Ch. 88 - What Kind of Dragon

[*Damn that Kuru, he knew I'd been coveting its 'ancestor' for a long time, didn't he? How dare he hide something this momentous from me?*

*If I hadn't been returning from my bath and spotted it kowtowing frantically to that stone egg like some kind of priest, I never would have imagined that one day this cowardly kobold would be more devout than a drunk Father Lynn!*

*Ever seen a chicken pecking at grain? Pretty much exactly like that.*

*And it only snuck out to worship at night—I almost missed it entirely.*

*So I punished it severely—*

*Like reading? Like studying, do you?*

*Watch me confiscate your spellbook and cure you of that book addiction!*

*It quickly begged for mercy and shared everything about that egg with me...*]

"So you're saying that five days ago, this stone had already started showing signs of activity—but you were afraid I'd take it away and replace you, so you never dared tell me?"

Looking at the kobold kneeling before him, tears in the corners of its eyes, gazing pitifully at the confiscated deluxe spellbook in his hands, Tang Qi snorted coldly.

"What would I steal your right to serve your ancestor when I have nothing better to do? The reason I'm angry is that you're way too guarded against our team, with absolutely no trust whatsoever!"

Kuru hurriedly wiped away its tears, trying to prove itself by shaking its head:

"Kuru no have!

Trust, team!

Tang Qi, best!"

"Good that you understand that."

Tang Qi muttered,

"After all, I might end up becoming your grand-ancestor someday. Assuming it really is a female dragon, that is..."

"Rua?"

"Ahem, anyway, punishment is unavoidable. I'm confiscating Starshine's spellbook too. Let's see if you dare do this again."

With that, Tang Qi tossed the spellbook into his dimensional bag.

It wasn't that he was forcibly curing Kuru of its reading addiction.

Rather, this kobold was simply too fond of studying—it would even research spell formulas while eating.

But this was an extremely mentally exhausting behavior in itself.

Over twenty days of day and night study had left it completely haggard, its brownish-red scales turned dull and dark, its eyes nearly devoid of luster.

This was absolutely not a normal learning process. Tang Qi had no choice but to intervene manually.

The kobold was reluctant, immediately drooping its ears with its slender tail dragging powerlessly on the ground.

Tang Qi couldn't be bothered with all that. He simply turned his gaze to the 'stone' that Kuru had moved under the moonlight for illumination—

Honestly, it was utterly plain and unremarkable.

Not particularly large, about the size that the diminutive Kuru could fully embrace.

Though oval and smooth, its texture appeared rough.

The irregular patterns looked more like depressions formed after being eroded by moisture in stone caves.

If it weren't genuinely trembling under the bright moonlight, Tang Qi would have suspected that Kuru had studied books too rigidly and developed some strange delusion that couldn't distinguish reality.

"So who knows what we should do after a dragon egg hatches? Welcome it, feed it, or get diapers ready?"

Tang Qi looked at Stonecrusher and Dawn beside him.

"You've lived long enough—have you seen any similar records? Like *Postpartum Care for Mother Dragons*?"

"I must correct one thing, my lord."

Dawn's plate armor clanged as she raised her hand, only to meet Tang Qi's extremely scrutinizing gaze and quickly amended,

"I—I haven't lived long, I've just been dead long."

In life, she had only been a legendary human, and even died young—living only half a lifetime.

Tang Qi asked unwillingly:

"The Golden Kingdom was so glorious—there couldn't be any lack of records about dragons, could there?"

"Perhaps there were, but I definitely never saw them."

Dawn answered just as definitively.

"Otherwise, it would be an unforgettable highlight in my memory."

Tang Qi could only sigh and look at Stonecrusher:

"What about you?"

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Didn't you say that because it 'could make tall people lower their heads,' that cave was more likely dwarven handiwork?

Since it's a dwarven mine, you must know something, right?"

Stonecrusher crossed his arms and shook his head:

"I know it's a dwarven mine."

"..."

"Hey, don't look at me like that!

If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have even been able to tell this was a dragon egg!

The biggest one of these things I've ever seen in my life was from a northern giant—and that was only the size of a bowl."

"So giants are oviparous creatures?"

"Viviparous."

"Then what did you see—

Wait!? More than its size, I'm more curious how you saw it?"

"I just saw it, all right!"

"Was it really as big as your head?"

"Fuck off!"

Stonecrusher snorted and refused to answer him.

He couldn't very well say that back when Ironforge was in conflict with giants, he'd looked up at their crotches from ground level, could he?

Who knows how that foul-mouthed bastard would mock him for that!

"According to our route, we should reach Longgold City by the day after tomorrow at the latest.

But if we let a potential dragon descendant be born in such a crowded place with so many prying eyes, that's probably not a wise choice..."

Before him was some unknown species that hadn't even hatched yet, and considering that dragons in this world had long since vanished...

This unexpected incident forced Tang Qi to change his upcoming plans.

"Why don't we just sell it?"

Stonecrusher suggested.

"'A treasure you can't keep is a curse'—if someone really sets their sights on it, even if we can hold onto it, we'll be pissing ourselves!"

"You'd be right, if it weren't a dragon."

"Is a dragon really that important to you?"

"You don't understand."

Tang Qi shook his head.

"If I can bring a dragon back to the academy, those bards would probably be kissing my feet just for a glimpse of it."

"How can you guarantee that after it hatches, it won't beat us so badly that we're the ones kissing *its* feet?"

"We don't need to fear a wyrmling, do we?"

"Damn it, where do you get such confidence—that's a legendary creature!"

"We also have a legendary paladin, legendary poet, and legendary warrior, don't we?"

Stonecrusher blinked and coughed twice, straightening his back:

"When you put it that way, I suppose there's no problem."

Dawn also gripped the broken sword at her waist, seeming to look forward to the challenge ahead.

Only Kuru wore a mournful expression, feeling disrespected.

"But we can't just stay in the forest waiting for it to hatch, can we? What if it takes another year or two before it's born?"

"Wait a moment, no rush."

Tang Qi stroked his chin, analyzing based on available information.

"Long ago, Kuru heard its call. This means most of the incubation period has actually already passed in the kobold caves.

And five days ago, it already showed signs of activity, and now the trembling is getting more and more intense...

Maybe it's about to hatch right now?"

"Crack—"

As Tang Qi muttered to himself, a crisp, delicate sound simultaneously burst in all their ears.

They quickly looked toward the source of the sound, only to see a small crack suddenly spider across the surface of the 'stone' shrouded in moonlight.

Stonecrusher slapped Tang Qi's ass hard:

"Damn you, is that foul mouth of yours really plucked from a crow!?"

"I'll say it again—please don't treat reasonable analysis as a jinx, okay!"

Tang Qi quickly grabbed the lute from his back to be ready to sing at a moment's notice if anything unexpected happened.

Dawn and Stonecrusher simultaneously drew their weapons in alert.

Only Kuru suddenly knelt on the ground, bobbing its head like pecking grain.

Tang Qi thought for a moment, then slammed his lute hard against the back of its head.

"Bang!"

"Rua!?"

The kobold's eyes went wide.

*Tang Qi, cunning!*

*Team, should, trust!*

*Why, preemptive, hateful...*

After one pained cry, the kobold fell face-first to the ground.

"Don't blame me, Kuru."

Considering the connection between kobolds and dragons, if they ran into any conflict, it might even switch sides.

Tang Qi could only minimize the risk first:

"It's because I trust you that I'm doing this."

At the same time, he held his breath observing that crack, quietly waiting for the 'stone's' next move.

"Buzz buzz, buzz buzz—"

The 'stone' suddenly began to tremble.

But unexpectedly, it seemed to only tremble.

The life housed within the stone must be extremely weak. After crashing out a tiny fissure, it appeared to have lost the strength to break free.

Now it could only sway back and forth inside the shell, making the 'stone' seem to rock left and right.

After wobbling back and forth like a tumbler toy several times, it returned to stillness.

Tang Qi guessed the life inside was trying to rest and regroup.

Sure enough, before long it started shaking again.

Then stopped once more.

Several attempts like this gave the 'stone's' trembling a rhythmic quality.

But looking carefully, that crack remained as it was, without even a single fragment falling off.

"How about... we help it?"

Stonecrusher was getting impatient.

"If we let the little thing inside keep struggling, it could take weeks!"

He moved to smash the egg, but Dawn grabbed the iron bull horn on his helmet:

"Please don't do that."

Stonecrusher straightened his helmet and looked back at Dawn, extremely displeased.

He really did prefer Kuru more.

That way people could only grab his shoulder.

Dawn calmly explained:

"When I first embarked on my glorious journey, while subjugating a man-eating griffin at a mountain peak, I paid special attention to their survival habits—

Its offspring once experienced what's happening before us now—too weak to break free from its shell.

Out of compassion, I tried to help it escape the shell's constraints so it could breathe more easily.

But the result was that within just half an hour, it lost its life—

The hatching process is a survival instinct bestowed by nature. They adapt to their environment through struggle and effort, which promotes blood circulation and organ development.

Arbitrarily interfering with the birth of life will only result in irreversible damage."

"Damn, that old bastard Mark Twain said something similar..."

Stonecrusher scratched his head, but his brain had trouble holding knowledge beyond ale and construction.

"Incidentally, I ultimately succeeded in subjugating that griffin, bringing peace to the village below the valley."

"..."

Stonecrusher looked up at the black mist faintly emanating from her iron helmet, which seemed to indicate a hint of pride.

But—

"I didn't ask you, you know?"

Stonecrusher blinked, unable to hold back.

The billowing black mist exploded with a "bang," sending her helmet flying into the sky.

Dawn grew furious.

Tang Qi quickly caught her helmet and placed it back on her 'head' that contained nothing, comforting her:

"To be able to single-handedly subjugate a griffin at the beginning of your adventures—Dawn, you really shouldn't be underestimated."

The black mist visibly calmed down.

Tang Qi couldn't help but kick the dwarf—

Fortunately, she only needed praise to be appeased.

Otherwise, before they even reached Longgold City's gates, internal conflict within the team would erupt, and he really didn't want to see such a messy scene.

Stonecrusher yawned and started walking back toward camp:

"Then you all stay here waiting for it to be born. In the worst case, I'll escort Catherine into the city tomorrow. I'm dying of exhaustion!"

"Wait—I have an idea."

Tang Qi grabbed Stonecrusher, looking at the rhythmically swaying 'stone egg,' and suddenly said,

"Since we can't arbitrarily interfere with it, why can't we try to help it muster its own strength?"

"What do you want to do?"

Stonecrusher quickly realized his question was unnecessary.

Seeing Tang Qi strum a chord made him recall those infuriating curses from before, and his heart began praying for the little life inside the shell.

But unexpectedly, the music suddenly became urgent, and Tang Qi's singing became passionate and stirring:

"Stand up, stand up!

I know you feel weary and helpless,

Believe the power flowing through your bloodline."

Damn! This foul-mouthed bastard really is deliberately cursing me, isn't he?

How come when he switches targets, his mouth isn't as poisonous?

The intense strings and song seemed to penetrate that narrow crack, driving the 'stone's' shaking to become even more violent—

[Bardic Inspiration] didn't use magic to amplify the target's strength.

Rather, it released their original potential through musical encouragement.

Since it was all their own power, it should naturally help them better sense this 'survival instinct'...

"It seems to be working?"

Stonecrusher exclaimed,

"But it's not enough!"

Tang Qi continued singing without hesitation:

"Stand up, stand up!

Leave behind your narrow confines,

You will welcome a stage that's yours alone!"

"Eeeee—"

An ethereal, low moan, like being in a canyon with trembling echoes, rang in the ears of all three.

The 'stone' before them cracked even more severely, the originally delicate fissure growing wildly like roots penetrating soil due to the violent trembling.

Through the cracks, a faint purple-violet glow could be seen...

"Be on guard!"

Tang Qi immediately ordered, though his mind was pondering the meaning of this light—

Given Kuru's brownish-red skin, Tang Qi had initially thought the dragon egg might house a red dragon that loved molten rock and flames.

But considering how cold the cave where it existed was, it could also be a more sacred silver dragon, or a frigid white dragon...

After all, kobold bloodlines were diluted—its skin color couldn't represent its ancestral scales.

But all of this shattered in the face of that purple-violet glow.

He couldn't sense the specific aura, only felt this purple shade was mysterious and eerie, like a deep vortex that would draw in his eyes, his soul...

"Damn, this is ominous. It couldn't be some kind of Aberration, could it?

I've never heard of any Aberration that could mimic dragon majesty and was also oviparous..."

"Crack—"

That light seemed to surge against the cracks, causing the shell to suddenly shatter amid low roars and shaking!

From the broken gap at the tip, a magnificent purple lizard raised its noble and elegant head.

Tang Qi cried out in surprise:

"It's an amethyst dragon?"

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