Happy and Ailu

Aibo agreed to Levy's request only as a stopgap measure. His super brain told him that since he couldn't directly refuse this date, he should find a way to sabotage it indirectly.

So Aibo planned to call a few good brothers over to help liven things up when the time came. He thought having Gray cosplay Sasuke and Natsu cosplay Sakura would be pretty good.

Over the next few days, Natsu barely left his egg's side. This made Mira extremely dissatisfied with her new "neighbor." She felt Natsu was leading Lisanna astray and suggested that Aibo move the egg-incubation room into the forest.

Aibo ignored Mira, who always acted on a whim. He had his own egg to look after too. The sounds coming from inside were growing louder and louder, and he could even hear vague "thoughts." That meant there was an intelligent creature inside the egg.

Could it really... be a dragon egg?

Another matter left Aibo a little depressed: he had also customized a body-tempering spell for Elfman.

This shouldn't have been troublesome, but the problem was... he discovered that Elfman might genuinely possess some kind of talent. The intensity of the body-tempering spell he used now was already higher than Erza's, and by quite a lot.

When Aibo started worrying about Elfman, Elfman actually said they could increase it further. He could still endure it.

It made Aibo question his life, because Elfman's body-tempering intensity was already more than seven times his own. In other words, it should hurt at least seven times more, yet that guy endured it without making a sound.

Could it be... that I'm the problem? Am I really that fragile, that unable to endure hardship?

Aibo was troubled, but he had no intention of increasing his own training to Elfman's level. That was definitely excessive exercise. Still, Aibo gradually raised the intensity of his own body-tempering spell.

Because Aibo had found a way to lessen the pain: soul magic—Thought Projection.

Thought Projections were somewhat different from Shadow Clones. Though a Thought Projection was a clone almost indistinguishable from the original body, its thoughts were synchronized with the original and would not split into two separate minds.

This meant that if more magic power and attention were invested into the Thought Projection, the original body's senses would become dulled and would not notice much pain.

He could even have the clone conduct research and experiments while the original stayed at the guild playing with his little sisters, then have both sides grind experience with magic at the same time and gain double the happiness.

Thought Projections and Shadow Clones each had their own advantages and disadvantages, but for Aibo, Thought Projections were obviously more suitable.

Today, Aibo's original body was working as a waiter at the guild. With little processing power left, the original body was better suited for this kind of mindless work.

Just as Aibo was chatting with Laxus about the pros and cons of light magic and lightning magic, Natsu came rushing over with an egg in his arms, shouting anxiously from the corner of his mouth:

"Aibo! Aibo! Help! My egg looks like it's about to break!"

Many tiny cracks had appeared on the eggshell in Natsu's arms, and it was trembling nonstop.

Aibo could already hear the little creature inside, restless and uneasy.

"Natsu, don't panic. Your egg isn't broken. It's about to hatch."

"Huh! It's finally going to hatch?!"

Natsu was thrilled, and all the idle people in the guild gathered around to watch.

"Huh? That egg is really going to hatch?"

"Could it actually be a dragon egg? I've never seen this kind of egg."

"I bet it's a big bird egg. How could it be a dragon?"

"Bastard! It is a dragon! My dragon!"

[Aye! Aye!]

As the sound of the eggshell cracking grew louder and louder, a little blue thing suddenly burst out of the shell! It flew into the air.

"A cat?!"

"It can fly? It has wings—is it a bird?"

"It's a cat, isn't it? It's obviously a cat, and it's blue too..."

Amid everyone's discussion, the little blue cat swayed as it "floated" down onto Natsu's head. The wings on its back vanished, and it waved at everyone in greeting.

"Aye! Aye!"

Everyone in the guild was shocked.

"A talking cat?!"

"That's amazing!"

"So cute~"

"Dragon! My dragon!"

Natsu lifted the little cat up like Simba, making everyone laugh.

Taking advantage of this moment, Aibo's original body switched places with the Thought Projection at home, then hurried toward the bedroom.

Sure enough, his own egg had begun to crack as well. The incubation times for these eggs seemed to be about the same, but his own little one seemed to be having trouble breaking out of its shell.

Aibo approached the restless pink egg and encouraged the little one inside.

"Crack~"

Rather than flying out like the other little blue cat, it smashed through the eggshell with its elbow. A little cat with white fur streaked with pink appeared before Aibo.

The little cat blinked its lively eyes and stared at Aibo for a moment before opening its mouth and saying:

"Mommy!"

"..."

Aibo nearly lost his footing and fell to the floor. He stroked the newborn kitten and said with a kind smile:

"No, you should call me Boss."

"Mommy!"

Aibo took a deep breath, feeling immensely fortunate that he hadn't taken this egg to hatch together with Natsu's. He reached out and pinched the big-headed kitten's cheeks, smiling with narrowed eyes.

"Come on, say it with me—Boss."

"Mo... Bo, Boss!"

"Not bad, not bad. You're a teachable kitty. Oh~ You're a little female cat too. What should I name you?"

Meanwhile, everyone at the guild was also urging Natsu to name the little blue cat.

"Of course, you should be called Ailu."

("I've decided! This guy's name will be Happy!")

The little blue cat and the little pink cat received their names at almost the same time.

Although they hadn't hatched dragons from the eggs, Aibo was still quite happy. This was a talking magical cat!

As a traditional mage, how could he not keep a cat? It was a pity that his cat was white rather than black, but that was fine. He would raise Ailu into the strongest magical cat!

"Come on! Ailu, Boss will take you for a bath, then teach you how to talk."

"Aye! Boss!"

"Not bad, not bad. But Ailu, remember that you're a cat, so you should add a 'meow' at the end when you speak. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Meow Boss!"

"No, no, add 'meow' at the end!"

"Boss! Meow!"

"Hahahaha, that's right, that's right! Ailu, you're so smart. You already seem much smarter than Natsu's Happy~"

"Aye! Boss! Meow!"

"Good! So spirited! You deserve a reward! I'll make you something delicious tonight. Oh, I can't cook. Virgo! Hurry, make something tasty for my cat!"

The summoned Virgo stared silently at the little kitten in Aibo's arms for a while.

"Young Master, I don't think this kitten can eat food yet. It should drink milk."

"Huh? That does seem right. Then please buy some more milk. Oh, buy a magic refrigerator too!"

"Yes, as you command."

With a little creature to care for suddenly added to the household, even Aibo, who had never cared much about food, became more home-oriented.

Aibo held little Ailu in his arms and looked her over from every angle. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became. From now on, he was someone with a cat too!

When an Aibo had a cat named Ailu, what would he do next?

Aibo stared brightly into Ailu's eyes.

"Ailu, as an Ailu cat, you must firmly remember your mission. You need to learn to cook, learn to do housework, learn to set traps, and most importantly, learn to take care of me!"

"Y-yes, Boss?"

"Ailu, don't hesitate. Believe in yourself. You can definitely become an all-purpose cat!"

"Yes! Boss! Meow!"

"Little Ailu, grow up quickly, then we'll go hunt magical beasts together!"

"Yes! Boss meow!"

On the day Ailu was born, eight-year-old Aibo seemed to have rediscovered his true childlike innocence. (Not really.)