The next day, I woke her up early, and we set off in search of human civilization.At that time, I thought that itâd be a pain in the future without a name, so I named her Ruu. Looks like itâs going to be a long-standing relationship. According to her, she seems to be female. I canât tell at allâŚ
âGuuaâ
Maybe itâs because I gave her a name, but Iâve become able to read her thoughts more. Sheâs saying that she can use body strengthening. So that means that the thing the birds used, she canât use it. If she grows, she might be able to.
âSo youâll grow, or evolve? Like learning new magic, or becoming a higher species.â
âGururu?â
So you donât know huhâŚIsnât there a library or something? Or a school would work.
âFor the time being, fly along the coastline. If you see a person, coach, or ship, head over there.â
She glides smoothly in the air. Alright then, shall I focus on searching too.
Even after a few hours, nothing passes by. Thereâs a road, so I wonder why. Is it not being used anymore?
âRuu, do you know if thereâre any signs of humans nearby?â
âGururuuuâ
She canât tell unless they come closeâŚEven if you normally fly above the sea, is it really okay to leave things at that?
âGuruu!â
âI can tell enemies by hostility or killing intent!â, huh. If only you could use that to search for peopleâŚ
As Iâm feeling a little bit depressed, Ruu suddenly changes flight paths. Whatâs up, did you find something!?
Directly in front of us is a small dot. When we approach, it becomes clear that itâs a ship. To be able to see a ship from that far away, you must have really good eyesight.
ââŚThatâs, that ship. Is it being attacked?â
Next to a relatively large ship, three small ships are lined up from which people are boarding.The deck of the larger ship is the exact picture of a battlefield. Which side should I help⌠Looking at the equipment, the guys from the small ships look like pirates. The guys from the big ship all have the same equipment, so theyâre probably an army of some organization or country.
âŚWell, itâd be safe to save the army, huh. From the looks, theyâre being pressed in too. Time to go sell some debt.
âMkay, Ruu. Weâre gonna blow away those evil-looking guys. Okay with that?â
âGurururuuu!â
âNo problem!â, how reliable.
âDonât force yourself, okay. To me, youâre the only one I can count on.â
âGuruâ
âLeave it to meâ, huh. So manly, I feel like Iâd fall for him. Heâs a she though.
From my palm on Ruuâs back, I feel a hot something flowing in Ruuâs body. As it flows, Ruuâs body begins to slightly glow. âŚSo this is magic, huh. Which means, that hot something flowing earlier mightâve been âmanaâ. From what I feel in my hand, mana is flowing around her whole body. Does that mean sheâs strengthening her whole body? Can I move it?
âMoveeeeâŚâ
I transfer the mana gathering in her face to her wings. Ruu, who was waiting for my âgoâ sign, was surprised by the changes happening in her body.
âGuruu?â
âWhat did you do?â huh⌠I donâ t really know either, but I think I probably moved the mana in your body. I felt something. I moved the mana in your head to your wings, so I think you should be able to move faster than usual. When you attack, Iâll move it back to your tail and face, so donât worry.â
âGuraaâ
âHow convenientâ, âIâll leave it to youâ, she said. To trust me that much, Iâm happy. Awrite, letâs do this!
âUsshi, ready! Charge, Ruu!â
âGuraaaaa !!!â
(Note: Think of âusshiâ as a type of grunt. Ooh-rah, or other favorite masculine grunt.)
While raising a warcry, Ruu and I charge onto the battlefield on deck. Wha-, too fast too fast! This is a lot faster than usual!? Are you even controlling it!?
âGuru!â
âItâs fine, no problem!â âŚtha- that means thereâs a problem! Uwawawawa! ! ! ? ? ?
Boooooooooom!!!
When we make such a large sound with our landing, all members on deck stop moving. Donât scare me like that⌠Itâs bad for my heart. Rather than that, weâve gotta look for the commander.
âUmmm, who is the captain of this ship?â
ââŚâTis I.â
Wearing metal armor, an old man with a shaved head speaks up. An âI wonât lose to you youngâuns!â vibe radiates from him. In this situation, itâs probably better to act modestly.
âIt looked as though you were struggling, so I would like to aid your cause. After all you appear to be some affiliated army.â
âAh, ahh. We are the Knight Brigade of the Kingdom of Pharax. By all means, we could use the backup!â
Understood. Ruu, get âem!â
âGuaaaaa!!!â
Ruu mows down the nearby pirates with her tail. Of course I shift the mana in her, so itâs more powerful than usual. The pirates are blown away, making unpleasant âcrackâ âsnappleâ âpopâ sounds as they fly. âŚYup? What is this, this discomfort.
âDa hell izzis!?â
âSuddenly appearing like that, donât fuck with us!â
âKill âem!â
All of the pirates on-board charge at us. Although swords and axes are slammed into Ruu, theyâre no match for her tough scales. Altogether, theyâre blown away by her wings, and ripped to shreds by her fangs. I desperately try to keep pace with her motions by shifting her mana around. The enemies keep coming in droves, so Iâm quite busy. Yet, the discomforting feeling continues to smolder in my chest.
âEveryone to arms! Cover that boy!â
âOuuuuu!!!â
The army charges into the flanks of the pirates. The battlefield suddenly falls into chaos, and as sheâd cause friendly fire, Ruu is left unable to move.
âDieeeeee!!!â
From a gap, a pirate stabs at me. Itâd be bad to stay like this.
âRuu, fly!â
When I send mana into Ruuâs wings in one stroke, we rocket into the sky. Alright, from hereâŚ
âNosedive and grab the pirates by their legs, and drop them in the sea!â
âGuru!â
This time we nosedive towards the ship, and drop pirates into the sea. Though I say drop, the moment Ruu grabs them they get squishedâŚItâs okay, human bodies are supposed to be eco-friendly.
With the arrival of Ruu and I, the tide of battle is suddenly turned in the armyâs favor. The pirates lost a lot of their forces, and begin to flee to their ships. Those able to use magic face the pirates ships, and are firing off spells continuously.
âYou can stop firing! It is our victory!â
âUwoooď˝°ď˝°ď˝°! ! ! â
All members on deck raise their swords, and shout a victory cry. What should I do, should I join them tooâŚ
âYou there! Thank you for the reinforcements! Thanks to you, it was natural for us to win!â
âYou donât need to thank me! We should help each other out in times of need!â
âWow, to meet such a gallant lad in these times!? I canât properly thank you here, please come inside.â
âThank you. Well then, please let me enter.â
Great, I managed to get a promise to show their gratitude. That means Iâll have the let me hitch a ride to town.
âNow thenâŚ.let me introduce myself again. I am Kisato, Knight Captain of the 3rd Squad of the Pharax Knight Brigade. For your help, I thank you. Normally speaking, we would never be defeated by such groups, howeverâŚit has been a long journey, and my men are fatigued.â
After that, he turned his back to the people cleaning the blood strewn across the deck, and took me to the captainâs room. In the room, there are only Captain Kisato and I.
âFirst off letâs hear your name.â
âIâm Mikado Tsuchio. I came from the boonies, and while I thought to head to town I saw that you guys were being attacked, and immediately came to help.â
For now, letâs go with the âI came from the countrysideâ pattern. For this kinda situation, itâs the norm after all.
âHouâŚEven so, youâre wearing quite the splendidly tailored clothingâŚEven the capitalâs craftsmen arenât able to produce such a work, you know?â
As a result of going home from school before I came to this world, Iâm wearing my school uniform. Itâs an ordinary gakuran, but it seems itâs not normal in this world.
âYes, it was handmade by my mother. She did her best on this outfit for me. However, Iâve gotten it a little dirty on the way here. Could I get some different clothes later?â
ââŚHahaha! Apologies, didnât mean to interrogate ya. Iâll âave one of my men bring some later.â
Whew, I somehow got through it. You canât get your hands on a gakuran here, so Iâd like to keep it clean as possible.
âStill, is that a Grapple Wyvern? Despite it being a lower rank, to be able to tame a dragon ya must have quite the skill.â
âGrapple Wyvern?â
Ruuâs species maybe? So she was a dragon after all.
âYeh donât know? As a close-quarter combatant that uses body strengthening, it boasts quite a bit of strength among lower-ranked dragons. Fortunately its magic resistance isnât high, and long-range magic attacks are the norm.â
âSo thatâs what it wasâŚ.I didnât know.â
âYeh didnât know? Now whyâs that?â
âUm, Iâm from the countryside, so there wasnât anyone to teach me.â
âSo thatâs it, pity. âŚHey, Tsuchio-dono. Why donât ya stay on this ship, and come to the Kingdomâs Academy City? There, ya can polish yer skills as a tamer.â
âAcademy City? Is there a school there?â
âYeah. Thereâs an entrance ceremony right at the end of the month, so if I write a recommendation letter ya should make it in time. Howâs about it?â
School huh⌠Not bad, no, itâs a good proposal. I want to try taming various other monsters, and have Ruu grow too. And somedayâŚgetting that monstergirl harem!
ââŚI understand, letâs go to the academy!â
âOh, youâre gonna go, much appreciated! Iâve been making sure to invite promising talent, however not many are willing⌠From here to the Academy City, itâll be about a week. In the meantime, Iâll explain a few things.â
âNice to meet you!â
Then for the one week, I had Kisato explain about this world. Man~, it was hard to ask so casuallyâŚ
First, there are four countries on this continent. The one that Kisatoâs pledged allegiance to, Pharax Kingdom, is in the southeast territory of the continent. Across the river that flows through the center of the continent is the Belial Empire, which is in the southwest. âBeastsâ, or the beastmen, are the main demographic in a land that appears to have strength as justice. The northeastern forests are ruled by the elves, known as the Glynn Fairy Territories. The mountainous region in the northwest is the dwarvesâ country, Tonru Cave Country. There are tunnels for mining in the region, and within those tunnels is apparently the country. I want to see it.
The Academy City that Iâm heading to now is a large metropolis situated along the Kingdomâs southern coast, and apparently was created by the founding king to train young people. Aside from martial arts, magic, and the like, you can apparently also learn things like mercantilism; âthere ainât nothing that canât be learned at the academy!â so Kisato says.
Furthermore in this world there are things called skills, where you would be able to tell how much talent were sleeping within people. If they donât have the skill, no matter how one trains they will never be able to surpass those with skills. Martial arts and magic are also skills supposedly.
The skill âTameâ, is the skill to make demons called âmonstersâ listen to you. There are other ways too, of which the easiest is to beat the monsters. One can apparently tell a good tamer by the condition of their familiars. Familiars with deadbeat eyes mean a bad tamer, supposedly.
The reason I was able to tame Ruu was due to the fact that the timing was right around the Grapple Wyvernâs mating season, apparently. During mating season, male Grapple Wyverns ride on female wyvernâs backs and pin them down. If the male is able to continue that for a while, we have a new happy couple.
When I fell from the sky, I survived by getting on Ruuâs back. Afterwards she thrashed around, but I managed to stay on and survive without a problem. Based on this series of events, it seems she thought I was courting her, so I managed to magnificently win Ruuâs love! Canât wait until she evolves to her human form.
Lastly, about the discomfort I felt when we battled the pirates. Thatâs probably the fact that I didnât feel any guilt from killing someone, I think. Yeah, even for me I think thatâs strange. When I came here to this world, I wonder if one of my screws came loose. Well, in order to survive in this world, itâs more convenient for things to be this way. Letâs think of this as a thankful deus ex machina.
And today, we finally reached the Academy City. As expected of a week on a ship, my body hurtsâŚ
âGururu âŚâ
âRuu, donât go too far from me. Itâs dangerous.â
âGuru!â
While the cargo is being unloaded, Iâm grabbed by Kisato and we headed towards the academy.We walk straight down a large street as various interesting objects are being sold.
âTsuchio dono, stay close. Once you enter the back streets, you wonât be able to come out so easily.â
âI, Iâm sorry. Itâs full of things I havenât seen before, soâŚâ
âHahaha! Once you enter the academy, thereâll be plenty oâ chances to see it, so letâs go now.â
We walk down the main street for a while, pass a big gate, and proceed to the academy grounds. After walking for about 30 minutes, I was left waiting in front of a room in the academy. Kisato went in to explain my story, but will it really be alright?
Kisato immediately calls me from inside. Iâm to go in with Ruu. When we entered,
âYouâll recommend this child, is it? Certainly with such youth, he is quite skilled to be able to tame a dragon speciesâŚâ
A grandma rests her elbows on the large wooden desk, and covers her mouth as she is staring at me. How, should I sayâŚunpleasant this feels. It feels as though Iâm being seen through, or somethingâŚ
âPlease stop, Headmaster. The wyvern is seething.â
âAhh, apologies for this. I am not doing anything. So please cancel your magic.â
Ruu reluctantly stands down. So this grandma is the Headmaster. She must be absurdly strongâŚ
âWell, Kisato-bou has expressly brought you here after all. Sure, why donât I let you in.â
âThank you very much. Well then, I take my leave. Tsuchio-dono, work hard. My grandchildren are also in this academy, so if you meet them please treat them well.â
âYes, thank you for everything youâve done for me. Until we meet again, take care.â
âYou too Tsuchio-dono!â
Kisato san said so, and went out of the Headmasterâs room. Now then, I guess letâs listen to what the headmaster in front of me has to say.
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