I'm Telling You It's Not a Fertilized Egg!
Somehow, I managed to clean up the catastrophe that had unfolded on the bed before Huey and Lucy woke up.
Of course, it cost a certain sum of money.
Anyway, I cleaned it up, but…
"…What am I supposed to do about this?"
I'd asked them to clear the bed, and yet where on earth had they even found something like that?
I pressed a wing to my head as I stared at the three eggs nestled demurely in a tiny basket tied with a ribbon.
"This service is way over the top…"
I was grinding my teeth, recalling the innkeeper's daughter who'd fussed and fretted the entire time they cleaned the bed, when—
Knock. Knock.
"Ren, are you up?"
Huey's voice came through along with the knock on the door.
…Is it already this late?
"Hic."
I have to hide the eggs first…!
"Uh, where…?"
Just as I frantically hugged the basket of eggs to my chest and started hunting for a place to stash it—
Creak.
"Ren?"
…Why is that open?
"What, if you were already awake you could've at least answered. Feeling any better?"
Ah.
I hadn't locked it after the innkeeper's daughter left earlier.
"What's that?"
Huey, who'd been approaching with a worried look, spotted the basket in my arms and asked with a puzzled expression.
"Th-th-this is, uh, that, so…"
How am I supposed to explain this…!
"Ah, come to think of it, the innkeeper said he gives eggs to guests who get up early."
While I fretted over the fact that I couldn't exactly admit I'd laid them, that voice floated over.
Ah, no wonder. So that's why the basket…
"Th-th-that's it! Yeah!"
"I completely forgot and slept right through, but this works out perfectly. You can't really carry eggs around, so it's hard to eat them except at times like this."
…Huh?
"He said we can borrow the kitchen. I'll make breakfast today."
"Huh?"
"You can look forward to it. Egg dishes are my specialty."
Huey casually took the egg basket right out of my arms.
"Oh, looks like they were laid not long ago. They're still warm."
"W-wait…"
"Since you're up early, go wake Lucy for me. I'll head to the kitchen and get breakfast started."
Noting that the eggs were big enough to make plenty for three, Huey hummed a cheerful little tune as he walked off.
Watching his retreating back, I fell into utter confusion.
"…Eat? That?"
Telling the truth would make me die of embarrassment.
But calmly sitting down and eating it was also… a bit much.
"Ren? What are you doing standing there blankly?"
"Peep!?"
That startled me—!!
"…Peep?"
"L-L-Lucy!?"
"Why are you like that first thing in the morning? Are you still unwell?"
"Ah, th-that's not it…"
I pressed a wing to my pounding chest and took a deep breath.
Calm. Calm. Calm…
"Huu… Yeah. My body's fine now."
…Not just fine—perfectly healthy, actually.
The culprit of the whole mess had just been carried off by that Huey guy, after all.
"That's a relief. Then shall we go eat breakfast?"
"Huey said he'd prepare it himself today and went down first."
"He always does that whenever we stay at an inn. Claims he prefers cooking somewhere with proper kitchen facilities, or something of the sort."
I followed Lucy downstairs as she grumbled in her usual way and took the lead.
"Ah, hand…"
"Tsk."
"…Slipped."
Of course, there was a woman midway who recognized me and tried to wave, but I settled that with a quiet glare.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Master."
"…Good morning."
"What's that?"
"Since Ren got us some good eggs for once, I put a little effort into it."
I watched Huey approach carrying food on three plates.
"The innkeeper said we can freely use the breakfast ingredients."
A large omelet settled in front of me.
Looking closer, the one on my plate had been cut into neat, bite-sized pieces.
"I haven't made your exclusive tableware yet, so I prepared it so you can spear it with a fork."
…How damnably thoughtful of you.
I took the fork Huey offered with both wings and glared at the food in front of me.
"Thank you for the meal, Master."
"Yeah."
So… this is that thing that came out of my body today…?
"Ren?"
"No appetite?"
As I sat there fretting over whether to eat it or not with the fork in hand, both of their voices reached me.
"Ah, no. Yeah. Still a bit sleepy. Thank you for the meal."
If I kept acting suspicious, the two of them might catch on.
So I decided to quietly steel myself here.
"Hup."
With resolute determination I speared a piece of omelet and put it in my mouth…
"Mmm—!"
"Wow, it's really soft."
"Right? The eggs were super good."
The soft, fluffy texture of the eggs.
Salty bacon paired with the sweet taste of well-cooked onions and carrots.
And when you ate it together with the warmed milk…
"Delicious…"
With flavor this good, I almost thought it might be fine to lay them once in a while, play dumb, and hand them over to Huey.
"But, Ren?"
After the meal, Huey called out to me as I sipped the last of my milk.
"Yeah?"
"Where did you get the eggs? The innkeeper said he was busy today and couldn't make it to the chicken coop."
"Pfft! Cough! Hack!"
That wasn't supposed to happen.
I couldn't help panicking at the sudden question.
"Ren?"
"Why is he suddenly like that?"
"I don't… know…"
Both of their faces gradually hardened, as if something had just occurred to them.
"Wait a minute—those were pretty big and firm for regular eggs… Don't tell me."
"Ren. It's not what I'm thinking right now… is it?"
Hearing their voices, all I could do was turn my head away, avoid their eyes, and make excuses in a voice that barely crawled out of my throat.
"Th-that… so…"
"This… you laid this…?"
"Ah, ahh, uhh…"
Ahh… so embarrassingggg!!
"…No wonder it tasted so good. Is this what they call a fertilized egg?"
Wh-wh-what? Fertilized egg!?
"Lucy. A fertilized egg isn't that…"
"…No."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Honestly, even I didn't know why I did it.
"…It's not."
"Ren?"
"Your voice was too quiet—I couldn't catch that. Could you say it again?"
I just absolutely had to deny the words "fertilized egg."
Something like instinct moved my mouth on its own.
"I'm telling you it's not a fertilized egg!"
At this rate my face was going to explode for real.
I decided to run away for now and cool my head.
Huey blankly watched Ren dash out of the inn, her face flushed crimson with embarrassment.
"So, how did the taste of the person you like feel?"
"Pfft!"
At Luciella's playful voice that followed right after, he choked on the milk he was drinking and coughed hard.
"Cough! Hack! You really…!"
"It's not wrong, is it?"
Since it was the egg Ren laid, wasn't that ultimately Ren's taste?
Luciella smiled with a mischievous face.
"Doesn't she look quite like a girl when she's that embarrassed?"
"…Shut up."
Huey turned his head away, covering the corners of his mouth that kept twitching at Luciella's words.
"What about you? You ate the egg Ren laid."
"Whether a chicken lays it or Ren lays it, isn't it the same? Rather, it's nice because it's fresh."
They were both birds, after all.
"If it tastes like this, I welcome it anytime."
As if telling him to just admit it already, Luciella opened her mouth toward Huey once more.
"If you're that embarrassed over something like this, what are you going to do later when an egg gets stuck inside?"
As though recalling something she'd heard from Caroline, Luciella stretched both hands toward Huey and wriggled her fingers.
"Like this—press like this, she said."
"Ahem."
"Hehe. I absolutely won't do it, you know?"
"…You're really vicious."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Later, Huey would look back on this day and say the following:
That the figure of Luciella smiling so mischievously had been truly no different from a devil.
"Sigh… Let's go find Ren quickly."
"Yes."
Like that, the two left the inn and spent a while going around asking people if they had seen a bird beastman with red wings.
"W-waaaaah!!"
"Run!!"
From the direction of the lord's castle, people began to appear as if fleeing from something.
"…What's going on?"
"It seems an accident has occurred."
Looking at the dust rising in the distance, Huey rested a hand on the hilt of the sword hanging at his waist, while
"No weapon and an incident, huh."
Luciella clicked her tongue at her empty hands.
Right after, a large flame erupted from the direction where the dust had risen moments earlier.
"I have a feeling Ren is over there."
"I was just thinking the same thing."
As the surroundings grew noisier, Huey grabbed the arm of a man running toward them from afar and asked,
"Hey! What's this sudden situation?"
"The damn lord's hired witch is rampaging! If you don't want to die, you lot run too!"
After shouting the warning in an urgent voice, the man shook off Huey's hand and fled again.
"…Witch?"
"It seems the lord of this city has a rather poor reputation."
"Let's go for now."
"Yes."
Right after—
Kwaaaaaang!!
"Ugh!?"
"What!"
Something that had flown from the presumed center of the commotion crashed into the ground with a thunderous roar.
And then—
"Die already—!!"
Kwaduduk!!
With a familiar voice, a red afterimage brushed swiftly past Huey and Lucy.
It crushed the thing that had slammed into the ground first, literally grinding it into the earth as she landed.
"Ren!!"
Recognizing her, Huey spun around and urgently called her name.
"…Huey? Lucy?"
"What on earth is going on?"
"Master."
Ren looked back with a flustered face at Huey's voice.
And Huey, hearing Luciella call him, turned with a puzzled expression toward the direction she was pointing.
"Ren! What are you doing right now…!"
What Luciella's finger indicated was Ren's leg.
More precisely, the sight of her talons tightly gripping a woman's head.
Ren's legs, as she glared down at the woman below with eyes full of irritation, were soaked in blood.
"No time to explain."
Then Ren put her weight onto the foot that held the woman's head.
Before Huey and Luciella could even react—
Kwajik!
A filthy flower stained with blood and brain matter bloomed across the road.