Leave a comment

A number of people looked like they suddenly had something else to take care of upon hearing the word “dragon”. However, most people are used to seeing the occasional dragon by a tamer’s side. Taming a dragon is pretty amazing in and of itself, but we should probably forget about trying any funny stuff with this one.

However, as to not cause a panic, I stay quiet about this and head back to the room. At the same time, I use Clairvoyance to scan the skies, but fail to see the Heavenly Palace or any storm clouds above Rondoville or the neighboring countries of Acradist and Filaramis. When I finally found the palace, it was hovering above the Thecarel Desert, which is about four countries away from Rondoville.

Storm clouds and the Heavenly Palace both hold crystal pillars of the wind element, so I thought that might be the reason why the egg was hatching. Seems like I was wrong.

If that’s the case, we might have to consider the possibility that the egg is hatching prematurely. It happens occasionally if something is wrong with the egg, but dragons born without absorbing enough of the elements might end up weaker than usual.

And if that happens, the King of Dragons will definitely be enraged. I wonder if I can stop it without killing it…

I shake my head, I can’t lose hope now. Maybe it really did absorb enough of the elements.

Which was the moment I noticed something odd. There were two people in the guild attempting to hide with the Presence Concealment skill… their status windows said they were a pair of assassins, and both of them were focused on a certain something. Well, as long as they don’t go causing any trouble…

I head back down the stairs, holding onto a sliver of hope.

“Pi!”

A snow white dragon with blue eyes stood in place of the egg. If my memory serves me right, the current King of Dragons should have scarlet scales, jet black horns, and deep blue eyes. In contrast, its kid… doesn’t resemble it at all. Well, its status does say Child of the Dragon God, and its attributes…

“Ah, Illya,” Ria said, as she stroked the head of the dragon. When she turned to face me, the dragon did the same.

Seems like it’s taken a liking to Ria. Maybe she’s even its imprinted parent.

“Pi!”
“Ah.”
“Huh?”

Baby dragon used headbutt! It was a direct hit! However, Illya is protected by a barrier, so it wasn’t very effective. Illya took zero damage.

Well, no such displays actually appear, but maybe it looks like that from a bystander point of view. Anyways, I hold out my arms to keep the little dragon from falling, and the creature snuggles its body up to me. It has yet to grow any scales, so I feel its soft skin rub against my own. Its tongue is pretty rough… hey, stop licking me.

“I guess dragons don’t imprint their parents, huh?” Ria giggles.
“But I thought…”

It wasn’t the King of Dragons, but I asked a dragon about it myself. It wanted me to raise the child, so I ran away with the Presence Concealment skill. Well, it does seem like this dragon is pretty attached to me.

…the dragon element, huh? I’m also attuned to the dragon element, so maybe it thinks I’m a friend.

“You seem… very calm about all of this, Illya.”
“Do I?”

Maybe I am. As far as I can tell from its status, its abilities are stronger than any normal dragon’s child. Its starting skills, levels, and potential abilities are all within the expected range, and there isn’t a single sign of premature birth. It might even have more latent abilities than its parent.

The King of Dragons should be happy with a child like this! Good, good!

“So how about we get some food first?”
“Pi?”

Guess it’s a bit too early for it to understand human speech. Dragons mainly eat magicules. Upon reaching a certain age, they become able to absorb it from normal foods, but chicks like this one need to be given a direct source of magicules.

“So what do baby dragons eat?” Ria asks.
“Well, usually, it’s mother’s milk.”

More specifically, the magicules that are in its mothers milk, which allow it to take in mana. Before I can explain that, an odd stir can be heard from the crowd. A few of the men in the hall look a bit red in the cheeks. …Fools, they haven’t even noticed.

“…How about you guys take a step outside, yeah?”

An angry crowd of women, some of them wives, loomed over the hall. Thankfully, I was able to explain the situation in full before there was any bloodshed.

Another crisis avoided, I climbed up to my third floor room and undo my barrier. There are two ways to provide a direct source of magic. It isn’t mother’s milk, but mixing magic with some bodily fluids can serve as a replacement. The other method is to use support magic on the dragon, which can then directly absorb the magicules.

I could heal myself, but I’m not a big fan of blood, so I go with the latter option.

“—power, rise from the abyss, sharpen our strengths and cover our weaknesses. Grant power to mine liege—”

I begin the incantation, casting support magic which greatly increases the physical strength of the target.

“Reinforce.”
“Pi!?”

The magic reaches out to touch the elements within the dragon, replenishing the chick’s magicules. Wait… elements? That means…

There are no crystal pillars nearby, and as far as I can tell from its status, the dragon didn’t seem to hatch prematurely. The only thing I can think of that might have triggered its birth is the healing magic that I used on the adventurers.

What makes magic, sorcery, and summoning different from primordial and holy magic is whether they manipulate magicules that contain the elements, or directly manipulate the elements.

In other words, the fire-attuned holy magic that I cast might have been absorbed by the dragon egg on the first floor. As further evidence to back this up, the Heavenly Palace was above a desert, supposedly in order to let the dragon egg absorb the fire element.

The dragon burped. Then it began to lean over, its belly swelling slightly from its meal. I pull the little creature closer while the support magic wears off. Huh, that’s weird…

The support magic I cast should have run out already, but its strength attributes aren’t returning to its original numbers. Everything in its status tells me that Reinforce is still working on the little dragon.

“Illya, can I come in?”
“Ah, guildmaster. Go ahead.”

After recasting my barrier, I open the door to let Frank in. I guess I can figure out the status thing later.

“I heard about what happened from Ria. …It really is a dragon’s child.”
“I hate to dampen the mood, but there’s something I must talk to you about.”

“Go ahead,” Frank says, as he takes a seat in the chair nearest to him. I hug the little dragon a little closer to myself.

“This isn’t just any dragon. It’s the Dragon God’s child.”
“…”

Frank holds his head in his hands. Yeah, figures.

“…There’s no doubt about it?”
“Yeah, I am almost completely certain.”
“I see… So what do we do?”

I pause. That’s a good question. Frank also knows that we have no choice but to give the chick back, but the problem is how exactly we’re going to do it.

Should we directly hand the dragon over to the Heavenly Palace, or should we wait for someone to pick it up? For the former, we can either travel via wind magic, or we can get the help of a tamer or summoner to fly us over. The problem is that we might get shot out of the sky as we approach the palace, but we might not have to worry about that if we’re holding the Dragon God’s child.

As for the latter, we’d have to go to a shrine of the Dragon God’s and perform a ritual. The ritual’s original purpose was to pray for rain, so it might not give the worshippers or the Dragon God’s the best impression.

“I think it might be best that we hand it over directly.”
“Should we make it a commission from the guild?”
“Let’s see… I would like the adventurers that picked it up in the first place to return it, but…”
“They’re still unconscious, huh?”
“It seems so. Plus, it’s very likely that they picked it up without knowing that it was the Dragon God’s egg, and they might not be inclined to listen to what we have to say.”

All the while our conversation progressed, the dragon chick continued to snuggle up to me, rubbing its nuzzle on my face and wrapping its tail around my legs. I crouched over in an attempt to let the little guy down, but the dragon refused to leave my side.

“…I guess it would be best to leave it in your care for now…”
“…It would seem so.”

I stroke the little dragon’s head, and it closes its eyes in pleasure. Then, facing the window, I let out a short sigh.