Reincarnated as a Dragon and Raised by a Demon

After finishing Jema’s swordsmanship class, I was completely soaked in sweat.

I headed to the Academy dormitory bathhouse to wash up.

At this hour, the bathhouse was empty.

Students were busy attending classes.

I enjoyed the privilege of being able to use the spacious bathhouse all by myself.

While I was refreshing myself, I ran into someone in the changing room.

“Is a student here at this hour?”

“I’m not a student.”

He had black hair, which was quite rare in this world.

His sharp eyes and prominent nose made a strong impression.

Though slender, his bare torso was covered in wounds.

“So it was true that there were demons in this academy.”

“I’m not exactly here by choice.”

He ran his hand along his chin and gave me a once-over.

“Well, you’re quite similar to humans.”

“Who are you, by the way?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

He went into the bathhouse while I changed and stepped outside.

Upon returning to my room, Jema approached, only to bump into the wardrobe.

“Oh? Wasn’t the door this way?”

“The door is this way. That’s the wardrobe.”

Hearing my voice, Jema corrected her direction and clung to my arm.

We sat down side by side on the bed and chatted as usual.

By dinner time, we went to the dormitory dining hall to get our meal and returned to the room.

As soon as we got back, I stored the food I had gotten from the kitchen in a secret place.

Food that wouldn’t spoil, even if left for a long time.

Though it was unlikely to happen, I prepared for the possibility of being expelled from the Academy.

“I guess I’ll have to go out to work this week.”

“Are you out of living expenses?”

“No, I see a good opportunity for a decent income.”

Previously, Jema had worked in a factory to earn money.

Since Jema injured her eyes, I had to go out and earn money in her place.

It was work, but it was just manual labor.

This body had far superior physical abilities compared to a human.

With strength reaching two to three times that of an adult male, it was perfect for manual labor.

Recently, there had been many projects around the Academy knocking down old buildings and constructing new ones.

Not long ago, a graduate from the Academy went out and made quite a bit of money.

That guy was the one who put the collar around Jema’s neck.

It was said to be something strictly controlled in this country, and I wondered how he obtained it.

“Should I just rip it off?”

When I mentioned it, Jema hesitated a bit.

I had heard that a demon’s body can regenerate even if vital organs are destroyed.

However, there was no way to confirm whether that was true.

“If we go to Roran, we might find a solution.”

“But I’m not sure if we can go there…”

Roran was another empire at odds with the Latnia Empire.

It was the land of demons, and they might know how to remove this collar.

The problem was that Latnia and Roran were enemy nations.

The Kingdom of Tholis was an ally of the Latnia Empire.

They wouldn’t just stand by and let someone cross into enemy territory.

After finishing our meal, we went to bed early.

The next morning, we got ready for school and headed to the Academy.

As I thought about what we would do today, I entered the classroom to find someone standing near the window.

“Oh! Good morning.”

It felt like a scene where soft classical music should be playing somewhere.

It was the man I had seen the previous day in the bathhouse.

He held a coffee cup and was sipping it lightly.

His movements were surprisingly graceful for some reason.

“You’re the students in this class, right?”

“I’m not a student.”

“If you’re wearing a uniform, you’re a student.”

As Jema and I sat down, he approached the blackboard and began writing his name.

“My name is Solche. From now on, I’ll be the homeroom teacher of this class.”

“A commoner, huh.”

“It’s a bit different, but it’s not wrong.”

Commoners cannot become teachers in this Academy.

This country still had a form of class system.

Especially since the Academy was an institution that gathered the nation’s talent to train them as mercenaries.

It was impossible for a commoner to become a teacher here.

“Then, have you also been caught?”

Jema cautiously asked Solche.

“Are you Jema?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“As I heard, you’re quite cute.”

“I doubt you’ve heard anything good about me.”

When I threw a slight jab, Solche looked a bit flustered.

“I know that your kind is persecuted in this country.”

“So you’re saying you’re the homeroom teacher because of that.”

“Your line of thinking is a bit twisted.”

I still didn’t truly grasp the way humans discriminated against me.

After all, I had been human in my past life.

Having never traveled abroad, I had never experienced racial discrimination.

“Well then, let’s put a stop to the class here. Let’s head out.”

“Excuse me?”

“I said class is over, so quietly follow me.”

Solche’s expression froze as he spoke in a low voice.

It felt uncomfortable to leave the Academy so soon after arriving, so I paused at the door.

“Excuse me, but we’re not supposed to go outside during class hours.”

“I told you class is over.”

I truly doubted whether such a person could be a teacher.

He exited the Academy and turned toward an alley.

He occasionally looked back to check if we were following him closely.

It was very difficult for me to keep up with his fast pace, as Jema could not see.

“You’re too slow.”

“I can’t see.”

“Oh.”

At my words, he looked like he realized he had made a mistake.

“Then just follow closely, and wear this.”

What Solche handed me was a slightly worn hooded cloak.

I put it on Jema first and then wore it myself.

I felt like a fugitive.

For a moment, I even considered escaping out of the city like this.

After following the alley for a while, I lost sight of Solche.

“Where did he go?”

As I looked around, I noticed a hand waving from around the corner.

Knowing it was a signal to follow, I turned the corner to find a dead end.

“What’s this? It’s a dead end.”

Suddenly, the wall behind me cracked, and a hand reached out from inside.

In an instant, I was pulled into the wall.

“Damn! What’s going on!”

“Shh. Be quiet and follow me. I’ll walk slowly from now on.”

The person who had pulled us in was none other than Solche.

“Are you really a teacher?”

“Why can’t you leave the Academy?”

“I have a bomb on my body.”

Solche glanced at the collar hanging around Jema’s neck.

“That’s a nasty piece of work you’ve got.”

As Solche tore the floor away, an entrance leading underground appeared.

“Let’s discuss things in detail as we go.”

The underground passage was wide enough for three people to walk side by side.

“There’s a place like this underground?”

“It took quite a bit of effort to make it.”

For some reason, it didn’t seem like they hired outsiders for the construction.

“So what exactly are you?”

“Aren’t you demons?”

“I don’t know, but Jema is.”

“No, you’re a demon too.”

Upon reaching the end of the passage and opening a thin iron door, we were greeted by an interior that looked like a tavern.

“This is a secret tavern. It’s a gathering place for special individuals.”

“Special?”

My gaze was involuntarily drawn to a table in one corner.

There sat a well-dressed demon having a meal.

Since everything was unfamiliar, I focused as much as I could on listening.

A white light gently spread from Solche’s body, and his appearance began to change.

“I asked who you are, right? I’m an intelligence officer dispatched from Roran.”

Unlike Jema and me, he had horns protruding from his forehead, resembling that of a goat.

He had grown much taller, so I had to tilt my head back to see his face.

Solche guided us to the table where the individual was eating.

“Mmm, I’m Alium.”

“I’m Ririan, and this is Jema.”

“Have you always been unable to see?”

“I got injured.”

“To heal naturally, you’ll need to circulate mana. If you leave it be, it will rot away.”

Alium finished his meal and gulped down the water beside him.

“Phew. Anyway, how did you two get into that Academy?”

“I asked to be accepted since I had nowhere else to go.”

At those words, Solche’s expression showed great surprise.

“The Royal Academy accepted a demon child with no connections?”

“Why?”

“Given the collar, it’s certain.”

Solche and Alium exchanged glances and seemed to come to a resolution.

“We are part of Roran’s intelligence department.”

“Yes.”

“We’re usually responsible for infiltration and assassination missions.”

Solche explained to us who their target was.

“The second son of that family.”

“I feel like we might have a connection.”

The Kivero family, which donated substantial amounts to the Academy.

As I heard a familiar name, Jema reached out and grabbed my arm.

“That’s right. It’s him.”

Juan Kivero.

The instigator of Jema’s eye injury was the target of Solche and Alium.

“If we eliminate the target, we can escape this country, but you can’t.”

“Not if I remove this collar.”

Solche paused for a moment, then whispered something to Alium.

“We cannot leak the empire’s technology.”

“But when it comes down to it, they are also imperial citizens.”

“That’s true, but…”

As if having made a decision, Alium slowly approached us, specifically Jema.

“I will teach you the Treachery Technique.”

“What about the technique you’re currently using?”

“Forget it. It’s not a proper technique anyway.”

At Alium’s words, Jema made a slightly pouty face.

“I’m comfortable with what I’m using right now.”

“What use is a technique that can’t self-heal?”

Hearing those words, Jema glanced at me and then shot a glare at Alium.

It was puzzling how she could do so, given that she couldn’t see.

“Haa…”

With a sigh, Jema closed her eyes and started to mumble something.

Invisible energy began to swirl around Jema’s body.

As she did so, Alium looked quite taken aback.

“A unique technique?”

“Self-healing is always possible.”

Jema’s previously dull and murky eyes ignited, turning a fiery red, filled with sharpness.

“As you can see, I don’t need any other mana techniques.”

“What? You could heal yourself?”

In response to my question, Jema answered with a slightly bitter expression.

“Sorry, I just liked being close to Ririan.”

“Jema, your mana is overflowing, but isn’t it dangerous if you push it higher?”

The more mana erupted from Jema’s body, the more the collar around her neck began to glow.

“This is really annoying.”

“It was originally developed to restrain demons.”

“Isn’t there any way to get rid of it?”

“There are several ways. Extracting the heart, or tearing the machine apart.”

All of those methods were extremely dangerous.

“Isn’t there a safer option?”

“There is, but I don’t think that girl can manage it.”

“What is it?”

When Jema asked Alium, he sat back down at the table.

“You can use mana to break the machine.”

“That sounds too easy.”

“It sounds easy when you say it, but it requires magic at the 5th tier or higher to break it.”

Upon hearing Alium’s words, Jema’s expression soured rapidly.

“Can the internal organs withstand the power of 5th tier magic?”

“Ordinary humans wouldn’t be able to endure it; even for a demon, there’s no guarantee they would survive.”

It was said to be a level of pain comparable to that of shredding internal organs.

“Have you tried it?”

“In the training course for the intelligence department, there’s a training that involves coming back to life from death. Removing that collar is at the final training stage.”

“That’s training?”

“Of course, failure means disqualification.”

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