Dragon and Witch
"There he is."
"He's here."
"Whoa. First time I've seen him for real. That is no joke. Cross him the wrong way and they won't even find your bones."
The moment Cha Siu's group stepped off the train and into the space reserved for mages, a storm of stares poured in from every direction.
Siu said nothing about it. The people throwing those looks his way were not acquaintances he needed to care about. To a dragon, humans with no connection to him were lesser life-forms — nothing more, nothing less. So he did not so much as glance at the attention. That was only his own perspective, though. In truth, his appearance had kicked up far bigger waves than he realized.
These people were the type to lose their minds for days whenever something new showed up. And now an Archmage — the sort of figure most of them were lucky to glimpse once a year — had just walked in. Of course the place went wild.
When he had first revealed himself, though, the prevailing opinion had been very different.
"An Archmage? That's gotta be a scam, right? Even if he is good at rejuvenation magic, nobody lives that long."
The very existence of an Archmage named Cha Siu had felt like a con. He had dropped out of a clear blue sky, after all — crack! — just like that.
But now?
"Hey, hey, hey — what kind of garbage are you spouting? Are you just going to ignore every magical achievement that man has made? Could you do any of it? The mass popularization of spatial magic alone is enough that they ought to name an award after him!"
"And flight magic! People can use it this easily because of him!"
"What about all the ancient texts he's deciphered? Want me to keep going? Run your mouth any more and if his followers get ahold of you, I am not bailing you out."
"Okay, okay, I get it. I misspoke."
That was how thoroughly the talk had flipped. No one who still tried to dismiss him could be found anywhere nearby.
And the decisive point:
"If that man weren't a real mage, would those old fossils upstairs be groveling to him like that? Those are the guys who never acknowledge anyone unless it's pure magical ability. Have you ever once seen them bow their heads to anyone else?"
The highest seats in the mage world. The old men who poured everything into keeping magical society completely sealed off from ordinary society. The fact that those arrogant fossils bowed and scraped to Cha Siu alone made his standing here crystal clear.
And among them, the high-nosed young mages from every corner of the world — none of them looking particularly East Asian, all around Lee Ha-yan's age — stared with glittering eyes, trying to burn every second of Siu's walk into their memories.
Naturally, Siu could not have cared less.
"Registration's all done, right? So we just get to eat and play for a week?"
"Siu! I want takoyaki! The mentaiko flavor!!"
"I-I'll have ramen..."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go. Food first."
"Heehee. It's been a long time."
"What now. You grab a tourist and start boring me with pointless talk, you're on your own."
"Ohohoho..."
Her hands shook so hard the teacup nearly rattled itself to pieces. At a single word from Cha Siu, Takanashi barely managed to set the cup down in front of herself.
Siu stared at her for a moment, then let out a long sigh.
"Hey. I'm not going to kill you. Stop tensing up like that. Last time at the company you almost fainted. This is your house, okay? If anyone should be nervous, it's me. Why are you the one doing this?"
"Ahahaha... e-even so, I can't help it. One spell from you, Siu-ssi, and I'd be saying goodbye to this world without being able to do a thing."
"Is this still about what happened before? Those guys deserved to die. Touching me might be three strikes and you're out, but Ha-yan? You already know she's different."
"Ohohoho. Th-then I understand. I'll try to act as composed as possible."
Even as she said it, Takanashi's hands kept trembling. Siu realized talking about it any further was pointless. He sighed again and asked,
"So? There's basically no other schedule for the whole week, right?"
The trip's official purpose was Ha-yan's evaluation, but almost every day had been packed full of Siu and Ha-yan's Osaka sightseeing. The evaluation itself was already locked in first place, and she had grown so skilled at teleportation magic that further practice was unnecessary.
Still, the mages from all over the world who had gathered in Japan because of the evaluation had no intention of letting this chance slip by.
Plenty of them already wanted to fly to Korea just to meet him, but without Ha-yan's mother's permission, entering the country was impossible from the start. Some had looked for other ways to make contact. The ones who tried anything a little "extreme" had all been sent on an express trip to the afterlife.
In that climate, almost every mage had refused to leave the Takanashi family of Osaka alone — the hosts of the evaluation and the ones running the venue. By the time Takanashi brought the subject up, Siu already knew the entire situation. On the bus to the airport with Ha-yan he had freely exercised his foresight for the first time in a while regarding this very schedule.
He sighed once more and said,
"Yeah, yeah. I already know they leaned on you hard. What I don't know is exactly what they asked for. So tell me that. And stop shaking."
"Ah. Yes, yes. Of course. You do have that ability, Siu-ssi."
Only then did Takanashi manage to still her trembling hands. She ordered her secretary to bring the paper listing every request. The moment Siu read the writing on the page that was handed to him, he stopped bothering to hide his rage and bellowed,
"These insane bastards!!!!!!!!!!"
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!"
The mana storm that erupted from him sent Takanashi flying unceremoniously across the room.
"Mmph mmph. It's good, right?"
"Ooooh. This is incredible. The real thing really does taste different."
While Cha Siu was unleashing an unrestrained mana storm on Takanashi, Lee Ha-yan and Yang Ho-jin were strolling arm-in-arm like a pair of close friends through the humid Osaka streets as summer approached. Siu was not with them, yet Ha-yan was thoroughly enjoying the girls-only time.
Ho-jin, however, carefully blew on a piece of takoyaki and asked while Ha-yan popped it into her mouth,
"Um, young lady... are you all right?"
"Hm? About what?"
"Siu-nim couldn't even join us because of those weird mages. He seemed pretty excited about today."
"Mmm. That's true. But..."
Ha-yan finished the last takoyaki and said,
"Siu has to take care of his side of things so we can travel in peace again. Sure, if it came down to pure power he could wipe them all out and still have strength left over, but the world isn't a place you can live that simply. If he plays along with them a little, they won't come barging into the rest of our quiet time."
"And if they keep at it after that?"
"Then? Well, I guess those kids must have extra lives~ and we'll have to deal with them."
"...Ah."
The way Ha-yan said something so chilling with a bright smile left Ho-jin momentarily speechless.
"Besides, every once in a while it's fun just hanging out the two of us — you and me, or the others! I really wish Rhea and Sia could have come too."
"Ah. That's true. But Rhea-nim has to hold down the company, and Sia-nim has to manage the underground facilities, so there's no helping it."
Ho-jin felt a little disappointed herself. Still, every unavoidable thing had its reasons, so they all simply accepted it and moved on.
"Which means I have to play hard enough for their share too! Next up — ramen time!!!"
"L-let's go together~~"
Disappointment was disappointment, but the important thing was that they were already right in the heart of Osaka. Siu would handle his business on his end. And what Siu wanted most from Ha-yan was simple: that she ignore every weird distraction and just enjoy herself to the fullest. Knowing that, Ha-yan had already decided to play with everything she had.
"To sum it up. They want me to take on a few more disciples?"
"Y-yes. Th-that's correct."
"...First let's get this sorted. Call the kids."
"Y-yes, sir."
Damn it. I was already holding my temper, and these bastards go and cross the line.
The foresight showed me Takanashi handing over a paper and talking, but it never told me what was written on it. Why is this ability always so half-assed?
It had always been like that. The foresight would warn that something was going to happen, then deliberately blur every important detail. One hundred percent of the time. So I usually started situations with rough guesses pieced together from scraps of information. This result, though, was outside anything I had expected.
While Takanashi scrambled up and used magic to summon people and put the wrecked room back together, I quietly looked at the paper still clenched in my hand.
The writing on it — whether you called it a commission delivered to Takanashi, a request, or an outright threat — boiled down to this:
You are acquainted with Cha Siu, are you not? Rather than that Lee Ha-yan from a second-rate magic nation, how about "making an effort" to attach a few of our nation's children to him as disciples as well? If it proves impossible, so be it... but you already know the consequences, don't you?
Lately it seemed a whole lot of people had suddenly grown about a hundred extra lives.
Do they seriously want to die?