Captain – Chapter 185 – The Young Dragon

“Bang!”

The wooden door was pushed open forcefully, creating a breeze that swept across the desk, making the scattered papers rustle.

“Scholar, no—Bivis Green, I think we need to have a proper conversation.”

Accompanied by powerful footsteps, Roy entered the room with her First Mate and addressed the scholar, whose expression was excited yet still showed traces of unabated fear.

“Very well, Captain. If I’m not mistaken, our concerns are likely identical. But before discussing those issues, please wait a moment longer, until we witness this miracle of life.”

To the Captain’s surprise, the scholar showed no panic of “plans exposed,” nor did he self-righteously refuse to reveal secrets. Instead, he agreed without hesitation.

During this exchange, he hadn’t even glanced at the two of them once. His eyes were fixed solely on the increasingly trembling dragon egg.

“Oh? A miracle? What miracle?”

Hearing this, Roy blinked, her dark golden pupils showing a hint of interest.

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She stepped forward to the wooden table and tilted her head slightly to look at the dragon egg, which was continuously developing cracks: “Is it… about to hatch?”

“Yes. Upon leaving the Victoria, the chains of time surrounding it fell away, and its life process began to resume. Since then, I’ve tried to keep it in warm areas, hoping that someday it would break out of its shell.”

The scholar gently caressed the rough eggshell as if stroking his own child: “According to unverified—and forever unverifiable—ancient records, a dragon egg requires a long period of incubation from laying to hatching, perhaps several years, or even decades.”

“I originally thought it would take at least ten years to witness its birth, but it appears now that when its mother placed it aboard the Victoria, it had already undergone the baptism of time. That’s why it can hatch after just a few months.”

Roy listened quietly to Bivis’s explanation, occasionally glancing up to observe his expression. Seeing his wholehearted devotion and the joy and anticipation he couldn’t suppress in his eyes, her slender eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly.

Finally, with a crisp cracking sound, an irregular circular fracture appeared on the stone-like grayish-black eggshell.

The crack became increasingly clear as time passed, and eventually broke completely. Simultaneously, that piece of shell detached from the dragon egg, pushed open by a pair of milky-white horns, falling onto the table with a “thud.”

A pair of not-yet-sharp claws emerged from the hole, grasping both sides of the edge. With a slight effort, the entire dragon egg split in two, falling apart in opposite directions.

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Only then did the small creature born from the dragon egg come into view of the three people.

Though described as small, the creature’s physique was already comparable to a young panther. Combined with its hard, armor-like scales, it could likely easily hunt smaller predators.

“Is this really a dragon? It looks nothing like the ones in mythological scrolls.”

Flicking the young dragon’s rock-like, horny wings with her hand, Roy looked at this creature, so completely different from her imagined dragons, and asked skeptically.

In her imagination, dragons possessed bat-like membrane wings, sharp horns extending backward from both sides of the head, dense and gorgeous scales like those of a venomous snake, and a pair of majestic vertical pupils. Whether in fairy tales or heroic novels, dragons mostly appeared this way.

But the creature before her… it wasn’t just somewhat different from her imagination, but entirely dissimilar, without a hint of resemblance.

It had a pair of forward-curving round horns that looked like straightened sheep horns, its body covered with stone-like jet-black keratin with undeveloped barbs, and its eyes were a pair of rounded, amethyst-like pupils without any serpentine characteristics.

While Roy examined this “different species,” the young dragon folded its wings and glanced at her obliquely, its eyes full of vigilance and threat.

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“Dragons, like other species, have different branches. It might be one of these variants, which isn’t surprising.”

The scholar explained in a low voice, looking at the young dragon as if admiring a treasure: “Relax, relax, child. We are not your enemies.”

Watching Bivis slowly extend his hand toward it, the young dragon, far from being appeased as he hoped, seemed threatened. Its body suddenly tensed, and its front claws slammed forcefully on the tabletop as it snarled with bared teeth.

Those purple eyes, as animated as a human’s, showed disgust and fear, as if it had detected some horrifying scent on him.

“Oh, oh my God, damn it, I hatched you, how can you treat me like this?”

The scholar abruptly withdrew his hand and cursed with an unpleasant expression. But soon, his displeasure turned entirely to resignation: “Fine, fine. I once read in ancient texts that dragons are particularly sensitive to curses and magic, which are considered taboos flowing deep in their bloodline.”

“Is that so? But it doesn’t seem to mind my touch.”

As she spoke, Roy poked the young dragon’s wing with her finger again, but it showed no particular reaction, still ferociously staring at Bivis.

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“No, Captain, curses also differ from one another. Although I left the Victoria, I still cannot escape the misfortune and ill omen cast by the box. That may be why it won’t let me approach.”

Perhaps sensing that the scholar truly meant no harm, or perhaps because it was hungry after just being born, as the scholar dejectedly explained, the young dragon shifted its attention away from him and lowered its head, crunching on the fragments of the dragon egg.

Seeing this, the raven on the Captain’s shoulder also landed on the table. It looked at the young dragon, then at the many fragments of the dragon egg, and also bent down to peck at them.

But shortly after, it spat out all the fragments in its mouth and called out in a slightly shrill voice: “Can’t eat, can’t eat! Stupid egg, stupid egg!”

Ignoring the two small creatures on the table, Roy had not taken her eyes off Bivis since the young dragon first showed hostility toward him. She observed his slightly pale face, which indeed resembled that of a learned natural scientist, narrowed her eyes slightly, and asked with a light smile: “Is that so, Scholar?”

“I can’t say for certain. After all, this kind of creature should have been extinct long ago. Not just in this age, but even if we went back hundreds of years to the golden age of imperial natural science, no one could explain the living habits or preferences of dragon species.”

As if completely missing the probing in the Captain’s words, Bivis shook his head lightly and then sighed deeply: “It seems that before completely eliminating the Lady’s curse, this little one won’t let me approach. That being the case, to study its various behaviors as soon as possible, we should expedite our journey to find Satin Island.”

“What do you think, Captain?”