Kays Translations

Chapter 79: The Holy Dragon’s Egg

The floating egg drifted slowly towards me. I hadn’t imagined it.

“What am I supposed to do?” I asked.

“It’s coming to you, Big brother.”

“Catch it with both hands,” Chloe urged.

“Good luck, Julius,” Caro said.

While silently objecting to her unhelpful encouragement, I remembered the holy dragon from the game. Once grown, it served as a flying mount capable of travelling almost anywhere. It had been a paid item, so any player willing to spend money could obtain one. I had owned one myself, and in the game it wasn’t especially rare.

The egg stopped before me as though demanding to be accepted.

Did I truly have to take it? The girls merely watched with shining expectations.

I surrendered and received it with both hands. It had a definite weight, and something pulsed faintly within the shell.

“How does it feel?” Chloe asked.

“As though something is about to be born.”

“How do we hatch it?”

“Supplying mana may be enough.”

I nearly revealed too much. More importantly, the mana didn’t necessarily have to come from me. Chloe or Caro could hatch it and accept whatever burden followed.

“Then let us give it mana immediately,” Chloe said.

“Are you certain?” Caro asked. “We still don’t know what’s inside.”

Exactly. Perhaps that argument would make Chloe reconsider.

“Caro is right. What will you do if something dangerous hatches? We shouldn’t—”

‘Let me out… please let me out…’

The voice echoed directly inside my head.

All three girls screamed and clamped themselves around me with astonishing strength. I was going to be crushed.

The cry must have carried beyond the hidden chamber in some fashion, because the covert guard who had been shadowing us rushed in with lethal urgency.

“Your Highness! Are you unharmed? Ah…”

Chloe recovered first and stared at the newcomer.

“Who are you?”

The guard looked awkwardly towards me for assistance.

“We discovered this hidden passage and found the egg at its end,” I explained quietly. “Then its voice sounded inside our minds.”

The guard seemed to accept the explanation.

“That sorrowful voice came from the egg?” Chloe asked.

“An egg spoke?” Caro murmured.

Their confusion was reasonable. No one expected telepathy from an unhatched creature.

“What kind of egg is it, Big brother?”

“I have no idea.”

That wasn’t entirely honest.

“Let me see it,” Chloe said, peering at my hands.

She possessed Appraisal. If she identified it, the situation would become even more troublesome.

“This says Holy Dragon Egg. The legend was true—it really was hidden in the castle.”

“A holy dragon?” Caro asked.

“So it truly existed,” Rosalia breathed.

Caro apparently knew nothing of it, but the royal family clearly preserved a legend.

“Long ago, a holy dragon is said to have laid an egg within the castle before disappearing,” Chloe explained. “I thought it was merely a story.”

She looked thrilled. Rosalia’s eyes shone as well. No matter how they stared, I had no intention of taking the egg home.

“Then it belongs to the royal family. Here, Chloe.”

I tried to transfer it into her hands.

“It won’t come free.”

No matter how I tilted or turned my palms, the egg remained fixed to them. Was it cursed?

“Mana is flowing from your hands into the egg,” Caro said. “That may be why it’s attached.”

Of course—Caro could see mana. The drain I felt wasn’t imaginary.

“What should we do?” I asked Chloe.

“We must tell Mother. You—bring Her Majesty to the secure guest room at the end of the corridor.”

The hidden guard bowed and departed.

“We should move too,” Chloe said. “Hide the egg so no one sees it.”

I covered it as well as I could. If news of a holy dragon egg spread, the entire castle would erupt. Its discovery might be considered a historic event.

We hurried to a guest room designed so that conversations inside couldn’t be overheard.

“This should be safe,” Chloe said. “What now?”

“We should put it back,” I suggested.

“But it begged to be released,” Caro said. “There must be a reason.”

“I wish it would speak again,” Rosalia added.

All three stared solemnly at the egg resting against my palms.

Chloe’s Appraisal could identify its name, but apparently revealed none of the detailed information mine had shown.

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