I Became a Mother of Three

Episode 2

 

Normally, it would have taken 3 days to get everything, but I got it all in one day.

From the commonly available Oyster mushrooms and Shiitake mushrooms to the rare pine mushrooms.

Erina looked proudly at the basket full of all kinds of mushrooms.

My shoulders felt heavy due to the weight of the mushrooms, but my steps were light.

The scent of mushrooms flowing into my nose every time I moved was fragrant.

“Oh right!”

I was going down the road that was getting darker and darker when suddenly, the three eggs I had seen during the day came to mind.

Erina turned around and walked along the path to the left.

She arrived shortly after and found three eggs neatly laid out between the tree and the rock, just like before.

Let alone the mother looking for them, there seemed to be no other animals interested in them at all.

Erina was delighted to see the eggs looking flawless.

It was the best day to get a source of protein so easily.¹Please noooʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ that is going the dark way.

“But really, what kind are they?”

Even as the surroundings became increasingly dark, the eggs did not lose their vivid blue color.

Because of their unusual appearance, a suspicion arose that these eggs might be very valuable.

Hey, whatever. There was no way something so precious could have been abandoned in a rural forest like this.

Erina shook her head to deny her thoughts, put the eggs into the basket, and then started going down the road again.

As soon as I got home, I prepared the mushrooms that will be taken to the market.

Even after deducting the amount ordered a few days ago, there were still a lot of mushrooms left in the basket.

“I can dry these, put these in soup, and boil these and eat them.”

Erina, who finished organizing the mushrooms by purpose, finally  picked up the three eggs.

“I’ll fry and eat them later.”

The three eggs were placed side by side on the kitchen shelf.

Several days have passed since the eggs were placed on the shelf.

Meanwhile, Erina was as busy as ever.

Even after going to the market, I had to go pick mushrooms, and I also dug up and dried other herbs in between.

In the evening, I had to organize my income and expenditure ledgers and gather tree branches to prepare for winter.

As a result, the day to fry and eat the eggs on the shelf was being postponed every time.

One morning when I was so busy.

Erina struggled with the chirping of birds that disturbed her sleep.

“Noisy.”

When I was still tired from working late into the night, I felt like I heard a loud bird chirping that interrupted my sweet sleep.

“Kkii.”

“byee!”

“Kuuuu.”

Erina, who had blocked her ears several times as the sound grew louder, decided to send the birds somewhere else and got up. The noise was unbearable.

Erina angerly lifted the blanket she was wrapped in and walked towards the window.

“Uh……?”

There were no birds to be seen, not even a proboscis, which I thought would be abundant in the trees outside the window.

“Bah!”

“kyu!”

“Pupu!”

However, the birdsong was still vividly audible. Erina, who was tilting her head, started walking around suspecting that a bird had entered the house.

“Where on earth are the sounds coming from?”

I muttered to myself as I looked around the house.

Even in the entrance which was the most suspicious, there were nothing. Out of desperation, I walked towards the kitchen to get some water.

“Kyaakaka!!”

Along with a sharp sound, Erina saw some blue creature fluttering in front of her eyes.

For a moment, Erina was so surprised that she took a step back. However, that creature seemed to have already found out about Erina’s presence and began to cry even louder.

“Bah!”

“Kyuuuu!!”

As if that wasn’t enough, it played a duet as loud as some other red creature next to him.

Erina, who was walking backwards, stopped in her tracks, covering her ears.

Then the blue and red creatures stopped crying and looked at Erina.

“W-what’s going on?”

Erina had no choice but to ask even though she knew her words wouldn’t make sense to them.

Because it was clear that these noisy creatures had hatched from the eggs Erina brought.

Of the three eggs placed on the shelf for frying, two were broken, and only the one in the middle was intact.

At Erina’s question, one of the two creatures let out a sad cry again.

It felt like it was answering her question, so Erina had no choice but to take the same step forward again.

As Erina approached, the wings on the creatures backs flapped more excitedly.

It looked like they were about to take off at any moment, but in reality, they caused just a wind of dust to blow around their wings.

Erina, who was quietly watching the two’s actions, smiled awkwardly without realizing it.

Compared to their crying, their movement now was truly insignificant.

Only then did Erina relax her stiff shoulders and walk faster with a sense of ease.

As she got closer to the shelf, the creatures looked at Erina, letting out sobs instead of loud cries.

Then they stretched out their short arm and knocked on the motionless egg.

“Did you really come out of this egg?”

Erina asked, looking at the eggs with broken shells.

As I thought about what it would have been like if I had cooked and ate the them as planned, I became dizzy.

One of the creatures seemed to understand Erina’s question and tapped the shell with its mouth.

It seemed like he was bragging that he had broken out on his own, so the corners of Erina’s mouth went up.

“Puu!”

After the blue creature showed off its shell too, it knocked on the egg, which was still intact.

It seemed like he wanted it to hatch quickly.

At the urging of the two, Erina carefully stretched out her index finger and touched the egg.

When I picked them up in the forest, I did so without a worry, but when I thought there was an unknown creature inside the egg, I hesitated to touch it.

While Erina was hesitating in front of the egg, unable to make a decision, perhaps because it was frustrating to see from the side, the red creature stretched out its arm and pressed Erina’s hand.

“Oh!”

Enira screamed in surprise at the sudden unexpected situation, and at the same time, Erina’s finger made a hole in the middle of the egg.²I am genuinely worried :⁠‑⁠X

There was silence for a while.

Erina and the others just focused their gazes at the egg, but the egg still didn’t move.

Erina looked at the egg to check if it was okay like this.

And at that moment, the egg with a pea-sized hole in the middle began to shake like crazy.

“Ahh!”

“Bah!”

“Kung!!”

With Erina’s surprised shout, the shouts of others, and even the sound of something cracking, the small house in the forest, which had always been quiet, suddenly became noisy.

The small hole in the middle was getting bigger and bigger that even as she screamed, Erina could not take her eyes off the scene.

So Erina watched the birth of a creature she had never seen before.

“Ma?”

What came out of the cracks was a purple creature, like a mix of the other blue and red creatures.

The purple creature with a strangely colored body and black eyes stretched out its arms towards Erina, who made eye contact.

Erina, captivated by the black obsidian-like eyes, unconsciously stretched out her arms and helped it.

With that little help, the creature got completely out of the egg rubbed its face against Erina’s forearm.

“Mama, mama.”

A light laugh came out of Erina’s mouth at the endearing gesture.

With the way it was acting it was hard to believe that it was born 30 seconds ago.

The other two things that were staring at it also stretched out their arms and started chattering.

“Kya kya!”

“Pu pupu!!”

As the crying sound rang in her ears again, Erina stretched out her arms and took the other two in her arms.

Only then, as if satisfied, did the three creatures slowly close their eyes.

Once again, there was only the sound of wheezing in the small house and the usual quiet and peaceful atmosphere was restored.

However, Erina screamed inwardly as she looked at the creatures in her arms.

What’s this!? What is this?!

I’ve never even heard of a lizard with wings! What I picked up wasn’t a bird egg, but a reptile egg!!

Erina tried to escape from reality as she looked down at the three creatures, which were heavy compared to their size.

But no matter how much I tried to avoid it, I already knew the answer.

There are no winged lizards in the world, and there are no reptiles that can understand human speech as soon as they are born.

The creature that hatched on the kitchen shelf in her house were dragons, no matter how many times she looked at them!

 

***

 

“Hmmmm.”

Erina looked at the three dragons occupying her bed with a distraught expression.

The three fell asleep earlier in the morning and still haven’t opened their eyes until it’s broad daylight.

I even had to put my hand on their stomach a few times to check if they were breathing just in case.

“What on earth did I pick up?”

Erina’s face looked like she was about to cry as she talked to herself.

I’ve only heard legends about dragons looks and behaviour, but they were unknown creatures that I didn’t even know existed.

Moreover, the place where Erina lived was not the Sylvean Empire, which was said to be protected by a dragon.

I am just living in a principality with limited land and no magic, but I never thought I would see three of those ‘dragons’ here.

Erina pounded her head at her thoughtless actions.

Each time, her blonde hair swayed and shone in the sunlight.

Erina tried to think of the possibility that these three were creatures other than dragons, but the conclusion was that they were dragons.

It was already too late to worry about the existence of the three dragons themselves.

Now was the time to think about what to do with these three as quickly as possible.

First, Erina brought a long cloth and carried the three on her back.

Her idea was to return the dragons to the forest where their eggs were. It was the simplest way.

Still, since they were dragons, they won’t die from being bitten by animals, right? No, since it’s the first day since their birth, of course they might die.

While walking along the forest path, Erina was constantly thinking and answering questions.

Because of that, she didn’t even notice that the three dragons on her back had woken up.

Of course, she also didn’t know that the dragons were whispering amongst themselves.

She just climbed the forest path, nervous that someone might jump out and attack her and the dragons.

 

***

TL:

The second chapter is finally finished, I hope you enjoyed your reading (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧