"Hey, Ruu. So you, can you use magic?"
The next day, I woke her up early, and we set off in search of humancivilization.At that time, I thought that it'd be a pain in the future without a name, so I named her Ruu. Looks like it's going to be a long-standing relationship. According to her, she seems to be female. I can't tell at all…
"Guua"
Maybe it's because I gave her a name, but I've become able to read her thoughts more. She's saying that she can use body strengthening. So that means that the thing the birds used, she can't use it. If she grows, she might be able to.
"So you'll grow, or evolve? Like learning new magic, or becoming a higher species."
"Gururu?"
So you don't know huh…Isn't there a library or something? Or a school would work.
"For the time being, fly along the coastline. If you see a person, coach, or ship, head over there."
She glides smoothly in the air. Alright then, shall I focus on searching too.
Even after a few hours, nothing pa.s.ses by. There's a road, so I wonder why. Is it not being used anymore?
"Ruu, do you know if there're any signs of humans nearby?"
"Gururuuu"
She can't tell unless they come close…Even if you normally fly above the sea, is it really okay to leave things at that?
"Guruu!"
'I can tell enemies by hostility or killing intent!', huh. If only you could use that to search for people…
As I'm feeling a little bit depressed, Ruu suddenly changes flight paths. What's up, did you find something!?
Directly in front of us is a small dot. When we approach, it becomes clear that it's a ship. To be able to see a ship from that far away, you must have really good eyesight.
"…That's, that ship. Is it being attacked?"
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 they're probably an army of some organization or country.
…Well, it'd be safe to save the army, huh. From the looks, they're being pressed in too. Time to go sell some debt.
"Mkay, Ruu. We're gonna blow away those evil-looking guys. Okay with that?"
"Gurururuuu!"
'No problem!', how reliable.
"Don't force yourself, okay. To me, you're the only one I can count on."
"Guru"
'Leave it to me', huh. So manly, I feel like I'd fall for him. He's a she though.
From my palm on Ruu's back, I feel a hot something flowing in Ruu's body. As it flows, Ruu's body begins to slightly glow. …So this is magic, huh. Which means, that hot something flowing earlier might've been 'mana'. From what I feel in my hand, mana is flowing around her whole body. Does that mean she's strengthening her whole body? Can I move it?
"Moveeee…"
I transfer the mana gathering in her face to her wings. Ruu, who was waiting for my 'go' sign, was surprised by the changes happening in her body.
"Guruu?"
'What did you do?' huh… I don' 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, I'll move it back to your tail and face, so don't worry."
"Guraa"
'How convenient', 'I'll leave it to you', she said. To trust me that much, I'm happy. Awrite, let's do this!
"Usshi, ready! Charge, Ruu!"
"Guraaaaa !!!"
(TLN: Think of 'usshi' 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!?
"Guru!"
'It's fine, no problem!' …tha- that means there's a problem! Uwawawawa! ! ! ? ? ?
Boooooooooom!!!
When we make such a large sound with our landing, all members on deck stop moving. Don't scare me like that… It's bad for my heart. Rather than that, we've gotta look for the commander.
"Ummm, who is the captain of this ship?"
"…'Tis I."
Wearing metal armor, an old man with a shaved head speaks up. An 'I won't lose to you young'uns!' vibe radiates from him. In this situation, it's probably better to act modestly.
"It looked as though you were struggling, so I would like to aid your cause. After all you appear to be some affiliated army."
"Ah, ahh. We are the Knight Brigade of the Kingdom of Pharax. By all means, we could use the backup!"
Understood. Ruu, get 'em!"
"Guaaaaa!!!"
Ruu mows down the nearby pirates with her tail. Of course I shift the mana in her, so it's more powerful than usual. The pirates are blown away, making unpleasant 'crack' 'snapple' 'pop' sounds as they fly. …Yup? What is this, this discomfort.
"Da h.e.l.l izzis!?"
"Suddenly appearing like that, don't f.u.c.k with us!"
"Kill 'em!"
All of the pirates on-board charge at us. Although swords and axes are slammed into Ruu, they're no match for her tough scales. Altogether, they're 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 I'm quite busy. Yet, the discomforting feeling continues to smolder in my chest.
"Everyone to arms! Cover that boy!"
"Ouuuuu!!!"
The army charges into the flanks of the pirates. The battlefield suddenly falls into chaos, and as she'd cause friendly fire, Ruu is left unable to move.
"Dieeeeee!!!"
From a gap, a pirate stabs at me. It'd be bad to stay like this.
"Ruu, fly!"
When I send mana into Ruu's wings in one stroke, we rocket into the sky. Alright, from here…
"Nosedive and grab the pirates by their legs, and drop them in the sea!"
"Guru!"
This time we nosedive towards the ship, and drop pirates into the sea. Though I say drop, the moment Ruu grabs them they get squished…It's 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 army's 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.
"You can stop firing! It is our victory!"
"Uwoooｰｰｰ! ! ! "
All members on deck raise their swords, and shout a victory cry. What should I do, should I join them too…
"You there! Thank you for the reinforcements! Thanks to you, it was natural for us to win!"
"You don't need to thank me! We should help each other out in times of need!"
"Wow, to meet such a gallant lad in these times!? I can't properly thank you here, please come inside."
"Thank you. Well then, please let me enter."
Great, I managed to get a promise to show their grat.i.tude. That means I'll have the let me hitch a ride to town.
"Now then….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, however…it has been a long journey, and my men are fatigued."
After that, he turned his back to the people cleaning the blood strewn across the deck, and took me to the captain's room. In the room, there are only Captain Kisato and I.
"First off let's hear your name."
"I'm 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."
For now, let's go with the 'I came from the countryside' pattern. For this kinda situation, it's the norm after all.
"Hou…Even so, you're wearing quite the splendidly tailored clothing…Even the capital's craftsmen aren't able to produce such a work, you know?"
As a result of going home from school before I came to this world, I'm wearing my school uniform. It's an ordinary gakuran, but it seems it's not normal in this world.
"Yes, it was handmade by my mother. She did her best on this outfit for me. However, I've gotten it a little dirty on the way here. Could I get some different clothes later?"
"…Hahaha! Apologies, didn't mean to interrogate ya. I'll 'ave one of my men bring some later."
Whew, I somehow got through it. You can't get your hands on a gakuran here, so I'd like to keep it clean as possible.
"Still, is that a Grapple Wyvern? Despite it being a lower rank, to be able to tame a dragon ya must have quite the skill."
"Grapple Wyvern?"
Ruu's species maybe? So she was a dragon after all.
"Yeh don't 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 isn't high, and long-range magic attacks are the norm."
"So that's what it was….I didn't know."
"Yeh didn't know? Now why's that?"
"Um, I'm from the countryside, so there wasn't anyone to teach me."
"So that's it, pity. …Hey, Tsuchio-dono. Why don't ya stay on this ship, and come to the Kingdom's Academy City? There, ya can polish yer skills as a tamer."
"Academy City? Is there a school there?"
"Yeah. There's an entrance ceremony right at the end of the month, so if I write a recommendation letter ya should make it in time. How's about it?"
School huh… Not bad, no, it's a good proposal. I want to try taming various other monsters, and have Ruu grow too. And someday…getting that monstergirl harem!
"…I understand, let's go to the academy!"
"Oh, you're gonna go, much appreciated! I've been making sure to invite promising talent, however not many are willing… From here to the Academy City, it'll be about a week. In the meantime, I'll explain a few things."
"Nice to meet you!"
Then for the one week, I had Kisato explain about this world. Man~, it was hard to ask so casually…
First, there are four countries on this continent. The one that Kisato's 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. 'Beasts', 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 dwarves' 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 I'm heading to now is a large metropolis situated along the Kingdom's 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; 'there ain't nothing that can't be learned at the academy!' 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 don't have the skill, no matter how one trains they will never be able to surpa.s.s those with skills. Martial arts and magic are also skills supposedly.
The skill 'Tame', is the skill to make demons called "monsters" 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 Wyvern's mating season, apparently. During mating season, male Grapple Wyverns ride on female wyvern's 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 Ruu's 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 Ruu's love! Can't wait until she evolves to her human form.
Lastly, about the discomfort I felt when we battled the pirates. That's probably the fact that I didn't feel any guilt from killing someone, I think. Yeah, even for me I think that's 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, it's more convenient for things to be this way. Let's 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 hurts…
"Gururu …"
"Ruu, don't go too far from me. It's dangerous."
"Guru!"
While the cargo is being unloaded, I'm grabbed by Kisato and we headed towards the academy.We walk straight down a large street as various interesting objects are being sold.
"Tsuchio dono, stay close. Once you enter the back streets, you won't be able to come out so easily."
"I, I'm sorry. It's full of things I haven't seen before, so…"
"Hahaha! Once you enter the academy, there'll be plenty o' chances to see it, so let's go now."
We walk down the main street for a while, pa.s.s 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. I'm to go in with Ruu. When we entered,
"You'll recommend this child, is it? Certainly with such youth, he is quite skilled to be able to tame a dragon species…"
A grandma rests her elbows on the large wooden desk, and covers her mouth as she is staring at me. How, should I say…unpleasant this feels. It feels as though I'm being seen through, or something…
"Please stop, Headmaster. The wyvern is seething."
"Ahh, apologies for this. I am not doing anything. So please cancel your magic."
Ruu reluctantly stands down. So this grandma is the Headmaster. She must be absurdly strong…
"Well, Kisato-bou has expressly brought you here after all. Sure, why don't I let you in."
"Thank 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."
"Yes, thank you for everything you've done for me. Until we meet again, take care."
"You too Tsuchio-dono!"
Kisato san said so, and went out of the Headmaster's room. Now then, I guess let's listen to what the headmaster in front of me has to say.