Chapter 5
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: A Hatchling's Daily Routine
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Eirana's day began quite early.
Dragons were a race that slept a great deal.
They spent nearly a third of their allotted lifespan in slumber.
Hatchlings, in particular, passed more than half their youth sleeping.
In that regard, Eirana was truly an oddity.
Not only did she wake early in the morning, but her longest sleep to date had been a mere seventeen years.
The adults around her thought she suffered from sleep deprivation.
And they often blamed her tyrannical mother for it.
It was an utterly unjust situation for Erannis, but what could she do?
Her usual reputation was to blame.
At any rate, it was true that Eirana slept far less than other hatchlings.
And during the time she wasn't sleeping, she studied.
Unlike her ferocious, innate disposition, she was a dragon brimming with intellectual curiosity.
Having memories of her past life as a human, Eirana found everything in this world fascinating.
She devoted much of her time to reading books.
It was true that dragons possessed superior intelligence, but that didn't mean they were born with vast knowledge or wisdom.
Knowledge was acquired, not innate.
When she wasn't reading, she passed the time in one of two ways.
One was playing with her mother, Erannis.
Of course, more often than not, it was Erannis who got bored and dragged Eirana into play, rather than the other way around.
The other was practicing martial arts.
The methods she'd used as a human no longer suited her dragon body.
Executing the forms posed no great difficulty.
The problem lay in internal energy, the foundation of all martial arts.
While it could be supplemented with mana from her Dragon Heart, Eirana harbored doubts about whether she could form a dantian to gather internal energy.
Thus, after turning a hundred, she began gradually adapting the martial arts frameworks she knew to fit herself.
She had plenty of time, after all.
And after decades of trial and error, she succeeded.
She'd formed a dantian on the opposite side of her heart, in the right side of her chest.
A second Dragon Heart of sorts, created after the fact.
She wasn't sure how much mana it could hold, but when using martial arts, Eirana could now draw power from her dantian.
On a certain day, two hundred years after Eirana's birth.
That day, Eirana had left the lair to explore Erannis's territory for a bit.
A dragon's territory extended far beyond their lair; it encompassed vast expanses around it.
Thanks to that, once she set out on a territory patrol, Eirana wouldn't return to the lair for quite some time.
Leranas, unaware of this, had ended her long revelry and visited Erannis's lair to see her granddaughter's face.
Wondering how much her granddaughter had grown after so long, Leranas searched for Eirana.
But all she found was her daughter, sprawled in the center of the lair, taking a nap.
Leranas clicked her tongue at Erannis, snoring away with her mouth open.
How could such a sloppy dragon produce such a sweet granddaughter?
Not knowing Eirana's true nature, Leranas couldn't help but wonder.
"Maybe she picked up the egg from somewhere?"
Thinking it entirely plausible, Leranas searched for Eirana inside the lair.
But there was no way she'd find her there, since Eirana was out in the territory.
Confirming Eirana's absence, Leranas approached the sleep-drunk Erannis.
"Erannis. Where's Eirana?"
Leranas asked seriously, but Erannis had no intention of waking.
In the end...
Thwack!
"Guh!"
She smacked Erannis on the head.
Startled awake by the impact, Erannis looked around, spotted Leranas, and yawned widely as she asked,
"Mom, when did you get here?"
"Just now. More importantly, where's Eirana?"
In response, the still-groggy Erannis lay back down and replied,
"Probably playing in the front yard. Yawwwn~ So sleepy."
With that, she fell asleep again. Leranas glared at her with bulging eyes but headed to the front yard in search of Eirana anyway.
Of course, she wasn't there.
Returning to the lair, Leranas woke Erannis once more.
"She's not in the front yard."
Erannis, still half-asleep(?), answered,
"Then she's probably in the treasure vault or the armory."
She answered and promptly dozed off again. Leranas's eyelid twitched as she watched.
She wanted to blast her away right then, but held back for now.
Heading to the treasure vault and armory with those thoughts, she found nothing. Just to be sure, she even checked the library, but still no luck.
Leranas returned and said,
"Not in the treasure vault or armory either."
Erannis whined,
"Then she's gotta be in the library. Let me sleep, don't wake me again."
Crack!
"She wasn't in the library either! Where the hell is she?!"
Leranas's patience was reaching its limit.
And then Erannis delivered the fatal blow that shattered it.
"Dunno."
Boom!
A massive blaze of fire engulfed the surroundings.
"Aaaagh!"
Boom! Kwarrrrng!
"Kyaa!"
A conflagration spell erupted across the area.
A moment later.
"Ugh~ My lair's been scorched again!"
Erannis wailed at the sight of her utterly wrecked lair, only for Leranas to smack the back of her head.
Thwack!
"Guh!"
"You wench! And you're supposed to be Eirana's mother?"
Erannis shrank back under Leranas's blazing glare.
Leranas sighed at the sight.
"Haa~ No granddaughter to be found, just this mess..."
Erannis grumbled,
"Geez, sorry for being 'this mess.' Eirana's probably wandering the territory."
Leranas looked puzzled at her words.
"Huh? Why the territory? Isn't it dangerous?"
She spoke with a hint of worry.
The dragon territories teemed with countless monsters.
"She must be bored. Besides, she's almost three hundred now—no need to worry much."
Leranas nodded thoughtfully.
"True enough."
"Why do you want to see Eirana, anyway?"
Leranas replied,
"To show her around my lair. Staying cooped up in yours must be stifling. Mine has plenty of special stuff."
"Now that you mention it. She'd probably love it if you took her."
As a mighty ancient dragon, Leranas's territory dwarfed Erannis's.
It featured all sorts of environments Eirana had never experienced, so she was sure to enjoy it.
"I'll ask her when she gets back."
Erannis smiled sweetly.
She was being unusually compliant.
Leranas nodded, a touch regretful.
"Alright, I'm counting on you."
With that, Leranas cast Warp and departed.
Staring at the spot where she'd vanished, Erannis soon stuck out her tongue rebelliously.
"Pbbbt~ Like I'd tell her!"
She had zero intention of relaying the message.
"Wrecking my lair over something so trivial? Mom's no ancient dragon."
Erannis childishly badmouthed Leranas. She was quite upset about her lair's destruction.
Thwack!
"Gack!"
As she grumbled behind Leranas's back, a blow struck her head.
Clutching her skull and crouching, Erannis looked up to see Leranas.
"Knew you'd pull something like this. What a brat. If you don't tell her, today'll be your last."
With that ultimatum, Leranas truly departed for her own lair this time.
Who was the childish one between mother and daughter was anyone's guess.
Finishing her territory patrol and returning to the lair, Eirana was speechless at the sight.
"Wh-what? The lair's totally trashed!"
Her mouth hung open at the scorched interior.
Spotting Erannis in the center, she hurried over.
"M-Mom! What happened?"
Eirana asked in a fluster.
Erannis, who had been clutching her head and sobbing pitifully while crouched, lunged at Eirana and hugged her.
"Eirana! Waaah, your grandma's so scary and crude! I was just sleeping and didn't answer right away, and for that she... Waaah, she suddenly blasts me with magic! And wrecked our precious home! Waaaah! Your grandma's such a brute!"
Erannis wailed piteously. Watching her mother, Eirana muttered inwardly,
'From what I see, Mom's just as bad, if not worse.'
Of course, she didn't say it aloud.
Eirana was a dragon who valued her life dearly.
That aside, worry crept in.
Could she really grow up properly under such a foul-tempered mother?
Wouldn't her own nasty temper get even worse?
Pondering her future gravely, Eirana asked,
"Grandma was here?"
Erannis nodded, sniffling at the question.
"What did she want?"
"She said to come play at her lair."
"Her lair?"
"Yeah. Hers is way bigger than mine, full of neat stuff."
Eirana tilted her head.
"Like what?"
"Elves."
"Elves?"
"Yep, there's an elven city."
Eirana's interest piqued.
"I wanna go see."
An Alien race with bodies similar to humans.
Elves, known as forest fairies and friends to nature and spirits.
How could Eirana not be curious?
Erannis narrowed her eyes.
"Where do you wanna go?"
"Grandma's lair."
"What for? It's no different from mine, just bigger."
Erannis bristled, rebellious against Leranas.
"You said there were elves."
"Huh? Falling for elves of all things!"
Harboring a grudge against Leranas, Erannis snapped.
She seemed desperate to prevent things from going Leranas's way, but Eirana ignored the outburst.
'Sounds fun.'
To Eirana, it felt like a field trip.
Curious about other races, she headed for the warp gate.
"Wait!"
Erannis grabbed her by the scruff.
"Huh? What?"
"I'm coming too."
Eirana looked baffled.
"Then let's go together. Why grab me?"
"Clean this up first."
"Eek!"
Erannis pointed at the wrecked lair.
Too much for her alone, she wanted her young daughter's help. But Eirana made no secret of her reluctance.
"You clean it, Mom! You and Grandma fought and made this mess."
At the defiance, Erannis smiled brightly and thrust a bloodline-enforced fist before Eirana's eyes.
"Dear Mother, where should I start?"
Eirana's attitude flipped instantly.
"Yes. Daughter, you handle over there."
"Got it."
Nothing scared her more than violence.
Cleaning the lair took a full three days.
"Ugh... Done."
Eirana collapsed, muttering.
Exploited for three straight days of grueling labor, she was utterly drained.
Erannis said to her,
"Now change clothes and head to Grandma's."
Her outfit was caked in sweat and dust. Eirana glanced at it and switched to something comfortable.
Erannis looked puzzled.
"Why do you always dress like a boy? You have plenty of cute clothes."
"They're comfy."
Chewing her finger, Erannis squinted suspiciously.
"Your gender identity isn't still confused, is it?"
"......"
Eirana averted her gaze.
Erannis sighed deeply at the sight.
After a long silence, she spoke casually.
"I think of you as a unique daughter. Whatever."
"......"
Eirana clutched her face.
Leading such a daughter, Erannis stepped onto the warp gate.
Preparations complete, she chanted,
"Warp."
With a flash of light, the two vanished.