Abandoned in the mountains, I was adopted by a lizard ~I mastered magic and surpassed my parents, but I didn't know they were legendary ancient dragons~

Chapter 40 The Morning of the Meeting

The next day.

As I was having breakfast in the dining hall, Francois came and sat next to me.

“Aniki! Can you train me?”

…Well, I was about to head to work. For a moment, I hesitated on how to respond.

I had a feeling that she wanted to become stronger, given that she followed me because I was strong enough to take down Great Seitan instantly. Francois was the one who decided to follow me, so I wasn’t obligated to help her.

I could just refuse, but maybe it would be more constructive to agree on the condition that she helps me out with something in return.

“Well, I can’t do it right now since I have plans, but… How about this: If you could stand guard on the coast of the Inferno Continent, where you’re from, and take down any monsters trying to cross over to this continent, I’ll take some time tonight to train you.”

I decided to ask Francois to assist with safety management duties.

Currently, we only defend Ashgano Cape from the monsters coming from the Inferno Continent. But if we can cull them before they reach us, there would be fewer monsters to deal with.

While I had the Metal Wolf handle the flying ones, I was still using dragon flashes to deal with the amphibious monsters that swam over. If those attacks decreased, I could focus more on business negotiations without constantly checking the sea.

Especially today, as I have plans to explain the magic tool weapons I’m planning to deliver. Not having to divide my attention would be a huge help.

“Right, of course… If I want you to help me, I need to be useful to you first! Got it, I won’t let a single ant through!”

Francois readily agreed to the terms.

“Thank you. Here, take this for transportation.”

“On it!”

I handed her one of Great Seitan’s clouds, and she enthusiastically responded before heading out of the inn.

“Now, back to my meal–” I thought, but then another voice interrupted me.

“Who was that girl just now? She seemed to really admire you.”

I turned around to see Jasmine. It looked like she had seen me talking to Francois.

Hmm, how should I explain this?

“Keep this between us,” I began. I didn’t want rumors spreading about dragons from the Inferno Continent, so I decided to give her a brief explanation.

“What?” Jasmine said, sounding a bit irritated for some reason. Maybe she had a bad dream last night?

“That girl is actually a dragon transformed using humanization magic. I went to the Inferno Continent yesterday and met her there. She ended up following me back.”

“The Infer–what!?” Jasmine’s eyes widened, and she let out a loud, surprised shout. Hey, this is the dining hall. Keep it down.

“What…what do you mean!? Even for you, Hadar, going to the other side is reckless…”

“It wasn’t that bad. Actually, I thought the monsters coming here were weaker than expected, so I figured it would be safe to go over.”

“Weaker than expected…? I knew you seemed confident, but I didn’t realize you thought that. But why is a dragon following you?”

“She was impressed by how I instantly killed a monster she couldn’t defeat. She asked me to train her, so I told her I’d do it if she helped with the cape’s security.”

I explained the situation while gesturing for her to lower her voice.

“I see… Being respected by a dragon from the Inferno Continent… How does that even happen?” Jasmine sighed, holding her head in disbelief.

After a while, Jasmine got her food and returned to her seat.

“But why did you go there in the first place? Your job is to ensure safety. Just because you can defeat the monsters doesn’t mean you need to go…” she asked.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t told Jasmine about delivering the weapons. Considering she’s the daughter of President Wright, this was a good opportunity to explain.

“Actually, I’m also tasked with delivering weapons to the fortress. I needed higher-quality magic stones for that, so I went to the Inferno Continent to gather materials,” I explained briefly.

“You make the Inferno Continent sound like a treasure island,” Jasmine murmured, half-amused and half-exasperated.

“…Did you manage to get the magic stones?” she asked.

“Yes, I got several of satisfactory quality. Now that I have all the materials, I plan to discuss the specifics of the magical tools we’re going to deliver later today,” I replied.

“I see. I’ll listen to that discussion as well,” she said.

“Alright, I’ll explain everything in detail when we get to the branch office.”

After we finished breakfast, we headed to the Ashgano branch office.

“I’m glad that girl turned out different from what I expected,” Jasmine muttered along the way.

I wondered what she had initially thought, but if she was glad, that was all that mattered.

◇◇◇

Chapter 41 Meeting with the President 2

When we arrived at the Ashgano branch office, we immediately began our business meeting with President Wright.

The reason the president was still staying here was that during our last meeting, I had mentioned, “Let’s officially sign the contract once it looks like the materials can be secured.” In response, President Wright had said, “Then I’ll wait here as long as my schedule allows until that happens.” Normally, it’s rare for him to stay at a branch office for several days, but he made an exception and waited for this day.

“So, will you be able to produce the weapons to be installed in the fortress?” President Wright asked directly as the meeting began.

“Yes, I’ve managed to secure several magic stones that can serve as the core for the magical devices,” I replied, taking out the magic stones from the Great Seitans with storage magic and laying them on the table.

“Those are quite impressive magic stones… They seem to be a notch or two higher in quality than the ones from the monsters that come to the cape from the Inferno Continent. Where on earth did you find such things?”

Before I could answer President Wright’s question, Jasmine spoke up.

“He went all the way to the Inferno Continent to get them. When I heard about it, I was so shocked I thought my heart would stop,” she said.

“What…! I’m so sorry for making you do something so dangerous,” President Wright exclaimed, bowing his head in a distressed voice.

“It wasn’t really that dangerous. I only went a bit deeper into the continent, but there were no monsters there that I couldn’t instantly kill,” I replied, trying to reassure him as he looked overly concerned.

“By the way, what kind of monsters did you defeat?” Jasmine asked out of curiosity.

“Mainly Great Seitans. All the magic stones here are from Great Seitans,” I answered.

“Great… Seitans…? Those monsters actually exist…? I’d only ever heard about them in myths,” Jasmine said, astonished.

It seems that on this continent, Great Seitans have become something of a legendary existence. Given that they might only appear here once every 2,000 years, it’s no wonder they became mythologized.

“Alright, let’s set aside the talk about magic stones for now… I’d like to get into the specifics of the magical devices I plan to create,” I said, redirecting the conversation back to the main topic.

“What I intend to create are two types of magical devices: the ‘Mana Plasma Cannon’ and the ‘Dragon Cannon.'” As I spoke, I projected holograms of the two devices.

“The ‘Mana Plasma Cannon’ has a relatively low power, comparable to the lowest output of a dragon’s breath, but it can fire continuously and rapidly without limit. The ‘Dragon Cannon,’ on the other hand, has a power about twenty times that of the lowest output of a dragon’s breath but can only be fired five times, requiring a 24-hour cooldown. Essentially, I’m planning to create a practical weapon and an emergency weapon.”

As I pointed to each device, I continued my explanation.

“Oh… even the practical weapon has an unimaginable level of power. I expected that if anyone could create an incredibly powerful weapon, it would be you, Hadar, but this is beyond my expectations,” President Wright said, almost reverently.

“It needs to be at least this powerful to be effective against the monsters attacking Ashgano Cape,” I replied.

The president seemed quite moved. Meanwhile, Jasmine, examining the projected magical devices, raised a question.

“What’s going on with these? It looks like the magic circles are inscribed on the boxes outside rather than directly on the magic stones.”

It seemed like it was her first time seeing this kind of magical device, so I decided to explain.

“These magical devices don’t have the magic circles inscribed directly on the magic stones; instead, they’re inscribed on a magisite mithril plate.”

“Magisite… mithril…?” Both President Wright and Jasmine echoed, likely hearing these terms for the first time.

“Magisite mithril is an alloy made from magic stones and mithril. By inscribing a magic circle on a plate made of this alloy and connecting it to the core magic stone of the magical device with orichalcum wires, the magic power from the core stone is transmitted to the plate, enabling the device to function just like a regular magical device.”

The magisite mithril plate, in essence, externalizes the magic control mechanism.

“I’ve never heard of such an alloy before…” Jasmine muttered.

“But… why go through all this trouble? It seems like it would be simpler to just inscribe the magic circle directly on the magic stone,” President Wright questioned.

While Jasmine was simply impressed, President Wright had some doubts.

It was understandable given my explanation thus far. However, there was a solid reason for this approach.

“There are mainly two advantages. First, by separating the magic stone from the magic circle, the magical device doesn’t become disposable. For example, the ‘Dragon Cannon’ can only fire five times per magic stone, but once the magic stone’s power is depleted, you can replace it with a new one and continue using the device indefinitely.”

“I see… That is indeed convenient. Although, obtaining replacement magic stones could be an issue.”

“I’ll just gather more as needed,” I responded, considering it as part of Francois’ training, where she could help defeat Great Seitan-level monsters under my supervision.

“But if that’s possible, didn’t we need such high-quality magic stones in the first place? For instance, if the by-product magic stones from defending the cape have enough power to fire the Dragon Cannon at least once…” Jasmine pondered.

“Magic stones of that level lack the necessary magic pressure—think of it as the strength of the pump that pushes magic power out. So even if they have just enough magic power, they can’t fire the cannon.”

“That’s how it works, huh…”

I provided a simplified explanation. Strictly speaking, it’s a bit more complex, but she’d learn the finer details in a magical device creation class someday.

With the main points addressed, I moved on to the second advantage.

“But the real essence of Magisite Mithril isn’t just that. The most crucial advantage is the second one—being able to engrave complex and advanced magic circles that wouldn’t fit on the surface of a magic stone.”