After inheriting the qualifications of the Dragon Lord’s agent, it was a brilliant choice to polymorph into a dragon to quiet everyone down, but there were side effects too.
It seems that all the dragons present recognized me as a dragon.
They probably thought I was showing my dragon form after polymorphing from a human, not realizing it was actually me.
The most dragon-like aspect within me was just that, so I showed it, and they completely fell for it.
Was it really that confusing?
Even knowing that polymorph is a power that’s hard to perceive, could dragons not notice it among themselves?
Anyway, the real problem was what happened next.
Once I showcased my polymorph, the other dragons started treating me with utmost respect as the Lord’s agent, which was good, but it created an issue.
Gemma started looking at me with an intensely burdensome gaze.
‘This is a bit overwhelming.’
Her gaze seemed to pour a mix of respect, admiration, and affection toward me without a care in the world.
If I were to speculate, the Gemma in her mind must be seeing me as a glorious, 20,000-year-old dragon hiding my true identity.
It’s amazing to think I’ve been elevated from a grouchy, strong human to a dragon; I can see why she’d be intrigued.
“Hehe…”
Alone, she twisted her body in excitement, laughed to herself, and whenever our eyes met, she’d blush and quickly look away.
Hmm… it looks like there’s a lot of misunderstanding building up.
“Gemma, just to clarify, I’m not what you think I am.”
“What do you mean by what I think?”
“What you’re thinking right now.”
“Umm, it can’t be that. You have no idea what I’m thinking.”
I wonder if Gemma knows what I’m thinking.
Since we have different thoughts in our heads, we need some time to clear the misunderstandings.
Though, it is a relief that Gemma isn’t using honorifics.
It would have been even more terrible if she did.
It seems there’s a solid misunderstanding, so I need to fix it.
At that moment, the gentle breeze I felt from her suddenly weakened.
Yep, she’s the problem.
“The wind is too weak. Try blowing a bit harder.”
[How… how about this?]
When I snapped at her, the Green Dragon Jade, who was fanning me in dragon form right in front of me, clenched his teeth and started fanning with more force.
But this time, it was too much.
The sofa that Gemma and I were sitting on nearly lifted off the ground.
Getting hit with such strong wind that my bangs flew back, I shouted in frustration again.
“That’s way too strong! Are you trying to blow me away?”
[I’m sorry! Then how about this much…?]
This time, it was too gentle of a breeze.
“That’s way too weak.”
[Ugh….!!]
Jade ground his teeth.
From the look of things, he must have felt offended by something after getting too close to Gemma.
It’s pathetic for a dragon to get swept up in emotions like that.
[Why… why are you treating me like this!]
“Is it really that hard to figure out?”
Because it’s easy.
He was the first dragon to pick a fight with me when I arrived.
I brought him over intending to make him pay for causing chaos already, so I couldn’t find the right timing to kick him out.
I needed to talk about something serious, and having a dragon like him lingering around made it contentious.
“I hope you’re not bothering Jade too much. He acts a bit overboard, but he’s trying to think of me, so don’t take it the wrong way.”
Seeing how much I’d been teasing him, Gemma chimed in out of concern for Jade.
Perfect timing.
Let’s use this as an excuse to get him out.
“Yeah. That’s enough, so hurry up and leave.”
[Leave?! What are you planning to do with Gemma?! No, not yet!!]
Even when I told him I’d be bothering him less if he just quietly left, he was making a fuss.
I was just trying to be magnanimous and let him off, and this is how he responds.
“Geez.”
Since he kept resisting and causing a scene, I smacked his head again.
[Ouch?!]
“What do you think you’ll do when you can’t even fan properly?”
With an aura-filled strike, Jade’s head spun as he fell to the ground, looking as pitiful as he could while looking up at Gemma.
However, it seemed Gemma wasn’t inclined to spare Jade, despite having already given him a chance.
[Ugh… Gemma…]
“Don’t worry too much, just do as I say.”
[Ughhh… but…]
Jade was still adamant about not stepping back even after hearing that.
But then, out of nowhere, thick vines started sprouting from Jade’s body, binding him.
[This is…. Smaragd, you!!]
[I’ll take care of this.]
“Okay, thanks.”
Smaragd, who had come after hearing the ruckus, grabbed Jade like a trash bag by his tail and started moving him.
Though Smaragd seemed to have doubts about trusting me, for now, it looked like he had nothing to argue with, so he was willing to go along.
I couldn’t be more relieved.
-Clank!
After confirming that Smaragd’s presence had completely disappeared, I scanned the entire room.
Fortunately, there were no eavesdropping spells or anything like that.
Dragons do have excellent hearing, but keeping one artifact activated should be enough.
If they want to break through this and listen in, they’d have to use magic, and I could detect that.
“The meddler’s gone now.”
“What??”
Thinking that Jade had finally left and we could begin our conversation properly, Gemma’s face suddenly turned red.
“Ah… so that was a meddler. It would look a bit… so that’s why…”
“Exactly. I was worried you might hear something weird and think strange thoughts.”
“Right… I see.”
I wanted to explain to Gemma why I’d been able to obtain the qualifications of the agent and why I could use polymorph, but Jade, who I had called just to tease, was being a bother.
Now that he was gone, we could talk as much as we wanted.
“So, Gemma, the reason I….”
“I’m… ready.”
Just as I was about to start talking seriously, Gemma suddenly closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly down.
With Gemma, who was taller than me, angling her head perfectly to meet my eye level, I could feel her breath right in front of my face.
If I tilted my head up just a bit, our lips would almost touch.
Was this what she meant when she said I wouldn’t guess what she was thinking?
-Slap!
“Ow!!”
Instead of tilting my head up, I gave Gemma’s forehead a light smack right at the perfect position.
“I told you that’s not it.”
“Is… is this not it??”
“No.”
“What’s that supposed to mean then?”
“Don’t tell me you think I’m a dragon?”
“… What do you mean? If you’re not a dragon, then who exactly is?”
As expected, she was completely convinced that I was a dragon.
“You see, I can use polymorph, but I’m still human.”
“Okay, so you’re saying you can beat up dragons, polymorph into one, and unleash massive mana like you have a Dragon Heart inside you, but you’re still not a dragon? Then the spirits of our ancestors inside you must also be wrong.”
Hearing it put that way, it actually makes my claim of being human sound ridiculous.
“I understand you find it hard to believe since I have already shown some evidence. But it’s true. I gained the ability to polymorph through a certain event in the past. That’s likely why everyone is confused.”
“Hmm… I see.”
Since I was speaking earnestly, Gemma seemed to take it seriously and believed it.
“But that doesn’t change anything.”
“What?”
Thinking I was lucky that she listened so well, it seemed she had more to say.
Gemma started listing things off one by one.
“Atlas, you can use polymorph.”
“That’s… true.”
“And you carry the power of a dragon within you. You have a mana level that’s at least comparable to a Dragon Heart, which is likely why everyone mistakes you for a dragon.”
“That’s true.”
It’s a bit ambiguous how much mana the power of polymorph holds, but considering I’ve mixed numerous essences into one, my mana is indeed rivaling that of a dragon.
“So wouldn’t that be enough? Atlas should be proud to lay claim to the title of Honorary Dragon. It doesn’t matter whether Atlas polymorphs into a dragon or we polymorph into a human; there’s barely any difference.”
Can it really be that way?
“If that’s not important, we should get back to the task at hand.”
“What… what task?”
“Did you forget why we’re here?”
While it’s great that inheriting the role of the Dragon Lord’s agent resolved many issues, I can’t just loiter here until I die.
The fundamental reason behind my presence here was because of some forces targeting Gemma, which, while still suspect, hadn’t been fully uncovered.
Now that it had been revealed that it wasn’t a direct order from the Dragon Lord, it was about time to reveal the culprit and, while we’re at it, awaken the Dragon Lord as well.
—————-
The next morning, the people waiting at Atlas’s mansion gathered in the living room to start a meeting.
The reason for concern was that Atlas, who had said he’d be back soon, hadn’t returned yet.
“He’s not here. I heard he got caught up in something troublesome…”
While it’s not the first time Atlas got involved in annoying matters, with dragons in the mix, I was worried it might be too dangerous.
During that time, Wendy suddenly shot up from her seat.
“There’s a good method for times like this.”
“A good method?”
“First, we heard some things yesterday. We should smash the dragons caught here this time.”
Now that it’s been confirmed that it wasn’t a summons from the Lord, she planned to take down the lying dragons with her usual bravado.
