The Baby Isn’t Yours

“Ah! Maybe back then!”

Hemmie seemed to have the same thought.

As if she had made some great discovery, she clenched her fists and stood up.

The pot on her head rattled and shook.

“Back then! When that wolf attacked, this egg unleashed its magic explosively! Thanks to that, the monsters couldn’t attack us! Maybe it was because of that magic explosion?”

In truth, they wondered what a hatchling inside an egg, not even born yet, could know and do to protect itself…

But it seemed Hemmie had already made up her mind as she tearfully begged Allen with watery eyes.

“The egg must have thought it would protect us. Oh, my goodness!”

It seemed too late to stop her; Hemmie’s voice was too intense.

“It’s only fair. This time, we have to protect it! Allen, can you do it?”

“Well, for now, there isn’t much I can do.”

“Please, save our egg…!”

Since when did this dragon egg become ‘our egg’? But Hemmie’s determination was clear.

“Alright, I understand. Calm down, Hemmie, and let’s watch over it for the night. But more importantly, there’s something we need to discuss.”

Allen, who had set down the listening device and magic wave detector, turned his head to look at both of them.

As if he had been holding back what he wanted to say until now, he sighed and opened his lips with a polite but firm voice.

“Could you possibly consider going to take a bath?”

“Huh?”

“…What?”

At Allen’s words, the two women looked at each other and then down at themselves.

Their clothes, covered in grass and dirt, were dirty, and their hair was tangled. Above all, the bloodstains from the monsters were eerie.

‘…What’s that faint, lingering smell?’

‘Could this be the scent coming from our bodies?’

‘No, when did this smell start coming from us?’

As if they couldn’t believe, Hemmie and Kalia sniffed their own bodies.

As if conducting a confirmation assassination, Allen elegantly pinched his nose and said:

“Your smells match. Now that you’re aware, maybe you should go take a bath, ladies?”

With a wry smile, he ushered them out to the bathroom.

“Clean yourselves up, both of you. Hygiene first!”

…It seemed like their smell was a threat to hygiene.

After bathing in warm water, Kalia and Hemmie returned to their room, unable to resist Allen’s urging.

‘I’m still worried, though. Should I examine the egg a bit? I brought it here, so I should take responsibility…’

Thinking that, she suddenly fell asleep, her body heavy with fatigue.

There were no clear memories after that. When she woke up in the early dawn, her eyes sparkled for some reason.

Maybe it was because, thanks to Allen and Hemmie’s overprotection, her body, which hadn’t had any real exercise or even a long walk, had moved actively for the first time in a while.

Kalia, who woke up feeling unusually refreshed, got up from her bed before dawn.

Because of her pregnancy, she’s constantly been swollen but because she had moved around a little yesterday, her condition this morning was different.

Kalia, who was about to head downstairs to the living room where they had left the egg last night, paused. Taking a few sniffs of her body, she agonized for a moment but ultimately took a quick shower.

‘Just in case…’

After washing herself clean, Kalia headed straight to the living room. Even earlier than the time when Mrs. McCanna would arrive, much earlier.

‘Oh, come to think of it, something like that happened yesterday, so I should just send a message telling her to take a break today. There’s no need to rush because there’s no sign.’

Kalia thought idly, opened the door to the small sitting room, and entered.

The moment she entered, Allen, who had been guarding the egg seemingly without sleep all night, raised his head. 

As soon as she entered, she stopped in her tracks. His expression was far from ordinary.

“Allen.”

“Miss Kalia.”

“You didn’t get even a wink of sleep?”

Worriedly asking about his haggard complexion, he raised his hand and wiped his face.

“Allen, what about the egg?”

“It’s not doing well. The waves are getting weaker. Thankfully, the temperature hasn’t dropped, but… it seems it won’t get better if we leave it like this. We should infuse it with magic immediately.”

Approaching the egg next to him, Kalia reached out and touched it.

‘It’s just a makeshift solution… but it can’t hurt to try.’

A Swordmaster’s swordsmanship also had power similar to magic.

It wasn’t as sophisticated and extensive as a magician’s manipulation of magic, but her swordsmanship had destructive power similar to magic.

Kalia gently directed her magic into the egg, as if she was wrapping it with her blade, just like when she was sheathing her sword.

Gradually, she felt the egg absorbing her magic.

Gradually, it started to greedily absorb the magic, as if drinking water in the desert, suddenly snatching the magic voraciously.

Feeling the magic being sucked out, Kalia staggered for a moment.

“Miss Kalia!”

Kalia raised her hand, indicating that she was okay.

The egg greedily absorbed her magic but didn’t take an unbearable amount.

It seemed quite hungry, hungrily absorbing every bit of it.

Kalia continued to give it more for about a few dozen seconds and then stopped the supply of magic.

“It’s getting difficult. It seems that giving it too much at once is overwhelming.”

Kalia muttered to herself as she looked at the egg.

Upon her words, the small hatchling inside the egg shivered and responded, as if it understood. It was a remarkable sight.

Even though it couldn’t open its eyes yet, it slowly moved and brought its forehead closer to Kalia’s palm, as if the warmth in that direction comforted it.

At the same time, Kalia’s womb started to tingle with Sasha’s morning kick. The baby was very active.

“These little ones…”

Kalia felt a strange sense of emotion as she watched the small creatures wriggling in her touch and warmth.

The hatchling inside the egg, as if it still hungry, shivered and moved, bringing its forehead to Kalia’s palm.

Observing it quietly, Kalia opened her mouth to Allen.

“We need to visit the lord’s castle, Allen.”

It seemed like they might need to summon the magicians.

And the sooner, the better.

* * *

“…This damned guy.”

Under the black blackout curtain that blocked the sunlight, the man who had sprawled on the sofa was muttering curses through his lips.

‘…I never thought that the  Fairy King would be there.’

He raised his drooping head while rubbing his shadowed forehead. His cold eyes stared at the small bodies that littered the floor. 

Last night, the spirits who had suddenly appeared, singing and longing for freedom, had turned into corpses with their hearts ripped out.

Even the remaining physical bodies were gradually turning into earth and wind, disappearing.

Spirits and fairies were similar beings but one was a subordinate creature to the other. 

Although spirits gathered their strength in their hearts like fairies, their power was not strong enough to become ‘petrified’.

Furthermore, most spirits were quite small.

The power gathered in their small hearts often fell short of even the lower-ranked fairies.

Of course, the elemental spirits summoned by elemental magicians were a different story.

Buford gazed at the remains of the fairies, who were turning into earth and wind due to the sorrow, with his mineral-like eyes.

Last night, the shadow of the Fairy King suddenly appearing had crossed his mind.

“This guy seems suspicious.”

* * *

When he first met him, Buford hadn’t thought of him as the Fairy King.

He hadn’t radiated the typical fairy light, nor were there other fairies guarding or assisting him.

“Are you a human who entered the forest by mistake?”

The man, who had stood there all alone, looking relaxed in simple clothing, had an appearance that was hard to guess his age, and his features shone even in the dark.

Although his huge shoulders and magnificent warrior-like spirit were unusual, he was also ordinary in a way. The only strange thing was that he was standing so casually in this dark Fairy Forest.

Leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, he looked at Buford and his companion as they entered the forest with heavy eyes.

The sharp and wary look he trained on them was full of vigilance, like he was looking at them as if they were people who broke into the courtyard of his house. 

Hmm.

Startled, Buford gazed at the man.

“Fairy? Were there any guardian fairies in this forest?”

In the major central forests, guardian fairies used to protect them. There were sometimes legions of dozens, and sometimes a few powerful beings, but that was only when it was a major forest.

Rojas’ fairy forest was just a tiny branch of the central fairy forest.

The number of resident fairies and spirits was small, and the size of the forest was barely around a thousand square meters.

But how could such a giant entity exist here?

As he gazed into the blue eyes of the wild, beast-like man, Buford felt a splitting pain in one side of his heart. A rush of energy surged and his heart beat frantically, both actions so violent it was as if it wanted to escape his body. 

In that moment, the man’s eyes gleamed with life.

“There is an energy flowing through you that shouldn’t be there. Same with the black robe boy behind you.” 

Throb.

Buford glared at him, gripping his squeezing heart. 

At that moment, a dazzling light flowed from the man’s whole body and an amount of power so tremendous that his legs unconsciously began to shake, was released. 

It was not the energy of an ordinary fairy. This was a tremendous force that no lower class creature dared to or can even exude. 

Buford had only encountered a similar situation once, when he was very young. This very energy that can only be felt by the highest-ranking creature of the Fairy race. 

The Fairy King.

That man must have been the Fairy King.

As soon as he saw the huge spear appear in the man’s hand, he had a feeling in his gut. 

‘Die,’ The king’s power seemed to scream. 

If he didn’t run away from here immediately, he would surely disappear right on this spot.