Poor Noble Nord’s Adventure

Epilogue

“Hey, you…what…uh…”

Nord was left speechless, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for air. The cause of his astonishment—the baby wyvern—continued to rub its cheek against his chest, seemingly unaware of his confusion.

“Kyu~”

The sound it made was small and high-pitched. But rather than being a sign of aggression, it carried a tone of affection, as if seeking love.

Nord absentmindedly lifted the eggshell still perched on the wyvern’s head. The piece he pinched between his fingers was thick, hard, and heavy.

“!”

Suddenly freed from the weight, the hatchling looked around, noticing the large shadow that had just lifted the eggshell. It quickly began rubbing its body against the hand that had done so.

As Nord watched this scene unfold, his mind wandered:

(Is most of the egg’s weight just the shell?)

But no matter how much he tried to escape from reality, the truth remained the same. The rattling sound from the carriage wheels had become lighter, and the bumpy vibrations smoothed out—a sign that they were approaching the royal capital.

Yet, just as spilled milk can’t be put back into the glass, a broken egg—the fact that it had hatched—couldn’t be undone.

“Sir, we’ve arrived,” the driver called, prompting a dazed Nord to step down from the carriage he had rented to the royal capital. The carriage left after confirming no luggage had been left behind. From there, how Nord managed to get home was a blur in his memory.

Returning to the Ferris estate, Nord felt a heavy weight despite being home for the first time in a while. The reason was clear: the baby wyvern, now sleeping peacefully inside the torn cloak in his hands. After the egg hatched, Nord had collected the eggshells and, somehow, managed to make his way back to the Ferris house while carrying the chirping hatchling. But now, he was troubled about how to explain the situation.

Standing in front of the house wouldn’t help, so with no other choice, Nord entered the mansion.

“I’m home…”

“My son, Nord, you’ve returned safely…!”

The household staff had been informed of his return through a message sent ahead from a nearby town. As soon as they saw Nord, they hurried to inform his father, Albert, the head of the family. Albert, who had been overjoyed to hear that his son had returned unharmed, quickly showed his surprise when he saw the bundle in Nord’s arms start to wriggle.

“Kyu? Kyu~?”

A small voice, sounding like a baby animal, came from inside the cloth.

“Well…you see…”

Nord, answering awkwardly, resembled a child being scolded by a parent. He hesitated, but finally gave in and revealed the contents of the cloth to the outside air. What emerged was the face of a lively baby wyvern, just recently hatched, curiously gazing around the dimly lit Ferris household.

“Kyu?”

It made a sound as if to ask, “Where am I?” It was the voice of a young wyvern that hadn’t been born for long.

“This is the situation…” Nord said.

“…………”

His father, Albert, remained silent, clearly at a loss for words. The only sound filling the mansion was the soft “Kyu? Kyu?” of the baby wyvern.

§

Selling the wyvern egg, as Nord had planned, was now impossible—naturally, since it had hatched. The eggshells still held some value, but compared to a living egg, they were worth only a pittance.

After hearing about the course of events from Nord, Albert, who had arranged to sell the egg to the Iron Dragon Knights, sat quietly in thought. The baby wyvern, now full from a meal gathered from the kitchen, was asleep on Nord’s lap.

“It seems to have taken a liking to you,” Albert remarked, breaking his silence.

“Well, maybe it’s because I still have the scent of the mother wyvern on me,” Nord responded nonchalantly, referring to the hatchling’s tendency to snuggle up to him like it would to its parent.

After a moment of reflection, Albert stood up. “I’m going out. Stay here and wait,” he said, leaving the mansion.

Nord guessed he was probably going to apologize to those involved. After all, the egg they had planned to acquire was now unavailable. The wyverns used by the Iron Dragon Knights are only those hatched from eggs, as taming a wild wyvern is impossible. Even the artificially hatched wyverns are so ferocious that they’re difficult to control. The effort and cost to utilize wyverns as a fighting force are immense.

As Nord looked down at the baby wyvern, peacefully sleeping on his lap, he thought:

(It’s a lot calmer than I expected… Maybe it’s just because it’s still a baby?)

Even ferocious monsters are said to be adorable as infants. Nord recalled a female adventurer at the guild’s tavern, who would always start talking about how wonderful “fluffy creatures” were after she’d had a few drinks. He remembered her loudly preaching about how cute the cubs of the Razorfang Saber Tiger were. At the time, he thought, “How can anything related to a monster that silver-ranked adventurers like her face be cute?” But now, he somewhat understood.

As he waited, glancing at the baby wyvern’s face, he had to admit that it wasn’t entirely unadorable. But more than that, he was overwhelmed by the thought that “this little thing will grow into a huge wyvern.”

How long had he been waiting? Commanded by his father to remain on standby, Nord couldn’t wander around aimlessly. So, he occupied himself by observing the wyvern, gazing at the wallpaper patterns, and even pondering what shapes he could find in the wood grain of the furniture.

Suddenly, the mansion became noisier.

(Is he back?) Nord straightened his posture. The baby wyvern stirred, lifting its head as if sensing the movement.

He heard the sound of the door’s handle turning, and then the door flew open. Standing there was his father, accompanied by another person.

Nord stood to greet them, placing the wyvern on the desk. The now fully awake hatchling protested, preferring to stay with Nord.

The stranger who had accompanied his father observed the whole exchange with great interest.

“This person is…?”

Albert introduced the man to Nord.

“He is the vice commander of the Iron Dragon Knights.”

Nord’s eyes widened in surprise.

§