No matter what anyone said, Natsu still stubbornly believed that this egg was a fire dragon's egg. Maybe it wasn't laid by Igneel, but it could've been laid by some other fire dragon!
"But how am I supposed to hatch this egg?"
Natsu looked at everyone with a face full of anticipation, hoping someone could give him an idea.
"I think you should hatch it like a mother hen hatches her eggs."
Lisanna raised her hand and very seriously offered her suggestion.
"A mother hen hatching eggs?"
Natsu's whole face was a question mark.
He looked at the "dragon egg" that was half his height and immediately fell into deep thought.
How was he supposed to hatch that?
Natsu tried straddling the "dragon egg," but Moen grabbed him by the collar with a speechless face and lifted him aside.
"You really aren't afraid of breaking it, huh."
Moen complained.
Even if this really was a "dragon egg," letting Natsu mess with it like this might actually cause it to die inside the shell.
"The magic power inside this egg is extremely dense. Whatever is inside is definitely a magical creature."
Moen patted the egg.
In his perception, the life inside was already very well-formed, and its magic had condensed firmly.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the creature inside should break out of the shell soon."
Moen concluded.
If it were up to him, there was no need to use any special methods to hatch this egg, just waiting was enough.
It would mature on its own.
"Use fire? Can I really?"
"Of course you can. Eggs need high temperatures to hatch! That's why hens warm their eggs!"
"Then let's try it! I'm best at this!"
Moen had only just said his conclusion when the little troublemakers already thought of a new idea.
Mirajane gave a mischievous grin and suggested something terrible—
and Natsu actually looked like he was going to try it.
"Wait— using magic flames to heat the egg… how is that any different from my original suggestion to roast and eat it?
So in the end, are you still planning to cook it?"
Seeing Natsu's eager expression, flames already starting to leak from his mouth, Moen shielded the egg and complained.
Everything had flipped upside down—
now Natsu was the one trying to burn the egg, and Moen was the one protecting it.
"W–We can't?"
Natsu looked disappointed.
He genuinely wanted to speed up the egg's hatching.
This whole past year—aside from another Dragon Slayer joining—this was the closest he'd gotten to any information about dragons!
"Of course not!"
Moen shot a glare at Mirajane, the one who'd suggested this.
Mirajane stuck out her tongue, embarrassed—she didn't expect Natsu to believe it so easily.
"Then… is there some kind of magic that can quickly make this guy mature?"
With Moen shutting down the flame-heating idea, Natsu gave up.
He grinned—with teeth showing—and looked at Moen full of hope. If some magic could instantly ripen the egg, that would be perfect!
"Natsu, that's impossible. That would be disrespecting life. Life is born out of love.
Using magic to interfere with life is wrong.
We must maintain reverence toward life."
Moen spoke sternly.
These were words Master Makarov had once taught him, now passed forward through him.
Gray, Cana, Levy, Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane, and Erza all nodded seriously.
Only Natsu stood there, dumb as a rock.
"Moen-nii, what are you even saying? I don't get it at all."
Natsu scratched his head, clueless.
Bang!
Before Moen—whose expression was about to crack—could say anything else, Erza had already smashed her fist down hard.
"Wah!"
Natsu collapsed to the ground, eyes spinning.
"What Moen means is that you have to hatch it through your own effort.
A natural hatching, not by relying on magic."
Erza explained.
Natsu had only been part of human society for a year.
A lot of his understanding of the world was still forming.
So his thought process often differed from normal people.
That didn't mean Natsu was stupid—
it just meant many of his concepts weren't like ordinary folks.
"You spend all day breaking things.
This time, you're going to hatch this egg yourself and properly feel the meaning of life!"
Erza lectured righteously.
At her young age, she already had a bit of "discipline committee leader" energy.
Moen couldn't help but see a glimpse of what she'd grow into in the future.
"Fine, fine, I'll hatch it myself…"
Natsu pouted, looking completely defeated. With Moen and Erza both suppressing him, he didn't even dare breathe too loudly.
Seeing this scene, and then thinking about how the Natsu of the future suddenly "grew bold and turned wicked" toward little Moen, it suddenly didn't seem strange at all. He would definitely have the same thoughts when seeing little Erza—bullying the small to get revenge for being bullied absolutely made sense!
"You don't have to hatch it alone. Everyone can help. Witnessing the birth of a new life together is also a pretty good experience."
Moen stopped Erza from violently suppressing Natsu. He felt that hatching a magical beast's egg together really was a meaningful experience—at the very least, it was much more meaningful than roasting an egg together and eating it. This was something everyone would probably remember for a long time.
"Yeah! Let's all hatch the egg together!"
The children cheered, all quite curious about this strange egg.
"It'd be better to just roast it and eat it…"
Mirajane muttered. She had no interest in hatching eggs. Recently, she had been thinking about moving out of the girls' dormitory and building a home of their own with Lisanna and Elfman.
"You guys have fun. I still have to take a job."
Mirajane said as she prepared to leave. Although she hadn't been at the guild long, she was already permitted to accept jobs. Her strength had been acknowledged. Lisanna and Elfman, however, still weren't allowed.
"Mira, why not spend a day playing with everyone?"
Moen looked at Mirajane and tried to persuade her to stay. Wearing a cropped top and blue shorts with long black boots, she looked youthful and pretty—aside from being a little too skinny in the chest area, there was nothing wrong at all.
"…I better not."
Hearing Moen's invitation, Mirajane hesitated, but in the end she firmly refused. She had no time to enjoy herself.
Mirajane felt the weight on her shoulders was too heavy. The three of them couldn't rely on the guild to feed them forever that made her uneasy. She had to carry the family responsibilities as quickly as possible, even taking on the share that belonged to her younger siblings.
Seeing that Mirajane was determined to leave, Moen gave a helpless smile. That child carried too much on her mind. She was someone whose emotions influenced her deeply—far more easily swayed than most.
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