Chapter 30: Call Elemental

Dragon Era 737
「Yeah... this is... a bit... impossible...」
「Sorry, Sensei... I’m so big...」

Huffing and puffing, I gently set Ruful’s body down on the ground.

「No—look, the fact you’ve grown is a very good thing.」

Has it already been about a hundred years since I met Ruful? Her height, once around five meters, was now on its way to eight. Her healthy growth itself was truly delightful.

The problem was that even in my dragon form I couldn’t transport a body that huge.

It’s been a little over ten years since Rin discovered a way to let spirits speak.
Unfortunately, mermaid Rin seems extremely incompatible with earth spirits. She could summon water, wind, even fire spirits, but Gnome alone she just could not call forth.

She should have been on the verge of death, yet she’s still lively. She must truly have rejuvenated. Learning magic from her—now more energetic than ever—Ruful was the first to succeed at summoning a speaking spirit.

Just when I intended to have Ruful decipher that mural, a problem arose.
We couldn’t get her to that cave.

There’s the sea between us. Walking isn’t an option. We searched carefully for any land connection, but only confirmed it was an entirely separate continent with no link at all.

Even with my wings, the strait lying between would take about two hours to cross. A few kilometers would be one thing, but it was impossible to fly that long while holding Ruful.

「So... a ship, then?」

If land and air are out, that leaves the sea route. It does—but as you know, ships in this world neither move nor float.

For the time being, by wearing clothing of a different color, they’ll at least float even with me aboard. They will—but that and getting a ship to move are entirely different matters.

「Sensei, I’ll row really hard!」
「No, no... that’s a bit unrealistic.」

I flapped my hands at Ruful, who had clenched her fist and insisted. True, a boat will move if you row it by hand, but even for a giant like Ruful, oars alone won’t cover that distance.

In that case, it seemed more promising to train my body until I could carry Ruful with ease. I don’t even know if a dragon’s body gets stronger from training, though...

「Why not tie on a rope or something and have you, in dragon form, tow it, Sensei?」

Tia said it in a half‑joking tone.

「I thought of that too.」

In fact, we’d already tried it.

「In dragon form, the boat sinks instantly.」
「Ahhh...」

In human form it’s just a matter of wearing different‑colored clothes, but that won’t work as a dragon. I can’t very well bathe in paint and turn pure white all over either—and we don’t even have paint yet.

「Rin had a pretty bad time back then too, remember?」
「Huh?」

I’d thought if I put Rin on the boat, the two of us would cancel each other out and it would float, but that was naïve.

「Look—the boat Rin was on sank. Worse, it snapped clean in two and she almost got seriously hurt.」
「Ahh, that did happen, didn’t it.」

She’d nearly been caught between the broken halves and split in two herself. The fact she can brush it off with that sort of reaction just proves how bighearted she is. Even her spell couldn’t fix being cleaved in half, I’m pretty sure.

「...What if we had a spirit tow it?」

Nina suddenly said that.
I see. That might be more practical than me towing it.
If it’s Rin, who’s well matched with them, she can keep a spirit out for quite a long time.

「All right. Let’s test it right away. Ruful, Yuuka—could you bring out the boat we made before from the storehouse?」

I gave the order while putting on the water‑spirit robe Nina made for me and headed for the waterway.

The boat had sunk at once before, but with this robe on at least it wouldn’t sink. I still don’t know why they hate red so much, though...

「Maiden of water, Undine—appear!」

Setting color aside, my compatibility with water spirits apparently isn’t bad. It’s not good either, but they do show up.

「Could you pull this rope and tow the boat for us?」

When I asked while showing the rope tied to the boat, Undine gave a little nod.

And then I, boat and all, was yanked straight down into the water.


- - -


「I said—straight ahead...! Glub glub glub!」

Dragged in a straight line, I went under.

「No, not like that—stay on the surface—whoa!」

The boat was yanked forward like it was flying, and I was pitched out and splashed into the waterway.

「Slowly, slowly, slowly—no, that’s too slow! A little faster, ple—glub glub!」

Unable to stand a pace slower than a snail, I shouted—and got dunked again.

「...All right, this won’t work.」
「Oh, you finally figured that out?」

Nina, seated in the grass doing embroidery, tossed that chilly comment my way around the time I’d been hurled into the waterway more times than I could count on my fingers.

「If you knew, you could’ve said so!」

If I weren’t a dragon I’d definitely have caught a cold from this.

「It didn’t work over there—why would it work for you?」

She pointed, and over there Rin was plowing headlong into the waterway.
So it wasn’t that summoning or giving orders failed because I was the one doing it.

「Geez! If you’re gonna do that much—how about this!」

Apparently she’d lost patience after it kept failing. Plop—Rin dove under into the waterway. After a bit she came back ashore, drawing a conduit line with soapstone as she went.

「Maiden of water, Undine—come out!」

Splaash.
What surfaced, splitting the waterway, was an Undine so huge it rivaled Ruful.
Right—she’d drawn a magic circle on the bottom of the channel. If you inscribe one the full width of the waterway and pour in mana, it gets that big.

「Take this boat—hold it like this—and carry it while keeping it as steady as you can!」

Undine nodded, tucked the boat under one arm, and sloshed off down the waterway. Having seen off the empty boat being carried away, Rin smiled in satisfaction.

「...That makes the boat pointless...」

Nina sighed in exasperation. True enough—like that it served no purpose. —And yet.

「This is it...!」

Seeing that, a certain idea occurred to me.