Chapter 15

"Stop it, what are you thinking!? Spending all the money is unbelievable!"

I was being lectured by my mother.

Despite still being young and beautiful, my mother could be quite terrifying when angry.

This time, she seemed especially furious.

"Well, if I can successfully hatch the servitor beast eggs, I can make more money than the purchase cost."

"What nonsense are you talking about? It won't go that smoothly, you know? If it were that easy, everyone would be rich. Ha... I allowed you to buy and sell things because you said you wanted to save money for the future... Men just spend all their money so quickly."

"It's fine. Besides, it's the money I earned myself, so I should be able to use it as I like."

"What are you saying? The money you used also came from the sales of sandals we made together. It's not just your money, you know. I've decided. From now on, you are forbidden to buy things without permission."

"Wh-What? That's not fair. I'm sorry. Please forgive me!!"

"No. You need to reflect properly!"

Even as I continued to apologize, bowing my head to the ground, my mother's anger did not subside.

Damn, her arguments are too logical to counter.

Still, I think the money from the sandals is like a drop in the bucket.

The cost of the servitor beast eggs was mostly covered by my bricks.

But, maybe I should have thought more before acting.

Well, even though a purchase ban has been issued, there are still ways around it.

After all, I'm the one who makes the bricks, and I'm the one who sells them to the traveling merchants.

I'll fudge the sales figures a bit and start saving some money on the side.

The real problem is the eggs.

Servitor beasts are apparently a method of making money, or rather, a gamble, known even in this rural village.

Indeed, as my mother said, if useful servitor beasts could be hatched so easily, everyone would be doing it.

In fact, most people try and fail.

Because there are so many failures, there are even cases of fraud.

Most of the time, the eggs don't hatch properly, and people are sold ordinary animal eggs as servitor beast eggs.

Still, there are rare cases where, after many failures, someone succeeds and dreams of making a fortune by investing in eggs.

There are also warnings to be careful of those who start buying eggs.

Damn traveling merchants, you didn't tell me the success rate was so low, I grumbled to myself.

But, it's too late now that I've already bought them.

At the very least, I need to make sure they hatch successfully...

I hope a servitor beast that can be of some use is born.

I held the egg in my hands as if in prayer, determined to clear my name.

***

The servitor beast egg I bought from the traveling merchant was about the size of a regular chicken egg you'd find at the supermarket.

The only difference was the camouflage-like pattern on its surface.

Apparently, it's best to store the egg in a way that it doesn't break and to keep it as close to you as possible.

The reason is that the egg absorbs the owner's magic power to grow.

It seems that the amount of magic power absorbed can vary from person to person, and the same egg can hatch into completely different forms.

Incidentally, it's also possible to hatch an egg using the magic power of multiple people.

However, in that case, it's difficult to hatch servitor beasts of the same form.

For now, I'll make something to carry it safely.

With that in mind, I took some Hachuka stems, which were piled up for the sandals, and started weaving them.

I made a net-like structure, a bit thicker, and tied it at the top to create an egg holder.

By tying the top string around my waist, I could carry it with me at all times.

I just need to be careful not to crush it with my butt.

"Still, magic power. It seems to absorb it automatically, but can I send it myself?"

Thinking this, I focused my magic power in my eyes.

I stared at the egg.

The small egg with the camouflage pattern seemed to have almost no magic power of its own.

However, a faint blue mist covered the surface of the egg.

It seems that the egg really does absorb magic power from its surroundings.

"Magic Power Injection"

But it was absorbing only a tiny amount.

So I activated the magic.

Magic Power Injection is a spell used to send magic power into logs when cultivating magic mushrooms.

If the egg grows by absorbing magic power, maybe I can send it from my side.

That was the idea behind my action.

My magic power moved from my palm into the egg.

It seemed to have absorbed all the magic power I sent.

The egg itself began to emit a stronger light.

I don't know how much magic power to send, but from then on, I observed the egg daily and continued to perform Magic Power Injection.

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