Ch. 93
Smile.
“Of course, I could make it, but…”
“Then hurry up and make it! Why are you so slow?!”
“Well.”
“Your spirit won’t listen to me!”
“I just have one question.”
“What? A human should just do as they’re told—what’s with the questions?!”
It was obvious.
Watching this dragon throw a fit, it was clear he was still relatively young.
That would explain why he was so impatient and reckless.
And, surprisingly, I was pretty good at handling kids.
At the academy, my training room was rumored to be haunted, so the elementary kids would often come to test their courage.
This dragon seemed about on that level.
“If I make that metal for you, will you let me live?”
I could only hope the dragon I’d run into was the dumbest on the continent.
—
“No!”
Tch. Maybe second to last, then.
“My mom said letting a human go would bring shame on our clan!”
“But if you make the greatest sword on the continent, wouldn’t that be a point of pride for your clan?”
“…Is that so?”
Nice. He really is dumb.
“If you promise to let me go, I’ll make you as much special metal as you want.”
“As much?”
“Yes, after all, aren’t dragons the very symbol of mercy?”
Dragons were more like bullies of the continent.
“Hmm… But my mom…”
“You can just do it without your mother knowing, right?”
“That’s true!”
“Hiding things from your parents is part of growing up, too.”
“That’s true, too!”
“By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, how old are you…?”
“Five hundred and three!”
A mama’s boy, but still pretty young. Dragons live for ten thousand years, after all…
[Rai, when are dragons considered adults?]
[Probably around five hundred. That’s when they go through the Coming-of-Age Rite and start living on their own.]
[So this one’s…]
[You got stuck with an immature one.]
Not sure if that was lucky or unlucky.
“I’ve only been independent for three years, but I’m a full-grown dragon!”
“Aha.”
The biggest question now was how much this dragon actually wanted the special metal Rai could make.
Given he hadn’t killed me immediately, it seemed pretty important to him.
Ahem.
I cleared my throat and asked Rai in a voice meant to sound trustworthy.
The dragon’s eyes sparkled.
Wide and bright.
“My good Rai, can you make that metal again?”
[Of course. If there’s mana. But can you please stop using that creepy voice?]
“Hahaha, so what was that exactly?”
[An alloy. I mixed a bunch of things together in a rush, so it’d be impossible to make it exactly the same again. I could match the strength, but…]
“That’s wonderful news! Rai says he can make it again!”
Since the dragon couldn’t hear Rai’s voice, I could interpret however I wanted.
And I did—however was most advantageous for me.
“Make it right now!”
“I can’t. I’m out of mana, so I’ll need some time.”
“What? Ugh, my mom was right after all. Pathetic humans! How can you not have enough mana?”
Excuse me. You’re a dragon, after all. The so-called mana-unlimited dragooon.
“Oh! I know! You could just give me the spirit!”
Disaster. There’s a bit of intelligence there, after all? Better than a dolphin, at least.
“Just give me your spirit!”
“…How?”
“I don’t know. You’re the spirit mage.”
I’d die if I did that—would you do it if you were me? Even if I knew how, I’d say I didn’t.
Even my business smile was reaching its limit.
This was a top-tier service smile reserved for the king himself.
“I don’t know. I’ve never even heard of such a thing…”
“You’re not pretending not to know, are you?!”
“Don’t you know? They say dragons know everything.”
At my question, he looked a bit flustered, then put his tiny hands on his hips and acted way more confident than necessary.
“That only goes for things I care about! No dragon bothers with spirits!”
He clearly cared about blacksmithing, but apparently spirits were beneath him! Tch.
“Ask the spirit! See if there’s a way to transfer it to me!”
“Yeah, you heard that, Rai?”
[Nope. Spirits aren’t objects, you know.]
“He says no.”
[If there were, I guess it’d be breaking the contract with Master and making a new one with that guy?]
Are you telling me to go die?
[But I have absolutely no intention of doing that. If my contract with Master ends, I’m taking a long vacation. And I will never make a contract with a dragon!]
“Why not?”
[Those guys will work a spirit for ten thousand years if they sign a contract! I like short-lived humans!]
Should I be happy about that?
It somehow didn’t feel great.
“What did he say?”
“Rai says he’ll never make a contract with a dragon. And if I die, he’s going to take a long rest.”
“Ugh! Then are there any other metal spirits?”
“Probably not. Rai always brags about being the only one of his kind.”
Only I could hear Rai’s words.
He didn’t have a way to make his voice audible to outsiders. To do so, he’d have to temporarily transform his body into a human or another race with a mouth capable of speech.
He could partially transform for a short time, but that would also require mana.
“So… even if I kill you, I can’t have it?”
This dragon’s thoughts were as clear as glass.
“Think about it. What spirit would ever make a contract with the person who killed its master?”
“Is that how it works?”
“Yes. So if you kill me, you’d lose your chance at the material, too.”
“Then… guess there’s no helping it.”
Am I safe?
“You’ll just have to be my pet, then. You are housebroken, right?”
What the hell.
“My mom said you should never keep a human because they’re ungrateful. But I want that metal spirit.”
“Wait, don’t tell me—”
“I’m just going to take you both, together!”
What am I, a dog?!
“No.”
“You’re refusing? I’ll kill you!”
Like I’d ever want to live with a dragon for the rest of my life.
I’d literally rather die!
“Yes, please, just kill me instead. Like I said, my neck’s right here.”
[No! Don’t die, Master!]
I was completely ready to risk it all.
It wasn’t like I was so desperate to live that I’d choose a life of slavery.
If there was anything I regretted, it was not being able to beat that Rovenin bastard.
Thinking about him as I’m about to die just pisses me off even more.
That guy really has a knack for getting on my nerves.
“Tsk…! No! I can’t do that! If you die, the spirit disappears! Then I can’t get the metal!”
“Obviously.”
“Don’t say that. I’ll treat you well! Huh? Live with me! I’ll give you jewels, do you want a crown? What do you like?”
The more I listened, the more it sounded like a weird proposal.
“I’ll give you a room! You won’t go hungry, I’ll even take you on walks!”
“I don’t want to end my life as someone’s pet, thanks.”
“Then let’s be friends, friends!”
The dragon, disguised as a dwarf, clung to my leg and whined nonsense.
Have you ever seen a rabbit and a tiger become friends? Might as well just come out and say you want me as your packed lunch.
“Just kill me quickly.”
“No! If you’re gone, the spirit disappears!”
“That’s not my problem. Kill me or let me go.”
No matter how I thought about it, running errands for a dragon for decades sounded way worse than dying right now.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
Why should I spend my life pandering to a dragon?
Once I figured out what was going on, I just got angry.
What a screwed-up life.
I really didn’t need the unique experience of getting kidnapped by a dragon.
Isn’t that supposed to be for princesses?
I’m just an ordinary spirit mage, not even close to anyone in power. Just how far is my luck going to plummet?
Did it really have to be this rough?
Every time I step outside the academy, I get knocked around and wind up hiding in the training room. It’s not like I became a shut-in by choice.
“Come on, live with me! Please?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why do you hate me?!”
“You kidnapped me, tried to kill me, tried to take my spirit, and you only care about what you want.”
I ticked off each reason on my fingers, giving the dragon a much-needed lesson in empathy. He actually seemed a little guilty for once.
“You could compromise a little!”
This kid of a dragon had no intention of killing me, and clearly didn’t understand push and pull.
He really was a bit slow.
“Compromise?”
“I’ll let you live! I’ll let you go out sometimes, and I won’t take your spirit! I’ll even let you roam free!”
Who’s the animal here… Well, whatever, at least he said he’d let me out.
I was tempted, so I uncrossed my tightly folded arms.
“You’ll let me go?”
“Yeah!”
“What if I don’t come back?”
“Well, nothing I can do then, but I’ll hunt you down and kill you if I have to!”
Ahem.
“So, how often can I go out?”
“Uh, um… sometimes?”
“And how much is ‘sometimes,’ exactly?”
Before I realized it, I was speaking completely informally, but the young dragon didn’t seem to mind.
Did he actually like me?
Or did he just want Rai that badly?
“If I let you out, will you not run away and help me?”
“Depends on the conditions. If I like them, I’ll help you make a sword with Rai, get you materials, and try to talk Rai into signing a contract with you later. How about it?”
[Excuse me? Master, what about my opinion?]
[As if you’d get one.]
“Really?”
This dragon was really easy to fool.
Maybe because he was so young.
“You’ll let me go, right?”
“Yeah!”
Did my bet for survival actually pay off?
Maybe it worked because I had no intention of escaping anyway. I started packing up my things—though Rai was all I had.
“So, can I leave now?”
“No! You have to help me first!”
“…Ugh. How much do I have to help?”
“Um… about… a hundred years?”
