"Everyone, look! It's an egg!"
Natsu held a huge egg covered in strange patterns high above his head with both hands, shouting as if he were showing off some priceless treasure.
And yet—
The guild members, who normally loved this kind of excitement, all seemed to have gone collectively deaf.
Their eyes skipped right past the noisy pink-haired boy and landed in perfect unison on Shane, who had just walked in.
"Hey, Shane!"
Macao was the first to rush over, his face full of disbelief.
"I just heard it from the Master. On this trip, you… beat one of the Ten Wizard Saints by yourself?!"
"No way! You mean Jose from Phantom Lord?!"
"My god, Shane, have you already become some kind of monster on Saint level?!"
The crowd instantly exploded with excitement and surrounded Shane so tightly there was barely any space left around him.
"So everyone already knows?"
Shane looked up in surprise.
His gaze passed through the crowd, and he saw Makarov sitting cross-legged on the distant bar counter.
The old man was swirling a drink in his hand, wearing a smug expression that practically said That's one of my boys, while basking in the admiring looks of several younger mages.
There was no trace at all of the dejection and gloom he'd shown the night before.
"..."
Well, fine.
Shane shrugged inwardly.
It was the old man's own money being lost anyway. If he wanted to save a little face, Shane wasn't going to stop him.
"More or less."
Shane smiled and responded to everyone's enthusiasm without denying it.
"I just got lucky and had a little spar with him, that's all."
His tone was calm, but that was basically an admission that the rumor was true.
"Wooooah!!"
The hall immediately erupted into even louder cheers.
"'A little spar'? You mean the kind where you break all four of the other guy's limbs?" Wakaba deadpanned.
While everyone here was chatting excitedly, Natsu—who had been completely ignored—finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey! You guys!"
Clutching the giant egg, Natsu shoved his way desperately into the crowd.
"Look at me! Look at me! Stop talking about all that boring stuff! I found a dragon egg!"
"Look at these markings! And this shape! Doesn't it look like dragon claws?!"
He pointed at the strange lines on the eggshell, gesturing wildly as he talked, spit flying everywhere.
"Uh…"
The crowd turned to glance at the so-called "dragon egg," then immediately let out a long, perfunctory sound of disinterest.
Compared to some random egg of unknown origin, the news that one of their guildmates had defeated a Wizard Saint was obviously way more shocking.
"Well, it is pretty big…"
Cana walked over with a card still in her hand, leaned in for a closer look, and said through half-drunken eyes,
"But there's no way it's really a dragon, right? Also… do dragons even hatch from eggs? Shouldn't they be more… I dunno…"
"Well, look at you, Natsu. Pretty sharp for once."
Gray stood nearby with his arms crossed, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts as usual, grinning mischievously at the egg.
"So you actually had the sense to bring back extra food for everyone? With an egg this big, would it be better fried or boiled?"
"Don't be ridiculous!!"
Natsu got so angry it looked like his hair might stand on end. He hugged the egg tightly to his chest.
"It's a dragon egg! I'm going to hatch it! It's not food!"
"Let me take a look."
Shane pushed through the crowd and walked over.
He reached out and lightly touched the rough surface of the eggshell with his fingertips.
His mind stirred slightly as his senses opened fully.
Whether it was dragons from another world or dragons from this one, he had encountered their unique aura up close before.
If this really were a dragon egg, there was no way it could escape his perception.
A few seconds later, Shane withdrew his hand and shook his head with some regret.
"There's no dragon aura."
"The life inside has a faint magical fluctuation, but it's definitely not a dragon."
"I don't believe it!"
Natsu's stubborn streak kicked in. He grabbed the egg and ran to the bar.
"Shane, you must've gotten it wrong too! We'll know once it hatches!"
He dropped the egg in front of Makarov and shouted,
"Old man! You know the most stuff, so use magic and make the dragon come out so they can all see!"
"What kind of nonsense are you talking, idiot?"
Makarov set down his drink and smacked Natsu on the head in annoyance.
Maybe because the Magic Council's massive repair bill hadn't arrived yet, the old man was in a surprisingly good mood.
He cleared his throat and struck a lecturing pose.
"There is no magic in this world that can casually profane life."
"Life is a miracle born from love. That is something no magic can accomplish. If you want it to be born, then you have to give it patience and love."
"..."
Standing off to the side, Shane turned his head away and chose not to ruin the moment.
If it was only a matter of accelerating a living being's growth… then even with his limited magical knowledge, he knew Ultear's Arc of Time could do that.
Her magic might not work on animals, but plants were life too.
From that perspective, magic absolutely could interfere with the process of life.
Still…
This really wasn't the time to wreck the atmosphere of the Master teaching an important lesson. Letting Natsu learn a little more proper common sense wasn't a bad thing.
Unfortunately—
"Old man, what are you even talking about?"
Natsu scratched his messy pink hair, looking completely baffled.
"I don't get any of that! It's way too deep!"
"What he means is—"
At that moment, a crisp female voice came from behind them.
With her hands on her hips, Erza stepped forward, unable to stop herself from speaking when she saw Natsu's careless attitude.
Her face was stern as she lectured him,
"If you want to hatch it, then you need to put in the effort and take care of it yourself, instead of looking for shortcuts!"
"Since you brought it back, you need to take responsibility for it to the very end. You spend all your time causing destruction and never appreciating anything. This is the perfect chance for you to learn how difficult it is for life to come into being—and to develop some responsibility!"
"Ugh…!"
The moment they saw that crimson figure, the loud, rowdy Natsu and Gray stiffened almost on reflex.
"Y-you're here!"
Like startled cats, the two of them instantly jumped far back, then slung arms around each other's shoulders in perfect sync, forcing out smiles uglier than crying.
"Ahahaha! We're best friends!"
"Yeah! Totally!"
"..."
"They're still that scared of Erza, huh."
Watching the scene, Shane was speechless.
At this point it was probably etched straight into their DNA. It had practically become one of the guild's recurring acts.
Even the commotion caught the attention of Ur, who had been discussing Make Magic with Levy nearby.
She lowered the crystalline ice flower she had just conjured and fixed her mature, thoughtful gaze on Erza's back.
"That red-haired girl… is she the one from before…?"
"Natsu!"
Just then, a gentle voice broke the tension.
Lisanna walked over with her hands behind her back, smiling brightly, her short silver hair looking especially soft in the sunlight.
"Can I help you take care of that egg?"
"Huh?!"
Natsu froze, then his face lit up with overwhelming joy.
"Lisanna?! You'll help me?"
At last—someone actually cared about his "dragon egg"!
"Yeah. Taking care of an egg together sounds like fun."
Lisanna gave him a playful wink.
Then she spun lightly in place, and a flash of light enveloped her body.
Take Over Magic: Soul of the Sky Goose
In the next instant, she transformed into a huge, warm white swan, gently folding her wings around the egg.
"If I hatch it like this, body heat should help it come out pretty fast, right?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're amazing, Lisanna!"
Natsu's eyes were practically glowing as he ran circles around her in excitement.
Watching the lively boy and girl, Shane smiled, then turned and walked toward the large man sitting in the corner.
"Elfman."
"Oh! Shane! Beating a Wizard Saint in one hit is incredible! Someday I'm going to become just as strong as you!"
The moment Elfman saw him, he jumped up excitedly and started pumping his fists.
He truly admired Shane's strength.
"Let's leave that aside for now."
Shane waved it off and swept his gaze around the hall, frowning slightly.
"Where's your sister?"
He hadn't forgotten the main reason he had come to the guild today.
But after looking around, he still didn't see the silver-haired delinquent-looking girl anywhere.
"Big sis…"
Elfman scratched his head, looking confused too.
"I don't know what she's been busy with either. These past few days, she's been coming home really late."
"She's not even coming to the guild?"
Shane's frown deepened.
He had seen her at the guild just a couple of days ago, so why had she suddenly disappeared?
He couldn't help worrying that maybe she'd gone and gotten herself into trouble again—or worse, that something had happened to her.
"Well… if you see her,"
Shane thought for a moment, then said,
"tell her to come by the guild when she has time, or just come straight to my place. I need to talk to her about something important."
"Oh! Got it! I'll tell my sister!"
Elfman nodded hard.
Meanwhile—
"Come on, Lisanna! Let's find a good spot and build a nest for it!"
Natsu hugged the egg and called out to Lisanna, who had already changed back into human form. The two of them were full of energy as they hurried toward the door.
"The guild really is lively. Something interesting happens every day."
Watching them pass by, Shane smiled. He was a little curious himself what kind of creature would eventually hatch from that oddly patterned egg.
And then—
At the exact moment Natsu brushed past him—
Bzzz—
A strong smell of sulfur, along with a blazing red world, suddenly flashed across Shane's vision.
It felt like a burning-hot needle lightly pricking his eye without warning.
Igneel?
"Wait, Natsu."
Almost instinctively, Shane reached out and grabbed Natsu by the back of the collar.
"Cough—cough!!"
Natsu nearly choked from being yanked back so hard. He stumbled to a halt and turned around with an annoyed expression.
"What was that for, Shane?! Sneak attack much?!"
Shane didn't answer right away.
He first glanced around and noticed that no one else nearby—not Makarov, not Ur, no one—had reacted at all to what had just happened.
So… was I the only one who saw that?
That vision…
Was something trying to tell me something?
~~~
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