Boy Meets Dragon Girl
There were roughly three ways to obtain fabric.
One: Digging wool from sheep while choking on their stench.
Two: Growing flax and going through hell to make linen.
Three: Picking cotton until even Bro shed bloody tears, then spinning it into thread.
Of the three, cotton seemed the most promising for mass production…
"Cotton, huh… They say it's only grown in a few southern imperial territories."
"And it's a bitch to cultivate, but somehow they manage."
The problem was that cotton's difficulty level was beyond imagination, even by medieval standards.
It needed about 200 frost-free days, constant water since it was so thirsty, and endless nutrients because it depleted soil like nothing else.
This insane challenge…
"Count Gossypium. A pleasure to meet you. I hear you're in the cotton business?"
"Hah?! Young Master Akion! The pleasure's mine! And you're asking because you're interested in our cotton farming, aren't you?!"
One count had apparently overcome it to some degree.
Akion had spotted him at the banquet and immediately gone over to chat.
"My territory has a mild climate year-round, and a clean, massive river runs right by the fields. No frost whatsoever."
"The south really is the place to live comfortably."
Growing it in Energies territory would mean building greenhouses, but with how soil-depleting it was, Akion had no intention of trying.
Food self-sufficiency came first, after all. Anyway.
So this Count Gossypium ran the empire's largest cotton plantation.
Small compared to modern mass plantations, sure. But still.
When Akion asked how he handled the soil depletion,
"Heh heh. Truth be told, I got some major help from your brother."
"You mean Huan?"
"Yes! He gave me invaluable advice on earth magic to keep the soil fertile!"
"Son of a—!!"
It was all thanks to earth magic!!
Akion finally understood why magic-allism existed.
It guaranteed fertile fields that put chemical fertilizers to shame—magic really was omnipotent!!!
Y-young Master? Why the sudden curse…?"
"It's just that damn good! If you applied it to wheat fields, no imperial citizen would ever go hungry again!"
"Ah! Haha! That's just like you, Akion—always looking out for your people!"
Figuring out the principles behind it?
He gave up.
Mana worked like electricity but on its own whims—what was the point?
I'll have to ask him someday.
All he could do was vow that if he ever met the god who slapped Earth's physics onto this world,
he'd demand to know why the code was such a buggy mess.
Even if it meant hell, an engineer had to speak his mind after all those frustrations.
"Well then, Count. Mind if I suggest a few magic tools for large-scale cotton production? Like turbine pumps for steady irrigation, or easier cotton gins…"
"…Let's discuss this on the terrace. Count Delpord, mind if I borrow your son for a bit?"
"Hoho, of course."
Anyway, raw material supply looked no issue to Akion's eyes.
Count Gossypium had land to spare and clearly wanted to expand his cotton empire.
"Using this spinning tool—"
"Ah! It separates the cotton fluff perfectly without damaging the plant!"
With that, they could streamline harvesting and processing all the way to yarn.
He'd soon get his viscount title anyway.
Akion planned to nail it down completely.
*
Meanwhile, Akion had unexpectedly tapped into the emperor's direct line.
The day after the banquet, a palace chamberlain handed him a badge emblazoned with a dragon emblem.
"This is a pass to move freely within the imperial palace."
"What's this all of a sudden…?"
"A courtesy from His Imperial Majesty."
It was a deliberate gift, as if the emperor had fully decided to groom him!
Akion was beyond stunned; the emperor's aggressive favoritism made him a tad nervous about potential backlash later…
"So this lets me into the imperial magic labs?"
"Haha, exactly. Your researcher's spirit is shining through, young master. If you're amenable, the Eternal Palace where the Seventh Princess resides—wait, young master! At least let me finish…!"
"Thank you!!"
So he could peek at other labs' experiments now?
That had his mouth watering.
Akion hurried off. He'd always wondered how magic research worked.
His own workshop? Brothers Huan and sister Hermione never did proper research there.
More like his brutal workloads left them collapsing the second they clocked out. Anyway.
-Tap tap.
"Whoa…"
Asking servants here and there as he went, a dazzling facility unfolded before him.
Opulent interiors that must have melted taxes by the bucketload.
A garden as big as the Energies Mansion.
And flowers blooming riotously within it.
Akion wandered in, mesmerized.
"It's fall—should be chilly, but it's warm here."
The flowers even had tailored temperature control.
And overhead, some transparent barrier shimmered…
Greenhouse effect?
Seeing the clouds distort slightly through it, Akion realized it mimicked the greenhouse principle.
Earth's climate stayed stable because clouds and atmosphere acted like greenhouse walls—this garden's mystery magic did the same.
Stuff like this shows how smart they really are.
Figuring out scientific principles through instinct in a world without clear rules.
One day, this world's people would surely advance as far as modern humanity.
With magic, maybe even further.
By then, everyone on the continent would live more comfortably, right?
"Oh? Who might you be?"
As Akion spaced out, a lively voice called to him.
He turned toward it and saw—
"What an unfamiliar face… Hmm. Pretty handsome, though. From outside the palace, maybe?"
A lovely young lady stood on a terrace overlooking the capital.
Silky red hair and stunning beauty.
But those vertical-slit pupils, like a predator's gaze.
Akion knew one being with eyes like that.
The Ridaside Magic Tower Master. A dragon.
And in the imperial palace, red hair symbolized the royal family.
-Snap!
"I greet the pillar of the empire."
It had to be a dragon!
Akion swallowed his cold sweat and dropped to one knee in formal obeisance.
The recipient?
"Pfft!"
She burst out laughing at the guest mistaking her for a dragon!
"Ahahaha! You thought I was a dragon?! Ahaha!"
"Pardon…?"
Come to think of it, the emperor had vertical pupils too.
A bit rounder than hers, but that red-haired emperor shared the draconic trait.
"Haa, really. I've seen plenty bow to me, but mistaking me for an ancestor? First time for everything."
Akion finally caught on to his blunder.
Face burning with embarrassment, he kept his head bowed low.
"You can stand. I'm just a humble girl with a drop of dragon blood."
"…If it's not rude, might I ask if you're the Seventh Princess?"
That narrowed the options sharply.
The current emperor had three daughters.
One was at the front lines, another at the academy…
"Spot on. Flair Pandragon Asterion."
"I greet the Seventh Princess."
It had to be Seventh Princess Flair before him.
The one who'd sent him two commissions stamped with the imperial seal…!
"I'm—"
"Hold on! Let me guess. Silver hair, blue eyes, handsome face…"
She eyed him like a puzzle to solve.
Staring at his silver hair, blue eyes, and features, Flair declared,
"Got it! Huan Energies!!"
"My sister's tanned."
"S-sister? What does that… Anyway, not him, huh."
Wrong guess.
Akion corrected her. He wasn't that kind of weirdo.
"Then… You said sister, so family, Energies family? So…"
As she pieced together Energies intel, her eyes widened.
Only one young master left after that.
"…Akion Energies? The one known as incompetent until a few years ago—"
"Yes, that's me."
"Now a genius alchemist?! The one who made my hair dryer?!!"
"Yes. I was shocked when Beatrice, your head maid, passed me that secret commission."
Flair, Beatrice, even her father Emperor Theodore Pandragon.
Akion, the benefactor who'd eased all their deepest worries, stood before her.
In that moment, he saw Flair's face light up.
It was like Goldie clutching a pile of cream puffs—pure, overflowing joy—
"You're… you're that Akion Energies…!"
"Seeing the luster in your hair, my magic tool must have helped ease your troubles. I'm truly honored—"
-Whoosh!
"Ack."
He hadn't expected a hug.
Akion froze amid Flair's faint orange scent.
He reflexively tried to push away, but…
-Nod.
Why are they nodding? It's okay to hug back?!
With her head maid and knight from before nodding approval behind her, he couldn't.
"Thank you! So much! Thanks to you, I reconciled with Father, and you saved my life!"
"For my magic tool to help that much is the greatest honor of my—mmph?!!"
"I'll show you how I use it! Bei, have the maids prep the washroom!"
"Hehe, as you command."
Flair's dragon-blooded strength dwarfed Akion's several times over.
Outmatched, the pathetic engineer got dragged off by Flair.