The Baby Isn’t Yours

Anxiety surged. It even felt as if the egg nestled in her arms was trembling slightly.

The warm temperature seemed to drop even further.

“What was that just now?”

The lord’s people gave Hemmie suspicious looks.

Hemmie, flustered, shook her head, but their gazes didn’t waver.

‘What should we do, Allen?’

Allen was also bewildered. It was clearly a spark coming from the egg.

The egg refused to stay here.

“Heheh… I’m fine,” said the lord, who had fainted earlier, as he rose with a paler complexion.

Waving his hands as if to reassure everyone, he seemed a bit disoriented, but otherwise fine.

Hemmie carefully observed the lord’s complexion, but there didn’t seem to be any strange signs.

‘Then… what was that ominous shadow?’

At that moment, Hemmie, who was tilting her head, met the lord’s gaze. For a moment, his aged eyes held something different.

Hemmie noticed the pupils in his eyes, which were closer to blue, were vertically slit, almost like a snake.

She involuntarily gasped and opened her mouth, and then, the lord’s gaze returned to normal.

He still had a pleasant smile on his face, but his voice was slightly hoarse.

“It seems the egg doesn’t want to stay here quietly. In that case…”

The lord’s pupils narrowed as he gazed steadily at Hemmie and Allen.

“How about you two stay at the castle and guard the egg until the magicians arrive?”

‘Uh… Miss, you were wrong.’

Hemmie swallowed nervously.

* * *

‘Damn it. Damn it, you guys.’

Derek, who had arrived breathless in front of the massive mansion, sat down and buried his head in his hands.

He was gnashing his teeth and berating himself for voluntarily walking into this terrifying place.

‘Ah, my vacation!’

With the increased workload lately, Derek finally used the accumulated vacation he had saved for three years.

It was a 40-day vacation.

He chose a remote vacation destination far from the capital, and he used an expensive transportation portal to reach Barco, a resort island located at the southeastern tip of the Empire. It took more than 15 days to travel to and from the island.

The island was so remote that it would have taken another week of travel had it not been the mobile portal that this resort island had heavily invested in.

The island was breathtakingly beautiful even from a distance. Exotic birds, beautiful people, and moments that seemed to pass slowly like a dream.

…Just four days of this happiness, when this morning-

-Derek! Derek! We have some incredible news!

A message came from his colleagues at the Mage Tower. He shouldn’t have picked it up… 

No, he had gotten a call through the emergency contact line. So he couldn’t just ignore it. Besides…

-An alive dragon egg has been found!

As soon as Derek heard this astonishing news, he froze.

The fact that a dragon egg had been discovered was already remarkable, but what shocked him further was that it was a mature one, ready to hatch immediately.

‘Then I, I should head back right away! What’s a vacation compared to a dragon egg?’

Excited and shouting, Derek had risen from his sunbed.

-No, Derek! The dragon egg isn’t in the tower right now. So, uh, I don’t want to give this opportunity to you, but it’s better to save the egg.

Carlo, who was on the other side of the communication line, said with a deep sigh. His tone sounded exaggerated but Derek, who had been overly-excited at the time, went crazy and didn’t notice the oddity. 

“Where is it?”

-No, Derek! The dragon egg has been found, but it’s not here in Mage Tower! So, even though I hate to do this, you should head to the location where it was found. It seems the spot isn’t too far from your vacation spot.

‘Oh, my goodness!’

He’d even be the first to see the egg! 

He was so carried away that he didn’t properly listen to Carlo’s next words, which burst out like rapid fire. 

-Oh, it seems that we need more than just you. You should go with some other magicians. Do you know Arno? Go to the magic department in that area and pick up some magicians. Why? Are there any skilled magicians there? Oh, oh… it just so happens that a magician is passing through the area. Do you know them? Oh, you’ll find out when you get there! Anyway, hurry, the egg is dying!

Derek, driven by the sense of urgency in Carlo’s voice, quickly gathered his belongings and teleported to Arno.

A series of long-distance teleportations made his head ache, but that didn’t deter him from hurrying to Arno’s magic branch with thoughts of the hatchling dying looming over him. 

“Deputy Derek, why are you here all of a sudden? Ah, I see, you’ve come to find the Minister, haven’t you? The Minister is currently residing in the temporary mansion. I’ll guide you!”

…Why does he keep mentioning a Minister?

Puzzled, Derek was led to Simon’s temporary mansion before he could even assess the situation.

And for a few seconds, he stood frozen at the door, rolling his eyes.

Derek, now aware of the situation, sat down where he was and cursed his colleagues.

‘If you had told me that the magician I would be going with was Simon, I wouldn’t have given up my vacation and come here!’

…Probably not. He would have come even if he’d known. After all, it was a dragon egg they were talking about.

“Ha. It’s… fine. Better this way. If I go with Simon, I won’t have to worry about the dragon hatching. It’s better this way. By the way, do you know? The newly hatched hatchling might receive an ‘imprint’ as well.”

Once in a lifetime. It was said that a dragon bonds with its most trusted individual through a ‘imprint.’

Even if they’re apart, they would know each other’s well-being and could share vitality and magic, known as ‘soul imprinting.’

Most of the time, it was known that dragons imprinted during infancy, often with their mother. Sometimes, a dragon wouldn’t imprint until they mature.

Derek tried to calm his racing heart.

But could that ever happen?

Derek thought as he clenched his fists.

‘Such an opportunity won’t come again! I must use my magic to make it hatch, and it will follow me like its mother! I may have conceded the title of the youngest Archmage, but I’ll definitely become the first Dragon Mage!’

Suddenly, filled with determination, he rushed to the door, eager to open it and head inside.

At that moment, the door creaked open.

Bang!

Derek collided face-first with the opened door and fell back, crying out in pain.

“Ouch!”

‘Too painful! Uhh!’

While clutching his forehead and crying out in pain, a slender shadow leaned over him.

A guy wearing a loose shirt that fluttered in the breeze, with black leather half-gloves. He had a strange look on his face as he leaned against the door, pocketing his gloved hands in his pants.

“What are you doing there?”

As if deeming it pitiful, the man’s voice ranged.

Derek, still in pain, answered.

“I just fell down, Simon.”

“I didn’t ask that, Derek.”

Simon shook his head, and a small dog with a transparent body and a snake no larger than a palm came out and rested on Simon’s shoulder.

There was even a tiny bird made of water droplets sitting on Simon’s hair.

“Huh? Are they…!”

Derek, recognizing the spirits, had forgotten his headache and opened his eyes wide.

“Hey, how are the spirits here?”

“Because they’ve made a contract with me.”

As if bored, the little dog Iru and the fire snake Fuego, both with transparent bodies, slid down from Simon’s shoulders and hands to approach Derek.

-Arf?-

Iru, with his short tail, gave Derek a puzzled look and then breathed on Derek’s red forehead. The gentle breeze felt like a loving breath on his wound.

Simon, who had been watching this without much interest, extended his hand towards Derek, who was still sitting on the ground.

Derek took Simon’s outstretched hand and stood up.

“Do you know how to control spirits? Since when?”

At Derek’s surprise, Simon replied indifferently:

“Let me think… About a month or two ago?”

‘Wait, so you can do spirit magic in just a month or two?’

Derek spaced out in his surprise. Not really caring about Derek’s reaction, Simon walked past him, leaving Derek to stare blankly at Simon’s back.

It was only after seeing Iru, who had been playing on Derek’s head, chase after Simon that he too followed after him. 

“Where are you going?”

“To retrieve the dragon egg, aren’t you?”

“Yes, you’re right. That’s why I’m going. Yes, yes, I am. But… you’re not taking any of our Mage Tower people with you?”

“It’s annoying.”

Well, if a lot of people went, there would be nothing for them to do anyways. In addition, a small number of people was advantageous in reducing the travel time. No matter how close it was, it was still more than 500km away.

Soon the two arrived at the teleportation spot.

It was possible to travel using their own magic, but it was better to use magic branch’s facilities to save mana. It was better to conserve their mana to supply the dragon egg.

“Go get the egg today, and you can go back to the Mage Tower tomorrow.”

“…What?”

“I still have work to do.”

For the past eight months, Simon had been conducting investigations outside.

The Mage Tower occasionally sent him the corpses of chimeras or fairies for study, and overall Mage Tower duties were being carried out by the vice-presidents.

Though the details weren’t known, Derek was convinced that Simon’s investigation had something to do with the disappearance of General Kalia.

It had been eight months since she declared her temporary retirement and disappeared.

In the first three months, Derek hadn’t even dared to look at Simon’s face.

Simon had become a madman, trapped by his own insanity. The Mage Tower was like a demonic fortress at the time.

Of course, Simon didn’t go around tormenting people, but meeting his overflowing life force, coldness, and those crazed eyes head-on was quite difficult.

‘…I hope he’ll be back as soon as possible.’