11-1 Who Is This Little One?

One day, the children at the garden picked up a large egg.

They said it had fallen behind the Beast-Ear Garden.

This thing was huge too, a mottled one.

It was an oval shape about thirty centimeters long, and a truly splendid egg shape.

Well, it certainly was an egg.

That said, it had psychedelic colors in a combination of yellow, blue, and red that strongly stimulated one’s danger instincts.

You little squirts, how are you so calm carrying around such a huge egg?

“This is bad.”

At a single glance, my Seventh Sense started tingling.

“No!

Take it back and throw it away where it was before!”

“No wayyy—”

“Nooo—”

“I picked it uppp—”

“I am absolutely raising it.”

“I wonder if it is tasty.”

Hey, you, the last one.

If this were a mushroom, those colors would make it one-shot out.

It could not be helped.

Just when I thought I would have to handle this by force.

“Pass!”

Those little brats, they threw it.

That huge egg.

And then the children ran off like it was rugby.

Passing it around like a ball too.

Dangerous, dangerous.

So I gave up on chasing after them by force.

That egg was definitely after my magic power~.

Whether it was the parent, or the thing itself.

I reconsidered things a little too.

It would be a problem if it hatched into something strange somewhere without my knowing.

It might already have collected my naturally emitted magical power.

After that live video relay incident with the spirits, my amount of magical power had gone up quite a bit too.

I gave up and decided to let it stay in the garden.

And I also decided who would be in charge of the living creature.

If what hatched turned out to be something dangerous, then no matter how much the children cried or screamed, I was prepared to kill it on the spot without hesitation.

There absolutely must not be any chance of something going wrong.

For the time being, I would make sure not to take my eyes off it.

Anyway, with the Autumn Fluffy Sports Day going on right now, I was constantly at the garden myself because I was busy with the preparations.

Which was why I was completely off my guard.

The same old middle-aged man as ever.

A long time ago, that led to an entire village being burned down, did it not?

“““Principal-teacheeer—”””

At the adorable children calling out to me, my cheeks loosened before I knew it, even though I had been working.

“Oh, what is it?”

“The egg is starting to crackkk—”

I spat spectacularly.

Then I rushed in a panic to the egg hut!

“Crack-crack-crack-crack-craaack.”

A giant egg that looked ready to hatch at any moment, complete with some pretty alarming sound effects (BGM).

Even when I appraised it, I still had absolutely no idea what kind of egg it was.

Was the egg itself under concealment?

Or perhaps it was just something extremely special.

The egg had been placed very carefully atop neatly spread straw, and the children were sitting around it in a circle, watching.

The children looked incredibly excited.

Their eyes were all sparkling, and their ears and tails were all twitching~.

Depending on what happened, I might have to dispose of the creature that came out, so for me this was weighing heavily on my mind.

“Craack-craaack-craaaack.”

The sound gradually grew more dramatic.

In case something happened, I used my smartphone to summon Mari and Ars.

As always, the smartphone drew a lot of attention.

This thing is still too soon for you lot.

Even in Japan, at your age, only kids whose parents took away their smartphones because they were messing around playing games would have one, right?

Both of them came running, but it looked like it would still take a little more time before it was bor…

“Bfwhump.”

What?

What just happened?

I heard a strange sound just now.

And then I flailed both my hands around in front of me.

I-I cannot see!

“Kyuuuu—”

Apparently, the thing that hatched had jumped out of the egg and stuck itself to my face.

And then, the very next moment, our eyes accidentally met properly at point-blank range.

(Ah, this is bad.)

Damn it, it seemed I had been imprinted on.

And since it had started slipping down, it gripped the flesh of my cheeks in two places tightly with its front legs near the sides of my nostrils, and with its hind legs it gripped the flesh of my jaw in two places right below the corners of my lips with all its might so it would not fall.

It might have been desperately trying not to fall off, but it was so unpleasant there were no words for it.

But I could tell the children had completely locked on to the thing.

It could not be helped.

I gently fluffed and petted it as though cherishing it, and tried sending a little magical power into it.

Then the strength suddenly left its body, and it dropped into my palm, where I caught it gently.

I tried looking at it from above and below, but I still could not tell what kind of creature it was.

I tilted my head, but made sure to properly photograph it with the recording pod for the record.

At first glance it looked like some kind of cute chick-like… dragon?

But if it were a dragon, then even as a hatchling it should be more obviously recognizable as a dragon.

It had a different kind of mysterious cuteness from that.

Well, for the time being, it did not seem like a dangerous creature, so maybe it would be fine to leave it here in the Beast-Ear Garden.

So that being the case, I made a declaration to everyone.

“At first, only look, okay. Do not touch. It is a newborn baby.”

““““Ehhh. It is so unfair that only Principal-teacher gets tooo—””””

A chorus of protest rose up, but this was discipline.

“It is still a baby, so nooo. You are all big brothers and big sisters now, so be patient.”

“Whoa, I am a big brotherrr—”

“I am a big sisteeer—”

Ohh, it seemed that trick still worked.

As I gently laid it down on the straw bed to sleep and softly stroked its head so it would feel safe, it squeezed its closed eyes even tighter.

The children, too, were staring fixedly at how cute it looked.

Hm?

That was a name I had never heard before.

“Mari, have you ever heard of something called a Rainbow Fals?”

She looked a little thoughtful too, but tilted her head.

“Sorry. Nothing comes to mind. And besides, I spent such a long time as a shut-in in the labyrinth.”

That was true.

Just like me—no, even more so—she had a shut-in history so overwhelmingly long that comparing it at all was ridiculous.

“How about you, Ars?”

“Sorry. Nothing comes to mind for me either.”

So it was not on the list of things known even to an S-rank adventurer.

“I am going to check around with people who might know, so watch that thing for a bit. If anything happens, contact me.”

I immediately teleported to the Royal Capital Adventurers’ Guild, to Guildmaster Armon.

Ever since the Ars incident, I had made sure to check whether there was anyone else around before going.

“Heya.”

“Ohh, it is you…”

You looked pretty exhausted.

There, Heal.

If you use this skillfully, it has a refreshing effect.

“How about some tea? It is not good to overdo it too much.”

I made coffee for the three of us and brought out some chocolate.

“Give your brain some sugar.”

“Ah, thanks. So then, what do you need today?”

Armon asked while nibbling on the chocolate.

“Do you know anything called a Rainbow Fals?”

“No, I have never heard that name. Legg.”

The sub-guildmaster, who had been sorting documents, took a tea break too.

This person unexpectedly had a sweet tooth as well.

And yet he could drink that revolting medicine made back at home without a problem.

“As far as the records we have seen so far go, it is not a name I have heard before.”

I showed them the video materials, but they seemed to have no idea.

Well, it was still just a baby.

Even with mammal babies on Earth, there are often times when you cannot tell the species.

Sometimes you think you picked up and raised a puppy, only for it to turn out to be a fox or a bear.

Though once it grows a bit, you can tell right away that it is not a dog.

“It seems like it can use magical power as food. After that incident the other day, all the spirits around the world found out that my magical power is absurd. I cannot shake the feeling that some weird case has been foisted onto me.”

“Hahahaha. You are being relied on, Principal-teacher.”

“Well, the children are really happy, so that is fine. For now, I guess it can do its best as the mascot of the Beast-Ear Garden.”