"H-hey. I"ve still haven"t accepted it, though."
"Well, makes sense. You still don"t know anything about dragons. And if you don"t know, then would you listen to the words of me who knows about them?"
Even if you say that, it would be nice if you explained how the current situation came about.
"…I got it, but just why do I have to undress?"
You just said you won"t make me feed them!!!
"E-err, Kunpei-san. Please excuse me."
Aoinoun"s voice came from behind me.
"Y-yeah."
A cold sensation ran along my back.
However, it quickly became warm, then smooth and somehow elastic. Well, it"s actually the feeling of Aoinoun"s bare skin.
"S-so why is it necessary to sit with our naked back touching again?"
"Hey, can you be quiet for a while? Please let me be quietly overcome with deep emotions during the first breast-feeding at least."
W-what are you making me do?!
My heartbeat is already not normal. Hey, it isn"t good to make a boy my age do such stuff. My heart"s been beating restlessly like an artillery barrage since a while ago… What if my heart stops if this goes on?
"W-well… like this, maybe?"
W-what? Just what are you trying to do?
"Mmm. Mmmmmm. Wow… they"re drinking it with such vigor… it really came out…"
I-I can"t let out any sound! It"s kind of hard to!
I immediately understood what was going on behind me, but I somehow can"t listen to it!
"Ah, the younger sister too… hey, nn, hyaah! Uh, it tickes… Ah, maybe a bit to the side? Look, it"s here~"
Aaah! Daaamnit! What do you meant to the side…!
"amazing. I"m breast-feeding babies… fufu, how cute~"
It"s bad, badbadbadbadbad!
I can"t quite explain what is bad, but the feeling on my back and the cloying and kind voice of Aoinoun is intensely scratching at my important something, whittling it down!
"Mhm. There seem to be no problems with breast-feeding. What lively kids."
The voice of sir rat is getting on my nerves.
This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, he completely forgot about me, didn"t he?!
"H-hey. It"s about time, right? Explain it to me."
"Geez, you"re so persistent. I got it… What do you want to ask first?"
You… I swear, I"ll hit you!
However, my body became stiff because of tension and wouldn"t move except for twitching slightly.
"T-then, for starters, just why am I the little ones" father?"
The first one to say that was Aoinoun.
Just why had she uttered something so dreadful?
"Well, Kunpei-san hatched the eggs…"
"No, if it"s the father, then there should be someone who fertilized the eggs, no?"
Just go call a male dragon here!
"The first thing I"ll tell you who knows nothing is… let me see…"
Alba Gelman walked up while pacing briskly across the floor"s tiles.
Swinging his staff up and down, he proudly snorted with his nose. How peerlessly annoying.
"…the fact that the dragon race has no males." [TL/N: Is this the point where most protagonists would embark on their endeavor to create a dragon harem? Fortunately, this story seems different… seems…]
"Huh?"
Eh? Well, because of the need to breast-feed, I thought dragons were mammal-like, only that they worked like flower pistil and stamen… you know, fish, too, fertilize eggs from above.
My thoughts were rendered utterly chaotic.
"Since immemorial times, only female dragons exist. I"ve seen all dragons starting from the primal dragons and love everything about dragons, but I"ve never seen a male dragon. Even if there were, then they were not dragons per se."
Ah, speaking of it, I feel like Aoinoun said "older sister" before the first girl hatched. So that"s what it was about. She didn"t say "older brother" because there was no possibility of a boy appearing in the first place.
"Do you know what laying eggs means to dragons? They put emphasis on expelling powerful energy acc.u.mulated within their bodies outside. That"s why it"s rare for life to be born from eggs. It"s a long-lived species, so there"s little necessity to reproduce."
Ah, so that"s why there aren"t many of them.
"Also, in order for dragons to reproduce, there"s a number of conditions to meet."
"Conditions?"
"Yes. Unless all conditions are met, eggs won"t sp.a.w.n life. If there"s even one missing, the acc.u.mulated energy will dissipate into the atmosphere upon expulsion from the body, and the eggs will become mere stones."
Ah, he must be talking about those dragon bloodstones Officers Doge and Inoue told us about a while ago. The two add up together.
"What are these conditions?"
"First, the mother"s health. It must be a complete dragon. There"s also the matter of the season for laying eggs. It differs depending on the individual, but generally it happens in two-hundred-years cycles."
In other words, there"s only one chance to have children every two hundred years, and if the dragon is sick at that time, then it"s no good?
"Injuries are no good, either. Dragons possess strong instincts. If they instinctively realize that they would be unable to protect their newborn children, their body will prevent the creation of life even if it has to be against the dragon"s will."
"T-that"s kind of amazing."
"Furthermore, if there"s no strong desire to have children, it"s also no good. Life will not respond to half-hearted feelings. Unless the dragon really strongly wishes for it and a period of time almost long enough to make them lose patience elapses, the new life won"t take form."
In other words, that means…
"So Aoinoun wanted children, huh…"
"Hey!"
Ah, this fellow, she"s becoming fl.u.s.tered now? Through my back, I felt her become stiff—I struck home.
As for why I was able to feel it, it"s because my senses are all focused on my back! Even though it"s sad!
"U-um! I"ve heard most of what uncle just said for the first time now so I can"t deny it, but r-rather than saying that I wanted children…! Rather than saying…"
For some reason, Aoinoun hesitated to speak.
Come on, it"s not like it"s something bad.
As long as one has seen her performance today, it"s obvious that her mindset as a mother is quite strong.
"I-I was lonely by myself… That"s why, I probably subconsciously wished for another existence that would keep me company…"
"By yourself, you say…"
Now that she mentions it, she did say she hasn"t seen her mother for around 40 years.
"We sky dragons have a custom to start living alone once we are 200 years old… I, well, felt alone, and selfishly asked my mother to postpone it by ten years… in the end, mother easily departed on a journey, and since the other races were too different, I was afraid to go down into the town… I only left the nest to get the most necessary items or hunt, but other than that, I was staying in the nest and watching TV or reading books… What am I saying…"
In other words, she thought that if she had children, she could be with them for 200 years, huh.
[TL/N: She still had 160 years to spend alone, but if she had children, she would be able to "pause" that and postpone it by another 200 years when it"d be their turn to live alone]"I-I didn"t realize it. It was only now that I listened to uncle"s words and suddenly understood a lot of things… U-um, it was so hard to be alone, so I"ve been crying often since half a year ago…"
Half a year ago?
"Quite recently, huh. You were alone for forty years, after all."
"U-um, I, it"s the second time I"ve met Kunpei-san and the others. The first time was half a year ago…"
Eh?
Nope, I completely can"t remember.
Let"s be honest here, Aoinoun"s figure stands out quite a bit.
"I don"t think I"d forget a pretty blue-haired girl like you, though," I said without thinking.
In the first place, it"s the first time I"ve seen someone with blue hair. Well, I did see some gaudy blue-haired cosplayers on TV, but none of them had such natural blue hair like Aoinoun. I may be an idiot, but I don"t think I"d forget her. No, I want to think I wouldn"t.
"P-pretty?!"
Oh, my back started feeling hot.
"U-um, I"ve come to see your home, though? Together with father and Shouhei-kun…"
Ah, right.
"Old man, have you heard that?"
"Eh, what?"
Old man and co were on the other side of the folding screen.
It seems like they were exchanging greetings and thanking Mr. Manager.
"When we were inspecting the house, the neighbors were making a fuss about a beautiful girl, right?"
"They were. You didn"t seem interested, though."
Let alone me, Shouhei wasn"t interested, either. Only you were excited, weren"t you.
"About that—"
"Duh, she"s sitting there, no?"
Oi. Tell me such things, okay?
"Ah, right. Um, after I left the nest to go shopping a bit, I happened to meet father near the gate, and I saw Kunpei-sai and Shouhei-kun laughing inside… It seemed you had fun and I… felt envious…"
…In other words, we"ve dealt Aoinoun who was suffering from her loneliness a finishing blow. And it happened to overlap with the season for laying eggs.
Hmm. What"s that. Although I"ve done nothing wrong, I somehow feel responsible.
"I see!"
Suddenly, Alba Gelman raised his voice.
"Yep. And so, the last mystery was solved. Well, I was wondering about it myself. No matter what, it was strange that the eggs wouldn"t hatch for a whole month. It seems like you"ve come at the best moment. Like I thought, there"s no doubt that you"re the father, huh."
"H-hey, sometimes you say difficult things and I cannot keep up. I"m an idiot, so can"t ya explain it in a way an idiot would understand?"
"I guess it can"t be helped. It"s so hard to be an idiot, huh."
Alba Gelman shook his head lightly and snorted with his nose.
This guy, I"m going to step on him later.
"Listen. Those kids hatched because you"ve touched the eggs. In general, most dragons" eggs hatch by themselves in a week or so. Those kids haven"t come out for a whole month. I just said it, haven"t I? Dragons possess strong instincts."
"Y-yeah."
"Those children were waiting for you. They wanted to meet you, so they didn"t hatch. They instinctively understood that their lives would be in danger if you weren"t there, so even though eggs started to decay, they patiently endured."
B-but why me?
"Because Aoi felt that way. Because when she saw you, she became incapable of suppressing her loneliness! Dragons begin to come into being in the world! There is only one reason—they desire humans! Got it? Those children are a mix between a dragon and a human. As your blood came into contact with the eggs, they felt that the last condition was met! Those kids were able to come out at last! How wonderful! Wonderful, Aoi! You and your daughters, the dragon species who were in a standstill! This is a new evolutionary step!"
[TL/N: He"s babbling here somewhat, the mess is intentional]"O-oi. Calm down, okay."
Alba Gelman became so excited it was scary.
"But I am calm! Right, I still haven"t explained to you why you had to help during breast-feeding! In the first place, breast-feeding for dragons means not only filling their bellies, but also acquiring strength from their mother"s body! Human infants are the same, aren"t they! In order to increase their strength to resist diseases, they supplement it via breast-feeding! It"s that! Those children needed the dragon factor from Aoi, and the human factor from you! That"s why they cried, seeking your touch!"
Now that he mentioned it, when I first held the younger sister, the older sister was also reaching out with her hands towards me.
"U-um, Uncle. Please calm down a bit. You"re scaring the children."
Aoinoun calmed the rat sage who was so excited he was panting heavily.
"Oh, right. For me of all people… But now, you"ve understood the meaning of sitting with your backs touching, right? After all, dragons can feel a lot of things through the touch. The bigger the area of the mother"s body you touch, the more factor you can make them absorb through the milk."
In other words, this…
"Well… at the very least, I want you to do it like this once a day."
…Yep, it seems like there"s no meaning unless it"s done regularly.
"U-um, Kunpei-san."
Aoinoun started twisting her body.
"W-what?"
"Not only have I involved you, but also have a selfish favor to ask of you now… please, for the sake of those children, could you help… please…"
"…Yeah."
I made my stupid, muddled head move.
After hearing the words of Alba Gelman just now, there"s no way I can refuse.
"…You don"t have to feel particularly sorry about this. You"re a mom, so it"s okay for you to be shameless like this."
[TL/N: Yes, he said shameless lol. Sounds grating, but he just means she has the right to be "impolite" and raise this request.]"…Eh?"
"That"s why I"m saying, well…"
We"re at a point where we"re exposing our skin to each other. There"s no point to hold back now, no?
"…I agree."
"…Fu…! Hic… sob…."
Aoi started weeping as her shoulders trembled.
Between our backs, sweat started gathering due to the heat of our bodies.
However, it wasn"t particularly uncomfortable, but rather pleasant.
I closed my eyes and for now concentrated on her crying voice.