Something appeared out of the egg, humanoid and twenty centimeters tall like one of the figurines my friend would show off back on Earth. It then let out a faint mewling noise.
「This is…」
Beyond just its height, its entire appearance was strange. Its overall shape was normal, which in and of itself was odd, with it having black hair tinged with green and a face reminiscent of a younger Minnalis. It was also covered from its neck down to its wrists in reptilian scales with bird wings sprouting out of its back. It had a lion's tail with a puffball attached to the end and, although I only caught a glance, appeared to also have lionlike paws on its hands. It wore a piece of a different egg like a hat, and its bunny ears poked out through two holes in it.
In summary, it was way overboard. Who thought that adding whatever popped into their head would be a good idea.
「Mama… papa… sis…」
The tiny person, if it could even be called that, spoke as it pointed to each of us in turn before mewling again.
Kuu looked around eagerly, finally spotting the hay spread around the case, and began playing with it happily.
「It seems like Kuu managed to keep its cute appearance.」
「So cute! It's like a doll.」
「Mama, mama!」
「Huh? You mean me?」
Kuu's interest turned from the hay to Minnalis as it stretched its hand out to her from the case.
Minnalis cupped her hands and gently lowered them into the case, letting Kuu climb on. It seemed to want to get even closer, so Minnalis lifted it to her face and it happily nuzzled her cheek.
「Mama! Mama!」
「I can't act as a mom, so what's this strange feeling?」
With that, Minnalis' normally serious expression broke into a dopey grin. As I have mentioned before, making Minnalis smile without using a skill was something I had practiced hard for. Under my efforts, her『Straight-faced』skill had evolved into a max-leveled『Facial Control』skill.
Then Shuria spoke up.
「Me too! Me too!」
「Sistah! Sis, sis!」
Kuu moved over onto Shuria's hands and Minnalis looked as if she would take it back by force.
Ignoring this, Kuu felt about Shuria's palms before expanding its wings and taking off.
「Ah, it flew!」
Kuu flew up and landed on Shuria's head, contentedly petting it with its paws.
「Sis… Coo… Sis…」
Kuu puffed out its chest and made a pose, then went back to tugging at Shuria's hair.
「Ouch! And don't look down on me! I do not allow it.」
Even saying that, a hint of enjoyment peeked through her expression. Do they think it's being charming when it plays with them? I hope they aren't secretly masochists, really really hope.
As if it was satisfied with its work with Shuria's head, it turned to me.
「Papa!」
「Oof!」
It jumped toward me and I preemptively grabbed it out of the air.
「Papa?」
The expression it made as it tiled its head in confusion was definitely cute. I could see why the other two reacted the way they did. But from the first moment I caught sight of Kuu, I was reminded of some creatures I hate.
Was this a fairy? On the one hand, it was the same size, but on the other hand it didn't share any other features and fairies don't come from eggs.
Size alone is no basis for making assumptions, but the instant I saw it, all I could think about was those goddamned pests.
Fairies are all the children of the fairy queen, and are born from the fruit of the Fairy Tree in Fairyville. Considering that I destroyed Fairyville with my own two hands, there was no way Kuu could be a fairy.
But a tiny bit of doubt remained, and for that reason I could not stand being near Kuu.
「Papa hate me?」
Kuu broke into tears as I hurried to apologize.
「Hey! Don't say that! I don't hate you. You're probably hungry, so have some magic energy.」
「R-really? Papa no hate Kuu? Give magic?」
「Really really. Papa never lies. Take this.」
「Papa! Papa!」
I hurriedly sent a burst of magic from my hand. Kuu's tears stopped and its smile lit up its face. It immediately started licking my hand as it ate the magic. It looked like some sort of bizarre parasite as its mouth glided around my hand, yet it also felt strangely ticklish.
「How can I possibly endure this?」
「Stop being mean to little Kuu, master.」
「If anyone is the mean one, it would be you, Shuria.」
At that moment, Minnalis interrupted in a low voice.
「Master, there are sixteen of them.」
「Got it. They're a bit later than expected but it seems their detection range is about the same as mine.」
Shuria spoke up.
「I don't understand. Who were you expecting?」
Kuu also tilted its head quizzically.
At that moment, a shriek pierced the air as five Monstrous ???s appeared, a kind of plant monster. If I had to describe one, I would say that it looks like a giant venus fly trap capable of moving by itself. Their acidic spit corrodes away metal weapons and armor. They possess vines instead of arms or legs, and a cut-off vine will regenerate. As such, you have to destroy their core to kill them. However, the core is almost entirely covered by a sac full of their acid, which means that unless you can hit them in the barely centimeter wide gap your weapon will be destroyed in the attack. Because of all of this, they're considered one of the most annoying enemies to fight if you're a sword or spear user.
However, it is possible to kill one without damaging your weapon if you can aim perfectly and hit the core without touching that sac. As such, they're perfect practice if you want to master melee combat.
「Each of you take on half of them. Ranged weapons are not allowed. Use only trash loot swords.」
Both of them responded their agreement.
「Here, Minnalis will have two swords, Shuria can have four.」
I was contemplating what sort of punishment I would give if they messed up, when I heard a different shrieking noise.
「Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!」
The source of the sudden shout was Kuu. With its teary eyes and its curled up posture, it was obviously scared. It jumped out of my hand and started flying toward Minnalis as if panicked.
Minnalis tried to catch it in a panic of her own, but Kuu went through her hands. That isn't to say that Kuu slipped through some opening or even that the force of Kuu's flight knocked her hands away, but rather that it literally passed into and then out of her hands as if they weren't there.
All of us shouted in unison at the bizarre sight, but Kuu payed us no heed as it dove at Minnalis' ample chest and, just like before, sunk into her torso as if being absorbed.