Chapter 11: Age of Dragons (6)

"But Mother, why have you changed into that form again?"

"Hm? What form do you mean?"

Shamash asked, looking at me in my human form.

"What's wrong with this appearance?"

"Well... Usually, Mother's appearance is shining and beautiful like me, but now you look cute rather than radiant."

"But doesn't it suit me?"

I smiled gently and lightly poked my cheeks with both index fingers.

"W-well, it does suit you! But it's cute! I prefer the radiantly beautiful Mother!"

"But isn't this good in its own way?"

Since I've changed into a female form, shouldn't I enjoy it?

Well, it's not like I'm planning to get married and have children or anything. Now, I have seven children, though they're not ones I gave birth to. And indirectly, I have lots of grandchild-like children. Lots and lots of them.

Unlike when I was traveling the world alone creating life, there's a noisy kind of joy, which is nice.

"Oh Great Creation God Dragon!!! This wretched Blue Dragon!"

"No! It's this ignorant Gold!!!"

From the standpoint of looking after the other children, there are many difficult things.

Certainly, they started with small numbers... Ah, except for Black. Black started with dozens from the beginning.

Anyway, the dragons that started with small numbers have now multiplied to hundreds, roaming this world.

Therefore, an enormous amount of work is pouring onto me as the mediator for these children.

"Can't you resolve things through dialogue on your own if it's not a serious matter? Come on. If Tethis and Shamash could resolve things by talking..."

Ah, no. There's no way it would be resolved like that.

Perhaps because they were created from their own scales, the children tended to side with those of the same scale color.

Should I say blood is thicker than water? The crab sides with... No, that's not an appropriate saying.

Anyway, I was the only one who could listen to the children from a neutral standpoint.

So today too, I was being pestered by the children.

"Mother! Let's return to your original form soon! Let's show your radiant beauty to the other children!"

"It's troublesome. And my body is too big and gets in the way."

My body is twice as big as Sagar, the largest one. Honestly, it's hard to sit calmly with that body.

And above all, being in this human form allows me to remind myself that I was once human. Yeah.

If humans are born someday... It would be nice to live among them.

Ah, but I wonder what to do about these horns. Even when I transform, the horns remain, which is quite troublesome.

"Or... how about you try changing into this form?"

"What? Me too?"

Shamash is shocked at my words. Is that really so shocking?

"How could I give up this radiantly beautiful body and change into such a fragile-looking form? That's nonsense!"

"Fragile-looking... Even like this, I'm much stronger than you are now."

Even in human form, the essence of the body is still a dragon. That strength doesn't go anywhere.

Honestly, even in this form, I could easily defeat Shamash if we fought.

It's the dignity of being the strongest in the world. Ahem.

Hmm... Is it because my human form is that of a child? Somehow it feels like my mental age is getting younger. Is it my imagination?

"Or is it that you don't like it because your beauty would disappear if you became this form?"

"M-my beauty disappearing? That's impossible! I'm beautiful in any form!"

Shamash boasts confidently. Certainly, Shamash's golden, shining form is beautiful.

I'm curious about what the human form would look like.

"Um, so... gathering magic... into the same form as Mother..."

Shamash struggled for a while, drawing up his magic, and then started to change form with a small flash of light.

And Shamash's appearance after changing to a small size was...

"A blonde beauty, huh."

Somehow, a blonde beauty appeared who looked like she should laugh with an "Ohohoho!"

"What? Ah, you mean beautiful, right! That's it!"

"Yes. That's right."

A blonde beauty. Somehow, it seemed like curling her hair with a curling iron to make ringlets would suit her.

"Hmm... Even in this form, I'm still beautiful!"

"Shamash. Could you laugh 'Ohohoho!' for me?"

"Huh? Ah, yes. Ohohoho!"

As imagined, it was a very fitting laugh.

It gives the impression of a blonde noble lady. Hmm.

"Hmm... This form of mine is quite beautiful too! Mother is just too small and cute."

"That's right."

While I'm in the form of a young child, Shamash is in the form of a high school student, a teenager close to adulthood.

I'm actually older... I really don't understand why this difference occurs.

"Being small seems to have its uses too. It seems like I could enter places I normally couldn't."

"Yes. It's more convenient than I thought."

Being in human form is also a treat for the eyes.

Honestly, while the dragon form is cool... seeing it too much gets a bit, you know. Yeah.

And so, starting with Shamash, changing into human form began to become popular among the other children.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Time continued to flow, and the number of dragon children kept increasing.

I was worried that if too many large dragons increased, this land would become insufficient, but thanks to staying in human form becoming the default, it was more manageable than expected.

And due to this habit of staying in human form, an unexpected change occurred that I hadn't anticipated.

"Grrrr."

"Hm? Ah, you've come."

Perhaps the human form was quite stimulating to the dinosaurs. Some of the smaller dinosaurs started to mutate into forms closer to humans.

These humanoid dinosaurs... which I call Lizardmen for convenience, were smarter creatures than expected.

They knew how to use tools and make fire... They had intelligence about on par with primitive humans.

To think that lizard people would appear before humans... Is this a Reptilian conspiracy?!

Well, that's just a joke.

"What brings you here today?"

"Grrrk. Shook! Shook!"

Although they changed out of admiration for the dragons who transformed into humans, their oral structure still doesn't seem suitable for speaking language, so the Lizardman only makes sounds close to growls.

In its hand was a small flower.

"Hmm, is this for me?"

"Grrroo! Groop!"

"Thank you."

I smiled and accepted the flower the Lizardman handed me.

A small white flower. It was a common small flower that blooms around here, but receiving it as a gift makes me very happy.

"Then I should give you something in return. What do you want?"

"Grrrrrk. Groo!"

The Lizardman handed me something it was carrying with its tail. A broken stone spear. It was a spear with a blade made of jet-black obsidian attached to a broken stone shaft.

"Hmm. A broken spear. Do you want me to fix it?"

Although it couldn't speak, it seemed to understand my meaning as the Lizardman nodded slightly.

I don't know what it was doing to break it like this, but it must be a precious item to this Lizardman.

I held the spear the Lizardman handed me. Hmm. What should I do to fix this?

Well, the answer is simple.

I drew up magic to envelop the spear, then used magic.

Well, the system of magic hasn't been completed yet, but I could use fragmentary magic as much as I wanted.

The magic I'm using now is... a very simple time reversal magic.

Even though I say it's simple, when I tried to teach it to other dragons, they couldn't use it!

Well, it might be natural since it's magic based on my special ability.

The broken shaft of the spear automatically reattached, and the cracks that had formed slowly disappeared. And soon, a spear was completed without any trace of having been broken.

And as an additional bonus, I cast a time-freezing spell on the spear so that it would never break again.

"Here you go. It won't break again. Use it preciously."

"Grrrk! Groooot! Groooot!"

The Lizardman is extremely happy. Seeing such pure joy makes me happy too.

Compared to the dragon children whose personalities have started to worsen recently... This is better. Indeed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Lizardman's treasure. The Ancient Obsidian Spear is a sacred treasure said to have been given by the legendary Creation God Dragon to the ancestors of the Lizardmen.

According to legend, it is said that the ancestor of the Lizardmen offered a white flower to the Creation God Dragon and received an enchanted obsidian spear in return.

Due to this magic, the obsidian spear's blade never dulls, and its shaft never breaks under any attack.

There are still various opinions about what magic the Creation God Dragon cast on the spear, and it's still unknown whether it's a simple enhancement magic or an abnormal effect due to primitive magic. Rumor has it that even dragons, the masters of magic, cannot understand this magic.

The Ancient Obsidian Spear still exists today and is passed down from generation to generation to the representative and great tribal chief of all Lizardmen as a treasure of the Lizardman race.

- From the Great Encyclopedia of Legendary Weapons.