20 Chapter 5 3 : A surprise, part 1 (2/2)

”Looks like you may have the knowledge to match your apparent age, but you still don't have the right amount of common sense. I'll have to fix that” (Ryuu)

”Still... Ver is about four weeks old, right? If she looks like she's twelve or so, that's about three years a week. If she looks fifteen next week, I would say you should consider having her join the classes... no, her aging fast would be a problem. I wonder how old her human form will end up stopping at?” (Souta)

”I can be younger, if you want!” (Ver)

A few seconds of light later, a girl of maybe six years old was standing in her place... still with the same big breasts. I wonder if she'd still have those at two years old. That'd be funny to see. I also wonder if she can change their size like I can, or if they are fixed in size irrespective of her age. I'll have to ask that later, when there aren't listeners who aren't my roommates.

”I... Uggh. I have to wonder how she got exposed to so much mana that she was able to evolve into... what would we call this, anyways?” (Souta)

”How about wyvern lord?” (Ryuu)

”That'd make people think of the Demon Lord, so n-” (Souta)

”That's the point. The difference between her and a normal wyvern is like the difference between the Demon Lord and a normal demon. Hell, if she can shapeshift, it probably means much of her body is made of mana, just like a Demon Lord's body” (Ryuu)

”How would you know about that theory? It's only ever been referenced in one book I've seen, and that was in the forbidden section of the royal library” (Souta)

”It's... uh... let me ask you a question. In exchange for keeping a secret, even one that you'd be required to inform the king of, would you accept a lot of knowledge from books you've never seen before?” (Ryuu)

”Could you let me see one of those books so I know if it's worth it before I agree?” (Souta)

I handed him The tamer's guide to S rank monsters and he looked at it in surprise.

”This series... its author defected to the demon lands after publishing the C rank guide... the B rank book is only seen once a decade or so, and it costs dozens of large gold coins... he completed it? I... if you have books like this and are willing to share them, I'll keep any secret you want from anyone. Even if the Demon Lord was torturing me to learn the secret, I wouldn't spill it” (Souta)

”Oh, he knew the secret. After all, the secret is that he's my father” (Ryuu)

”Eh?” (Souta)

With just that pathetic sound, he fell to the floor in a dead faint.

”We should get to class, but we shouldn't just leave him here... We should carry him to the nurse's office, I guess? Could you three help me? Ver, could you change back to your wyvern form?” (Ryuu)

”I guess...” (Ver)

She shifted back, and the four of us carried Souta to the nurse's office while Ver followed us. Miss Healing wasn't there, as she had classes to teach, so the assistant nurse was there instead.

”What happened? Is he hurt somewhere?” (Nurse)

”He's not hurt, he just fainted while talking to us. We figured we shouldn't just leave him lying on the ground there, so we brought him here” (Ryuu)

”That's a good choice. Thank you. Now, get to class, you're late” (Nurse)

”Right... I hope Fran won't be mad at us” (Mae)

”If she is, just send her to me. You did a good thing, so being punished for it makes no sense” (Nurse)

We went to class, explained to Fran why we were ten minutes late (only a limited explanation, but still), and went on with our day, which was more of the same, until the end of my last class, the one with Miss Healing.

”Ryuu, come with me. Charlotte, Mae, Elise, please come as well. Ver too, actually” (Angry Headmistress)

”What did they do? It's not like you to be so... upset like this. Honestly, I've never seen you mad, the worst I've seen was annoyed, and that was when you learned that the king di-” (Miss Healing)

”Don't speak of that, please. That was... different” (HM)

”Right, sorry. Go on” (Miss Healing)