The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

“Hello, Priestess. I apologize for coming so late.”

Priestess Maya stood up as I entered the infirmary with Hindrasta slung over my shoulder.

“She’s one of the special student applicants. She said she had a stomach ache.”

“Lay her down over here.”

I placed Hindrasta on a bed, and Priestess Maya began the holy treatment. As the golden light enveloped her abdomen, Hindrasta slowly opened her eyes.

“Ugh… What happened… You were definitely alone…”

“Didn’t it strike you as odd that two people managed to do that to you back then? Did you think it would be different if one of them was alone?”

“Damn it…”

A tear rolled down Hindrasta’s tightly closed eye.

“I tried to get my revenge for what you did to me… but I failed again…”

“That’s why I warned you.”

“Damn it, really…”

When Priestess Maya returned to her desk, I quietly spoke to Hindrasta.

“You have two options now.”

“What are they…”

“First, since you’ve caused trouble once again, you can face a three-way confrontation with that yellow-head and me.”

“Eeek!? I hate that! I’d rather die!”

Hindrasta started to panic, and the bed creaked as if it might break.

“Calm down. I said you have two options.”

“What’s the second one, then?”

“The second option is to become a student at this academy.”

“What?”

Hindrasta looked at me with a completely bewildered expression.

“What do you mean?”

“You came here pretending to be an applicant to guard the daughter of the Zenovi Trading Company, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Right now, you have the highest score among the applicants. If you keep this up, you’ll be selected as a special student and can attend the academy. That’s what I suggest. Forget the past.”

“Forget it? Forget it!?”

Hindrasta shouted.

“I can never forget! You’re telling me to forget the humiliation? Ow…”

As she tried to sit up, Hindrasta clutched her still-aching stomach and groaned.

“Then it seems the first option it is…”

“Kugh! You bastard! Ugh, my stomach hurts…”

“You’ve already realized you can’t get revenge on us. And besides.”

I continued, preventing Hindrasta from retorting.

“At that time, we were under orders to kill you. Considering the damage you caused to the human coalition, you should be grateful just to be alive. It’s not like we invaded your nest unprovoked.”

“So… what are you saying… that I should become an academy student?”

“Exactly.”

“How does that benefit you?”

It’s a huge benefit.

A polymorphed dragon typically exceeds human capabilities.

If such an excellent talent graduates from our academy, the Second Princess will surely be pleased and continue to support Kirrin as headmaster.

“Choose. A confrontation with Linus and me or graduating from the academy. There’s no third option. Refusing to choose is not an option either.”

“Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll do it…!”

Her voice was tinged with sobs, mixed with anger and humiliation.

“Damn it, damn it… Why do I have to fall so low for causing a bit of trouble…”

While I was immensely pleased, Hindrasta shed tears and sobbed uncontrollably.

“Why has my life as a dragon become so twisted…”

# # # # #

A long time ago.

In a deep mountain valley, young Hindrasta, who had just become independent, lived.

All that surrounded her were jagged peaks and stupid trolls and ogres, making her life incredibly dull.

Living like this for thousands of years seemed unbearable. There must be something fun to do.

As she was pondering this, someone visited Hindrasta’s nest.

At first, she thought they were humans, but unlike humans, they had horns similar to those of mountain goats.

They introduced themselves as demons, fighting a holy war to reclaim the continent that humans unjustly occupied, led by the unparalleled hero, the Demon King.

[What is war?]

“It’s when many people divide into sides and fight.”

[Hoo, really?]

Intrigued, Hindrasta stroked her chin with her tail, lost in thought.

“Please help us, great White Dragon Hindrasta!”

The demons prostrated themselves.

“The Demon King offers various rewards if you cooperate.”

Meanwhile, the demons listed off gold coins, treasures, and the grandest palaces one after another.

But those were mere worldly possessions that would only interest fleeting mortals. Hindrasta was solely fixated on this thing called ‘war.’

So, demons and other races fighting each other in factions, and I could join in on that?

That would be truly interesting, wouldn’t it?

[I’ll do it.]

And so, Hindrasta ended up participating in the great war that would later be known as the 4-Year War.

The Demon King rejoiced at Hindrasta’s joining. However, it didn’t last long.

“Why in the world did you return without annihilating them all?!”

Although she was ordered to sweep through the human coalition’s armies on some battlefield, Hindrasta returned empty-handed, angering the Demon King.

[If I kill them all, the war will end too soon. I don’t like that.]

“We enlisted you, Hindrasta, not for amusement but to secure victory as quickly as possible and liberate the continent!”

[Then, should I just leave?]

“No, that’s not it…”

Even afterward, Hindrasta showed no interest in the orders of the Demon King’s army’s high command, roaming only the major battlefields, relishing in the sight of armies startled by her sudden appearance.

At first, the demons cheered when Hindrasta appeared, but upon hearing the unrecognizable ‘Dragon Roar,’ they instinctively retreated.

It was amusing to see both allies and enemies alike flee in terror when she spread her wings and breathed fire, without even looking back, running ahead fearlessly.

Compared to her dull days in the mountain valley nest, war was an immensely stimulating dopamine trigger for Hindrasta.

In the end, the Imperial Intelligence Bureau’s analysis that Hindrasta joined the war for the sake of simply causing “chaos” was spot-on.

The brief period of just under two years was the pinnacle of Hindrasta’s dragon life.

But that came to an end the moment the Empire issued an extermination order against Hindrasta, assigning the worst duo of the yellow-headed Linus and the thick-headed Dian.

Dragons are quite stubborn, especially when it comes to their areas of interest, showing almost obsessive attachment.

But those crazy special operatives were even more so.

Although she thought she had shaken them off, they suddenly emerged out of nowhere, even waiting for her at places she thought were safe.

After months of this, Hindrasta finally decided to temporarily cease her meaningless cat-and-mouse game and went into hiding for a while.

It was just after she decided this that, while Linus and Dian were attempting to forcibly tame a wild wyvern and mount it, Hindrasta spotted them in a close call moment, and with a Dragon Roar, frightened the wyvern enough to veer off course and fly away in panic.

Fortunately, due to a sudden gust of wind, they missed Hindrasta’s body and crashed onto the ground.

Then, Linus, using the same club he used to tame the wyvern, beat the fleeing wyvern and forcibly turned it around, saving Dian just before he fell.

Seeing this, Hindrasta felt ‘fear’ for the first time in her life and without a word, retreated for a considerable period.

After a while in hiding, Hindrasta’s urge for mischief became unbearable once again.

Humans are said to forget much faster than dragons do. By now, they’d probably given up.

“You damn golden lizard! You disappeared without a word, then suddenly reappear out of nowhere…!”

The Demon King, furious to the point of risking his life, cursed while the chief staff members restrained him, assigning Hindrasta a new mission.

To block the retreat of the human coalition’s noble army, which had recently suffered a defeat.

That could be interesting.

[I’ll do it.]

And so, Hindrasta narrowly escaped death after falling into Linus and Dian’s ambush, but her life was still far from easy.

Not content with meddling in the squabbles of mortals, she ended up exposed and faced the consequences from the Dragon Elders, who forced upon her a punishment.

That punishment was to be polymorphed into a human and never return to her original form for a thousand years.

[You are not worthy to live as a dragon! Live as you are now and reflect for a thousand years!]

And so, Hindrasta was forcibly banished to the human world and, in order to survive immediately, joined the Revlon Mercenary Corps Mercenary Corps, known for being able to earn money through force even on the bottom rungs of society.

While living as a mercenary, Hindrasta also dreamed of revenge.

But Linus had already become a hero of the continent and couldn’t be approached lightly, and as for that kid Dian, it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.

Then, recently, while accompanying a rich human’s daughter to an exam venue, she came face to face with Dian at the academy.

Humans age much faster than dragons, it’s said.

It’s been over ten years already, and seeing him teaching or doing something that required no strength, it was clear that his physical abilities were declining.

Moreover, it was certain that the yellow-headed idiot was nowhere to be found, so Hindrasta finally decided to exact her revenge from ten years ago.

But Hindrasta didn’t know that even though humans die faster than dragons, they don’t decline rapidly in just ten years.

With Dian grabbing her by the collar, knees digging into her stomach, and her vision going black, Hindrasta had to admit that she had completely misjudged.

This isn’t it… Why does everything go wrong whenever I get involved with this brat?!

And now, Dian is telling her to become a student at the academy.

At this rate, she might never return to being a dragon and truly end up becoming human!

# # # # #

Meanwhile, in Priestess Maya’s patient log:

[Professor Dian brought a young woman who appeared to be a minor and seemed to have fainted due to a stomach ache into the infirmary at midnight].

[There are clear signs of strangulation around her neck, and there is a considerable bruise on the lower abdomen. It seems there was a strong impact].

[When Professor Dian made a statement implying, ‘You did it with two people last time, so why couldn’t you handle it with only one now?’ the patient responded with ‘I fell for it again.’ The exact meaning is unclear].

[The patient continually held her stomach, saying ‘Forget it?’ while crying, and when Professor Dian continued to speak, the patient cried out, ‘Fine! I’ll do it! I’ll do it,’ before lying down and sobbing for a while].