Birth In The Carriage

“She’s giving birth?! Is she okay?!”

“My, thank you for your concern.”

At my frantic shouting, the woman lowered her head politely and replied with a carefree tone.

As she did, her hood slipped off, revealing her face.

Breathtakingly bewitching.

That was the descriptor that flashed instantly through my mind.

Her large eyes, with their downturned corners, were turned toward me, seemingly moist with emotion. She had a straight, high bridge to her nose and thick lips reminiscent of ripe strawberries. Her straight red hair reached down to her waist, and her bangs were neatly trimmed to reveal a wide forehead.

And highlighting all these features perfectly was her elegant, chocolate-colored skin.

Seeing that skin tone, rare in these parts, I finally realized the woman before me was a Mazin (Demi-human).

The Dunkelheit Magical Empire rules the Dragon-Tail Highlands to the east of Dragon-Skeleton Isle. Its inhabitants, the Mazin, are a race born with high magical power and endowed with the divine protection of Darkness.

There are a lot of ominous words associated with them, like “Empire” or “Protection of Darkness,” but they aren’t people you need to be on guard against. They don’t blatantly look down on other races or preach expansionism; rather, they are quite tolerant and active in accepting immigrants.

Well, as far as the stories go, anyway.

The woman furrowed her short, oval eyebrows slightly and tilted her head as she gazed at me. That simple, casual gesture was enough to make me nearly choke on my own spit.

“I—I understand! I’ll stop the carriage right away. Hang in there!”

At Hans’s panicked voice and the sudden halt of the cart, I snapped back to my senses. Now was not the time to be distracted by beauty.

“I need to boil water, right? Boiling water and warm water… both are in my recipes. For disinfection, should work. Then I need clean cloth and—”

“Um…?”

“You shouldn’t move too much. Uh, has your water broken yet?”

As I mobilized every scrap of half-remembered knowledge I had, the woman continued to speak with her head tilted.

“Would you mind lending me a bit of assistance?”

“Of course. Just tell me what to do.”

Feeling uneasy about the somewhat disjointed tempo of the conversation, I hurried over to her.

Not a single bead of sweat appeared on her refined face, and her breathing seemed perfectly normal. If anything, her cheeks were just slightly flushed. Simply put, there wasn’t a hint of the urgency one expects before childbirth.

As if noticing my suspicious expression, the woman let a faint smile play on the corners of her lips. Then, she suddenly pulled open the front of her robe.

“Thank you. In that case—”

Voluptuous twin peaks pushing against thin fabric.

The lush, rich curves of her hips.

Two slender, supple legs.

They were proportions so perfect any man’s eyes would be glued to them. However, my gaze was focused on a single point.

The woman’s lower abdomen.

There was no swelling there as there should be on a pregnant woman; instead, what appeared was a large, lustrous, white roundness.

Recognizing that spherical shape, I let a question slip out.

“…A—An egg?”

“Oh, how rare! So it was a monster egg. And I’ve never seen one that large before.”

At Hans’s shout as he leaned out from the driver’s seat, I realized the true identity of what I was looking at.

Bundled to the woman’s abdomen with a sarashi wrap was a giant egg, easily a chest-full in size.

In this world, “monsters” refer to creatures that have transformed due to a buildup of large amounts of mana in their bodies. They are sturdier and more ferocious than normal organisms, with a habit of wandering in search of the mana possessed by other creatures and attacking indiscriminately.

They were the beings called “monsters” in the game, but in this realized world, they don’t actually appear that frequently. Generally, they only manifest near dangerous locations known as “mana pools.” I suppose if vicious monsters spawned one after another like they did in the game, humanity wouldn’t have been able to prosper this much.

Regaining my composure, I looked again at the monster egg the woman held.

Monsters will attack any human they see, but if a human pours mana into the egg to hatch it, the creature will bond with that person and become a loyal servant known as a “familiar.” People who control such monsters are called Monster Tamers, a profession perfectly suited for the Mazin, who master Dark-attribute magic.

“I see, so you’re a Monster Tamer. So, what do I need to do?”

“Could you please touch this child and pour your mana into them? Mine alone doesn’t seem like it will be enough.”

As instructed, I touched the egg pressed against her stomach. The surface was smooth and slightly warm. If I recalled correctly, the setting was that if you fill the inside of the shell with human mana, the resulting monster loses its ferocity.

Of course, if the shell breaks before that process is complete, it’s a failure. And I could feel that there was still quite a lot of empty space inside the egg.

“Alright, I’m pouring.”

“Yes, as much as you can, please.”

Since I hadn’t performed any transmutations today, I had plenty of mana to spare. Besides, with my specialty, Magic Recovery, I could automatically recover nearly half of it in half a day. There would be no harm in using it up here.

Without holding back, I began to channel my mana into the egg.

“My, oh my?”

The surprised face of a beautiful woman is quite a sight. Emboldened, I sent out even more mana in succession. In an instant, the inside of the shell was filled with the mana I had released—and then.

“Um, wait a moment—”

“Hm?”

In the next instant, countless cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the egg. A split second later, the shell fragments scattered through the air in a flashy spray. Along with them, two black masses burst out from within.

They rolled vigorously across the floor of the cart, hit a small barrel that had been set aside, bounced off, and headed straight for me. Before I had time to dodge, impacts hit my chest and stomach. Unable to withstand the force, I was pushed right over onto the floor.

“Wh—What the?!”

Hurriedly looking down, I locked eyes with the masses clinging to my chest and belly.

They were about the size of three-year-old children. They looked human, with the same number of limbs. Their facial features were those of adorable children. However, their entire bodies, excluding their faces, were covered without a gap in black fur and feathers.

To put it simply: they looked like toddlers in mascot costumes.

The child covered in fluffy fur stared back at me, their eyes sparkling. Then, they shouted out energetically.

“Master!”

“It talked?! Hey, don’t get so close!”

The furry child crawled up my chest, closing the distance in an instant. As I instinctively reached out to push them back, the other child—the one wrapped in soft feathers—suddenly took a bite out of my sleeve. They immediately began to munch on it.

“Koo!”

“Hey, don’t eat that!”

Entangled by the newborn monster children, I managed to sit up. My eyes met those of the beautiful woman, who was staring at us intently. After a moment of silence, she muttered in surprise, resting a hand on her chin.

“Oh, so they were twins. No wonder I thought they felt heavy.”

“Hey, that shouldn’t be your main concern right now!”

When I blurted out the retort, the woman tilted her head again in that mysterious way. At a loss, I turned to the owner of the carriage, who seemed like the most knowledgeable person present, for help.

“Hey, Hans. Are these monsters?”

“Hmm. Since they were born from an egg, it’s certain they aren’t human.”

“Do monsters… talk?”

In the game, I don’t recall them even having vocalizations. In this realized world, I’d seen a few used for labor in the Capital, but they seemed like livestock, no different from cows or horses.

“I have heard that the Angel and Demon races can understand human speech and communicate, but…”

“Angels? They have feathers, but that seems like a stretch. And these two don’t exactly give off a ‘demon’ vibe.”

The hands of the monster child biting my sleeve were covered in long feathers and looked almost like wings. However, if we were talking about “Angels,” the Winged race—who have wings on their backs—would be much closer. The other one had large beast ears on its head, looking more like a Beastman than a demon.

“They certainly have a mysterious appearance. Hmmm, I apologize for not being able to help. I have never heard of such rare monsters in all my travels.”

It seemed even the well-traveled Hans was stumped. I had raised every monster that could be recruited in Dra-Chro 2 to their level caps, but I didn’t recognize these strange creatures either.

“That aside—”

“Yes?”

“They are quite adorable, aren’t they? They seem to have taken quite a liking to you, Sir Nino.”

As Hans smiled warmly at the sight, I could only give a wry laugh in response.

The beast-child had been burying its face in the crook of my neck for a while now, sniffing intently. Every time its large, triangular ears twitched, they tickled my chin. The bird-child, who had been biting my sleeve, seemed to have fallen asleep; it was letting out soft snores while drooling slightly on my arm.

Both were jet black, but looking closely, there were purple hairs and feathers mixed in, forming beautiful striped patterns in places. Their facial features were as refined as a doll’s, right down to their cute, plump cheeks.

Exhaling softly, I voiced my other question.

“Hey, why did these two come to me? You’re the one who hatched the egg.”

The woman, who had been watching my interaction with the monster-kids with a smile, raised her round eyebrows elegantly and answered.

“That is because your mana surpassed the amount I had poured in. I am truly impressed.”

“…I see. I don’t think an apology makes up for it, but I’ve done something regrettable.”

Though I hadn’t known how to moderate it, the result of showing off my massive mana was this mess. I really shouldn’t have let my “omnipotence” get to my head.

“No, please do not worry about it. I was the one who asked for your help.”

“If you say so, it helps. So, what should I do with them?”

“Yes. They are inexperienced, but I hope you will take good care of them.”

“Huh?”

“Are you also heading to the City of Licht?”

“Wait, what?”

“Licht” is the formal name for the Royal Capital. As the conversation veered off track again, I hurriedly tried to correct it.

“Wait, first off, the Capital is in the opposite direction.”

“Oh, have we already passed it? I was certain I just had to head west.”

“And what do you mean by ‘take good care of them’? You’re leaving these children with me?”

“To meet even though we took different paths… I feel a very strong sense of destiny with you, Sir.”

Suddenly, several pieces of information clicked together in my mind.

The way she calls me “Sir.” Being naive to the world and having an extreme lack of a sense of direction. And the clincher—the event of hatching a monster egg hidden under her clothes.

Everything matched.

However, her appearance was far too different from my memory. I couldn’t help but let a question slip out.

“Are you… Paula, by any chance?”

“My, how do you know my name?”

While surprised, the beauty before me let her eyes sparkle like red roses and wore a bewitching smile.