The Ancient Sovereign
I'm good at sensing things. Of course, the kind of sense I mean isn't sight or hearing.
It’s something impossible to name precisely—a so-called intuition.
Intuition has always been a huge help to me.
Whether reading languages from the ancient era I don’t know, finding my way, or gauging enemies.
Intuition has never been wrong.
And right now.
Crack.
Intuition screamed like fire was falling on my feet in the face of a catastrophe that matched the hatching of the ancient ruler.
My heart was thundering as if it wanted to burst out any second, and my vision had narrowed to a pinprick, showing only the black egg.
The liquid gold was steadily widening its domain. It looked exactly like the slow opening of a treasure chest.
Of course, I had no idea whether it was a box overflowing with gold and jewels or Pandora’s box.
Tap.
A quiet sound that cooled my overheated head while I still couldn’t decide what to do. It was the sound of my own footsteps.
Slowly lowering my gaze, I saw my left foot was already behind me.
Instinctive movement, the reflex of someone who wanted to ignore the danger right in front of them.
But… I couldn’t choose the simple, clean option of fleeing.
I knew intuitively. Running away wouldn’t solve the problem.
The sense of existence I felt when the egg absorbed my mana. It wasn’t the kind of creature that could be solved by simply running away.
So I found myself standing in a real dead-end, unable to move forward or backward.
My mind was screaming like it was in the middle of a war, but then it stopped.
Crack. Crack.
The egg continued hatching even while I was thinking, and the brilliant golden light grew steadily brighter.
Smash!
Liquid gold flowed over the black shell. And I knew intuitively.
The ancient ruler was about to emerge.
I just closed my eyes, thinking everything would soon be over.
“Ugh!!”
I tensed my whole body and braced for impact, but…
“Ugh…?”
Surprisingly, there was no pain at all, so I only opened one eye slightly.
What I saw was an overwhelming figure befitting the ancient ruler…
“Pee?”
…not that. A creature the size of a cat, something like an Oriental dragon.
Vertical pupils of golden light split open long ways.
Dense scales in a dark metallic sheen as if covered in armor.
And a cluster of white light floating above its head, like a crown.
If that was all, it would have felt quite intimidating…
Its form was similar to a lizard, but with only the legs shortened a little.
A way of moving that made it drift in the air like a balloon.
And a chubby body.
“Peei…”
Even its weak crying sound.
💬 — Jinri Scholar: …Whoa! That’s so cute!!
💬 — Education Master: …Is it possible to give me just one?
My intuition had been in an absolute frenzy, but the result was this appearance, and I was speechless.
Intuition had given me all kinds of warnings, saying it had the power to destroy entire worlds!! But then, what exactly was that glimpse I had seen?
“Peei?”
“…Hmm, well, I’ll head back for now. I’ve already tested the rifle’s power.”
My head was a mess, but I decided to return to the submarine first.
There was no reason to stay outside, and the egg had hatched, so the enormous problem was gone.
I turned around and headed for the submarine with steps that felt five times heavier.
Tap. Tap.
The only sound echoing in the city was my footsteps.
“Peei!”
“…Why are you still following me?”
The ancient ruler… or rather, Haeshasha was persistently trailing behind me.
Since it floated in the air like it was swimming, the sound didn’t travel well.
💬 — Jinri Scholar: It must have imprinted on the first living being it saw, right? They say the first living creature an infant sees after birth is thought of as the mother?
“Eh, no way. If it’s an ancient ruler’s race, it couldn’t be that easy…”
“Peei?”
Well, now that I thought about it, maybe it could be like that for creatures of this kind.
The cry was “pee,” but maybe it was thinking of the first being it saw after birth as its mother.
And… it was adorable. I felt a strong urge to take it home and raise it.
“But what does it eat?”
💬 — Jinri Scholar: I don’t know? Maybe feed it some meat?
Meat… the only meat I could think of right now was Cyclops ham.
Since it was emergency rations, there was quite a bit stored in the submarine. I should feed it that at least.
Upon arriving at the submarine, I immediately took out the ham and placed it in front of Haeshasha.
Haeshasha stared intently at the ham on the floor, then sniffed its nose. It seemed to have confirmed there was no problem.
Chomp.
It ate the ham by pressing its nose against it. Then it looked up and cried.
“Peei.”
“…Not good?”
“Pee.”
Looking into Haeshasha’s eyes, there was no expression of having tasted anything. It was like the eyes of a person who had only eaten tough chicken breast as a meal.
“…Among the food I have right now, dried meat is the best.”
“Peei…”
It seemed like it was sighing. Maybe it was just in a bad mood.
But fortunately, one of the Gongins came forward and offered to provide food.
💬 — Education Master: I’ll give you some food. In exchange, show me this friend a lot.
Education Master. I had watched her quite a lot on the broadcast. I also remembered she had a good reputation in the gallery.
Of course, I accepted the gift from Education Master. After all, it would naturally appear if I only followed her and turned on the broadcast.
The box that appeared in front of me. When I opened the packaging, I found various meats inside.
Haeshasha, who had been floating around like a balloon beside me, approached the box, as if interested in the meat.
And then.
Chomp chomp chomp!
It enthusiastically started eating the meat, and its chubby body grew even chubbier.
“Peeiie…”
Haeshasha, who had devoured half the meat from the box, soon patted its belly with its short arms in satisfaction.
Haeshasha moved leisurely through the air toward the submarine and entered it.
“…Does it think this is its home?”
Its entrance without any resistance left me unable to shake the feeling that I had been chosen.
Even when I went back to the submarine, I saw Haeshasha floating in the air with its eyes closed, sleeping. It looked incredibly peaceful.
Watching that scene, a yawn came out on its own. After all, it was probably around 2 a.m. by surface time.
Normally, even at this time, fatigue wouldn’t be that bad. But today, with training, rifle making, and the egg hatching, it was especially exhausting.
“…Are the people watching the broadcast not going to work tomorrow?”
💬 — Jinri Scholar: I’m not really affected, so it’s fine!
💬 — Education Master: I actually work a lot at night…
💬 — Sensibility: I only sleep once a month.
Removing the Sensibility, it seemed like a fairly reasonable reason.
The Jinri Scholar… must be some unemployed person with money.
Education Master… maybe a bar owner or something.
“Yes, well. I’ll turn off the broadcast now. You all get a good night’s sleep.”
💬 — Jinri Scholar: I wonder if they don’t plan to do a 24-hour broadcast
Click.
The Jinri Scholar seemed about to say something, but it was probably nothing special.
“If the broadcast is turned off, the chat will all disappear…”
Muttering that kind of inner thought, I entered the submarine.
While charging the Solum, I looked at Haeshasha floating in the air with amazement, then laid it down to sleep.
Today really had been a tiring day. I sank my consciousness deep.
***
The sun had finished its work and was heading below the horizon. Night. The sun, as a symbol of light, appeared vibrant in bright midday.
But… like a coin has two sides, day and night were different from the beginning.
All races avoided moving at night. In the daytime, even the God’s eyes could reach them, but at night, unless they were a saint, the God didn’t look down.
In other words.
Please… please just save me…
A man in black robes, his voice trembling as he begged for mercy.
A yellow badge on his chest showed he belonged to the top.
And a hand full of scars was roughly tearing at that badge.
A merchant from some top… why was he wandering around here?
A cold voice came from behind a face covered in black cloth. The merchant’s shoulders trembled even more upon hearing that voice.
The person wearing the mask didn’t care and continued speaking.
You bastards, die.
Yes!
A group that seemed to follow the masked person was searching the carriage thoroughly.
Bandits, the worst group you never wanted to meet.
Of course, the merchant had brought guards. But in less than an hour, the bandits slaughtered the merchant’s guards.
The merchant could only close his eyes and pray to the God.
Please, help me.
At that moment, a muffled voice was heard. A high voice as if speaking while holding a cloth to his mouth.
“Hunting in the empire’s territory. Quite a lot of guts.”
Drip.
The merchant felt hot liquid splash on his cheek.
Shit—
Thud.
Brother—
Smash.
All sentences cut off in the middle. Sounds of bones crumbling and muscles being crushed stacked like a chord.
And then. All sounds fell silent.
The merchant slowly opened his eyes. And he could see the person.
A tiger…
“Are there any injured places?”
The black scarf around the neck was not visible, but those orange eyes could be seen.
Ears mixed with black fur on top of the head and orange fur. And the dangling tail visible between the thighs.
The merchant realized this woman was from the Empire’s security forces—the Tiger unit.
“Do you need an escort?”
Ah, no way! Thank you for saving me!!
The merchant waved his hands in refusal. Getting an escort was good, but the cost was so astronomical it was beyond imagination.
The woman called the Tiger immediately jumped to another place.
She ran through the constantly changing forest at high speed, maintaining order.
Then.
“…The sun has risen.”
Morning had come. Since she was the one who went home in the morning, she yawned the moment she saw the sun.
While slowly walking home, she kept fiddling with the tight clothes in between.
“Why does it stick so tight…”
She had complained about her work clothes and was drawn to the light cluster that appeared in front of her.
[Aurora has started the broadcast.]
She turned on his broadcast, leaving the thought of going home behind.
And then, she immediately commented.
💬 — Education Master: Hello! Is Haeshasha doing well!?
She moved her tail vigorously and focused.
Because the current broadcast.
[Deep Sea Escape 13th Day, Haeshasha CoughsSEMI__]
***
I am facing a serious situation right now.
Because Haeshasha coughed.
You could say coughing was the problem, but…
“What is this…”
The problem was killing the Cyclops with coughing.