The Young Dragon's Whim
Smiling faintly.
“Of course I could make it, but…”
“Then make it right now! What are you doing being so slow!”
“Well, the thing is—”
“Your spirit won’t listen to a word I say!”
I understood it naturally.
The dragon throwing a fit in front of me was a relatively young specimen. That was why it was so impatient and reckless. It was easy enough to guess.
And surprisingly, I was pretty confident when it came to handling children.
After all, rumors that my training room at the academy was haunted meant the elementary kids were always sneaking in for courage tests.
This dragon seemed to be exactly on that level.
“If I make that metal for you, will you spare my life?”
I sincerely hoped the dragon I’d encountered was the dumbest one on the entire continent.
“No!”
Tsk. So it was only second-place material.
“Mom said letting a human live is a disgrace to the clan!”
“But if I create the greatest sword on the continent, wouldn’t that ultimately bring pride to the clan?”
“…Is that so?”
Nice. It really was dumb.
“If you promise to spare me, I could make you heaps of that special metal.”
“H-heaps?”
“Yes. Aren’t dragons supposed to be the very symbol of benevolence?”
Dragons are the gangsters of the continent, more like.
“Hmm… but Mom said…”
“You can just do it without Mom knowing, can’t you?”
“That’s true!”
“Keeping secrets from your parents is one of the ways to become an adult, you know.”
“That’s true too!”
“Excuse me, but how old are you…?”
“Five hundred and three!”
I’d thought it was a mama’s boy, but it was actually still young. Dragons were said to live up to ten thousand years, after all…
Rai, from what age do dragons count as adults?
Probably around five hundred. I believe that’s when they hold their coming-of-age ceremony and begin living alone.
Then this one…
We’ve caught an immature one.
Whether that was good luck or bad luck, I couldn’t quite decide.
“I’ve only been independent for three years, but I’m a full-fledged adult dragon!”
“I see.”
The most important factor right now was exactly how much this dragon wanted the special metal Rai could create.
The fact that it still hadn’t killed me suggested it valued the metal quite highly.
Ahem.
I cleared my throat once and asked Rai in the most trustworthy voice I could manage.
The dragon’s eyes were sparkling.
Positively glittering.
“My good boy Rai, can you make that metal again?”
Of course. As long as there’s mana. But that voice is giving me goosebumps—could you please stop?
“Hohoho. What was it again?”
It’s an alloy. I mixed whatever I could find in a hurry, so making the exact same thing is impossible. I could probably match the strength, but…
“Wonderful news! Rai says he can make it exactly the same!”
Since the dragon couldn’t hear Rai’s voice anyway, I translated however I pleased.
In whatever way benefited me, of course.
“Make it right now!”
“Right now it’s a little difficult because I don’t have any mana. You’ll need to give me some time.”
“What? Ugh, just as Mom said. Worthless humans! How can you possibly run out of mana?”
Excuse me. You’re a dragon. The creatures with infinite mana.
“Oh! Now that I think about it, I can just take that spirit for myself!”
This was bad. It had a little intelligence after all? Better than a dolphin, at least.
“Just hand the spirit over!”
“…How?”
“How should I know? You’re the Spirit Master.”
Handing him over would mean my death. Who in their right mind would do that? Even if I knew how, I’d claim I didn’t.
My professional smile was finally reaching its limit.
A smile of this caliber was top-tier hospitality I only ever used in front of the king.
“I really don’t know. I’ve never even heard that something like that is possible…”
“You’re not just pretending not to know, are you!”
“Doesn’t the esteemed Dragon know? I heard dragons know everything in the world.”
My question made it falter for a moment. Then it planted its short hands on its hips and puffed up with more confidence than necessary.
“That’s only in fields we’re interested in! No dragon cares about something as trivial as spirits!”
From the look of things, this one was interested in blacksmithing, so what was so inferior about spirits? Tsk.
“Ask the spirit! Ask if there’s a way to transfer it to me!”
“Yes, yes. You heard that, right, Rai?”
There isn’t. A spirit isn’t some object you can just pass around.
“It says no.”
If there were, it would mean terminating the contract with Master and forming a new one with that guy, right?
Was it telling me to die?
But I have zero intention of doing that. Once my contract with Master ends, I plan to rest for a very long time. And I will never contract with a dragon!
“Why?”
Those creatures work you for ten thousand years without ever letting you die! I prefer short-lived humans!
Was I supposed to be happy about that?
It felt strangely unpleasant.
“What did it say?”
“Rai says he has absolutely no intention of contracting with a dragon. And that once I die, he’ll rest for a long time.”
“Ugh! Then are there no other metal spirits?”
“I doubt it. Rai’s always bragging that he’s the one and only existence of his kind in the world.”
Rai’s voice could only be heard by me, his contractor.
He had no ability to project his voice outward. To do that, he’d need to transform his body into a human or another race with the proper vocal structure.
Temporary partial transformation was possible, but that required its own share of mana.
“Then… if I kill you, I really can’t have it?”
This dragon had a completely transparent mind; every thought showed on its face.
“Think about it. What spirit in the world would form a contract with the enemy who murdered its master?”
“Is that how it works?”
“Yes. So killing me would be an enormous loss in terms of material procurement.”
“Then… it can’t be helped.”
Was I saved?
“You’ll have to be my pet from now on. You know how to use the bathroom, right?”
This was insane.
“Mom said humans are ungrateful so we shouldn’t raise them. But I want that metal spirit.”
“Wait, does that mean…”
“I’ll just take you entirely!”
Was I a dog?
“No thank you.”
“You’re refusing? I’ll kill you. Right now!”
There was no way I wanted to spend my life living with a dragon.
I’d rather actually die!
“Yes, please just kill me. Like I said earlier, my neck is right here.”
No! Don’t die, Master!
I was completely past the point of caring.
It wasn’t as if I had such a strong attachment to life that I’d willingly live as a slave.
If I had any lingering regret, it was that I hadn’t beaten Robenin’s spawn.
The fact that he was the last thing on my mind before death was irritating all over again.
That Robenin bastard really did have a talent for making me angry.
“Hmph…! Then no! Why? Is living with me that awful?”
“Obviously.”
“Don’t be like that. I’ll treat you well! Okay? Let’s live together! I’ll give you jewels. Want a crown? What do you like?”
Listening to it, the words sounded strangely like a proposal.
“I’ll give you a room! I won’t let you go hungry, and I’ll take you on walks!”
“I have no desire to end my life as someone’s pet, thank you.”
“Then let’s be friends! Friends!”
The dragon wearing a dwarf’s skin clung to my leg and threw a completely unreasonable tantrum.
Have you ever seen a rabbit and a tiger become friends? Just say outright that you’ll turn me into lunch.
“Just kill me quickly, please.”
“No! If you’re gone, the spirit disappears!”
“That’s not my problem. So either kill me or let me go.”
No matter how I looked at it, spending decades running errands for a dragon was far worse than dying cleanly right now.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
Why should I have to cater to a dragon’s mood?
Once I’d roughly grasped the situation, anger began to rise instead.
What a ridiculously twisted life.
I didn’t need the rare experience of being kidnapped by a dragon.
Wasn’t that usually the princesses’ role?
I was an ordinary, power-averse Spirit Master. Just how far did my terrible luck plan to go?
No, did it even need to be this harsh from the start?
Every time I stepped foot outside the academy I got beaten and knocked down, so I had no choice but to shut myself in the training room.
It wasn’t as if I enjoyed becoming a recluse.
“Come on, let’s live together! Yeah?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why do you hate me so much!”
“Because you kidnapped me, tried to kill me, tried to steal my spirit, and only ever do whatever you want.”
I counted the reasons on my fingers and gave the lecture at eye level. Only then did the dragon finally look a little ashamed.
“You could compromise a little!”
It seemed this young dragon had no intention of killing me and didn’t even understand the concept of push-and-pull.
It also seemed a bit slow.
“Compromise?”
“I’ll spare you! I’ll let you out sometimes, and I won’t steal your spirit! I’ll raise you free-range!”
It was treating me like a beast… which, technically, fit, but at least it sounded like it would let me go.
Tempted, I uncrossed my firmly folded arms.
“You’ll really let me go?”
“Yeah!”
“What if I don’t come back?”
“Then I can’t help it. I’ll just find you and kill you!”
Cough.
“…Then how long will you let me out for?”
“Um, um… sometimes?”
“What does ‘sometimes’ even mean?”
Before I knew it I had completely dropped honorifics, but the young dragon didn’t seem to mind at all.
Had it taken a liking to me?
Or was Rai simply that valuable?
“If you let me go, I won’t die and I’ll help you?”
“Depending on the conditions. If I like them, I’ll help you make swords with Rai, procure materials—whatever you need. And I’ll coax Rai nicely later so he contracts with you. How about it?”
Excuse me? What about my opinion, Master?
As if that exists.
“Really?”
This dragon’s ears were remarkably soft.
Maybe because it was young, it fell for things easily.
“You’ll let me go, right?”
“Yes!”
Had my life-staking bet paid off?
It might have worked because I genuinely hadn’t cared if I survived. I quietly began packing my things.
Not that I had anything but Rai.
“Then can I leave now?”
“That won’t do! Help me first and then go!”
“…Ugh. How much help do you need?”
“About… a hundred years?”