Christina laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
‘A child holding a child. How cute.’
Imugi could roughly guess what kind of figure he cut, but decided to leave it for now, worried that if he pushed it away recklessly, the bird might burst into tears again.
Imugi, who had glanced at Christina, pointed at the bird with his index finger and asked, trying to resolve his question.
“Qyu. Qyu-qyu?”
‘What is this bird? Why did a bird pop out of a roasted egg?’
Although they couldn’t communicate through words, Christina saw his gesture and gaze and nodded.
“Are you asking me? I suppose this child must have been born as the new phoenix of this generation.”
The black hatchling tilted his head this way and that, expressing his doubts.
Christina spoke.
“The phoenix is such a precious bird that it is called the bird of God. Only one exists in each generation. They say that if a living phoenix dies, another phoenix will appear again within at least a hundred years.”
Imugi, understanding the deduction about the bird, nodded.
However, Christina, sensing something strange, stopped speaking.
“……. This is strange. The phoenix of this generation should still be alive.”
Christina’s mutter was very quiet, but Imugi heard it clearly as well.
While he blinked and looked at her, she too fell into thought.
‘Has an anomaly occurred in the world? Or is it an omen that the world is about to change?’
She couldn’t tell if it was a good turn of events or a bad omen.
The phoenix protects the darkness.
One could only guess that this fact, encountered for the first time, was no ordinary matter.
‘They are still just a young phoenix and a hatchling, but…… Still, this isn’t something to just overlook.’
As she worried, she recalled someone from whom she could seek help regarding this matter.
“Rai.”
At Christina’s gesture, Rai, the white light spirit, revealed himself.
[ㅇㅅㅇ!]
Rai, seemingly happy at being called, scattered tiny clusters of light and circled around Christina. Then he gently alighted on the hand she held out.
Christina looked at Rai, smiled softly, and stated her business.
“I must go and meet Pasiyas, the elder of the Red Dragons.”
Pasiyas.
He was the father of the Red Dragon hatchling and the current elder of the Red Dragons.
Anticipation welled up in Imugi at the news that Christina was going out, and Rai shook his body lightly, making the clusters of light sparkle.
“He is also the elder of the Red Dragons who possesses the authority of fire, and he happens to be raising a hatchling, so I will go and consult him about that child.”
Upon hearing Christina’s words, Rai displayed an expression on his sphere of light.
[( *｀ω´)ゞ]
“Thank you, Rai.”
Christina’s Lair was an inviolable zone that even the Dragon Lord could not carelessly touch.
In other words, there was absolutely no possibility of an accident occurring due to an outside attack.
“Baby, will you stay well?”
“Qyu!”
Seeing the child answer energetically, Christina let out a short laugh.
‘I’m worried about leaving him with only Rai, but for some reason, I feel that this child will be fine.’
Despite being a hatchling, the child she had watched had a somewhat mature side to him.
‘Are Black Dragon hatchlings naturally like this?’
Christina herself was a prodigy known for being brilliant, and she had matured quickly compared to her peers.
But that was largely due to the influence of the parents and teacher who had taught her.
Innate qualities and mindset. Experiences gained from the environment. It was the fruit borne through time of contemplation.
‘Even though that child couldn’t have had such experiences yet, he seemed to have his own values.’
Since hatching from the egg, the child had not cried, pestered, or thrown tantrums by instinct.
He was capable of fairly complex communication, and he had standards for what actions were permissible and impermissible.
Perhaps because of that, he inspired a strange trust that one normally couldn’t place in a child.
‘He even stopped the young phoenix immediately when it showed hostility toward me. And how he handles mana, at that.’
Day by day, the mana surrounding the child grew stable.
Watching him handle mana so skillfully was enough to leave one astonished.
‘No matter how dragons are a race born of magic, he was too adept for a hatchling.’
The relationship between dragons and mana was like that of a child given toys or clay.
A young hatchling given something to wield at will would manipulate mana as they pleased.
Because of that, as they simply wielded their magic power as they pleased, depending on their aptitude, they would cause all sorts of accidents—detonating explosions, launching wind blades, and the like.
To protect such hatchlings, it was only natural for a guardian dragon or teacher, a fully grown dragon, to be by their side.
However, the hatchling before her was different.
He knew how to shape and use it neatly and intricately as he intended to utilize it.
‘I thought the child I am raising was no ordinary genius, but.’
A commendable, kind, and cute child.
And a child far too outstanding to be an ordinary hatchling.
She recalled her teacher from the distant past who was no longer here and let out a sigh.
‘Did you do something to this child before entrusting him to me, Teacher?’
Thinking of one who could no longer give answers even if asked, she gazed at the sky for a moment.
Her teacher, whom she still thought of even now that she had become an elder of the Gold Dragons.
But now, she had taken on that teacher’s role herself.
When her thoughts reached that point, Christina let out a snorting laugh.
‘That’s right. Right now, I am that child’s guardian and practically his teacher.’
She stroked Rai’s light with her other hand as he looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“Come to think of it, I heard Pasiyas’s child is an extremely capable prodigy, so he might be of some help.”
Removing her hand lightly, she whispered to Rai.
“Please take good care of the children until I return. I don’t think anything will happen, but if anything does, let me know right away.”
[٩(•̀ᴗ•́ )و]
Having received the pure spirit’s encouragement, a soft smile formed on Christina’s face.
Christina also gave a reminder to Imugi.
“It won’t take long. Make sure to stay with Rai.”
“Qyu.”
Imugi, who had been blinking his eyes in puzzlement, nodded.
She lightly kissed the sleek hatchling’s forehead, wishing him a blessing.
“Qyuuk!?”
Muah!
“Bwaa! Bwaah!”
She felt her heart naturally melt at the cute sight of the hatchling, startled, hurriedly rubbing his forehead.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
After laying him back down in the cradle properly, Christina took her leave, looking back with a reluctant gaze.
‘She’s gone……?’
Imugi sprang up, clenched both hands tightly, and raised one hand toward the ceiling.
‘Freedom at last!’
It was a reaction like a child freed from a parent’s watch, but for one who had lived nearly a thousand years, being in a cradle all day long was that much of a torment.
‘How long I’ve wished for a time like this! Without Christina, it was hard to even leave this room. I thought I’d die of suffocation.’
If only it had been a free environment where he could properly train, he would have managed somehow.
He recalled the suffocating recent days.
‘I could steadily do training that didn’t stand out, but there were too many restrictions.’
To Christina, the spirit was assigned as a guardian, but to him, it was an annoying watcher.
‘It shouldn’t be strange to move around near the cradle now.’
He spread his wings and carefully descended below the cradle, standing on four feet.
When he sneakily checked, Rai was simply following quietly without a word.
‘Good. Luck is on my side.’
He inwardly shouted in triumph.
“Bwaa?”
The white baby bird stamped tiny footprints on the bedspread and hurriedly ran after him, unwilling to be left behind.
“Cheep!”
Hop!
“Qyuuk.”
The baby bird jumped down in a way that it was unclear whether it was flying or tumbling, and quickly landed on Imugi’s head.
He considered shaking his head to drop it, but since it was very light, he decided to mostly ignore it.
Since he walked with the bird atop him, Rai also flew through the air and followed them.
And Imugi, standing before the door, glared at the handle above his head.
‘If I jump, I think I can grab it. Shall I try to see if it opens?’
Lost in thought as he glared at the lever handle, he held his breath and raised his front leg.
Then, he put strength into his short hind legs and jumped up forcefully.
Thud.
‘Got it.’
As his weight settled on the caught door handle, the doorknob tilted downward.
Click.
At the same time as the sound of the lock releasing, Imugi let go.
Chapter 9: Where Is This?
The door opened without resistance.
‘It worked.’
Imugi went outside and began walking to look around.
Rai, the light spirit, circled once around the hatchling toddling down the hallway.
He looked worried, but he didn’t stop him from wandering outside the room.
After all, without teleportation magic, he couldn’t even explore half of half of this vast Lair.
Rai thought it would be fine as long as he guided the way back, since inside the Lair was safer than anywhere else.
Moreover, the Imugi that Rai had watched was particularly weak when hungry, and was smart enough to crack and eat eggs on his own when he got hungry while doing something alone.
Occasionally flashing his light to signal they should return even now, but the hatchling paid no heed to the spirit’s light and marched straight on.
However, he too acknowledged that with toddling steps, he couldn’t even explore half of the Lair.
‘At this rate, I won’t be able to look around much at all.’
But who knew when another chance like this would come; was he to obediently stay in the room?
That didn’t suit his temperament.
‘As expected…… it’s inconvenient without movement magic.’
His current appearance was that of a complete ‘baby’ who couldn’t even move without Christina’s help.
Imugi smirked, raising the corners of his mouth.
‘Good thing I prepared in advance.’
The hatchling’s fangs, revealed in his smile, looked like those of a mischievous brat.
‘I’ve been watching the whole time. The flow of power felt every time Christina used movement magic.’
Ramrod straight. Imugi stood firm in his spot and regulated his breathing.
‘
Recalling Christina’s mana manipulation, he raised his hand.
It was magic he had never performed himself, but he had watched it cast several times, and it was magic he had already experienced.
‘This is what it felt like.’
Humm.
He felt his own mana moving within his body.
The surrounding mana responded like well-trained soldiers.
The feeling of sensing the mana of the entire Lair all at once was like wielding the authority of a transcendent being.
‘It’s possible.’
He kept one corner of his mouth raised in a smile and his eyes gleamed.
“Qyu-huhu.”
[ㅇㅁㅇ;]
Facing that face, Rai felt an inexplicable foreboding and flinched.
What was this faint evilness wafting from within the pure cuteness of a hatchling?
Meanwhile, Imugi’s eyes gleamed like a tactician deciding where to place his chosen piece.
He could feel the surrounding area composed of mana, from which he could choose where to move.
Hoo. Imugi exhaled and quietly closed his eyes.
“Qyu-qyuk!”
‘Teleportation.’
Whoosh!
In that instant, their figures vanished in the blink of an eye.
***
Crash!
‘Ow, damn……!’
Those who suddenly appeared in mid-air each appeared in a different state.
Imugi had the misfortune of falling back-first and rolling, so he couldn’t assume a proper breakfall and tumbled; Rai was floating in mid-air but couldn’t grasp the situation, so he merely floated there.
The baby bird flapped its tiny wings, seemingly surprised.