Ep 22. I Hate It Here. (2)


    Patrick rubbed his eyes a couple times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Or hallucinating.


    Slurp.


    There he was. The little brother he knew, drinking coffee in all his little glory.


    Clack.


    Serenis placed the cup back down. Her eyes were focused on the blue-haired mage.


    “Well?”


    “…No.”


    Patrick finally managed to answer with a shaking voice.


    “A glamour spell doesn’t help.”


    Karas studied Serenis, who had returned to the form of the little boy he’d seen during their first meeting. The professor nodded in approval.


    “Although, that is an impressive glamour spell. Most mages can scarce replicate the details of another entity to your level. Especially those of another race.”


    Serenis glanced towards the approving professor. She shook her head, correcting his last remark.


    “You both have it backwards. What you were seeing earlier was a spell. This would be the default form.”


    “Wait, what?”


    Patrick frowned as his brain struggled to process what he’d just heard. If the draconic appearance from before was a spell, and the little boy before him now was the default, then…


    “So you’re still…human?”


    “That would be my current physical race, yes. Although, my heart is bound to force gradual changes. This body, too, will eventually become a dragonkin in time.”


    “…How long will that take?”


    “That, I have no clue. A handful of years, perhaps…or a century.”


    ‘That’s quite the range.’


    ‘…That’s a no-clue alright.’


    Patrick sighed in relief. He didn’t know what he was even relieved of, but he felt it nonetheless.


    The professor widened his eyes as he prompted the dragonlord further.


    “Very interesting. So you had a glamour spell in place all along then? To keep your draconic appearance?”


    “That would be correct.”


    “Is it not difficult to keep it active for extended periods of time? The strain on your mana must be taking its toll.”


    “I’ve reclaimed my former heart, so such strains are negligible. And…”


    Serenis stretched her human arm in front of her. She gripped and loosened her fist several times.


    “Even at a strain, having my original form feels far more comfortable.”


    “Reclaimed a former heart, you say…”


    Karas warily eyed the figure before him, trying to get a read on the mana she carried.


    If the little boy had been a shallow pond before, Karas now felt as if the dragonlord was a bottomless ocean. Even the few dragons he were lucky enough to behold carried far less mana than his newest coffee friend.


    “I don’t suppose you could enlighten me on the workings of this ‘former heart’?”


    “It’s similar to an extension of one’s reserves. Specifically…”


    While the two conversed, Patrick’s mind was beginning to wander off again. Although this time, his eyes were quite evidently glued on his little-brother-looking-dragonlord.


    ‘Yeah…they do say, kids all forget about you when they grow up…’


    But isn’t this a little too much forgetting?


    According to the explanation his professor had offered yesterday, Zion’s soul was still in that little body somewhere, just mixed into another one that encompassed far more time and memory. Truth be told, he could only assume that fifteen years’ worth of memories would barely be of significance amidst memories encompassing thousands of years.


    ‘But still…’


    While the mage internally pouted, Serenis finished her explanation to the half crow.


    “...And that’s how it works.”


    “I see…if you are equipped with both the knowledge and the mana, I can only imagine what magics you can wield at present.”Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    “It wouldn’t do for a dragonlord’s magic to be on the level of human sorcery.”


    Karas chuckled.


    “I suppose that’s only true. I do hope you will hold yourself back against your peers.”


    “Peers?”


    “Yes, peers. At the institute?”


    “…?”


    When the dragonlord stared at the professor in blatant confusion, he turned towards the blue-haired enforcer who was busily experiencing flashbacks about his little brother.


    “Patrick. Have you not informed Serenis of anything at all?”


    “Huh? Uh…how could I? They were gone the whole day.”


    “…Fair enough. It’s a good thing we found out now then. Serenis?”


    The dragonlord threw Karas a quizzical look while he continued to speak.


    “As you know, I have pledged to inform you of the contemporary era.”


    “I’m well aware. I do hope it won’t take too much of your time.”


    Karas shook his head.


    “Not to worry. It is a service I offer here at the institute. However…”


    “However?”


    “There are some necessary procedures beforehand.”


    “You humans always did bind yourselves to countless procedures. I see that hasn’t changed.”


    “We do tend to bind ourselves, don’t we? Please, if you’ll look here for a moment.”


    The professor reached into his inner pockets as he laid out a piece of paper on the table. Several lists of items could be seen on it, as well as the big letters that read ‘first year application.’


    “As you can see, you’ll be enrolling in the institute as a new student, which requires several mandatory classes as well as elective classes. And amongst them, what you need is…here, History of Magic (I). Specifically, the one I teach.”


    Serenis stared indifferently at the paper. The words were perfectly understandable. What those words actually meant, not so much.


    Then she looked at Patrick.


    “Patrick.”


    “What?”


    “Translate it for me.”


    “…It means you’ll have to hang around here like the other kids to learn what you want. And that means attending classes, where people like professor Karas will be teaching at. And you know, it IS a place you’ve been dying to go for like, the past ten years.”


    Serenis threw her gaze back towards the half crow, squinting.


    “Is this truly necessary? I only hoped to learn of the twelve deities you spoke of.”


    “Unfortunately, it is. But I can assure you that you’ll learn everything you’d like about the deities and the contemporary era in this manner.”


    Patrick studied Karas blatantly lying his way in front of a supposed dragonlord. If anything, the professor’s audacity was astounding…and he simply had to intervene.


    “…Is it though? You could just make some free time and call them up privately.”


    “Patrick.”


    “Yes?”


    “This could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a dragon enroll in my class.”


    “…”


    “Need I say more?”


    ‘I really, really hate it here.’


    ?   ?   ?


    Patrick’s steps were heavy as he trudged his way home. On the contrary, Serenis’ steps were fairly lighter.


    They’d just sat through another hour of lecture about what Serenis shouldn’t do amongst humans. Namely, hiding her identity as a dragonlord, using the name ‘Zion’ as shown on file, masking her mana, what the first set of classes would entail for the week, and all the nitty-gritty details that came along with being a human.


    Her final response was simple.


    - ‘So be it then.’


    Patrick glanced towards the woman walking at his side.


    His little brother was once again gone, replaced with a dragon who, at Patrick’s fervent request, had hidden her draconic features and changed her attire to the institute’s student uniform. At least this way, no one would look at her and report it to the authorities as a dragon-level hazard.


    She seemed fairly content with how their meeting with the professor had ended; after all, she was promised all the knowledge she sought from his classes. With her own kin living in their exclusion, it was a rather fortunate turn of events that Serenis had found someone willing to offer the knowledge to her.


    Not that Patrick cared any of that. He just wanted his little brother to go to school.


    ‘If you can call that a little brother. They’re not ‘little’ or even ‘brother’ at this point…’


    Noticing the enforcer’s bittersweet gaze, Serenis faced the mage walking by her side.


    “Oh, Patrick. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”


    “…Yeah?”


    “Waterball spell. You teach it the wrong way. There’s no need to consider the atmosphere’s temperature.”


    “What??”


    ‘…Wait. I taught that to Zion before.’


    Patrick had spent a number of days trying to teach his little brother how to use magic, and it wasn’t surprising that he would talk to him about various spells. In fact, magic at large was the boy’s favorite topic whenever they’d spend time together. But…


    ‘Waterball? That was at least a year ago. How…’


    Before the mage could collect his thoughts, Serenis continued to point out the mage’s past mistakes.


    “I also remember you trying to lie your way out of being able to use Snow Claw. Your explanation had nothing to do with the spell’s actual formulation, and it certainly doesn’t require as much mana as you claimed it does.”


    Patrick’s steps came to a halt. Serenis walked a few further down, then curiously turned to face the mage.


    “Is something the matter?”


    “You…remember? How?”


    “Only bits of it. The memories are correct, are they not?”


    “But, I thought…”


    Serenis stared back at Patrick, her expression confused and perplexed.


    “…You thought?”


    Patrick shut his lips. He couldn’t dare speak his mind to answer, for fear it’d come true.


    - ‘Serenis – or Zion, as you keep referring to – possesses a perfectly complete, singular soul. In other words, Serenis is still the same person you knew yesterday, or ten years ago.’


    You were right, professor.


    He’s still in there. Inside that tiny skull somewhere.


    “…I guess I can let the prof slide this time.”


    “What?”


    “Nothing, nothing. I just…thought you forgot everything.”


    “It is difficult to remember most things, yes.”


    “...But you’re still Zion, aren’t you?”


    “If you lived as another entity for a single week, could you become it for the rest of your life?”


    “Well, no. It’s only a week.”


    “Exactly. It’s only fifteen years.”


    “...”


    Mixed into the dragonlord’s memories were unmistakable memories of Patrick’s little brother, the life of a fifteen-year-old human boy named Zion. However, her memories as Zion paled in comparison to her memories as Serenis.


    “…But that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten everything.”


    Patrick snorted. The mage hurriedly caught up to the dragonlord and tugged on her cheeks, pinching them with both his hands.


    “Mngf! Patrick, what’re you doing?”


    “I felt like it.”


    “That’s no reason to pinch others!”


    “Oh, grow up.”


    “Grow up? I’m older than you. By thousands.”


    “Yeah? Do you remember our home address?”


    “…”


    “Some responsible grown-up you are. Or actually, maybe you’re TOO grown up and just forgetting things from old age.”


    Serenis beamed back at her newly acquired sibling. In her previous life, she would never have elected to bicker like this, especially with a human.


    So, surely, the strange warmth she felt when teasing Patrick must be a side effect of her now-human body.


    “Keep that up and I’ll show you how Snow Claw is actually used.”


    “…That’s a combat spell. It can kill people.”


    “I’m well aware.”


    “…”


    Enforcers of the Mage Association, by the virtue of their job, required the individual to be an extremely proficient mage. They were required to be adaptable to all sorts of situations, and combat was no exception – especially when it came to apprehending rogue mages.


    But maybe that was all pointless before a dragon.