STM 26

Thud.

With a dull sound, Torida, who had been kneeling, fell to the floor. He had already been kicked several times, but he stood up like a toy and prostrated flat on his stomach again.

“I’ll find her. I’m sure I can find her, Lord Zav. They said there’s an entrance to the Forest of Crimson Waves within the Owick house. Just give me a little more time…”

“My subordinates have already inspected the interior of the mansion. Are you sure it’s that estate? Not buried under some garden ground?”

“T-that…”

“So find Baron Owick. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Leaning against the windowsill, Zav looked out as if he was bored and gave orders to the knight.

“No point waiting, crush him.”

“Lord Zav!”

As the knights rushed in, Torida called out the name urgently and spoke quickly.

“Sillian’s whereabouts are unknown, but I found a clue at the last place Sillian disappeared!”

At those words, Zav raised one hand and stopped the knights.

“Speak.”

“Since Sillian couldn’t move on her own, so someone must have taken her away. We’re investigating everyone who was in the resort at the time. We’re almost done. However, there’s just one person who’s difficult to investigate”

“Who?”

Torida hesitated and blurted out a name.

“Adeye Lu.”

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“Ugh.”

The momentI lay down on the bed, a groan escaped my lips. Every muscle in my body screamed. It had been a long time since I’d experienced this muscle pain from exercise, so I gritted my teeth and endured.

Ha, all I can do right now is make this body healthy.

I keep getting more and more impatient. I even planned Plan M with Doctor Kim late into the night, but everything hit a snag: my bad relationship with Tairok.

He already saw the Adeyes as enemies, and I had made it worse by stepping in. I adjusted into my comfortable position on the bed, frowing again at the pain in my muscles.

Whatever. It’ll work out somehow.

Sleep was the priority right now. My eyelids were heavy. But tonight, I couldn’t sleep peacefully.

[Flat ~~~ When humans lie down their faces go flat~~~ Humans must not sleep lying down~~~ Flat face~~~]

The sound of a song that was incredibly tone deaf rang in my head.

‘Damn it, Mo. I told you to convert all the spirit’s words into text.’

[I was repairing an overloaded system. Shall I shut it down completely next time?]

Nagging like an older sister. I couldn’t even complain anymore and opened my heavy eyes.

A palm sized spirit flapped its wings and flitted before my eyes. Fortunately, the rasping song ceased. However, the text wasn’t entirely satisfactory. I could clearly see what the Spirit of Poison was conveying.

[Why won’t the human wake up~~ Does the human like being flat~~ No, no~~ What the human likes is mating~ mating~ mating~]

I jumped up. It suddenly became R-rated?

“What’s wrong? Did something happen to Petal?”

[Our Petal~~ is fine now~~ Kyahaha~~ Petal is growing pretty poisonous plants again~~]

The wavy patterns filling the air looked cheerful. So, were you here just to show off? But contrary to my expectations, something floated through the air and towards me.

It was a thin, grayish object, the size of a finger. At first, I flinched, thinking it was a piece of bone. But I soon realized it was a twig.

[A gift~ a gift for the human~~ the prettiest twig~~ the strongest twig~~]

Ah, a gift. Right, Doctor Kim once said non-human beings decide their own rewards when helped.

A twig…. I didn’t grab the twig that had landed on my palm and asked cautiously.

“Is it poisonous?”

[Poison!! The human wanted poison~~~ I’ll bring poison~~~~ I’ll give poison~~~~]

“No! No poison! Keep the poison!”

When I refuse vehemently, it suddenly stopped flapping its wings.

[Why? You don’t like poison?]

Suddenly, the wavy signs disappeared, making the letters look grim.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just… poison is precious. You don’t need to give that precious poison to me.”

Fortunately, the wings started moving again.

[A human who knows~~ the value of poison~~ is a good human~~ a flat-faced but good human~~]

“…Yeah. Thanks for the compliment.”

[Thank you~ thank you~ is it only words~~ why don’t you treasure it~~ maybe you’re not a good human~~]

Fuck. How can I make it look treasured?

Of course, I didn’t voice my dissatisfaction. The thing was poisonous after all.

Instead, I looked around, brought a thin leather cord and hung it around my neck like a necklace.

“Look, I treasure it.”

[Kyahaha~~ the human made jewelry~~ my gift turned into jewelry~~ good human~~ kyahaha~~ my gift~~ a good human who carries my gift around with him for the rest of his life]

…Do I have to carry it for the rest of my life? Unlike me who was frustrated, the Spirit of Poison was excited and started to use the waves a lot.

[Let’s tell Lord Hyuk~~ let’s tell Lord Hyuk about the good human~~ Hyuk~ Hyuk~~~]

Lord Hyuk? I’ve definitely heard that strange at the resort.

When I asked it to rang the bell, it said it’d ask Lord Hyuk.

I thought that meant it was summoning wind, but did Hyuk bring the monster here?

“Hey, that Hyuk…”

[Kyahaha~~ time to see our pretty poisonous plants~~]

It said what it wanted and disappeared.

I stared at the empty window and barely held back the urge to curse. “You wake up a sleeping person and then just walk away like that?”

This is ridiculous. I sighed and lay down, but I couldn’t sleep. I had no choice but to open my eyes, stare blankly at the ceiling, and then raise my hand.

Suddenly, I gently touched the small twig I’d made into a necklace. The curved, like a joint, was smoother than I’d expected v

It looked like a dried branch that had fallen long ago. Still, I was grateful, thinking that the Spirit of Poison must have chosen the prettiest and strongest twig it could find.

Yeah, I didn’t help it expecting anything in return anyway….

[Human.]

Letters appeared in front of my eyes. Ha, who is it again?

I sat up again, and faced what appeared to be a squishy, bloated mass, thanks to the filter.

I lifted my body from the bed and faced the thing that looked like a round blurry lump because of the filter. Ah, the Bichon butt. Or was it the back of its head?

“What’s the matter ?”

[Human.]

“Yeah, I’m human.”

[Human.]

Why ?

I almost replied in kind but stopped myself. It kept repeating the same word, so maybe it wanted a specific answer.

Since it called me human, maybe I had to call it by name too? But I wasn’t sure if it was even a spirit. If I called it one and I was wrong, it might get angry.

Who knows, maybe it was some kind of fairy of calamity. Better to be careful.

“Nice to meet you, great, beautiful….fluffy creature.”

I threw in every kind of adjective.

[Niiice to meeet you.]

So it just wanted a greeting? I nodded, feeling a bit stupid.

“Yeah, nice to meet you. What’s going on?”

[A giiift.]

And then something floated up and came towards me.

For a moment, I wondered if today was the deadline in the non-human world, like they’d get ostracized if they didn’t repay favors by now.

As I held out my hand, something plump, about the length of a finger, landed on my palm.

It was a bug. A slightly dry bug with folded wings stuck to its body.

Is this revenge? Are you repaying kindness with enmity?

I barely stopped myself from complaining. It was simply too difficult to utter the words “thank you.”

But the being who gave me the gift was watching reaction intently.

“Yeah. …Thanks. For this.”

[Eaaaat.]

“Huh?”

[Eaaaat.]

“…”

A breathless standoff ensued between me and the back of the Bichon’s head. Mo’s voice interrupted the long silence.

[The non-human being is telling you to eat it.]

Mo, shut up! I understood. I’m just ignoring it.

And look, the bug is so perfectly preserved. I jut made eye contact with it. How can I eat this?

[Eat.]

The Bichon head’s mouth opened wide. Thanks to the filter, it didn’t look horrifying, but knowing its true form, the filter didn’t do much.

Just put it in my mouth and shallow it.

I gathered all the courage I had, covered the bug’s eyes, and put it in my mouth. But it was too big to swallow whole, so I had to chew once or twice.

Crunch.

The sound of its dry body crushing echoed inside my mouth.

Shallow it quickly…..wait, it tastes like pupae?

It was nutty.

“It’s delicious?”

I tilted my head, chewed to the end, swallowed, and then said thank you properly.

“Thank you, it’s delicious.”

The back of the Bichon’s head bounced, as if it liked my reaction. It seemed in a good mood, circling my room once before speaking again.

[Taaasty buuug.]

“Yeah, it’s savory and tasty.”

[Fiiirst human to liiike.]

Of course, I’d be the first. Who would enjoy being told to eat a bug?

But I was Korean. I knew the umami of boiled pupae.

“It’s the first time I’ve gotten a gift like this too.”

[Fiiirst.]

“Right.”

[Gooood huuuman.]

It seemed there was a reaction it wanted. I’d rather deal with the talkative Spirit of Poison.

“You’re a good Bichon, no, a good, kind, and grateful… spirit.”

Fortunately, it really was a spirit, because the white lump spun around the room again in excitement. Then it said a strange-sounding name.

[Hyuk! Telling Looord Hyuuuk about gooood huuuman.]

“Who’s….”

The question didn’t even finish leaving my mouth. It vanished after saying what it wanted.

“…See if I ever help again.”