I am the wise dragon Shafal. I have existed since the birth of this world and have lived an eternal life through countless reincarnations. I am a very noble dragon, indeed.

“Shafal, it’s the start of a new semester, so I’m going to school. Make sure to come back home after you finish your exercise.”

“I understand.”

The one who gave me the order and left the room was Lark, my contractor and master. It’s a bit complicated, so let me organize it briefly.

First of all, after I was reincarnated, I grow by consuming mana. The role of the contractor is to provide me with that mana. In return, I promised to protect the contractor from danger once I become an adult.

However, I do not form a contract with just anyone. I only form contracts with descendants of the Shafalbach clan who expressed a desire to contract with me a long time ago. Moreover, for the past few hundred years, I have decided to form contracts only with those with silver hair. The mana obtained from silver-haired individuals is of higher quality compared to ordinary ones.

Perhaps due to the long history of interaction between the Shafalbach clan and me, children strongly influenced by my magical power have been born within the clan. Silver hair is proof of that.

And now, I am also a familiar of Lark, who is my contractor. Why have I become a familiar, although I’m the Wise Dragon? Well, it’s because being familiar allows me to gain magic power automatically, which is convenient. Besides, once Lark dies, the familiar contract will be released, so I thought I’d stick around like this for a while.

“Hmm… I’m bored. Maybe I’ll go out for a walk.” After lightly exercising to tighten my recently bothering stomach, I muttered to myself.

I considered behaving quietly inside the house as instructed, but that would be so boring. Well, it should be fine to go outside for a little bit. If worst comes to worst, I can just return inside Lark’s body.

The moment I was about to leave the premises, a man appeared in front of me using teleportation magic.

He’s the king of this country, if I recall correctly. His name was… Ars, wasn’t it?

The king smiled and spoke to me deferentially, “Shafal-sama, where are you headed?”

“Hmm, I was just going out for a stroll.”

“…I’m sorry, but you can’t do that. If someone were to catch sight of you, it would cause serious trouble.”

After saying that, the king muttered under his breath, “I’m glad I had someone keep an eye on Shafal-sama.”

I had noticed that I was being observed, but since there was no hostility, I had ignored it, and now it had backfired. It’s a little frustrating to have my plans disrupted.

Perhaps sensing my displeasure, the king spoke again, “In that case, Shafal-sama, would you mind having a little chat with me? I can explain the current situation of the world.”

“Hmm, well, I suppose that’s fine. Then let’s return to the house.” I agreed to the king’s suggestion and decided to go inside the house.

In the living room, I listened to the king talking about various circumstances. The current world seems relatively peaceful. It’s nice to have tranquility, but it gets boring without any excitement.

“I see. However, just talking is not very entertaining. King, is there anything fun we can do?”

“Something fun… I see. By the way, I heard that Shafal-sama has been lacking exercise lately. How about playing while exercising?”

“Hmm, that sounds fine.”

Once again, I went to the garden with the king. The king took out a soft ball that I could easily catch, seemingly from nowhere, and lightly threw it towards me. I caught it with both hands and was then instructed to throw it back. For a while, we continued throwing and catching the ball.

It seems that this is what humans call playing. It’s unexpectedly becoming enjoyable. Human play should not be underestimated.

After playing with the ball for about an hour, the king said, “I should go back soon, or my wife will get angry,” and disappeared using teleportation magic.

Since my companion for killing time had disappeared, I thought of going outside this time, but I was too tired, so I decided to sleep in Lark’s room.

I lay on the bed and dozed off for a while.

“Shafal, it’s dinner time.”

“…Mm, understood.”

I was awakened by Lark, who had returned without me noticing, and stifled a yawn as I moved to the living room.

Guldo was already seated, so I took my own seat as well.

Tonight’s dinner was the classic stir-fried meat and vegetables served with freshly cooked rice. Lark’s meals were always delicious, but lately, I felt like his skills had improved even further. I think he’s the best cook I’ve ever met. I shouldn’t let it get to his head, though, so I won’t say it to him.

During the meal, Guldo started a conversation.

“By the way, Shafal, Ars came today, didn’t he? I heard about it when I coincidentally met him at the guild.”

“Yes, he came at just the right time when I had free time. I had a quite fulfilling time.”

“That’s good,” Guldo said so with a smile.

After that, I ate the delicious food together with Lark and Guldo, took a bath together, and fell asleep inside Lark.

◇

The next day, when I woke up, Lark was attending classes at the academy. Familiars can observe their surroundings through their master’s vision.

Feeling hungry after waking up, I called out to Lark.

(Lark, I’m hungry.)

(Huh! You startled me there. Just wait a little longer, class will be over soon.)

I don’t remember when it started, but when I’m inside Lark’s body, we can communicate through telepathy like this. It’s convenient, but I try not to use it too often since it would distract Lark’s attention towards me.

As he instructed, I patiently waited until the end of the class, but the feeling of hunger reached its limit. The moment the class ended, I couldn’t hold back and went outside.

“Lark, feed me quickly!”

“You idiot! You’re not supposed to go outside――”

“Lark-kun… What is that silver dragon…?”

At that moment, one of Lark’s classmates looked at me and muttered in astonishment.

When I looked, all the other students were also staring at me.

…Damn it, I promised to keep my existence as secret as possible.

Lark remained silent for a while, but eventually sighed and spoke up, “…Sigh, there’s no helping it… Everyone, I want you to keep this a secret, but the truth is, this dragon…”

After such a preface, Lark explained about me to everyone present. Once he finished speaking, the stupefied students started talking one after another.

“I can’t believe it, the Silver Dragon-sama really exists…”

“I heard you’ve just reincarnated, right?”

“So that’s why you’re so small…”

At that moment, one of my classmates took a step forward and asked a question. If I remember correctly, their name was Roeck.

“Um… Can Shafal-sama use all the magic as the legends say?”

“Well, I can use most of it. However, with my current form, my magic power is quite low, so I can’t use very strong magic.”

“I see… I wanted to see Shafal-sama’s amazing magic…,” Roeck muttered, his shoulders drooping.

If they say that, I have to show them some kind of magic to uphold the reputation of the Wise Dragon.

“Lark, could you give me a bit more magic power? I’ll absorb it here, and all you need to do is release it with both hands, just like you did in the cave before.”

“Huh? What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to show this youngster my magic. Take me to someplace wide.”

“Huh… What if we get caught?”

Although he said that, Lark gave me a considerable amount of magic power. We all moved and arrived at the training grounds of the academy. There were no students other than Lark’s classmates within visible range, and I didn’t sense any presence. It should be fine to use a somewhat flashy magic here.

“Behold. My magic!” I shouted and activated the magic, using almost all of the magic power I received from Lark.

In the next moment, clouds formed in the sky above the training grounds, and snow started to fall.

Yes, the magic I used was the ability to control the weather and make it snow. The snow kept falling, piling up to about Lark’s shins.

“Wow!”

Including Roeck, who saw snow that should only fall in winter, my classmates were excited and started playing in the snow. I also joined in the snow play and had a great time.

After playing enough, I tried to return to Lark’s body. However, Lark stopped me in a hurry.

“Wait, Shafal! What are we going to do with this snow? We can’t leave it like this.”

“You can melt it with your fire attribute magic. I’m tired, so I’m going to sleep.”

“Seriously…”

After that, I fell sound asleep inside Lark, and when I woke up next, Lark had returned home and was preparing dinner. When I asked what happened to the snow, I was told that Lark melted it all with his fire attribute magic. Truly fitting for my contracted partner.

While enjoying the dinner made by Lark, Guldo, who was eating with us, brought up a topic to discuss with me.

“Hey, Shafal. Since we have a day off tomorrow, how about doing some exercise together?”

“Hmm, that’s right. I’m getting tired of exercising alone too. Alright, let’s do it together tomorrow.”

“Great, then I’ll come wake you up in the morning, so make sure you’re up and ready.”

After saying that, Guldo cleared the empty plates and headed to take a bath. After he left, I looked at my own body and asked Lark, “Hey, Lark. I have a question, has my body gotten more toned?”

“Well, I think it’s better than before, but there’s still quite a bit around the belly.”

“I see… It’s easy for fat to accumulate, but difficult to reduce, huh?”

Well, complaining won’t change anything.

I returned to Lark and went to sleep early for tomorrow’s sake. The next day, as soon as Lark woke up, I, who had also awakened, had a light breakfast and moved to the garden with Guldo to start warming up.

During the warm-up, Guldo started talking to me, “By the way, when Shafal abducted Lark, you used a humanoid doppelgänger, right? Can you still transform into a human?”

“I can’t do it yet because I don’t have enough magic power. Once I grow a little more, I can show you my coolest form.”

“I see, well, you can exercise in dragon form too, I suppose,” he lightly brushed off my playful words and finished the warm-up. “Alright, for now, let’s run around this garden about ten laps. Make sure you keep up, Shafal.”

Without waiting for a reply, Guldo started running.

I flapped my wings in a hurry to keep up with him, not wanting to fall behind. After that, the mn took the lead and intense exercise routines were performed. Normally, I would stop when I got tired, but today, with Gulo around, I couldn’t quit in the middle.

I mean, this guy… he hasn’t slowed down even a bit since earlier. Is he some kind of stamina monster?

It was well past noon when Guldo finally announced a short break, and my stamina had long surpassed its limits, causing me to lie down on the ground.

“Phew~ It’s been a while since I had a good workout. I used to eat a lot of Lark’s food, so I was worried about my belly too. Alright, let’s continue.”

“Phew~ Haa~ Guldo, I… can’t do it anymore… If you want to keep going, do it alone…” Feeling disgusted by his seemingly bottomless stamina, I staggered back to the house.

Daily life in the human world is enjoyable, but sometimes it’s tough…