Fabre in Sacheon's Tang-Chapter 259: Where the Spirit Beast Went (3)

Smoke still rising in the distance behind us, as if to signal that the harbor was still burning.

Even from this far away, the acrid scent of burning carried faintly on the wind, stinging at the tip of my nose.

‘Smoke and burnt stench carry farther than I thought.’

–Chak.

Just as I was thinking that the smoky smell was traveling farther than expected, Cheongwol pushed aside the tall weeds ahead, and a refreshing breeze finally blew in from the front.

As the wind passed through the gaps in the thick brush, the relieved voices of Sister Seol and Hwa-eun came from behind.

“Phew. The burnt smell’s not as bad now.”

“Right? Totally agree, sister.”

They seemed to be in a much better mood now that we’d gotten out of the smoke-filled forest.

But the thought occupying my head wasn’t about the smoke—it was about the pace.

‘Isn’t this... a bit fast?’

Now that we no longer had to worry about running into pirates, Cheongwol was barreling forward, thrashing through the underbrush a lot more aggressively than on the way to the harbor. And frankly, it was kind of fast.

Cheongwol was clearing the path ahead, sure, but when he raised his body, he stood about as tall as a grown man.

So even if he passed through, the weeds that were high enough to block a person would still be in the way for the people following behind, like the Dragon Fangs. Not exactly helpful for them.

‘Cheongwol, people are following behind. Let’s slow down a bit.’

–Krrhk. 『Got it.』

I’d asked Cheongwol again before we set out, just to be sure.

Could he carry someone else?

After all, it’s not easy to navigate terrain like this.

But even though he’d let his companions like Cheongyu or the Silver Ringed Snake carry others when I asked, Cheongwol was once again firm in his refusal to allow anyone else on his back.

『...Grrr. 『Promise me! You’ll never ask me to carry someone again!』』

‘Alright, alright. I promise. My bad.’

This time, I had to go so far as to make a promise never to ask again.

‘Then again, now that I think about it, Cheongwol’s a female too. I guess having random guys riding on her back wouldn’t exactly feel great. What about women though...? ...Yeah, I don’t even know myself...’

I adjusted Cheongwol’s pace, mindful of the Dragon Fangs following behind, and continued on toward the boat.

While sitting on Cheongwol’s back, gripping the reins, I turned to Cheongyu, who was playing with the Silver Ringed Snake.

“Cheongyu, do you think you’d notice if the Ji-yeong Snake was nearby?”

–Sight.

Yeondu had noticed when Cheongyu approached, so I was wondering if Cheongyu could also sense the approach of someone like Bi-cheon Shin-sa or the Ji-yeong Snake. But Cheongyu shook her head.

“So that means we have to go to them?”

“We’ll need to check as many areas as possible, So-ryong.”

“Yeah. Seems like that’s the only way.”

Yeondu had noticed Cheongyu getting close, so the Ji-yeong Snake, the other half of the Heavenly Earth Pair, would probably sense us too.

We figured that if we wandered around enough, maybe he’d notice and come find us.

That aside, the more pressing concern right now was figuring out what the heck that “watermelon” thing was, so we decided to check that out first.

“Let’s figure out what this ‘watermelon’ thing is before anything else.”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

“Sounds good. Now I’m curious too, since they called it watermelon.”

Just as everyone nodded in agreement with my suggestion—

–Jwaaak.

Cheongwol cut through the tall grass ahead, revealing a wide-open space. freewebnoveℓ.com

And finally, right before us, the riverside—our destination—came into view.

The boat visible ahead was slightly off from our original course.

Above me, Cho signaled the direction and said we’d made it.

“Cho, that’s good. You worked hard. Come on down, sister.”

–Tssrrrk. 『Got it, Daddy.』

And so, we returned to the boat.

Cho and Yeondu had tied silk threads and were now pulling the boat. After about another half a shichen had passed—

Ahead of us, nestled in the overgrowth of tropical vines, a crude wooden structure came into view.

“So-ryong-nim, I think this is it.”

“They said it was a few years old, but it looks like it's been here for decades.”

The harbor was so completely overgrown with tropical vines that it was barely recognizable.

Sister Seol said it looked like it had been abandoned for decades, but tropical vines grow so fast that even after a year or two, a building could be completely swallowed up.

I told Do Sagong to bring the boat closer to the edge of the harbor, where only the tip of the structure was visible through the vines.

“Let’s dock the boat first.”

“Understood, So-ryong-nim.”

“Guys! This way!”

–Tssrrrk!

–Shhhhh!

After asking Do Sagong, Cho, and Yeondu to guide the boat toward the harbor, we slowly approached.

–Creak. Thump.

Once we docked at the makeshift harbor, I jumped down and said,

“Cheongwol, stay with the boat. I’m gonna check how sturdy the structure is. If it’s not safe, we’ll land directly on the riverbank.”

–Grrr.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

The vines had grown all the way to the edge of the harbor.

Looked like we’d need to deal with those first, so I looked down from the boat and spoke to Do Sagong and Ji-ryong.

“Do Sagong, let’s get the sailors down and clear the area around the harbor first. Ji-ryong, could you and the Dragon Fangs protect the sailors while they clean up?”

They said the pirates had been driven out, but if that so-called watermelon thing was still claiming this area as its territory, the sailors could be in danger. Just in case.

They said it attacked at night, so it’s probably nocturnal and a pain to deal with—but still, better safe than sorry.

“Understood, So-ryong-nim.”

“Understood, young sir.”

–Jwaaak! Jwaaaak!

The sailors who followed me down began clearing the jungle with large blades.

The vines were so thick and pale they practically bleached the surroundings, making it impossible to tell what was what. But after about half a shichen of clearing, we began to see the outline of what the pirates had built.

“It’s pretty big.”

“They said all the remaining pirates lived here together. Looks like they made it fairly large.”

There was one completed building and a basic docking facility.

The rest felt half-built, like something hastily thrown together, maybe not even a tenth finished. Sister Seol looked at the piled-up lumber nearby and commented that saying the pirates had been driven out was probably just wishful thinking.

After all, they’d abandoned such valuable, polished lumber behind.

Only once we reached the front of the completed building did we see that it was in total disrepair. Vines had pushed their way inside through holes and windows.

Still, it looked solid enough to spend the night.

I turned to the others and told them to check the surroundings a bit more, to be sure the building was safe.

“For today, let’s rest here. We’ll start searching for the creature tomorrow.”

“Understood, young sir.”

“Got it, So-ryong. Gungbong, let’s go hunting.”

“Okay.”

Senior suggested a hunt to Gungbong.

I gave the Dragon Fangs a warning.

“Be careful out there. Do your hunting downstream, where we came up from. And if you see anything that might be that watermelon thing, fall back immediately. They said it’s poisonous.”

“Got it, So-ryong.”

With that, brother, Gungbong, Cheong-ryong, and Geom-pung disappeared toward the downstream side.

The boatmen lit up with joy.

“With Geom-pung joining the hunt, looks like we’re having meat tonight.”

“Should we start prepping the grill, then?”

“There’s plenty of wood piled up over there we can use.”

If Gungbong and the Dragon Fangs were out hunting, it meant meat for dinner—and that clearly excited them.

The sailors eagerly grabbed the stacked wood and began preparing to grill, but not everyone was happy about the idea of meat.

“Hwa-eun, should we go catch some fish in the river? I’m kinda sick of red meat.”

“Shall we? Sister? Honestly, I’ve never eaten only meat for so many months before. It’s still kind of... too much.”

“Cho, wanna come too? Help us out a bit.”

–Tssrrrk.

Maybe because they’d been living off animal meat nonstop since Qinghai, Hwa-eun and Sister Seol, with Cho in tow, went off to fish.

Once the three of them disappeared toward the dock where the boat was moored, I found myself a bit bored.

There wasn’t much for me to do until dinner.

The sailors would handle the bedding and cooking. The Dragon Fangs had split up the hunting and guard duty.

‘So... what should I do?’

“Oh, I should ask Cheongyu to keep an eye on the area.”

While wondering what to do, I thought of Cheongyu.

I figured I could ask her to carve out a sajin and keep watch around the place.

I headed over to the cabin, switching places with the sailors who had just come down from the boat. There, curled up asleep on my bed, was Cheongyu.

Surrounding her were ten Silver Ringed Snakes, standing guard like sentries, exactly as I’d asked her.

I reached out to one of them, and it gently coiled around my wrist, leaving a light scar as it moved.

‘Haah... This is the life! It’s like I’ve been dating a viper for two days and I’m totally satisfied.’

Cheongyu had initially refused, asking me not to let the snakes bite—but when she gave them the command, the snakes had turned tame, like little lambs.

They were a species I’d always wanted to raise in my previous life. Just seeing them made me feel all fuzzy.

Then I heard a noise next to me.

–Shaah?

Turning my head, I saw Yeondu staring at me in disbelief.

A look that screamed, What the hell are you even doing right now?

“A-Ah, I just... they’re cute, that’s all. Yeondu.”

–Shaah? Ah?

“Yeah. I mean, look at them. They’re adorable.”

I gently stroked the forehead of the one coiled in front of the fire, and when I set it down beside Cheongyu, it shivered with delight.

I suddenly wondered if our chatting had woken Cheongyu, but when I checked, she was still fast asleep, curled up as before.

Even with me and Yeondu talking nearby, she didn’t stir.

Since I’d have to wait until she woke up to ask her about the sajin, I started thinking about what else I could do.

‘Sigh... My talents are so lopsided, I’ve got nothing useful to do at a time like this.’

I briefly considered playing with the creatures, but maybe because of the fight yesterday—or just general fatigue—they were all asleep here and there throughout the cabin.

Then something moved in front of me.

Startled, I lowered my body—and Yeondu tilted her head, watching me curiously.

–Shaah?

“Ah, I was just thinking about what to do.”

–Shaaaah.

“Hm? Oh? You wanna go out?”

Yeondu nodded at my words, then came over and wrapped herself around me, leading me out of the cabin.

And once we reached the deck, she took off—lifting me into the air.

“So you meant we should go for a stroll if I had nothing better to do?”

As Yeondu soared upward with me coiled in her grip, I looked down at the scenery.

Below us, I could see Cho, Hwa-eun, and Sister Seol catching fish, while further downstream, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Gungbong and the others were chasing something.

Smoke from a campfire rose from the pirates’ hut.

The sun hadn’t yet set.

Looking around, I thought,

‘Sure, we said we’d start the search tomorrow, but it couldn’t hurt to get a look at the area from the air, right?’

We’d agreed to do the actual search the next day, but scouting the surrounding terrain and environment ahead of time couldn’t hurt.

Exploration always starts with preliminary investigation.

“Yeondu, let’s check over there. Don’t fly too low though.”

–Shaaaah.

Wrapped in Yeondu’s coils, I started by checking the area near the pirates’ hut.

To the south, where Hyung-nim had gone hunting, lay dense tropical jungle. To the west, the river. To the east, jungle and mountains.

But when we moved north, something different came into view in the distance.

Starting about five hundred meters away, I could see scattered puddles and irregular patches of vegetation.

The vines didn’t extend beyond a certain point, which gave a strong sense that the territory had changed. As I looked more closely, I realized what kind of terrain it was.

The north had all the features of an inland marsh.

“A classic inland marsh.”

–Shaah?

Yeondu tilted her head curiously, so I explained.

“It’s also called a lowland—an area where water doesn’t drain properly and the ground stays soggy. Like that spot over there.”

From the pirate hideout to the edge where the vines began, it was roughly five hundred meters.

Between the huts and the marsh was a buffer zone of thick vegetation. When the water levels rose, it would become a swamp. When they lowered, it would just be soft wetland.

A mix of marshland and aquatic plants.