Fate

"All things we receive must then be passed on."

She spoke, her expression holding no traces of sadness.

"I mean to say that my time has come."

 

What do you think I should do?

I don't know how I responded when Aqua asked me that question.

For something that impactful, not even the six centuries of clear memories I have as a dragon seemed to be helpful at all. The next thing I remembered, I was laying on my bed and it was morning.

I sort of hoped it was a dream, but although I was trying to escape reality, I was made to realize I had a voice in my ear that wasn't Aqua's.

"Nnn… morning."

Did she come back while I was sleeping, or was she already here and I just returned to her side? Either way, Nina, who had been sleeping next to me, perceived my movement as me waking up and yawned before greeting me.

"Morning… Nina."

"Hm? What?"

How much did Nina know about the matter with Aqua?

She probably knew about her relationship with Yutaka, but perhaps she doesn't know about her being pregnant as well? I mean, there would be no reason for her to consult me if she'd already consulted Nina. Besides, can elves and humans even have children with each other? No, more importantly…

"How do elves go about making babies?"

The moment I spoke that simple question out loud, I saw a fist fly at me before I once more blacked out.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

"… Nina, I have practically the same endurance as a human when I'm in my human form, please go easy on me next time…"

"It's because you said something weird!"

As expected, it appeared that Nina was embarrassed by that. Her cheeks were faintly red and she was shouting.

"I didn't mean anything weird by it, it was purely an academic question."

If I recall, in my previous life… that is, on Earth, hybridizing wasn't guaranteed. Whether or not two species could have children together was a predetermined thing.

Dogs and wolves could have children. This was due to dogs originally being the same species as wolves. However, humans and monkeys cannot have children. Even though humanity as a species had evolved from monkeys, they were too different from monkeys.

On the other hand, humans could have children with other humans even if they had different skin colors or were from different countries. The whole concept of caucasians and blacks had nothing to do with their species, the species itself was all biologically homo sapiens.

Elves and humans looked very similar to each other. Excluding their physical strength and magic, the only difference lied in how long their ears were. Oh, and their longevity. Whether they were the same species or not was a difficult thing to say.

Even with that said, now that I think about it, it's questionable whether or not elves even have children as humans do. Trees grow up when they're planted as seeds before eventually producing seeds of their own—producing children in that manner isn't strange for plants. I mean, I haven't even seen an elf child.

"… It's the same. As humans, I mean. But for if we can have children with humans… I don't know…"

Looking away, Nina seemed mad.

She specifically mentioned humans…

"So you knew as well?"

"Of course I could tell something like that just by looking."

I don't think that's normal though.

"Don't forget I've helped deliver countless children."

Nina stuck her chest out and spoke.

Now that she mentions it, she has, hasn't she?

Surgical skill in cutting away rotten flesh and suturing wounds.

Medicinal skill in mixing many various kinds of herbs to produce medicine that can be imbibed.

Even magical skill in reduce one's pain and returning people to better health.

No matter which path you judge by, Nina's by far the most proficient doctor in the village.

Ever since her first time with Darg's son, Dargo, she's had to have helped deliver hundreds and thousands of children. Even the stillbirth rate being so low despite our era of technology, it's all thanks to her.

"So… they really can have children together."

"Whether or not the birth will go properly is questionable, same with whether or not it will live long afterward."

… I see… Moreover, even if it is born, it could be like a mule, a hybrid between a horse and a donkey, and be infertile. That is a definite possibility.

However.

"However, even so, being able to have a child is a joyous thing. All living things are similar in that."

Yes. Of course, that's it.

"… Yeah."

Nina nodded, a rare, happy smile playing across her lips.

Right. That's what I told Aqua.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

Not betraying Nina's intuition, Aqua's abdomen had begun to swell once Autumn came. From what it looked like when Yutaka saw that, it appeared he didn't know about the pregnancy at all.

The moment Yutaka found out about it, despite him eating at the time, he proposed to Aqua in front of the other students and caused everyone to laugh merrily. It was a very Yutaka thing to do.

The ceremony was to be held soon after before her stomach grew too much, so three days later, Nina ministered it.

Aqua wore a pure white wedding dress made from woven moonlight—it appeared that that was what the full moon comment Nina gave was about—and looked absolutely beautiful. It was a memory so nice that even despite Nina's teasing, I wound up crying during it.

… And so half a year passed since.

"Uuuuu…! Ku… uuu…!"

Her noble face distorted in pain, Aqua's body squirmed as she groaned.

"You can do it, Aqua…! Nina, is it still not time!?"

"No."

Yutaka desperately attempted to reassure Aqua before asking Nina due to Aqua's increasing pain, but she curtly answered him with a negative.

"The contractions will get closer and closer together as the birth draws near."

"But…! She's in so much pain!"

From the start of the contractions until the birth itself, it would usually take around half a day for a woman's first childbirth.

During that period of time, the amount of pain a woman experiences is unimaginable to a man as she would have to endure it for so long. Yutaka had asked Nina the same question countless times since the start of it and was beginning to be irritating.

"She's giving birth, of course it'll hurt. Rin, get rid of this hindrance."

"Kaaay."

No sooner than I heard that did a rope of water expand from her and tie up both of Yutaka's hands and feet before throwing him outside.

I felt a bit sorry for him… but well, there's nothing he could do to help.

"It's alright, Yutaka. Nina knows what she's doing."

"You're going to be a parent, get a hold of yourself! Come on!"

I could hear Lufelle and Tia who couldn't enter due to their physiques help reassure Yutaka outside. I decided to leave it to the two of them, as in the off chance Yutaka decided to force his way back in, Lufelle should be able to stop him

"Y—… Yuu…"

"He'll come back when the birth starts, don't worry. Just relax and do what I say. It'll get difficult after this, so prepare yourself."

Her body covered in sweat, Aqua nodded.

"Nina… I'll do… my best. I definitely… w-want to have my child. So… if something happens, don't—worry about me, my child—"

Aqua looked to Nina, a pleading expression on her face.

"Don't say something so foolish."

Nina easily laughed off her tragic, brave resolution.

"What did I just say? Don't worry, okay? The difficult part comes after this. After the child is born."

"… Huh?"

Aqua was looking at what came next as a literal life or death ordeal, so suddenly hearing that Nina was talking about something after that, her eyes went wide.

"Elf children are very, very different from human children and are absolute handfuls to deal with. Think like chewing on tree roots. They have to be fed many times a day, they need their diapers changed, they'll wake up right as you finally manage to get them to sleep, you yourself will have no time to sleep… It's really, really difficult. You're wanting to leave all of that to that idiot to do by himself?"

Nina's words held weight. Of course, she herself still hadn't birthed a child.

However, she had raised children countless times. Particularly in this age without satisfactory medicine, it wasn't uncommon for childbirth to lead to the death of the mother if something went poorly.

"So save your determination for when it'll really be needed—I won't allow you or your child to die."

Declaring as much in confidence, Nina smiled at her.

"… Okay!"

And so the suffering went for one and a half days.

After an incredibly hard delivery lasting thirty-six hours in all, Aqua and Yutaka's child was born.

The baby was red-haired and had long, pointed ears, evenly mixing the parents' features. A girl.

She was given the name Yuuka.

The world's first half elf.