“Are you sure I can have this?”
“Biii!”
The baby gave me what was left of its eggshell. According to Namitaro, dragon hatchlings usually ate their shells right after they hatched, but there were rare ones, like this baby behemoth, who didn’t feel like eating them.
“I don’t know what I’d even use it for, but I’ll take it.” I couldn’t think of any practical use for it right now, but considering these were the remnants of some ancient dragon’s egg, they’d probably fetch a ridiculous price.
Suddenly, I realized I had no clue what had happened to Solomon’s shell. Knowing him, he probably hadn’t left so much as a crumb.
“All right, then. I’ll be borrowing your dimension bag. Bon, say goodbye. Gyaaah!”
Chomp!
Just when Namitaro reached out to pat the baby on the head with his pectoral fin, the baby bit down hard on it. It looked like the baby really didn’t want someone he didn’t like to touch him.
“Naawwr, my beautiful fin! My gorgeous fin is all chipped now! Eh...whatever. I’m sure it’ll grow back soon.”
While Namitaro freaked out at first, he then shrugged it off like it was nothing. He stuffed the baby into the dimension bag and climbed aboard the carriage with Cruyff taking the reins. They were headed for a river not far from the capital. I’d prepped some food for their journey just in case, but Namitaro was so fired up about foraging on the way since we had no idea how much the baby would eat.
“Well then, I’ll see y’all later! C’mon now, Bon.”
“Biiiiiiii!”
The baby let out another ultrasonic screech as a farewell, right on cue. Jeanne, Amur, and even Queen Maria and the others who’d come out to see them off all clapped their hands over their ears in pain. Honestly, the ones who suffered the most were Namitaro and Cruyff, but the real victims were the two horses pulling the wagon. They were big, sturdy animals, but they passed out on the spot while still standing up from the noise.
Luckily, they went down peacefully, so there were no injuries or damage. I commanded my golems to rush in and support them, which probably saved us some chaos. Still, now we were left without any horses to pull the carriage.
“Well, guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll take you there myself with Thunderbolt.”
And that was how I got roped into going along. I probably should’ve just done that from the start, but I’d asked Cruyff to handle it because there was a chance the baby would get fussy if I tagged along.
“I’m sorry it turned out like this after I’d said I’d handle things...” Cruyff said, but he was still wobbling from the aftershocks and couldn’t drive. He seemed very apologetic about it.
The baby, however, was so thrilled it could stay with me longer and let out another joyful supersonic screech. Namitaro quickly shoved it deeper into the bag and clamped its mouth shut, though, so it wasn’t as bad this time.
“Well then, I’m off for a bit,” I said. “Rocket, Shiromaru, Solomon, how about we take a walk while we’re at it?”
Those three hopped into the carriage one after the other. Amur and Jeanne tried to follow, but the baby stuck its head out of the bag and snarled at them, so they backed off.
“Tama, Mary, Aries, Jubei, Hiro—you guys wanna come too?”
I figured it’d be a good change of pace for them, and surprisingly, Tama and the others seemed eager to get some fresh air. Jubei and his family couldn’t fit in the carriage, though, so I packed them into a dimension bag instead.
“All right, I can just swim to the ocean from here. I’ll be back!”
“Biiiiiiiii!”
After one last screech from the baby, Namitaro dove into the river and disappeared downstream.
“Every time Namitaro shows up, it’s nothing but chaos...” I remarked. “Anyway, I need to get those fish.”
Thanks to the baby’s last screech, the river’s surface was now covered with stunned, floating fish.
“Solomon, keep watch from above. Shiromaru, stay close and guard Jubei and his family. And Rocket, you’re with me. Now let’s start gathering the fish.”
I gave out orders and let the animals out of the bag. I wasn’t too worried about monsters or other wild animals because Jubei could handle them. Adventurers, however, would be another story. To the untrained eye, Jubei’s group looked like prime exotic game. Even with hunting restrictions in place near the capital, all it would take would be one greedy fool who thought they could get away with it.
I made sure my livestock wore collars to show they were domesticated, but someone could still claim they didn’t see them or make some excuse about them being invasive species.
“Shiromaru, you stay alert, and I’ll be careful too. But don’t wander too far! If anything seems off, make some noise and run to me or Jubei,” I said.
I wasn’t sure if Tama, Mary, and Aries understood, but all three of them let out cries in response and bounded off into the bushes. I watched them go and then summoned a few golems for extra protection.
“All right, Jubei. I’m counting on you, but don’t overdo it. There’s no point in getting stressed.”
“Mrrooo.” Jubei let out a confident grunt as if to say Leave it to me!
And with that, I turned my attention to the river.
“Looks like some of them managed to recover and swam off. Rocket, let the muddy-looking ones go and just collect the tastiest ones!”
I floated up into the air while Rocket perched on a nearby rock.
“Those look like trout. Maybe they’re dace? Release the crucian carp, but keep the regular carp, just in case.”
I used Water magic to fill the dimension bag and started storing the fish.
“Got a catfish. Next up is... Ooh, eel jackpot! Rocket, if you see more of those long ones, grab ’em first!”
Rocket waved a tentacle in a circle to signal that he understood and then went to work catching fish from the rock. As I watched him, I couldn’t help but think of a certain lasso-wielding archaeologist from an old movie I’d once seen...
After a while, he had caught most of the good ones. Rocket and I went through the haul and sorted the fish. The ones that needed to have the mud cleaned off, like carp, catfish, and eels, went into a water-filled dimension bag. The cleaner ones, like the trout and dace, were rinsed off and stored in a magic bag with ice water.
“That should be the last of them. Now I can just kick back and keep an eye on things... Huh?”
Just as I was about to climb onto the roof of the wagon to check on Tama and the others, I heard hoofbeats in the distance. Shiromaru noticed them before I did and was already standing alert. We were ready to fight if we had to, but it was also possible that someone was just passing by.
I used Identify to see who it was, just in case.
“Hm, looks like someone we know. Still, we’d better play it safe. Jubei, bring everyone over here!”
“Mooo!”
I didn’t think things would go awry, but I didn’t want Jubei or the others getting caught up in any kind of commotion. I had them retreat into the dimension bag, just in case.
“You over there! What are you— Oh, our apologies!”
“We’ll call for the captain right away!”
The knights who approached us started off all stern and demanding, but the moment they realized who I was, they scrambled off to fetch their superior officer. A short while later, the one in charge finally arrived.
“Long time no see, Primera,” I said.
“It has been a while. But what are you doing all the way out here, Tenma?” she asked.
“I’m based out of the capital and Sagan these days, so really I should be asking you that.”
I wasn’t trying to dodge the question or anything, but come on! Me being in the plains near the capital was way less strange than Primera, a knight who worked in Gunjo City, showing up here with her whole unit.
“True, but... You know that as a knight, I’m bound by confidentiality.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “I was just seeing Namitaro off and figured I’d let the livestock stretch their legs a bit.”
Since Primera wasn’t a threat, I let the animals out again. Tama, Mary, and Aries bounded around freely while Jubei and Hiro kept watch over them. The latter two positioned themselves between the three animals and Primera’s knights, just in case.
“Anyway, we’re on official duty en route to the capital, so we’ll be on our way,” Primera said.
After a quick chat, she gave Jubei and Hiro a smile, backed her horse up, and carefully steered her knights away from the rambunctious animals.
“See? They’re gone now, so you guys can relax,” I called once Primera and her knights were out of sight.
Jubei and Hiro finally dropped their guard and started to graze while keeping watch over the trio.
“Might as well take a little stroll and see if there’s anything interesting in this area,” I said. I wandered around for a bit on a whim. “Yep, nothing’s out here. I guess we already hit the jackpot with all those fish earlier.” I hadn’t been expecting much anyway.
I then figured it was time to head back, but...
“Tama and Mary are way too energetic for their own good.”
The two of them refused to come and kept darting around, playing a game of chase. In the end, Rocket had to wrap his tentacles around Mary while Tama got scolded by Jubei and Hiro before finally crawling back into the bag. Incidentally, Aries had come right over the moment I’d called. He’d been napping peacefully, but when Mary got caught, she took her frustration out on Aries with a surprise headbutt.
“You finally made it back. It took you long enough! I was starting to worry!” Gramps said.
By the time I returned to the mansion, Queen Maria and the others had already left. Gramps claimed that he was worried, but he was just lounging around in the dining room.
“Oh yeah, I ran into Primera by the plains. She didn’t go into detail about why she was there, but she did say it was confidential. I guess she’s heading to the capital on knight business,” I said.
“I see. In that case, she might show up with the duke or Albert soon. By the way, what are you going to do now, Tenma?” Gramps asked. He followed me into the kitchen and watched as I started to rinse off some small fish in the sink.