The Dragon's Token
Offering to become a guardian first had taken a lot of resolve.
I'd been waiting the whole time for Ash to ask me himself.
But there was no sign of it happening, so I figured I'd just push the matter forward. His refusal, however, was far more decisive than I'd expected.
I was convinced the cause of my rejection lay entirely with this meddlesome redhead.
Glaring at that irritating red hair and grinding my teeth was almost a reflex.
“It's because you're a lunatic!”
“Says the thief.”
“……Who are you calling a thief!”
“You.”
“No, I'm not! Stop calling me a thief. It's offensive.”
“Thief.”
I kicked out at him, but of course it missed. Every failed strike only deepened my sense of powerlessness and defeat.
Robenin was half a head taller than Ash, and whenever he looked down at me, his eyes were half-lidded.
It wasn't just my imagination that it felt like he was looking down on me.
“Hey, you bastard! I said no! I just swallowed it for a second, and you're making such a fuss! It's just a sword! You can have it back! Just wait! I'll restore it exactly as it was…… no, even better!”
All my attacks missing was embarrassing enough, so I clenched my fists and ground my teeth to hide the feeling.
I'm the kind of person who could live without laws, so who does he think he is, calling me a thief!
It wasn't theft. I had simply removed something that posed a threat to me. It was pure self-defense.
The strange one was the person claiming theft over a weapon destroyed in a fight.
Above all, since I planned to return it someday, this was truly far from theft.
I could tolerate being called a murderer, but not a thief.
[This master is impossible…… Isn't murder worse……?]
[I won't deny killing those slave traders, but being accused of a theft I didn't commit is annoying!]
[Technically, you are a thief right now. You deliberately absorbed someone else's property right in front of them.]
[You're hitting a sore spot today, aren't you?]
[I'm rather good at it, aren't I?]
[Have I been spoiling you too much lately?]
There had been a shovel for scooping excrement in the inn's shared bathroom. If it was metal, it might be hard for people to use.
That shovel shaped a bit like a ladle……
[Gah! Disgusting and petty!]
“By the way, Jeanie, I have a question.”
“Hm?”
“How did you make the sword disappear? The whip moved on its own…… What was that? And the whip seemed to wrap around the sword and make it vanish. Was that right? It didn't look like spirit magic.”
Ash had sharp eyes. While speaking, he noticed Rai neatly wrapped around my waist again and narrowed his brows in confusion.
“When did that…… I'm sure you threw it far away earlier.”
“It returned to its master on its own. Didn't you see?”
“……Not at all.”
A body made of metal had no heartbeat. Since it wasn't alive, Rai was extremely difficult to detect by presence alone.
Yet he seemed to register clearly on Robenin's radar.
“Well, I suppose I can tell you, Ash. This whip is actually……”
[Huh? You're telling him? Even with Robenin the natural enemy right here?]
[That's why I'm showing it. So he'll know what happens if he messes with me while carrying metal.]
To survive skillfully, one had to know exactly when to hide one's abilities and when to display them.
Since I'd already revealed this power by destroying Tenebra, it would be a clearer warning to show it properly.
With a light gesture, I lifted Rai, who had been mimicking a whip.
It immediately began to slither and coil elegantly around my forearm like a living snake.
Though it was startling to see something that had seemed inanimate suddenly display such strange movements and flick a bright red tongue, Ash's eyes only widened slightly, while Robenin remained expressionless.
People whose specialty was being expressionless were never any fun. Maybe showing a bit more would get a reaction.
“Ash, maybe this form is more familiar to you?”
I dropped Rai, still coiled on my palm, onto the floor.
Rai lost its shape like flowing water, and upon touching the ground, transformed into the form of a large dog.
With their exceptional dynamic vision, both men must have witnessed the moment of change.
[Ta-da!]
“……Rai?”
“It's not alive.”
Ash patted Rai's head in a daze, checking if this was the same pet dog he knew, while Robenin only offered an extremely concise remark. He still looked thoroughly unimpressed.
He didn't seem particularly surprised.
“You two are the first I've shown Rai's transformation to. Why aren't you more impressed?”
“……I am impressed. It's astonishing. I never thought it was an ordinary beast. Something that intelligent and with a body harder than any weapon couldn't possibly be just an animal.”
“So that's what made Tenebra disappear. A metal chimera?”
“Unexpected. So you do think sometimes? Half right.”
After lightly teasing Robenin, I gestured for Rai to stand beside me.
When I stroked the spot Ash had patted, Rai wagged its tail vigorously like a real puppy, clearly delighted.
“Even in this furry form, it's still pure metal. These 'fur' strands are closer to threads woven from gold. It's not a chimera. Comparing Rai to something so vile would be unpleasant.”
Chimeras were one of the forbidden arts rooted in black magic.
They mixed the living and the dead to create new beings, but since they were only completed upon death, they required a separate, impure soul to animate the dead body. A kind of zombie.
“You asked before, didn't you? What Rai's true identity was.”
“I did. I didn't know it had a transformation ability. It can't be a monster, and while it doesn't feel like a chimera…… because there's no evil aura, I wondered if it might be a spirit. Though that seemed unlikely.”
Thanks to his time spent with me, Ash's reasoning was far more accurate than Robenin's.
It would have been correct, but the problem was that I had no intention of giving him that answer.
I never expected him to guess right.
I'd only wanted to show a little because keeping Rai's secret was getting tiresome, but I had planned to keep the fact that it was a spirit hidden.
I wanted to conceal the existence of spirits other than the four elements as much as possible.
Startled, I quickly made an excuse.
“Ahem, I can't go into detail…… It's a gift from a dragon, perhaps?”
“A dragon……!”
“So I really can't explain further. Don't try to find out.”
[What? Why am I a gift from Magi?]
[The Dragon Heart was donated by Magi, wasn't it? And explaining the truth about you would take half a day.]
A dragon was always a convenient excuse to attach to anything.
Thanks to the Dragon Heart, Rai's transformations always carried a hint of gold no matter the color, and it could change form freely without my mana.
So functionally, it was indeed a dragon's gift.
“Do you have any dragon friends? I do.”
Despite my excessive humility, I was someone with plenty to boast about. I puffed up my chest while giving Robenin a clear warning not to mess with me.
“Do I still look like a thief to you? Huh? I know a dragon, so what would I do with just one sword? If you go to a dragon's lair, there are mountains of them……”
“Where's the dragon?”
This guy wasn't even envious; he just said whatever he wanted.
And when had he gotten so close again?
I was startled, but there was no killing intent, so I only frowned. Ash quickly dragged me back like a dog on a leash.
“Young master!”
Ash looked overwhelmed trying to stop my outburst while restraining the quick-handed Robenin.
Having two unpredictable dangerous individuals together was enough to torment anyone with normal reasoning.
[How to torment Ash! Having Robenin and Master in the same place.]
“Answer me. Where is the dragon? How can I find it? What was it like…… What was its presence like?”
“What do you mean? As unpleasant as you.”
“I want to meet it.”
“What? I didn't know you had a death wish.”
“Where should I go? Where's the lair……”
“Jeanie! You mustn't tell him!”
Robenin's voice was the most lively and enthusiastic I'd ever heard from him.
So this was what Robenin with sparkling eyes looked like. It was a sight I'd rather not have seen.
“Your abilities may have been overestimated, but I overlooked the fact that you survived a dragon's grasp.”
“……Was that an insult?”
“It's a compliment.”
“It feels like an insult, so it must be one.”
This guy had no reason to compliment me. Even now, since I wouldn't reveal the lair's location, he was subtly radiating killing intent. If asking didn't work, he'd move on to threats.
At this level of killing intent, Lox might faint while standing.
“Tell me. Where is the lair?”
“What do you need it for?”
“Dragons are the strongest beings granted by the gods. If I can face one, even death would be welcome.”
“……Well…… I figured as much.”
If there was one decisive difference between Robenin and me, it was that I was slightly mad, while he was completely mad.
I at least had the wisdom to value my life, but this guy seemed to lose all reason at the sight of a strong opponent, with no regard for his own life.
By the way, this guy seemed to think I was incredibly weak.
He no longer showed any interest in fighting me. Avoiding a fight with no chance of winning was my choice, but it was still infuriating.
'Huh? Wait, isn't this actually perfect? If I send him to Magi, Magi might kill him…… but if I'm unlucky, Adelaide will tear me into thirty-two pieces for leaking the lair's location.'
Adelaide, the holy dragon and Magi's mother, had a tendency to overprotect her child in a way uncharacteristic of dragons, and that was because Magi was a somewhat lacking dragon.
Dragons who kidnapped humans only to end up being tamed themselves and even handing over their Dragon Hearts weren't exactly common.
Of course Adelaide was more terrifying than Robenin. Someone like Robenin would be nothing more than lunch to Adelaide. Still, I rated him slightly higher than a snack.
“You mustn't! You can't tell him! He'll go to his death!”
Ash cried out as if he could see the fierce conflict inside me, and the answer had already been decided. Unfortunately.
“The lair's location is a secret.”
“Phew……”
“Absolutely?”
“Absolutely. I can't tell you. Staring at me like that won't change anything.”
I smiled brightly as the killing intent directed at me grew stronger.