episode_0241

It is a parent’s privilege to be able to watch their children grow up. These words, which originally did not seem to resonate well, have recently aroused strong sympathy.

“Asha! Look at this! It’s slime!”

“Sure. I knew it wasn’t around here.”

70 years since I was born. The children have already grown to the age of fifteen to seventeen in human terms. He maintained the same appearance he had when he was young, and now it would be appropriate to call him a good-looking man or a good-looking woman.

However, this is only when viewed objectively, and from my perspective, they are still young children thrown into the water. I guess it’s like feeling restless, not knowing when and where you might get hurt.

Arjen seemed to be just as I thought, now that the aftereffects of childbirth were over and she had regained all her strength, she was looking at her children even more intensely than I was.

As I watched the children poking and observing the highly acidic slime with their bare hands, I thought about stopping them, but I looked away, thinking that it would be okay since Arjen was calm.

“Hehe….”

Where I turned my gaze, I saw Arjen, who was still as beautiful as ever, with eyes full of motherly love.

Thinking that Arjen had become a mother again, I asked her a question.

“That’s not dangerous, right?”

“It is a dangerous species, but it is no problem for our children.”

They say so. This was a question I asked because I couldn’t tell the difference between various types of slime because they are just lumped together and called slime.

However, regardless of the type of slime, they are rarely found in the green forest. Aside from the danger, where did that thing suddenly pop out?

“Where did that slime come from?”

“I talked to Wayne and released a few of them.”

Now I see that these were things that Arjen put there on purpose. So, was it like watching the children play with slime with such a happy face?

“Now it’s time for the children to prepare to become adults. It’s preparation for that.”

“That slime?”

I asked for more details.

“Yes. It could be said to be a coming-of-age ceremony in the dragon tradition. Before you become a full-fledged adult, you travel around the world and broaden your horizons. Of course, I have to hide the fact that it is a dragon.”

“Aha. Is it entertainment?”

“After living only around Rare for so long, I would say it is essential to become aware of one’s position among the members of the world.”

Everyone in the world knows that dragons are great beings. However, young dragons who have just been born into the world do not know such things.

It is natural that simply being cared for by parents in rare words and being told that one is strong, great, or great does not resonate well.

That is why we travel before the Eucharist. It seemed to be a custom equivalent to the dragon’s own coming-of-age ceremony.

“I see. It certainly seems like a necessary procedure.”

“Yes. Oh right. And there’s one more reason. After becoming an adult, you have to go out and build your own rare. There is also a way to see the location in advance.”

Is it a separate house? Clearly, it was impossible to live with the children forever. As for me, I started living on my own right after I started attending college.

It’s not like we’ll be apart for the rest of our lives, and we can go see each other whenever we want, but I still couldn’t help but feel a little bitter when I think about our separation.

“But why is it slime?”

“Slimes vary by type, but they usually live in damp swamps or nutrient-poor soil. It’s hard to find these things in this area, where intelligence is abundant, but if you go outside, you’ll find slime all over the place.”

That is correct. While I was traveling around the world while Arjen was pregnant, I saw more slimes than any other monster.

Due to its nature, I have never really dealt with it, but I may be exaggerating, but I have also heard that adventurers’ feet are always sticky with slime fluid.

“That’s why I brought a few of them to practice in advance. With the most vicious people.”

Purple, dark green. An amorphous creature whose color and rough texture seem to be literally poison itself.

I thought it looked dangerous, but not to the point of being vicious. Wayne, who seemed to have read my thoughts, took a seat next to me and complained.

“I had a really hard time catching that, right? It melts armor like butter.”

“Oh, I’d like to see that.”

If the armor melted, it would be impossible for human skin to remain intact, but since Wayne had powers beyond the standard, it would have been a scene straight out of an erotic fanzine.

“Wow… Anyway, those kids are already adults soon… Time flies so fast.”

“There are still nearly 30 years left to say soon.”

“That’s not much left.”

It seems that Wayne has already successfully thrown away the human concept of time. Well, even when I returned to Earth, I continued to live my life.

“Dad~! Look at this!”

Adele innocently brought ‘what used to be slime’ and held it out to me. Well, if you look at this side of things, you may have grown up on the outside, but you are still a child on the inside.

Even after growing up for 70 years, I’m still like that, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to become a decent adult in the remaining 30 years.

“Adele. If you tease the slime too much, it won’t work.”

“But he tickled me first…”

Looking at the way it turns into porridge after being tickled, it looks like the dragon’s nature has been inherited well.

I didn’t say this because I was really worried about the slime, it was just a joke, so I patted Adele’s head to keep her from getting upset.

“Hehe….”

“Eugene. Aren’t you just being too Adele?”

“Is that so?”

Arjen’s words made me feel like I was missing something, so I looked towards where Asha was. In fact, Asha didn’t even look in this direction, perhaps because she was interested in seeing a creature called a slime in person.

When I shift my gaze back to Arjen, she speaks confidently.

“No. I mean me, me.”

“Arjen… You have to set an example in front of your children. What should you do if you want to be treated the same way as your children…”

“Hmm? What else is showing a harmonious couple but an example?”

“…Okay, let’s not talk.”

Arjen can be ridiculous to no end if he puts his mind to it. It would be troublesome if the children saw me like that and their fantasy about their mother was shattered, so I had no choice but to pat Arjen on the head as well.

“Hehe….”

“Hehehe….”

Well… looking at it like this, I don’t know who is the child and who is the mother. I feel like I have two daughters.

“Adele. Do you like your dad that much?”

“Yes! I will be by your side for the rest of my life!”

This is a rather happy answer. It is very enjoyable to just give endless affection to your children, but it is very touching to receive love in the opposite way.

“Lifetime? But later on, there will come a time when Adel will have to prepare his own rare.”

“Hmm? My, my rare?”

Adele looked slightly embarrassed. Looking at the reaction, it seems like they hadn’t expected it at all.

I think we talked about self-reflection while showing the power of faith in the past, but unlike Asha, who prepared diligently, Adele didn’t think about the future at all.

For some reason, I felt an uneasy feeling creeping up, and Arjen hinted that he seemed to be no different from me.

“Adele. I didn’t plan on living in Mom and Dad’s cage for the rest of my life… didn’t I?”

“Ah… no?”

Adele looks up at me with a very anxious expression and speaks. At that moment, I reflexively thought, ‘Why not?’ The answer almost came out.

Dragons are independent creatures. So much so that they can commit fratricide without hesitation. In Akasha’s memories of the past, didn’t the murder of a relative come up?

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Arzen and Adele will fight, but I do know that life-long cohabitation between parents and children is not common among dragons.

“Adele….”

Arjen interrupted me as I was about to say something.

“Eugene. This is me.”

“Uh, yes.”

I naturally handed over the right to speak to Arjen. Since it is about the ecology of dragons, it would be much more appropriate for her, a dragon, to explain it.

“Adele. Mom and Dad love you very much too. But unfortunately, the fact that we live together forever…”

It seemed like a serious conversation had begun between mother and daughter, so I quietly left the place. Of course, there was no problem in continuing to stand, but the main reason was to take care of Asha, who was well alone.

“Asha. Is this your first time seeing slime in person?”

“Ah, Dad. huh. As expected, there is a big difference between knowing about it in books and seeing it in person.”

“Right? Mom said that in about 30 years… how about going out and looking around the world on your own before you become an Eucharist?”

“Really? I like it!”

Asha’s eyes sparkle. Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about as far as Asha was concerned. In times like these, it was a great comfort to know that he was a dignified son.

Sure enough, the noise came from between Arjen and Adele.

“Yes… okay.”

“Okay. Nice one, Adele. Perhaps because she is my daughter, she is smart and understands me well.”

“Okay then! Can I bring my dad to my rare and live there?”

Adele’s explosive statement was innocent, but Arjen could not tolerate it at all.

“…I guess I didn’t understand anything…”

Arjen retracted what he had just said. Before I knew it, a thin tendon was sticking out of my forehead.