Countless carriages entered the Academy grounds. It was a sight reminiscent of the entrance exam, though not as crowded as back then.
Unlike the entrance ceremony, where new students, their families, and attendants all came together, only those who had already been admitted to the Academy were visiting now.
Seeing the procession that filled the Academy grounds and caused a traffic jam, I sighed and jumped out of the carriage without hesitation.
“We’ll walk from here, so bring the carriage around later.”
“Yes, understood, Young Master.”
It might have looked rather dangerous to hop off in the middle of a road packed with horses, but Yuri and I were superhuman beings beyond ordinary humans.
Thanks to Yuri quickly casting a spell and levitating both herself and me, we escaped the carriage-clogged road and landed in the Academy’s shopping district.
Most shops that had been enjoying a break since the Academy went on vacation were now wide open for business again, luring customers in anticipation of the upcoming school reopening.
While walking and sharing two smoothies purchased from a decent fruit smoothie shop with Yuri, I noticed Arthur standing in front of a butcher’s shop, looking troubled.
“Oh, Arthur!”
“…Kail?”
Upon spotting me, Arthur dashed over as if she’d found her savior. Watching her run towards me made me tilt my head in curiosity, but I froze when she suddenly grabbed my hand.
“Kail!”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Lend me some money!”
“…What?”
Her abrupt request was none other than borrowing money.
* * *
No matter how much it was Arthur, lending money just like that wasn’t feasible. Kail asked her what the situation was.
“Well, you see…”
Arthur glanced cautiously at Yuri before whispering carefully into Kail’s ear.
“…The dragon, it hatched.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But, um, the thing is… it only eats this kind of meat…”
She pointed to the expensive premium meat displayed in the butcher’s shop. The kind of meat that someone like Arthur, a commoner, could afford maybe once or twice in a lifetime.
Seeing the price tag, Kail chuckled bitterly and asked how she knew the dragon only ate this particular meat.
“How do you know it only eats this?”
“A while ago, during a walk, it suddenly flew here and devoured all of this meat…”
“Ah… So that’s why…”
Now it made sense why Arthur, who had seemed fine before the vacation, now looked so impoverished. She must have spent all her money dealing with the trouble the dragon caused.
And the trouble the dragon caused wasn’t entirely her problem alone. After all, hadn’t Kail been the one who told her to raise the dragon in the first place?
If that was the case, he should take responsibility too. With that thought, Kail bought all the premium meat in the butcher’s shop. The butcher’s face lit up with joy.
“Ka, Kail. It doesn’t eat that much…”
“It’s fine. We can preserve it with magic.”
“Th, that’s true…?”
Arthur stared at Kail in shock, not expecting him to spend so much money. Then it hit her—though he treated her like a friend, she could never be his equal.
Neither talent nor family background could match his. Kail Meyer was a noble and an Aura Master.
“What’s wrong? Let’s go.”
“Ah, yeah…”
Coming to her senses belatedly, Arthur followed him toward the dormitory. Yuri frowned slightly seeing Kail prioritize himself upon arriving at the Academy, but her heart melted under the sun like snow soon after.
Anyone who saw the dragon in Arthur’s room would react the same way.
“Pip-pip-!”
A tiny lizard, no bigger than a palm, zipped around flying here and there. Exhausted, the baby dragon plopped down onto Yuri’s chest.
Yuri gazed at the baby dragon resting on her chest, her eyes sparkling cautiously.
“…Kail, what is this?”
“It’s a dragon.”
“A… dragon…?”
Realizing she was facing a dragon—a creature long thought extinct, existing only in legends—Yuri stared down at it with disbelief.
Its white base color shimmered faintly with golden hues, each scale crafted as if by a master artisan’s meticulous hand.
The dragon looked less like a living creature and more like a gemstone sculpture; Yuri trembled as she gently stroked its head.
“Chomp-!”
“Eek…!”
When the dragon bit her finger, drawing blood, Yuri still didn’t feel any resentment despite the wound.
Instead, finding its defiance cute, she continued petting the baby dragon. Realizing its resistance was futile—or perhaps sensing Yuri meant no harm—the dragon gradually calmed down.
“What’s its name?”
“Hmm? Well, it kept chirping ‘pip-pip,’ so I named it Pip.”
“…Seriously?”
“Yeah, yeah. Why? Doesn’t it suit it?”
Yuri looked at Arthur incredulously for giving such a tacky name to a dragon, then carefully pondered a better one.
“A white dragon with golden hues… like a falling meteor… How about StarTail?”
“StarTail?”
“Mhm. StarTail, meaning ‘tail of a star.'”
Deciding it was better than “Pip,” Kail nodded approvingly. The baby dragon seemed to agree, chirping excitedly.
Realizing she’d have to take full responsibility for naming the dragon “Pip,” Arthur also nodded and accepted the name StarTail.
“Nice, StarTail.”
“From today onward, your name is StarTail. …Hey, can you give it to me?”
“I wish I could, but… it doesn’t just eat meat…”
“It doesn’t just eat meat?”
Tilting his head, wondering how much a baby dragon could possibly eat, Arthur burst into laughter.
At that moment, StarTail, as if waiting for the right time, buried its head into Yuri’s chest and began voraciously sucking her magic power.
Feeling drained as her magic was sucked away like water from a bottomless jar, Yuri let out a soft groan.
“Eek…!”
“Haha, I told you… it doesn’t just eat food.”
“Pip-pip-!”
Having tasted a magician’s mana, different from the aura Arthur usually fed it, StarTail began draining Yuri’s magic like a starving beast.
In the blink of an eye, StarTail had completely drained Yuri’s mana and let out a small burp before starting to gnaw on the raw meat Kail had brought.
Yuri, whose mana had been entirely stolen, collapsed onto the bed, clutching her head.
“What… was that…”
“Dragons steal their mother’s magic to grow. Since there’s no mother dragon here, it steals mana from anyone…”
“…How did you even raise it?”
“Huh? Wha?”
“This… How have you managed until now? From my rough calculations, even a Master-level mage couldn’t handle that amount.”
Calculating the mana needed to raise a dragon in just that short span, Yuri concluded it was impossible for someone at Arthur’s level to raise one.
At the peak of Expert rank, barely touching the threshold of Master, even she had her mana utterly depleted in an instant. Having trained her mana meticulously using elixirs given by Kail, allowing her to rival a 4-star magician, this was a tremendous shock.
Even she couldn’t last long, so how did Arthur, who hadn’t even reached Expert rank, manage to raise this dragon alone? It was theoretically impossible.
“Haha, there’s a method.”
“No way. That’s impossible.”
“Just as every family has hidden secrets, I have mine too. Can you understand?”
“…I see. So that’s why Kail befriended a commoner.”
Had such words been spoken outside the Academy, they might’ve been considered blasphemous, but here inside the Academy, and being Kail’s close friend, Yuri didn’t intend to be harsh on Arthur.
She simply realized Arthur had her own secrets.
If she didn’t want to talk about it, there was no need to force her. With that thought, Yuri closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, her entire body devoid of mana.
As Yuri fell asleep, breathing softly, Arthur let out a deep sigh of relief.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“…Nothing, just glad I didn’t get my mana drained today.”
“Does having your mana drained cause problems?”
Arthur looked at Kail as if questioning his sincerity. Kail shrugged, asking what the issue was, just as StarTail, now lethargic from consuming Yuri’s mana, bit into Arthur’s neck.
With a faint groan, Arthur’s body began to change. Her chest flattened, and her hips narrowed.
Without the mana required to maintain a male form, her body reverted to its original state. Kail nodded at Arthur’s now overly tight clothing.
“Hmm, this is a problem.”
“R-right…?”
Struggling to breathe, her face flushed red, Arthur quickly grabbed some clothes from the closet and dashed into the bathroom.
Kail watched her go, then turned his gaze carefully to the bed where Yuri lay. She was peeking through half-open eyes, watching him.
