The Phoenix

"Come to think of it, Kehma. Hasn't the phoenix egg hatched yet?"

Crap, I completely forgot about that.

"Y-yeah. Redra should be over her reflexive egg-smashing fits by now, so it's probably about time. I'll go ask her."

"Heeh. So she had that kind of condition. Can't be helped then."

"Right, right. It couldn't be helped."

"… Aaand?"

"I forgot. Sorry."

Damn it, Rokuko's been getting too perceptive lately. That excuse used to work perfectly fine on her before.

"… We're partners, after all. I watch you closely, so I can tell when it comes to you, Kehma."

"What, you watch me that closely… Stalker?!"

"I-I'm not stalking you or anything, we're partners, okay? Two halves of one whole, right? What's wrong with looking? It's not like I'm going to attack you or anything."

Attack, huh. I'd get mad if she interrupted my sleep. I'd forgive her if she had a good reason, though.

So, I had a golem carry a letter to [Flame Cavern]. Separate from the cave, I'd made a passage for communication purposes, or rather, a room. It had no entrance or exit, and was split half-and-half between our [Cave of Desires] territory and their [Flame Cavern] territory. Since you couldn't get in without a dungeon's [Deployment] function, adventurers couldn't interfere. We'd agreed to use this room whenever either of us had business with the other.

Also, despite having no doors or windows, there was no risk of suffocation since it was still part of a dungeon.

"Ooh, been a while, hasn't it? Nah, maybe not that long, Kehma."

"Last time we met was when I made this room, so about a month ago?"

"That so? Guess that's a decent amount of time for humans, huh?"

Ittetsu the salamander grinned, his face twisting with some kind of amusement. He's the Dungeon Core of [Flame Cavern]. A friendly, good guy. He has his clueless moments, but he also has his capable moments. He does have his clueless moments though. And his clueless moments.

"Well then, go ahead and have Redra breathe on it like we agreed."

To have Redra breathe on the egg, I brought Rokuko along to visit [Flame Cavern]. We were guided to the boss room on the fiftieth floor. Apparently this place could withstand Redra's full-power breath.

By the way, Redra was still a bit scared of eggs. Pathetic for a dragon.

Still, a phoenix raised on a Red Dragon's breath… I couldn't even imagine what it would turn out like.

"You're sure it's safe?! It won't start walking or running, right?!"

"If we don't hurry up and hatch it, it might start walking again. So give it everything you've got to warm it up… Just don't crush it, okay?"

"G-got it!"

I laid down tiles made from phoenix eggshell, then placed the phoenix egg on top. Once preparations were complete, Rokuko and I waited in the room beyond the boss room, where the Dungeon Core was kept.

A breath whose aftershock alone could send Stone Golems flying would be raging through that boss room. There was no way Rokuko and I, with zero combat ability, could stay in there. But since there was imprinting to consider, I wanted to be able to rush in as quickly as possible. That's why Ittetsu kindly offered to let us use this room.

Incidentally, we could watch what was happening in the boss room through the monitor Ittetsu put up. What a considerate guy, that Ittetsu.

"Alright, here I go… haaaah… FWOOSH!"

In the boss room, Redra puffed away, breathing on the egg to warm it.

Well, I say "puffed," but it was more like blinding flashes of light with each exhale.

Thanks to the phoenix eggshell tiles, the floor where the egg sat wasn't turning into magma. The surrounding floor was bubbling, though. Meanwhile, Rokuko was staring directly at the monitor and going "My eyes!" or something like that.

"Huff… huff… haah, haah… A-as expected, I'm getting a little tired…"

After breathing at full power for about thirty minutes, she finally took a break… What incredible stamina. As expected of a Red Dragon.

"I'll treat you to some ice cream later."

"'Ice cream'? What's that?"

"A cold, sweet treat. I don't know if it'll suit your tastes, but I think it's delicious."

"Ooh, sounds fun! Then I'll try a little harder! Fwoosh, fwoosh…"

She continued breathing for another thirty minutes straight.

"Hm? Hey, the egg moved! It's cracking!"

"Oh, really? Then let's head into the room."

"Hold on a sec. The room's extremely hot right now, so be careful, yeah?"

"… Uh, how hot exactly?"

"Hmm, putting it in terms a human would understand… about the same as inside a kiln? Your meat'll burn, y'know?"

That's bad. But I suppose that's what happens when you breathe super-high-temperature flames in a sealed room.

We had the entrance-side door opened and waited a while for the room to cool down. Meanwhile, the egg kept getting tapped from the inside, the cracks growing larger… Did it have preferences about how to open? Very meticulous work. It was making a clean horizontal crack right around the middle. At this rate, it would go all the way around and pop open.

Next to me, Rokuko kept glancing over, wondering if she could go in yet.

"… Alright, should be good now."

When Ittetsu said that, Rokuko dashed into the room that had cooled down to about sauna-level heat.

Scorching hot air wafted through the open door, reaching all the way to us. I followed Rokuko slowly into the boss room, but the heat stung my exposed skin.

"It's hot! Where's the egg?! It's hot!"

"Oh, you came, Rokuko! Over here, over here! It's about to hatch!"

Beckoned by Redra, we went over to find the egg's crack just moments away from completing its circuit.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

And then the phoenix hatched.

The chick was small, yet its feathers were a brilliant white, almost glowing. It already had a full set of feathers right after being born. Is that just how birds work?

"Hooh… a phoenix, huh? Its feathers don't seem to be red though… I've heard that some God's Vanguard somewhere has a blue phoenix as a pet."

Blue, huh. The color of complete combustion. So there are phoenixes like that too. In that case, maybe their color really does change based on what flames they're exposed to before birth or something like that.

"Heeey, I'm Feni's owner. Look over here."

"Peep!"

Feni, so that's the phoenix's name. Just like with Gobsuke, Rokuko really goes for straightforward names.

It flapped its wings in response to Rokuko's call. It didn't seem able to fly yet, but it had clearly recognized her as its owner.

"By the way, isn't it too hot to touch?"

"Should be fine. Phoenix flames aren't actually hot fire; they're more like illusions. Same as mine… It should have a fire-producing skill, so as long as you don't get hit by that, you'll be fine. Better bind it with a command while you can."

I see, so that's how it works. Following Ittetsu's advice, I commanded it not to attack allies.

"There we go. Alright, let me touch it too."

"Huh, what do you want? Going to pluck its feathers this time?"

"Hey now, what do you think I am?"

Pluck its feathers… A phoenix feather comforter… That might actually be nice, but well, yeah. For now, I just wanted to touch it. I reached my hand toward Feni.

"PEEP!"

"Ow?! Hey, what are you—that hurts! It hurts!"

"You're really disliked, Kehma."

It pecked me like crazy… Could it be that it remembers me destroying it over and over when it was an egg? Surprisingly the grudge-holding type, aren't you, phoenix…

"Damn it, time to win it over with food then. Ittetsu, what do phoenixes eat?"

"They eat flames. Hey, Redra, give it some breath to eat."

"Sure! Step back a bit!"

Leaving Feni where it was, once Rokuko and I moved away, Redra let loose a serious breath… Crap, even the aftershock is reaching back here. I'm gonna get singed.

"Peep peep!"

And there was Feni, happily bathing in the breath. Kukuku, eat your fill… Wait. But doesn't this mean Redra's the one feeding it, not me? Damn.

… Maybe I should practice some fire magic.