child is next to you loves you very much, Mentor... in
the same way as me."
Those words brought me to look to Yuuki. The girl had been staring at the ice Jack Frost
was holding seriously, but suddenly smiled in embarra.s.sment when she noticed my gaze.
"Please love her back, somehow. Forget about me... actually, if you really do forget, I might
be a bit sad...?"
Dragons' memories were good. Even though nearly five centuries had pa.s.sed, I could
clearly recall each and every one of Ai's expressions. Despite there only being her voice, I
could virtually see an illusion of her standing in front of me.
Una.s.suming, reserved, yet more gleeful than anyone.
"Please, Mentor, be happy. That's all I wish for, all I want."
Ai spoke, looking up to me.
But---
I thought to myself. Her words shouldn't be faked.
But still... is thinking of someone else while still keeping my love for Ai not betrayal? To Ai,
and to Yuuki. Even if she wants me to, that's just what my mind keeps coming back to...
"And if you can, please make whatever child standing by you happy as well, Mentor."
But Ai... my wife, was able to antic.i.p.ate my feelings.
"It's incredibly painful when your feelings don't reach the person you love. Besides---I... I've
already been given more than enough happiness."
With that, the ice melted and disappeared. Jack Frost vanished, his role to an end.
"---I wasn't ready for that."
Yuuki spoke as she continued wiping the tears flooding from her eyes.
"Big sis Ai was always, always thinking about what would happen to you after she was
gone. But I hadn't thought about it at all..."
She then turned and looked straight up at me.
"But I won't lose. Because I love you, big brother. I'll always be by your side. I'll definitely
do what big sis Ai couldn't. Even if you can only see me like a sister or a daughter, that's
fine too."
She looked at me, her gaze resolute.
"So... I'm... I'm going to love you... okay...?"
Her self-confidence immediately crumbling, she spoke as though clinging to a lifeboat.
"... I give up. You win."
Raising my hands, I responded.
Once my heart decided on giving priority to her life over the villagers', this was going to
happen sooner or later.
"If you want me to tell you whether I'm attracted to you as a woman, then I still can't
answer that properly."
You could say that this whole thing extends to Nina as well, but my feeling here weren't
fake. If I was a man capable of controlling his emotions so dexterously as that, I wouldn't
have been suffering so much the past four centuries.
"However, Yuuki. I think... I definitely love you... and want to be with you... and want to
make you happy."
"Big brother!"
At that moment, Yuuki jumped.
"Thank you! I love you!"
The way her voice rose as she rubbed her cheeks on me hadn't changed at all since she was
young.
"Your habit of clinging to people hasn't changed, huh."
While I was happy at this happening for the first time in a while, it made me smile wryly at
her childishness.
".. Ignoring when I was a kid, you're the only one I do this for, you know?"
But Yuuki just tilted her head to the side and answered with her eyes upturned.
Her gaze and the soft pressure of her against me caused my heart to throb.
"Or did you think I did this to other people?"
"No, I didn't, I mean..."
Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever seen Yuuki cling to anyone other than me.
Imagining her do that was... well, it made me feel more unpleasant that I thought it would.
---At this rate, my capitulation might go even faster than expected.
Should I lament my weakness? Or maybe I should fear Yuuki's charm?
I was a bit worried for my future.
31
Yuuki's Oath 永世の誓い
Thoughts become words, words become power, power becomes fate.
"... That being the case, a magic formation's structure can only be comprised of pentagrams,
octagrams, or those in between. However, the situations they cannot be used are another
matter---"
Just as I was continuing to describe the figures on the stone slate, the ringing of bells
sounded.
"Ah, it's already time? Well, try to think of the reason why stars with nine or more points
cannot be used practically before the next cla.s.s period. Alright now, today's lesson is
over."
With that, the children stood and cheered in glee. They all loved to learn, but children
always seemed to feel an exceptional surge of glee from being told they could go outside.
"Big brooooother!"
A small girl hugged me from behind as I went to wipe the board with a wet cloth.
Seeing our hair touch, she smiled in glee. Although her big, glittering red eyes and her
shining face spoke mountains of the beauty she would blossom into in the future, she wore
a sword at her waist and her figure was like a young boy... How should I put it? It's like I'm
getting a huge wave of deja vu.
"Yuuka, do you mind waiting a little longer?"
"I wanna help too!"
"Oh? Here you go, then."
I handed a cloth to the Yuuka---who was spending her time bouncing up and down, her
sword and hair swinging each time---and we wiped the board down together.
"Mentoooor, what're you doing!? It's time!"
As we were doing that, Rin jumped in with her usual rush.
"What? Wait, it's not time yet. The bell just rang a few moments ago, it's still ten. It's
supposed to be at noon."
"But you have to change and there's a ton of other stuff to do! Were you planning on head
out in that?"
I looked down at what I was wearing. It was the same red coat I'd always worn. It
transforms with me, so I haven't really needed to change or wash. It automatically gets
cleaned whenever I take a bath and I never feel hot or cold, either.
... However, saying they're suitable for a day like today might be a bit much. But I seriously
never thought Rin would say something like that. Looks like even Rin is starting to gain
some common sense.
I guess her being a teacher hasn't just been for show. There's been a few trials and
tribulations along the way, but I guess it has been three years since she became a doctor.
"Come on, hurry up!"
My mind was wandering when Rin, bouncing on her waist fins, pushed me from behind.
"You're late."
Just as we finally reached the venue, sure enough, Nina was in a bad mood.
"Sorry. I completely forgot that I needed to change."
"... Whatever. I figured this would happen, now we'll get to see your surprise."
But her expression changed into a mischievous grin.
"Surprise?"
Not answering my question, Nina threw me a bundle of clothes. I doubt she'd tell me even if
I asked.
"Yuuka, do you know anything?"
"Hurry up and change!"
Nina shouted, but Yuuka had simply looked confused and tilted her head to the side. Guess
there's no helping it, huh?
I reluctantly entered a private room with the clothes and got changed. Come to think of it,
what would happen if I transformed with these on? Let's give that a shot next chance I get.
"They don't suit you."
Wondering about something irrelevant as I exited the room, I received a cutting evaluation
by Nina.
"Oh come on, I'm just not used to clothes like these yet."
"I think they're very stylish, Mentor! Also, congratulations!"
Right after I snapped back at Nina half on reflex, a certain half-wolf, half-human girl
congratulated me while silently clapping her hands together.
"Thanks. It's been a while, Luke. How's the school going over there?"
"Oh, there are still only a few students, but it feels like it's picking up recently. Is my
younger sister doing well here?"
"Yeah, Riko's excellent, the spitting image of how you were. If she's here another three
years, she might even be able to become a teacher here as well."
I really wanted Luka to stay as well, but when she said that she wanted to start up a school
for the lykoscentaur in the gra.s.slands, there's no way I could say no to her.
It's exactly because she valued her family so much that I wanted to include her in my cla.s.s,
after all.
"Dropout, I'm heeeeere!"
The door slammed open while I was drifting off into sentimental memories. I didn't need to
look to see who it was, either. There was only one person who called Nina Dropout.
"Why'd she have to get invited..."
"Sorry, but she asked to be allowed to come by any means."
Hearing Nina give an entirely displeased expression, Violet lowered her head and
explained.
"I can probably guess why, but why'd you come?"
"To eat the tasty food!"
Ultramarine declared in her usual self-motivation, she had zero intention to congratulate
me. It was actually rather refreshing.
"Mentor, congratulations. I am truly sorry about my companion."
"Hahaha, don't worry about it."
I smiled, easing Violet, who apologized for Ultramarine's flippancy. Really, I seriously can
never tell if she's joking or if she's just that straightforward.
"By the way... could this girl be your child, Mentor?"
Violet had turned her gaze toward Yuuka.
Well, I suppose her thinking that was reasonable enough, seeing as she didn't know the
circ.u.mstances.
"No, she's Asata's daughter... Amata's second child. Come now, say h.e.l.lo."
"Heya! Yuuka Swordsaint!"
Yuuka raised both arms in the air and introduced herself cheerfully. The more I watched
her, the more she reminded me of Yuuki from when she was young. Well, she was probably
more like Amata, who was entirely similar to Yuuki, to be more accurate. Though I guess I'd
be a bit worried for her future if she grew up to be more like the current Amata, so I guess
it's fine to say she looks like her aunt?
Just then, I heard something crash outside.
"Sorry I'm late!"
"It's alright, Shig."
He'd literally come flying.
"It took longer than I thought, even flying."
Retracting his magically-constructed wings, he gave his excuse.
"Are you saying I'm heavy?"
"Eh? No, um, definitely not."
He grew fl.u.s.tered because of the grinning lizardman woman.
Hmm, so the ever-so-rebellious Shig managed to get this whipped...
"Long time no see, Honoh. Since your wedding, I believe?"
"My husband is in your debt."
Honoh bowed with an elegance unlike a normal lizardman's.
She was Beol's daughter, and Shig's wife. The chieftain had given his daughter to the one
who won the patriarchal position. Although it was somewhat of an arranged marriage,
judging by how they acted toward one another, they didn't seem to be unhappy about it
and actually got along well.
"Still though, it's already been four years... Or maybe I should think that's not too long for
you, Mentor?"
"No, I mean... honestly, I wanted to do it sooner."
That night, Yuuki's aggression after hearing the words Yuuki left behind was something to
behold. Those innocent touches quickly turned into fierce, head-on attacks...
It was to the point of me being pathetic, but I didn't last anywhere near as long as I thought.
I was basically down in one go.
"... Amata wouldn't let me off the hook."
"He wouldn't let you marry her without him losing, I suppose?"
I nodded to Luka, who'd asked the question with a hand covering her mouth in surprise.
"Yeah. Senseless, right?"
"Wait, Amata lost!?"
Meanwhile, Shig's surprise was to something else. He was probably thinking back to his
days as a student where he was easily struck to the ground by him, or when he saw Beol
and Amata face off. It was a sight to behold.
"Yeah, he did---against Yuuki."
"Eh, what?"
"Yuuki was the person he gave the condition to in the first place, not me. If she didn't have
the strength to succeed the Swordsaints, he wouldn't allow her to marry me, seriously. Isn't
it usually the other way around?"
Well, I wouldn't have been able to win if he told me to beat him, even in my dragon form. I
could probably win if I used my breath on him at full strength from out of his range like
Shig did to Beol, but that would end up killing him.
The bell rang after we talked with each other for a while longer. It was noon.
"It's time. Get ready, everyone. Come on, you go over here."
"Huh? But what about the food?"
Urged forward by Nina and ignoring the Ultramarine---who didn't get the purpose of all of
this at all---we reached the hall of a small church. Well, even if I say church, it's not like
we're believing in some G.o.d, so really we're mainly using it for ceremonial occasions.
Just like the first time, Nina acted as the priest.
"The bride is entering."
In a somewhat strained voice, Luka spoke aloud. As her younger siblings sang their
rehea.r.s.ed song in delight, the double doors opened, allowing Amaga to enter with Yuuki.
As an adult, the formerly boyish-looking girl had grown increasingly feminine. However,
unlike her physical growth, her mind was the same as ever. That was until just then, at
least.
With her body clothed in a snow-white outfit covered in flowers and jewels as she slowly
walked down the isle, all I could think was that she was beautiful. For a moment, I'd
seriously wondered where this princess came from.
Seeing me like that, Nina was probably behind me and grinning as ever.
By the time she reached the center of the aisle, I shook hands with Amaga and took Yuuki's
hand before moving back to stand before Nina with her.
"Groom. Be it when you're healthy, sick, happy, or sad, do you swear to cherish, honor,
comfort, and support him to the best of your abilities so long as you both may live?"
"I do."
I responded to Nina, who had managed to give the line both in austerity... as well as a sense
of casualness, however she managed that.
Nina had been presiding over every wedding since the world's first one, not just ours. To be
honest, what this church believes in might just be her at this point.
"Bride. Be it when you're healthy, sick, happy, or sad, do you swear to cherish, honor,
comfort, and support him to the best of your abilities so long as you both may live?"
"I do not."
Eeeh!?
I almost wound up crying out after hearing Yuuki shake her head and say that. What
happened!? Did she change her mind at the last minute?
No way, was this what Nina meant by me being surprised earlier?
When I looked to Nina to confirm, she also looked surprised. What's going on?
"Even once my life ends. I will always, always be by his side."
There was a silence that felt like hours. Although it was truthfully only a moment, Yuuki
followed her statement with that. She would do what Ai was unable to. That's doubtlessly
what she was intending.
To be honest, I still don't believe she will be able to complete her immortality research. It
may be completed someday after a long, long time of putting the effort into researching it,
but I'm meaning more in the range of centuries, not decades.
I've come to the point that the current me is fine with that. Even if we are destined to part
one day, the life we live together will have meaning. I truly believe that.
Even so---even if she is unable to make her promise reality, her declaration of it alone was
enough to bring me joy.
"Now, exchange your rings."
That was a new custom. Yuuki handed her bouquet to Violet, while Shig pa.s.sed a scarlite
ring to Nina, who then handed it to me. With that, I took the hand of the woman who would
become my wife and placed it onto her finger. Following that, Yuuki did the same by placing
a ring onto my left hand's ring finger.
"... Seal your vows with a kiss."
Turning up Yuuki's veil, I saw her bright red eyes staring straight back at me.
Her eyes were no different from when she was a child. I'd been watching over her for a long
time, stretching all the way back to her birth. No, not just Yuuki, but her dad, mother, and
her father's father. Those red eyes have always been by my side, together for the past five
hundred years.
And I'm certain that will continue from here on, too. She swore as much to me.
Suddenly, I found my neck grabbed at pulled on. Her soft lips pressed mine, mine pressing
against hers.
"Did you fall for me?"
Yuuki laughed, a mischievous smile playing at her lips.
"Here, I declare that a new couple has been born."
Following Nina's declaration was a thunderous applause and petals pouring down on us
from all directions. Was that from Violet's magic? Looking up, there was a brier of thorns
with blooming flowers covering the ceiling.
"Husband."
Yuuki called out to me to regain my attention that had been stolen by the falling flowers. I
nodded, embracing my wife in what was effectively a princess carry, and walked slowly
down the aisle as everyone bathed us in their blessings.
Outside of the church stood hundreds of the villagers that hadn't been able to fit in the now
seemingly too-small church.
Adults, children, teenagers, even the elderly---not one of them were a stranger. Everyone
had been born in and grew up in this village, each and every one a student I'd taught magic
to.
Yuuki threw her bouquet out toward them. It went over the heads of the gathered guests,
rising further toward the church's roof, then beyond into the sky.
... Did she throw it with her full strength!?
How did she find the strength to throw it that forcefully from her position in my arms like
that? However, just as I started to think that no one would be able to catch it... a figure
caught it.
With her large waist fins spread out like wings, I saw a merfolk soaring through the sky as
if swimming through water.
"Looks like it'll be Rin's turn next."
"... Huh?"
Seeing Yuuki giggle, I inclined my head. It was true that she was still young as far as merfolk
went, but more than anything I just couldn't picture Rin marrying anyone. I'd actually
started thinking she might stick by Shig, but he wound up marrying pretty quickly.
"Mentor, husband... big brother. Yep. I guess big brother just fits."
Yuuki called out to me, almost as if to confirm some emotion. I'd thought that she would
call me by name now that we've become a couple, but honestly speaking, I couldn't deny
that her calling me that just felt right.
"Big brother, I'm definitely, definitely, definitely going to make you happy."
Yuuki's face was dyed pink as she spoke.
---And so she would.
"You always have."
It wasn't much, but it was the best response I could give.
32
A Story 継承
I don't like Mentor.
Indecisive, cowardly, weak, pathetic. I hate all that about Mentor.
[You shouldn't say stuff like that.]
Ignoring the voice saying that in the back of my mind, I swung my sword as I did every day.
I feel like I can forget everything and anything whenever I do this.
"Man, you're working hard huh, Asaka."
Even so, as soon as I heard that annoying voice, my chest felt weird.
"Not really. I'm a Swordsaint, this is normal."
Not bothering to look back at him, I gave him a curt response.
"Even so, there's no driving reason for you do be this hard working, right?"
I didn't answer his gentle words.
"Hey, Asaka."
Mentor didn't seem to mind me ignoring him at all as he continued talking to me.
"I've been thinking about going to see my wife. Would you like to come with me?"
No.
"Sure."
Even though that's what I thought, my mouth answered on its own.
"Thank you."
Mentor smiled, almost like he knew I was going to answer like that.
There were two stones next to each other in the place we went to.
Standing between them, Mentor put his hands together. I watched on in silence.
Because... they were just rocks. No one was here.
Even if you put your hands together, even if you keep them clean, it won't make anyone
happy.
[Eh? I'm happy though?]
I heard a voice in my mind just as I thought that, causing me to grab onto his clothes.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Ignoring Mentor as he tilted his head, I cleaned the tombstones.
I say that, but it would've been clean and shiny even without me doing so.
Be it windy days or rainy days, the dragon next to me would use his free time to keep them
clean.
"Thank you, Asaka."
"... I didn't do anything."
Feeling frustrated for some reason, I carefully cleaned the tombstone in front of me. When I
stole a glance at Mentor, I saw him smiling softly as he worked to polish big sis Ai's
tombstone next to me.
"... Mentor."
"Hm?"
Again, even though I didn't intend to say anything, my mouth spoke on its own. It shouldn't
have been at a volume that someone could hear, but this sharp-eared dragon heard me as if
I'd spoken right into his ear.
"... It's fine. She pa.s.sed away, in the end."
"Hmm. Well, I wouldn't say it's fine."
When he heard me reluctantly say that, his face took on a complicated expression, like a
mix between troubled and loving.
"I'm sad, sure... but well, I don't regret it."
"... Mm."
Only giving a vague response, I sighed. I don't know how I felt... Angry? Sad? Or maybe
something else? Even I didn't understand it.
"Besides, I just... well, I get the feeling that she's still here by my side."
"You believe in her promise?"
When I said that, Mentor looked a bit surprised.
"You know about it?"
"... I heard it from her."
"Oh. You and Yuuki were good friends, after all."
I nodded. Aunt Yuuki was my great aunt, grandpa Amata's daughter. We used to play a lot
when I was young and I used to love listening to her tell me stories back then.
The elf, calm and dependable like a mother.
The lykoscentaur, gentle yet scary when angry like an older sister.
The lizardman, mischievous like a younger brother and the merfolk, energetic like a
younger sister.
And her beloved dragon.
Aunt Yuuki would tell me her stories of love and adventure through life, she was so good at
it that I felt like I was there experiencing it myself.
At some point, she got so good that I could even experience the colors, sounds, and flavors
of it all.
"I heard all of it. Including all of your failings and downsides, all of it."
"Haha, that's a bit scary."
Probably thinking I was over exaggerating, Mentor smiled. I wasn't kidding, though.
I have all of aunt Yuuki's memories in my head. Even including everything she didn't tell
me, all of it. I'm sure it's the final magic she'd left behind.
---Which is why.
Every time I see Mentor's smile, my chest tightens in pain. Each time he talks to me, my
heart throbs helplessly. Hers probably did, too.
I hate Mentor. Yeah, that's what I tell myself.
"... She truly loved you, Mentor."
"Yeah. I know."
Seeing Mentor nod as he always did, my heart thumped yet again. I can't stand it. I don't
have the resolve she did.
But I knew that, of course. She'd said it was like that for her at first, too. How she tried to
stay away, to avoid him.
---As well as how she wasn't be able to not love him.
I'm sure there exists a story that is mine alone.
It might intersect with hers, it might follow an entirely separate path.
But right now, I hate Mentor for this pain.
Even while understanding that it's probably a vain resistance.
[I'm sorry.]
It was faint, but I heard a voice in my mind. It was just an illusion I made.
She died five years ago, after all.
[Thank you.]
It was just my imagination figuring she'd say that.
... But I'm sure I would tell the story.
To my own children, to my grandchildren, to my nieces, to my nephews. I would definitely
tell them.
And they would do the same.
Because it was a very, very important promise.
She promised that she would stay by his side forever.
The story of a girl who lived a short life.
Of the memories buried within my chest.
Of the Swordsaint Existence Chronicle.
Parting With Science 科学との決別
Science is the the theory that everything follows a set of rules, that everything is
determined by those rules.
This era has proven that theory false.
The familiar sounds of a hammer beating echoed about.
"Hmm... maybe it's a bit big?"
Looking at the splice protruding from the timber I was scrutinizing, I shaved it down a little
with my file. I was working the timber's ends so that one would fit into the other, creating a
mortise and tenon joint. Given what I was going to use it for, I really didn't want to use nails
unless I had to.
"Did you do it?"
"Yeah, with this, we should be done..."
I just needed to insert this protruding shaft---the tenon---into the circular mortise on the
other piece of wood, so I nodded to Nina, who was watching me work.
"Took you a long enough, huh."
Looking at how the sun had already pa.s.sed its zenith in the sky through the trees above,
Nina yawned.
"I did say you didn't need to stay and watch."
She just ignored my response.
She probably thought I'd hurt myself if she hadn't stayed to keep watch.
I wasn't exactly in a position where I could reject either, not after hitting my fingers with
the hammer twice already.
"Now I just need to..."
Returning to my dragon form to lift the wood, I inserted it into the small hole I'd drilled into
the cabin's wall. Long story short, I built a water mill.
It's been few centuries since we first started Scarlet's farming culture. Although it's a good
thing that we've been able to stabilize our harvest volume, eating wheat as-is is somewhat
difficult. We've been grinding it down into flour to produce bread and the like, but the
milling work has been tough.
We use stone mortars to grind it up, but we gate around a kilogram at most from an hour's
work. Considering how we could harvest thousands and thousands of kilograms in any
given year, our present situation had gotten to the point where we just didn't have enough
spare man-hours for it.
Which brings me to the water mill. Using water to turn the wheel and a cogwheel to change
the direction it spins, it all drives the millstone. From my understanding, things that change
the world's natural motion into something else are referred to as prime movers, and if
memory serves me correct, the oldest prime mover is the water mill.
Now that we have this, we should be able to drastically reduce the manpower we have
allocated to processing our wheat into flour by simply putting it into the mortar to be
ground.
The first thing I did was get a water wheel of the perfect size and install it. It took the
water's moving and began to spin... and then stop.
"Huh?"
"Didn't I tell you it wouldn't work?"
"That's strange..."
I checked the water wheel while putting up with Nina's chilly gaze, but the water
was. .h.i.tting the wheel's wings properly.
It spun easily when I pushed on it thinking it might have just gotten caught somewhere, but
it quickly stopped as soon as I took my hand away. It seemed... well, wrong.
"It worked perfectly when I tried it with that miniature model though..."
"Isn't it just too heavy?"
Looking at me with questioning eyes, Nina poked the water mill. It then suddenly began to
rotate at a blistering speed.
"Wh-What the...!?"
Startled, Nina sprung back. Just as she did so, the water's surface began to foam up.
"I'm baaaaack~!"
What appeared from inside the ca.n.a.l was a youthful merfolk girl, her lower half that of a
fish's. Her blue hair was slick from the water she swam through with graceful ease using
her arms and dress-like waist fins. Her large, green eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with curiosity,
the youthful gleam I recall them having somewhat replaced with a deeper, maturity.
"Rin! It's been so long!"
The merfolk girl was my former pupil and had worked as a teacher herself---Rin.
I suppose it had already been over thirty years since she set out from the village?
Although her race usually lived in the ocean, she was filled with such an expansive
wanderl.u.s.t that she came to the land, so her being unable to stand staying in such a small
village and wanting to set out to explore was natural.
"Yep, long time no see!"
Swinging her arms around Nina and I, she gave us one great tug.
"Eh---hold up....!"
With basically no chance for us to resist, she pulled us into the water.
"... Good grief, you're still the same as ever, I see."
Nina spoke with slight dissatisfaction as she squeezed out her clothes, but I could tell she
was happy.
Her expression was gentle.
"Ahahaha, sorry, sorry!"
She'd matured outwardly, but Rin was still the same old Rin.
For those of us with long lifespans living among humans and having to deal with their
pa.s.sing, her mostly unchanged appearance after the past fifty years was a very pleasant
matter.
"Still though, the water wheel was acting up because of you huh? I knew it was acting a bit
off."
"Water wheel?"
Hearing me, Rin tilted her head to the size in puzzlement.
"The wooden circle I added to the cabin a bit ago. You stopped it, right?"
"Nope, I didn't do anything!"
Still confused, Rin answered. She was mischievous, sure, but she wasn't the kind of person
to lie. She was most likely telling the truth.
"Then what caused it...?"
I looked over the water wheel again. It was still acting weirdly, sometimes moving,
sometimes not. I guess I got something wrong with my amateur craftsmanship skills after
all?
"What's it do, Mentor?"
"Oh, well, it's supposed to get rotated by the water pushing on it... at least, that's what
should be happening."
Now that I think about it, aren't I looking at a water expert right here?
"Rin, do you have any clue why it's not working right?"
"Mmmm, nope!"
But she just shook her head. Guess that was a bust, huh.
Shig usually was better than Rin when it came to structured things...
"Why would the wheel spin by being in water?"
Just as I thought that, it turned out she didn't even get the fundamental part.
"See how the water's flowing through the ca.n.a.l? As the water rushes against the blades in
the wheel, it should turn."
"Why?"
How nostalgic, Rin's constant [Why?] questions.
She wasn't bound by what some would think of as common sense or other preconceptions.
It felt like I heard her ask things like this every day back when she was in our cla.s.sroom.
"Wouldn't the water just avoid it?"
"No, because water doesn't have a will---..."
Responding in the negative out of reflex, I had to force myself to stop.
"It does though?"
Rin responded while I was busy having my mind blown yet again.
"Will is like---I want to do this thing---right? It has that. Same with rocks and wind. Like all
of us."
The girl spoke in conviction. Hearing how it didn't sound like a simple, primitive faith, but
something backed by a set of observations, I was shocked. If I a.s.sume what she said is
true...
Then that means---this world isn't based on science.
I was a human who devoted his entire life to researching the occult. Therefore, I'm not too
knowledgeable when it comes to science and technology. But still, even if I am ignorant of
technology, I know a lot about what science itself is.
For example, if I wanted to know what was a mystery, what wasn't yet known, I needed to
know how science worked and what the human race already collectively knew.
And the most important thing for science is reproducibility.
The same thing should be able to be reproduced upon recreating the same initial
conditions. That is reproducibility.
Be it engineering or chemistry, everything was based on reproducibility.
It is also why questions about what someone else is thinking about another at a particular
moment isn't something science could solve. Even if you somehow managed to recreate the
same situation, the issue is that the person's inner thoughts would be different.
You could collect a large set of sample data and statistically derive a probability, but that
was the limit of what was possible. To put it another way, science could not surmise a
person's mind.
Which is the reason that, if I a.s.sume Rin's words to be true, this is crazy.
Is water, wind, soil---if everything, not just living creatures, has its own will and that
everything has freedom of choice, reproducibility is impossible in this world.
Even if you arrange the environment to be the exact same, what the water feels at that
moment---like if it's in the mood to turn the water will---could be different. For example, it
might just turn the water wheel suddenly while someone's looking at it to give them a
surprise, but then stop as soon as they look away.
It was a hard story for me to swallow. If it was true, let alone science, this world itself
seems impossible.
"See?"
Even so, when Rin temporarily dammed up the ca.n.a.l and used a bucket to put water into
the empty grooves, it spun normally. Thinking about it for a moment, I noticed that it was
the same way I'd tested my miniature model. I took the bucket to try it out again myself.
"But why is it working like this then...?"
A human's physical strength stood no chance to water, be it in force or volume. Thinking
about it scientifically, water drawn from a river should have easily been able to spin it. But
in actuality, the exact opposite was happening.
"Because, Mentor, you're thinking about turning the wheel when you pour the water onto it
right?"
"Well, yeah."
Seeing my entirely stumped, Rin took the bucket again and poured more water into the
grooves.
"Don't spin the wheel thing~"
Just as she said that, the water wheel stopped.
"But that's magic though?"
"Yeah, so?"
Rin was a merfolk, a race that excelled at magic that manipulated water. She was able to
manipulate it so much without much of an incantation...
At that, I thought of a possibility.
"Wait. Could it be?"
In the past, I'd once given magical incantations a certain definition.
That you used words with meaning to carry your intention as an intermediary for your
design.
That in itself wasn't wrong.
However, perhaps it carried more of that intention---that will---than I thought?
I'd used the bucket to pour water into the water wheel with the intent and purpose of it
making the wheel spin.
So if that's why the wheel turned... well, Rin was saying that itself was also magic.
And that's not all it meant.
Using my arms to lift the bucket.
Using my legs to walk on the ground.
Eating food, breathing, even living.
It meant that any and all of those actions I do so casually, everything I---no.
That everything this world was... was magic.
One Opportunity 契機
It was just a nonchalant comment,
but it had changed fate.
"Cheers!"
We clanged our cups together, a high-pitched metal sound ringing out.
"Man, Rin, you're old enough to drink alcohol too huh."
"I've been for a long time now though? I'm not a kid anymore, Mentor!"
"What're you talking about, you're not even a hundred yet."
Seeing Rin hold her drink in both hands and sip it bit by bit, Nina made a quip.
Come to think of it, Nina's uhhh, what, seven hundred and thirty-four this year? That's still
considered pretty young as far as elves go, so I guess Rin would still just seem like a child to
her.
"How have your travels gone?"
"Stupidly fun! There's so many kinds of people out there."
Saying that, Rin rustled around in her bag---a leather satchel I gave her as a parting gift
when she started her journey.
It was something I made to not get in the way or wear down even underwater, but I was
still pleasantly surprised to see her still using it.
"I got this stone from a huuuuuge person! And this flower from from a reeeeeally tiny
person, then there's this bone I got from a person that---that looked like a fat Luka! And this
stone I....! Huh? Who'd I get it from again? Eh, whatever! There were also other people I
didn't get anything from but one was suuuper dark and this other person even had wings
like a bird!"
Arranging a number of mementos on the table, Rin spoke about her surprisingly imprecise
memories.
"Wait, you went far enough to meet the giants and the shades?"
Her gaze sharpening, Nina stared straight at Rin. Both of them were warlike and tended to
look down on the weak. I couldn't say that they were particularly hostile, but they
definitely weren't friendly races.
"Hmmm....? I dunno. They told me who they were, but I forgot. Oh, and I went to visit Shig a
few times, Luka and Violet too!"
Rin tilted her head to the side, though she still wasn't drunk. She'd probably just forgotten.
She's been forgetful for as long as I known her...
"But none of them really has the secure feeling you get here..."
"Right?"
Hearing Rin's newest statement, Nina nodded in pride for some reason. Well, I guess there
was a good reason, huh.
No one's lived in this village longer than her, nor has anyone worked harder than her. Her
being proud of it was natural. Honestly, for me, I feel like I've cheated somehow by using
my previous life's knowledge.
"Well, it might get difficult here going forward though."
"Because of that thing you made earlier failed?"
I nodded in response to Nina.
Water wheels were effectively the most basic prime movers in the world. And it wasn't an
exaggeration to say that modern j.a.pan's... no, that all of Earth's modern industry was
supported by prime movers.
Power generated relying on thermal, water, and even nuclear power all relied on prime
movers.
Machines converted one kind of energy into another, and with their help, mankind was able
to save an astounding volume of labor and automized its production, allowing for huge
population booms.
Although this world did have magic, it was, in the end, something that a person would have
to cast each and every time, not allowing for much automation.
"I don't really get it, but the problem's that it's not moving?"
"To be frank, the issue of why it's not moving in the first place is troubling."
Hearing me say that, Nina and Rin both looked at me quizzically.
Well, it was probably a difficult concept. Either way, there's a good chance that me thinking
water wheels should move when water pushes against them is what's wrong.
But if that's how it is, developing the village with what I know from my previous life is
going to be difficult.
Though I suspected my knowledge was going to stop being up much help soon enough
either way.
I was no engineer, however, nor was I a historian. Even so, I did at least know of the more
simple and widespread concepts. I'd been able to produce metallic implements, so I
supposed the current village's level of civilization exceeded the stone age and was
somewhere in the ancient era. There were still a good number of things we lacked to be
considered part of the medieval era.
I'd been making do one way or another by supplementing areas we lacked with magic, but
I'd started feeling like we were approaching an era that would mark an end to my
knowledge alone being able to be of much help.
I could fumble my way through creating that water mill or things about as complex as a cart
by thinking back to what I'd seen, but I had absolutely no clue how more intricate
machines. I knew the rough gist of how engines worked through a conceptual picture I saw
as a child, but I didn't know the specific mechanisms that drove it at all. As for computers
and the other everyday wonders of modern life... well, I couldn't even begin to figure those
out.
With all that said, this might actually be an opportunity.
"I've been thinking about this for a while..."
"Something that won't be a failure, right?"
Nina spoke in jest.
"Yeah. I'm thinking about building a new school."
"Figures."
Judging by how Nina nodded in response, I guess she expected me to say something like
that.
"You always find new ways to dump more work on my plate every time you scrunch your
face up like that."
"Sorry for that."
Nina had grimaced in resignation. She always went along with my requests even while
saying stuff like that, she was such a good pal.
"What about our old school?"
"We'll keep it of course."
Seeing Rin look uneasy, I rea.s.sured her.
"We'll... right, let's call it an elementary school to distinguish it. A place where children
learn the basic essentials and things they'll need in life. In other words, it'll be a school that
teaches what we already know. But I want more, something more advanced.... a school that
studies things no one knows. I want to build an academy."
"Things... no one knows..."
Her cheeks slightly red from sipping on her drink, Rin chewed on my words.
With its agricultural and pastoral endeavors stabilized, Scarlet's food stores had increased
considerably. I mean, if we don't figure out how to make the water mill work, soon enough
we won't be able to thresh and mill it all in time.
That being the case, we've finally arrived at the point where the village can support those
who focus solely on knowledge, who wouldn't work the fields or produce daily necessities.
It had already been a few centuries since I myself had to go out to hunt. With that, the
groundwork had already been laid for the villagers of Scarlet to accept people like that.
"Sooooo... you're saying we're going to be doing stuff like back when Rin and the others
were kids?"
Patting Rin on the head, Nina spoke with her lips up against her cup.
"I guess you could say that."
We'd done that to teach students of other races in order to become teachers, but it's true,
that wasn't all we did back then. It felt like we were overcoming some challenge and
learning something new almost every week. We were trying to figure out how to farm and
raise animals back then, after all.
Trying to discover not yet known skills was different for me since what I was doing was
trying I was trying to reproduce things I'd already known about, but it was the same for
Nina and the others, who'd not known about them from the start.
"Mentor, I wanna try! It sounds fun!"
Rin's eyes brightened straight away.
Of course, that was a wish come true for me. With her incredibly flexible, creative way of
thinking, was something many researchers would be envious of.
"Thank you. Yes, please... Just, there's a few things we'll have to prepare before we make
the school."
"Like another school building. And we'll have to find a teacher."
Imbibing deeply from her cup, Nina laid out the two most important things. How
unexpectedly professional of her.
"Those for sure, but---"
However, what I was about to say was something else entirely.
"We'll need to make paper."
Recommended Series Recent Posts Recent Posts
Traps 罠
Traps hold two key concepts.
The first is to strike quickly. The second,
lower their guard until it happens.
---Soff the Trap Master
Paper.
It could be called the origin of mankind's wisdom.
There were other animals with their own languages. It was well known that some species
of birds and mammals could communicate vocally, some apes could even speak to humans
in sign language.
Humans were not the only animals capable of making use of tools. Chimpanzees could use
twigs to fish out termites and crows were seen using stones to break particularly hard nuts
open.
However, when it came to leaving behind concepts on a physical medium that could persist
through time and s.p.a.ce, only humans had managed to achieve that.
The knowledge of paper spread explosively, working to greatly advance human civilization.
Humans were able to doc.u.ment their experiences, leaving them behind for future
generations.
---In other words, they recorded history.
In that meaning, this word was still prehistoric. Although it did have characters and words,
mediums to render the text on were scarce... well, there were tons of creatures that could
live effectively forever---me included---so perhaps it couldn't be called a true prehistoric
era.
The main writing medium used in Scarlet were thin wooden planks and papyrus.
Well, it wasn't true papyrus, since we didn't have the same plant that was used back in
Ancient Egypt. It was merely something I based on my faint recollections of it and was just
a paper-like thing I was able to make from plant I didn't know the name of.
The planks were really easy to write on, but they were overly bulky.
And while papyrus was the opposite in terms of how light and easy to handle it was, it was
also conversely just as poor in its durability.
They'd end up tearing as soon as you tried bending them, so they generally wouldn't even
last a decade even if you tried to preserve them. Their brittleness kept me from putting
them together into booklets. The pages would just break apart, after all.
Most importantly, it simply took too long to produce. We had to cut the plant's reeds as
thinly as possible, submerge it in water for several days, carefully arrange the resulting
strands one by one, then finally place a heavy weight over it all and let it dehydrate. All in
all, it took somewhere in the range of one and two weeks.
That said, that might change if we start some more sophisticated research by establishing a
university. Even with my improved mental facilities as a dragon, it was simply impossible
to memorize all of what we knew, so we'd be making a university to leverage the power of
researchers other than myself.
We needed a medium that wasn't bulky, durable, and ma.s.s-producible.
"Rin, it went that way!"
"Kay, I got it!"
Which is why Rin and I were out hunting.
Nimbly taking a leather pouch out of her bag, Rin used her fingers to flick off its cover and
open it.
Immediately after, a stream of water poured from its opening like a snake and captured the
escaping cow.
Well, it wasn't exactly a cow. It was a huge creature with three sharp horns---like spears,
really.
I'd never actually seen a triceratops in the flesh, but I felt it looked more like one of those
than a cow.
Given how strong and ferocious it appeared to be, it being captured by her water rope and
swaying back and forth midair was a strange sight.
"Thanks Rin!"
Still in my dragon form, I resolutely snapped the immobile tri-horned cow's neck.
Following the dull sound of its neck breaking, the tri-horned cow died. It had been a long
time since I last went out hunting, but it appeared that my intuition hadn't dulled.
"It'd be great if we can use this one."
"Yep. It's older, so maybe its hide will be soft and pliable enough?"
Our goal wasn't its meat, but its hide. I was wanting to give making parchment a go.
Parchment wasn't only ever made from sheep. Although its hide was generally the most
suitable, it was also made from cow, pig, and deer hide.
Paper made from animal hides took longer to produce as well as a lot more effort, not to
mention how it was harder to use than the paper modern humans had grown used to. That
said, it lasted an overwhelmingly long time. There were several examples of it lasting over a
millennia. Paper produced from a plant base could never match up to that.
To say why I was so familiar with this stuff, well, I'd actually made some in my previous life.
What did I use them for? For magic talismans, of course.
Talismans might be a bit too grandiose of a term, I suppose they were closer to good luck
charms. Well, that was just me looking into various trivial things as I tried to find an
example of magic back then. Making talismans with parchment was no exception.
I'd gone and bought a lamb, dismantled the corpse, removed its hair, and dried it all under
the supervision of an artisan. Thanks to that, it came out nicely.
The problem was the materials. I tried to use the hides of the six-legged goats we'd
domesticated at the village, but although they appeared to be white due to the color of their
pelts, their skin was jet black.
After that failure, I tried it with another animal---the large horned deer. Its skin was a very
deep blue. All of the other animals we'd looked at had vibrant skin, not one anything close
to a light brown, let alone white. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't see the
outcomes as being suitable for writing on. Due to that, I was flying around with Rin trying
to find animals with white hides.
"... This one's a failure, too. It has a pure amber color."
After carefully shearing off the tri-horned cow's fur with my claws, I let out a deep sigh
upon seeing the vibrant colored skin that laid beneath. I thought it'd at least be usable since
its skin seemed thin, but its skin was close to a deep orange, like a mandarin orange.
"Next is.... in that valley, I think? Umm, I think I saw some six-legged animal there."
"Alright, let's give it a go."
I wasn't able to use the tri-horned cow for its hide, but I didn't want to abandon the corpse,
so I put it on my back before unfurling my wings and taking off.
Rin did the same, spreading her waist fins out to fly in the sky. Once fully expanded, they
practically didn't move at all as she used he tail fin to virtually swim through the air.
Deers, goats, rabbits, boars, as well as various other sorts of animals. Although we'd tried
all of the animals nearby that I knew of, none of them had white hide usable for parchment.
None of them had too extreme of a fur color, but their hides were all immediately visible as
vibrant once defurred.
Since there were many species I hadn't seen yet, I just had to go and try them as well.
Fortunately, since Rin had travelled all around for decades, she knew of a ton of flora and
fauna I'd never seen.
"Oh, there! That one!"
"I see, it does have six legs, but..."
The downside was that it played havoc on my emotions. Seeing the beast Rin pointed out,
all I could do was grumble.
The animal's face was like a mix between a cat's and a dog's with two upper halves starting
at the waist. It had two hind legs with four forelegs---two for each head, of course. It was
like a creature straight out of Greek mythology, an orthrus.
It was true that it had six legs and all, but it was just too unexpected. I also held no doubt
that it was just as ferocious as the tri-horned cow from before.
It also had a huge body, large enough that it could even probably eat Rin in two bites. Err, it
had two mouths... so maybe in one bite?
"Can you stop it with water like you did earlier?"
"Hmmm, probably not?"
Going in circles in the sky, Rin and I set up a plan.
It'd be simple if all we had to do was take it down, but doing it in a way that left its hide
intact was somewhat more troubling. We had to take them down without damaging the
hide as much as possible, after all.
Upon seeing my current form, most animals would run away. It was the same even for
these beasts. That said, there's a definite chance---although small---that something could go
wrong, so I wasn't in my human form. I couldn't just use Rin as a decoy either, though.
Capturing escaping animals without damaging them was many times more difficult than
simply killing them.
"... Alright. Guess we're doing this manually then. Make sure you run if things get
dangerous."
"Yep, leave it to me!"
Although I felt a slight uneasiness at seeing Rin answer so enthusiastically, she had
managed to go through such a wonderful journey on her own. With me convincing myself it
would be alright, we headed to reach our mutual positions.
[Ready~]
A few moments later, Rin's elated voice sounded in my ears. This sort of communication
was incredibly useful during times like this.
[Ok. Here I go.]
I folded my wings and nose dived, landing directly in front of the two-headed beast---
maybe I would just call go with calling it an orthrus?
The beast reacted swiftly. Not even trying to threaten me, the orthrus immediately turned
tail and ran. The ravine we were in was enclosed on the left and right by the ravine's walls.
The only direction it could run was directly to where Rin was waiting.
"Now!"
Immediately following my shout, Rin placed her palms onto the ground. Lines of light
sprung from her and travelled across the ground to connect to a magic formation that was
prepared beforehand. Just as it did so, the surrounding ground rose to become a wall,
confining the orthrus.
"Got it!"
"Rin, behind you!"
I shouted a warning to Rin, who'd let her guard down in delight. There were two orthrus.
The second one had snuck up behind Rin and tried to launch an attack on her. Even if I flew
toward her at that point, I wouldn't have made it. Its four forelegs, each with two sharp
claws, approached her body.
"My scale, become armor!"
I cried out as quickly as I could. The scale I'd attached to her hair enlarged, spreading out to
encompa.s.s her body like a coat of armor. Seeing the orthrus' claws play off the red armor,
I took my chance to soar toward it at full speed as I roared.
"GUOOOOOOOH!"
The moment the orthrus froze as it was. .h.i.t by my roar, my claws tore through its necks.
Even if it was a huge beast for Rin, it was nothing but a small animal to me.
Both its heads soared through the air in parallel arcs, hitting the walls of the valley and
splatting like tomatoes.
"Rin, are you alright!?"
"Y-Yeah..."
Seeing that Rin was safe and sound inside the armor that appeared from my scale, I
breathed out a sigh of relief. I'd been mostly in my human form these days, so a small spout
of flame leaked from my throat as I did so.
"Sorry I didn't notice it sooner. That gave me a scare."
It was a spur of the moment thing, but that was the first time I'd tried to transform
something not attached to me. I felt truly happy it worked out.
"Mentor, you really are a dragon, aren't you."
"Eh, you're just now realizing that!?"
Hearing Rin say that with such a feeling of admiration actually shocked me.
Well, I guess even I don't think of myself as a dragon...
I killed the orthrus we'd captured in the magic formation and put it on my back.
The two orthrus being there together may have not been by chance, they were probably
watching out for one another.
Like one would hunt while the other kept watch.
The lines that had come from Rin's palms and stretched to the magical formation were
what she called magic conduits.
Well, they couldn't do anything in particular on their own, but when linked to a magic
formation, you could use magic to activate the magic formation from afar.
We were able to use them to make impromptu traps, but I never thought they'd fall for it so
easily.
"Let's go home for today."
"Yeah... getting surprised like that tired me out, can I ride you on the way back Mentor?"
"Yeah, go for it."
I stretched my head down, letting Rin onto my head, and flapped my wings and headed
back to Scarlet.
Rin was always lively and never felt afraid of anything, but I guess even she could feel how
close to dying she'd been.
---Moreover, the orthrus' skin color was bright red, like a burning flame.
An Unexpected Attack 予期せぬ一撃
Big is good.
---Rin's Diary, Page 1, Line 2
"Fire."
If it were the me of before, even this short incantation would have caused such a large fire
to come forth that it would be able to engulf a house. I had needed a second verse to shrink
it down to be palm-sized.
However, the flames I produced from the book I held up were just large enough to cover
the damp clay mounds, quickly turning them into bricks.
"... Yeah. It really is more convenient this way."
What I'd scrawled onto the book's page was a beautiful circle with a seven-pointed star---a
magic formation. While limiting its power in accordance with the size of the book, it also
ended its effect quickly afterward, acting as a sort of limiter for me.
With various magic formations drawn on the book's pages, I could use them depending on
what I needed. It was much more simple than having to draw a magic formation each and
every time I needed something, as expected.
"Good, it worked!"
I flipped through the book to a certain five-pointed star magic formation.
"Fall slowly!"
Although I was proficient with flight magic and didn't have to go out of my way to use a
magic formation, I wanted to test out how effective it was. The magic formation shined and
I could feel a floating sensation all around my body, so I jumped down from the roof I was
on.
"... Uwaah!?"
Just then, my body began to drop at a rate no different from usual... so I may have let out a
scream. Just before I hit the ground, my landing was suddenly softened by some soft
underbrush appearing.
"... And you're doing what, exactly?"
Nina was looking down at me as I popped up out of the leaves.
"Uh, sorry. It didn't slow me down as much as I'd thought. Thanks."
The magic formation was probably too small. I bet I'd need a circle large enough for my
entire body to fit inside for it to support me fully. It's great that you can antic.i.p.ate the
effectiveness of a magic formation to stay the same each time you use it, but you have to
test it out the first time to know just how effective it is.
"Did you did it, Mentor!?"
Likely hearing my fall, the students---Rin included---came to me with wide eyes.
What I'd created was a three-story residence out of white bricks meant entirely for
learning.
The ground floor was equipped with a kitchen and dining room, as well as rooms lined up
for the students.
The second floor held the rooms to be used as cla.s.srooms and laboratories. The third floor
held the staff room and a library... We still didn't have many books to provide, though.
"It's so big, big brother!"
Looking up at the building was a red-haired youth letting out a sigh of admiration, a
Swordsaint. Swordsaint Yutakada.
Ataka's son, Asaka's grandson... From Yuuki's point of view, he would be her niece's
grandchild.
He was fifteen as of this year. He was still a bit short and was generally calm despite his
mischevious-looking appearance.
"Aaactually, Mentor, isn't it too big?"
Next to him stood Aqua, an elf whose expression made her seem somewhat slow. She was
Violet's junior and, althoough still young, was a guardian of the forest. As her name implied,
she was a stunningly beautiful girl whose eyes matched the aqucolored flower in her hair.
Her behavior and speech pattern, however, seemed to strive to be out of place with her
looks.
As she pointed out, even considering three-story school buildings, this one much much
larger than the ordinary.
"M-Me-Mentor, c-could it b-be, you---"
Lufelle spoke in a stuttering voice.
If I only spoke of how she appeared, I'd say she was an adorable girl of around ten years.
Her height, however, was around five meters. She came here as an exchange student, a
child of the giant race.
"He obviously did it for you! And don't go crying at every little thing!"
The one to raise her voice as loud as she could was Tia.
Starkly contrasting Lufelle, she appeared to be a woman in her twenties. Along with the
insectoid wings on her back, her body was so small that she could stand on someone's
palm. Contrary to her size, she was strong-willed and often wound up shouting at Lufelle.
These five---again, Rin included---would be comrades attending this college from here on.
"Yep. It wasn't just for Lufelle's sake though, of course. My true form is quite big as well."
Lufelle had only been able to partic.i.p.ate in the lessons by looking in through the window
from outside until now out of necessity, but she should be able to study with everyone else
now.
"This is going to be st.u.r.dy enough, right?"
Having walked up next to me at some point, Nina asked me a question half under her
breath.
"Of course. I made it so that it'll hold up."
Unlike the elementary school that were single-story buildings, the college's building was a
multi-layered structure. It would have been a problem if anyone could just step through the
floors, so I worked all the math out.
"Can I give it a go?"
Saying that, Nina held up her finger. Soon after, the trees around us began to stir.
"It should be fine..."
Should be.
Wooden arrows slammed into the building's wall as I anxiously prayed for it to hold up.
"... It's surprisingly st.u.r.dy."
Nina muttered after clicking her tongue.
Seeing that the wall was fine and that none of the bricks were damaged, I let out a relieved
sigh.
"I tested everything as I went, so it'll be fine. Being so particular about the materials that
went into it turned out for the best. The magic used on it gives it a totally different
durability than when it was just mud."
Clapping the building's wall, I spoke.
It was similar to how we made paper from behemoth skin.
After failing countless attempts to make brick-built buildings, we came up with a working
process. We'd collect mud, heat it up to bake it fire, then impart strength into it through
magic.
"Looks fun! I wanna try too!"
Rin spoke up in glee and immediately began shooting bullets of water at the wall.
"Hey---...!"
You're going way too hard at it!
Hearing what sounded like a machine gun on brick, I was momentarily stunned.
It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like minutes--- "Ooh... it lasted!"
Seeing that the school building was still standing tall and hadn't collapsed, I shouted out in
joy.
"Hey, hey, Mentor. Could I try too?"
"... Well, just don't go too hard on it."
Seeing Aqua pull up her sleeves in antic.i.p.ation, I nodded. I already knew the abilities the
four students held. Their magic shouldn't have the same output as Nina or Rin.
"I know~"
Laughing to herself as she stepped up, she swept her hands out toward the building.
"Alright... that which is unseen, which is formless, that which causes the leaves to stur, the
one who would be free, o' maiden of the wind. Follow my will, become a giant's arm and
attack the one before me!"
Together with the conclusion of Aqua's incantation, an incredibly strong gust shot through
the air.
"Not so strong---!"
Seeing Tia about to be blown away as she screamed that out, Lufelle covered the girl with
her ma.s.sive hands.
Along with what sounded like a cannon hitting stone, the wall shook.
It wasn't just Tia, the wind was strong enough to even begin moving me.
However, the building managed to endure it.
"Were you trying to crush me!?"
"S-Sorry... I thought you might get blown away, Tia."
"Hmmm, guess that didn't work~"
Seeming to not pay attention to how Tia was shouting at Lufelle, Aqua's lips pinched
together in dissatisfaction.
"It's my turn next, right big brother?"
Saying that, Yutaka gripped some small stones in his hands.
"Sure."
It would probably be broken if a Swordsaint were to attack it with their sword, but he
already knew that.
Yutaka, not using any self-enhancement, raised the small stones and shouted.
"Fly, break!"
Break!?
The pebbles shot from his hands like meteors, striking the wall.
The water Rin had used couldn't be compared with the stones' ma.s.s.
Hearing the sound rock being crushed, I froze.
"You're amazing, big brother!"
Seeing the remnants of his a.s.sault, Yutaka smiled and laughed.
The remains were just the stones Yutaka had used.
"Water, wind, and earth were already used, so next is fire."
Picking up a rock fragment from the destroyed stones, Tia struck the building's wall.
"... Tia, what're you doing?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Using the fragment to draw along the wall's surface, Fae drew a beautiful circle on it.
She then ran some magic wire from there all the way over to my feet.
"He who flicks his tongues of flame, who is clad in red robes, who has sharp horns, who
possesses the wisdom of ages, the fire dragon who is more mighty and proud than any
else."
"Hey, isn't this cheating!?"
I screamed out in surprise at Tia, who was chanting at my feet.
Her incantation was one that would use my power.
"Heave your breath and burn all to ash!"
The magic circle birthed an oversized fireball which immediately impacted the wall.
"Did I do it!?"
"I hope not!"
Tia stared at the blast. It didn't use most of my power since I was resisting, but it still
caused a tremendous amount of smoke. Even with that much power, it should still be
alright...
"Amazing."
Nina gave voice to her astonishment. Given that it was purely a praise, it was unusual for
her.
"Not a scratch."
With the fireball's fumes clearing up, it was as she said. The building still stood.
"Tch.... Whatever. Alright, your turn."
"I-I'm fine. I don't want to break something made so big for me."
Lufelle turned down Tia.
"Yeah. As you can see, it's safe. Use it without worrying about it collapsing or anything."
"Yeah!"
When I said that, the giant girl smiled happily.
"Alright then, I guess now's the time we decide your rooms."
"Me first!"
"Oh, w-wait up, Tia."
Lufelle followed Tia, who literally soared into the building, with her huge body.
And that huge body of hers... tripped. On nothing.
Her head slammed right into the wall... and even after enduring numerous magical
a.s.saults, it broke into pieces. Seeing the room's contents exposed as the bricks collapsed
as loudly as one would expect, all we could do was stare.
"... You did it anyway."
Tia's words just sounded empty.
The Magus of Genesis v3 --- Chapter 8 Spirit 意思持つ魔法
"Actually, I kind of like it."
The dragon spoke shamelessly despite having just annihilated the pond's ecosystem.
"I bathe daily."
"Mentooor!"
Feeling the ground around me shake, I turned around and reflexively took on my dragon
form.
At practically the same instant, Lufelle jumped into my arms.
"Lufelle, that's dangerous."
"Ehehe, sorry. But it doesn't hurt, right?"
Lufelle didn't seem to regret anything with her response.
I just couldn't make myself scold her when she acted as adorably as this.
She was such a timid girl, but she truly did change.
Lufelle, having learned the way to control her t.i.tanomakhia, mastered it with surprising
quickness.
The only terrifying thing about her was her ability to learn.
After getting to the point that she could do something that she couldn't do without the
incantation without the incantation, she'd then become able to use it practically
unconsciously. Not just that, but she'd even become able to exert only the necessary about
of destructive power if she needed.
She'd recently been using that power of hers in building houses, cultivating fiels, and
maintaining roads. Given that her actual strength easily outmatched what she already
looked like she had, she actively did the work of what would need more than a hundred
people to do.
With her newfound self-confidence and no more need to fear being in contact with others,
Lufelle was a truly sweet girl.
She couldn't afford to be like this around others until now, so she was likely just starved for
contact.
Even if she could now control her power, though, she still did have a two-ton body, so I was
the only one who could actually support her weight like this... Which is why she's been
clingy with me lately.
"Mentor, what are you working on?"
"Oh, I'm just wasting a lot of effort."
I'd haphazardly a.s.sembled another water wheel that, as ever, refused to turn.
No matter how much time I spent wracking my brains on changing its shape or how I
matched the waterway's width with the water mill, the rather quickly running water would
never turn the water mill. The water would just slip through whatever tiny gaps it could
find.
Even if I pushed down on one side of it to make the water start falling like a water fall, it
wouldn't work. If I a.s.sume that the water does have its own intention, it looks like it
definitely doesn't want to turn the water mill.
"What is it?"
"It's a water mill. To be exact, it's what I tried to make be a water mill."
Lufelle inclined both her body and head at that.
"I wanted it to turn by the force of the water pressing against it, then convey that force over
to the millstone so that it would spin automatically."
I summed up the principles of water mills for her.
"So... if it worked properly, it would be very helpful to the villagers, huh!"
She responded after quickly realizing how useful it would be. Although the way she looked
and how she spoke made her seem young, Lufelle was by no means a poor learner. She was
at the very least well-equipped enough to enroll in the university.
"If it moved, yeah. But it's refusing to."
"Mmm... so... the water's power isn't doing enough to turn it?"
Lufelle asked, her brows squinched together adorably.
"You could say that."
"Then, can't we just ask it to like with my t.i.tanomakhia?"
"Ask it..."
Lufelle's statement caused me to realize it with a jolt.
Right. Why didn't I realize such a simple thing sooner?
If the water wouldn't turn it, I'd just have it move by magic.
The magic wouldn't last too long, of course.
Even if we used a magic formation, it would only last a few hours at the most. I figure that
would still be a much easier method than manually turning the mill by hand, but more
importantly, there's an even better method.
Rin said that everything in this world has its own intent.
In other words, that meant that everything in this world was magic.
And so---the most simplistic, primitive type of magic.
"O' water. That which flows, which holds no form, which chills at night. I bestow you with a
name."
That is, giving something a name.
In this world, being recognized by a name, being defined by it, was magic--- "Undine.
Undine, the Maiden of Water. Appear before me!"
Magic itself held intent.
Spirits.
A column of water burst up from the waterway in response to my summons, billowing
outward.
It reshaped itself, slowly taking the form of a transparent woman.
She appeared as I'd imagined her to be. As I was the one to name her, I'd also given her
form.
The water making her up was as if it was plucked out of the world's concept of water.
"Sorry, Undine, but could you please turn this water wheel?"
Undine, hearing my request, smiled.
Then, she reformed into a column of water and jumped back into the river in the blink of an
eye.
"... Guess that's a no."
"Looks like it."
I guess that's how it is.
I, a fire dragon, wasn't good with water magic. I couldn't even produce a single drop of
water.
I wonder if she dislikes me because I have no apt.i.tude? Or maybe I have no apt.i.tude
because she dislikes me?
It's like the question of what came first, the chicken or the egg? Still though, there is one
thing I know now.
The water wheel not moving is one hundred percent my fault.
＊＊＊
"Ooh, Mentor, it's moving!"
Having looked over to the mill from the other side of the house over the roof, Lufelle called
out to me.
Rin had asked Undine to turn the water wheel. I moved away just in case and had asked
Lufelle to monitor the situation.
"I guess Rin doing it was the right call after all."
I doubt there was anyone in the village as beloved by the water her.
If it didn't work with her, it wouldn't have worked with anyone.
"Huh? It stopped?"
As soon as I thought that, Lufelle spoke up in confusion.
"Mentor, maybe having it moving all the time won't work?"
The one to say that was Rin, who'd flown over to us.
"Why not?"
"It flows away."
It made sense, in a way. Although one might get the impression that so long as there was
water, a spirit would be there, but that wasn't the case. It would stay for a little while if
called for, but it would continue and flow away with the water.
"... How do you think we could go about asking all of the water spirits to do it?"
"Mmm... put up a sign, maybe?"
A sign. I wasn't prepared for how simple Rin's suggestion would be.
"Oh, but they can't read huh."
"... Maybe they could?"
I hadn't taught Undine our language either, after all.
Even so, the spirit was able to understand us. Probably.
"A sign... a sign, huh."
Rin had come up with a pretty useful idea.
It reminded me of something similar.
A kind of magic that didn't rely on incantations through language, but on characters scribed
into wood and stone.
---Rune magic.
The Magus of Genesis v3 --- Chapter 9 Friendly Fire 誤射
"Alright ya louts, fire!"
---Goblin Commander Gimmel's Last Words
"Whyyy should I do something like that?"
"Oh come now, don't say that."
It was a good chance, so wanted to try it with everyone. Gathering everyone together, I
handed everyone a piece of wood. The first person to complain was Tia.
"It's got nothing to do with my research topic, wouldn't you and Lufelle have been
enough?"
"Umm... Tia, wouldn't writing down lots of letters and using them for magic be helpful for
fighting?"
Seeing Tia look so obviously unwilling to be there, Lufelle tried calming her down.
"You wouldn't need stuff like that, you could just blast everyone away with your
t.i.tanomakhia!"
"Auu..."
Tia shut Lufelle down, causing her to go quiet.
Although the two of them were friends and talked to each other like that, it felt like their
relationship had changed a bit recently. I wonder if it's because Lufelle found her
confidence and stopped crying as often? Tia's gotten more likely to shun Lufelle, they've
stopped working together as often too.
"Just ignore it."
Just as I was thinking about putting a word in, Nina spoke to me.
"Even if you say something, you'll just make it worse."
She kept looking over the situation as she spoke. Still, even if I wasn't too good in these
kinds of situations and it'd probably go how she said...
"More importantly, you have something else you should pay attention to."
Whispering to me, Nina glanced over to Yutaka and Aqua.
Yutaka was an honest and serious honors student, and although I couldn't ever figure out
what Aqua was thinking about, she was serious about her research. Neither of them ever
quarrelled with the other students. The heck would I have to worry about them for?
If forced to say something, I guess it'd be that Aqua still hasn't come up with a more
concrete research topic?
Still though, I knew that elves generally did things at their own pace. I mean, I do get the
feeling that even then, she's more on the slow-paced side...
"How are you doing, Aqua?"
Still though, I decided to take Nina's advice since she usually wasn't so direct and went to
go talk to Aqua, who was sculpting figures into the wood with a small knife.
"So so~"
She gave me as vague a response as ever.
"Mentor, magic normally occurs after you're done with the incantation, riiight? So what'll
happen with these then? Maybe right when I'm done?"
Still though, she'd quickly formed a good hypothesis. To be honest, I was a bit worried
about that thought as well.
"... It probably won't. It should happen as soon as you try using it, though. Magic is
something that requires intent to be used, after all. It should be the same as when you use
your mouth to recite an incantation."
That is, even with incantations, it isn't that magic occurs the instant you're done voicing it.
It only triggers at the end of the incantation due to the reciter desiring it to occur right at
that moment.
"I did it!"
Just as I was thinking about that, Yutaka raised a narrow strip of wood into the air,
scattering about the various wood sc.r.a.ps around him.
"That was quick."
Although only a few minutes had pa.s.sed since everyone started carving their pieces of
wood, when I saw what was in his hand, he'd definitely managed to do it. What he'd carved
into the piece of wood was a very simple word---Move.
"Alright... try and test it by moving this."
I handed Yutaka the embroidered dragon I'd received from Nina beforehand. It was both
light and soft, so it should be easy enough to move no matter how it happened.
"Alright... Move!"
Yutaka held out the long, thin piece of wood like a wand, pointing at the embroidery. Upon
doing so, the embroidery moved as if it had come to life by standing up and taking several
steps on the floor.
"... Isn't there no point if you say anything?"
Aqua spoke up in a somewhat icy voice.
"Oh yeah."
He'd probably only wound up speaking out loud since that's just how he'd normally been
using magic.
"But if I don't say anything, how would I do it...?"
"What if you let out a sound like when you swing your sword?"
"I see! Good thinking, big brother!"
Yutaka held up his piece of wood and let out a roar. In that instant, his atmosphere changed
entirely.
Even Lufelle and Tia who'd been concentrating on the letters they were engraving into
their pieces of wood looked over. Aqua stared at Yutaka with wide eyes.
This was the presence a Swordsaint with their sword in hand put off. He put off a feeling
similar to something like staring at a carnivore condensed many times over. It was enough
to cause even my dulled senses to tingle.
"Phu."
He let out a small breath, one containing none of his fighting spirit and sounding no
different from a normal sigh.
Immediately after, quicker than the blink of an eye, he rose the wooden strip overhead and
swung it down. That instant, the wooden strip flew from his hand and knocked Aqua---
who'd been staring intently---square in the forehead.
"Uwah! Sorry! Are you okay!?"
The presence he was putting off vanishing all at once, Yutaka ran over to Aqua in a panic.
"You let your guard down, you need to protect yourself."
s.n.a.t.c.hing the piece of wood out of the air from bouncing off of Aqua's forehead, Nina
spoke in a stony voice.
It was her usual indifferent tone, but unlike the half fed up coloring it usually had, it felt like
there was a bit of thorns to it instead this time. Was she being tough because it was
someone from where she came from?
"I'm alright. Don't touch me."
Aqua swatted Yutaka's hands away. Her usually lazy tone was changed for a sharper one.
"O-Okay... I didn't think it would fly away from me like that."
After getting it back from Nina, Yutaka looked it over again.
"It might've had something to do with it. Maybe you pictured the wood itself moving when
you wrote Move?"
"I see... I'll change it!"
Yutaka shaved off the letters with his knife and engraved new letters into it.
"Aaand done."
Meanwhile, Aqua finished her engraving and turned it to the embroidered dragon.
Without any warning at all, the wood disappeared from her hand.
Just as I thought it had truly disappeared, I saw Yutaka---whose attention was on his own
piece of wood---deflect the spear-shaped strip of wood with his knife in the next moment.
"Looks like yours went flying too, Aqua."
He probably would have been hurt if he'd gotten struck by it, but he just laughed it off and
returned the piece of wood to Aqua.
That just now... was that deliberate?
"I did it!!!"
"Me too."
As I was worrying about if I should give Aqua a warning, Lufelle and Tia spoke up with
their pieces of wood.
"Hah---"
When Lufelle waved her piece of wood at the embroidered dragon, it popped out of her
hand and started spinning around on the ground.
"What did you write?"
"Dance please."
I see. So what wound up dancing wasn't the embroidery, but the piece of wood, huh?
"Alright, me next."
Saying that, Tia floated up into the air embracing the piece of wood nearly as big as her
body before letting go of it.
"Auu---"
The falling wood took an unusual trajectory and struck Lufelle right in the forehead like it
was some throwing knife.
"Aww, Tia. You surprised me."
"Aren't you the one who told me to make some magic that'd be useful in a fight? Besides,
it's not like that'd hurt you."
"Still though---"
Tia's whole body was constantly defended by her boulder-crushing t.i.tanomakhia. Let
alone some wood, she'd be fine even if someone thrust an iron spear at her. They were
talking peacefully with each other too, after all.
Though giving it more thought, seeing as how there was no way a Swordsaint like Yutaka
would have been hurt by that either, I guess Aqua's stunt could be considered a joke, too?
"Hmm..."
"What's wrong, Rin?"
Come to think of it, Rin was being quiet. Looking over to her, she was by herself in a corner
of the cla.s.sroom looking at her piece of wood pensively.
"See?"
What she drew into her piece of wood was Dragon is large letters.
"It didn't turn into a dragon."
"That'd be a bit much to expect."
I'd be pretty surprised if such a tiny piece of wood turned into a dragon of all things.
"Not that, I mean, well, it's not even moving."
She tried staring at it, shaking it, and moving it along the top of her desk, but it definitely
didn't show any signs of moving on its own.
"You know... be a dragon."
When Rin ordered it, the piece of wood popped out of her hand and started moving about
awkwardly. I couldn't tell what part of that fit be a dragon, but it definitely did start moving
around.
"If I use an incantation, it moves."
Rin had a great head on her shoulders for sure. She just happened to focus on different
things. This was quite the intriguing result.
Just as how it looked like letters couldn't entirely replace incantations, the reverse should
prove true as well.
"Alright, next time for sure, I'll----oh."
During the time I'd taken my eye of him, Yutaka's piece of wood flew from his hand once
again.
And where it landed was on Aqua once again, this time on the back of her head---
"... I've had enough of this monkey! You did that on purpose, didn't you!?"
Aqua's temper snapped.
10
The Magus of Genesis v3 --- Chapter 10 The Duel 決闘
"Cats and dogs squabbling over a dragon's horn."
---A metaphor for needless squabbling pa.s.sed down through the Scarlet Clan "Over and
over and over, why do you keep doing that!?"
"No, that really wasn't on purpose. I won't ask for forgiveness, though. That was my fault."
Hearing Aqua speak out of her usual nonchalance, Yutaka answered as honestly as ever.
"Do you think I'm an idiot!?"
Still though, that just seemed to have added fuel to Aqua's fire.
"You know, Aqua, wasn't it your fault for not avoiding it?"
Nina's offhanded grumble sounded awfully loud despite how low her voice was.
"I mean, didn't Yutaka react to your surprise attack?"
"... Are you trying to say that this monkey's better than me?"
Changing drastically from her nigh-hysteric voice from a moment before, she spoke
unhurriedly.
However, it was clearly due to her being even more angry than before.
"I wonder? Everyone has something they're good at, I'm not anyone to say who's better at
what. Whether you excel or don't excel at something isn't something so simple as to be
decided on like that."
Although Aqua had rounded on her directly, Nina took it with a straight face.
"But, well, if it's about fighting... I'd say Yutaka is stronger."
She added yet more fuel to the fire, for some reason.
"... Alright. I'll prove that I won't lose to a monkey like him... Come outside. I'm going to beat
you."
"Eh, I don't want to though...?"
Yutaka responded in confusion from Aqua pointing at him sharply.
"Don't worry, I won't take your life. We're school friends, right?"
Probably seeing his response as cowardly, Aqua provoked him in derision.
"That's not what I mean, Aqua. You're a girl. You're not an enemy and there's no way I
would wield my sword against a girl that isn't."
Not angry at her in the least, Yutaka just spoke his feelings.
I unintentionally let out a chuckle.
Aqua gave him the greatest glare of all time---her image as a beauty was entirely dashed
through.
"Don't mess with me! If you're a warrior, fight me! Or perhaps... are you saying the
Swordsaints are just a group of cowards?"
"... I see."
Now that she'd said that, not even Yutaka could back down. He and Aqua followed each
other out of the building.
"M-Mentor! Are they going to be alright!?"
"I wonder... I don't know how strong Aqua is..."
We all headed outside as I answered Lufelle's anxiety-driven question.
I didn't know how far Yutaka's strength went, either, so I couldn't tell how their duel would
go.
"You're not going to stop them, right?"
The ringleader responsible to fanning the flames, Nina, spoke as if she were having fun.
"No, I mean, now that it's come to this, it'd probably be a bad idea to stop them."
I figured that Aqua exploding was probably due to other events and not just from today.
Maybe that's what Nina meant by what she said earlier?
"You laughed too, so I figured."
"No, that's not why..."
It was just that Yutaka was speaking as if girls were to be cherished caused me to
accidentally let a laugh slip out.
"Well, I'll be relying on you if it turns dangerous, Rin."
"Yep. I think it'll be okay though."
I asked Rin to step in just in case.
Her water manipulation magic was incredibly convenient for disempowering individuals.
My magic wasn't suited for that in the least, and although Nina's worked well enough, it
was a bit messy.
By the time we made it outside, Aqua and Yutaka were standing ten meters opposite each
other.
A pole that looked like a straight branch extended from Aqua's hand and she plucked a
petal from the flower adorning her hair, attaching it to the pole's tip. The thin petal
stretched out and she pointed it in Yutaka's direction like a sword.
That's her magic as an elf? It probably cuts things like a blade.
Aqua held the two meter long pole in both hands like a spear.
"Unsheathe your sword."
"I told you. I won't wield my sword against women."
Saying that, Yutaka threw his sword to the ground, scabbard and all.
"How dare you look down at me...!"
Shouting out, Aqua threw her spear. Given its length, maybe it was a javelin?
Yutaka easily dodged the spear, but Aqua already had two more in her hands being thrown.
Catching the first with his hand, he kicked the second upward into the air and sending it
flying as he threw the first away.
Gradually closing the gap between him and Aqua, Yutaka continued eluding the spears
flying at him.
"Eat this!"
Together with a shout, the spear Aqua thrust forward this time didn't part from her hands.
Instead, it grew forward like a plant and bent this way and that making numerous joints as
it closed in on Yutaka impossibly fast.
Although Yutaka, having grown accustomed to her attacking him in straight lines, managed
to just barely avoid it, it caused his stance to fall apart somewhat.
"Skewer him!"
Seeing her chance, Aqua spat out an incantation. All of the spears she'd thrown up until
then flew back toward Yutaka from all directions.
Yutaka was weak. Although he did still have some room to grow since he was still young,
unless some ma.s.sive growth spurt happened, he would still be shorter than even Aqua.
At the very least, as things were, he couldn't be called strong.
---That was, however, only talking about those among the Swordsaints.
"Oh, you surprised me there."
Catching each of the spears between his fingers, Yutaka let out a breath and spoke.
What he just pulled off was easy enough for him.
"I am fast. I am fast. I am fast. I am fast."
Throwing away the spears he'd caught, Yutaka recited the same incantation over and over.
Normally, it would be meaningless to repeat the same words over and over. However, they
were different for Yutaka.
Fast---to dodge. Fast---to move his limbs. Fast---to kick against the ground. Fast---to move
his body by kicking his feet against the ground.
Each reinforcing his body in a different way, he stacked multiple reinforcements on top of
each other.
"Dodge this!"
Aqua's hair bristled as it stood up and tapered into many b.e.s.t.i.a.l fangs.
From amid those fangs, numerous spears burst from her hair and pierced Yutaka.
---At least, that's what my eyes saw.
"I am weak."
By the time I realized what had happened, I heard Yutaka's voice reach my ears.
Faster than I could perceive was happened, even faster than the sound itself, he'd already
managed to strike Aqua near the heart.
Using weakening magic just before impact, he'd made sure to kill the force behind his
strike. His fist had struck Aqua on her soft chest without wounding her at all.
"With that, I guess it's my win?"
Still holding out his fist in vigilance, Yutaka spoke. If Aqua didn't acknowledge her defeat,
he would be in position to follow up. Aqua looked down at her chest as if seeing something
unbelievable, then slowly looked up to Yutaka in blank surprise...
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she looked back to her chest.
"Wha.... what're you touching my b.o.o.bs for!? You pervert!"
The open-fisted slap coming at Yutaka was many times slower than her spears... however,
he still took it right to the cheek.
＊＊＊
"I can't believe him. Not wanting to raise his sword against a woman? I doubt that, he just
wanted to... what a pervert."
"No, wait, please, that really wasn't it. It wasn't!"
Yutaka kept on trying to explain to Aqua, who continued prattling on.
"R-Really, I, just, umm, I really didn't mean---"
"Yutaka."
Nina looked to Yutaka---who looked like he was about to cry---with a serious expression.
"Were they soft?"
"Yes, very."
"What're you saying with such a serious face?"
Yutaka answered even that in all honesty.
"I guess he's just a huge pervert after all!"
"No, that was... I didn't...! Big sister...!"
Nina just treated Aqua and Yutaka's antics as someone else's problem.
... Oh well. I'll step in and throw him a rope.
"The one responsible for teaching Yutaka that is me."
"Mentor!?"
Aqua protected her chest with both arms and backed away from me.
"No, not that... I taught him to be kind to girls, that's all."
That reaction hurt. I started to sympathize a bit with how Yutaka felt and decided to back
up him a bit more.
"Eh, but my dad taught me that...?"
"Yes, but you see? I've been teaching that for more than six hundred years. Long before you
were born, Yutaka, even before your grandfather."
Six hundred years before, this world's women weren't treated decently.
However, it was entirely different nowadays. To be honest, Yutaka's way of thinking was
actually closer to being old-fashioned at this point.
In the present era, there popular opinion was that there were no differences in ability
between men and women.
After all, there was almost no difference in strength between men and women in this world.
Although women tended to be smaller and physically weaker overall, that was just when
talking about their bodies.
As could be observed by how women often served as the leader of the Swordsaints, magic
held the power to easily overcome all physical discrepancies.
... Still though, I never thought that my preaching to Darg about being protecting women
would reach through the centuries...
The sudden wave of nostalgia was what caused me to laugh out earlier.

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