So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

The humans were all dead.

The mother who recovered her egg was rejoicing.

That's how Pelerian, who watched the situation from outside the egg, explained it to the snake.

However, that explanation wasn't quite accurate.

Not all the humans had died.

Six out of seven adventurers died, and those six corpses were torn into hundreds of pieces.

Even those remains were mostly gone as the wyverns had eaten them.

But there was someone still alive.

A body with its face planted in a pool of blood in one corner.

More precisely, there was Pandan, who was pretending to be dead.

He slowly raised his head.

Since wyverns can fly quietly, they might be watching from afar.

But fortunately, it seemed they had really all left.

"Haa."

Pandan slowly got up.

There was a lot of wyvern droppings around.

The wyverns that had approached to eat Pandan recoiled in shock at the terrible smell.

Though wyverns eat even rotten meat, they couldn't stand the smell Pandan was emitting.

It was a smell that triggered something in their instincts.

A terrible smell that made it seem like you'd catch a disease if you got close.

The irritated wyverns left after defecating heavily nearby.

Though it was dirty, hadn't he saved his life?

He'd need a drink when he got back.

"Ugh, the smell."

Pandan frowned at the smell coming from his body.

To him it was just a bit disgusting, but he hadn't known it would be enough to drive away wyverns.

'Honestly, I didn't expect it to be this effective.'

He had been skeptical when he first received this item.

Blocking monster approaches.

It might sound simple at first, but what mattered was its practical effectiveness.

To think it could drive away enraged wyverns.

'It wasn't a lie when they said it was ten times more expensive than its weight in gold.'

That's what he was told when receiving the ampule.

He had scoffed then, but it seems it wasn't an exaggeration.

Pandan raised his finger to brush back his hair.

He scratched his exposed forehead and peeled off a sticky patch.

It revealed a tattoo that was usually hidden.

A pattern of two interlocking rings.

The mark of the Empire's notorious thieves' guild, 'Two Rings'.

"I thought I was going to suffocate."

Pandan wasn't his real name.

If that silly name had been his real name, wouldn't he have resented his parents?

Pandan's real name was 'Pandang'.

Quick-handed Pandang.

An A-rank adventurer of the Continental Adventurers' Union, and simultaneously a fixer for the Two Rings thieves' guild.

As an adventurer, he had already failed the quest.

With his party annihilated, it couldn't be helped.

But his mission as a Two Rings fixer wasn't over yet.

'Gathering practical information about wyvern domestication...'

He received this ampule while taking on such a mission.

There weren't many forces that would assign such a mission while providing an item of this value.

'Is the Imperial family really trying to create a Wyvern Knight Order?'

It's not something a mere thieves' guild fixer should know, or could do anything about even if he knew.

He would just continue doing what he could while remaining here.

'It might be better to make friends with the snake instead. Like having snake units in the Ranger Corps.'

Wouldn't it be excellent to load and fire snakes instead of arrows?

Pandang chuckled at that thought.

"Mr. Snake. I wonder if you'll survive."

The snake surprisingly showed the wit to hide inside the egg.

Even Pandang had admired that much.

It was certainly a smart choice.

But the wyvern took that egg back to its nest.

When it discovers that what's hiding in the egg isn't its child but a snake, the wyvern will tear the snake to pieces.

'That wyvern was terrifyingly frightening.'

The maternal instinct of a mother who almost lost her egg was that frightening.

The wyvern fear's cry had shaken Pandang's mind.

'When I get out...'

And even made his pants wet.

'I'll need to wash my clothes.'

Pandang wobbled along, pondering how to escape.

==

「From an interview with Mr. Lovanton who survived returning from a wyvern nest」

Solion Morning Reporter (hereafter 'R'): ...So originally you were an authority on monster ecology. To the point where even the Magic Tower sought your counsel.

Dr. Lovanton Aiode (hereafter 'L'): Yes. Though I'm forcibly humbled now, back then I feared nothing in the world. When I gave special lectures at Emerald Academy, even the Dean invited me to be a full professor.

R: Yet you still entered the magical realm yourself to research monsters. I can't help but respect such a choice.

L: It's what I regret most now.

R: Haha...

The senior who was observing my interview at the time shot an intense look at this point.

I thought my laugh might have been awkward, but what he was glaring at was Dr. Lovanton.

The doctor had been shaking his leg throughout.

It wasn't just ordinary shaking. It was such violent leg shaking that you might think he was deliberately trying to draw attention.

R: Are you perhaps a bit nervous?

L: No. Why do you ask?

R: Your leg...

It was delicate to point out leg shaking to an elderly, injured doctor.

As I hesitated like that, Lovanton suddenly pulled up his pants.

For a moment, I thought he was crazy.

L: Sorry. My leg is like this.

Though I'm a bearded man and Dr. Lovanton is a bearded man, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

I confess that I let out a cute scream at that moment.

There was a truly horrible scar on his thigh.

How should I describe it?

Like flesh torn to shreds with a heated needle.

Then knitted together with that skin.

R: That, that looks painful.

L: Painful, it was terribly painful. Even now when I think of that time...

R: Was it the work of Saturnian Wyvern Queen Chugota who captured you? Explore stories at m,v l'e-m|p| y r

L: That one? Puhahaha!

I could soon understand why Dr. Lovanton laughed.

L: This is the wound that one made.

Horrifyingly, he took off his pants completely.

He was left in just his underwear, but his left leg held another secret.

Below the knee was a prosthetic leg.

L: It thought of me as some sort of teaching material for its children. It swallowed my left leg whole while showing them how to bite like this. The right thigh bears the marks of the children imitating that.

I've interviewed many who have experienced atrocities, but Lovanton's past certainly had something that made one's insides churn.

L: Wyverns normally tear their prey to pieces when eating. But after laying eggs, they often take prey alive.

R: To teach their children...?

L: That's right.

R: Monsters have that level of intelligence.

L: Foolish words. Even ordinary birds do that much. Monsters actually have much higher intelligence. That Chugota was a true queen leading hundreds of wyverns.

R: Yes, that's right.

L: It broke both my arms so I couldn't harm its children.

Lovanton raised both arms.

His left arm trembled by itself, and there was a scar that looked like bone had once protruded.

R: Yes, I understand.

L: And that's not all!