Evolution into a Dragon

This world has no name.

Of course, the gods gave it a name for convenience's sake, but those living in this world don't know it. Thus, this land is called:

The Dragon Bone Continent.

Located in the northwestern part of the continent is the Kingdom of Casalia. Agatha's Magic Shop stood in the lower district of the royal capital, Anaias.

It was a shop that also served as a residence, complete with a garden. Agatha had bought it with the treasure earned from ten years of adventuring—a small but comfortable home.

Early in the morning, Agatha would wake in her room on the second floor and check the garden visible from her window. There, a scene that had become routine awaited her.

"… I wonder how she ended up like that…"

In the modest garden was the figure of her beloved daughter, swinging a wooden sword of her own making.

Riana Crystal, 5 years old. Her mornings began before dawn.

Changing into clothes easy to move in, she would head out to the garden with her handmade wooden sword. She had crafted it herself using a mithril knife borrowed from her mother, carving it from a branch of the Black Steel Tree—a wood harder than most metals.

Once in the garden, she would start with stretching exercises. A child's flexibility was remarkable; the stretches that had been such a struggle in her previous life were laughably easy, quickly warming up her body.

After swinging the sword through basic movements, she would move against an imaginary opponent.

This world has magical beasts.

There are dangerous wild animals like wolves and bears, of course, but at the apex stand dragons. Dragons.

According to Agatha, upper-tier dragons possess the power to easily destroy an entire nation.

And Ria possesses the power of those dragons.

(That said, how am I supposed to use it?)

Despite her appearance, she already had tremendous strength and stamina.

Through [Self Check], she could examine the blessings within [Dragon's Bloodline].

So far, she had confirmed [Herculean Strength], [High Speed Regeneration], [High Speed Recovery], [Robust Health], [Keen Senses], and [Heat Resistance]. Of these, [Heat Resistance] had manifested while drinking hot soup; the others had manifested during training.

As for skills, those acquired in her previous life had been largely reproduced.

The highest was [Swordsmanship] at Lv 7. According to her mother, Lv 7 was master level. It was gratifying to know that the training from her previous life had paid off.

But for the power of dragons, said to rival the gods themselves, it still felt rather underwhelming.

(I suppose I have no choice but to keep raising my level?)

Ria's current level was 5. It had risen through training. For comparison, Agatha was level 35.

It seemed she had been quite the reckless adventurer in her youth.

Agatha was also teaching her magic. At first, Ria had been completely lost, but once she understood that "magic power" in this world was similar to the "ki" from her previous life, her progress accelerated.

Agatha had learned Fire Magic, Wind Magic, Water Magic, Physical Magic, and Principle Magic evenly, and teaching them to Ria had become part of their daily routine.

Ria was studying alongside Fei, but while her control lagged behind, she had surpassed Fei in magical output in no time.

"Talent… is so cruel…"

Fei had remarked. Ria agreed. This body simply had absurdly high specs. Her memory and other faculties were clearly superior to her previous life.

Magic practice was divided into three stages: starting with incantation-based casting, then magic script, and finally silent casting by constructing the spell entirely in one's mind.

Incantation was the easiest method for activation, but it took time. Magic script required either writing the characters on the spot or carrying an item with them pre-written.

Mental construction was the fastest, but it demanded a precise image.

When it came to forming precise images, reincarnators from Japan had an advantage.

You had to visualize the magic script in your mind, but its composition was similar to Japanese. The meaningful characters were like kanji, while the connective elements resembled hiragana. Ria keenly appreciated just how advantageous having been Japanese in her previous life truly was.

The very first magic Ria was taught was [Identify]. According to Agatha, "If you don't know your enemy, you'll die."

This magic revealed the opponent's blessings, skills, and abilities. Of course, there was magic to counter it, but it apparently worked on basic monsters. Knowing your enemy's capabilities was certainly important.

It seemed unusable if the level gap was too great, but it had worked when she used it to examine Agatha's abilities.

Beyond this, Agatha prioritized teaching magic that would be useful in actual adventures—spells like Ignite, Purify, Heal, and Detoxify. Ria hadn't learned any offensive magic yet.

Ria was interested in body enhancement magic, but for now, her blessings more than sufficed.

"Maybe you'll even be able to use Space-Time Magic someday, Ria."

Agatha said it jokingly, but Space-Time Magic apparently stood at the pinnacle of the magical system.

Ria would later learn that the ultimate magic was called Creation Magic. It was said to exist only in theory.

Now then, having finished her morning training, Ria drew water from the well to wipe off her sweat, but…

(Sigh…)

She looked at her face reflected in the water.

(Cute.)

Ten out of ten people would probably call her adorable. Plump lips. Almond-shaped eyes. Skin like white porcelain. A well-defined nose.

But that was her. That was me.

She had already asked Agatha if there was magic to turn her into a man.

"There is," was the reply.

"Illusion magic would be the simplest. But if you want to actually change your body, you'd need transformation magic."

Oh, so such magic existed—though apparently the body's functions wouldn't change. There was also a time limit.

In other words, Agatha didn't know a way to become a true man.

Sighing, Ria continued wiping her body. The average household in Anaias had running water and sewage, but baths were another matter entirely.

As she briskly scrubbed away sweat with the towel, Ria noticed something.

Her chest felt hard.

It was clearly different from normal skin. Looking closely, just above the pit of her stomach, there were four scale-like formations. They were black.

(Huh? Huh?)

Even she was startled by this.

"Mom!"

"What… is this?"

"Maybe she has some lizardman blood mixed in?"

"Lizardmen and humans can't interbreed, so I don't think that's it."

Agatha and Fei discussed while examining the scales.

"A dragonkin… perhaps? Or it could be some kind of illness."

"Manager, what's a dragonkin?"

Agatha raised her index finger and began to explain.

"It's someone who has formed a contract with a dragon and received a portion of that dragon's power. As proof of the contract, dragon characteristics appear on part of their body, but…"

"She hasn't made any contract, right?"

"That's right…"

Wondering if it might be some kind of illness, they rushed to the temple. In this world, temples often doubled as medical facilities.

"I don't understand. Or rather, the Identify magic isn't having any effect…"

They were promptly turned away.

The three trudged away from the temple, but partway home, Agatha stopped abruptly.

"It's come to this, so we have no choice but to resort to the last measure. Fei, please take Ria and head home ahead of me."

Sweeping her robe, Agatha turned back the way they had come. Watching her go, Fei sighed and looked at Ria.

"Let's head back. Don't worry—if we leave it to Manager, she'll figure something out."

"Okay."

Though Ria appeared downcast, she had more or less grasped the situation. Agatha's initial guess was probably correct.

Ria hadn't formed a contract with a dragon, but she did possess the gift of Dragon's Bloodline. There was little doubt it was connected to this.

However, saying that would mean revealing what she had been hiding all along.

A reincarnated child with memories of a previous life—memories of being a man. By any standard, it would be unsettling.

Moreover, Ria had taken advantage of being a child to thoroughly enjoy both Agatha's ample bosom and Fei's more modest one.

Being shunned would be one thing. But being abandoned…

(No, I could probably manage somehow?)

She could go to the temple and enter the orphanage, helping out with healing magic. Once she grew a bit older, she could find work making use of her sword skills.

In this world, female mercenaries were fairly common.

Just as Ria was starting to take a pessimistic view of her future, the day ended uneventfully. Agatha simply had her practice magic as usual.

The next day also passed without incident, leaving Ria feeling anticlimactic, but the day after that brought a change.

Ria was dressed in her finest clothes, ones she had never worn before, while Agatha donned quality robes that made her look every bit a proper mage.

Leaving the shop in Fei's care, the two arranged for a carriage and headed toward the city center.

"Mom, where are we going?"

"The castle. I'm not exactly thrilled about it, though."

The castle!

"Huh? Why the castle? Don't tell me you're actually some noble's daughter, Mom?"

"No, no, I'm just a commoner from an ordinary farming village. But I have some connections with a court mage, so I thought I'd have him take a look at you."

Ah, so that explained the formal attire.

The carriage stopped before a massive gate, and from there the two proceeded on foot. Since arrangements had been made in advance, they entered without incident.

"Wow…"

Ria couldn't help but exclaim. Beyond the castle walls, which rose over twenty meters high, stone buildings lined the interior.

Though she hadn't been familiar with foreign architecture in her previous life, it reminded her less of European cities and more of Islamic architecture.

"Ria, this way."

Agatha walked on without hesitation. She clearly knew exactly where she was going.

Eventually, they arrived at a building with minimal ornamentation, resembling a library.

"This is the Kingdom of Casalia's Ministry of Magic. This is where Sage Rufus-sama resides."