Ch. 100
“My mom said this is super rare! She said she only has two of them.”
“Is it a magic stone?”
Just looking at it, you could tell it was an incredible gem.
A powerful energy radiated from it, something I’d never felt before, and if you stared too long, it felt like it might suck you in.
Before I could get pulled in, Magi tossed it carelessly into the cauldron.
“Here, Geenie. Take it.”
“…This doesn’t seem like an ordinary gem. Are you sure I can have it? You said your mom gave it to you.”
If Magi’s mom was a dragon, she definitely wouldn’t be as absentminded as Magi.
She was probably an ordinary dragon.
In other words, the type who thought of humans as bugs—ordinary!
I was scared of accepting something so precious and then getting in trouble for it later.
Like getting hit with a breath attack. Or a breath attack. Or a breath attack!
Just remembering the pressure from that party hall made a chill run down my spine.
“It’s fine! Mom gave it to me, so it’s mine!”
“I mean, you’re right, but…”
“If I need more, I’ll just ask my mom again!”
I was grateful, but it seemed Magi just wanted to use the best stuff possible for making Rai’s body.
Well, a dragon’s promise is as good as their life, so it should be fine. As long as Magi’s mom doesn’t find out.
“Thanks. I’ll gladly accept it.”
[…]
“Rai, why are you suddenly so quiet?”
[Uh… that…]
“Geenie! Let me show you something cool. Touch this! It’s Toka’s Orb!”
Cutting Rai off, Magi suddenly shoved a sphere at me.
It was a bead with two colors swirling together, the mixture shifting every moment like it was alive.
When Magi held it, it was mostly a deep yellow, but as I took it in my hand, the black suddenly increased.
“Toka?”
“It’s an orb sealing a neutral demon! The demon’s name is Toka.”
“Pfft…”
“You can use it to distinguish good from evil in sentient beings.”
You should give a warning before saying stuff like that! Damn it! I already touched it!
I stared at the orb with a serious face, spooked.
How could this orb know what kind of person I am, when I don’t even know? It was kind of nerve-wracking and creepy.
“Black means evil, yellow means good!”
“Ugh.”
“If you hold it, the ratio will change.”
On edge, I waited to see if the colors would shift one way or the other.
But no matter how long I waited, the orb didn’t budge. It stayed exactly half and half.
“Huh?”
That seemed weird, so I put the orb on the floor.
It stayed half and half.
I stared for a bit, then picked it up again. Still unchanged.
Half and half. Perfectly split.
“Magi… I think this thing is broken.”
“Huh?”
“See? It’s not moving.”
“That’s weird. That shouldn’t happen.”
Confused, Magi took it and fiddled with it; the yellow instantly increased.
“See? It works.”
“Huh, you’re right.”
But when I took it back, it returned to the original, perfectly balanced state.
“Hm?”
“Why’s it doing this?”
Magi was baffled, but I was convinced it was broken.
I mean, a dragon who crashed a party on the empire’s founding day, looted the place, and kidnapped people is showing up as “good”…
Well, he isn’t exactly evil, but… come to think of it, Magi is pretty good—for a dragon.
“Weird! I’ve never seen this before!”
“It’s either broken, or it means I’m neither good nor bad.”
“Huh? Is that even possible…?”
“Why not?”
“Perfect neutrality like that doesn’t make any sense!”
Really?
Unconvinced, Magi thrust the orb at Rai, who was nearby.
“Rairai! You try!”
[What the—! Lizard! Tch, ptui!]
“Hey, just try it, Rai.”
Pretending to spit at Magi, Rai hesitated until I ordered him.
[I don’t have hands, though?]
“Magi, Rai doesn’t have hands. How’s he supposed to do it?”
“As long as it touches his body.”
“You heard him.”
We set the orb on the floor, and both Magi and I leaned in close, staring at Rai.
It was a silent pressure to try it. Rai, looking reluctant, barely touched it with his tail.
Still, no movement.
“Try it properly.”
[What’s even the point of this…]
Grumbling, Rai coiled his tail around the orb and lifted it, but still, there wasn’t even a hint of change.
Same thing when I picked it up again.
Perfectly split, right down the middle.
But when I handed it back to Magi, the yellow instantly increased, proving it could change.
“How strange.”
“Why is it doing this? It can’t be broken… My grandfather gave it to my father!”
“Then it’s probably about time it broke.”
“No way…?”
Magi looked put out, but honestly, broken or not, I didn’t want to put that thing in the cauldron.
“Either way, let’s leave it out. Even if it’s not broken, I don’t want to use something with a demon sealed inside. Gives me the creeps.”
“Aw.”
[That’s what I’ve been saying, Master!]
“I wanted to give it to Rairai.”
[Don’t call me Rairai! You little brat! Don’t call me whatever you want!]
Rai and Magi really didn’t get along.
It was honestly a blessing that they couldn’t properly communicate.
If they could, with their similar mental ages, they’d probably be fighting nonstop, and I’d be the one caught in the middle every time.
“What’s Rai saying, Geenie?”
“Uh… he says he doesn’t like being called Rairai.”
“How about Raichin?”
[Gyah!]
I give up. Why is there not a single normal person around me—spirit or dragon? It must be… my imagination, right?
—
The idea of me—a non-mage—teaching magic theory to a dragon, who’s supposedly the ancestor of magic, sounded like a ridiculous joke, but it was actually happening.
And I was honestly a pretty good teacher.
Surprisingly, I was teaching well.
“Nnngh.”
“You’re doing great. If you don’t know something, just ask.”
“No! I think I get it! I can solve this.”
Day five of magic theory lessons.
Magi wasn’t as dumb as I thought. If he were human, he’d probably qualify for Drike Academy.
Being born a dragon was just Magi’s misfortune.
“Magi, if you solve this, you can pick whatever you want for Rai’s seventh body.”
“Really?”
I’d always hated studying, so I understood what someone who hates studying needs.
Carrots work better than sticks, and it’s important to acknowledge effort and give lots of praise.
If he struggled, I didn’t scold him, just encouraged him and let him rest when tired.
Above all, I gave him clear goals.
Like Rovenin Fedri for me—a specific goal to reach.
Without something to strive for, no one is motivated to try.
Studying is mostly just a forced ritual for effort without purpose, which is why people resist it.
No one wants to endure a task that feels pointless.
“Wait! If I do it like this… Hmm, wasn’t it this theory?”
Magi scratched at his notebook for a while, then seemed to find the answer.
Magic theory is, simply put, a combination of math and mana, and I was decent at math.
Even if it was long ago, I was a Korean high school girl.
“Amazing. Magi, you got everything right!”
When he succeeded, I made a big deal out of praising him, which helped him feel a sense of accomplishment.
“Wow! Can I use a dwarf?”
“…Ugh.”
I want to reward you, but not like that.
“Taste aside, why do you like dwarves so much?”
“They’re all great blacksmiths!”
“I get it, but… no dwarves. Even if it’s a corpse, I’m not comfortable with intelligent beings.”
“But you said I could pick whatever I wanted!”
“Sorry. Humans are liars. You should learn that, too.”
I take it back—I’m not a good teacher. Sometimes I’m just a no-license fraud who breaks promises.
(T/N: Special shout out to Jear for helping me gather raw chapters of GHS! We’ve got until chapter 281! Thanks Jear!!!)
