Compensation

Nothing is more expensive than free.

I paid for the cost of my ignorance

with my body.

── Zek, the Gentle

 

"… Hey, Mentor?"

Rin suddenly called out to me while we were flying back home.

Yuuka was sleeping on my back, seemingly exhausted from the excitement of meeting the lizardmen for the first time. I was flying as gently as I could so as not to accidentally drop her, but it was still impressive that she could sleep so soundly.

"Mentor, why did you become a human?"

Rin flew next to me as she asked the question.

She was most likely thinking about what Shig said earlier.

"Hmm… Because I was originally a human."

"Eh, no way!?"

Hearing my words, Rin showed was more surprised than I'd expected.

"But, but Professor Nina said that you were originally a dragon?!"

"Oh, Nina was my friend from even before I could take human form. So I can't really blame her for thinking that."

Speaking of which, I didn't tell Nina that I was originally human.

"Maybe you can understand what I'm saying if I put it like this? I was originally human, but I was reborn as a dragon. So it's not a lie to say that it's this body's true form at least."

Leaving the whole story regarding my reincarnation from another world aside, I explained it to Rin like that.

"So… Professor Nina doesn't know that you were originally human?"

"I haven't told her directly, at least."

It's not like I've gone out of my way to hide it, I just missed my chance to tell her.

I mean, it might be a bit of a stretch to even say I have the mind of a human by now.

I've lived for hundreds of years, and I've watched people live and die. I'm sure I don't have the same sensibilities as a normal person.

"Me liking humans humans despite being a dragon is because I was originally a human. As for taking human form… a person who was important to me was human."

As for telling Ai, I was a bit too late.

If I had told just her about myself sooner…

If I could have been with her in human form, would I have made her happier?

Those regrets and more always lingered in my heart. I would continue to wait for her, however, believing in her words that she would be reborn and come back to me.

Of course, I also want to see her again myself.

"Ah, I see…"

When I told her that, Rin seemed to be thinking something and she fell silent with a rare serious expression for her.

"Wait? So how did you become a dragon in the first place?"

"Ah, well. That I don't know. I just woke up one day and I was a dragon."

I happened to have the Japanese word for dragon in my name as a human, but I'm sure that was just a coincidence. If that's all it took to become a dragon, then the world should be filled with dragons who were originally human.

Still, I doubt it was completely unrelated.

Because this world's magic is comprised of names.

"Maybe I always wanted to be a dragon."

Magic. Mystery. Wonder. All the things I sought after in my previous life were all contained in dragons.

Or perhaps it was because I had forgotten about the magic I was seeking, but I was still drawn to the creature whose name I had.

"What made you think of that?"

I was a bit surprised by Rin's innocent question.

Because it was so obvious──that's why I didn't even realize it was a problem.

"I guess…"

I thought for another moment before answering.

"Because dragons are cool?"

Rin immediately smiled and nodded.

"Yup. I think they're cool too!"

 

＊　＊　＊

 

The next morning, I woke up to a loud noise that sounded like something falling over.

Jumping up in a hurry, I looked over at Nina who was supposed to be sleeping next to me, but she wasn't there. She might have just gotten up earlier than me and gone somewhere, but for some reason I was worried and I opened the door to my room and peered outside.

… Indeed, I could hear the sound.

Bang, bang. The irregular sound was like footsteps, but it was also like something falling. It was steadily approaching my way.

It wasn't the sound of a natural thing like the wind. It was clearly the sound of a living thing. For a moment, I thought it might be the rats again, but the sound was too big for them. Something larger… but it was a slow-moving creature.

What came to mind was a zombie movie.

The irregular sound had an unnatural feeling to it.

Nina and I have been living on the third floor of the school building.

The sound was coming from the stairs leading down to the second floor.

When I peered down the stairs, I could see something large crawling so I hurriedly hid myself. It was hard to see in the dim light, but it looked like a creature about the same size as a human.

It climbed the stairs slowly, one step at a time.

I listened carefully while trying to keep control of my breath.

Three steps left, then two, then one… and then the sound stopped.

It realized I was there—or not. If it had, it would have attacked me.

Then why did it stop?

I peeked out from behind the corner and tried to confirm it.

At that moment.

From around the corner of the wall, Rin's face appeared in front of me. At the same time, her body shook and she fell towards the ground. I reflexively tried to support her, but I couldn't support her momentum and we both fell to the ground.

"Y—… you surprised me… are you alright, Rin?"

When I asked her while reflexively holding her soft body close, Rin nodded in my arms.

"That's good… why were you climbing the stairs?"

Merfolks' waist fins were quite strong and dextrous. Something on the level of just climbing stairs wouldn't have been much of an issue, let alone the fact that she could just have swam through the air like she normally did.

All of that was to say that I couldn't think of a reason for her to crawl up the stairs.

"Mm—"

Still held by me, Rin groaned from the back of her throat and pointed toward her lower half. Looking down her, I saw her beautiful waist fins that spread out like a skirt.

Followed by her smooth white legs.

"Wha—"

I was at a loss for words… she wasn't exactly wearing any clothes on her lower half.

No, that's not right, that's how she usually went. But.

"Where's your tail!?"

The issue was that her tail fin was replaced with human legs.

Hearing my question, Rin made a V-sign with her fingers and put on a mischievous grin.

"… No way, did you transform with magic?"

Rin nodded. Still, she's been acting off for a bit now.

"… Are you unable to speak?"

Rin nodded again.

"What, that's…!"

It was entirely like a certain mermaid princess exchanging her voice for human legs.

Thinking that, I suddenly recalled something.

[A deal shall be struck. The Spear King offered his right eye for wisdom. The Merfolk Princess offered her voice for legs.]

The person to teach Shig that incantation… rather, that fairy tale was me. And I'm sure Rin heard it from him.

"Such a beautiful mermaid tail and a bright, cheerful voice for legs that are inconvenient for a human… what a terrible deal…"

At that moment, Rin blushed and looked away. Then, she rubbed her legs with her hands and they quickly changed back into her mermaid tail.

"Mentor, you're praising me too much… I'm embarrassed."

Oh. So she can undo it.

I guess that makes sense. Unlike the fairy tale, she did it to herself.

She should be just as able to undo it as she did it in the first place.

"… Sorry, I lost myself for a second there."

Given that Rin went back to walking around on her fins, I stood up.

"To speed things up, I figured I could maybe try aiming for transforming into a human first since they're closer. Still, it'd normally be impossible to just transform, but then… [I present my life as a magus. Exchange my voice which can vibrate the atmosphere for a pair of legs to walk the land]."

When Rin pat her tail while using the incantation, it once again turned into a pair of beautiful, pale human legs. Rin then immediately lost her balance and clung to me, despereately trying to stand up with her trembling legs. She smiled at me as if asking, "See?"

"So… the function of speech is being converted into the function of walking?"

In all the magic I had used up until now, I had never thought of it as something that would could me to lose something else temporarily.

Still, if this is possible, then the possibilities of magic might be even greater.

"… What are you doing?"

As I was thinking about the prospects of such a concept, a cold voice brought me back to reality. When I looked over, Nina was looking at me with her usual expression of disbelief while holding Yuuka's hand.

"Rin, your butt's showing!"

With Yuuka pointing it out, I recalled that Rin's lower body was bare.

"Rin, change back! … Sorry, Rin was just showing me that she could finally use magic to transform. She'll definitely have clothes prepared for next time, right?"

Come to think of it, I'm grateful that my scales properly turn into clothes for me. Having to change in and out of clothes each time I transform would be a bother.

"So… what's the matter, Nina? You have Yuuka?"

I gently shifted the topic away from Rin while she transformed back.

"Aqua said she was feeling sick, so I decided to watch her. Taking care of this child while sick like that would be difficult."

"Agreed, is she alright?"

"Just a common cold. She'll be good after three days' rest."

Nina let out a yawn, probably still feeling sleepy.

Yutaka was probably concerned. Elves rarely got sick, so I could understand his worry…

"So even elves can catch a cold, huh."

As far as I knew, Nina had never once been put to the point of bedrest from an illness.

Elves were visually similar to humans, but they were an incredibly resilient race.

Well, it'd been the same for me ever since I reincarnated as a dragon. Pathogens capable of withstanding the literal fire in my body probably didn't exist in this world.

"Elves normally don't get sick."