Chapter 105

After being away from the imperial city for a while, we, together with our master, visited several towns on our way.

This is the story of one night.

I took out a big bottle from the bag.

After dinner, I tried something by putting plants inside the bottle.

「Phew, it seems it won’t eat normal plants. I thought either fresh plants or…」

Inside of the big bottle was the 『Wall Eater』that master got in the imperial city.

It had a strange shape, but it has a beautiful white color in the bottle.

「Ku-chan, that’s not a sleeping bag, okay?」

I gave it the name Ku-chan. It had a clear body at first so I named it Cu-lear or Ku-chan.

Somehow, it seemed to think that the plants I put inside were something for it to sleep on, and it seemed to be stretching the plants out inside the bottle.

「Even so, Ku-chan has gotten a lot bigger…」

Remembering how big it was back in the beginning, I nodded after looking at it now.

Ku-chan had started at about an inch long, and now was about the size of a person’s finger, and looked like a pill-bug.

Its color had changed from a clear color to a glossy white.

Also, it had a shiny, slimy liquid that had now disappeared after it grew.

「So, did it eat anything?」

「Master….」

The master came up beside me to peer into the bottle.

You’re too close, master!

If you get too close too fast, it won’t be ready for the surprise…

「I guess it does only eat metal and magic jewels, and maybe meat. Even though it did make a bed out of those plants.」

Using the skill of approaching softly, he took a piece of a magic green boar and put said piece inside of the bottle.

Ku-chan turned away from the plants he had ignored and began to quickly eat up the meat.

The meat was the same size at Ku-chan, and he seemed to smile as he gobbled down the meal.

「I know a little about what this『Wall Eater』loves to eat, but why will it eat meat and not plants? I thought it would like mulberries or something.」

「Mullberries?」

「Yeah, everyone loves those in my world.」

That answer seemed to prick at my heart.

A world that I didn’t know and couldn’t share with master.

Knowing the truth about that now, my heart seemed to hurt. Maybe not hurt, but dry up a little.

「That reminds me…why do you call it『Ku-chan』? You can’t appraise the sex of the bug, so how do you not know it’s actually 『Ku-kun』?」

As master asked me something I didn’t know the answer to.

「? Ku-chan is a girl though, right?」

In the bottle, Ku-chan had turned away and was now bobbing its head up and down.

「What…I mean…either way is fine.」

Master said with a doubtful look, and scratched his cheek.

☆

「Ah, if you’re going to give it food, let me! It’s my turn for revenge! 」

We were far now from Ermia.

In front of the angry Shuria, there was a small case the size of a shoebox.

Inside was a calm-looking Ku-chan.

「『Kyukyuroo』」

Ku-chan said as it was trying something.

Ku-chan by now had become the size of a small rabbit.

After Ku-chan became this big, it would make sounds while it shook.

「Here! It’s your favorite delicious meat!」

Shuria had enthusiastically cooked and now was holding a piece of orc meat that was magic, and had dropped it in the case.

Ku-chan moved around the meat as if inspecting it, and then went back to its bed of leaves it had constructed.

「Wha, hey hey! Why won’t you eat my food?!」

Ku-chan loved meat and metal with magic in it, but for some reason it wouldn’t eat what Shuria provided. It just didn’t like it.

「Well, don’t worry about it so much, Shuria.」

I couldn’t find any words to tell her so I only had an ambiguous reason like that.

I took the orc meat from the case and gave it a hand sized magic gem from Yumis.

『Kyukyuiiiii!』

As I did, Ku-chan seemed to spring on it as if it had waited a long time and began eating away.

Even though it became bigger, Ku-chan was eating away with a mouth that you couldn’t really see.

However…

「Ah…」

Ku-chan stopped eating the gem when it was half gone.

「What happened to it? It usually eats the whole thing.」

Lately, Ku-chan’s amount of food it ate became less and less.

It didn’t stop eating altogether, and it did leap onto magic stones like this; it didn’t seem weaker either, but I was worried.

「Do you think it’s fallen ill or something?」

「I’ve checked it out and there’s no abnormal status to it.」

Master was squatted down next to the case and looking from the opposite side.

「However…maybe Ku-chan is resisting the scanning of it. Whether consciously or unconsciously. Although I think it’s okay as it’s not faking its status.」

Master turned his head in puzzlement.

『Kyu, kyuiii』

「But, it is weird. I don’t want to see big bugs like this one, but I think Ku-chan’s pretty cute now.」

He rubbed Ku-chan with his finger as he said that.

「You change bit by bit too master.」

「Hm..you have to eat! Eat! Why won’t it eat any more?」

Shuria had worked her butt off putting magic in that meat, but the bug just stopped eating it.

Shuria was crying in disbelief, and we were worried that something was wrong with Ku-chan.

Then, one day

「…what can this be?」

After one night, inside the case that Ku-chan was in, there was a white shimmering egg like a jewel inside.

And, there was no Ku-chan inside the case any more.

「Master, is this egg what remains of Ku-chan?」

「I don’t know…I can’t appraise it.」

Master looked at me with a confused face.

「I mean, that has to be it, right? This has to be Ku-…」

「Is…is it okay? If Shuria did something to it with her food, I won’t forgive her!」Minnalis said.

「Calm down, you two. Even if it dies, you can’t help it. It’s a magic beast, so there’s going to be at least one or two weird things about it.」

Still, master’s face looked a bit worried.

「Hm? The egg just moved.」

Just then.

Shuria was about to say something back when the motionless egg started to shake in small jolts.

「Ah, it happened again!」

They were very small little jerks that were happening to the egg, but they did exist.

「…I don’t know what it is, but …it seems that it’s not dead.」

「…」

Anyway, I was relieved.

We looked on a bit worried at the egg, as it began to shake in small fits again.

☆

Finally, we couldn’t do anything about it, Ku-chan had become an egg, and we watched it ourselves from time to time.

The movements kept continuing, and there was no change in the egg. Since it’s an egg, it has to hatch sometime, right?