Ch. 94
“Hey, humans don’t live for a hundred years, you know?”
So this is what a dragon’s sense of time is like.
“Then what do we do?”
“How about this. I’ll come once every ten years and spend about a month with you. How’s that?”
I thought I’d ride along with his strange sense of time, but the dragon stared at me without even blinking.
Maybe I pushed it too far.
As I was debating whether to bump it up to two months, the dragon suddenly beamed and clapped his hands with a pure, happy smile.
“Wow! Really? That often?”
“Uh, yeah… When I come, I’ll stick around for a whole month and keep you company.”
“Once every ten years is great, but a month is too short! That’s just the blink of an eye!”
“Then how about two months every twenty years?”
“Deal!”
I can’t believe that worked.
Is he actually just an idiot?
[Rai, do you think this dragon is just pretending to be dumb to trick me?]
[I think he’s just actually dumb.]
[Hmm…]
[Really young ones can be like that. They have no natural enemies, so there’s no sense of danger. And Master! Dragons can’t lie. Lying is fatal for them—that’s their one weakness.]
[I didn’t know that.]
So I might as well believe him for now.
I was never one for babysitting, but this was better than dying.
Two months every twenty years wasn’t so bad.
I felt a strange gratitude that the dragon who kidnapped me was so gullible, and a bit of sympathy for his parents.
Imagine what it’s like to raise a dragon like this.
“Well then, let’s get along.”
“I’ve never had a human friend before!”
More like a human pet…
“My name is Magicoss Gold!”
“Geenie Crowell.”
Even if I said Jean, no one could pronounce it anyway, and I was already used to Geenie.
What can I say. My fate might be a mess, but at least Geenie was still me.
“I’ll take care of you and not eat you!”
“So you really were thinking about eating me…”
Magicoss grabbed my hand and shook it hard, grinning from ear to ear.
“That’s right. First, I should feed you!”
“Can you just call it a meal? I am hungry, though.”
“There’s plenty to eat. Would you like ogre or gargoyle?”
“…What?”
“Ogre or gargoyle meat—which do you want?”
Maybe I should try running.
I had no idea dragons ate monster meat.
Well, I guess with that huge body, he’s not going to be a vegetarian.
“There’s orc meat, too! It’s not super fresh, but it’s still good. Personally, I like minotaur hind leg best, but I’ll have to go catch one… Where are you going?”
I instinctively started backing away.
Uh, could you please wipe the drool from your mouth?
[Should I run, Rai?]
[You’d probably die right away.]
[Yeah, true…]
[Let’s focus on staying alive for now.]
Am I actually going to make it out of here?
—
The newly independent gold dragon Magicoss’s lair was truly enormous.
It would take a human about four hours of nonstop walking just to make one loop, and after trying to map it out and ending up exhausted, I switched to using Undaine for travel.
I didn’t know if all dragon lairs were like this, but this one was so thoroughly sealed off that the only way in or out was by teleportation.
It was clearly meant to keep out intruders.
And that meant I could never leave without Magicoss’s help.
I couldn’t use teleport magic, and even when I tried, I just got terrible motion sickness.
After throwing up a few times from warp sickness, I guess Magicoss took pity on me—or maybe he just got tired of seeing me puke—because he finally opened up an exit to the outside after a week of captivity.
Fwoooosh.
I rode Undaine through a narrow tunnel at high speed.
It was the only exit from the lair, and the wind was so strong that my hair whipped around wildly every time I passed through.
The lair was deep inside a mountain, so the tunnel was long.
Even at Undaine’s impressive flying speed, it took a few minutes to get through.
[Master, we’re almost out. Hold on tight.]
I grabbed onto the fin on Undaine’s back and lowered my body.
As soon as we left the tunnel, we’d have to make a steep vertical climb, so I had to be ready.
The tunnel exit opened halfway up a sheer cliff, with another cliff directly across from it.
A raging river flowed below—falling would be certain death.
If you let your guard down even for a second, you’d fall right off Undaine’s back while passing through.
[Going up.]
I hugged the dorsal fin as I watched the bright light at the tunnel’s end.
Beyond the dazzling exit, I caught a glimpse of the cliff opposite, and Undaine soared straight into the sky before hitting it.
Rocketing upward was more accurate.
Clinging tightly to Undaine as she flew steeply along the cliff, I closed my eyes halfway.
When you defy gravity, the wind is brutal.
This part always made me nervous.
Of course, falling into the river wouldn’t kill a water spirit mage like me, but for a normal human, it’d be fatal—so I was still scared.
The unfriendly exit was all about keeping intruders out.
“Whew.”
[Master, what are we looking for today?]
But after making it past that trial, I was greeted by a stunning landscape I’d never see in the city.
An endless sea of green forest spread in all directions, welcoming me.
Now I could finally appreciate how wonderful the smell of thick summer woods was.
Magicoss’s lair took up an entire mountain, and in this ancient forest, there wasn’t a single human.
Sitting atop Undaine, I looked over Magicoss’s forest.
The first time I went outside, it was such an overwhelming relief it felt like coming back from the dead. Now, it wasn’t quite as dramatic.
The reason Magicoss made a passage for me to use was simple.
‘Today’s catch is ogre!’
It was for food.
He was using someone as talented as me as a lunch delivery service.
Only a dragon could get away with something like that. Still, I felt a little sorry for myself, doing whatever it took just to survive.
Humans are creatures of adaptation.
“Since Magicos wants ogre, let’s go find one.”
[Yes, Master.]
“If we don’t bring back what Magi wants, he’ll sulk, so we have to work hard to find one.”
Undaine was flying slowly above the forest.
A mid-level water spirit like Undaine wasn’t exactly meant for flight, but it all depended on how the master used them, and I was a genius at making versatile use of spirits.
It sounds arrogant coming from me, but it was true.
“I think there’s something over there.”
Soaring high above the wide forest was a pretty cool experience.
Aside from the strong wind, anyway.
Having flown a bit farther, my face was stinging from the cold wind against my nose.
If only I had a wind spirit, it would block this sort of thing.
Hm? Actually, there’s no rule that says a water spirit can’t do it.
“If I make a water barrier in front… like a motorcycle windshield.”
That was worth trying. I really am a genius.
[Found one, Master!]
“Where?”
[Over there, it’s an ogre.]
Undaine, in the form of a dolphin, pointed to one part of the forest with her long snout.
I could see the ogre’s head lumbering through the trees.
It looked nice and sturdy—a perfect meal for Magicos.
I lowered myself down and held on tight as Undaine silently soared above the ogre’s head.
Lately, I’d unintentionally been leveling up my monster-hunting skills.
Ogres were sensitive monsters, but even they couldn’t sense what was above them in the sky.
“Unwater Breathing.”
As I chanted the spell, the ogre seemed to sense something and looked up.
When our eyes met, the ogre immediately bared its yellow, angry teeth.
Monsters generally fall into two categories.
There are aggressive ones that attack first, and weaker ones that run away.
Ogres are firmly in the first category.
They’re such powerful predators.
“Grrraah!”
But compared to a dragon, it was nothing—like a puppy.
Before the ogre could jump up at me, water surged from below, rising up fast.
A few leaves were swept up in the current and spun around viciously inside the bubble.
Soon, the ogre was trapped inside a giant water bubble, howling and showing off its strength.
With all that power thrashing inside, the bubble looked ready to burst.
As a kid, I thought Unwater Breathing was invincible, but against strong internal blows, the bubble could break.
“Ador.”
Ogres had pretty good lung capacity, so waiting for it to suffocate inside the bubble was just a waste of mana. For a quick finish, I called for Ador.
[What? What? Huh? Master! What do you want me to do?]
Ador, upon being summoned, immediately began circling me, eager for orders.
“That one.”
I jerked my chin at it.
Like Undaine, I was training Ador to understand my commands even without words.
[What, you can’t just say it out loud?]
“Listen carefully. Tune in to the voice of your master’s heart.”
[Um… I don’t get it.]
“Focus. Just feel it! Your problem is a lack of effort, Ador!”
[Uuuum.]
