Heavenly Silkworm 2
“W-what do you mean by that?”
“Simply put, the fact that it has to wrap its body in thread that tough means there’s something nearby it has to protect itself from—something only silk that strong can stop. Wherever it’s spinning that thread, there’s bound to be a threat. And if we find that threat, finding what they eat should get a whole lot easier, don’t you think?”
When I finished, the silk craftsmen nodded, their faces saying my reasoning held water.
“If Heavenly Silk really is for protecting the body, then Young Master’s words make perfect sense.”
“I always thought they just built nests, but of course there’s a reason. Even a human house is meant to keep out cold, heat, and beasts. That doesn’t change just because they’re tiny insects, does it?”
Shintu looked just as startled as the rest, yet the caution of his profession quickly reasserted itself. He wiped the surprise from his face and pressed me again.
“But can you really be sure from one fact alone? You haven’t even seen it yourself.”
As expected of a thief—careful to a fault. Get careless and you get caught, after all.
I hadn’t reached the conclusion from a single clue either, so I nodded.
This Fabre was a careful man himself. You didn’t catch venomous creatures by being reckless.
“Of course not. I have one more reason for thinking so. Your disciple’s name is Yeongnyeon, isn’t it?”
“Ah—yes, Yeongnyeon. What about the girl all of a sudden?”
“If there’s a Sichuan pepper tree, a trifoliate orange, or an Amur cork tree nearby, could you ask her to catch a few caterpillars for me? The ones that look like green leaves.”
The best way to explain was to show them.
I asked him to have his disciple fetch some caterpillars, and one of the silk craftsmen shuffled forward, looking awkward.
“Um… Young Master?”
“Yes?”
“There’s a Sichuan pepper tree in the back courtyard here.”
Perfect. A tree right nearby. I decided to take everyone over and check whether the ones I wanted were there.
“Then let’s all go look. This is important.”
I led them to the overgrown rear courtyard of the abandoned Taoist temple. An untended tree stood thick with leaves, and as we drew near, the fresh, sharp scent of Sichuan pepper drifted out.
“Let’s see… where are you little ones?”
I checked under the tree first. Scattered across the ground near the trunk were little pellet-like droppings.
Knew it!
I’d worried they might not be here, but this wasn’t the pesticide-soaked era of my past life. The signs were clear.
I looked up at the soft young leaves higher on the branches and spotted several green, camouflaged shapes curled along the stems near the chewed foliage. A chrysalis hung among them too. The rest looked ready to pupate any day.
Lucky. Perfect fifth-instar caterpillars.
When these first hatch they look like bird droppings for protection, but once they reach the fifth instar they take on the form I needed.
I pointed at the plumpest, largest one.
“Everyone, look here. See it?”
The craftsmen nodded. Being common folk, they had clearly run into these before.
“A green insect, eh? Sometimes see them on tangerine trees too.”
“I’ve spotted similar ones on trifoliate orange.”
“Aye, they chew the leaves to bits—real pests. The ones on the trifoliate orange are the same.”
Exactly. Leaf-eating pests of tangerine, trifoliate orange, and Sichuan pepper. Yet once they emerged as adults, they became one of the most beautiful insects alive.
The one I pointed at was called, in the Central Plains tongue, the Leopard Butterfly—known in my previous life as the tiger swallowtail.
“So why exactly did you drag us out to look at this?”
Shintu couldn’t wait any longer and demanded the reason. Smiling, I gave the caterpillar a light poke with my fingertip.
Tap.
Its head jerked up, and a pair of bright yellow horns suddenly thrust out, then vanished again.
“Oh! What’s that?”
“Doesn’t it look familiar?”
“Ah—yes, I saw the same thing on the Heavenly Silkworm larvae. Is that yellow bit your other reason?”
“Exactly. Here—smell this.”
I poked the caterpillar again, then rubbed the extruded horn—the osmeterium—against my fingertip. A sticky film and a powerful scent clung to my skin. I held it out. Shintu recoiled, clamping a hand over his nose.
“Urgh! Wh-what is that stench?!”
The horn-shaped osmeterium found on fifth-instar swallowtail caterpillars concentrates the distinctive scents of the citrus and pepper trees they eat and blasts them outward. To humans it smells like harsh orange vinegar; to other insects and birds it’s strong enough to drive them off.
That was why I had guessed the horns on the dried Heavenly Silkworm larvae served the same purpose. Swallowtail caterpillars only develop the organ at the fifth instar, yet these creatures hatched with one already on their heads—proof that something dangerous lived right next to them from the moment they were born.
That was my second reason for believing something threatening lurked near the Heavenly Silkworms.
“The Leopard Butterfly larva sprays this foul smell from its horn to protect itself from predators—beasts and other insects alike. The Heavenly Silkworm larva has the same organ and spins incredibly tough silk. What else could that be for but self-defense? That’s why I thought so.”
Once I laid out both pieces of evidence, Shintu looked at me with genuine respect. Whether his chronic suspicion had been cured or he had simply become a fervent believer, he cried out with open delight.
“I’ve handled Heavenly Silk my whole life and never once thought of it that way! Elder Brother said you were different, and he was right—you really do see things no one else does! S-so then… what do you think they eat?”
My next words instantly turned that reverence into disappointment.
“That…”
“That?!”
“We’ll have to find out from here on.”
“…”
Come on—I’m not a god. How am I supposed to know everything at once?
Shintu’s face was pure disappointment, but it was far too early to give up. I simply didn’t know yet. Once this spicy Fabre got involved, figuring out their food would be a snap.
“It’s still too soon to be disappointed.”
“W-who said I was disappointed?”
“I thought you looked disappointed… Anyway, we’ll find it soon enough.”
“Really?!”
Built like a cattle thief yet lighter than a feather. No wonder his lightness skill is so fast.
At the promise of a quick answer, hope lit Shintu’s face again. I had a sudden inkling of the secret behind his speed as I asked,
“Do you happen to know where the Heavenly Silkworms were first obtained?”
“The Heavenly Silkworms? Not exactly, but I’ve got a rough idea…”
“The best way to learn an insect’s diet is usually to examine the place it was collected. Let’s start by going there.”
Honestly, Shintu had brought this hardship on himself. Whether insect or animal, if you carefully observe their ecology when you collect them, you never end up in this mess. Why else had I gone all the way to the Namgung family’s Mount Huang when I took in Seol and Bing? To check what they ate and secure a supply, of course.
All of this had happened because the previous Shintu—or the one before him—had been so dazzled by the power of Heavenly Silk that he only cared about snatching it. So I suggested we at least visit the known habitat and take a look. Shintu, however, looked reluctant.
“There’s nothing there worth seeing.”
“Nothing?”
“I went once myself, hoping to get more eggs. It’s just a bare rock mountain—nothing at all.”
“A rock mountain?”
“Yes. A place called Red Rock Forest, full of towering crimson cliffs. I searched for ages and found nothing.”
A rock mountain…
That didn’t match what I expected. I was sure a predator lived nearby, yet he claimed it was an empty stone peak. Then again, ordinary people might miss things that stood out to an expert’s eye. I decided to dig deeper.
“Was what they found an adult, or eggs?”
“Adult? If you mean a fully grown Heavenly Silkworm, they never saw one. They found eggs and the silk together.”
“Eggs and the silk together?”
Finding eggs and silk together almost certainly meant they had found eggs and cocoons side by side. I double-checked, and Shintu nodded.
“Were the cocoons empty?”
“They were. The empty cocoons are what became the Heavenly Silk I use now.”
So an adult had emerged from a cocoon, mated, and laid eggs right there. That meant some food source I hadn’t guessed at yet had to be present. I proposed we go together.
“Still, let’s take a look. An expert’s eye might see something different.”
“An expert’s eye?”
He didn’t grasp the phrase. I had explained what an expert was last time, but “expert’s eye” was new to him.
“How do I put this… Ah, right.”
The best way was to speak at his level. I pointed to the ornament hanging from my clothes.
“Do you have any idea how valuable this is?”
It was the ice jade pendant Namgang Seol had given me. Shintu glanced at it and answered casually.
“Ice jade, eh. Small, but easily worth a thousand silver taels. Not something this Shintu would bother stealing, though.”
“What?!”
It’s that expensive?!
Seol had handed it over so lightly I never imagined it was worth so much. I calmed myself and continued.
“Th-that’s exactly what an expert’s eye means. Who but Elder Shintu would instantly recognize this as ice jade? Most people would just think, ‘Hmm, jade of a slightly different color.’ And who else would know its value so quickly? In the same way, what I see when we go there may be completely different from what ordinary people see.”
“Oho!”
Explaining it in thief’s terms worked; he nodded. Hope filled his eyes again.
“Fine! Let’s go right now!”
He looked ready to drag me off that instant. I soothed him and asked,
“How far is it?”
“Why?”
“If it’s too far, I won’t be allowed to leave. Because of this… this.”
“Ah…”
I pointed at the two strands of thread bound around my ankle. Shintu nodded. Yo-hwa’s jealousy was no joke, and he had already witnessed it.
Scarier than a wife, I swear.
Fortunately, Shintu said it was only about a day’s journey. The reason he had tried to hatch the Heavenly Silkworms here was precisely because the eggs had been obtained nearby. He turned to the silk craftsmen.
“What should we do with the craftsmen? If they’ll still be useful I’ll keep them; otherwise I’ll send them home.”
Before I went to ask Yo-hwa’s permission, it was best to clear the temple. They would be no help to me now.
“Send them all home. I don’t think I’ll need them.”
“Mm. Understood. They’ve worked hard, so I’ll divide up the gold I set aside and have Yeongnyeon escort them back.”
He was about to leave when the old man who had been introduced as the chief of the silk craftsmen approached me.
“Young Master, might I take a brief look at that?”
“That?”
I thought he wanted to examine the ice jade, but his gaze was fixed on my ankle—on the thread Yo-hwa had tied there. Of course: he was a master of silk. That meant he had an expert’s eye for thread.
I was already thinking of weaving cloth from Yo-hwa’s silk. Might as well get their opinion.
I nodded. The old man immediately crouched and studied my leg.
“May I touch it?”
“Go ahead.”
The moment I gave permission—
“Th-this is…!”
His eyes flew wide.
“E-everyone, come look!”
He called the other craftsmen over. They crowded around my leg, clutching the thread and exclaiming.
“W-what kind of silk is this?!”
“Light, tough, and it stretches then snaps right back!”
“Glossier and more beautiful than any silkworm thread!”
“In all my years I’ve never seen silk like this!”
Yo-hwa’s thread was clearly priceless. Even to my eye it was soft yet strong, with remarkable elasticity.
Maybe I should make some cut-resistant armor for martial artists and sell it?
In the Central Plains, getting cut was an everyday hazard. Armor like that would sell like hotcakes. The thought flickered through my mind.
The illustration for the Flying Divine Snake has been updated.
Please check the latest chapter and Episode 111—where the Flying Divine Snake receives the name Yeondu—to see her adorable new look.
Series readers: delete the previously downloaded episodes and re-download them for the update to apply.
(Today is supposed to be a rest day, but Yeondu’s illustration came out and I wanted to share it, so I posted one chapter.)