The Golden-Haired Summoner - Chapter 25

I definitely told you.

I might die before this.

So, you’ll have to bring me back to life again.

As I was lost in thought, Magi asked with a worried expression.

“Do you think I can learn it in time?”

“Magi, you’re a dragon. I’ll teach you for about ten days. After that, you can self-study and reach 10th class!”

[Master! I’d rather you throw me to the cockroaches! Master!]

I was genuinely trying to teach magic to Magi.

With pure intentions, really!

In the novel *Hello! Dragon*, it said that most dragons reach 9th class before they have their coming-of-age ceremony and become independent.

Isn’t it a bit of a waste that Magi hasn’t managed to reach that yet?

It might be a little late, but still, as long as he’s willing to learn, he can definitely do it.

I’d prefer to have a competent dragon I’m close with, rather than a clueless one.

“I don’t really want to learn magic…”

“Oh, come on, Magi. If you learn magic, it’ll help when you make weapons later. You’re going to live for at least another ten thousand years, so it’s better to learn while you’re young so you can use it later!”

“Hmm, okay… should I give it a try then?”

“Great! Let’s start with ten days together. After that, you’re smart enough to handle self-study.”

Heh, Magi fell right into my trap.

No, let me correct that.

Magi accepted my pure-hearted concern for him, not a trap.

[Master, I hate you! Boohoo.]

[It’s your fault!]

On the fifth day of magic theory lessons, Magi wasn’t as clueless as I thought.

No, he wasn’t clueless at all.

Average? Yeah, compared to other dragons, he was about average.

It just seemed like he’d never had the motivation to learn magic before.

By just learning the theory, Magi quickly mastered 1st and 2nd class magic, and by the fifth day, he had already mastered 4th class magic. His rapid progress left even me, someone not very knowledgeable in magic, completely astonished.

As expected, a dragon raised by dragons!

“Amazing, Magi! Starting tomorrow, let’s move on to 5th class. At this rate, you might even master 8th class before I leave!”

“Then can I leave now?”

Even though I was lavish with praise, Magi’s attention was entirely focused on enchanting his newly crafted sword with some kind of magic.

Magi showed a strong interest in enchantment magic and seemed to apply whatever he learned right away.

“Let’s review.”

“Ugh, let’s just hurry up then!”

Feeling a bit irritated, I made Magi sit back down even though he was eager to leave.

Didn’t he even listen to my compliments?

I gave Magi a pointed look.

But the frustration I had melted away when I saw his golden hair and golden eyes, so similar to mine, shining on the face of this lovely boy.

“I’m just joking, go ahead.”

Magi, who had fallen for my smooth words about not needing to transform into a dwarf just to make things, had polymorphed into a human form two days ago. His appearance was exactly to my taste: he looked like a young boy version of Undain.

Ah, how wonderful! Training a young dragon to my liking is such a joyful experience!

Moreover, as I’ve recently discovered the joys of being a teacher, I was already brimming with ideas about what to teach Magi tomorrow.

That is, until I heard Magi’s voice as he was leaving the room.

“Mom!”

*Cough, cough!* Wait, what?

“Magi! Is that really your mom?”

Oh no! Somebody hide me! Is there a hole for me to crawl into?

“Yep! I’m Magi. But why are you here, mom?”

“I came to check on my little Magi. But you’re not a dwarf anymore? Hmm, it seems like you’re learning magic…”

There wasn’t a single hole in the vast cave, not even for a mouse.

Rai! What have you been doing all this time without digging a hole?

“Yeah! Being a dwarf was kind of uncomfortable since they’re so short. Geenie has been teaching me magic.”

“Geenie?”

I shrank as much as I could at the appearance of Magi’s mother.

I felt guilty for having teased and taken advantage of Magi because he was a bit clueless.

Not to mention, I had been scheming about how to make the most out of a precious dragon for my benefit.

“Yep! Geenie’s over there.”

“She’s human? And not even a mage, but a summoner?”

“That’s right. Geenie’s a summoner, and she can summon a lot of spirits too.”

“And she’s teaching magic to a dragon? A human? Who isn’t even a mage?”

*Thud!* *Thud!* *Thud!*

Every word from the mother dragon pierced my back like a dagger.

I felt a strange pressure and didn’t dare to look back.

Would she kill me with a single glare?

What if I meet her eyes and die instantly?

Magi’s mom, who had given birth to a child, had to be at least a 3,000-year-old wyrm-class dragon.

Even if you gathered a hundred of the current Magi, they wouldn’t stand a chance against this real dragon!

“Yeah! And Geenie is a teacher at the academy too!”

“… But why is a human like that here? Is she perhaps a dragon hunter…”

No! Absolutely not!

I shook my head furiously, my body stiff as a board.

I barely managed to turn slightly to glance at Magi’s mother. She was a striking beauty, with long, straight golden hair reaching down to her ankles, unlike my curly locks.

Ugh… I could almost see a dark flower background behind her, maybe black roses!

“No, I kidnapped her!”

“Oh my, Magi! You did it yourself?”

“Yep! And I even went to two human empires and stole a bunch of gems and mithril!”

“Oh my, my little Magi already knows how to do that? You’re amazing, Magi!”

The mother dragon praised Magi, who was proudly boasting.

Is this what a conversation between dragons looks like?

Praising a child for committing robbery and kidnapping?

If the emperors of those two empires knew, they’d be pounding the ground and wailing.

“Ahem! And now I can do up to 4th circle magic!”

“You’re amazing, Magi. I always knew you could do it!”

The mother dragon hugged Magi tightly, her eyes brimming with tears.

Well, now that I think about it, I may have committed some crimes, but I did help make Magi more like a proper dragon, didn’t I?

“Ouch, mom, I’m going to go now. I need to make a sword!”

“All right, all right. I’ll have a chat with this human.”

Magi waved and smiled brightly as he left, leaving only me and his mother in the room.

Magi, don’t leave me behind!

Ah, I shouldn’t have sent Rai outside.

I silently vowed to never let Rai out of my sight again.

I had let him go because he was bored, but as soon as he left, a special boss monster appeared.

“H-Hello?”

I greeted her with an awkward smile.

Even though I was trying to make a good impression, the mother dragon approached silently and slowly extended her hand towards me.

I didn’t dare to dodge. I stood there, frozen like a dead person. When her hand rested on top of my head, I shut my eyes tightly.

Something cold crept into my mind, and then suddenly a sharp headache struck.

I was about to scream in pain when the headache vanished.

Was that just my imagination?

I opened my eyes to find the young-looking female dragon staring at me with a confused expression.

-…What is this?

Her hand touched my forehead again.

Since I was aware of it this time, the cool sensation felt even more distinct.

And with it, a piercing headache.

“Ugh!”

But once again, the headache disappeared almost as soon as it came.

What is this dragon trying to do to me?

I tilted my head in confusion as the dragon asked,

“Are you… one of our kind?”

One of her kind? Is she asking if I’m a dragon?

What kind of nonsense is this?

“…No, I’m 100% human.”

“That can’t be! Then why isn’t my magic working on you?”

“Magic?”

“Yes, I tried to look into your memories, but I couldn’t see anything… If you were one of us, you would have blocked my magic. But you’re human, and still, I can’t see anything. Just who are you?”

I’m telling you, I’m human!

Why does she want to look at someone else’s memories without permission?

She seemed a bit flustered, as if this was the first time something like this had happened. But if a dragon didn’t know, how could I?

“I’m really just a pure, ordinary, natural human.”

Except for the part where I remember my past life, and that I have a pet spirit that can transform into five forms… Recently, it’s been upgraded to a spirit that can transform into nine forms…

Ah, come to think of it, I guess I’m not that ordinary.

“If my magic isn’t working, it means you’re either a dragon, or something even greater.”

Something greater than a dragon?

“Are you saying I could be a god?”

“No, that’s impossible. But there must be some kind of divine restriction on you. Or perhaps a seal from another dragon. But I don’t sense any dragon’s aura from you…”

Divine restriction?

That comment triggered something in me.

Reincarnation, and my past life—if what this dragon said was true, there was likely a divine restriction placed on me.

It seemed like there was a seal preventing me from revealing those two things to other beings in this world.

“Oh, about that, there’s something that’s been bothering me. There are definitely things in my head that beings of this world are not supposed to know.”

“A mere human knows something even dragons aren’t supposed to know?”

“Well, it’s not that important to me, but for some reason, I can’t speak about it or write it down. Some unknown power is preventing me from revealing that fact.”

Now it was certain.

I was definitely under the watch of some god!

Whether that god liked me, hated me, or was indifferent, I had no clue.

But judging by how my life had turned out, they probably weren’t a fan.

“There’s no doubt. This is a divine intervention. Human, what is it that you know? Something invisible even to dragons… Could it be information so crucial that it could collapse dimensions?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s important to some, but to others, it could just sound like nonsense.”

“Hmm, I can’t be sure. Gods are so unpredictable, after all.”

The same could be said for dragons.

As the tension eased, I found myself feeling relieved that not even a dragon’s magic could penetrate my secrets.

Now that I think of it…

“By the way, since you’re here, how about we talk about Magi?”

I brought up a topic we both had in common.

I was worried that Magi might quit his magic studies once I left, and besides, this dragon didn’t seem like she was going to harm me.

In fact, I even started to feel a bit sympathetic toward her, seeing that she had to raise Magi as her child.

“Magi? Oh, right, you were teaching him magic, weren’t you? Does he have any talent?”

“Despite appearances, I’m considered somewhat of a genius among humans.”

When I was younger, I managed to get by with my past life’s memories, being labeled a genius.

As I grew older, I sometimes worried that I might fall behind compared to other children and get kicked out of Drike.

But fortunately, unlike my past life, this time around I had an oddly good memory and exceptional understanding.

I wasn’t a prodigy, but I was good enough to stay in the middle of the pack at Drike.

Of course, compared to Iruse and Mia, I was nothing, but at least I was good enough to teach Magi magic theory, right?

“Really? But how did you manage to teach Magi? That boy is so stubborn…”

“Hehe, I coaxed and persuaded him.”

“I-I see… How’s Magi doing? Is he keeping up with the lessons?”

Heh, she’s falling for it!

I quickly opened my mouth and exaggerated.

“Of course! Magi is amazing! Not just because he’s a dragon, but he’s a phenomenal student. After only five days of lessons, he’s already mastered 4th class magic!”

“Of course! My Magi is smart. He just didn’t study before, but he’s actually a genius!”

“Absolutely, a true genius.”

There’s no parent who doesn’t like to hear their child praised.

***

Time flew by, and soon it was the one-month mark I had promised Magi.

With the magical sword Magi gave me as a parting gift, I said goodbye to him.

“Geenie… Can’t you stay a little longer?”

“Sorry, Magi. People might be worried about me. I really have to go.”

They might even be holding a funeral for me.

“Aw, then can I teleport you there?”

“No, absolutely not!”

Magi, who had mastered 7th class magic over the past ten days and had just started learning 8th class magic yesterday, offered to teleport me, but I refused. I didn’t want teleportation to be a part of my life anymore.

“Magi, Geenie has a teleportation phobia, remember?”

Magi’s mother, Gold Wyrm Adelaide, had taught Magi 6th class and above spells that were too advanced for me.

Of course, I helped motivate Magi by shaking Rai next to him.

Thanks to that, Rai had evolved into a 12-form spirit with special abilities.

“Boo… Geenie, you have to come back soon! I’ll master up to 10th class by the time you get here!”

“Sure, I’ll come back in ten years, so master 10th class by then and prepare three new bodies for Rai! I’m sure you can do it, Magi.”

“Yep! I’ve already asked Mom to help make me a chimera too!”

*Thud*

“Huh?”

At the sound of something falling, I turned to see Rai, who had been transformed into a wolf, collapsed on the ground.

“Ah! Rai! What’s wrong? Get up.”

[Ki… Kime…]

A startled Magi shook Rai, trying to wake him, but Rai didn’t budge.

What’s gotten into him this time?

I approached Rai and whispered to him.

“If you don’t get up, I’ll leave you behind.”

[Ugh! Wait, Master! I just fainted for a moment. Please don’t say such terrible things…]

Rai shot up and shook his body vigorously, urging me to hurry.

Rai’s thick, fluffy fur was a deep golden color, not because I made it that way, but because it had gradually changed on its own over time.

No matter what animal Rai transformed into, the golden hue remained, except for when he turned into a mouse, which had golden stripes.

According to Adelaide, the reason for this was that one of the jewels I used to remake Rai’s body was a dragon heart, and specifically, it had belonged to a gold dragon. That’s why Rai took on this color.

I think Adelaide almost cried when she told me that.

Moreover, the power of the dragon heart was immense, turning Rai into both a 12-form spirit and a mana reservoir.

I could draw upon the mana stored in Rai’s dragon heart, and Rai could also use it to power his transformations and abilities.

In short, Rai no longer needed much of my mana to function.

The only downside was that it took a day for the mana to replenish once it was used, but the dragon heart’s vast reserves made that delay barely noticeable.

“You’re such a cutie.”

[Isn’t that obvious? Hehe.]

Feeling increasingly impressed with Rai, I hugged him tightly.

Our Rai was becoming more useful by the day.

If only he could pick up on cues a little faster, though.

“Geenie, do you have travel money?”

“Travel money?”

Adelaide suddenly asked.

Money? I could just have Rai conjure some.

Our Rai, who could extract gold even without my mana, was a true walking vault, wasn’t he?

So there was no need to worry about travel expenses.

“Well, if you don’t have any, feel free to take some of Magi’s treasure.”

I figured there was no reason to refuse if she was offering it for free, so I nodded readily.

At that, Magi suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Oh, Geenie! I read about this in a book, um… Mom, how do we do this again?”

“Watch closely, Magi. Here’s how you do it. Now, Geenie, you can go to the treasure room and take as much treasure as you can carry. You can fill both hands, or even tuck it into your clothes. Since you taught Magi magic, think of it as a token of gratitude. You can even use your spirit to help.”

…This was definitely something I’d read about before, right? The “Dragon’s Repayment” or something like that?

In that book, humans would sometimes swallow jewels, tear their clothes to wrap up treasures, or mages would levitate the jewels. But they couldn’t keep up their mana until they left, so they ended up with nothing.

Or was it the part where if they refused the treasure, the dragon, feeling moved, would secretly give them a bag of jewels?

“Really? You won’t get mad if I take a lot, Adelaide?”

“Of course! Take as much as you can carry.”

“You promise you won’t get angry?”

“Yes, a dragon’s promise is binding!”

Adelaide’s firm response brought a triumphant smile to my face.

After all, they didn’t know that one of Rai’s basic abilities was ‘absorption.’

“Let’s go, Rai!”

[Sluurp.]