Chapter 1

I am a dragon.

My vertically slit pupils, beautiful golden eyes, and sharp teeth like a crocodile.

My streamlined body, adorned with a long tail and a mane running along my spine, is covered in dark purple, almost black, hard scales, and two horns on my head.

With red-membraned wings, I soar through the sky, undeniably a dragon.

I’ve known my name since birth, but it’s too long, so I’ll omit it.

Vi, in a world called something-or-other, I was born from the lava of a mountain with one of the highest elevations when it erupted, and I already knew that my role was to maintain and regulate the magical energy cycle that supports this unstable world.

At the same time, I remembered everything about my past life as a human, when I was a "college student" on Earth.

I am a dragon.

Before that, I was a "college student" on a world called Earth.

……Why the hell was I reborn―――――!!!!!!!!!

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I lost my composure. I apologize.

But, the memory just before my rebirth was from the second month of my college life, when I was invited to a freshman welcome party and was getting dressed up with determination, thinking, "Let’s go to the battlefield!!" and walking in unfamiliar heels when I slipped on a banana peel and fell, a truly pitiful end.

My social circle had already become thin due to moving to a university far from home, and I was completely cut off from it. Just as I had started living alone, I was overwhelmed by overwhelming loneliness and the sadness of having no one to talk to. I realized the importance of friends and decided to build social connections.

That freshman welcome party was a glimmer of hope in my efforts to fit in and make friends, even if it was just for the numbers or a well-disguised blind date.

Even if it wasn’t a friend, I wanted to know someone from my department.

Immediately after being born, my memories of "me" were so jumbled that I screamed and cried so loudly that the surrounding mountains erupted. But I wasn’t particularly averse to reptiles, and being reborn as a dragon, which is said to be the strongest in this world, no longer bothers me after several hundred years.

……Being a solitary species that rarely interacts with others is no excuse.

Even as a guardian of the magical energy cycle, my job is simple: I walk around, checking the flow of magical energy called ley lines, and remove anything that obstructs the flow, either physically or magically.

But as a newborn dragon, and with my past life’s knowledge interfering, I was at a loss. I didn’t fully absorb the knowledge I should have as a dragon.

What is magical energy, and how do I untangle this knotted ribbon-like thing!?

If it weren’t for the old tree spirit, I would still be a clumsy dragon.

The old tree spirit, a spirit of a magnificent tree called a spirit tree, who is over a thousand years old, approached me when I was crying in the center of the magma, which is usually incompatible with my nature. He comforted me and spent decades teaching me the knowledge needed to live in this world.

"Nothing much, it’s been a long time since I’ve had someone to talk to. Think of it as entertainment for an old man."

Though he said it casually, his knowledge was invaluable in my adjustment.

With no more encounters or anything, I decided to swear to the heavens that I would perfect the adjustment with the skill of a craftsman.

……Don’t say I’m still dwelling on it. I’ll breathe fire.

Thus, using my steel body and high-spec skills as the strongest (apparently) dragon in this world, I continued to adjust the ley lines, and I managed to ensure that the cycle would remain stable for the next 1000 years.

Clap, clap!

However, it took 100 years just for the Visha Mountains area.

The old man said, "Not bad for a newborn," but knowing how much more difficult the adjustments made by other "companions" are, I know I need to keep improving.

However, just because I finished here doesn’t mean I can relax.

There are still many problems in other lands, so the work of adjusting ley lines is never done.

After 5000 years, I’m told I’ll be allowed to stay in one place, but as probably the youngest and most inexperienced dragon in the world, I’m constantly transferred.

So, on a day 100 years after my birth, I left my birthplace, reluctantly parting with the old man.

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At first, I was hopeful.

The old man told me that there were many intelligent life forms in this world, so I thought I might be able to make friends that I couldn’t in my past life.

Since I don’t need to eat or sleep, my main activities are counting trees, predicting when clouds will form, and studying the magic the old man taught me.

I don’t mind playing alone, but to be honest, I’m bored. Extremely bored.

I was excited at the thought of having someone to talk to.

But my hopes were shattered in a land I moved to after leaving my birthplace a few times.

I moved to a vast wilderness.

With some practice, I had gradually shortened the time it took to adjust the cycle, and I thought it would take no more than 50 years to complete, as the land was just depleted of magical energy and needed a bypass from other areas.

While I was diligently working for over a decade, seemingly doing nothing, the spirits I had entrusted to monitor the magical energy flow informed me that a large group of humans was approaching from both ends.

When I heard this, I was naively curious.

If I had thought about it, I would have understood why they were coming to such a place and the confused atmosphere of the spirits, but I was so starved for conversation and entertainment after parting with the old man that I was excited at the prospect of being able to talk.

By the time I realized they were armed soldiers, they had already started fighting, and every time they cast magic, the magical energy flow I had carefully adjusted was thrown into chaos, which I watched in shock.

I later learned that this area was a border between two major human nations that frequently went to war. The land had become so depleted of magical energy that using magic was almost impossible, leading to a de facto ceasefire.

When I restored the ley lines and the land regained its magical energy, the two nations, seeing an opportunity, began to invade each other’s territory, leading to the current war.

Frustrated that my work of over a decade was about to be undone, I immediately rushed into the middle of the battle and spoke to them in the human language the old man had taught me.

"Stop this nonsense right now, or I’ll kill you all, you bastards!!"

… I was angry. I hope you can understand that.

But they didn’t stop fighting and even attacked me.

"Dragon, a dragon has appeared!!!"

"This is our chance! If we slay the dragon, we’ll gain eternal glory! We can’t let them take the credit! Attack!!!"

I was hit with magic, swords, spears, and rocks.

It was like being hit by a bunch of rats, but it was nothing to me. However, my already fragile rationality snapped, and I ended up in a massive brawl with the combined forces of both armies, numbering in the tens of thousands.

I went all out, using everything the old man had taught me, and as I roared in victory, I realized something.

When I first spoke to them, they didn’t respond.

In fact, I couldn’t understand a single word they were saying to each other.

… Wait, they don’t understand me?

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"Ahem… You see, the language you’re using is an ancient language that fell out of use about a thousand years ago.

Cough, cough, cough! It’s still useful as a magical language, so I know it, but it’s long gone among the rapidly changing human races.

―――But, Black Melt, how about one more round, huh? Cough, cough, cough!!!"

"Thanks, Rigila. Get some rest for now."

When I asked a familiar demon, who often comes to challenge me to fights, using physical language, I learned that the language the old man knew was similar to the Chinese of the Heian period on Earth.

Yeah. Because he’s over a thousand years old.

He said no one had come to this place for hundreds of years.

After throwing Rigila, who was panting and approaching me, into the sky, I put my hand on the ground.

I wish you had taught me the current language, old man.

Still, Rigila.

She looks like a top-notch beauty, but…

Even after learning this, I couldn’t give up on interacting with humans.

You might think I should just find a creature I can communicate with.

Indeed, there are other intelligent life forms in this world besides humans.

But high-level spirits like the old man are rare, and while there are races called demons, they are all extremely aggressive, like Rigila, and want to talk with their fists, so I avoid them unless absolutely necessary.

The magical energy cycle is fluid and delicate.

Once adjusted, it needs maintenance every few hundred years, and if left unchecked, it can lead to the destruction of the world. I wish they would consider the damage they cause every time they fight.

… Don’t you want to knock them down?

I’m a pacifist. I don’t want to raise my fists and claws unnecessarily.

While it’s possible to communicate with magical beasts through telepathy, it’s only at a very basic level, and it’s not what I’m looking for. Even if we can’t understand each other’s words, humans still offer more hope.

A dragon’s life is virtually endless.

We are like a part of the world, so we don’t die unless our bodies are completely destroyed or we choose to disappear.

While we have distinct personalities from birth, we don’t need to reproduce, so our interest in others is generally low, and some dragons never interact with other races and return to the world.

True, a dragon’s role is to manage and protect the magical energy cycle.

That’s probably the right way for our race.

But I don’t want that.

Because "I" hated being alone and wanted to change, I overcame my fear and went to a party.

I don’t want the dream of the me who struggled to escape loneliness and died to be forgotten just because I became a solitary species.

Even without a gender and thus no romantic partner, I will definitely find someone who can be my friend.

To do that, I’ll learn the modern language first, yeah!!

I swore this to the sunset, but the road ahead was incredibly difficult.

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This world is (by dragon standards) newly formed, and the ley lines, which are the spiritual and magical veins supporting the magical energy cycle, are still immature.

There are countless lands to work on, and the world is incredibly vast.

I can sense the presence of other dragons vaguely, so I try to avoid overlapping with them, but there are still not enough hands, so priority is given to places that are crucial to the cycle or areas like the previous wilderness that are depleted and need immediate attention.

Therefore, the places I inhabit are often the tops of Himalayan-level mountain ranges, the depths of the ocean, the middle of deserts with constant sandstorms, and other areas that are not only unexplored but also uninhabitable.

Contact with humans was extremely rare.

Even when I had to adjust in areas where humans could survive, they would either turn pale and run away or attack me with a fierce look, whether they were humans, beastmen, forest people, or underground people.

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