BSS 103

Chapter 103

Of course, Rai was there.

I cautiously moved toward Rai, and Rai, too, crept toward me in a low crawling posture.

Before the two of us could reach each other, however, my eyes met those of the boss monster.

“Human.”

“Ah, h-hello?”

“So a mere human dared to do such a thing.”

“Well, I do have a name, you know. It’s Jinny Crowell—”

I forced an awkward smile, greeted her, and even attempted to introduce myself.

If possible, I wanted to survive even one second longer.

But the merciless dragon approached without another word and slowly extended her pale white fingers toward me.

Rai snarled and was about to leap at that hand.

[Wait.]

Frozen in the exact pose he had been about to spring from, Rai stiffened like a statue.

I understood immediately.
The Gold Dragon before me had used a powerful draconic word.

With a single word, without even glancing at Rai, she had completely subdued him.

Thoroughly.

Got it.
If Rai fought a dragon, Rai would lose!

“Ugh…”

As the hand drew closer, I swallowed a groan and instinctively shut my eyes.

I didn’t even dare try to dodge it.

The moment I squeezed my eyes shut, a cold touch landed on my forehead.

A sharp, stinging sensation seeped into my mind, rummaging through it at will, and a pounding headache shook my head again and again.

But that was all. Nothing else happened.

“…That’s strange.”

At her mutter, I cautiously opened my eyes.

She was touching my forehead again, as if searching for something.

When things still didn’t go as expected, she finally placed her palm on the crown of my head, then, wearing an irritated expression, grabbed my face and forced me to look straight at her.

What are you doing?

Held by the face, I blinked in confusion.

I had no idea what this dragon was trying to do to me.

“You…”

“Y-yes?”

“No matter how I look at you, you’re human.”

Well, yes. As you can see.

“Then why can’t I see your memories?”

So that’s what it was. She had been trying to read my memories.

Isn’t that an extremely high-level spell? Then why wasn’t it working?

“My magic doesn’t work on you! What are you?!”

“…I’m just a perfectly ordinary human passing by?”

“The fact that my magic doesn’t work means you’re either of my kind… or—”

“Mom! I brought the sword!”

…Was she about to say I was a dragon just now?

“Magi! Where did you pick up such a strange human?!”

“Huh? From the humans’ castle.”

“That’s not ordinary at all!”

“Well, that’s true. Jinny couldn’t even be evaluated by Toca’s orb. It said she’s neither good nor evil! Isn’t that cool?”

Excuse me. It feels kind of uncomfortable when dragons look at me like I’m a curiosity.

“Human… you know something, don’t you?”

“E-excuse me?”

“A secret of the world that even dragons shouldn’t know. If you aren’t a dragon, then there’s only one answer.”

She stared straight at me.

“Your memories are sealed by a god-level being.”

At first I had no idea what she was talking about, but then something clicked.

The fact that I remembered my past life.

Come to think of it, that did make me far from an ordinary human.

If the dragon was right, then there really was some kind of restriction placed on me—something only a god could have done.

“If that’s the case… there is something that comes to mind.”

“What is it?”

“You said memory-reading magic doesn’t work, right? Then I can’t talk about it either. It’s always been that way. It’s locked inside me, so only I can know it.”

My past life.
Reincarnation.

They didn’t sound like such a big deal, but I couldn’t explain them in detail, nor could I ever use them anywhere.

It was as if some unknown force was blocking me.

I could unconsciously let slip words related to my past life, but whenever I tried to explain clearly that I remembered a previous life or that I had been reincarnated, the words simply refused to become sound.

“I don’t know exactly why… but there definitely is a power that prevents me from talking about it freely. To me, it doesn’t even seem that important.”

Thanks to the dragon, I was certain now.

I had the attention of the god of this world!

Whether that god liked me, hated me, or didn’t care at all, I couldn’t say…
But judging from how tangled my life was, they probably didn’t like me.

“There’s no doubt about it. This is divine intervention.”

I’d cursed the gods quite a bit, though.

“Then I can’t kill you.”

Wow, thanks—
No, wait!

You were planning to kill me?!

You terrible dragons!

Do you think human lives are as disposable as flies?!

Tch.

Complaints boiled inside me, but I wasn’t brave enough to show them.
After all, I was a young person of this era who dreamed of extending her lifespan.

“You’ll surely be useful somewhere. I don’t know what the gods are thinking… but I won’t meddle with their plans by doing something troublesome.”

So… does that mean I can relax because I’m being spared?

[Master!]

Right—Rai!

I glanced down. Rai was still stiff as a statue, frozen solid like he’d stared straight into Medusa’s eyes.

[I can’t move my body!]

“To think you brought back something like that. Magi, honestly…”

“Hmm? Did I do something wrong?”

“…But why are you acting so cute lately? Of course, our Magi is cute, but being that openly ingratiating—”

“M-Madam!”

The word slipped out before I could stop myself, and everyone froze in surprise.

But I didn’t know what else to call her.

More importantly, if it was discovered that Magi’s cute behavior was the result of my training, I’d be in serious trouble. God’s attention or not, I’d be minced meat between dragon fangs.

“What? Madam?”

“S-since you’re here anyway! Why don’t we talk about Magi? I could talk all day and still not say enough about how outstanding he is!”

“…Oh? Really?”

To survive, I brought up a shared topic of interest between me and the final boss dragon.

Her lacking son, Magikos.

Magi had mastered first- and second-class theory with ease, conquered third class within two weeks, and thoroughly proved that a dragon born of dragons was still a dragon.

“Hmph… is that so? How is Magi doing? Is he keeping up with his lessons?”

Hooked!

I immediately replied with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“Of course! I should start by telling you how he mastered first class in just two days! You wouldn’t believe how incredible it was! As expected of a great and exalted dragon!”

“R-right?! I knew our Magi was smart! It’s just that he never studied! I knew he could do it if he tried!”

No parent disliked praise for their child. That truth transcended species.

“Exactly! He’s a genius, no doubt about it.”

And so, I was a human who was strong toward the strong, strong toward the weak, and weak toward dragons.

Some things, like species, just couldn’t be overcome.

If someone wanted to throw stones at me for being shameless, they’d better be ready to throw them at a dragon too.

***

Time flew by, and before I knew it, the two months I had promised Magi were nearly up.

What was supposed to be a casual way to kill time—Magi’s magic lessons—turned into a full-fledged curriculum once the parent began attending, and I taught Magi with all my heart and soul just to survive.

As a result, I was now on the verge of escape, having received lavish hospitality from the dragon mother and son.

“Farewell, human.”

“Jinny! Are you really leaving?”

Of course.

It was awful meeting you, and let’s never see each other again—
…is what I wanted to say, but since I’d made a promise, I supposed I’d have to come back in twenty years.

I clasped Magi’s hands and put on a reluctant expression.

“I have to go. I’ll miss you, Magi.”

I was very good at saying things I didn’t mean.

Since my conscience didn’t ache, there was no need to sweeten my words.

“Can’t you stay and play a little longer?”

“I want to, but people will be worried about me.”

“Then should I just bring those people here? Your parents and all your academy friends too…!”

“You know that’s not an option, right?”

“Hing!”

“We promised, remember? You said you’d send me back.”

Two months was long enough for people to have already held my funeral.

After all, being taken by a dragon and returning alive was the kind of thing that only happened in fairy tales.

If I were a princess, someone might have come to rescue me—but I was just the daughter of an ordinary baron, so I couldn’t even expect that.

Come to think of it, I’d faced death quite a lot.

Maybe my life was stubbornly hard to end.

“Then I’ll teleport you to the city—”

“No! Absolutely not.”

Don’t underestimate warp sickness!

My condition was terminal. Just hearing the words “movement magic” made my skin crawl and sent shivers racing down my spine.

“But it’ll take a long time to walk out of the forest?”

“It’s fine. I have Rai.”

[That’s right!]

In the past two months, many things had changed about me—one of them being Rai, who now had a twelve-stage transformation ability.

Since I was lazy by nature, Rai had naturally gained a mount function as well.

“What if I miss you? Jinny?”

“Let’s meet in our dreams.”

“What?!”

[You’re so clueless! It was awful meeting you, and let’s never see each other again!]

For a moment I thought I’d said it, but I hadn’t.

True to being my spirit, Rai thought way too much like me—that was the problem.

He boldly said what I couldn’t, and was immediately grabbed by the hair by Magi.

“What! You damn wolf brat!”

[Ptui, ptui, ptui.]

More precisely, he was grabbed by the clump of fur between his ears.

Held too tightly, Rai’s eyes rolled back until only the whites showed.

“Give back the Dragon Heart I gave you!”

[So what if you gave it—now you’re taking it back?! Go bald!]

“How dare you be ungrateful!”

[If you give it, it’s over!]

Watching the two of them roll around in a cloud of dust, I started wondering if this was their own peculiar way of expressing affection.

They never seemed to get tired of biting and clawing at each other.

And since my spirit was currently chewing on someone else’s precious son, I cautiously glanced at the mother dragon to check her reaction.