Chapter 31: The Dragon That Meows

It is now 11:50 PM on Tuesday, September 16th.

If the first sentence of a web novel read like this, you’d probably think, ‘So what?’

Still, I believe enough hints have been given to understand what this date and time mean.

The subtitle says it all.

“In just ten minutes, it’ll be born. They said familiars hatch from their eggs the moment their owners turn eighteen.”

I can’t express how much I’ve been counting down to this exact moment.

In the center of my bed lies the Familiar Egg, surrounded as if by a summoning circle with numerous cat-shaped toys scattered around it.

And in one corner of the room stands the Beast Master’s Tower proudly.

For the record, I didn’t prepare a cat litter box.

Conveniently, familiars don’t need to relieve themselves.

Waiting for ten minutes without doing anything felt unbearably slow.

So, I decided to look back on the past week and two days. Suddenly reflecting at a time like this might seem odd, but that’s exactly why I’m doing it now.

“If this were a typical web novel, the whole part after I manifested Sky-Blue Aether and had a snack party with senior research students would’ve been skipped.”

In short, this is a brief update-style flashback.

Judging by what I’m sure would be skipped, nothing special happened during this time.

I still haven’t figured out the characteristics of Sky-Blue Aether, and no professors or students picked fights with me during lectures.

I haven’t even spoken with the Original Protagonist.

“I haven’t had a conversation with the possessed fiancée yet either. Or rather, I should say I haven’t bothered to.”

Thinking it over, ‘I guess two weeks is too short to insist, “You must’ve noticed, but I no longer obsess over you.”’

Then, it suddenly dawned on me that if I wait just a few more days, the familiar would be born.

Anyone reading this might wonder, what does the familiar’s birth have to do with solving the fiancée problem?

But relationships are what you make of them.

Karvald Austri’s obsession with his fiancée was because he expected blind love or familial affection from her.

Now that there’s someone else to take that role, I plan to explain that there’s no reason to cling to someone who won’t open their heart.

Of course, the “someone else” I’m talking about here is the familiar.

The love exchanged between a familiar and its owner differs from the love between an engaged couple. But anyway, Karvald probably didn’t desire romantic feelings in the first place.

The fiancée, as the object of his longing, must have some inkling of this.

“And familiars are born to think only of their owners, offering blind loyalty and love.”

In the original story, Karvald was so disappointed by the familiar’s small and unimpressive appearance that he overlooked this fact.

I’m different.

No matter what form the familiar takes, no matter how strong its power, I am confident I can embrace that existence with love.

How could I hate someone who genuinely likes me?

After the familiar’s birth, those around Karvald began to disregard him more often, so it’s ‘plausible’ in terms of narrative that the original Karvald hated his familiar.

But empathizing with those feelings is another matter.

“Anyway, to a familiar, the owner is practically their entire world. If I emphasize this well enough, my claim that I have no reason to obsess over my fiancée will gain credibility.”

Feeling like I was already planning how to use the familiar before it was even born made me feel a bit guilty.

That only made me want to cherish and love it even more.

“Come to think of it, in my previous life, I wanted to raise animals but couldn’t. Taking full responsibility for myself was hard enough; having to care for another life felt overwhelming. Looking back now, I’m glad I didn’t just adopt one recklessly.”

Because I’m dead.

Swallowing those words, I gently stroked the Familiar Egg.

There was no warmth to feel.

Still, maybe because the time of its birth was so near, I sensed a faint tremble in the palm of my hand.

“To be honest, it’s still overwhelming and burdensome now. But that won’t stop me from facing you. You’re already family to me.”

Saying those words out loud made me feel oddly shy, but I still thought it was worth saying.

I have no idea if the familiar can hear me or not.

But it gave me a chance to steel my resolve and remind myself of my responsibility.

Checking the clock, less than a minute remained until midnight.

It was really happening soon.

I already knew what the life inside that egg would look like.

Still, my excitement swelled. My heart pounded with pleasant tension.

I withdrew my hand from the egg and grabbed a toy wand with feathers and bells on its end.

There was no special reason.

I just felt I needed to hold something to calm my excitement.

Just then, the bell jingled clearly across the room.

“Ugh, it moved.”

It wasn’t a trick of the mind.

The egg carefully placed on the bed was tilting and shaking.

I clasped the wand tightly with both hands and swallowed hard.

Crack, crack…

Fissures began to appear on the egg.

For an ordinary creature, it would usually break a hole in the shell and slip through.

But the familiar’s egg had a zigzagging line running across its middle.

It was a scene more suited to cartoons than reality.

This world isn’t made of cartoons but novels, after all.

I thought I’d grown used to this absurd world, but I was mistaken.

Humbly, I watched the cracked lid of the egg wiggle.

‘Should I clear it away for it? Or wait until it opens on its own?’

Just as I was caught in that dilemma, a burst of Sky-Blue light exploded out, and the lid flew off.

This extraordinary scene could be passed over easily.

When the horizontal crack appeared, I half expected some kind of spectacle like this.

‘But why Sky-Blue?’

If it were white, I’d just think it was normal light, and if purple, I’d assume the familiar’s Aether was Purple Aether and move on without question.

The word ‘Could it be?’ flashed in my mind, but I couldn’t follow that thought any further.

The Sky-Blue light that came out of the egg floated gently in the air, then began to stretch out.

Not growing bigger, but literally lengthening. Stretching long.

‘Was it testing me, to see how much love I truly had to embrace it regardless of its form?’

But that was just a ‘thought’ in the truest sense.

I hadn’t said it aloud, so the familiar couldn’t be testing me.

I was so bewildered that my grip on the toy weakened. It dropped onto the bed with a clear ‘jingle.’

Meanwhile, the cluster of light continued to lengthen, eventually reaching the height of a person.

Only then did the Sky-Blue sparkles scatter like dust, revealing the familiar’s pure white body.

Its scales shimmered, and the mane running from head to tail rippled as if stirred by a breeze that wasn’t there.

It had antlers resembling those of a deer, and the creature with four legs was…

“…A dragon?”

“Meow~!”

Its face was round and baby-like, but that combination of features could only mean an Eastern dragon.

Yet when it opened its mouth, what came out was clearly a cat’s meow.

Because of that, I almost muttered, ‘Maybe not?’ as if to deny what I was seeing.

“Not a tiny wildcat, but a long Eastern dragon was born…? Is my original name, Mir, meaning ‘dragon’ in pure Korean, connected to this?”

“Ofot?”

The newborn baby dragon tilted its head and let out another cat-like sound.

It was a scene of undeniable cognitive dissonance.

Still, I quickly adapted to the sight. I had to.

“If I stay confused too long, the familiar will feel uneasy.”

Taking a deep breath, I reached out to the familiar in its dragon form and said,

“Well, whatever. It’s cute, so that’s all that matters.”

“Nyang nyang!”

The familiar rubbed its head against my palm with a happy expression.

The cool sensation of its scales and the soft touch of its fluttering mane both felt pleasant.

Its meowing felt less like an actual cat’s cry and more like onomatopoeia, but since it was cute, I decided to let it slide.

I wrapped both hands around the familiar’s head and gently fiddled with it before stroking the mane that extended to its tail with my palm.

Then I let go and fell into thought.

Playing with the familiar was nice, but an even more important matter came to mind.

“What should I name you?”

I had prepared names for the familiar.

In fact, I had many candidates lined up, intending to pick based on first impressions at its birth.

But none of the names I had fit the familiar before me.

It was inevitable since all those names were chosen imagining a tiny wildcat.

‘But a dragon isn’t even in the cat family, is it?’

Even if it makes cat sounds, it wouldn’t make sense to give it a name suited for a cat.

‘Maybe because I was so lost in thought, the familiar started to look bored?’

The dragon-shaped familiar floated in midair, then spotted its own swaying tail and began to play tag with it.

But the dragon’s body was so long that the game ended almost as soon as it started.

The familiar bit its own tail and spun around in circles.

Watching that, the word that came to mind first was ‘Ouroboros,’ the famous serpent that eats its own tail.

But that’s Greek, so it wouldn’t suit this world’s setting.

“Aether is also a term from that world, so it’s not that I can’t use that name, but isn’t there something similar in Norse mythology? A serpent famous for biting its own tail?”

“Jormungand,” also called the Midgard Serpent, is just that.

Furthermore, this serpent is said to have once disguised itself as a cat, so it fits perfectly.

“How about naming it Jormungand, and calling it Yor for short?”

“Myaak~, kek, kek, weel-!”

“What, what’s happening?! Why all of a sudden?!”

No sooner had I named it than Yor wiggled its body and threw up something.

I thought it might be a hairball since it meowed so much, but it wasn’t.

Reflexively catching the object before it fell on the bed, I saw a smooth, transparent orb.

But it was wet with saliva and, strangely, jingled like a bell.

“…Could this be the Yeouiju?”

“Myaong, nyaong, miyaa~♬”

I didn’t understand what it was saying.

Only the feeling that it had just cleared its throat, relieved of something blocking it, came through.