Chapter 139 Sweet Reward
Before the lizard regained consciousness.
“How truly strange. You resemble me so much.”
Baek Yeonyeong looked at the Snake Queen.
A face that looked very similar to her own.
There wouldn’t be a need to set up Seolhwa as a double if she could just sit this woman down to fool the followers.
Of course, due to her lower body, that would be difficult.
The Snake Queen also looked at Baek Yeonyeong.
They were alike.
More than herself, Baek Yeonyeong resembled the woman she had longed to be like.
The color of her eyes and her varied expressions were the only differences. Otherwise, there wasn’t much distinction between them.
The Snake Queen had many questions she wanted to ask her.
But personal feelings needed to be set aside for now.
The Snake Queen told her what had happened.
She addressed Baek Yeonyeong with formal respect.
Although Baek Yeonyeong told her there was no need, the Snake Queen couldn’t help it.
It felt as though she was standing before her own master.
“Hmm… Tae-se’s power, huh? There are many things that bother me about it.”
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult did not interfere with the nature of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.
This was a principle established by Baek Yeonyeong.
There were exceptions, of course, but something as significant as directly killing an important spirit being had rarely occurred.
However, it was unavoidable.
Was it because her disciple had been brutally defeated?
No, though she was slightly angry, that too was part of nature and the wild.
She would save him, but she wouldn’t kill the opponent.
At most, she would lightly reprimand him with a few flicks to the forehead and call it done.
However, with Tae-se’s interference, the story changed.
If left alone, the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains would literally become a demonic realm.
Even though the entity known as Gaetsalgoadal had been dealt with, someone inheriting its fragments could still emerge.
She had attacked with the goal of delivering maximum damage, but complete annihilation was impossible.
“Well, for a while, it won’t even dare show its face.”
The Snake Queen and Baek Yeonyeong forged a pact.
An alliance.
To be precise, it was a connection to ensure that if something like this happened again, it could be swiftly suppressed from the start.
The Snake Queen would receive Baek Yeonyeong’s protection, and Baek Yeonyeong, in turn, would preemptively block potential threats, so neither would suffer a loss.
Compared to Baek Yeonyeong, the Snake Queen fell short, but her combat power was not to be underestimated.
In case of an emergency, she would be a solid ally.
With Tae-se’s energy permeating the sky, it was only a matter of time before those bearing the name of the Murim Alliance started nosing around.
And so, their conversation concluded.
The matter wrapped up was the story between the Queen and the Cult Leader.
But the story between the Basilisk and Baek Yeonyeong was not yet over.
“What is it? Do you have more to say? Focus on your recovery.”
“…May I ask the benefactor’s name?”
Benefactor.
Since Baek Yeonyeong had defeated Gaetsalgoadal and saved her and her mate’s life, she indeed was a benefactor.
But there was another reason the Snake Queen called her a benefactor.
That face was definitely not an illusion.
She was real.
She was the master that her mate had summoned.
No matter how much she looked at her, she overlapped with the image of her master.
That was why she asked for her name.
To confirm her suspicions.
“I’m not fond of formality, but you may know me as Baek Yeonyeong.”
Yeonyeong (蓮影).
Her fair skin and beautiful face perfectly suited the name Yeon (Lotus).
Her ink-black hair, like a cascading waterfall, matched Yeong (Shadow).
The white lotus and its shadow.
Baek Yeonyeong.
Drip.
Tears flowed from the Snake Queen’s eyes.
She was relieved after confirming her mate’s safety.
Her heart was moved by how he had come running to save her.
It tore her heart apart to see him brutally beaten.
And she had trembled in awe when he had dealt a massive blow to Gaetsalgoadal.
Yet, she had held back her tears.
She couldn’t show weakness in front of her mate.
Her mate was fast asleep as if he had fainted.
Drip.
So, it was okay to cry now.
Drip.
“Mother… do you remember her…?”
The white lotus. It had been her master’s favorite flower.
“I do not.”
But Baek Yeonyeong didn’t know who she was.
“I was born into this world with only my younger sibling. I have no knowledge of my parents.”
The Snake Queen understood why her master had left them.
No, “left” wasn’t the right word.
In order to face Tae-se and the other evil gods, her master had only temporarily entrusted them to someone else.
However, because her master had never returned, it was only natural for Baek Yeonyeong to think she had been abandoned.
“…Do you resent your parents?”
Her heart ached.
If she could, she wanted to clear up all the misunderstandings.
But she couldn’t.
It was she herself who had failed to stop her master when she left.
“Resent?”
Baek Yeonyeong closed her eyes.
She recalled her childhood.
She hadn’t learned anything. She hadn’t possessed anything.
It had been a life of struggling just to survive.
“I buried that long ago, so I don’t think much of it.”
The Snake Queen sighed in relief at her answer.
At the same time, guilt washed over her.
The fact that she had felt relieved was hideously shameful.
She had to tell her the truth.
“In truth…!”
“Gek.”
At that moment, a lizard suddenly slipped between them.
It looked around and then showed off by positioning its head toward Baek Yeonyeong and its tail toward the Snake Queen.
The Snake Queen calmed her excited heart.
There was no need to tell her right now.
After all, the information she had might not be accurate.
It would be a hundred times better to investigate further and tell her on a better day.
…This time, that lizard had saved her again.
The Snake Queen gently stroked the tail of the lizard pressed against her chest.
“He wasn’t like this before.”
Baek Yeonyeong muttered as she petted the purring lizard’s chin.
The Snake Queen averted her gaze.
It was likely that she had influenced the lizard’s attachment to her chest in some way.
You can survive even if bitten by a Tyrannosaurus if you stay conscious.
But if Baek Yeonyeong bites you, you won’t survive even if you stay conscious.
My master has subjected this little lizard to unbearably cruel punishment.
She grabs my small feet, flips me over, and massages my belly.
Even… even…!
…I will not speak of it further.
It’s a lizard’s humiliation.
It’s the same as being swallowed and spat out by the Snake Queen.
Of course, it could be considered more than that.
As if she wasn’t satisfied with merely toying with my body, Yeonyeong-saurus threw me to those hungry creatures.
“Jjaek jjaek!”
“Bbyak!”
Claiming that I had teased them first, an intense physical assault followed.
Jjaekjjaeki, claiming to be happy to see me, pecked at me.
Shikshik drooled all over me while crying.
“Geh-ek….”
Since my body had shrunk considerably, I was quickly soaked.
It made sense, considering I had shrunk to the point where Shikshik could have secretly swallowed me whole.
But I didn’t mind them acting like this.
It was playful, and each had their way of showing affection.
However, Old Kompi was an exception.
Just look at that triangular face.
Pure malice.
There was no way it could be a joke.
It’s fortunate he hadn’t demonstrated the final secret technique of the Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Strike.
Hmm… but why is he so angry?
Could it be because I hugged him?
I was half-asleep, so it couldn’t be helped, and Old Kompi wasn’t the type to be so closed-minded that he couldn’t understand that.
…Perhaps.
Could it be because of my actions as a playboy lizard?
…I can understand a little, but I have an excuse for that too.
A lizard’s instinct is to head for the safest place when barely conscious.
Yes, that’s exactly it.
“Gek gek.”
“Keeeek!”
But Old Kompi’s face grew longer, as if he didn’t care about any of that.
Ugh, he’s terrifying.
But I have Shikshik, my reliable ally.
“Saaaaaah!”
Shikshik, now more of an isosceles triangle than an equilateral one, fiercely bit Old Kompi.
“Keeeng….”
No grandfather can win against his granddaughter.
Despite all the humiliating things I endured, I didn’t feel too bad.
Soaring Dragon being here meant that the Snake Queen and I had progressed in our relationship.
A father and daughter who had lived without seeing each other had now reunited.
And far off in the distance, Argentarvis looked at me with a disappointed gaze.
The former Bird King—or rather, now he should be called the next Bird King.
This meant he had won the battle against the Fiery Phoenix.
“Illbuuuuu Ilchheoooor!”
I heard someone’s distant wailing, but I chose to ignore it for now.
One thing I could infer from all this information:
We had won.
“Gekgegek!”
“Why are you laughing?”
Oh, nothing, Master.
Please hit me more!
It was a situation where I had saved the world, but no one remembered it.
However, I laughed, feeling like a high school student from Japan who had gained a sense of the preciousness of everyday life.
“Ban… Are you sure you haven’t hit your head…?”
The Snake Queen, concerned about me.
She was now addressing me as “you” instead of “mate.”
Looking at how she glanced at Baek Yeonyeong, it seemed she was a little hesitant to call me her mate outright.
It was a bit refreshing to see the Snake Queen being cautious.
Well, after witnessing Baek Yeonyeong’s power, that kind of reaction was to be expected.
But it wasn’t just about her power.
There’s a saying that a master is like a parent.
In other words, Baek Yeonyeong could be seen as playing the role of the Snake Queen’s mother-in-law.
…Things are getting a bit tangled, aren’t they?
“Gekgek.”
Time passed like that, and the chaos of the Gecko Commotion finally settled down.
“Bbyak!”
“Jjaek jjaek!”
Although the warbler and Ball Python clinging to my body didn’t seem satisfied yet, just wait a little longer.
“Princess. Let him go now. That should be enough.”
There’s something I need to do first.
“I’ll announce the result of this war.”
“Gekgek!”
The result of the war was victory.
No lizard here didn’t know that.
Yet, my heart thumped for a reason.
Victory always brought rewards.
A sweet reward awaited.
Since I was at least the second most deserving of merit in this war, I could expect something pretty good.
“We dealt with Gaetsalgoadal and the Imoogi Bird. Unfortunately, we let the Fiery Phoenix slip away.”
We let the Fiery Phoenix slip away?
So that’s why Argentarvis was far away.
At least we prevented him from joining the fight.
That’s good enough.
However, since this black lizard overshadowed my contributions, I shouldn’t expect much in terms of reward distribution.
“Gekgek.”
“…What’s with that greedy expression?”
Greedy? This is the face of someone expecting a fair reward.
“A mysterious spirit beast left the Imoogi Bird’s core here.”
“Gek!”
Of course, the Unicorn.
Donating such a precious core for me.
“…I wanted to give it to you, but I can’t.”
“Gek?”
What does that mean?
My snout felt like it was about to get longer.
“What’s with that look? If you don’t believe me, try touching it.”
The Snake Queen held out the core.
A blue energy swirled around the black core.
[Core of the Imoogi Bird]
A top-tier core, just like the Beihj Bird’s core.
Gulp.
I swallowed and reached out my tiny hand to touch the core.
Zap.
“Geggegek!”
With a sharp pain, the core bounced off by itself.
The Snake Queen caught the core before it could fall.
“Now do you understand? It’s infused with the Unicorn’s energy, making it incompatible with you.”
I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
If it contained the Unicorn’s energy, why was it incompatible with me?
“Gekgekgek!”
If anything, we should have been perfectly compatible.
This is unfair.
“Don’t be too disheartened. This isn’t the only core we acquired.”
“Gek!”
The Snake Queen was right.
In fact, the Imoogi Bird’s core was probably just an appetizer.
The main course, the core of the Imoogi Bird, was still waiting.
“Hiyah. Come here.”
Master called from the other side, beckoning me.
I ran over immediately.
“Gekgek!”
Forget the core with the Unicorn’s spit. I want the Imoogi Bird’s core.
“Do you remember what I told you in the Silver Dragon Cave?”
I do remember.
It was what Master said after we had captured the Hydra.
“You’ve grown enough. It’s time to hand over Oduza’s core.”
“Gek!”
It seemed she was even going to give me the bonus I had forgotten about.
“The Imoogi Bird’s core is also yours.”
“Geggegegek!”
As expected of Baek Yeonyeong.
She’s so generous.
She couldn’t be compared to the Unicorn, who coated the cores with its spit.
“However, I can’t give them to you right away. Not Oduza’s, nor the Imoogi Bird’s.”
“Gek?”
“Isn’t your body still in an abnormal state?”
Well, that made sense.
No matter how strong I was, eating a core while barely surviving death would be quite dangerous.
“First, return your size to normal. That way, I can check your body.”
“Gekgek.”
Leveling up would help my body recover, but leveling up in my current state wasn’t going to be easy.
It might be possible if Master caught a few beasts alive and brought them to me, but knowing her personality, she probably wouldn’t do that.
Therefore, I needed some primitive healing right now.
Since Baek Yeonyeong seemed to know a thing or two about spirit creatures, she might heal me herself.
“Geggegek!”
I immediately deactivated the miniaturization.
…
“Gek?”
Why is my view still the same?
“What are you doing? I told you to increase your size so I can examine your wounds.”
“Gekgek.”
Hold on a second.
…
This can’t be right.
“What’s with that dumbfounded expression?”
The miniaturization wasn’t deactivating.
No, to be more precise, the word “deactivate” itself was wrong.
The reason my body had shrunk wasn’t because I had used miniaturization.
It was a side effect of having used too much power.
“Gegegeek!”