Father, I Won’t Do Anything

‘When did he get here? Something seems off.’

Although still young and frail, Jaina was undoubtedly a perceptive dragon and magician born with keen senses.

No matter how distracted she was elsewhere, there’s no way she wouldn’t have noticed Moben being this close.

‘Unless he deliberately concealed himself…’

A chill ran down her spine.

Sensing Jaina’s wariness, Moben shrugged his shoulders.

“Haha, don’t worry so much. I don’t know what secret conversation you had, but I couldn’t eavesdrop because of the soundproofing spell.”

He smiled affectionately, but it felt artificial and unnatural.

‘So he was targeting me after all?’

She and Mikael were no fools.

People’s gazes followed them everywhere, so they deliberately took deserted paths even if it meant detouring. Yet she encountered Moben there.

It would have been near impossible unless he knew the routes she regularly took.

“…Were you perhaps waiting for me here?”

Just as she waited for Mikael today, perhaps Moben waited for the moment she would pass by alone.

“Well, what do you think?”

Moben avoided her question and instead posed one back.

“If I did wait for you, why do you think I would, little dragon girl?”

Little dragon girl.

The answer was already contained within his words.

Realizing her identity had been exposed, Jaina straightened her posture.

“Ah, as I said before, I didn’t eavesdrop on your conversation. However… I recognized you from the hood you wore. The pattern on it was unique to dragons.”

With an air of self-satisfaction, Moben started revealing unsolicited information.

“You didn’t know? If you had, you wouldn’t have worn it openly in the Magic Tower. Though I only found out by chance when I read an ancient document in my family’s library.”

Moben approached Jaina, step by step.

Unlike their first encounter, his presence now felt overwhelmingly oppressive.

“But aside from me, who else knows you’re a dragon?”

“…”

“At best, only the Tower Lord, Hilvenzia, and Mikael? Ah, but ‘Brother Mikael’ isn’t here now, is he?”

From their first meeting, Moben had been strangely unsettling.

She had thought she might be unfairly distrusting a kind person, but in this moment, she was certain.

‘This person definitely has an ulterior motive.’

He had been cautious before, but now he acted excessively casual, likely because there were no prying eyes around.

His attitude had clearly changed due to the lack of bystanders.

“I was thinking, there must be a reason why ‘that’ Mikael and Hilvenzia favor you so much, right?”

Jaina said in a low voice:

“What are you implying?”

“I think the two of them are also keenly interested because you’re a dragon. Have you already given them samples of your hair or blood?”

“No. They haven’t taken anything from me.”

“So Mikael and Hilvenzia are fighting over you?”

Bang!

“Do you really think that’s possible?”

Moben forcefully struck the wall near Jaina.

Trying to evade him, Jaina found herself backed into a corner with nowhere left to retreat.

“Stop joking around. Just because I’m smiling doesn’t mean this is funny… Why discriminate against people? They’re geniuses, but I’m not?”

It was an excessive speculation, likely stemming from an accumulated sense of inferiority.

“You’re overexcited right now.”

“Speak properly. I’m not overexcited, you’re the one making me angry. Do you know what will happen to me if I fail the exam?”

His face contorted as he raised his voice.

“If you had just given me some hair or blood from the start, do you think I would be shouting like this?”

It was a lie. Even after receiving her hair and blood, he would have demanded more. The strong always oppressed the weak this way.

But for now, calming the agitated Moben took priority. Jaina decided to act cooperatively.

“…So if I give you some hair and blood, that will be enough? Is that all you want from me?”

While speaking to Moben, Jaina glanced around, searching for an escape route.

Her calm expression gave no hint she planned to flee, so Moben remained oblivious.

‘There are people up ahead, but I’ll be caught by Moben soon. Then…’

“Just give it to me for now. If you behave, I won’t need to get angry.”

“You really promise…?”

Jaina deliberately let her voice tremble as she nodded her head – a natural reaction a child might show to an angry adult.

She repeated the same words over and over.

“If I really just give you my hair and blood…”

“I’ve been fooled over and over.”

Jaina flinched at his harsh words, hunching her shoulders as if frightened. She quickly rolled up her sleeve.

Moben then naturally prepared to collect her hair and blood.

“So, let me see…”

The moment Jaina brought her body close to Moben…

‘Now, timing it right…’

Jaina quietly took a step back.

And then she ran.

‘Even if he knows I can use magic, I’m no match for the magicians of the Magic Tower!’

“Jaina, put your arm here and… Hey, what?”

Moben, who had been humming while examining his tools, immediately realized Jaina had fled and gave chase.

At this rate, she would soon be cornered.

However, Jaina knew one of the Magic Tower’s secrets unknown to Moben.

Grabbing the doorknob and turning it, Jaina whistled while imagining a pure white garden in full bloom with Leshanne flowers.

To escape this crisis, she had no choice.

The incantation to go anywhere else was too long.

But the moment the path to that garden opened…

-Sorry for entering without permission. But I only came to pick flowers from the garden. I won’t come in again.

The words she had once said to Diamid flashed through her mind.

“Where are you running off to!”

In the moment Jaina hesitated, Moben’s spell struck her.

* * *

Dragons possessed immense power, and thus immense value.

If dragons were weak, everyone would wield holy swords in their hands.

But if a weakened dragon stood before you, without protection to hold you accountable?

It could only be described as a blessing from the heavens themselves.

“So you know. No one will come to help you.”

When Jaina seemed to obediently listen before dashing toward the door, Moben’s heart sank.

He didn’t know how, but the girl seemed aware that the Magic Tower’s doors were connected by magic.

If she escaped elsewhere, an opportunity like today would never come again.

Woooong!

When the door opened, Moben thought it was all over.

But at that moment, Jaina’s movement abruptly stopped. Moben didn’t miss this chance, using even the magic he had been reserving to avoid damaging his specimen to restrain her.

‘Who knew a small child would weigh hundreds of kilograms…’

Moben glanced back at the unconscious Jaina being dragged behind him.

“Phew.”

She was tightly bound in thick, magic-imbued ropes, just in case she woke up midway.

In this state, even if she regained consciousness, she wouldn’t be able to escape his grasp.

‘Perfect.’

If he could safely bring the unconscious Jaina, this exam would be a breeze.

No, with the rare dragon as material, materials he had only read about in records, he might even produce a groundbreaking study for the ages.

‘But damn, this is hard… Ugh.’

He had prepared magic scrolls in advance for concealing his appearance and blocking sound, but he hadn’t expected to need weight reduction or reinforcement spells.

Ultimately, despite the strain on his magic reserves, Moben had no choice but to cast weight reduction at Jaina and reinforcement spells on himself.

“Ughh, heuk, heuk…”

Moben was drenched in sweat as he dragged Jaina along.

Even with the weight reduction spell, it wasn’t enough to comfortably bear hundreds of kilograms.

‘Dammit, dragging her along like this, when will we get there?’

It was at that momentary lapse in concentration.

Woosh!

Something struck his ankle, and then…

Bam!

An unknown force slammed Moben’s face into the wall.

* * *

Jaina felt an excruciating pain piercing through her entire body, making it difficult to breathe.

Her vision was blurred and wavering. Closing her eyes, Jaina focused on the repetitive sound she had been hearing.

Shhhrrruuuhhh.

The sound of a heavy object being dragged along the floor.

It didn’t take long for her to realize it was her own body making that sound.

She cried out in agony, but with her mouth blocked, the sound only reverberated inwards.

‘Why am I…’

Jaina tried to recall why she ended up in this situation.

But the shock of regaining consciousness left her mind foggy.

Finally recalling the moments before she blacked out, Jaina realized she had collided with something.

In the instant she hesitated upon remembering Diamid’s ban on the garden, some force had overwhelmed her, causing her to lose consciousness.

‘Should I call out for help from passersby?’

It seemed Moben had used spells to conceal his appearance and block sound.

The effects would disappear if she made contact with others, so she considered seizing an opportunity to escape. But tightly bound, it was impossible. And there was no one nearby to call out to in the first place.

And above all else…

There was no one to ask for help.

What if she called out, and a magician from the same Magic Tower takes Morben’s side?

What if Moben revealed her identity and sought to share the achievement?

It was better to overcome this alone than entrust her life to uncertainty.

“Heuk, huugh…”

Fortunately, her opponent had let his guard down. Due to her bound state and blocked mouth, he seemed unaware she had regained consciousness. Moreover, he was exhausted from dragging her.

It was an incredible stroke of luck that Moben wasn’t a high-ranking magician capable of spatial movement.

Through the wavering vision blurred by physiological tears, Jaina forced her eyes open.