Chapter 61 - The Special Dragon Transfer Student

Discourse #11

Since you were a former human, Marius, you should know that in the human lands, there are generally three sizes of kingdoms: small, medium, and large. The kingdom I was born in—Shail Kingdom—is a small sized kingdom, home to perhaps about one million humans.

Small sized kingdoms have populations of up to two million people; medium sized kingdoms have populations of two million to five million people; and anything greater than five million is considered a large sized kingdom.

By your expression, I can tell you are curious as to why I am bringing up a common fact that is already known to you.

Well, ponder no more, for the reason I bring this up is because I have found that, in my experience with military information and travels, an average of about .2 to 1 percent of humans in the human kingdoms are born with magic. Other races, however, I am not sure of.

I see this information has dawned on you, so I shall continue telling you of my time during the Mage Academy of my birth kingdom.

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[277 Days Remaining]

When morning came, I went to see Alice Silver and left her the key to my room. There had been some awkwardness from her when she had asked about Leana, but I assured her that nothing had occurred except for the fact that she had slept overnight.

I took out the coin purses, which I had left in the inn's room and paid the fee for three months. I had no need to use the prize money for the tournament, since there was still money leftover.

After the transaction and our conversation was finished, I gave Alice a small farewell and headed outside the city, where I would wait about two hours or so for Lady Calina Serle.

Leana was still deeply asleep inside my room, so there was no need to worry about that; the ensuing awkwardness would also be avoided.

The two hours would also give me some time to unwind, allowing me to practice my sword forms and magic.

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Outside the city, near the edge of the forest, I took a deep breath of the fresh, crisp air. Then, I started stretching, loosening up my muscles before gradually slipping into the routine Grandmaster Kizam had taught me. My hand moved instinctively to my longsword, drawing it free from its sheath with a smooth motion.

I began with Leaf Twirling in Wind, smoothly transitioning into Walking Mountain. Before long, the forms flowed together naturally, each movement of the Wandering Flame style becoming an effortless rhythm. Though I had only recently learned the forms, they soon melded into a fluid sequence.

As I practiced, Grandmaster Kizam's words echoed in my mind, as fresh as the day he first spoke them.

"My own master—you need not know his name—once taught me that before a battle, you must unfetter your mind of all irrelevant thoughts. Hone it and sharpen it, just as you would a blade. I won’t say you must become the blade, for that is a foolish notion. No, you must remain aware of your surroundings at all times. Yes, constant vigilance... That is key. The sword should become a natural extension of your body, but don’t be mistaken—practice alone is not enough. You must test your skills in real situations. And if you die in one... well, tough luck. You were just an unlucky maggot, then. Tough shit..."

I moved through a series of aggressive strikes and fluid motions that involved both my body and weapon. The Wandering Flame style was inherently aggressive, and its true nature came alive as I practiced.

My booted feet left marks in the dirt, and my longsword carved elegant yet deadly arcs through the air, slicing at imagined enemies. My shadow followed, mimicking my every movement, a silent partner in this disciplined dance of violence. The more I practiced, the more my body and sword moved with instinctual precision, and soon, I picked up speed.

A mortal human would have been stunned by the pace I reached—no ordinary human I knew could attain this level of speed.

I became a blur of movement, my body and sword coalescing into one seamless form.

Time passed quickly. Perhaps an hour had gone by before I finally came to a stop, not due to fatigue but by choice. My mind had cleared, and my body felt sharp. Now, I turned my focus to another aspect of my abilities: magic.

Once I was finished practicing my magic, I would need to make my way back to the southern gates of the city, where I would wait for Lady Calina Serle to arrive.

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To live by the sword is to die by the sword.

I pondered about this common military saying as I felt the weight of my longsword strapped to my back. It was still a relatively new weapon, given to me by Grandmaster Kizam. Not so new, however, in regards to its baptism.

After all, the weapon had been thoroughly coated with the blood of dark elves during the subjugation.

Dark elves were a curious race; cunning, fierce, and cruel. And judging from how the others had deferred to that female dark elf known as Blackheart and from my past experiences, I would think that they were a matriarchal society. A likely truth, but I was not too sure.

A voice interrupted my musings about the sword and dark elves.

“Ride with me, slave,” Calina said, walking toward the horse-drawn carriage with her arms folded. Similar to the day I accompanied her to meet her teacher, she wore a Gothic style black dress cut short above her knees. Below that, she wore a lighter shade of black stockings which went all the way down to her soft-furred, brown boots. All of this served to express her small proportions quite admirably, including her shapely rump.

Mind you, I am just speaking to you of my observations. It is, to say the least, one of my favorite things to do—observing, that is, not leering at women's bodies. Of course, like any other normal male, I had an inclination to look at women with desire, but it is to a far lesser degree, almost negligible, really.

“Very well, mistress Calina,” I said amiably. (At least, I tried to say it amiably, though I am afraid it might have come off rather indifferently, in my opinion).

Calina did not bother to reply, only continuing walking toward the horse-drawn carriage. Funny enough, she somehow tripped over a pebble as she neared the carriage. Her hands instantly went out to stabilize herself, and her short, black dress became upturned as a result. The final result was her being in an arched position, revealing a sheer red panty, which was almost thin enough to be negligible.

It was out of character for me, but I was in a light mood. That, combined with the fact that I was role-playing as her “slave bodyguard,” caused me to whistle wolfishly (or should I say dragonishly) at her. “I find your taste in red panties to be in my liking, mistress. Rather daring too, might I add humbly,” I said in a polite tone, adding just the barest inflection.

Having recovered from her fall, Calina stood up and turned around to look back at me. Her face remained expressionless, but I noticed the slight twitching. “I have no words for you, slave. I would punish you if I have the time, but we must journey to the academy now. Just hurry into the carriage now.”

“No disrespect was intended, mistress. I was merely complimenting your choice of wardrobe for today.”

“...”

Similar to Calina, my face remained expressionless also, though I was more experienced in hiding my emotions—I did not have much to hide, after all.

The form of the fourteen year old noble lady disappeared as soon as she went inside the black carriage. Black, I was beginning to think, was most likely her favorite color.

I followed along, accepting Calina's invitation to sit inside the carriage with her (not that there was any other place for me to sit as I was her bodyguard).

I also noticed that all through this moment, the carriage driver had a gloved hand held up to cover the lower half of his face.

No doubt, the driver most likely had an amused smile hidden underneath his hand.

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[274 Days Remaining]

The horse-drawn carriage shook a little as we steadily moved along toward Shail Kingdom's Mage Academy.

Inside the carriage, Calina sat across from where I was sitting. Her legs, covered in long, light black stockings, were crossed with her right leg over the left. Her lips were somewhat pursed, and she had on a dull expression while her intense looking, steel grey eyes remained blank.

I, along with her, felt inclined to agree with her mood. We had been riding inside this carriage for about four days now, traveling toward the central region of Shail Kingdom. But to arrive at the Mage Academy, one and a half more day of riding was still required.

Naturally, we also had to stop to rest and eat; at nights, the carriage driver would stop at a nearby town and find us the best inn and reserve three rooms, one for each of us. The money, I might add, also came solely from Calina's deep pockets. To be technical, it came from her father's deep pockets, seeing that he was the richest noble in the northern region of Shail Kingdom.

We stopped at a fairly large town since the sun was already setting, and day was turning into night.

After settling everything, I was left to my own devices in one of the modest, yet spacious room of the town's inn. The name of the inn was called the Dancing Pig.

Surprisingly enough, the inn had a large number of customers, despite its name. It was also the biggest inn in the town. Perhaps there was just something about the inn's name that attracted people. Hah, a dancing pig. I would have liked to see such an animal; it sounded amusing.

Inside the room reserved for me, there was a mirror about as tall as I was. The room was also furnished with a small desk, a well-made wooden chair, and a soft-feathered bed with two blankets neatly folded on top. There was also a small window to let in the night air in case the room became stuffy.

I undressed myself, taking off the new garments I had bought, since the clothing the eldest had made for me became worn out from use. My new garments consisted of a green sleeveless tunic, a black shoulder mantle, and linen leggings of a darker green. The season was summer, after all, and I dressed to suit the weather.

There was also no need to don armor, for the central region of Shail Kingdom was safe, as there were many outposts along the roads. These outposts kept any stray goblins or monsters from encroaching into human territories.

Naked, I put my neatly folded garments onto the desk and walked toward the bed, planning to sleep for little more than an hour.

“Strange,” I said to myself, catching a look at my reflected image on the mirror.

I could not help but be surprised at seeing the large tattoo of three spirals which were connected together in the center, all of it in a circular fashion. Small jagged spikes, each one not similar to one another, surrounded these three spirals in a circular perimeter. Below this, there were small flames devouring a tree. All of these black patterns resulted in a mesmerizing display.

But how had this black tattoo appeared onto my back without me being aware of it? I had felt nothing. I had seen nothing.

I pondered at this novelty, sifting through my memories, but the only thing that I found close to suspicion was of the four-horned female apparition. Her words and her mesmerizing, yet strange voice were still distinct in my mind.

“It seems you are marked...” That was what she had said to me.

Prior to that, these black designs on my back had never appeared before...before I had met her. What had she done to me? And what did she meant by saying that I was marked?

A growl almost burst out of me—I disliked not knowing things, especially when these things concerned me and my life.

It was useless, however, trying to make random conjectures about this black tattoo. Nothing could be done for the moment, as I had no clue as to what this was or how I had obtained it. I also doubted that this was another one of the eldest's trick, for I had not seen him do anything to my back. He had only marked my stomach with a blood mark, which I could use to contact him by activating it with my fire magic.

For now, I would put this curiosity away, and sleep for an hour or so.

Then I would spend the rest of the night practicing on sensing the magic in other people. The past few days, I had learned to sense a little of this, trying out a variety of methods, but I was still not adept enough. I also had no clue how to hide my magic; this was one of the few quirks of magic that was on my mental list to practice, but little did I know back then that I would only learn to do this after I had turned five years old as a dragon.