A Temporary Bond

The idea of a temporary relationship? When I thought about it, recovery magic in fantasy worlds truly had to be considered overpowered. To go from near-zero stamina straight back to one hundred in an instant—there was no other word for it. Of course, it branched into various forms like dot heals or conditional healing. But at its core, the most important thing was that recovery magic carried the crucial ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠keyword of time reduction.

Even the dot heal, which had the smallest instantaneous recovery among all healing spells, far surpassed normal stamina regeneration. In the end, if you had recovery magic, you could survive even a massive car accident and be walking around fine after just a few days. It was a power worthy of being called a miracle—one that could turn a nine-week recovery period into nine minutes.

And just moments ago, that very miracle had been applied to me. I had been feeling extreme fatigue only seconds before, yet in the blink of an eye, I felt completely refreshed. The sudden dissonance left me with a strange, indescribable feeling. As a modern person who had never experienced receiving recovery magic in real life, I immediately recognized how alien this situation was. This phenomenon, which could even feel eerie, had been caused by…

The little girl.

The black-haired girl had already withdrawn her hand from my scales and was stepping back. I didn’t entertain thoughts like it was a coincidence or just my imagination. This was a world where a massive whale with horns and his subordinates existed. The notion that this was modern Earth had been discarded long ago.

Of course, the existence of monsters didn’t guarantee that humans possessed special powers. But compared to modern Earth, the possibility here was overwhelmingly higher. That was why I was certain the phenomenon that had completely restored my body’s condition was the work of this child.

Countless questions flooded my mind—what, how, and why. It was only natural. This girl was the first otherworldly being I had encountered, the first to grant me a new sensation, and simultaneously the first anomaly I had faced.

Yet none of those questions ever left my mouth. It was consideration for the child. No matter how much she didn’t fear or hate me, her attitude could easily crumble afterward. Still, I couldn’t simply ignore her entirely, so I left only a short question.

“Ehh?!”

When my voice resonated through the space, the girl’s shoulders jerked violently. Since I had never spoken until now, this was the first time she was hearing my voice as well, so I fully understood her surprise. A dragon’s speech did not produce sound like a human’s. It resonated directly through space, as if engraving itself straight into the mind.

The child looked around nervously, then met my eyes and let out a large breath, as if relieved. She fidgeted with her hands and quietly murmured.

“…Rachel.”

Rachel. A familiar yet beautiful name. I repeated it several times in my mind, engraving it firmly. There were many things I was curious about, but this was all I would ask for now.

A child who had restored a dragon’s mind. I didn’t know the extent of this world’s power levels, but it didn’t seem like ordinary talent. She probably belonged to the so-called top-priority recruitment characters.

Even so, the reason I didn’t try to keep her was simple.

I still have too much to do.

I wasn’t yet prepared to recruit her, so I chose to take a step back for now. One step back for two steps forward. It wouldn’t be too late to seek her out after that.

Therefore, the last words I left Rachel with were a simple farewell.

“Ueh? Eh?”

I used the water to grab her clothes and lift her back onto the cliff. Rachel dangled there, staring at me with a bewildered expression.

“Ah, um, that is—!”

Perhaps sensing that I was about to leave, Rachel suddenly shouted. Realizing she had squeaked in a weird voice, she quickly covered her mouth. Then her hand dropped, and words filled with urgency spilled out.

“C-can I see you again?!”

…

See me again. It seemed Rachel wanted to see me too. I gave an affirmative response to her question.

I didn’t set a specific time. Or rather, I couldn’t. With those final words, I slowly sank into the sea.

Rachel’s small hands clutching her pure white skirt caught my attention for a moment, but I deliberately ignored it and moved away from the shore. When I rose to the surface a short while later and looked back at the cliff, Rachel had already disappeared.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of emptiness and regret, my first interaction with Rachel—a person of this world—came to an end.

It was only… a single day later that I would meet Rachel again.

“I heard from the village that if you give something delicious to the god, he’ll grant your wish…!”

“…Hehe.”

This was bewildering. It was so bewildering that it wouldn’t have been strange to use the Azure Dragon itself as the very symbol of bewilderment. No, perhaps absurd was the better word.

I came because she was making such a fuss again, thinking it might be something serious this time…

While I was dealing with the whale gang and taking a breather, the sea began to stir once more. Wondering what it was, I listened carefully and sensed an emotion of greed. Thinking it was a normal request this time, I moved toward where the greed was directed—only to find it was the top of the cliff again.

With a sense of disbelief, I rose up, and there was yesterday’s little girl once more. This time, she was even holding an armful of tree fruits.

The moment Rachel saw me, she neatly placed the fruits on the ground. What she said next was exactly that.

Who on earth told her about offerings?

I was not a god, and Rachel was not a believer, but this was clearly an offering ritual. What exactly was an offering, after all? It was a kind of price that believers presented when asking a favor from a god. Such rituals had been passed down in various forms across both East and West.

The important point was that there was no fixed rule for what counted as an offering. That was why some offered sheep, some prepared ancestral tables, and some even offered people. Therefore, tree fruits could also be considered an offering.

In other words, I had become a dragon who responded to tree fruits as an offering.

Could Rachel have some kind of connection with water…?

After all, it was water that had guided me to this place. It was a rather plausible hypothesis.

Rachel looked at me with a face full of suspicion, smiling while sweating profusely. She had the air of a new employee who was extremely nervous yet overflowing with enthusiasm.

I let out a small sigh where she couldn’t see it, then spoke.

“Yes?”

“Ah, that is… well… I was bored? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠…Hup!”

Realizing what she had just said, she hurriedly covered her mouth, but it was already too late. Saying she called me because she was bored doubled my sense of absurdity. At the same time, one part of my mind was trying to understand Rachel.

She was just a child, after all. Even I would want to see an eighty-meter-long Azure Dragon again the next day. Her parents probably didn’t play with her enough. A countless number of Rachel defense teams formed inside my head, holding endless trials.

In the end, my thoughts shifted toward understanding her, but the impact of tree fruits and because I was bored still delivered no small shock.

“N-no, that’s not— whoa!”

To fulfill the bored child’s wish, what I created was a playground made of water. From classic equipment like slides, seesaws, and swings to advanced rides like Viking ships and small roller coasters. It was essentially inviting her to a theme park made entirely of water.

And the sole guest invited to that theme park seemed quite satisfied. At first she was a little startled, but soon she was screaming with delight on the slides and roller coaster. Watching Rachel have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so much fun naturally brought a smile to my face as well.

Besides, creating the rides was no different from training my Water Resonance, so it was truly killing two birds with one stone.

However, since I had just come from battle, I couldn’t keep it going for very long.

“Ehh! That’s too bad… hup!”

The moment the water disappeared, Rachel began to throw a tantrum before hurriedly covering her mouth again. She had been so absorbed in playing that she seemed to have forgotten about me for a second.

I didn’t need to ask if she was satisfied—Rachel looked more than satisfied enough. Still, it seemed she had something more to say, so I quietly waited for her to speak.

“Um…”

“Can I… come again tomorrow?”

Allowing tomorrow meant essentially allowing all future visits. For me, who had to deal with the whale pack, it could double my fatigue. Even now, playing with her had already built up exhaustion.

Nevertheless, I didn’t refuse because I wanted to maintain a relationship with Rachel. Since I had already decided to find her someday, I figured it would be better to build a smooth relationship starting now.

“…Yes!”

In the end, the answer that came from my mouth was positive. The relationship that had nearly been severed was thus reconnected under Rachel’s initiative.

And so, several days passed. That day, the waves were stirring violently.