If they were for food, surely the heads and wings would have been separated.
It seemed more likely that living birds had somehow been buried while they were alive.
But there was no stench of rotting flesh at all. What was it that Ril had smelled?
However, Ril ignored the bones as she waded through the pile. And then she picked up something that was round.
“What is that? A rock… No, an egg?”
To be precise, it was an egg fossil. But it had a white surface, just like a bird egg.
And since it had not shattered when it fell to the ground, it must be quite strong.
Ril picked it up and handed it to me.
“Thank you, Ril.”
I patted her on the head.
Whatever it was, Ril had wanted to give it to me, so I was happy.
“Still… It’s quite pretty, now that I really look at it…”
The egg sparkled when you looked at it from different angles.
And it was pure white, without a single stain. It seemed more like a precious stone than an egg.
Not only that, but it was smooth to the touch.
Yes, it was the kind of thing that I could see people gathering for its beauty…
And so I continued to search the area in case there were any more of them.
However, I was not able to find any.
There were fragments of what looked like eggshells. But they had been crushed and were as gray as the rest of the rocks.
And when I tried touching them, they were rough like rock. And nearby, there were the small bones of baby birds who may have been waiting to hatch.
“So, perhaps it’s just this egg that is special…”
But why were so many bird bones concentrated here?
I didn’t know if they were pets or wild birds, but something had caused them to be buried alive here. That was for sure.
I wondered what kind of birds they were… Maybe there was something here that would give me a clue.
“Alright. I guess I should just keep digging!”
Ril barked adorably in reply.
And so I put the fossilized egg into my coat pocket and returned to swinging my pickaxe.
However, I did not discover anything interesting after that.
And when it was almost lunch time, I got a message from Kamyu, telling me to come to the shore.