I Think This Is a Cat Egg

"How... how did you do that?" Haiweier asked in shock.

Chiba shrugged and said, "Just one of my abilities."

"I highly suspect you're just trying to look cool." Haiweier squinted.

But after saying that, she felt she had been too nice to Chiba, so she snorted and turned her face away.

Chiba couldn't help but laugh at her childishness. At this moment, Nuolin said, "It's okay if you don't know, just practice more."

"Um!"

The two began discussing swordsmanship, focusing on the essence of swordsmanship and their understanding of the relationship between magic and sword energy. Occasionally, they would unleash sword energy, but Chiba still couldn't grasp Nuolin's sword energy, so he didn't make much progress even after practicing all day.

"That's all for today." As evening approached, Nuolin sheathed her sword and said.

Chiba scratched the back of his head, somewhat embarrassed. "To be honest, I don't understand at all. I always feel that my sword energy is not much different from yours, but I always feel that something is missing."

"Life," Nuolin said.

Chiba was taken aback. This was the first time Nuolin had given him a clear hint all day; before, she had always let him figure it out on his own.

"Sword energy is not static," she added as she left.

"Sword energy isn't dead..." Chiba pondered the meaning of the words, but something still felt strange. If sword energy wasn't dead, could it be alive?

But now, looking back, Nuolin's sword aura seemed so vivid, as if... it really was a sword aura that had come to life.

His magic is life-based, but that doesn't stop him from being a magical swordsman. If... he incorporated life attributes into his sword aura, wouldn't he be able to create sword auras that come alive?

Thinking of this, he suddenly Ichiraku. What would it be like if sword energy came to life? Clusters of sword energy twisting and turning in front of him like long-legged, slender girls? Anyone who didn't know better would be terrified.

It was quite late when I returned from Nuolin's. The forest was cool at night, as if all the heat of the day had dissipated, leaving only a gentle breeze drifting among the leaves.

And of course, there were a bunch of mosquitoes.

Fortunately, Chiba's house was surrounded by a lot of insect-repelling and mosquito-repelling plants, otherwise they would have bitten him to death in the middle of the night.

"Welcome home." Seele, who was cleaning the house, smiled happily as she pushed open the door.

She was cleaning the living room and her and Feiyin's bedroom. The three of them had made a huge mess of the house last night, with drink bottles and snack bags everywhere. These were all things Feiyin had bought and stored away.

In the morning, Chiba was worried that cleaning would disturb the three of them while they were sleeping, so he planned to clean it when he returned from the guild at noon and bring three lunches with him. But he was called away by Nuolin and while learning swordsmanship from her, he completely forgot about it.

"Chiba! Your fiancée has devoured all my stock!" Feiyin dragged a mop out of the room. "Give me some pocket money!"

"And she's so self-righteous." Chiba muttered under her breath, sitting on the sofa and laughing, "Who told you to be my daughter? Here, take it!"

With that, he tossed over a 100-yuan note. "Take this and buy some candy! Don't be shy!"

"Damn! Even creepy uncles don't try to fool little girls this stingily!"

"Ha... I'm not a creepy uncle, I'm good-looking too..."

"... You're so shameless..."

Chiba leaned back on the sofa, a slight smile playing on his lips. He looked out the window at the night view, where the sky was filled with stars.

It seems... everything is back on track. He practices, works, and when he's tired, he goes home to rest. He has a family now. No matter how cold and strong a person may be outside, he sheds his disguise at home and reveals his carefree true self. Like when he goes out to work and walks down the street, he wears a long black robe and looks just like a wandering samurai. But if he didn't use that arm, who would know that the samurai is actually disabled?

A sudden pang of emotion shot through him; in truth, he would sometimes be struck by the thought of that girl unexpectedly, like a gust of wind.

Large bunches of brightly colored chrysanthemums swayed in the wind, then returned to stillness.

The next day.

"Hey everyone! I found a really big egg!"

Natsu excitedly rushed into the guild, shouting loudly. He held up a large white egg with blue patterns and ran to the guild counter.

Everyone was drawn to Natsu's voice, and Makarov, sitting at the counter, looked surprised. "How do you have something like this?"

Natsu replied excitedly, "I found it in the eastern forest."

"You mean the East Forest?" Makarov was even more surprised.

He remembered that there was a monster in the East Forest that liked to eat eggs. How did this kid manage to find such a large egg intact?

"I never thought Natsu could be so considerate. Is this huge egg meant to be shared with everyone?" Gray chuckled, shirtless.

"Gray, the clothes..." Cana blushed slightly and reminded her softly.

Gray was startled, only then realizing that he had taken off his shirt without even noticing.

This is a typical example of hand speed exceeding brain speed.

"Are you kidding me! This is a dragon egg! Of course we're going to hatch it!" Natsu said warily, afraid that Gray would come over and snatch the egg away.

"A dragon egg?" Cana looked puzzled.

"Look at the patterns on the egg, don't they look like dragon claws!" Natsu said.

Cana suddenly realized that what he said might make some sense.

Not far away, Chiba leisurely took a sip of his drink and chuckled, "In my opinion, this is a cat egg."

"Cat egg?" Nazgrekana turned her gaze to him.

"How could it be a cat egg... Cats... don't hatch from eggs..." Cana said doubtfully.

"That's right..." Natsu and Gray nodded in unison.

"Chiba... cats are mammals, they don't hatch from eggs," Macao nudged him with his elbow, kindly reminding him.

Chiba raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued, and said, "Want to play a game?"

Wakaba took a drag of his cigarette, looking slightly weary. "I bet Macao will win..."

They really are best buddies forever...

But Macao rubbed his hands together and said, "Well... I'm not good at gambling..."

Chiba knew that it wasn't that he wasn't good at gambling, but rather that all his money was with his wife; he was henpecked.

"What are you afraid of? Cats are mammals anyway..." Chiba moved closer to him and began to coax him gently.

Last night, Feiyin asked him for pocket money. He checked his piggy bank and found that he only had 100,000 J left. He was planning to take on a subjugation quest today, but Natsu suddenly ran in carrying an egg.

He now wants to make a profit from Macao.

Hmph... If I didn't know that this egg would hatch into Happy, I would never believe that cats hatch from eggs.

Then... this group of men actually started a betting game. Even Makarov bet a considerable amount of money.

There are three possible interpretations: first, the egg is a dragon egg; second, the egg is a cat egg; and third, the egg is neither a cat egg nor a dragon egg.

The third view is Makarov's.