Progress

The steps of a baby eventually become those of a giant.

 

Leaves rustling in the wind.

The rumbling of millstones turning in the distance.

The faint aroma of freshly baked bread.

Intense concentration. Let nothing escape.

Birds' wings flapped as they flew through the sky.

The hum of people chatting lively in the distance.

The ants did not produce any noise as their tiny legs stepped onto the ground, but they did produce minor vibrations.

My senses percieved even the tiniest dust particles floating in the air, and even the tiniest grains of sand that made up the ground beneath my feet.

Just then, something flew towards me out of nowhere. A small ball of fire had suddenly appeared and, instantly doubling in intensity, flew directly toward me.

"Disperse."

However, just before it reached me, it dispersed as according to incantation.

"Oh come on! I thought I could do it this time!"

Tia appeared from out of nowhere as she bit her lip in frustration.

She'd been practicing her suprise attacks from being hidden.

Small bodies were both hard to find and easy to hide.

Moreover, once she was hidden through magic, not even my senses as a dragon could find her.

"I mean, I didn't even know where you were until you were just about to attack this time. And even then it was only because I was concentrating on it since I knew you were coming. I don't think I would've noticed at all if it had been an actual battle."

"Mentor's always spaced out, so that sounds about right."

I was met with some harsh words after I did my best to follow up.

That said, that was just evidence of her earnestness.

"Look at this…"

With that, Tia's figure disappeared. It wasn't just that she became invisible.

The faint flutter of her wings, her slightly sweet scent, and everything that indicated her presence disappeared. At first, she was only able to use magic to make herself harder to see, but her efforts to master that particular magic without even having to chant it were not something that could be compared to anyone else.

… But.

"Tia-chan, watch out!"

Just as I thought I might be able to make out her figure, she was grabbed by a pair of hands swinging through the air.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to grab me so hard?!"

Once Tia reappeared, she shouted at the girl holding her body… Yutaka and Aqua's daughter, Yuuka.

"I wonder how Yuuka's always able to tell where Tia is…"

"Big brother can't tell?"

Faced with such pure questioning eyes, I was at a loss for words.

It's not as if I were especially dull.

At the very least, it was the same for Rin, Lufelle, Yutaka, Aqua, and Nina as it was for me.

Yuuka was the only one who could find Tia even when she was invisible.

Was it a talent? Or maybe it had something to do with her being a half elf? I didn't know why, but Yuuka was the only person who could see through her concealment magic.

Which is why Tia was practicing her magic so hard to this day.

"Ah, so this is where you went!"

Out of breath, Aqua ran over to us.

"Really! Even though I'm always telling you not to go running off on your ooown!"

"Yuuka, did you run off on your own again?"

She tilted her head in confusion as I stroked her head while smiling wryly.

"One second! It was only for a second, really! I just took my eyes off her for a second! I was just thinking, 'Oh, the water apple trees are in bloom. It's about that time of year, isn't it?' and then I looked back and she was gone!"

"It's alright, I understand."

Yuuka was frightfully good at exploiting opportunities.

Despite being only five years old, she had already mastered the Swordsaint art of exploiting their opponents' momentary blind spots and unconsciously swinging her sword in that instant.

Rather, I felt sorry for how her opponent was usually Aqua.

She would usually just go off to play, but she would also just as easily go into dangerous forests without a second thought. I couldn't help but worry that she would end up getting herself killed one day. I mean, even I was hunted by an armored bear way back when.

While Yutaka wasn't particularly talented, Yuuka was undoubtedly a wonder child.

"I guess it's fine since she's with Mentor, but… I mean, she doesn't to listen to me anyway!"

As how Nina predicted, the former beauty had become quite tough. Her personality aside, she used to have a more fragile impression, but Aqua seemed to have gained a bit of motherly resolve.

Well, Yuuka's the sort of child that's difficult to raise. She's a good child who's docile, but she was too active and had too much courage to do things that made me feel like my heart was going to freeze over. Constantly having to deal with that would toughen up anyone's resolve.

"Aaa, Lufelle!"

Perhaps understanding the way her parents felt or perhaps not, Yuuka turned around with a jerk upon hearing Lufelle's footsteps.

"Rin's here too! Heeey!"

Recognizing the merfolk girl swaying to and fro in the sky next to the giant girl, Yuuka waved her hands. Hmmm. She does have even better senses than a dragon… just kidding.

I'd noticed Lufelle and Rin even before Yuuka. At any rate, Lufelle's footsteps were hard to miss with her body being so large.

Although it was particularly impossible to notice Rin's footsteps with how she swam through the air with her tail, it wasn't completely silent. It was something that could be noticed if I were in dragon form.

"Mentooor! We finally opened up the forest!"

"Ooh, did you now!"

A smile on her mud-covered face, Lufelle raised her giant pickaxe and shovel overhead in joy as I called back in response. She had become a full-fledged construction worker.

After I'd given up on opening the waterway with my dragon breath, she had dug up the ground with her bare hands, laid bricks, and made a road all by herself.

Elf magic was particularly good at manipulating branches and leaves, but it was difficult to move the roots that were firmly planted in the ground. I remember the elder saying that it was something that he did without thinking, but it was something that Nina couldn't do yet.

Therefore, practically all of Lufelle's work was manual labor. Simple work such as felling trees or digging up roots that blocked that road's expansion day in and day out. This giant girl did it all without complaint.

"With a road through the forest, quadrupeds will be able to pass through it easily. Trade will expand. What an amazing feat!"

"It wasn't just me. Everyone in the village, Rin-chan, and the others helped out too."

Lufelle answered back shyly when I praised her.

"If I could transform into a dragon like Mentor, we could have finished it even sooner."

While speaking, Rin opened the lid of her water bag that she'd slung over her waist.

"This is the best I can do for now though."

The water that dripped out of the bag didn't touch the ground, but instead swirled in the air and changed shape.

Forelegs with sharp claws. Thick, sturdy hind legs. A face with long horns and fangs, a long neck. A pair of wings like those of a bat, and even the smallest of scales were reproduced.

It was stunning. A dragon made of water. Save for it being colorless and transparent, it was so precise and realistic that it could be mistaken for the real thing. It was a work of art.

"Isn't that good enough?"

"No way. It's much weaker than Mentor, it can't fly in the air, it can't even breathe fire. I want to become a dragon myself, not just make one."

Rin grumbled with an unsatisfied look on her face.

Setting aside Yutaka and Aqua who were busy raising a child, Tia and Lufelle had made some progress in their own research. Meanwhile, Rin's research had been going on for ten years since its inception and she still hadn't made any progress.

Of course, I feel that setting her goal as becoming a dragon is was too high to start with. There was precedent for transformations so it was possible in principle, but…

"Mmm… I guess we'll go ask about how to transform into a dragon."

There was precedent. With a certain person coming to mind as I thought that, I responded.

"Ask who?"

"Your forerunner."