Arcana Online
The snake that had been staring at me—no, Yongyong—looked extremely satisfied.
Reward granted.
“Yongyong. Take care of me, okay?”
“······.”
So he really couldn’t talk? Well, he’d only just been born. It would’ve been even creepier if he could already speak.
More importantly, it was about time I logged out.
“I’m going to sleep now. See you tomorrow.”
I carefully moved Yongyong onto the bed, lay down beside him, and pressed the logout button.
*
*
*
Yongyong stared at his contract holder.
Yongyong stared at his contract holder.
I checked several times to make sure the human I’d contracted with was really asleep.
Then I opened the sleeping human’s subspace and took out the Yeouiju resting inside.
An object stolen thousands of years ago.
No. It had been taken from me by deceitful humans.
I had spent a thousand years in cold water, waiting only to ascend, and in a single instant, it had all turned to foam.
After that day, I gave up on ascension and spent ages dreaming only of vengeance against deceitful humans.
And now the Yeouiju had returned to my arms.
With the Yeouiju, I could ascend...
I could not ascend.
I had soaked up the blood of countless humans, and my body was no longer fit for ascension.
As I held the Yeouiju and looked at the sleeping human, something about it felt strange.
Was it just my imagination that I kept thinking of the human girl I had once met before I was ever called an imugi?
The girl who had saved me when I was dying in the mountains.
Suddenly, a strange feeling surged through me, and my mind grew clear.
It was the same sensation I’d felt just before ascension.
That sensation led me into my subspace.
And there, I found it.
Light Crystal.
With this, I could ascend.
The moment I swallowed the Yeouiju and moved to swallow the Light Crystal, I looked back at the sleeping human.
The human who had given me the name Yongyong.
She had named me Yongyong, hoping I would become a dragon someday, even though I had been born unable to become one.
Staring at her for a long time, she overlapped in my mind with that girl from back then.
A human’s lifespan, at best, was a hundred years.
Then I’ll protect her for just a hundred years, in exchange for the crystal’s worth.
After wanting this for thousands of years, why couldn’t I wait another hundred?
I imposed the restriction, then swallowed the crystal.
At that instant, a force surged through me.
I had claimed the power I had dreamed of for thousands of years.
No more imugi existed in this world.
It was the moment a dragon was born.
From now on, I could grant anything my contract holder wished for.
If she wanted a kingdom, I would give her a kingdom. If she said she needed a dragon heart, I would hunt down a dragon and bring it back for her.
Those lizards that couldn’t even ascend? I could hunt down as many of them as I liked.
Unless they were at the level of a Dragon King, that is.
When I finished thinking, I slipped into my contract holder’s arms.
Warmth, felt for the first time in thousands of years.
It wasn’t bad.
*
*
*
Early the next morning, I logged into the game.
Yongyong was sleeping in my arms, and he was so adorable I could hardly stand it!
If I’d had a camera, I would’ve taken a hundred pictures. What a shame.
Maybe he sensed I was awake, because Yongyong opened his eyes and looked at me.
“Sleep well?”
“······.”
I gently poked the tiny Yongyong with my finger, and his expression loosened as if he were pleased.
They say a snake’s face is always a snake’s face, but with Yongyong I could tell everything at a glance, from his mood to the expression that followed.
Was that because I was a summoner?
After petting Yongyong for a long while, I tucked him into my arms again and headed downstairs for breakfast.
As always, the inn was bustling with people, and I could see Bell working.
She was in the middle of serving a table when she noticed me, waved, and greeted me—then startled when she saw the snake in my arms.
“Oh my, is that a summon?”
“Yep! Isn’t he ridiculously cute?”
“A snake summon... It’s been a while since I’ve seen one—”
I smiled brightly at Bell, but something about her expression felt odd.
And Yongyong, who was looking at Bell, was strange too.
He was flicking out his tongue, staring with the gaze of someone eyeing something delicious...?
“Wait here for a bit, okay?”
“Okay!”
I wondered what breakfast would be today while I played with Yongyong, and then Bell returned.
She came back with breakfast and a pile of small beads, but what were those?
“Those are magic stones. They contain mana, so they’re good for summons.”
When I handed the magic stones to Yongyong, he flicked his tongue and ate them one by one.
He was so cute I desperately wished I had a camera.
Wait a second. Didn’t the goblins say they’d taken a picture last time? Then didn’t that mean there was a camera somewhere!?
“Bell! Do you happen to have a camera?”
“Do you need one?”
“Yes!”
“Hmm. The magic tower has one, but we don’t have it here right now.”
The cruelest thing in the world was giving someone hope and then crushing it.
I finished breakfast in a daze and watched Yongyong eat the magic stones.
Maybe he noticed my gaze, because he looked up at me and tilted his head.
“So cute!”
If he’d been even the size of a doll, I would’ve hugged him and rubbed my cheek against him, but he was too small for me to do anything at all.
I had to get him bigger, fast.
“Eat lots! Bell, do you have any more of these!? I’ll pay!”
“They’re 100,000 gold each. Is that okay?”
The gold ratio between the real world and the game world was 1:1.
Which meant that every one of those tiny beads Yongyong was eating cost 100,000 won.
Then how much had Yongyong eaten so far...?
All those magic stones were gone now.
Yongyong sat there with a belly puffed out and a thoroughly satisfied expression.
Well, if he enjoyed it, that was what mattered.
Should I go do a quest or something...?
Just then, Bell made me a good offer.
“Do you happen to have plans today? We’ve got a group reservation, so could you help out for a day?”
Help the innkeeper Bell run the inn for one day.
Reward: small amount of experience, magic stone.
“I’ll do it! I want to! Not just one day—several days is fine!”
“Hehehe, then I’ll be counting on you.”
As expected, I should have run away again.
That day, a flood of people came pouring in, and the inn recorded sales unlike anything it had ever seen.
On top of that, word got out that I was working there, and the guard squad came in for a group dinner, nearly killing me in the process.
After closing the first-floor dining hall, I received experience and magic stones from Bell, who said I’d worked hard, and then I staggered back to my room and collapsed onto the bed.
Yongyong was staring at me.
“I’ll work hard and keep our Yongyong nice and full.”
“······.”
“And this is what I got from Bell.”
When I handed him the magic stones, he happily ate them, and I couldn’t even describe how cute he was.
Was this what it felt like to raise a child?
“Haaahm. I’m going to sleep first. See you tomorrow.”
“······.”
*
*
*
I was watching my sleeping contract holder.
She was sleeping like the dead, so why did she insist on making things hard for herself?
If she just asked me, I could obtain not only these magic stones but all sorts of rare treasures in the world.
But since my body was bound as a summon by a restriction, I couldn’t act on my own.
My contract holder had to ask me first.
At that moment, I felt something.
I opened the window and went outside, where a being stronger than the other humans was looking at me.
The human who had worked my contract holder to the bone all day long.
I had planned to forgive her because she gave me magic stones, but she’d crossed the line.
“What were you trying to do by approaching Yuna?”
“······.”
When she summoned a staff out of thin air and pointed it at me, I snorted and tried to release my power.
In situations where I was protecting my contract holder, I could use my power freely.
But it wouldn’t activate?
There was only one conclusion.
This human had no intention of harming my contract holder, not even a hair on her head.
My interest cooled at once.
Yongyong says he had no intention of doing anything to the human.
“Hah. Yongyong...”
At that moment, the strange human covered her mouth and made a choking sound.
What was wrong with her?
“W-wait! I have something to say!”
The human shoved the staff she’d just been holding into her subspace and looked at me.
“Promise me one thing. Swear that you won’t bring any harm to Yuna. She’s such a pitiful child.”
Yongyong says he has no intention of harming his contract holder in any way.
“I believe you. Ah, and this is an apology gift.”
She handed me a large pouch.
It was full of magic stones.
Yongyong said he would forgive her just this once.
I left the strange human there, still covering her mouth and making those choking noises, and went back in through the window, locking it behind me.
I climbed onto the bed and waited, eating the magic stones from the pouch one by one.
For my contract holder to wake up.