Reincarnated as a dragon’s egg ～Lets aim to be the strongest～ - Chapter 592

592 – Aro’s Sense of Smell
Once I’ve confirmed the surrounding area is safe with [Presence Perception], I lower my two [Ouroboros] heads to the ground and open my jaws.

『It’s over now. You can come out.』

I call out to Aro and the treant, who have been taking refuge in my mouths.

『Master-dono… I’m glad your safe.』

In tree spirit form, treant crawls out, sliding over my tongue. Sure enough, he’s covered in my saliva.

『You went through a lot, master-dono… To think there was a monster like that…』

Y-you also went through a lot, treant. Sorry about that. There really was no other option at the time.

I didn’t expect us to run into a max-level L rank like that. I was getting complacent, certain that I could deal with any number of A+ ranks this place could throw at us.

Knowing that threats like the origin matter are around, rushing through this Forest of Ngai is risky, but time is too critical to take it slow. If we dawdle for too long, we’ll be too late to return. In the end, even knowing the danger of this Forest of Ngai, we’ve no choice but to keep pushing on as before.

Levelling up won’t take too long, provided as I can find opponents that are at my level or just slightly above. In order to hurry, I need to accept some degree of risk.

That mysterious tower in the distance absolutely has to be dangerous. There’s no way it’ll just let us return to our previous world easily. Still, all I can do is keep pushing forwards.

As treant tries to stand up, he slips on a puddle of my saliva and falls back down. He was thoroughly shaken around in my mouth by the [Rolling], so his sense of balance is probably shot.

As he flails on the ground, a waft of saliva reaches my nostrils, causing me to grimace.

『…It’s master-dono’s own smell, after all. I don’t mind, but it’s probably best if you don’t react that way to Aro-dono.』

Still on the ground, he shoots me a piercing glare.

『S-sorry, treant…』

After apologising, I call out to Aro still in my mouth.

『Aro… Are you okay? Can you get out?』

There’s been no sign of her coming out for a while now. After I call out to her, she finally begins to emerge. Once she’s all the way out, I cancel [Dragon Mirror] and return to my oneiros form.

Aro’s pale cheeks tinged a slight red, she scratches the side of her face with a finger.

“…I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit used to being inside dragon-god-sama’s mouth.”

Aro raises the back of her hand to her nose and sniffs it. Both me and treant freeze at her words.

『Aro-dono… Do you feel unwell? It might be good if master-dono were to cast [Fake Life] on you once…』

“I-I didn’t mean it in a weird way!”

Her face bright red, Aro shouts at treant.

『I-I see, Aro-dono… I see, right, umm, you were trying to prevent us from being worried, so that’s why you said that. Please don’t feel discouraged.』

“I don’t feel discouraged!”

…At any rate, I’m glad everyone’s safe.

I look around, hoping to spot somewhere they can wash up…but I then realise that I didn’t spot a single river while I was flying over the forest. There was nothing but trees as far as the eye could see.

Is it possible that there are no rivers at all here? Th-then we can’t even secure drinking water… I suppose I should be able to last a few days without water, but…

『[Aqua Sphere]』

A large sphere of water appears above the treant. The sphere bursts, drenching him in water. He shakes his body like a wet dog, shedding the water.

『Ahh…That feels refreshing.』

『T-treant, you can do that!?』

『…Didn’t you know I had this skill?』

R-right, he did have that skill. He hadn’t used it in a long time, so I somehow forgot about it. This means he can supply us with near-limitless water. He’s seriously an all-purpose treant-san.

『It’s probably a good idea to do that for Aro too…』

Suddenly, Aro’s outline blurs, and she becomes a mass of black light before quickly returning to normal.

“It’s okay! I can clean up this way!”

A-amazing… So this is the power of a walpurgis… Her torn dress is repaired too.

Huh… That reminds me…

『Aro… Has your sense of smell returned?』

A moment ago she was sniffing the back of her hand.

“I actually just noticed a moment ago, but… It seems I can smell again.”

Aro says, a smile appearing on her face.

『R-really!?』

I bring my face closer to her.

“Yes! It was never completely gone but was just really faint, and it improved slightly with each evolution, but this time it all came back at once!”

As she speaks, I watch as she takes small breaths. It seems like even her way of breathing has returned. The change has been gradual, so that was probably why I was so late to notice.

『I’m glad for you, Aro… I was so worried you’d never get your senses back…』

Overcome with emotion, I feel tears welling up in my eyes. Aro could never sleep, nor could she enjoy the taste of food. I’ve always been worried whether reviving her as an undead was for the best.

“Dragon-god-sama, you’re overreacting!”

『We should find some food. If your sense of taste has returned, we need to celebrate.』

“Is that okay? But the time…”

『I’d like to hurry, but… It’s been a while since I’ve eaten, too. With everything that’s happened, I’m sure we could all do with a rest. We’ve also gained a bunch of ingredients, so it’d be a shame to let them go to waste.』

As I speak, Aro tilts her head to the side.

“Umm… Ingredients?”

『It’s not clear how much we’ll be able to recover though…』

I look back down the path of destruction from my [Roll]. I glance back up at the sky, but there’s still no sign of the origin matter… I’m committed to fighting it again one day, but I don’t want to see it right now.

It fell from so high up that I’m not sure how good quality the meat will be, but… Well, they were A+ rank monsters. Some of them should still be intact. It’s also a little doubtful whether what they have can be called meat, but…it should be edible, at least.