Aisha never would have guessed that after finishing off the kobolds today, she'd be on her way back to town, eating bread and singing, only to be snatched up by a dragon out of nowhere!
And not just any dragon. The infamous Red Dragon!
Cracked horns, deep red scales, flaming wings, eyes like molten lava.
All those features pointed to one terrifying name: Calamity of Wuwang, the Ancient Red Dragon, Drogo.
The fall of Talin City, the destruction of the Lion King Knights, the disappearance of the Elven treasure, the burning of the Temple of the Goddess of Magic...
All kinds of horrifying disasters had made this dragon infamous.
But why would an Ancient Dragon, instead of attacking the capital or kidnapping a princess, grab a lowly second-tier illusionist like her?
Was he hungry?
Impossible. If he wanted to eat her, she'd probably be nearing his rectum by now.
Surely he couldn't want her just because she could make little illusions.
Unless...
She glanced at the dragon in horror, then turned to look at the little dragon. An absurd thought began to spread through her mind.
No way. No matter how she thought about it, it just wouldn't fit.
He carried her farther and farther away. The wind brought the salty smell of the sea, and soon they were flying over the water.
A volcanic island lay a few hundred meters ahead. The dragon spread his wings and began to slow down. That had to be his lair.
I'm sorry, Mom. It looks like your daughter won't be coming home.
The dragon's claw lowered her onto a stone platform, followed by a roar.
The overwhelming pressure made her heart pound. She nearly fainted.
After the roar, a brownish-green goblin scrambled out of the cave and rushed to the dragon's feet, where it began talking with Drogo.
Aisha knew it was the evil dragon's servant. Evil and powerful creatures never lacked for followers.
The goblin stood up and came toward her with a sleazy gait.
This was it. Things were even worse than her worst fears. At least being killed by a dragon's claw would be quick. Who knew what would happen to her in a goblin's hands?
So he'd only kidnapped her to reward his servant.
Wasn't this the part of the story where a hero was supposed to show up?
Someone, please save me! I'm only nineteen. I don't want to die yet.
Maybe she should bite her tongue and kill herself. At least she'd keep some dignity.
Ow, that hurts. I can't bite down.
The goblin came closer and closer, even rubbing its hands together. The filth beneath its fingernails made her stomach turn.
Aisha shut her eyes, unable to face the cruel reality.
"Esteemed miss."
Huh? What had she just heard? She opened her eyes a little, tense. She hadn't imagined it. The goblin was actually speaking.
"My great master wishes to hire you as his chief toy illusionist for fifteen silver coins a month. Will you agree, or at least not refuse?"
"Huh?"
Xu Linsen, also known as Drogo, was a former game planner and now an Ancient Red Dragon.
His hobby was money, his faith was money, and his kink was money.
Part of this pure pursuit of wealth came from his dragon nature. The other part was because humans were the same way.
Who'd want to be woken up by their phone on a weekend morning, grumbling as they replied "Got it," if it weren't for the money?
After transmigrating, his longing for gold coins, combined with his slightly-too-good physical condition, quickly brought him into the dragons' comfort zone.
Rob!
Of course, since he still had a human soul, he mostly took people's money without taking their lives. His targets were mainly nobles.
He was notorious, and all kinds of exaggerated or made-up crimes were pinned on him, but he didn't care.
For years, he'd been in a state of "I don't eat beef."
Until he accidentally burned down one of the Goddess of Magic's temples.
After that, an eighth-level warrior appeared at his lair and challenged him.
He admired the warrior's courage, so he decided to let him live and send him on his way with a casual beating.
Then he watched the warrior pull an eleventh-circle spell scroll out of his bag.
He immediately realized he'd messed with the wrong person and decided to flee. Even so, he lost half his life escaping.
As he recovered from his injuries, he reflected deeply. Fighting and killing carried far too much risk.
Ancient Dragons were among the strongest beings in the world, but if they truly angered some deity or other, even protecting themselves would be difficult.
But he'd lost quite a bit of property. Not getting it back would go against the very principles of dragonkind.
In his darkest hour, he remembered his inhuman boss from his previous life. The man had dabbled in all kinds of entertainment industries—games, film, television, music—and had a terrible reputation, yet made a fortune.
That was much faster than stealing!
Before, he'd either been fighting or on his way to a fight. It wasn't until he finally had some free time that he realized entertainment in this world was so impoverished it was ridiculous.
It was like having a mountain of gold right in front of him and never knowing to dig.
It was time to let the locals in this other world taste the sweet pleasures of consumerism.
He first tried a low-cost approach, putting out a series of novels.
Things like The Demon Lord's Runaway Lover, My Father-in-Law Is the Lionheart King, and Becoming a God Starting as a Tentacle Monster.
The returns weren't great. He made some money, but most people weren't used to buying books just for fun, so they circulated only among the nobility.
The nobles couldn't display such books openly without damaging their reputations, so pirated copies ran rampant and legitimate editions couldn't fetch a high price.
Wish-fulfillment novels were a little too far ahead of their time in this world.
After some reflection, he decided to cultivate a blue-ocean market, organically combining innovative products with the local ecosystem, upgrading the industry, and empowering the business.
In plain language, he'd find something that already existed here and improve it so the market would be more receptive.
So he chose the toy industry.
First, toys were widespread. Unless a family was especially poor, its children would have at least two or three.
Second, the market had a high ceiling. Young masters and ladies often spent several gold coins just to buy a handmade toy.
To research the market, the dignified Ancient Dragon sent his underlings, the Orcs, to buy toys everywhere. The more kinds, the better.
After studying them, he found that toys in this world generally competed over appearance, with very little innovation in how they were played.
He planned to combine magical elements with toys from Earth, crushing local toys in terms of fun through sheer dimensional superiority.
But after drawing up a few preliminary toy designs, he soon ran into a difficult question: what about the magic?
Dragon-language magic was all about how explosions were an art.
The magic used by Goblins and Orc shamans was in a strange state of "I guess this should work," and was extremely unstable.
The undead's magic was more or less cursed. What kind of parent would be reckless enough to buy that for their child?
On the whole of Dragon Island, there wasn't a single person who knew nonviolent magic.
So he "invited" Aisha.
Aisha was dumbfounded. What was wrong with this world?
She'd been walking along when a dragon snatched her away, all because he wanted her to be some kind of toy illusionist.
What happened to the greedy, evil, despicable, arrogant big bad?
He said she couldn't refuse, and she still had no idea what the job involved, but honestly, fifteen silver coins a month was pretty tempting.
Her family of four spent no more than fifty silver coins a year.
She worked as an assistant in a laboratory and occasionally took extermination jobs. In a good month, she might earn ten silver coins.
No, Aisha, what are you thinking? That was the Red Dragon, Drogo! What if "toy illusionist" meant an illusionist who was a toy for the goblins?
She instantly recalled countless filthy stories that bards only told at night.
She made up her mind. Even if it meant death, she wouldn't agree to the evil dragon's demand.
"Absolutely not!" Aisha's voice trembled as she said it.
The goblin turned to ask its master what he thought.
"Roar—"
"Twenty silver coins."
"I-I want to pursue the Truth of magic. I-I'd never consort with an evil dragon."
"Roar—"
"Twenty-five silver coins."
"To serve a great Ancient Red Dragon is an important step toward the Truth of magic!"
A moment later, a Subordination Contract was laid before Aisha.
The terms were even better than she'd imagined. She'd thought it would be a slave contract.
Breaking the contract wouldn't cost her life, only money.
This Red Dragon seemed a lot more human than the beasts in many shadowy mage towers!
After signing the contract, she could communicate with Drogo through her thoughts, using the magic in the contract.
She watched as Drogo abruptly shrank to two meters tall, presumably with the help of some sort of artifact that could change his size.
He then brought a chest out of the cave and slapped it. The chest opened its enormous mouth, revealing sharp teeth and a tongue.
Was he using a Mimic as a storage chest?
Aisha stared in shock.
Drogo rummaged around inside with a claw, pulled out a little toy, and tossed it to Aisha.
She caught it and took a look. It wasn't a magical item, just two hemispheres fitted together backward, with a string tied between them. It looked familiar.
"Your job is to make this toy trigger illusions." Drogo's voice in her mind was surprisingly pleasant. "I'm calling it a yo-yo."
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