We got up early, or rather, nobody could sleep well, due to the fright they had at being attacked by two monsters that the strongest S rank in the kingdom would lose against, then being saved by a group of God Dragons, not to mention learning that the little girl that was their escort was actually the winner of the tournament, and strong enough to deal with both of those monsters bare-handed (well, not quite, but still) when actually a mage. Actually, forget being unable to sleep, they were unable to stop pelting me with questions the whole night. At least the horses managed to get some sleep, though one of the four did get a nasty cut on its flank from a bone shard that went flying due to one of my Dragons. I healed it, but as I couldn't replace its lost blood, I used {Gate} to send it back to the capital with a note explaining that it got injured and had to rest for a few days, and did the same for the one who lost a shoe at about the same time. At the same time, I went to the guild to show them the two magic stones, though I asked to keep them both as I had some plans for them. The missing horsepower was made up for by one of my Dragons, who had been needing some form of punishment for a while now. I figured that, as those horses were out of commission due to something that the kids had no way of dealing with, and were thus not able to be held accountable for, I should be allowed to have a Dragon make up for it if I kept the speed to that of a horse, and used magic to make it not scare away monsters any more than a pair of horses would... in other words, to disguise its appearance, scent, sounds, and so on such that anyone would think it was a pair of horses, such that it was functionally equivalent to the two horses, excluding the food it ate, which I provided. It did take a decent chunk of magic to keep that illusion going... for a normal person. The thing is, it didn't even take up a tenth of the mana I recovered in the same span of time. Anyways, back to the question bombardment that happened the night of the attack.

"Nene, uh... When I was watching you at the tournament, weren't your scales white?" (Nino)

"They were Gold-bordered White, actually. That, and the color you see now, are both not the real color of the scales. I figured that Gold-bordered White would explain the strength they had in the tournament, and here, I figured that Purple would explain their strength, even in the event of a Black Viper attack or something... Well, I also like the color purple, and it matches my hair too" (Nene)

"So... what do they actually look like?" (Ivan)

"Well... I'll show you, though I won't show you the way I change the color" (Nene)

I walked away from them, went behind a tree, and changed their color to Gold-bordered Black, as they naturally were.

"Oh, so they're just a step higher than they were before... and not as strong as the ones you passed them off as in the tournament" (Don)

"Not quite... See, these are Gold-bordered Black, in other words, the same as the second highest God Dragon, as you'd call them... Speaking of... Dragons portray their Gods as ones with a border of Gold AND Silver on their scales, so calling, say, Gold-bordered Blue Dragons as God Dragons is actually a misnomer" (Nene)

"And you know this... how?" (Olivia)

"I mean, I can speak their language, so..." (Nene)

"Their language... A human... can learn how to talk with Dragons... uh... Can you teach me how to speak their language? Please?" (Nino)

"Well, I'd like to point out that I'm not a human... See the ears?" (Nene)

"You know what I meant..." (Nino)

"Yes, I do. I also know that you'd have a lot of trouble speaking it, as the only reason I can do so is by changing my vocal cords with magic every time I want to do so. That's quite risky for those who don't know what they're doing... Like, I doubt that I have a shot teaching anyone how to do so... You'd have an easier time teaching a bear how to speak with us. In addition, you'd only be able to talk to the Dragons that aren't wanting to kill you, and finding one of those is hard, unless you are a summoner who has ties to a lot of Dragons like me. See, most Dragons don't have any hostility towards humanoids or other living beings, besides monsters, and don't attack humanoids or their livestock unless they are out of their minds. In other words... Most Dragons that you would come across would be the crazy kind" (Nene)

"Oh... so, you're saying that I couldn't learn how, and that even if I somehow did, I wouldn't be able to make use of the knowledge, right? That sucks..." (Nino)

"Indeed it does, but, it's better to know that you can't than to try and fail, becoming mute instead" (Nene)

"Who was it who gave you that scale? The one you were using to carve the wood?" (Olivia)

"That would be Lapis. She's... currently hiding in my hood, actually. I don't want to wake her, but... Anyways, I honestly have a lot of scales... Like, my shop in Crimonia uses them as plates that we serve food on, because we have so many" (Nene)

"Your... shop? You work at a shop? Aren't you an adventurer?" (Ivan)

"Well, I own the place, I'm in charge of finding or creating new recipes for it, but the rest is left to others. I've got some orphans working as waiters and waitresses, others working as cooks, receptionists, dishwashers, and so on, while I have some other cooks known as Dragons. It's a pretty fun thing to watch, actually. How's this? If you all do well on the rest, I'll take you to eat at my place, and I'll let you watch them cook, too. Sound interesting? I'll pay, don't worry... Well, actually, it'd be more like that the staff insist that I eat for free, despite the fact that I dislike them doing so. I didn't make that place so I could eat for free, I made it so that everyone could eat good food at a good price, and so that people could see that Dragons could be useful, if we didn't hunt every last one that showed its whiskers, even if it wouldn't normally harm humans" (Nene)

"Still, I think we have to decline that offer... I don't think my parents or my teachers would like me to be away for the week it'd take for us to get there and back... and the same thing is probably true for the rest of us" (Oscar)

"Nene can use {Gate}, you know? I think we'd be able to get there, eat breakfast, watch the cooks, and come back before lunch is served" (Olivia)

"Huh?" (Oscar)

"Say what?" (Ivan)

"{Gate}? Really?" (Don)

"Yep. Remember that time I chased after the carts? I said I had to empty my bladder, but in reality, I was contacted by a friend through magic, as one of his party members got gutted by a Wyvern, and nobody could heal him. Therefore, I used {Gate} to get there, and healed the guy before killing the Wyvern and coming back. I just wanted to hide the fact I could use {Gate}, or really, I wanted to make you forget that I was someone who would be watching and reporting your behavior, as that way, I could see how you'd act if this wasn't a test, and so I came up with that lie. I'm sorry for lying to you, but that was one of the few times I did so, and every time, it was for that purpose or otherwise for your own good" (Nene)

"Look, we aren't mad about that lie. If anything, we should be apologizing to you for, well, being disrespectful and doubting you were actually strong enough to do more than gather herbs and carve arrows" (Oscar)

"I mean, that was the whole point of that lie. Thanks to it, I could see how you'd act when not in the presence of a teacher or escort, and could see your attitudes towards those you believe to be weak and useless in whatever role they were trying to take" (Nene)

"Yeah... I guess that I'm going to get a pretty bad score on that bit... most of us, actually" (Oscar)

"No, I'm not going to have that affect your grade, I'll just put in a note saying you need to work on that. It's not something that I can grade you on, in fact. I can only grade things like your performance in battle, your skills at getting where you need to go, decision making skills, cooperation, attention to details and threats, ability to tell if something is out of your abilities, and so on. That last one is why I didn't stop you at first when the Death Knight showed up, by the way. I wanted to see if you could tell after a few attacks, or before then, that it was much stronger than an ordinary Skeleton, or even a Bone Knight. I made sure to have three different spells ready to protect you, and one to blast it away, depending on what was needed. I had the one that I used, some simple wind magic to blow you to the side, one that could cast a barrier to block a few hits if that first one wouldn't have worked, and one that could have healed you from death's door. That one, by the way, only works if I can cast it within ten seconds of the wound being inflicted, so if you got hit, I would have blasted it away as I blew myself towards you, then healed you. It would have been hard to pull off, but it was a backup for the worst-case scenario. Thankfully, I didn't have to use more than the first one" (Nene)

"Oh... I didn't realize you were doing so much from the background... well, preparing so much in the background, just in case. I... uh... Thanks for that, I guess... " (Ivan)

Tsundere? Nah, probably not... I think... contrary as a cat, I guess. Then again, he is the one closest to me in age, and a fellow beastkin of the feline variety... Still, whatever, there's more questions being asked of me.

"So... I have to ask... how are you so good at magic at this age? Just how much did you have to train to be able to use healing magic that could heal someone from death's door, {Gate}, {Niflheim}, {Hellfire Mantle}, and probably several other S ranked magic spells?" (Nino)

"Wait, say what? She can use {Niflheim} and {Hellfire Mantle}? How do you know that?" (Don)

"Well, I used {Niflheim} against the A ranked [Ice Queen] Weiss in the tournament, and I said that I could use {Hellfire Mantle} before the match started. Of course, I could have been lying, but there's no reason for me to have done so. In addition, I did show off {All-Consuming Flames} when dealing with that necromancer earlier. The healing magic, by the way, is known as {Clock Restoration}. It doesn't heal the target, actually. It simply can turn back time for a given target by up to ten seconds... twenty seconds, if you don't mind side effects such as loss of memory or random, but transient, partial paralysis, or even up to a minute, if you don't mind a 75% chance of the target dying and a 24% chance of the target being brought back, but their mind not coming back... in other words, being brought back in a permanent coma. It's risky, but there are some times when it's the only thing that might work, such as being splattered by a Death Knight's sword. It is in the category of healing magic, and it does require the ability to use healing magic, but... It's actually melded magic. Most people who have an affinity for healing magic, or rather, light magic, still can't use it due to the other element that it needs, as well as the ability to combine the two" (Nene)

"Melded magic? It's real? I've only heard of it in myths and legends" (Don)

"... Oh... I forgot how... ah, what's the word... underdeveloped, I guess? How underdeveloped this continent's magic knowledge is... Anyways, melded magic is strong... scary strong, in some cases. For instance, my favorite melded magic is probably the most scary one that I might use on people, instead of just monsters. It's known as the {Curst Flames of Gehenna}, and it's... well, it can go through {Hellfire Mantle} due to having aspects of {All-Consuming Flames}, but it won't harm living beings... well, not physically, at least. It'd just make them want to die from the illusion of pain they'd feel" (Nene)

As soon as I said that, the air seemed to drop from a comfortable temperature to well below freezing... I guess that was a bit too much, wasn't it?

"Anyways, so, in regards to the original question, I'm not sure how I am so good at magic... I haven't not been able to use whatever spell I tried to use. Like, before I was six, I used magic to kill three Wyverns, then I maintained a large-area S ranked melded magic for ten minutes, and this was after I used S ranked melded magic for a second, healed two people, made a path of ice halfway from one island to another, and used wind magic to propel myself to insane speeds... though, I guess that's not the main expenditure of my magic... In any case, that was all the first day I tried to use magic, so... Don't ask me how I learned magic, because... I didn't. I just have been able to use it as soon as I started to want to do so. Now, I could give you some tips, but... honestly, you'd be better off learning it from an actual teacher than from me" (Nene)

"What other weapons can you use, besides your fists and magic?" (Olivia)

"Well, I'm a good shot with a bow, can use swords and spears pretty well, from what some B and A ranks have said, and... I mean, I'm decent with daggers and knives, I guess... I'm great with a kitchen knife though" (Nene)

"That's to be expected, as you have a food shop..." (Oscar)

"You know, I never did ask... where are you from? You've made a few comments about 'this continent', as if you aren't from here" (Ivan)

"Yeah, remember how I said that I made an ice path halfway from one island to another? That's because I'm from a country that was made up of three islands a year ago... a thousand years ago, it covered half of this continent and all of another in addition to those three, and now it covers nothing, as those three islands are no more... well, at least, they aren't habitable anymore" (Nene)

"A thousand years ago... The Drachen Empire?" (Olivia)

"Yep. I know what you're probably thinking, and no, it didn't get destroyed 300 years ago" (Nene)

These sorts of questions continued on all night, and then... Well, I already told you what I did in the morning. We continued on, the kids killing the Goblins that we came across, I killed the Orcs and the one Tiger Wolf we encountered, and two days later, we got to the village that was our destination. Once we got there, we were greeted by a few men, including one bald man who looked familiar... Just then, Lapis, who was in my hood, growled, something I'd never heard her do before, but I wasn't sure why. We got a bit closer, and I noticed it: the stench of pure and vile death. That's when I noticed why the man looked familiar. Just as I noticed that, the old man started to run from us, and I pounced on him.

"What are you doing!?" (Villager)

"This guy is a necromancer who used two undead that could lay waste to an entire country on their own. I'm not letting him get away again. He attacked us two days ago. You may have noticed that he started to run before I made a move, right? Why do you think that is?" (Nene)

"I don't believe it. He's a priest who has been keeping our undead problem in check for the last few months. So long as he was here, we could wait for the adventurers coming with you students to deal with that problem... actually, where is that adventurer? I don't see him with you... is he in one of your carts?" (Villager)

"That adventurer would be me. My name is Nene, a B rank adventurer, and I'm taking this man into custody for the crimes of necromancy for the sake of attacking innocent people, as well as for attempted murder and the creation and use of continental disaster level monsters, including a Union of Bones" (Nene)

"Continental disaster... And how do you know that he did so? If you were close enough to see the man controlling one of those, you'd be dead, right? As it stands, you're fine. Therefore, I feel like you-" (Villager)

I interrupted him as I removed the illusion on the Dragon pulling the cart, though I still held the necromancer by his neck, my claws pressing against his throat as I pulled out my card and moved to hand it to the villager.

"I know this because I defeated both of the high-leveled undead he summoned. You may wish to know that I'm also in control of a few hundred beings of continental disaster level. If you'd like proof, look no further than the fact that I have a God Dragon in my hood and an Ancient Dragon used as a replacement for the pair of horses that were injured in the attack. You could also trust the word of someone who has the title 'Hero of Erufanica' as well as the seal of the royal family... in other words, who has the backing of the king. Here's my card" (Nene)

I let the aforementioned title and seal show as I handed my card to the man, which he looked at and handed it back.

"The... oh... well, uh... In that case, can you deal with our undead problem? Wait, you have your hands full with this guy. Sorry for asking. Oh, right. I'm the chieftain of this village" (Villager -> Chieftain)

"No, I can still do it. I can just have a Dragon sit on him or something... Hell, I could even use {Gate} to send him to a cell that prevents those within it from trying to cast any spells if I wanted to. I'll do so, actually. I have to inform the king about this guy, especially since he said something about having a 'great master' and being a mere footsoldier in his army. Shit, this is going to be quite annoying, considering that I have no clue where I could find said master..." (Nene)

I did exactly that, returned, and went to deal with their undead problem... but I couldn't find any undead.

"I wonder if he created undead and then dealt with them to gain your trust. From what I've read and heard, necromancers can gain energy for undead creation from people's fears of death and the undead" (Nene)

"He did show up two days after the undead were sighted for the first time, now that I think about it, and he didn't use light magic to destroy them, he simply covered them in some black mist that made the Skeletons collapse into piles of bones... I guess that's some dark magic or something?" (Chieftain)

"A black mist... of course, {Rest Undead}... he didn't destroy them at all, he just made them sleep for a while, then they came back at no cost to him the next night. Clever, in an evil way... that spell is usually used to buy time for an exorcist to deal with a strong undead, or to thin the horde of undead, as it's an AoE spell, unlike things such as {Turn Undead}. The only AoE magic I know of that humans can cast which can completely purify undead would be the S ranked {Light of Divine Purification}" (Nene)

"AoE? What does that mean?" (Olivia)

"Area of Effect... basically, wide-range magic, magic meant to attack several enemies at once. It comes in two forms, one is like an explosion around a point determined by the caster, such as {Exploding Fireball}, the other would be one that affects an area around the caster, such as {Frost Aura}" (Nene)

"Ah. That makes sense. So, Nene, what do we do now? While you were away with that necromancer, we gave them the flour we were supposed to give them, and got the beans we should have received" (Olivia)

"Now, you resume the task given to you by the school. Oh, right, before that... {Induce Illusion}" (Nene)

With that, the cart went from being pulled by a Dragon to being pulled by two horses as we began our trip back. Along the way, we only encountered a single Goblin and two lone Wolves, so the kids were fine. I did have to repair the wheel when it broke, but that was easy enough. I just reinforced it with some scales until we could get it to someone who could repair it. We met up with two more groups on our way back, actually.

"Hey, isn't that Marcus up ahead?" (Olivia)

"I don't know about Marcus, but I see my friend Yuna by that carriage" (Nene)

"Hmm? Is she an adventurer? I don't know a student by that name" (Don)

"Yep, she's only a bit older than I am, and only a bit weaker than I am. She's the one wearing the bear suit, and she's a C rank, unless she ranked up again in the last month or so. Don't make fun of her outfit, it's as strong as some Dragonscale armor, and boosts the power of her magic and her physical attacks too, as well as increasing her stamina and it even has a huge item box. It's not like she wears it because she's obsessed with bears... it's simply that the author of her story is" (Nene)

"That's... pretty good, actually. C rank while about 13-15 years old, as a girl going solo, is impressive, to say the least. Which group is in the other carriage?" (Oscar)

"I think that's Jigurd... He left before we did, and Marcus was left behind, so I don't think they're in the same group. Looks like they have two adventurers with them... or at least, two people I don't recognize" (Don)

Just then, I got a call from Yuna, and so I held up my hand to stop the kids from talking to me as I answered it.

"You never have an emergency to call me for, what is it this time?" (Nene)

"Well, I'm escorting some kids, and I, or rather, my detection magic, noticed that there's a Dragon... three Dragons, actually, heading this way. Could you deal with them while I protect the kids?" (Yuna)

"Three... Ah. That'd be me, Lapis in my hood, and a Dragon who needed a punishment, so when the horses got injured on the way, I had him act as their replacement. Don't worry, I can see you, you're fine" (Nene)

"That explains why two of them have a fainter reaction, and why I can't actually see any of the Dragons in any case. Well, if you can see me, I guess I'll be seeing you soon enough" (Yuna)

"Should I summon another so that the kids can think that it was three of my summons instead of two and myself? In other words, did they hear what you just told me?" (Nene)

"No, it's fine. I didn't want to panic them" (Yuna)

As soon as we were done talking, I saw everyone was looking at me with a bit of surprise and curiosity on their faces.

"Nene, what was that? That doesn't sound like any language that I know of" (Don)

"It's the main one spoken in my home country. Yuna knows it, and she noticed the fact that three really strong presences were heading towards her, and wanted me to help her deal with them. Funny thing is, the three are all me or my summons. I wanted to ask a question without anyone being able to understand it, because it contained some sensitive information" (Nene)

A few minutes later, we parked our carts next to their carriages, and got out.

"Ah, it's Oscar and his group. You're late, as usual" (Boy A)

"Jigurd... We got attacked by several strong monsters, arrested a necromancer, and still were probably only an hour or so behind you. I call that 'getting unavoidably delayed' not 'late' so shut your hole" (Ivan)

"And... that's a point off for your attitude and temper" (Nene)

"Hah! You really screwed up this time. Looks like I'm be- OW!" (Boy A -> Jigurd)

"That's a point off for gloating over nothing and another one for your attitude" (Male Adventurer)

"Oh come on Jade... That was-" (Jigurd)

"I'd recommend you stop right there, if you don't want to lose more points" (Yuna)

"Oh, fine. So, Oscar, who's this girl? Where's your escort?" (Jigurd)

"Didn't you notice that I told Ivan that he got a point off? Doesn't that imply I'm the escort?" (Nene)

"Yeah, but you're even younger than Yuna is, right? Even if you were somehow an adventurer, I doubt you'd be much better than an E rank" (Boy B)

"Marcus, Nene is better than Astra" (Shia)

"That's a load of Wyvern dung. Astra's an S rank adventurer. This girl is-" (Boy B -> Marcus)

"A B rank adventurer, mentor of an S rank, and holder of a lot of titles. How many is it again? 20?" (Yuna)

"29, as well as three seals. You missed the part about how I won the tournament after beating Astra, and while being bound and blindfolded in the finals. Oh, and the one who has several Dragons as her summons" (Nene)

"OK, now you're just pulling my leg. Dragons? Beating Astra? This girl?" (Marcus)

"Marcus, remember, you had the same thoughts about Yuna at first. You only started to trust that she's strong when she beat that Black Tiger" (Shia)

"A Black Tiger? You mean, like the monster whose pelt is being used as the lining of my cloak? It's quite soft fur, and it does add some protection to my cloak... not that I need it" (Nene)

I opened up my cloak, forgetting that I hadn't changed my scales to Purple from Gold-bordered Black. As expected, a few of them were surprised at having the scales of a God Dragon, while most of the others just laughed at my 'obvious' attempt to pass off my scales as better than they actually were.

"OK, I'll admit that that fur is probably real, considering that your cloak doesn't have any holes in it the way it would if it was slashed by a sword or claws or stabbed by a spear or some fangs. However, those scales are obviously gilded. I'm impressed that you even have scales from an Elder Dragon, but there's no way you've killed a God Dragon. Those things don't exist, and even if they di-" (Jigurd)

"Lapis, could you come out and show off your scales?" (Nene)

"What th- WOAH! It grew!?" (Jigurd)

"And, she has scales that are still Gold-bordered Blue after they changed size. There's no way to do that by just gilding them, and to do so with magic would take up more than even a court magician could maintain for long, due to the high amount of detail needed on an unpredictably moving and size-changing being. God Dragons don't exist, you said?" (Nene)

"So, what was that about getting delayed by several strong monsters? Jade dealt with the Orcs that we came across, so those didn't delay us much. Unless you encountered something like a Wyvern that you had to deal with by chasing it with your summons, it shouldn't have delayed you for more than a few minutes" (Jigurd)

How should I deal with this... Ah, I know.

"Yeah... Hey, Jade? How would you deal with a Death Knight?" (Nene)

"Uh... I'd probably die no matter what I did. I wouldn't even be able to buy any time for others to escape" (Jade)

"And how about a Union of Bones?" (Nene)

"My answer is the same, but without the 'probably'... why do you ask?" (Jade)

"Well... We got attacked by both... Does that answer Jigurd's question of why we got delayed?" (Nene)

"It does, but it raises several more questions. First, how did you survive? Second, what the hell were they doing here? Third, what is up with the luck of, like, the entire continent, that they'd show up in the one place that had someone who could deal with them, assuming that you destroyed them?" (Jade)

"I survived because I destroyed them, they were there because of the aforementioned necromancer who made them, and that luck... hell if I know. It was the same with the Krakens, Wyverns, Dragons, and so on that seem to only show up around me. I guess it's just this author's OP self-insert power fantasy or something" (Nene)

"There's a question you missed. Where's the proof?" (Jigurd)

"Well, there's this skull from the Death Knight, as well as its equipment, and the magic stones from both of them. In addition, you could just ask Olivia, Nino, Oscar, Don, or Ivan, or wait until we get back and ask the guild, as I already showed them the proof and had them verify it. Planning all of this out, preparing the magic stones that would cost the yearly income of an entire dukedom, the skull and equipment of the Death Knight which would cost a large amount too, and then getting the five of them and the guild to all go along with this would be too convoluted a ruse for just the tiny payout of impressing a dozen or so people, right?" (Nene)

"I guess... Oh, fine. So, Oscar, anything else interesting happen on this trip?" (Jigurd)

I guess he changed the topic again because he didn't want to face the fact that he was wrong and just digging himself further into a hole for a while? It's not like it really matters, honestly.

"Well, two broken spears, a broken wheel, good food, and a general lack of common sense from Nene" (Oscar)

"That last bit was uncalled for. I... well, I guess it does go against common sense for a twelve year old B rank to be able to solo a Death Knight and a Union of Bones... and for that same one to have a shop... and be good at woodcarving... and have a time-stopping storage magic... and {Gate}... yeah, I guess you're right" (Nene)

"{Gate} would indeed explain how you got the magic stones verified by the guild, and why you don't have the necromancer with you. Time-stopping... So, if you could attach that to a bag, you could create relic item bags? That... Well, there's no way we know of to add spells to materials unless it's by mixing magic stones into the desired object while it's a liquid... Yeah, no way to make those relics... You're the first I know of who can use that sort of spell without the help of a relic... And, a shop? I wonder if your results as a shopkeeper have the same standards of quality as your results as an adventurer do... and I wonder where it is too" (Jigurd)

"It's in Crimonia. It's called the Dragon's Roost, and you can't miss it. I wouldn't go so far as to say-->>

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