Chapter 27: Control Magic

「Thank you, Jack Frost.」
「Hoo, hoo, hoo.」

When Ai lightly patted the snowman’s head, the snow-and-ice spirit let out a laugh and vanished in a puff. At once, the wooden weapons that had been frozen in midair came clattering down, and the ice covering the ground and trees melted away.

Humanity’s strength lies in how fast it grows.
Not just physically—their minds, their skills, their magic all advance at a terrifying pace. Ai herself, of course, and the Jack Frost she commands had both grown considerably stronger.
If we fought now, I’d probably just lose.

『Will you acknowledge us now?』

Ai spun around and asked. The Elder closed his eyes and stroked his beard.

『...No. Even so, I cannot allow that.』

Then he opened his eyes and said it.

『The hell? That’s not what you promised!』

Apparently he’d already recovered from the damage—Dalga pushed himself up and heckled him.

『This will be the last.』

The Elder rose his large body from the chair and spoke in a solemn voice.

『I shall be your opponent.』

Magic is a conglomerate of meaning. That holds whether one uses spoken spells or not.
In other words, as a rule, the longer you live and the more you know, the stronger you become.

But no plant grows below freezing.
Ai’s ice magic should be all but a natural enemy to those who work with plants.

『That said...』

Wondering what kind of fighting he would do, I watched as the Elder unhurriedly approached Ai and gently laid a hand on her head.

『It won’t even be a fight.』

At once, Ai’s body toppled and rolled onto the ground.

『What did you do!?』
『Hm... the dragon withstands it, does he? Don’t worry. I merely put her to sleep.』

Saying so, he next held out a hand toward Nina and sent her tumbling to the ground the same way.

What on earth is happening!?

Lastly he put Dalga to sleep as well, then turned to face me.

I had no idea what kind of magic he’d used.
If he made them sleep, then perhaps he scattered some gas or pollen with a soporific effect. Even so, it didn’t make sense that all three of them lost consciousness without so much as a token resistance.
It wasn’t as if the Elder had rushed them at some tremendous speed or vanished. It looked like all three simply waited in silence as he walked up to them.

『Since you brought out a fourth, that means I’m allowed to fight too, doesn’t it?』
『Yeah. Of course I don’t mind.』

The Elder nodded magnanimously and reached a hand toward me.
I wasn’t sure, but perhaps I should take him down before he did anything.
However, getting close felt dangerous.

『Do not move.』

While I was hesitating, the Elder’s voice fell over me, and I reflexively froze in place.

『It seems that even a dragon will stop when the order is spoken aloud.』

What... is going on here?

『You are far too careless, far too ignorant. No matter how powerful the arts you can wield, like that, you cannot resist.』

I had no idea what he was talking about.

『Now then, sleep.』

The Elder’s palm slowly came up to cover my eyes.


For the moment, I tried giving that hand a light bite.


『Gah!?』

The Elder yelped and clutched his palm.

『What is this!? Why can you move!?』

Even if you ask me why...

『I mean, I wasn’t actually unable to move in the first place...』

He’d told me to stop, and I’d reflexively halted, but I didn’t feel any actual restriction on my body.
I gave my tail a little flick-flick, and it moved obediently, same as ever.

『Ridiculous... Halt! Don’t move! Sensei! Do not move from that spot!』

Ah. So that’s it.

At last I realized the trick behind his magic and was disgusted with my own stupidity.

Why hadn’t I noticed until now?
Magic is made of recognition, and recognition takes shape as names.

Therefore, to a mage, one’s name is not something to be exposed.

That’s likely why the elves of this forest go by color names.
Whether because she was still young or because it was her role as “princess,” Nina hadn’t been told that. So she’d naively given me her name.
Aside from the Elder, no one else had taken this tack, so perhaps it’s not so easily done—but I suppose it’s no wonder he mocked us.

『Sorry, Elder-san. It seems your art doesn’t work on me.』

In truth, it was simply that “Sensei” wasn’t my name at all.

I set my claws against the Elder’s shoulder and spoke, a curl of flame smoldering in my throat.

『Now then—either recognize us, or be reduced to cinders. Your choice.』
『...I yield.』

This time, the Elder truly admitted defeat.





「Jeez. Idiot. You are such a complete idiot.」
「You don’t have to be that mad, do you?」

Ever since we left the elves’ settlement, Nina had been in a foul mood.
But I had absolutely no idea why she was angry.

「The Elder recognized our settlement as an ally, we at least got told a method for life extension, and you get to come back with us—so what exactly was so wrong?」
「Ugh... This is why I call you an idiot!」

Riding on my back, Nina thumped away at the area around my neck with her fists.

Utterly lost, I glanced right—Dalga whistled and quickly averted his gaze; I glanced left—Ai watched me with a wry smile.
They both seemed to know what was going on, yet neither would tell me.

「Don’t tell me everything I did was just meddling? Did you want to stay in the settlement?」
「Of course not!」

She smacked my head again.

The fact I could feel the impact meant she was landing a blow stronger than the stones Ultramarine had thrown. It didn’t hurt, but it was a little scary.

At that moment, a thought struck me like a revelation.

「I see. It’s Ultramarine, isn’t it.」
「Huh? Why would Ultramarine come up here?」

At my flawless deduction, Nina voiced her puzzlement. Huh?

「He was awfully worried about you, Nina. Maybe you didn’t want to be apart from him?」
「...He?」
「Um, Ultramarine-san is a woman, you know?」

Lowering her voice another octave, Nina asked back, and Ai hurriedly spoke up.

「Nah, I get you, Aniki. All these long-ears are so flat you can’t tell if they’re men or women. It’s a pain.」
「Sorry we’re so flat for you.」
「Um, but having big breasts can be pretty cumbersome, actually.」
「You three, get over here and line up. I’m punching every last one of you.」

It seemed Dalga had thrown on some firewood and Ai had poured oil onto it.

「At least tell me why you’re angry. If I don’t know, I can’t apologize or reflect on it.」
「I’m angry because you don’t know why!」

Thinking I couldn’t possibly make her any angrier, I asked—only to get a response that was either unreasonable or philosophical, and frankly hard to grasp.

「By the way, Sensei...」

As I fretted, Ai gave my arm a little tug.

「I’m a teensy bit mad too.」
「Why!?」

I thought she might be giving me a hint... or maybe that itself was the hint?

「Dalga, are you mad too?」
「Nah, me? If anything, I’d say this calls for congratulations.」
「Celebrate what!?」

Something to celebrate, that makes Ai mad and puts Nina in a bad mood.
They didn’t seem to have anything in common...

...Ah.

Even I, slow as I am, realized it at last.

「Could it be that... Nina would be treated as, um, my wife?」

When I ventured the question, Ai and Nina nodded in unison.
Ai beamed; Nina scowled. Both were scary.

Come to think of it, the notion of monogamy doesn’t exist in this world yet. Dalga has several wives.

But that and feelings are different things.
Naturally, Ai wouldn’t be thrilled, and Nina wouldn’t want to marry someone like me under circumstances like these either.

「No, um, it’s fine. It’s not like we promised anything... Let’s just act like that’s not a thing and keep things the way they’ve been.」

No sooner had I said that than a rather thick tree branch came down on my head.

「Sensei, that’s out of the question.」

Looking closer, I saw ice clinging to it, reinforced for hardness and weight.

「Then are you saying we should get married?」
「Of course not.」
「No way.」

When I asked that, they answered in perfect unison—leaving me completely baffled.
Only Dalga’s irresponsible laughter rang out across the blue sky.