Chapter 27

I felt a wave of dizziness.

Riding a dragon? Naturally, I had never ridden such a thing in my entire life!

“Wait, I thought dragons weren’t really related to Dark Magic… I recall magic concerning dragons being the specialty of Red Magic,” I stammered.

Red Magic specializes in attack-based spells, but it also handles the command and management of dragons, creatures that boast violent, destructive power. Of course, even within the field of Red Magic, only a select few mages can use those spells.

“As expected of a former honor student, you’re well-informed, Franz-san. The ‘general rule’ is indeed that dragon-related magic falls under Red Magic.”

“Which means… there are exceptions?”

Since Dark Magic includes spells related to mental manipulation, I wondered if that was the angle. However, manipulating a dragon without permission is likely a crime (it’s too dangerous for abuse), and since dragons are massive, you’d get caught immediately.

“Riding a dragon sounds quite frightening…” Cerulia added. Since even she was trembling, they must be terrifying existences even in the Demon Realm.

“Oh, it’s a very safe dragon. Don’t worry. It also has excellent ventilation,” the President assured us.

Excellent ventilation? What does that even mean?

“No, I don’t care how much you vouch for it, I can’t accept this. There’s no such thing as a ‘safe’ dragon. If it even breathes a spark of fire, I’ll be sent to the afterlife instantly…”

Obviously, I didn’t have the skills to tame a dragon. Not a single graduate of the magic school possessed that. Monster Taming is a completely different profession. There’s a school for Monster Tamers on the outskirts of the Capital, but even they would probably look troubled if you asked them to handle a dragon.

“I see. Well, it’ll be faster if you just see the real thing. The employee in charge of this will be here soon, so I’ll leave it to her.”

An employee in charge of dragons?! We have someone that incredible among us? Despite the small headcount, this company’s talent pool is way too deep…

“She should be here any moment. Oh, there she is.”

The crystal ball on President Kelkel’s desk glowed blue. Apparently, that’s how they communicate.

I looked out the window to see if a dragon was flying toward us, but nothing was blocking out the sky. I wondered if the dragon simply wasn’t coming here. Cerulia murmured, “I don’t see a dragon anywhere,” confirming my observation.

After waiting blankly for a few minutes, I heard a pitter-patter of footsteps. Then, the door swung open with a bang.

“President, long time no see! I brought the cargo!”

The person who entered was quite tall for a girl. She looked about my age, but her actual age had to be much higher. I knew this because she was a Dark Elf. The Elven race is known for their longevity.

She had bronzed skin like a child who spent all day in the sun, contrasted by beautiful, silvery-white hair tied in twin-tails.

“Good work, Tototo-san. You’re as fast as ever,” the President said with a smile. Being an Elf, her name was unique—not the kind of name you’d find among humans.

“I was hauling vegetables that only grow in distant regions this time! Freshness is everything, so I was really pushing it! It’s a piece of cake for me, though!”

Senior Tototo stood with her hands on her hips, looking smug. Compared to Senior Farphistanya, her emotional expressions were much easier to read. Her gaze quickly shifted to me and Cerulia.

“Oh, right. You’re the new hire.”

I realized I needed to introduce myself.

“So the new hire is a Succubus? Good work. I’m Tototo, the Dark Elf.”

Senior Tototo directed her greeting at Cerulia, making me nearly stumble.

“Um, I am the familiar, Cerulia…”

“I’m the new hire, Franz…”

Senior Tototo looked genuinely surprised. “Huh. I heard we were hiring youth, but I guess it was true. Tototo just turned ninety-three last month.”

Yep, she’s way older than me.

“Well, nice to meet you. I’m going to train you hard, so be ready.”

She reached out and squeezed my hand. Is she the athletic type? If so, we might not get along. Then again, anyone in charge of dragons would have to be athletic. You couldn’t exactly make a creature like that obey you if you were timid.

No, no—if I start with a prejudice, I’ll never get along with anyone. I have to approach this with an open mind! I’ll try to overcome my apprehension through conversation.

“So, Senior Tototo, where is the dragon?”

“The dragon? Oh, I have it parked in front of the headquarters.”

Parked?

“There isn’t a dragon in the sky, though.” I looked out the window again.

“Why would it be in the sky? Look at the ground.”

Following her lead, I went to the window and looked down at the front of the building. Sitting there was a dragon made entirely of bone. If this were a museum, I would have mistaken it for a fossil specimen, but since it was here—

“A DRAGON SKELETON?!”

I see—then Dark Magic could be used. There were definitely spells for commanding skeletons.

Looking closer at the dragon skeleton, I noticed that the ribcage had been modified into several lattice-like compartments, filled with boxes that looked like cargo.

“Wait, were you moving while fully loaded with cargo inside the dragon skeleton? Or rather… since it looks like it can’t fly, were you running?”

“That’s right. He can fly, more or less, but if you load him with this much cargo, he’s too heavy. So, he just blazes across the wilderness at eighty ‘keero’ (kilometers) per hour.”

“That’s an insane way to use it! And now I understand what ‘well-ventilated’ meant!”
There’s no meat on him! The wind would just blow right through!

“This is one of our company’s businesses: Dragon Skeleton Transport,” the smiling President explained.

“We load massive amounts of cargo into the dragon skeleton and have it run. It can easily move heavy loads that human hands couldn’t possibly manage, so we’ve partnered with many corporations.”

“True, being a dragon skeleton, it looks like it could hold a massive amount of weight…”

But this wasn’t the time to be an observer.

“For this business trip, you will be driving the dragon skeleton and delivering cargo to the seaside city of Suman.”

“Wait… driving…?”

“Yes. Franz-san, you should have already learned the Dark Magic. Please use that to pilot the dragon skeleton.”

The impossible assignments just keep coming!