Chapter 20
After playing with his siblings for a short while, his belly grumbled again.
'Oh, that’s right, after bathing I was going to eat then got sidetracked,' Draco remembered.
He soon found an excuse and made his way to the kitchen to eat.
The other children in the family had their breakfast about an hour before he woke up so Chise was still in the kitchen.
"My baby, you're awake, how do you feel? Is it ok to be walking around so soon?" Chise barraged him with questions while checking his body.
"I feel fine, mom, just very hungry," Draco replied with a smile, touched by her genuine concern.
He had at first thought that after his siblings were born, he would slowly fade into obscurity within the family, but nothing changed.
He was treated the same way as their offspring by blood, something he was really grateful for.
"That's right, I was about to bring some food to your room. Sit at the table while I make you a plate," Chise instructed.
Draco obeyed, sat on a chair, and waited for his food.
Chise dropped one plate on the table, then another, and kept adding until there were 5 plates filled with food.
“Uhm, is this all for me?” Draco hesitantly asked.
“Of course dear, your grandma said that you will be needing a lot of food from now on. From what she observed, it seems like your body has undergone some sort of awakening,” Chise explained.
“Ah, what am I saying, you might not even understand such complicated things. Anyway, honey, eat a lot, no, eat everything,” Chise threatened with a smile.
She didn’t like wasting food in any way but had a weird habit of cooking a lot more than needed, forcing everyone to overeat every day.
Luckily, most of the family were hyperactive, so they burnt a lot of calories daily.
“Uhm, ok,” Draco replied and started stuffing his face with food.
Soon he finished the first plate and surprisingly didn’t feel full in the slightest.
‘Ok, I think I can finish all this,’ Draco thought. Things were going well until he reached half of the fifth plate.
He felt bloated, like his belly was about to burst open.
‘How did this happen, there isn’t much left but why cant I fit anymore in?’ Draco wondered.
‘Ok, I have to waffle my way till some space clears up,’ he thought.
“Mum, where are Grandpa John and Marcus, Grandma Rita and Anita, and Dad?” Draco asked.
“Hmm, why do you ask?” Chise questioned.
“Oh, I just wanted to tell them what happened after Vasileios and I were kidnapped,” Draco replied.
“Oh, they are in the back torturing, I mean interrogating a slave trader they caught,” Chise replied while doing the dishes.
“They caught one?” Draco asked, a bit surprised that one survived.
‘Oh wait, I did spare one cowardly looking guy. Ugh, why did I have to remember,’ Draco thought.
The memory of blood spilling and viscera flying everywhere flashed through his mind.
The remaining food on the table wasn’t looking so appetizing anymore.
Gah!!
Draco gaged, hastily stopping himself from emptying out his bowels.
“Are you ok?” Chise asked, rushing to his side in worry.
“I wished that you would have forgotten everything that happened,” Chise muttered while hugging him.
“You know?” Draco asked.
“Yes, we heard about everything that happened from the captured man,” Chise replied.
“Then do you think that I did the right thing or am I a bad person?” Draco asked, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
He thought that he could remain cool about things and bottle it up like an adult is supposed to, but things were just too big to bottle up.
He didn’t want the people that he had come to care about to start viewing him as some dangerous monster.
His mind had been going through the worst-case scenarios for a while now.
He was even prepared to twist the story a bit to make himself look better.
What family would want to know that their son could turn into a beast that sought thrill in hunting people?.
He felt guilty and feared that their relationship might crumble if they began seeing him as a threat to them.
“It’s ok, my son, let it all out. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything you did when I was your age. You did good saving your brother's life, thank you, my son,” Chise comforted while gently patting his back.
Draco let everything pour out and soon felt exhausted after releasing his pent-up emotions and fell asleep in his mother's embrace.
Some may say that he was mentally weak for a grown man in a child’s body, but in the end, he was just another person with emotions like every other intelligent creature.
While he slept, he had a good dream and couldn’t help but smile.
“How is he?” Marcus asked, walking into the kitchen.
“It seems he remembered everything and is very conflicted about it,” Chise replied.
“Sigh, I had a feeling that would be the case or else that slave trader wouldn’t have been spared,” John chimed in.
“He is a smart boy, that's why I thought he would overthink things. We will need to carefully guide him from here in,” Anita said.
“Sigh, his body has become quite strong too, it seems that he hasn’t realized it yet and is instinctively controlling his strength,” Rita added.
They had all been coming to the kitchen to eat after having some serious talk with their prisoner, when they overheard Chise and Draco's discussion.
“Yes, some training is in order. I will make a fine adventurer out of him. He has so much potential. He is already stronger than an experienced level one and he hasn’t even received falna,” John said, Marcus nodded in agreement.
“You will not force it upon him. He will make that decision on his own when he gets older,” Anita scolded, Rita gave a thumbs up supporting her.
“What about magic, the prisoner did say that Draco could breathe fire,” Marcus asked.
“Kyaaaa, when I heard it, I thought it was cool. They said he looked like a small dragon,” Rita said excitedly.
“Well, his features do resemble one and that would explain a lot,” John said.
“Hmm, I did hear some rumors about dragon gods, maybe they know something,” Anita said.
“It would be awesome if our grandson was a dragon, don’t you think so too?” Rita said.
“Hmm,” everyone said in agreement.
“As for magic, I know an elf who owes me a favor,” Anita said.
“Is it her?” John asked, he knew who she was talking about.
“Yes, her, she can teach the kids magic and alchemy,” Anita replied.
“Ah, my cute baby. Here you are asleep while your grandparents plot your suffering. I am sorry that I can’t help you, I can’t defy them,” Chise whispered while stroking Draco’s hair.
Draco subconsciously reacted to her words, his tail stiffening up.
The day went by fast, and the evening quickly arrived, the family had a nice dinner as they officially celebrated the rescue of Draco and Vasileios.
Food and drinks were served in abundance, sadly there were some announcements made.
For one, the farm was to go back to being private, and they wouldn’t be hiring people and expanding it anymore.
The other news was that the children were to begin official training by the next year.
Most of them weren’t thrilled, but Draco was happy.
He wanted to get stronger, strong enough to be able to deal with the absurdity of the world.
He had come to realize that no matter what he did, the world wasn’t going to leave him alone.
He was also reminded of how precious his new life was and just how easily it could be taken away from him.
He was one who had experienced death once and knew how scary it was.
There was no guarantee of another chance from 'X', even if there was, what were the chances of getting a good world and race like the one he currently had.
He very well could end up as a goblin in Warhammer 40k for all he knew.
He was also the last of his kind; he needed to survive and propagate by all means necessary.