Chapter 74 – Everyone Loves the Egg
After dinner, I went to the hot springs. I took the Sighisoara egg with me.
In the changing room, Cruz looked at me with a worried face as I carried it in.
「Won’t it boil the egg?」
「The ancient dragon said it was very resistant against fire.」
「I see.」
「Wait, why are you even in here with me, Cruz?!」
「Huh? I want to get in the bath!」
Cruz was about to take her clothes off, and now puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
That wasn’t the problem.
「Well…don’t you care about getting in a bath with a man?」
「I don’t care AT ALL!」
「I see.」
I wasn’t going to waste time and lecture her, so I just got in the bath.
Moofy, Femm, and the egg got into the hot springs with me.
Cruz had gotten into the bath before us and now came near the egg.
「Sighisoara…does it feel good?」
Cruz rubbed the egg. Of course, Sighisoara had no reaction.
She continued touching the egg while talking to it.
「You should care for it like a mother.」
「Ruff?」「Moo??」
Femm and Moofy were confused by Cruz’ weird statement.
Maybe Cruz wanted to become Sighisoara’s mother.
If she would take good care of it, I wouldn’t mind.
「Cruz, do you want to be this dragon’s mother?」
「If you’re the father, then I can be the mother!」
「What?」
I was a little awkward in replying to that statement.
Cruz’ eyes glimmered as she rubbed the egg.
「Well, forget about the mother part and just take good care of it, okay?」
「Heh heh heh.」
I got out of the bath and went to my room, when Luka and Yureena approached me.
「Could I see the egg?」
「Sure, look at it all you want.」
I gave the egg to Luka, and she gazed at it and touched it all over.
「I wonder when it will hatch.」
「I didn’t hear about that.」
「Okay.」
Then Yureena held the egg and said,
「I wish it would hatch soon.」
「It’s not the first time you’ve seen an ancient dragon, right?」
When we were fighting the Demon Lord, we encountered an ancient dragon.
It helped us to destroy one of the Demon Lord’s forts.
「I’ve never seen a baby one, though.」
「Me either.」
「Maybe Cruz and I can raise it as our own.」
Yureena said.
「No, you can’t. The egg was entrusted to me.」
「Oh well, then.」
Yureena gave up.
Luka rubbed the egg kindly too.
「We have to raise it to be a good dragon. If there’s anything you need just let me know, okay?」
「Sure, I can depend on you.」
It was reassuring to hear an expert on monsters ready to help.
I then remembered something and asked Yureena.
「That reminds me, before I left, you said you were going to get rid of a demon, right?」
「So, what about it?」
「How did the battle turn out?」
「Well, because of me and Cruz working together, we were able to get rid of it with no deaths.」
A demon was strong, but Cruz and Yureena could handle it easily.
「I wonder if this is somehow related to the demon that stole the egg from the ancient dragon.」
「No, I don’t think it has anything to do with it.」
「All the demons work on their own right? There’s no way they’d work together on that…」
Luka was right. Demons didn’t get along with each other.
「I was just thinking, you’d have to have one heck of a plan to steal an ancient dragon egg.」
「I think that the demon might have worked with others though.」
「Yeah, it might just be so.」
Even so, the demon that had stolen the egg from the dragon throne was still alive.
It had used an immortal-killer arrow, and cursed the dragon with zombie status.
Not a very easy enemy to face.
And, if it knew we had the magic egg, it was likely it would attack us.
「Well, I will ask for help if I need it.」
「Leave it to me!」
Luka nodded strongly.
The next day I finally got to guard again after a few days. Millet came by and touched the egg I was holding.
「Sighisoara, get bigger okay? Ah, I think it moved!」
I didn’t think I felt anything. It was probably just my stomach.
With the carrier that Cruz had given me, the egg sat right on my stomach.
And she was petting the egg.
「It’s almost like I’m pregnant or something.」
「Hee hee, Momma Mister Al.」
While we were talking about that, I saw Femm running up to me.
Femm had several wolves running alongside.
「Ruff!」
「What is it?」
『We checked the whole wolf territory.』
「And?」
There used to be strong monsters that had approached the territory of the wolved.
Femm had howled loudly to scare them away yesterday, and since the ancient dragon was gone, it would be best that they went back to where they came from.
『Not all, but most have fled this area.』
「Well, that helps.」
『We also hunted down several goblins.』
「Ruff」「Wuff Ruff」
Femm said proudly, as the other wolves happily wagged their tails.
I rubbed Femm appreciatively.
On the other hand, Vi-Vi was over by the wolf house, talking to the wolves.
It was a strange sight for someone like Vi-Vi, who usually didn’t like dogs.
Vi-Vi was riding on Moofy. I guess if she was with Moofy, she was okay with it.
「Okay all you dogs! These are good mice to get rid of!」
「Ruff?」
「And these are the types you don’t touch!」
「Ruff…」
「Most of those mice won’t even eat the crops. You should leave the ones that eat bugs alone!」
「Ruff.」
Vi-Vi was teaching them about mice types.
I had no idea they were different. I thought they were all bad.
「Ruff Ruff」
「STOP LICKING ME! I’M GOING TO SMELL LIKE DOG!」
The wolves were jumping up on Moofy and licking Vi-Vi all over.
Moofy was enjoying it, and licking the wolves back.
And just then, I felt the egg move.