127 Part 2

-I know I will mean, but I cannot say that it would not take her three days to do so!

I was not asking her because I might lose to chicken, and it was because I did not want Alice to agonize over the choice. Really!

“Are you confident you can raise them well?”

“Yes! I’ll raise them to big chickens!”

Alice had not realized that small chickens make good fried chicken, and old ones are making stock since they were too tough to eat when fried.

“All right, which egg do you want?”

“Oh? I would need to see.”

I slowly followed Alice, who went running with her short legs. The vendor looked like it did not belong to the merchant group, as there were no marks.

“What do you need?”

There were no eggs similar in size and color. I saw a big one right in front of me, and small ones surrounded it. There were gray eggs, striped eggs, and those with black dots. I saw eggs smaller than quail and those I could barely hold with both hands. The vendor looked like a peddler from all directions!

“I do not know.”

“So, as I expected.”

I may have been right thinking that this vendor was a peddler. It was true that people from most other villages came here when the merchants came. While some came personally like me, and others came as representatives of their village, it all led to the fact that business boomed here around this time. Therefore, some set up their spots, and others went around in secret, holding their wares in blankets.

This pleasantly smiling young man that looked like he was in his early thirties selling eggs looked to be one of them.

“How much is the price?”

“The price goes according to size, and the most expensive one is seven silvers.”

“It seems too expensive for a single egg..”

“Look at the size. Who knows? Maybe it’s a rare animal.”

“The egg may be dead.”

“Even if I look like this now, I had worked at the bottom rung of the royal wyvern breeders and know if an egg is alive or dead.”

Air combat was important in wars in this world too, and summoners who were able to summon beasts that could fly along with magicians could do so. One other group who could participate in air combat were knights who trained and used flying beasts. Knights had the most stamina, as the former two groups used magic while flying while knights were just riding their beasts. Since drakes could breathe fire if trained well, which meant they could be powerful in battle!

Also, while not popular as drakes, wyverns were used often, along with manticores and griffons. A wyvern breeder did not belong here, no matter how low he had been in position.

“Ah, you seem to know the situation a bit.”

The young man scratched his head at my suspicious gaze.

“I..had been caught selling wyverns to the black market because I needed the money.”

“Doesn’t that mean a death sentence?”

“Yes, of course. However, I had been caught during a war and managed to survive because my country crumbled.”

“You had the pluck to smuggle wyvern eggs during a war.”

“I’m just an owner of a chicken farm now!”

I smiled back as he did so.

“Hahaha. All right, you’re interesting. However..is that egg really seven silvers?”

“Well, give me five.”

The young man clucked his tongue and scowled as I spoke with a cold face. Hey, I had worked at the worst syndicate of the empire at your age, and I saw people like you in truckloads!

“No, I’m not going to buy it.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“My daughter may want it.”

“I picked the wrong guy to serve.”

The young man complained to me and approached my daughter with a bright smile as she moved from corner to corner.

“Princess, what egg are you looking for?”

“Oh, me? Um..I’m looking for an egg that will hatch a large and delicious chicken!”

“Oh, is that so? You came to the right place, as I’m the owner of the best chicken farm in this village, princess!”

“Really?!”

I was grateful that that man was not someone who would destroy a child’s dream of meeting Santa Claus by saying the man did not exist. I would have let the Metal Bat hit him three times if he had said that these eggs would not hatch chickens or that chicks, not chickens, came out of eggs.

-Master, stop being overwhelming. Only people like you say those unnecessary things to little kids.

-I would never do such a thing.

I ignored the Metal Bat’s nonsense and watched Alice and the egg seller. He was alluring her with words and showing her various eggs, and they were all big and looked a little expensive. The Metal Bat had come next to me and spoke after eating the noodles that she held in her hand.

“She’s been caught.”

“I can buy her something a bit expensive if she would be satisfied.”

The price would be seven silver at best, and while I did not know what would come out of the egg, it had been sold by a peddler. Would not a lizardman’s egg be the limit?

“Do lizardmen live around here?”

“No, but they may have come due to something.”

“How about drake eggs?”

“He would not be selling one.”

Would not a wyvern breeder recognize a drake egg?

“That might be a lie.”

“That’s true, but he probably sold eggs in the black market.”

“How do you know?”

“His smell is similar to mine.”

He had not shown me his true colors without thought, as people of the same feather recognized one another. And we do not want to know about each other, but just see someone who one could make a deal with. I believed that he would recognize not only wyvern and drake eggs but also manticore and griffon eggs, too. He would have sold them to the black market, as one continued to use such places after knowing about them.

“That means those are eggs he decided he did not want, so buying them will not amount to much.”

Maybe an innocent peddler would sell such eggs, but a swindler who smelled like me would not make a deal in which he would lose. Therefore, this place is the best spot to buy an egg that would satisfy my daughter and not worry about hidden foreshadowing!

“Daddy, this one!”

My daughter was beaming after picking out quite a big egg.

“Nice choice, princess! The price is seven silvers, customer!”

The man had been rubbing his hands to Alice and now held his hand towards me with shining eyes, and while I felt tricked, I handed in seven silvers for my daughter.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes!”

I smiled at seeing Alice holding her egg dearly.

‘I should just make an egg dish if nothing is hatched.’

I had been thinking such nonsense when I did not even know what would come out of it.