Despite our future enrollment ‘secured’, I still went out to grind. I still didn’t know why the school was willing to go so far. One possibility might be because a baron asked them, but the school didn’t have any lack of nobles. Someone of his standing shouldn’t have such a high effect.

As to why the baron was willing to go so far for us, he probably thought of us as kids with great potential. If we did something great, his name and this village would go up a step or two. He would have a badge describing how he found this ‘hidden’ talent, despite me not really trying to hide anything. Having a dragon willing to see you as an equal is rare as well.

I had at least three. Maya, her father, and her mother.

Most of the time, the people saw them as monsters. They were scary, fearsome beasts that destroyed everything in their wake. I’ve seen the other side of them, even visited their village. They were never as scary as people describe them to be.

Rather, they’re the opposite of scary.

“Fortis. Let’s go catch fish.” Maya pushed my shoulder left and right. Yeah, scary beasts…

I guess the future and all that complicated stuff could wait for just a tiny bit. Not like I bothered thinking about my future back on Earth.

But the demon king didn’t threaten Earth, though…

Half of me felt that I should be taking this issue more seriously. If I failed, everyone would die. At the same time, the information was too vague. Al1cea had yet to visit me again. I didn’t know when he would return, or how strong he would be. The game did have a part where players battled the demon king, but I didn't know how realistic it was.

“Come on, Fortis.” Maya shook me. Mom had managed to secure a new magic book from one of her friends in a neighboring village, so I was in the middle of reading it.

“Just go and study or something,” I said, flipping through the pages.

She pouted. “Come on.”

She began shaking me again. Nothing could get into my mind if this continued.

“Fine, fine.” I relented.

I set the book down on the table, using a pencil as a bookmark. She reached for my hand and dragged me out. We headed for the river not too far southeast of our village.

She skipped cheerfully above the dirt road. She normally had this flat expression on her face. Despite that, I could still tell when she was excited or happy.

“You need to study soon, you know. That’s what schools are for.”

“Eh…?”

“Now you know why I don’t want to go.”

“But making friends is fun.”

She had made a couple of friends in the village. At first, the villagers were scared. They kept their distance away from her. After a while, they began to grow closer to her. They realized just how human she is, and now, she had a few friends of her own.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“You can’t choose one and discard the other.”

“How about you, Fortis? Why do you go to school?”

“Me…? Didn't I say I don't want to go?”

“But you still agreed in the end.”

“Hmm…”

I looked for a reason, but only one reason popped up. I was worried about her.

“I’m worried about you, I guess.”

“Eh… Why? I can just burn everyone that opposes me.”

“That's precisely why I’m worried about you! Don't burn someone just because of a petty argument!”

“Don’t humans do that to each other all the time?”

The accuracy of her words stung. “Just don’t go starting fights.”

We would probably be involved in one or two, though. That was simply the nature of school life.

Petty arguments, I mean, not fights to the death.

She stopped, looking at the lake in front of us.

“If someone hits me, you will be there for me, right?”

“Maybe?”

She turned her head. “Why maybe?”

“Knowing you… let’s just say I have some other concerns.”

Maya turned back toward the water. She didn’t move.

“Maya?”

I tried walking past her, before turning to her face. Her eyes were glaring at a point in the distance.

“Woah!”

She sprinted past me, running straight toward the water. She descended the small hill that overlooked the lake, running toward a small pier. Not far from that pier was a group of fish.

“Maya, wait for me!” I called, but was ignored. She jumped off the pier and dived into the water.

“Maya?” I stopped and waited on the pier. I could see her shadow swimming straight to the group, grabbing two and swimming back toward me. She shot up from the water and landed back on the pier, her hands holding two silver fish.

“I got them.” She puffed her chest. I put the basket I brought down. She threw both of the fishes into the basket.

“Prepare a fire.” She turned around and dived back into the water. I returned to the shore and looked for some branches, then set up my cooking equipment. Using fire magic, I lit up the stack of wood, creating a campfire. She returned with more fish, threw them into the basket, then headed back to the waters.

After a few minutes, the basket was filled to the brim with fishes. She wasn’t done, though. She went back to the water, grabbed some more fish, then gave it to me. I prepared them for grilling before cooking them over the campfire. In total, she caught like twenty different fish within the span of five minutes. Despite her human body looking similar to mine, her physical abilities were on a whole other level.

This was why I needed to accompany her. If I got into a fight, it would be an equal fight. If she got into a fight, well, I don't even want to know about the aftermath.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be equal, as I had been grinding since I was a child. I was also older in mental age, thanks to my past life experiences.

At the very least, fighting me wouldn’t be as dangerous as fighting her. Probably.

“Say, Fortis.”

“Yes?”

“We’re going to have many more experiences like this, aren’t we?” she said before chomping down on her fish. The way she ate was reminiscent of her dragon form, when she chomped everything down. That said, her stomach capacity matched a human’s.

She still got hungry quicker compared to the average person, though. Probably because she moved around so much.

“Yeah.”

“I’m excited.”

“So am I… Even though there’s still like, how many years until we went there?”

“Many, many years.” She picked up another piece and began eating.

“Haha, yeah. Many, many years.”