Chapter 148 The Iron Hammer of the Marketplace
Baek Seolhwa briefly explained Baek Yeonyeong’s condition.
She said it had been a long time since she’d seen her sleep so peacefully.
Apparently, instead of sleeping, she usually restored her energy through meditation.
In other words, it seemed like she was able to sleep comfortably because I was beside her, so Baek Seolhwa asked me to keep helping from now on.
“Gek.”
Of course, she didn’t say all that for free.
If I helped Baek Yeonyeong sleep comfortably, she promised to cook a special meat dish tomorrow.
I could almost hear the sound of drooling.
It wouldn’t just be raw meat either, it’d be cooked meat.
Honestly, considering I was in the body of a lizard, I wondered if cooked meat would even taste better than raw meat.
But remembering the taste of the roasted meat I had eaten with Tang So-yeong in the swamp, I figured cooked meat wouldn’t be bad.
And the person cooking it was none other than Baek Seolhwa.
That cooking pouch of hers seemed unusual.
She liked sweet things, and she seemed to have a taste for fatty parts of the meat.
I was sure she had a unique perspective on food.
After asking me again and again, Baek Seolhwa quietly left the room.
I was a little worried that her lengthy explanation might wake Baek Yeonyeong, but she kept sleeping soundly, snoring softly.
If the status window worked a little harder, it might have even given me a quest.
Protect Baek Yeonyeong’s sleep.
Reward: Seolhwa’s delicious meal.
A very easy quest.
I just had to stay still in Baek Yeonyeong’s hand.
But I was the divine beast of the Gecko Religion, Komodo-Lania.
Staying still didn’t suit me.
I had lived my life running tirelessly to grow stronger, making the most of every moment.
To stop now would be to insult that life.
I’d rather live as a hungry lizard than as a well-fed pig.
“Gek.”
Baek Yeonyeong was sound asleep.
And deeply, too.
That meant I could move freely.
In other words, I had to make the most of this opportunity.
If I played my cards right, I might even unlock a title or achievement.
Since I’d earned a title for being loved by a spider, “Beloved by Spiders,” it wouldn’t be strange to get something else here.
If I bit Baek Yeonyeong’s finger, I might get something like “Fearless One.”
“Gekek.”
I slipped out of her hand.
I was a bit worried she might start groaning like earlier, but it seemed being in contact with her skin was enough to keep her comfortable.
I stood still and stared at Baek Yeonyeong’s face.
They say everyone looks like an angel when they sleep.
Even the terrifying Baek Yeonyeong looked a little cute as she snored softly.
To think this woman had taken down the Imoogi Bird so easily.
And she had taken care of Oduza with a single blow.
She was an opponent I normally wouldn’t dare to even look at.
But Baek Yeonyeong was my master, and right now, she was asleep.
In other words, she was defenseless.
“Gekgekgek.”
I let out an evil chuckle as I drew closer to her face.
Disturbing someone in their sleep was something only a beast would do.
It was a disqualification from being human.
But since I was in the body of a lizard, wasn’t it fitting to say I passed as a beast?
I could do whatever I wanted.
So, was it right to leave this wicked beast to sleep peacefully?
Squish.
“Gekgek.”
I pinched Baek Yeonyeong’s cheek.
That soft yet firm texture was addicting.
I pulled one side, then the other.
I also played with her ink-black hair, moving it this way and that.
It was too much, even by my own standards.
Messing with a defenseless master like this was beyond cruel.
But it’s only by doing dangerous things that you can unlock titles or achievements.
I used both hands to knead Baek Yeonyeong’s cheeks.
Now I understood why she was always touching me. This was oddly addictive.
“What are you doing?”
“Gekgek.”
What do you mean, what? I’m playing with your face.
“…Gek?”
I froze.
I was still holding her cheeks, but I slightly lifted my head.
“What are you doing…?”
Baek Yeonyeong’s cold eyes were staring right at me.
“Gegegek!”
One limp lizard.
“Geeeeng…”
Baek Yeonyeong had woken up and put me in this pitiful state.
Though she hadn’t put me in her mouth, she had thoroughly manhandled my small body.
“It’s amazing. I actually fell asleep.”
She stroked my head gently with her finger, but that didn’t make me feel any better.
“What’s wrong?”
“Gek.”
“…Wait. Hiya. You’ve gotten a bit bigger, haven’t you?”
“Gek?”
I looked at myself.
I did seem a little bigger, but it wasn’t obvious to the naked eye.
Baek Yeonyeong grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me up.
Then she put me into the spot where I always burrowed.
…No way.
“Look. You’re definitely bigger.”
My body was now a tight fit.
“Gek!”
If I got any bigger, I wouldn’t be able to fit here anymore!
I thought such a pathetic thought but quickly shook my head.
I am the divine beast Komodo of the Gecko Religion.
I should be glad my body is returning to its original size, not disappointed.
“Hmm… I don’t know the exact reason, but if you just repeat what you did today, it should work.”
Repeat what I did today?
“From now on, come to my room every night.”
…Isn’t that a slightly dangerous statement?
But there was no choice.
I had to get the meal Baek Seolhwa had promised.
And to ensure my master’s sound sleep.
I will sacrifice myself.
“Gekgek.”
What a noble lizard I was.
I could almost hear the joyful cries of the unicorn from here.
Life at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult continued like that.
In the morning, I would go to Tang So-yeong to receive treatment.
“Keeeng!”
The spiders, every time they saw me, didn’t know what to do with themselves and tried something or other.
It was really annoying, but I was doing my best to ignore them.
Tus, Pus, and Nephila Jurassica drooled, pressed their butts against me, and started spinning webs.
What on earth did that even mean?
“Kioooong…”
“What… what are you doing in broad daylight…?”
Tang So-yeong blushed, glancing between me and the spiders.
What exactly was going on here?
After the treatment, though I didn’t like it, I had to undergo a new therapy that Tang So-yeong had developed.
“Hehehe…”
Tang So-yeong chuckled sinisterly.
“Kiooo…”
The spiders grabbed my legs, and Tang So-yeong grabbed my arms.
S-t-r-e-t-c-h.
The spiders and Tang So-yeong pulled, as if they were trying to forcibly stretch my body.
Though I wondered what this was supposed to achieve, it actually worked.
I had grown considerably bigger.
“Geeeek…”
After that long stretching session, I would sneak into Baek Seolhwa’s room.
“Gekgekgek.”
Stupid human.
While laughing at her, I stole one rice cake every day.
Even though she kept bringing out the food she promised, Baek Seolhwa glared at me, clearly displeased.
Later on, she begged me to be satisfied with dried persimmons instead of the rice cakes, but dragons are known to be greedy.
I ate both.
Normally, she would have grabbed my tail and swung me around, but it seemed Baek Yeonyeong’s restful sleep was more important. The fact that she kept bringing out food without a word meant she couldn’t protest.
So I ate the Dongpo pork she brought.
And took a bite of a large dumpling…
“You perverted lizard!”
After being chased out by Baek Seolhwa, I wandered around the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
I worried about being caught by humans, but I had already been spotted on the first day.
Since I had grown bigger, it was even harder to avoid being noticed.
Since hiding was impossible, I decided to just walk around boldly.
“Seok, Seokcheok…!”
At first, the humans tried desperately to catch me, but eventually, they changed their strategy.
“Hey, hey, good boy. Do you want something to eat?”
“Gek.”
The humans offered me tributes.
It seemed they realized they couldn’t catch me after seeing my movements, which I’d learned from Soaring Dragon.
Of course, a few martial artists with ominous energy approached me a few times, but they disappeared as soon as I noticed them.
They must have figured there was no point in going all out just to catch a single lizard.
“Be careful! The elders fainted the last time they tried to catch Seokcheok!”
“What? That lizard caused that?”
“No, the Cult Leader made them faint.”
“…Huh?”
The cult members exchanged incomprehensible words.
“Gekgek.”
I had run into humans so often that I had become a well-known spirit beast within the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
You could say I was like the campus cat that roams around universities.
A black lizard that grew bigger by the day.
Though many spirit beasts lived in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, they had probably never seen one like me.
“Look at that! That lizard is walking on two legs!”
“They say it walks on raindrops and flies through the sky when it rains.”
“And sometimes it shoots lasers from its mouth!”
“They also say the lizard is a womanizer!”
I had somehow gathered a following.
I wondered if I could even convert some of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult members to my side at this rate.
But that seemed a bit difficult.
Even though I was favored by Baek Yeonyeong, she probably wasn’t on the same level as the Cult Leader.
If the Cult Leader found out about this situation, I’d end up as a Komodo soup.
According to Tang So-yeong, the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was a cruel person who wouldn’t hesitate to grind up a lizard like me and drink me.
“Gekgek.”
In the morning, snacks from Tang So-yeong and the spiders.
In the afternoon, food and rice cakes from Baek Seolhwa.
And for snacks, the offerings from the cult members.
With all that food, my size grew exponentially.
I had grown so large that Baek Yeonyeong could now hug me in her sleep.
“Geeek… Gekgek!”
Though I briefly entertained a pleasant fantasy about being hugged while sleeping, reality wasn’t so sweet.
It was more like being hugged by someone clinging to a balloon.
If Baek Yeonyeong had a nightmare, I could be crushed instantly.
Reluctantly, I used my tail to adjust the blanket, making sure she could sleep comfortably.
Thus, from a hungry lizard, I grew day by day into a well-fed one.
Having grown this much in the wild, returning to my original size happened faster than expected.
Even fierce creatures, like the Death Worm Baek Yeonyeong brought, ended up in my mouth.
When I was smaller, they were intimidating, but now they were just large chunks of meat.
So, I leveled up, grew bigger, and eventually, I had to use miniaturization to fit inside Baek Yeonyeong’s room.
“You’ve grown a lot.”
Baek Yeonyeong gently stroked my body before going to sleep.
“Gekgek.”
Sleeping with a beautiful woman like Baek Yeonyeong.
It was a luxurious situation, but if I wasn’t careful, I could end up as dried lizard jerky.
Perhaps because I had grown so large, she didn’t even let me inside her energy pouch anymore.
I had to stiffen my body, pretending to be a body pillow.
“By now, I suppose I could give you Oduza’s core.”
“Gek!”
Finally…!
Oduza’s core—it almost brought me to tears.
Though we called it Oduza, it was clearly a Hydra.
In other words, that thing had been a monstrous creature.
And its core was finally coming to me.
The time had come.
The time to become a three-headed lizard, King-Komodo!
“Hiya, have you ever heard of a martial art called Jeojatkwon?”
“Gek?”
“No, it just suddenly came to mind.”
Forget the random talk, just give me the core!