Even though she was also covered in scales from head to toe, somehow she just gave off this soft and squishy feeling, like you could pinch her and she’d bounce right back.
Aishi looked more closely as he spoke, a helpless smile spreading across her face.
“Maybe… it’s just a racial thing.”
“That must be it. When you first hatched, you seemed a bit silly, and you called me an idiot.”
As he spoke, he popped that little bit of eggshell into his mouth. Mmm~ honey pomelo flavor, sweet and tasty.
“You actually remember that till now.”
“Of course! I never forget a grudge.” →_→
Aishi didn’t say anything else, just kept staring at Genasa with a strange look in her eyes.
After being stared at for a while, Genasa irritably flicked her forehead.
“Don’t take it so seriously. I’ll make something tasty for you later.”
“Hmm… make it strawberry-flavored.”
“Knew it, always ice cream…”
Meanwhile, Karu, having finished her eggshell, was blinking her big, clear eyes at them, a faint smile always on her face.
（O⩊O）
“Oh, you’re done? Alright, let’s go.”
He grabbed her with his claw and set her on top of his head, carrying her as he walked out of the incubation room.
Genasa could clearly feel the weight on his head steadily increasing; after eating her eggshell, Karu was growing fast.
Soon, she’d feel hungry again, so they’d need enough food ready.
In just a short time, Karu, who was only the size of a little peanut before, had grown almost as big as Aishi.
At that moment, Geli was still standing atop a big pot, holding a stirring rod and mixing away. When she saw Genasa and the others coming over, she turned and waved at them.
“You’re just in time. Toss her in.”
Genasa was a little speechless.
“Does every dragon have to do this weird initiation bath? Mine got burned last time you made it—want to give me a make-up round?”
“Oh, stop whining. Didn’t I already give you a Life Fruit and a Potion of True Sight? Hurry up and toss her in.”
Genasa could only comply helplessly.
He stood on two legs, lifted Karu from his head with his front claws, and reminded her,
“Little sister, this is what Master wants. Don’t blame your brother, okay?”
“Huh?”
“Here you go.”
Just like throwing a basketball, he tossed her out; she traced a beautiful arc through the air and landed right in the pot.
Aishi squinted at him in exasperation.
“You actually threw her in?”
“Uh… it’s fine, being happy is the most important thing.”
From the pot came Karu’s surprised voice.
“Wao~”
Now and then, you could even see her leap up from the water, splashing around—much livelier than Aishi had been back then.
“See? She’s happy herself, right?”
“Hmm… you act like you know the Golden Dragons so well.”
“I think I do, actually. Golden Dragons and Red Dragons have a lot in common, so I just went with my own preferences. Seems like my guess was right.”
Genasa looked pretty smug about it, but Aishi didn’t bother arguing. She shot him a sidelong glance and just kept waiting for Karu.
Not long after, Karu finished her soak and bounced straight out of the pot.
But the moment she came out, the dazzling golden light nearly blinded them all over again.
Her brilliant glow was almost a match for her father’s, but luckily, it quickly faded and returned to normal.
“Awoo~”
After a hungry dragon’s roar, she suddenly froze.
“Eh? What’s wrong with you two?”
Genasa and Aishi squinted, faces scrunched up in awkward embarrassment.
“It’s nothing. Hungry, right? Let’s eat.”
Genasa took out the food he’d prepared and handed it to her.
At this time, Geli jumped down from above and carefully sized up Karu, looking thoughtful.
“Hmm, looks like the curse won’t act up again for a while.”
“So how can this kind of curse be broken? Even you guys have no solution?”
Genasa already knew the answer, but curiosity made him ask anyway.
“Of course not. A god’s curse can only be broken by a god. But it’s been tens of thousands of years since any gods have been seen in this world. What can we do?”
“That can’t be right, hmm…”
Even the Golden Dragon Clan and Geli could only suppress it, never root it out.
“It shouldn’t be, it really shouldn’t. What about the World Tree? It’s at least at the level of a god, and has purification skills. Isn’t there any way?”
The World Tree—after the first Main Gods at the dawn of the world, the first natural life, Mother of Life, the deity worshipped by the elves, sometimes called the greatest below the Main Gods.
The Life Fruit Genasa ate was just something grown on its guardians. The fruit borne by the World Tree itself had hatched the very first elves.
“We tried long ago. Otherwise, you think we’d even have a chance to suppress it? The World Tree’s specialty doesn’t match. It can only suppress the curse as well, but at least it saved her life. Otherwise, she’d have died long ago.”
“Uh-huh.”
After all, the World Tree was a plant at heart. Sure, it had purification skills, but only for physical things.
If it was poison or something dirty you could see and touch, that’d be no problem. But this was the Curse of Godfall.
“Sigh…”
The gloomy mood even affected Karu, who looked up from her food with a puzzled blink, glancing around at them.
“Gah?”
“It’s nothing, just eat.”
“Oh.”
She buried her face in her food again. While Genasa and Geli were still discussing possible solutions, Karu’s attention was drawn by the constantly swaying red tail nearby.
Lost in thought, Genasa’s tail unconsciously swayed along.
Karu, ever curious, sat there watching the tail, a hunting urge bubbling up from her bloodline.
At last, she couldn’t resist—she pounced and chomped down.
“Ah!”
Genasa screamed, yanking his tail in front of him and glaring at Karu, who still clung to it with her jaws, brow furrowed as he drew close.
“What are you doing?”
Karu let go and flashed a sheepish grin.
“Huh? What? Karu doesn’t know. Oh, so hungry~”
Trying to play cute and gloss over it, Karu scooted away, munching on the last few pieces of meat.
Genasa, watching Karu’s backside as she faced away from him, wasn’t about to let her off that easily.
He said nothing, just silently lifted a claw.
He nudged Karu’s little butt, pushing her aside.
“Go on, go play somewhere else. Now, where were we?”
Acting like nothing happened, he went back to talking with Geli.
Karu, shooed away, sat off to the side, lips pouting in grievance.
But a child’s attention span is short; soon enough, she was distracted by something else.
She ran over to Geli’s pile of miscellaneous items, only for Geli herself to dart over in a flash.
Eh? What just grabbed the back of my fate’s neck?
Karu suddenly felt the ground vanish beneath her paws; someone had grabbed her by the scruff.
She twisted her head around to see Geli, one hand on her waist, looking every bit the angry mother.
“Do you even know what all this stuff is? Running wild already? Looks like I need to teach you the rules here first.”
“Uu…”
Karu pouted miserably as Geli scolded her, and behind her, Genasa leaned over to Aishi and whispered,
“She’s a handful, isn’t she?”
He glanced over and saw Aishi squinting, her face full of resignation.
“Aren’t all Fire Dragons like that? You’re only a bit better, but not by much.”
“Huh? Really?”
Aishi looked at him, said nothing, and fell briefly into a memory:
“Aishi, stop reading all the time and come out to play! I just made a ball, wanna kick it? No? Then forget it… Really not coming? Just a couple kicks, come on, come on! Still not coming? Fine… really not?”
“Aishi, Aishi, look at this potion I just made—wait, what the—exploded again! Uhh… let me fetch water and wipe your face…”
“Where’s my alchemy pot? Aishi, did you see my alchemy pot? I swear I left it here… Huh? I didn’t bring it back after it exploded yesterday? Oh, there it is… Wait, it exploded again! Aishi, let me get some water…”
“Aishi, have you eaten? What’d you have? Did you brush your teeth? Say, if I haven’t brushed for so long, do you think my breath stinks? Here, smell it, does it? No? Let me smell yours.”
When the memory ended, Aishi looked at Genasa, then turned to Karu, sighing helplessly.
“Hope I can get used to it…”