But She Was Stupid

The golden-orange crab roe looked translucent, like tiny pearls.

[Gulp!]

Fine, he would eat it.

"Nom~!"

Dragon Jaws opened and took a bite.

Seeing the Green Hatchling start eating, Agatha said nothing and turned toward her other prey.

With her overwhelming individual strength, no hatchling dared covet her prey even if she left it lying unattended.

The other hatchlings were a different story.

The Xelila Group had reacted quickly, and many hatchlings had failed to catch anything during this hunt.

What would the hatchlings without prey do?

The answer was obvious: steal another hatchling's prey, of course.

They dared not target Agatha, nor did they dare target Chaos, whom anyone with eyes could clearly see was receiving special treatment from her.

The answer was obvious.

"Grrr~!"

A Black Hatchling stood atop a Xelila carcass, baring her teeth in warning at the three hatchlings gradually approaching her.

The three hatchlings simply ignored the warning. They needed to eat.

Keeping their bodies low, they continued creeping forward.

Whoosh!

Just then, a black shadow streaked past, and the Xelila's right claw vanished.

"Roar~!"

She roared furiously at the Black Hatchling in the sky, who was clearly much smaller than her.

That wretched little thief had actually dared to steal her prey!

At that moment, the three hatchlings on the ground moved. They swarmed her together, tearing at the Xelila's other legs with clear purpose.

"Roar!"

By the time the Black Hatchling reacted, she discovered that her prey had shrunk yet again.

This time, she seemed to have learned her lesson. Instead of roaring again, she looked down at the crab shell, raised a claw, and smashed it open before burying her head inside to feast.

Almost every hatchling that had caught prey experienced the same thing.

By the end, all the successful hunters had learned their lesson.

They quietly buried their heads in their food. Even if another hatchling jumped right in their faces, they refused to bother with her and simply kept eating.

They would eat whatever they could.

But there were exceptions.

[Burp~]

Full and satisfied, Chaos lay at the edge of the crab shell and let out a hearty burp.

He scraped some unidentified type of Xelila innards off his face with a claw, then let both foreclaws dangle lazily over the shell again.

He was full.

And now that he was full, he did not particularly feel like moving.

His gaze swept over the Dragon Group fighting for food.

He soon spotted an especially interesting target.

Four hatchlings were gathered around a Xelila, gnawing away, and the Dragon Group's only White Hatchling seemed to want to join them.

She charged over on all fours, throwing her chubby body into the fray.

But just as she approached, a large claw kicked her squarely in her round, white head.

The tremendous force sent her tumbling backward across the ground for several rolls before she finally stopped.

After falling, the White Hatchling climbed back up and shook her head, then charged again from another direction.

As though they had agreed beforehand, the other hatchlings seemed determined to exclude the lone White Hatchling.

Even after choosing a different target, the White Hatchling was still kicked back by another hatchling.

This time, the White Hatchling seemed a little angry.

She lowered her body into an attacking stance, her gaze fixed on the Blue Hatchling that had kicked her.

The sight perked Chaos right up.

Oh, were they about to fight?

"Hmph-da~! Hmph-da~!"

After roaring, the White Hatchling charged at the Blue Hatchling that had kicked her.

Hearing that roar, Chaos began to understand.

So she was an idiot. She couldn't even talk. No wonder the other hatchlings all excluded her.

But how had this white idiot ended up among a whole brood of True Dragons?

The charging White Hatchling looked very brave.

But that did nothing to change the fact that the White Dragon Kind sat at the very bottom of the Chromatic Dragons' food chain.

The Blue Hatchling, busy stuffing her face, barely even glanced behind her. The instant the White Hatchling approached, she lifted a hind claw and planted a solid kick right in her head.

Perhaps the repeated attacks had angered her, because the Blue Hatchling's kick was clearly harder this time.

The White Hatchling rolled rapidly away, showing no sign of stopping even after covering quite a distance.

Credit where it was due, this one really was round.

With that silent assessment, Chaos simply watched the White Hatchling keep rolling.

[Thud~]

An exceptionally crisp impact rang out.

That sounded like a solid head.

The crab shell beneath Chaos shifted backward a little as well.

Indeed, the White Hatchling had only stopped because she had collided with the shell beneath him.

Looking down, he found the White Hatchling sprawled on the ground, clearly out of commission. Half her tongue lolled out of her Dragon Jaws, making her look utterly dopey, while her fat, cone-shaped tail lay flat against the ground. She looked like a lizard that had been roasted dry.

A whole brood of True Dragons, and this one was the only White Dragon-and a dimwit at that.

She could not even speak.

Was this one just thrown in as an extra?

The instant that thought surfaced, Chaos found it more plausible the longer he considered it.

Maybe she really was just an extra.

Still...

She was a dimwit, but she did look pretty easy to fool.

He looked at the White Hatchling lying on the ground, who had already begun to recover slowly.

Her recovery was impressive. She was already bouncing back from that collision.

Maybe he could pull one over on her.

It was not obvious yet at this hatchling stage, but as the hatchlings began advancing, the Bloodline Frailty in his blood would be exposed sooner or later. As a Spellcaster, he absolutely needed a meat shield who could stand in front of him at any moment.

With that thought in mind, Chaos silently began weighing his options.

Under the current circumstances, it was only a matter of time before a few dragons in the Dragon Group joined forces to form a small team.

Just like...

His emerald slit pupils shifted left, and he glanced out of the corner of his eye at a little group of four dragons guarding a Xelila as they ate nearby: two Blue Hatchlings, one Green Hatchling, and one Black Hatchling.

They were the four whose tails he had tied together earlier.

Small groups were inevitable under these circumstances.

The White Hatchling before him was quite suitable.

She lacked a Blue Hatchling's vicious drive to attack.

But she was stupid.

She also lacked a Green Hatchling's powerful life-healing abilities.

But she was stupid.

Nor did she have a Red Hatchling's absurdly overpowered physique during the hatchling stage.

But she was stupid.

Finally, she lacked a Black Hatchling's devious cunning.

But she was stupid.

As long as she was stupid, she was the perfect teammate!

So she was worth tricking.

Recovering from her dizziness, she shook her head and saw a Green Hatchling overhead, both claws hooked over the edge of the heavy shell, staring straight at her.

Her white slit pupils narrowed slightly.

The next second, the White Hatchling quickly rolled upright.

It smelled so good...

That was the smell of food...

Her round, white head tilted toward the large claw lying on the ground beside her. Inside it was glistening white meat.

A tantalizing, savory aroma drifted into her nostrils.

Danger!

A feeling of extreme danger rose in her heart.

[Slurp~!]

She slurped back the clear drool that had already stretched more than a dozen centimeters from her jaws, then turned her head warily toward the source of danger.

Seeing the White Hatchling so tense that she had lowered her body and begun slowly backing away, Chaos raised his head and followed her gaze.

Not far away, Agatha crouched before a scattering of broken crab shells, silently watching his direction.

More precisely, Agatha's gaze was fixed on the White Hatchling.