…

‘There’s a goddamn dragon outside the castle… Seriously, what the hell?”

If anyone were to see this sight, especially if they’ve never seen a dragon before, they’d freak out. I swear there’s no other reaction. They’d think that they were about to die – they’d never believe you could tame a dragon. I can, but I’m an exception… Probably. Anyway, I’m fairly sure the shock that dragons exist would be enough to freak out a lot of people. However, as it’s a new world, it’s obvious things like this exist.

My thoughts are in disarray, though, as the thing is huge! It looks to be around five or six times my height. That might be an error in judgement, as the dragon isn’t on the ground – it’s floating a little bit above it as there is not enough flat space for it to land… It’s just hanging around and floating near us.

“Cute.”

Onee-sama’s sense of ‘cuteness’ is flawed! I’m not going to say that out loud, as she’ll definitely hit me. I don’t want to get hit, no way in hell. The pain is something I don’t want to deal with. Emotional and physical pain are all a nuisance anyway. Thus I’ll keep my mouth shut.

Anyway, my father (the king) has begun speaking to us children; I better listen.

“You’ll be travelling to the island academy on this guy, who took us many years to tame. However, as the distance is long for even him to travel, there’ll be a few rest stops. The ones which have been prepared are Elgora town, Cenu Village and a nameless sea farm at the very edge of the continent. If you need to stop at another time to seek assistance, this crest must be shown! Anyone will be able to tell who it is and who you are… However, once you are off the continent it will turn into a plain piece of wood. It’s useless after that.”

While he’s handing out the crests, I’m wonderring what sort of crest destroys itself once you’re off the continent. It seems there’s a reason behind it.

Ignoring my thoughts, the crest looks to be a sword overlaying a shield, alongside a wyvern. At least, I think it’s a wyvern. So this is the royal families crest, huh? It’s a little weird. I say so due to the fact there’s a wyvern on it. I don’t think it’s very relevant to the kingdom. I guess I’ll ask someone at some point. It’s not appropriate to ask now, however.

“As well as the crests, I’m giving you all sacks with a small amount of money in them. Of course, the guards going with you will also have a sum of money to ensure your safety, but these can be used for your personal desires. Well, be careful, as you won’t be given anymore at the academy.”

The sacks he hands to us are quite heavy and when I look inside, a large of gold coins can be seen; alongside a similar amount of silver and bronze coins. Each of them amounts for around a third of the coins in the sack. This is a ‘small amount’ of money according to the king. Is this the difference between a peasant and royalty? I should be careful with this money. Lumi and onee-sama have around the same amount as myself so there is no discrimination. Not that it’d be bad if there were as onee-sama is older than Lumi and I – I’d actually think it reasonable for her to get more than us.

“Finally, these are the ones who will be attending the academy alongside you – either as guards in secret, or as your classmate.”

Three people walk up; I can recognise one of them.

“I-it’s an honour t-to be re-requested for this ta-task, but is it reall al-alright?”

“Hahahaha, yes, of course it is!”

The relationship between the maid and my father is weird – rather than tell her off for not being respectful, he’s acting like her close friend. Whatever, I’m not one to pry.

“Well, I’m Sarah. Please don’t make my job hard.”

“Please forgive her, she’s not good with formalities – ahh! My name is Tomoe. I hope I live up to your expectations.”

I’m guessing that these two are the guards that will be hidden. I can feel a scary aura coming off them both, but surprisingly, it’s Tomoe that’s giving off more intensity. If I wasn’t trained in dealing with these types of people, I would have just assumed it was my imagination.

“Please do your jobs well.”

Onee-sama responds from our side. Such a thing seems weird to say, but it’s probably a custom in this world – making it the proper and polite thing to say. I feel in a different world, it would be a much ruder thing to say.

“Well, all the items prepared for the trip are already on this fellow. Once you’re properly on his back, you’ll be able to go.”

So… How exactly is it possible to climb onto this monstrosity? I see no ladder, no ropes and those scaled look impossible to climb… Those shiny, glistening black scales. Could they be sold if they came off?

The two guards who give off an intense aura come up to me, and following, Sarah lifts me and puts me on her back.

“Hold on tight.”

Er…. This is sort of uncomfortable – in all sorts of ways. Luickily I’m a young child who hasn’t undergone puberty, even if this event does sort of excite me. It would normally be rude to touch royalty like she is, but I’m guessing she’s already received permission from my father. My word isn’t able to match his, let alone outdo it, so let’s just go with the flow.

“How… How are we getting up?”

“We’re jumping.”

“Ahhh, I see. We’re jumping… Wait, HUH?”

Before I can collect myself, we’ve gone forwards and reached the dragon, then jumped up into the air. I can almost feel breakfast coming up from my stomach. The force to reach this height is tremendous – I mean, this dragon is pretty big. What sort of jump is this?

Well, we land safely on the dragon with a strong thud and although we’re still up high, the urge to throw up subsides in a few seconds. Lumi and onee-sama were lifted by both the maid and Tomoe, though onee-sama is looking sort of strange after landing… It’s surely just in my imagination.

Well, the dragons back is surprisingly comfortable; there’s a bunch of matt’s rolled out, though I don’t what they are made of, which feel nice to touch. There are a bunch of chairs as well, though they don’t seem as nice as the matts.

What raises the most concern is the fact a small bed is also one of the items around. Being the only one means…

“Yeah, that beds for you, weakling.”

“…”

Definitely onee-sama. Even though she promised to help me get stronger, there’s no questioning that she will still dish out harsh truths about me. Although, doesn’t she seem a little uncomfortable? Maybe she’s bad with heights… Nah, no way. I just want to think I have something over her. Sibling rivalry! I have to be better at something, no matter what it is. It’s a rule

“Why can’t onee-sama and onii-chan get along?”

I overhear Lumi speaking to the maid quite a distance away from onee-sama and I. I’m surprised onee-sama walked over to me on her own accord, to be honest. I guess she enjous insulting me. It’s okay, children need to let off steam – I’m being a good little brother! I’m trying to justify onee-sama bullying me and me not arguing back. Simple reason for this is that… She’s right!

“Ruuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarr.”

The dragon begins lifting itself higher into the air while letting off such a strong roar.

Amazing enough, I managed to avoid making a fool of myself and jumpiung in fright or something like that – the maid and two guard were perfectly fine and Luumi was distracted so nothing happened to her…

Onee-sama, on the other hand, jolted and began to fall.

For some reason, she isn’t able to catch herself and is still falling. Seeing that sort of sight, what sort of man… No, what sort ob rother would I be!! I rushed over and made sure she didn’t fall over by catching her and getting her back to a standing position. Onee-sama’s reputation is saved!

I wish I could be happy about that but –

“What do you think you’re trying to do? Little wimp! Hmph!”

She says that and slaps me, then stroms off to to the others who were immersed in conversation. Where are the social barriers here?! Also, were is the person that’s meant to talk to me now! And shouldn’t I have just set off a flag? It’s annoying that what happened wasn’t seen by others. Maybe then one of the other’s flags would have been raised!

It’s all the goddesses fault! Everything bad that happens to me is due to her!

I guess nothing good will come of complaining. That being the case, I should use my time wisely! If what the king said about stopping off in at least three places, I’ll have plenty of time. Using it, I’ll refine the Martial Practice. Hopefully, I won’t be interrupted too much.

Refining a Martial Practice is pretty simple. You recollect the way to use it, and adapt it to suit your own body and your own mind. Trying to use it from the stock form is poor form, as each body is different and each person has a different focus in mind for the use of the Martial Practice. For myself, my aim is to increase intensity of flavours as well as seperate the taste of healthy and unhealthy foods… Doing so will mean I can detect anything causing harm to my body… Thus I won’t be poisoned!

Though I say that, there is a problem. There is no known person to have actually mastered this Martial Practice, so the basis for refinement is non-existent. I just have to continue going through the process until it feels as though both my body and mind are in sync with it. It’s much more complex then magic.

Magic systems from this world are extremely easy, from what I heard… Even in the old worlds it wasn’t too difficult.

This world has both a chanting and non-chanting system. They eual out in disadvantages and advantages, so it really is a personal choice of how you choose to battle.

Chanting systems require the caster to memorise a spell, speak it aloud and meet any requirements for energy or mana – some even require the use of blood or sacrifice. In heaven, the magic requiring the use of blood or sacrifice would be considered blasphemous but in this world there is no such thing as forbidden magic. It’s all for the advancement of the world. (Other worlds did have forbidden magics and stuff, so this sort of view is similar to the view of the deities residing in hell.)

The chanting systems largest drawback is how long it takes to cast… It would bever be viable for a vanguard. Thus, many female mages from the many races take to practicing chanting magic to avoid being on the frontlines.

Non-chanting systems don’t require the memorisation of a spell at all, nor the vocalisation of the spell. They can simply imagine what they want to happen and it occurs. The major difference is that rather than meeting energy or mana costs, they regulate it themselves. Of course, the spells are less effective using the same amount of mana as the chanting systems, but it’s a lot quicker. They excel in any battle formation, so a lot of male mages choose to practice this.

The strange discrepency is, except for a minute amount of races, females have around 25% more mana then men on average. The reason male mages still excel with dealing with non-chanting systems is they have more energy, and are more efficient in refining energy into mana…

Which means, I should try and locate a male mage! I might be able to become more efficient with my energy expenditure. Currently, I have only used a day’s worth. I’m thankful as it’s only morning. Nobody would want to faint in the morning due to exhaustion!

“You practicing?”

It seems Sarah has come over to interro- talk to me.

“Mm… Yeah. It seems like someones pulling a prank on me though.”

“Hahaha. So you were already given that Martial Practice, huh?”

“… I want to actually master it.”

“I’d say to give up… But as it’s probably the only thing you can do, keep at it!”

She speaks harshly, similar to onee-sama. I want to cry.

“Oy, why does he look like he’s about to cry? What did you say!”

Tomoe came over and began to criticize Sarah. I didn’t realise my innter thoughts were showing on my face – I need to work on that.

“Well, ignoring her, is there anything you want to ask us? Your two sisters are currently arguing over something strange… It’s not something we should get in the middle of.”

I can understand your feelings.

“Right. Ummm…. Is there anything you can tell me about Martial Practices?”

“I don’t think I’m the one to teach about those sorts of things…”

“Whatever. As she’s bad with that sort of teaching, I’ll make it simple for you, okay?”

I nod.

“Basically, learning a Martial Practice starts you on your journey to being able to fight with all types of fighters – mages, knights, assassins. They can increase your physical strength, as well as longetivity and even your mental capacity. Some change the boy in strange ways and all of them add Martial Power into your Central Zone.”

“Central Zone?”

“Don’t interrupt! Your Central Zone can store Martial Power up to a certain limit and then, once it’s full, your body will undergo a large change, making you stronger. The more Martial Practices you learn, the easier to fill up your Central Zone – if you refine each Martial Practice enough, that is. If you don’t, the quality of the Martial Power is pretty low. Get it?”

“Yes! I get it!”

“Good. I’m going now.”

Hey, what’s with that? Just lecturing me then leaving?! It was a simple explanation though…

“That’s how it is! Sarah’s the better one in explaining those things – though I’m better at executing them!”

“Should you really be boasting?”

“My apologies!”

She bows her head in shame at her boastful attitude. I wasn’t really critizing her though. I just wanted to question whether she should be boasting about her power in the open? We are on a dragon’s back at the moment, so it was probably a stupid worry.

I have a feeling that something was missing from the explanation before, but as Tomoe’s already left, I can’t ask.

Instead, I begin refining the Martial Practice once more.

The refining went a little odd due to the tangent about magic, but it feels like it’s actually gotten closer to my aim. It’s convenient but at least I want to know why it ended up like this! It’s not normal for things to go well by mistake… Actually, that happens a lot. More then people realise.

I practice ‘Flavour’ until I have barely any energy left then go to sleep. The time that I go to sleep is probably about two hours past noon. We did have lunch, but it was uneventful. We all out on our own today.

The dragon ate a large deer which Tomoe gave to it.

It was alive.

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