I Raised A Black Dragon

Chapter 1: A Witch Picks Up a Dragon

A witch, roaming around the market, eyed an egg dumped in the corner of a street.

“These would be good enough for at least five days,” she thought as she picked the unusually large egg, tenfold of its original size, up.

Enthused by such luck, the witch hurried home to treat herself with some fillet.

“…..”

Expecting only a big yellow yolk and its whites, the witch was greeted instead with a creature wrapped in a thin film of fluid.  It was a creature with scaly skin, a tail, a jagged jaw with rows of teeth, and spinal nodes running down its back. The beast wriggled inside the egg, forcing the shell to collapse completely.

Unable to comprehend the situation, the witch simply stared blankly at it.

“Huh.”

Only then did it occur to her that the beast was none other than a dragon: a legendary creature that appeared briefly during the days of the Old Goblin Era and disappeared since then. Now, merely a decoration at the back of an encyclopedia.

There are numerous stories about how yolks and egg whites of a chicken egg explode from within; it can also happen to quails. Such thing is common knowledge.

But who would believe a story of a person who, upon cracking open an egg, encounters a baby dragon instead?

***

Park Noah. Isn’t it a name of a commoner? Ironically, her life was not at all ordinary.

She had been sucked into a novel, caught in a romance fantasy of another world. When she died from overwork, she wandered into a different world. The knowledge of the world and of the body she occupied instantly assimilating into her own.

She became the supporting character in the novel—a villain born solely to indulge in evilness. The witch’s name is Eleonora Asil. However, despite being powerful enough to surpass the world’s strongest position, her sovereignty soon plummeted as the protagonists defeated her.

Eleonora, who hid against her enemies, unfortunately, died without anyone knowing, which means that Park Noah, who reincarnated as the witch, will take responsibility for Eleonora’s actions.

However, wanting to live as she pleases, the new Eleonora had no intention, by all means, to be involved with the novel’s plot, which she had managed to do for the last two years.

“Why did this little dragon have to appear before me?” she muttered.  

The beast, unfit to be food, was washed clean and wrapped in a blanket. Distraught, Eleonora could only look at the dragon desperately flapping its wings.

The witch let out a deep sigh.

The dragon was supposed to be the pet of the heroine, and also Eleonora’s death. According to the plot, the heroine, Lenia, was to pick up the eggs and imprint on the dragon that come out of it. Instead, the witch had broken the egg first.

Noah clicked her tongue, in deep thought of what to do with the lost beast.

“Why did you come to the wrong person, child?”

I’d better return the dragon, right? How ironic. I didn’t want any involvement from this.

The next day, Noah sent the dragon, safely wrapped in a blanket inside a cage, to the capital by special delivery. The recipient, the heroine, Countess Lenia Valtalere. The sender, of course, unknown. Soon, the witch was informed that the delivery was complete.

Noah attempted to calm her nerves, anxious for any mishap to occur.

“Everything will be fine, Nora. Things would be the way they were exactly before. My peaceful life will remain as it is!” the witch convinced herself.

Or so she thought.

***

“What?!”

“…..”

Noah woke up to the sight of the baby dragon, which she supposedly returned, flapping its wings in front of the fireplace.

Bewildered, her mouth agape. Am I dreaming? She pulled her nightcap down and forcibly rubbed her eyes to test if the beast was merely an illusion.

As she removed the nightcap from her eyes, the dragon was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh.”

Noah let out a sigh of relief. She fixed her nightcap, intending to sleep again. The room had become chilly, she thought, so Noah snapped her fingers, and the flames grew big.

“Okay…I’m going back to sleep.” She muttered and returned to her bed.

Suddenly, Noah felt a tug. “Huh?”

There it is! The baby dragon was clutching the ends of her nightgown.

“…..” Hesitant, Noah pretended not to see the dragon and shifted her step. Unfortunately, her gown stretched into a tear.

My polka-dot nightgown. This set was a limited edition of the Frill Happy Night’s Wardrobe, which I paid much for! This was my favorite…

She glanced at the creature again. This time, there was sympathy in her eyes.

The baby dragon’s mouth relaxed. Once she secured the condition of her gown, with a wave of her hand, the blanket that had been placed in front of the fireplace flew like Aladdin’s magic carpet. Then, she wrapped the dragon tightly with it.

The baby dragon cooed.

“Whoops.”

It’s my victory.

Noah smiled contentedly, shaking her hands off.

If there is one thing I benefited from this body, it is her magical ability.

Eleonora was a witch who possessed magical powers powerful enough to be branded as the most wicked villain. Also, an infamous inventor of magical items.

Currently, Park Noah owns the body of Eleonora. Hence, she could not perform the deceased witch’s magic perfectly. But, her talent in inventing magical items remained as it is.

With merely a flick of a hand, she could control the flames or make her opponents fly and fall. A 100-year-old automatic bazooka that persistently harasses the heroines in a novel or a machete that pokes the opponent’s vital parts as long as you set up a target would be easy.

The great witch, Eleonora, kept a record of instructions for everything, which was very convenient for Park Noah, who couldn’t memorize everything at one go.

In short, she has control over everything in her house.

It’s a piece of cake to subdue a baby dragon!

Meanwhile, the baby dragon wrapped securely in a blanket, tottered away. He staggered and eventually fell to his side. The blanket slid off, revealing a pair of big swollen eyes, brimming with tears.

The dragon hiccupped. The fragile humanness underneath the witch’s apathetic facade was moved, her conscience attacked.

“Eh…What am I going to do with this little guy…”

Eleonora eventually gave in to its cuteness and found herself crouching in front of the dragon. She scooped the dragon into her arms and removed the blanket that was almost suffocating it.

Only then did she notice how big, compared to yesterday when it just came out of its egg, the dragon has already become. Just the day before, the dragon was all wrinkly and couldn’t even open its eyes. Now, its skin is tight, and its eyes wide open.

Eleonora tickled the dragon under its moist chin.

“Baby.”

The dragon cooed.

“Were you shipped to the wrong address?”