Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou - Volume 20, page 8
"It's just as Doushi says. so, when is that egg going to hatch? I don't really have any knowledge about stuff concerning this."
"Eh? Are you going to make this egg hatch?"
Doushi and Burkhart-san started to say some crazy stuff.
"Would that be wrong, Earl Baumeister?"
I wouldn't say it's wrong, but... ah, it might be wrong after all. After all, that's the egg of a dragon, and not some cute dog or cat.
"Is it okay to raise dragons in the demon country? I mean, legally."
On the Lingaia Continent we don't have any laws prohibiting the keeping of monsters or dragons. The biggest reason is the lack of advanced law systems as it's in place over here, but since those are dangerous creatures, it also plays a big role that no one would keep such creatures to begin with.
Among the nobles there should be some people who wish to try keeping them out of vanity, but I think it'd be difficult to put into practice.
"I've been wanting that. A ruler and a dragon ─ that's the best combination, isn't it? The people would be surprised as well."
"But, you could be arrested for doing something illegal. You'd get scolded by your school teacher."
It'll be fine for the demon queen to do as she pleases once she's established her own country, but right now she's in a position where she must abide by the laws of the Zontark Republic.
"That would be a problem. So how is it?"
"It isn't against the law in particular."
Since it's a matter of law, Arnest would be the wrong person to speak to since that guy fled the country after breaking the law. Lyra-san answered in his stead.
"So it's not illegal, huh?"
"Rather, it's more proper to say that they don't assume anyone will raise dragons."
"You said that the kings of old had hatched dragons and subdued them, didn't you?"
"Earl Baumeister, ultimately that only refers to demon kings of a distant past."
After the long, bloody wars came to an end, the reign of the Zontark Kingdom started. As it continued, the kings and nobles gradually stopped subduing dragons.
"The times entered an era of peace, and on top of that, the era of the Zontark Kingdom didn't last over long but not very short either. Since it required time and effort for the king to collect the egg of his own dragon and make it hatch and because it also cost quite a bit of money to raise a dragon... umm... it seems like the kingdom also went through economic difficulties..."
Given the stability of the kingdom's rule, the necessity to coerce enemy forces into submission with a dragon had disappeared. The cost-effectiveness dramatically worsened and as the kingdom's finances were deep in the red, I guess it became something like a disarmament...
"The demons haven't subdued dragons for many years. Therefore the laws of the republic don't assume the raising of a dragon either."
"I see."
I suppose the Lingaia Continent and the Zontark Republic are similar in that regard.
"It would be fine to put the egg back, but could you properly take care of it?"
"Elise?"
"It is unfortunate, but there are a lot of irresponsible people in the Helmut Kingdom. The church has been concerned about that as well."
This seems to be a story connected to keeping pets, but a certain number of people, regardless of their social standing, immediately get tired of their pets and then abandon them. The issue of abandoned pets has become quite a problem in the Helmut Kingdom.
And certainly, I've often caught sight of stray dogs and cats in the capital.
"Once they start raising it, a pet owner must see it through to the end. Your Majesty, do you have that resolve?"
"Resolve?"
"Yes. The resolve to definitely take care of it, no matter what happens," Elise asked the demon queen with an unusually compelling tone.
Because she's been going out into the city to do the church's volunteer work, she must have seen heaps of abandoned pets that had been deserted by their irresponsible owners.
"Even more so, seeing how this is a dragon's egg. I think it will be much more challenging to raise than a dog or cat."
"Sounds like it eats lots."
A very Wilmaesque comment.
Leaving aside the time when it's still a baby, I think it'll eat quite a lot once the dragon grows big. It'll also be a problem if the place for keeping it isn't quite spacious. It looks like the costs for keeping a single dragon will be much higher than paying for some average zoo.
"If you abandon a dragon, the damage it'll cause will be quit devastating..."
Eru, someone abandoning a dragon wouldn't... no, I guess there's no guarantee that you won't find anyone like that.
"I would assume that it's a crime to abandon a dragon."
"If you abandon a dragon, the law pertaining to animal desertion would apply. It would result in a fine."
You'd have an issue with animal protection laws, but it doesn't sound like they treat it as that much of a felony either... They probably pray...no, they simply don't expect an abandoned dragon to run around through a city.
"But, Elise jou-chan, you can only take care of a dragon's growth for as long as you live, can't you? I mean, dragons live for tens of thousands of years."
"Raising dragons is impossible for humans, correct?"
As far as examples are concerned, I can only think of a certain idiot duke who caught a dragon and tried to make it fight in a duel. But, that dragon had been a lower ranking flying dragon, and I doubt he planned to raise it properly.
"That's right. We have never seen any dragon's eggs, let alone the way elemental dragons live. I couldn't even imagine the idea of raising a dragon."
Now that he mentions it, we certainly have only ever seen grown elemental dragons... I never saw a dragon's egg or a baby dragon. Nor did I think about a dragon's way of life.
"Leaving aside wyverns and other lower flying dragons, high-ranking species, which you humans call elemental dragons, should not have laid any eggs, let alone raised any children, on the Lingaia Continent yet. After all, the high-ranking specimens living on that continent have migrated there from other continents after the great disaster ten thousand years ago."
"You're saying they're not old enough to lay eggs yet?"
"Humans treat dragons, who have merely lived for a few thousand years, as 『Elder Dragons』, but that is a great misunderstanding."
"Is that so?"
The one defeated by Burkhart-san's party supposedly was an elder fire dragon, wasn't it...? Arnest's words imply that it hadn't been old at all.
"Okay, in that case, just how many years would the dragon in this egg live after it hatches? I doubt anyone would live long enough to bear responsibility for it, right?"
Just as Eru says, even demons wouldn't be able to keep a dragon and take charge of it until it dies since they only live thrice as long as humans."
"Hey, wouldn't it be much safer to bury this thing once more?" Ina asked.
"Before doing that, just when is this thing going to hatch? Her Majesty might turn into a granny during the times it takes to heat the egg," added Luise.
"You cannot hatch a high-ranking dragon egg by merely keeping the egg warm. It depends on how much mana you pump into it. You must substitute the mother dragon after all."
In that case, I think it'll be difficult for anyone but demons to do this...
Even if a human with a big amount of mana tried to hatch a dragon egg, they'd die before they poured enough of mana into it.
"According to ancient documents, demon kings risked their lives on hatching a high ranking dragon's egg."
"Their lives!?"
"Sometimes even that was not enough, forcing the king's children to hatch it."
Old demons apparently went quite far to hatch dragons to obey them. Given that dragons are easily recognizable symbols of power, they probably followed the ideology that at least their successors would be able to enslave the dragon, even if they didn't manage to do it in the end.
"Demon, you are oddly well-informed about this," Doushi snapped back.
"It is important for humans and demons alive to always strive for more knowledge. But that is probably nothing certain muscleheads can comprehend."
"Grrr...I cannot believe that a dragon would get that attached to a human!"
"The instant of the egg hatching is the most crucial. The baby dragon will regard the first person it sees as its parent. Therefore, the eggs have been stolen from the parent dragons right before their hatching. The ancient documents state that many demons lost their lives during such raids."
So they obtained the dragon eggs while risking their lives, hatched it with huge amounts of mana over many years, and made the baby dragon submit to them, huh?
"That doesn't fit with the current set of values among demons, right?"
"Indeed."
Me, a human noble, and Arnest, a demon scholar; our way to look at this aligned right away since this would become no more than a seed of trouble.
"Lyra-san, it'd be better to seal this away."
"You're right... it goes beyond our current capabilities, I think."
"You will also have the option to dig it back out and hatch it, whenever a time arrives where it looks like you could actually succeed. After making sure that you'll be able to properly keep it, that is..."
"Elise, you are quite insistent on that part, aren't you?"
"Dear, it is wrong to be irresponsible."
"It'd also turn into a huge uproar, if you discarded a dragon's child because you can't raise it."
"The handling of a dragon hatched by a human would be difficult."
All of us agreed on burying the dragon's egg for now. And once they'd have the necessary leeway to hatch the dragon properly... though I don't know whether such a time will ever come. Although it might not happen within the demon queen's lifetime... we concluded that it'd be better to handle it like that for now.
"With that out of the way, Your Majesty, you must endure for now, so... Your Majesty?"
"Ooohhh, when I sent some mana into the egg as a test while all of you were talking about this and that, cracks formed on the shell. I'm sure looking forward to the baby dragon."
""""""""""...""""""""""
"Hey! Mall!" I complained to Mall, asking him why he didn't stop her.
He and his friend should have read the mood and kept a close eye on her.
"Me? Silas and Ramul haven't been told to watch Her Majesty so that she wouldn't hatch the dragon's egg either."
"Yeah, our job is ultimately limited to helping you out, Earl Baumeister."
"You're expecting too much from temporary employees. This isn't a black company either."
"..."
They really got a comeback for just about everything. So these are students who have been educated under a pressure-free system...
The fact I'm indulging in such thoughts might be a clear sign of me being a lost case.
Anyway, right now the dragon's egg matters!
"Arnest, did you say that it'd take time for it to hatch?"
"I can come up with a simple conjecture here. It was necessary to lock away the egg in a box and bury it underground because of some special circumstances. It means that this egg had been on the verge of hatching all along."
It was such a minuscule amount of mana required to hatch it that we didn't even realize the demon queen pouring it into the egg.
"It's hatched at last."
Once it came to this, the rest happened quickly. The top part of the cracked egg opened up and a baby dragon peeked out from there. It was wrapped up in a pink, wet down and its eyes were still closed.
"Vel, it's cute, isn't it?"
"Sure, but..."
Is this really going to turn into an old fire dragon or that Grade Grand? The hatched baby dragon was so cute that it made me doubt this.
Its size was at most fifty centimeters.
"Myuu myuu."
"Its crying is adorable!"
I thought that Doushi might twist the baby dragon's head to save himself some future trouble, but it looks like even he found it hard to do something like that to such a cute creature.
"Hubby, it's no different from wyvern children while it's so small."
"It has a pink color though. What kind of elemental dragons is this?"
"I think it's very likely a fire dragon."
"So it's pink because it's too young for having a perfect red color yet?"
"That's what I think... its mana response resembles the one of the old fire dragon I killed before."
Burkhart-san excels at mana detection, so his theory sounds rather persuasive.
In other words, this pink, cute baby dragon is going to transform into a crimson fire dragon, huh?
"Vel-sama, its eyes are closed."
"I think they'll open soon? ...Oh, see! What did I tell you?"
The baby dragon groomed its wet down for a while, but once it finished that, it opened its eyes. And right in front of it... the demon queen was staring at the baby dragon full of curiosity.
"Myuu, myuu."
"Cute. You shall be my retainer."
"Myuumyuu!"
Apparently understanding the demon queen, the baby dragon flapped its wings, happily flying around her, despite having been born just moments ago, and then settled down inside her arms.
"Myuumyuu."
"Hey, don't lick my face so much. It tickles, you know?"
The baby dragon continued to lick her face.
"Say, Arnest, this means..."
A chick considers the first creature it sees after being born as its parent. That was a piece of trivia you would hear relatively often in Japan.
"It is just as you suspect. As I have explained earlier, the baby dragon thinks of Her Majesty as its parent now that it saw her first."
"I see... that makes sense, I guess..."
We can't get rid of this baby dragon because it'd be pitiable. Above all, its cuteness makes it hard to believe that this could become an elemental dragon in the future.
Even Elise, who had cautioned rather harshly before, was looking at the pink, fluffy baby dragon with sparkling eyes.
"Dear, this baby dragon is very adorable."
"Elise, it's very soft if you hold it in your arms."
"May I, Your Majesty?"
"You may."
The demon queen passed the baby dragon to Elise. My wife immediately started to dote on the baby dragon as if having forgotten what she said earlier.
"Elise, I'm next."
"Me too!"
"Cute, want to hug!"
Still, I think this cuteness is a foul.
Ina, Luise, Wilma, and all the other women enjoyed holding the baby dragon in turns.
"It soothes your heart, doesn't it?"
"Indeed. It'd be great if it always stayed so small, though."
"Vel-kun, I remember you were as cute back when you were small, too."
"How lovely. Look, Big Sis."
"Lumi-san, here you go."
"This cuteness is against the rules, really."
"Eru-san, this child is very adorable."
Everyone held the dragon in turn, but for some reason it stayed very calm about this. Does it like women or something?
"A demon queen who holds a baby dragon..."
"Truly nice."
"Exalted..."
"I see. I think that's proof of my majesty having come out as one being obeyed by a dragon."
Demon queen, I don't think that's what Mall and his friends are talking about.
The combination of a beautiful girl and pink, fluffy, small dragon triggered the ones who have a fetish for this kind of stuff. At the very least, I doubt she has any majesty going for her.
"Cream Puff! Together, you and I as your master shall revive the old Zontark Kingdom in a new splendor!"
"Myuumyuu."
Did it understand what the demon queen was saying? The baby dragon cried, reacting to her declaration.
I think it's just a coincidence, but... something else bothers me beyond that.
"Your Majesty, is Cream Puff possibly the name of this baby dragon?"
"Yes. I love cream puffs, so it carries my wish of wanting to love this child in the same way. Even if it might be my retainer, I plan to love this child. Cream Puff, what do you like to eat? We must prepare your food."
"(Cream Puff... that naming sense...)"
"(Eru, shhh─!)"
Everyone had noticed the demon queen's questionable taste in names. But, since I felt bad about pointing that out, we mustn't do it no matter what.
Besides, the baby dragon itself doesn't seem to be unhappy about that name. It carefreely resumed grooming itself.
* * *
Thereafter, the baby dragon slowly turned into the demon queen's retainer (pet), and thinking back on it now, it turned into a huge uproar afterwards, but at that time it was already too late. There was no way to take the baby dragon away from the demon queen, and Cream Puff started to be gradually regarded as the demon queen's pet.
Chapter 3: Dragon and Puppy
* * *
"Oh! I got a bite!"
"I was able to catch one."
"Me too!"
"Cream Puff, isn't that great? You'll be able to eat plenty of fish."
"Your Majesty, can you not somehow reconsider that name? This baby dragon is going to become an elemental dragon, right?"
"It will grow into what we demons call a high-ranking dragon, but this child is my cute servant. Shouldn't I try to remove society's idea that high-ranking dragons are scary? Don't you think so as well, Cream Puff?"
"Myuumyuu."
"Alright, I'll give you the fish I caught."
Early in the morning, all of us were fishing at the lake where our magic airship was anchored. After a series of various coincidences, the demon queen ended up making a baby dragon hatch. He or she─we don't know the gender yet─seems to have taken a liking to the demon queen, remaining glued to her all the time.
According to Arnest, it's the exact same behavior as a chick as the baby dragon considers the first being it saw after its birth to be its parent.
