Confirmation
Now that I’ve named him, I thought I’d feed him, so I took the food out of my item box. It was basically all monster meat, but there was also some meat that usually gets eaten by domestic animals.
“Okay, Val, what do you want to eat?”
I put the meat on the prepared plate, but Val didn’t show much interest. Hmm, what does this mean? Isn’t he a carnivore? I knew there were herbivorous dragons, too, but their number was very small. I could prepare medicinal herbs if he’s really a herbivore, but will he like them?
It’s bad not to eat anything. I can’t allow him to starve to death. Nothing I can do, then ― I took out a potion and turned it into medicinal herbs. When I gave it to Val, he immediately took a bite out of it.
“Vaal!”
He ate it excitedly, with shining eyes. The medicinal herbs in my hand were finished quickly, and he looked at me as if asking for more.
So, he is really a herbivore? I gave another medicinal herb to Val again, but this time, he shook his head, and pointed at the raw meat which was still sitting around. You want to eat that? But he didn’t do anything and just sat there.
I thought about it as he waited patiently.
…Could it be?
One hypothesis came to mind. I destroyed and collected the piece of meat that Val had pointed at before, and then I made some meat using my magic, and gave that to him. His eyes shone brightly as he quickly wolfed it down, before gesturing as if to ask for even more.
“No, no, you can’t eat too much.”
At my warning, he bowed his head, disappointed. Watching Val running around the room, I still barely knew what the difference was. Maybe Val only eats food that I’ve made with my ability? When I looked at the little guy again, I saw him eating the meat that was left behind.
Oh, so he still can eat that, huh? However, he wasn’t as enthusiastic as when he ate what I made him. The meat I made has a higher rank, while the meat obtained from dead monsters has a lower rank. Perhaps he asked me to make him food simply because he wanted to eat better-tasting food.
…What really bothers me is that Val somehow knows my ability. I can’t think of any possible reason for that other than the fact I created him. Well, whatever it is, it’s fine. Val is cute, and that’s all there is to it.
“Are you capable of fighting, Val?”
I’ve heard that even a newborn dragon is stronger than a goblin. Val then stopped walking and leaned on his hind legs to stretch his chest.
“Vaal!”
“Are you confident?”
He moved his neck up and down.
“Well, I’m off for today. Do you want to go out and hunt monsters?”
“Val!”
Val swung out his forefoot. I was a little curious about how he fights, so I decided we’d go together. I didn’t plan to fight strong monsters anyway.
As usual, we should go hunt goblins. I took out the handgun I made from the blueprint, since I’d been wanting to try it out. I knew roughly how to use it from the moment I destroyed the blueprint. By pulling the trigger, I would put magic into the cylinder and shoot a bullet, right?
I went out into the corridor with Val. He worked hard moving his little wings to fly and landed on my head. He’s quite heavy, so I picked him up from my head and held him in my arms as I walked. No one was around at the moment. I figured I’d tell them all later.
Just when I was about to go out the back door, I ran into Oba-san, collecting garbage.
“Ohh, Relius! Is that baby dragon the pet you were wanting to keep!?”
Oba-san’s eyes were sparkling. When I let go of Val, he worked hard as always to fly in front of her.
“Yeah. His name is Val.”
“Val-chan, huh! So cuuuute!”
Oba-san hugged him tightly. Val looked a little nervous at first, but he soon got used to her.
…I thought Val was pretty friendly, but there still seem to be some things that make him nervous. Maybe he was so friendly towards me because I was the one who made him.
“Hmm, were you going outside today, Relius?” Oba-san asked me.
“Yeah, I’m thinking of going out for a bit of monster hunting. It looks like Val can fight pretty well, too.”
“Oh, really? Well, he is a dragon, after all.”
When Oba-san stroked Val’s head, he cooed pleasantly. He and I then parted ways with her and walked through town. If Val was flying, people might be surprised, so I had him sit still in my arms. As long as he didn’t move, he only looked like an ordinary lizard.
Val looked around at the city with great interest. Whenever he saw a particularly large building, he squealed happily and turned his head. I went through the gate and outside the city, and finally let go of Val. He exercised his wings while checking our surroundings. I had to check one thing before battle.
“How do you fight, Val?”
When it comes to dragons, they basically attack in close combat by taking advantage of their strong body, or using their breath to attack. But right now Val is still a child. Even if he’s not literally fresh out of the egg, it seems like it would be difficult for him to fight in close range.
“Val.”
The next moment he called out, he spit a burst of fire at the same time.
“You can do a breath attack?”
“Vaal!”
Val then blew breath attacks a few more times. Fire, wind, water, earth… he spat breaths of various attributes. Maaan, dragons can do so many things!
While watching Val practice his breath attacks, I noticed a goblin.
“Val!”
Val glared at the goblin as if demanding they fight. The goblin was already approaching, along with one buddy. Should I just experiment and let him give it a try?
“Well, Val, that one seems attracted to you, so why don’t you fight it?”
“Val!”
Val nodded and kicked up some dust from flapping his wings to approach the goblin.
“If it gets dangerous, you have to fly up and away, understand?”
“Vaal!”
Following Val, I approached the other goblin.
Bound Pleasures 
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