A Dragon's Evolution

This world doesn't have a name.

Of course, the gods gave it a name for the sake of convenience, though those living in this world don't know that. Consequently, this land is called—

The Dragon Bone Continent.

 

 

 

Positioned to the Northwest of this continent is the Casalia Kingdom. Agatha's Magic Shop is in the downtown part of the Royal Capital Anise.

The shop had a garden and also served the purpose of being their residence. Agatha bought it with the treasure she earned from ten years of adventuring, and though it was small, it was a pleasant house to live in.

In the mornings, Agatha would wake up in her room on the second floor and check on the garden from her window. In the garden was a scene that had become a daily routine.

"… I wonder why you became like that…"

In the small garden, there was the figure of her beloved daughter swinging a wooden sword she had made on her own.

Riana Crystal, five years old. Her mornings began before sunrise.

Changing into clothes that are easy to move in, she would go out into the garden with the wooden sword she made herself. She made a wooden sword out of a branch from the Black Steel Tree with a mithril knife she borrowed from her mother, a wood that was stronger than some low-ranked metals.

The first thing to do after going into the garden was calisthenics. With a child's wonderful flexibility, the stretches from her past life became absurdly simple, her body warmed up.

After swinging the sword in movements that have become basic, she turned to face an imaginary opponent.

There are monsters in the world.

There are dangerous wildlife such as wolves and bears of course, but the ultimate position is held by the dragon. Dragons.

According to Agatha's stories, high-ranking dragons have the power to easily destroy a country.

And Ria has the strength of a dragon.

(Even if I say that, I wonder how I can use that power.)

Contrary to appearance, she already has tremendous strength and stamina.

It's a blessing that [Self Check] lets me look into [Dragon's Bloodline].

So far, she'd reviewed [Herculean Strength] [High Speed Regeneration] [High Speed Recovery] [Robust Health] [Keen Senses] [Heat Resistance]. Other than [Heat Resistance] that appeared from drinking a hot soup, the others appeared while training.

By the way, the skills that I acquired in my previous life were reproduced.

The highest is [Swordplay] at Lv 7. According to mom, Lv 7 is expert level. I'm glad that the training in my previous life was rewarded.

But for the dragon power said to be equal to the Gods it was definitely too shabby.

(As I thought, I guess I have no choice but to raise my level?)

Ria's current level is 5. It went up while training. By the way, Agatha is level 35.

It seems that when she was young she went on a considerable amount of absurd adventures.

I was also being taught magic from Agatha. At first I was completely ignorant about magic, but when I understood that the thing called 'Magic Power' in this world was like my previous world's 'Spirit', my learning became faster.

Agatha's Fire Magic, Wind Magic, Water Magic, Natural Laws Magic, and Way of Truth Magic were at high levels, so teaching those to Ria was a daily routine.

She was learning together with Fei but, putting aside control, in terms of magical output she outstripped Fei in the blink of an eye.

"The thing called 'Talent'… is so cruel…"

Fei said. 'That's right,' Ria thought. In any case, this body has absurdly high specs. Memory and things like that are also clearly better than my previous life.

Learning magic is divided into three stages, starting with casting magic through chants, through runes, and through configuring the magic in your mind without chanting at all.

Chanting is the simplest way to invoke magic but chanting takes time. For rune casting there is a need for the word to be written there or for you to hold an item that has the magic written on it.

Mind configuration is the fastest but the image has to be precise.

When it comes to making a precise image, a person reincarnated from Japan has an advantage.

Inside your mind you have to imagine the rune; however, the composition of the character is similar to Japanese. As with Kanji, the characters having meanings and the conjunctions are like Hiragana. Ria knew very clearly just how much being a Japanese person in her previous life was advantageous.

The absolute first magic that Ria was taught was [Ability Check]. According to Agatha, "If you don't know your enemy, you will die."

With this magic, the opponent's blessings, techniques, and abilities can be discovered. Of course, there is a magic that prevents this but it can apparently be used on standard monsters. Knowing your enemies' abilities is definitely an important thing.

It seems that you can't use it if there is too much of a level difference, but it worked when checking Agatha's abilities.

Additionally, Agatha prioritized teaching magic that would be useful in an actual adventure. Magic like Ignition, Purify Water, Heal, and Detoxification. I haven't learned any offensive magic yet.

Ria was interested in magic that would strengthen her body, though at present, she already had enough due to her blessings.

"If it's Ria, perhaps you might eventually be able to use Space-Time Magic."

Though Agatha said it jokingly, Space-Time Magic is apparently classified as the highest-ranked magic in the magic system.

As Ria would later find out, the ultimate magic is called the 'World Creation' magic. It only existed as a theoretical magic.

And now, Ria had finished this morning's practice and had drawn water from the well, intending to wipe her sweat off but…

(Sigh…)

I saw the face that was reflected by the water.

(Cute.)

Ten out of ten people would probably say that her appearance was sweet. Full lips. Almond shapes eyes, her skin a porcelain white, and a shapely nose.

However, that's my reflection. It's me.

By the way, I had already asked Agatha if there was a magic that could turn me into a man.

"There is," was the response.

"Using illusion magic would be the easiest way. Though if you want to change your actual body, you would need shape-shifting magic."

Oh, I'm surprised there actually was one, though it seems the functions of the body wouldn't change. There's also a time restriction.

In other words, Agatha doesn't know a method to become a genuine man.

While sighing, Ria continued to wipe her body. In the average household in Anise, while there were water and sewage services, there weren't baths as expected.

While using a towel to briskly wipe away sweat to clean her body, Ria noticed something.

Her chest was stiff.

It clearly felt different from normal skin. If you looked closely, there were four scale shapes immediately above the pit of the stomach. The color of the scales were black.

(Eh? Eh?)

As you would expect, I was surprised.

"Mom!"

"I wonder… what this is?"

"Maybe a lizardkin's blood was mixed in or something?"

"Since humans and lizardkin don't mix, I don't think that's the case."

Agatha and Fei discussed while looking at the scales.

"A dragonkin… maybe? It could be some kind of an illness, though."

"Manager, what do you mean by dragonkin?"

Agatha quickly raised her forefinger and began explaining.

"It's when one makes a contract with a dragon and their bodies are given a portion of that dragon's power. As a symbol of the contract, a characteristic of the dragon appears on a portion of their body. However…"

"There hasn't been a contract, right?"

"That's right~"

Then maybe it's some type of illness, is what they thought so they quickly brought her to a temple. In the world, the temple priests are usually also doctors.

"I don't know. Or rather, my Identify magic isn't having any effect…"

They quickly gave up.

The three trudged back from the temple following the road, but on the way Agatha suddenly stopped walking.

"Since it's come to this, there's no choice but to rely on the last resort. Fei, please take Ria and go home before me."

Waving her robe, Agatha turned back towards where we just came from. After saying farewell, Fei looked at Ria an sighed.

"Shall we go home? It's okay, if we entrust it to Manager she'll work it out somehow."

"Okay."

Even though Ria showed a depressed expression, she somehow or another understood the situation. What Agatha first said was probably right.

Ria wasn't linked to a dragon through something like a contract, but she had the gift of 'Dragon's Bloodline'. There was no doubt that it was somehow related to the situation.

However, if she said this then she would likely have to talk about what she had been hiding until now.

A child that had reincarnated and still held on to her previous life's memories, a man's memories.

Moreover, Ria utilized her special privilege as a child and had been freely satisfying herself with Agatha's abundant and Fei's modest breasts.

It would be fine if they shunned me. But if they abandoned me…

(No, I could probably manage somehow or another?)

I could go to the temple then enter the orphanage and help out with healing magic. After I got a bit bigger I could make use of my sword skills and get a job.

In this world, there are things like woman mercenaries.

Though Ria started taking a pessimistic view on life, nothing happened that day after all. Agatha had only made her do magic practice as usual.

Nothing happened the next day either and Ria lost interest, but the day after that there was a change.

Ria was dressed in her best clothes, and Agatha wore some first-class robes, she looked like a true magician.

The two left the shop to Fei, arranged a wagon, and went to the center of the city.

"Mother, where are we going?"

"The castle. Don't worry about it too much."

The castle!

"Eh? Why the castle? No way, mother, are you something like the daughter of a noble?"

"No no, I'm from an ordinary farming village. Since I have a bit of a connection with the court magician, I think that he'll see you."

I see, so that's why we're dressed like this.

The wagon stopped in front of a huge gate, and the two walked from there. Since I was told in advance, I couldn't be blamed for going inside.

"Ooh~"

Ria raised her voice involuntarily. The castle walls were twenty meters tall, completely made of stone.

Though I didn't know much about foreign architecture in my previous life, rather than European buildings, I think it was more like Islamic architecture.

"Ria, come here."

Agatha walked ahead without hesitating. It seems she knew where she was going.

Before long, we arrived at a place without much decoration, it was like a library building.

"This is the Casalia Kingdom's Ministry of Magic. Sage Rufus-sama is here."