Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 320
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“My investigation was insufficient, it seems.”
“Huh?”
How delightful. I had claimed Cha Cha’s chastity, which he had guarded for ten thousand years.
I explained to Cha Cha that this was a natural phenomenon, and we moved on to round two. Cha Cha suggested moving the Egg to another room this time, but of course, that opinion was disregarded.
◇ ◆ ◇
“Ahahaha! Wahahahaha!”
Ah, the dawn air of the Underworld is so crisp and refreshing! I had completed the long-awaited task and returned from my jog in high spirits. Now I wouldn’t need to stand under waterfalls every night to suppress my desires during my month-long stay in the Underworld.
I rinsed away the sweat from my exercise with hot water and entered the bedroom in a refreshed state. For some reason, Cha Cha was hurriedly putting on a robe.
“E-Evan! The Egg!”
He rushed toward me covered in bite marks—did he want to continue from this morning? I assumed, but Cha Cha said something unexpected. The Egg? Had something happened to the Egg?
“The Egg! It has a crack!”
But we didn’t even break the bed and behaved ourselves—why would the Egg crack? Just in case, I told Cha Cha to prepare to report to the Mother Goddess, when there was a sharp sound and the eggshell split open.
Wait, could this be… a normal hatching?
“Evan, look! A baby, our child!”
“Ooh!”
So eggs just crack open normally like this! Obero emerged dripping with golden liquid, and I never imagined our child would be born so smoothly.
“Wow, so warm.”
The child born from the mixture of Cha Cha’s and my genes was truly an ordinary newborn. The only peculiar thing was that their hair flickered like flames? It felt like normal hair when touched, but it looked like burning fire. The color was pink, taking after Cha Cha. It was quite beautiful.
“Evan, would you like to hold them too?”
Yes! Cha Cha said he made them sturdy, so they shouldn’t get hurt even if I applied a bit of strength, right?
As I carefully held the baby, the newborn in my arms subtly frowned.
“Sigh…”
And let out the most exasperated sigh imaginable.
“…”
Isn’t this child a bit strange? Shouldn’t newborns usually cry? Not crying is odd enough, but why did they sigh with such obvious disdain when looking at me?
“Listen, I’m your mother. You shouldn’t sigh at your mother.”
“Bub, sigh…”
They’re sighing again? Is something wrong? As I looked at Cha Cha with confusion, he shook his head, saying even he didn’t know.
“Strange? I made them exactly the same way I made Obero. Mother even added intelligence as a bonus.”
Intelligence again. If that’s the case, then our child currently has a sense of self and thoughts, just unable to speak?
“Should we ask Gerth? Unlike us, he has childcare experience.”
“Yes! I’ll get ready right away!”
Cha Cha, wearing only clothes, cast a protective barrier spell on the child and himself, then took my hand. When I called for return, the demi-humans who had come in early greeted us.
“Oh, Your Majesty, the Ten Thousand Demon King.”
“Mother!”
“My, could that child be the Underworld King’s and Evan Laef’s baby?”
“Indeed. Where is Gerth?”
I entrusted the newborn who had hatched from the egg to Magania and Lakne, then went searching for Gerth. Gerth was helping the drowsy Obero brush her teeth while cradling her in his arms.
“Evan Laef. What’s the matter so early in the morning?”
“The baby hatched from the egg!”
“Congratulations.”
“Yes!”
That aside, something seems off about the child—come see for yourself quickly.
I dragged Gerth along to where the newborn lay, still frowning deeply and heaving sighs as though the earth itself was collapsing beneath them.
“The blue eyes resemble you beautifully, Evan Laef.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“And the mouth shape is just like yours too. Absolutely adorable.”
“I appreciate it, but could you please examine the child’s condition!”
At my urging, Gerth handed Obero to me and cradled the newborn. He gauged the baby’s weight, patted the small back to encourage burping, opened the tiny mouth to inspect inside, and tilted his head in confusion.
“I don’t see anything particularly wrong.”
“But the baby keeps sighing whenever looking at me?”
“Hmm?”
As Gerth said he’d examine once more, the newborn with flame-like hair glanced at Obero. Then, with even more desperate undertones than before, the baby exhaled a profound sigh.
“Haaaaaaaaaa.”
“The child truly is peculiar.”
“Right?”
This seemed beyond what we could handle ourselves—shouldn’t I contact Ursula? When Gerth also said he had no idea, I was about to have Cha Cha prepare a communication, but surprisingly, Obero opened her mouth.
“Um, well, so your younger sibling is saying…?”
After exchanging glances with the child, Obero spoke on the baby’s behalf with a bewildered expression.
“Please stop paying attention to me?”
“….”
“….”
“….”
What? The newborn’s miserable expression all this time was because they wanted to be alone? More importantly, Obero, how did you understand what the baby was saying? When I asked how you suddenly developed such a prophetic skill, Obero answered with a reluctant expression.
“When I converse with the Emperor of Crowell, it feels like talking to a wall, which made me frustrated… and then…”
Wait, a skill manifested because of Cecilia?
“A Communication Skill has emerged.”
“….”
Perhaps I should issue a ban on Obero’s entry to the Imperial Palace right now. No, but then Cecilia would be upset? She’s been adjusting her work schedule just to meet Obero, so if I interfere, she’ll lock both Obero and me away together.
“No, wait. Let me just—”
My mind was tangled with various concerns, but explaining this situation to my child who had just hatched from the egg seemed like the highest priority.
“Baby, babies normally cannot grow up alone.”
Even Obero, who grew up almost entirely on her own, still needs us to provide meals and education. When I spoke common sense to the newborn, the child sighed deeply once more. Obero exchanged another glance with this half-sibling, then calmly translated.
“Knowing that makes it even more hopeless.”
“How did a solitary, hopeless artist like this come to be born between Cha Cha and me?”
“And he said he didn’t want to hatch from the Egg if he could help it, but after seeing that pathetic display yesterday, he decided he couldn’t stay in there any longer.”
“Hmm….”
I felt guilty about that. I suppose I did use the Egg for atmosphere a bit. Is that why he sighed so heavily when he saw me?
“More importantly, Evan, we can’t keep calling him Egg or Baby indefinitely.”
Gerth was right about that too. I’d been inconvenienced by not having a proper name for the child.
“Cha Cha, have you thought of any names? As the child’s father, you have naming rights too.”
“Huh? Well, I usually just call him Egg or Baby, so I haven’t really thought of anything.”
This would fall on me then. I absolutely couldn’t entrust naming to Gerth, and if I tried to name him myself, Leri would probably object.
I glanced around at the Serpent King’s Tower Officials, spotted Hubert, and grinned.
“Hubert! Want to try naming your younger sibling?”
“Huh? Me?”
Hubert was flustered by the sudden call, but he seemed genuinely interested in naming the child. The man with nine tails wagging happily said he’d once imagined what he would have renamed himself if his name had been “Hosik.”
“What about Reinhardt! I think it’s an incredibly cool name.”
How about it? Do you like it? I checked the child’s opinion as he emerged from the Egg, and I could roughly understand what he thought even without Obero translating. The baby just made a despairing face and sighed.
“It’s such a grand name that he feels burdened, like he’ll have to become Emperor someday?”
A loner with a pessimistic artist’s temperament and picky to boot. Can Cha Cha and I really raise him well? I was already worried about that, but Hubert, undeterred, suggested the next name.
“What about Kirchhoff! I think it has a cool vibe that suits your younger sibling really well!”
“Siiiiigh….”
“He says it’s such a refreshing and splendid name, like a breeze passing through highlands, that it doesn’t suit him at all.”
This kid is really picky! Though the Starving Child is a precious child born between Cha Cha and me, Hubert is my son too, so I was worried he might feel discouraged.
“If you keep this up, I’m just going to call you Tom or Hans!”
“!”
As I raised my voice partly to defend Hubert, the Starving Child’s eyes widened in surprise, and he seemed delighted.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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