Chapter 108: The Casanova Lizard
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 108: The Casanova Lizard
I closed my open mouth.
Stop looking.
“Gekgek.”
I’d gotten used to showing the inside of my mouth, but showing it to a guy felt a bit… off.
Argentavis still wore a look of astonishment.
Wonder, bewilderment, perhaps even anticipation.
It was a complex expression, a mixture of such emotions.
He flapped his massive wings.
To be honest, I wasn't a fan of him being a male harpy, but his wings were so large they were still quite a sight.
“Indeed… To be honest, when I first saw you, I underestimated you. I thought you were just a big lizard who’d gotten lucky and gained some faith.”
Is it because he’s a bird?
His eyesight is incredible.
After all, he wasn’t wrong about me being a big lizard who’d luckily gained some faith.
“But that wasn’t the case. It makes sense that one would need to be at this level to catch a Gaechalgoatal.”
Argentavis turned his head to look at the Snake Queen.
“I even suspected that someone who had become a queen might have chosen a companion based solely on a lizard’s appearance. I have had improper thoughts about both you and your companion. I officially apologize.”
The Snake Queen flinched for a moment.
Damn, why is this bird so perceptive?
Still, he couldn’t possibly know the full story.
The reason the Snake Queen made me her companion was because of Swish-Swish.
Swish-Swish had now become my devotee.
In other words, she was receiving less support from the Snake Queen.
The Snake Queen had proposed a solution to this.
By linking her faith with Gaegaek’s, she could support me.
That way, it would naturally help her daughter as well.
This was the reason I’d surmised.
Why else would the Snake Queen volunteer to be my companion? It’s not like she was particularly fond of me.
…Of course, I know I’m a bit handsome for a lizard.
Or maybe ‘cool’ is a better word than ‘handsome.’
After all, I’m a lizard with Dragon Scales.
Swish-Swish is also very fond of my Dragon Scales.
But that was probably just a simple liking.
Most people would think a giant dinosaur is cool when they see one.
Though there might be a few who insist on putting it in a maid outfit, they’d be a tiny minority.
The feelings the spiders, snakes, and other lizards had for me were probably something similar.
The Snake Queen was the same.
She might like my Dragon Scales, but there was no way that would lead to romantic attraction.
Above all, we were different species.
She must have taken me as her companion for various practical reasons.
On paper, at that.
The Snake Queen looked at me.
Her gaze seemed to ask, Are you going to accept his apology?
That must have been what she meant.
“Gekgek!”
Of course I’ll accept it.
I mean, he apologized just a moment ago, and he was apologizing again now.
For a bird, he had to be in the top one percent.
He was on a completely different level from that Human-faced Bird.
“Alright. Since my companion wishes to forgive you, I will let it pass this once. However, my companion is asking you to explain more about dragons.”
But I never said that.
The Snake Queen avoided my gaze.
It seemed there was something she wanted to ask herself.
Since he was the former king of birds, he was probably older than the Snake Queen and naturally possessed more knowledge.
And it wasn’t like it would hurt me to listen.
“Dragons. What more is there to say about them? They have antlers like a deer, a long body like a snake, fly through the sky, and make it rain. Are they not divine beings who possess all sorts of mystical powers?”
Argentavis glanced at me.
The dragon he described was a being that bore no resemblance to me.
He was describing an Eastern dragon.
“That is the commonly known dragon. But there isn’t just one type of dragon. There are those without mystical powers—beings that can be called dragons by their sheer strength alone. Beings that look like giant, armored lizards, fly through the sky on wings, and breathe flames that can burn everything. Those, too, are dragons.”
This was a little surprising.
Isn’t that a Western dragon?
He knew its characteristics precisely.
As if he had seen one with his own eyes.
“However, just having Dragon Scales doesn’t automatically make one a dragon. The same goes for Dragon Blood. In this jungle alone, there are countless beasts that possess both.”
I knew at once what beasts he was referring to.
Dinosaurs existed within the 100,000 Great Mountains.
Quite a lot of them, in fact.
Their hides and scales could also be called Dragon Scales.
In a way, their blood would be Dragon Blood, too.
Of course, compared to a real dragon… no, even compared to me, their quality would be inferior.
Most importantly, I had not only Dragon Scales but also a reverse scale.
“But Dragon Fangs are different. Their teeth may be sharp, but they are not imbued with the energy of steel. In other words, your companion, who possesses Dragon Fangs, can be called the being closest to a dragon.”
I’m telling you, they’re Komodo dragon teeth.
The misunderstanding seemed to be getting worse.
But on second thought, there was no real reason to correct him.
If they treated me like a dragon, that was great for me.
It would even serve as a kind of motivation.
The Snake Queen’s companion was actually a dragon!
And that dragon is on our side.
They’d feel reassured even if I just went around gekgeking.
“I was just listening to see if there was any incorrect information, and it seems you’re mostly right.”
What a shameless Snake Queen.
If any other beast had seen this, they would have admired the Snake Queen for her unchanging expression. Her words sounded so convincing.
But having seen her ‘ehehe’ expression, I knew.
She was acting right now.
Argentavis, seemingly oblivious, shouted loudly.
“The one closest to a dragon is with us! What is there to fear now!”
The hostile atmosphere from before melted away like snow.
Now that the mood had improved, what was next?
We had to make sure the alcohol Argentavis brought out didn’t go to waste.
“We haven’t prepared much, but please, help yourselves.”
The feast began.
“Kkigik!”
Pterosaurs, who seemed to be his subordinates, brought food.
Of course, it wasn’t the warm food I was hoping for, but the kind of things you could find in the wild.
There was meat, of course, and surprisingly, a few mushrooms.
There were even bird eggs.
…But is it okay to serve eggs?
Those must be unfertilized, right?
“Hiek!”
Swish-Swish wagged her tail and snatched up a small egg.
Being a snake, she naturally loved eggs.
Birds and snakes usually had that kind of relationship.
When you thought about it, forming an alliance like this must have been quite a difficult feat.
The still-young Swish-Swish and Chirpy ate the prepared food, while the Snake Queen, Argentavis, and I drank the alcohol poured into our cups.
Not enough to get drunk, just enough to lift our spirits.
As a way to further solidify our alliance.
After gulping down an egg, Swish-Swish was performing a trick where she drank only the contents and spat the shell back out. As I watched, mesmerized, Argentavis approached me.
“You.”
After calling out to me, Argentavis glanced over at the Snake Queen.
She was snatching up pieces of meat the moment the pterosaurs brought them over.
Given the size of her true form, she must require a large amount of food.
Considering she even looked disappointed when she had to share food with me, she must have been holding back quite a bit until now.
“Gekgek.”
After confirming that the Snake Queen was focused on her food, Argentavis spoke in a suggestive tone.
“Do you happen to know the saying, ‘Heroes are fond of women’?”
Pfft.
I almost spat out the drink I was sipping.
I knew the saying, sure.
But why bring it up now?
Argentavis glanced at the chirping long-tailed tit.
Then he looked back at me.
At my teeth, to be precise.
“I apologize for my earlier behavior. I hope you can understand the position of a father with a daughter.”
Why is he saying ‘heroes are fond of women’ while looking at his own daughter?
It doesn’t mean what I think it means, right?
“Chirp…”
Chirpy fluttered over and landed at my feet.
She was incredibly cute, with her round little shape.
But I couldn’t just find her cute.
Because I had sensed Argentavis’s impure intentions.
“If this all goes well, she will succeed me and take the throne.”
Chirpy lifted her head proudly.
“Chirp!”
Not that lifting her tiny face changed anything.
“You don’t seem that old, so by the time the Snake Queen retires, you will likely hold hegemony.”
Hey, what about Swish-Swish?
And she’s older than me.
Chirpy is probably older than me, too.
“It seems the time has come to redefine the relationship between snakes and birds. My daughter and you will be the starting point for that.”
So, he’s asking me to get along with Chirpy, right?
I could understand that much.
I wasn’t going to live in this jungle forever, but from Argentavis’s perspective, I was the Snake Queen’s companion.
There was no harm in having me be friendly with his daughter.
It might be different if I were an ordinary lizard, but he seemed to think of me as some kind of successor to the dragons.
…Isn’t he being a bit of a snob?
Just a while ago, he was glaring at me like he wanted to kill me.
As if aware of this, Argentavis gave an embarrassed laugh.
“Haha. She may be my daughter, but she’s a truly charming child. And how could a dragon insist on having only one wife?”
Argentavis whispered in a very low voice.
I couldn’t believe my ears.
First of all, if the Snake Queen had heard that, our alliance would be toast, and a destruction ray would be flying my way.
Fortunately, the Snake Queen seemed not to have heard, engrossed in her meat.
Let’s set that aside for a moment.
But didn’t Argentavis’s words sound exactly like, Take my daughter!
“Chirp…”
The long-tailed tit put on a wistful expression.
Come on, a long-tailed tit with a wistful expression is still just a long-tailed tit.
And besides, you’ve known me for less than an hour.
I could more or less understand the mindset of reptiles and arthropods.
I’d spent a lot of time around them.
But the avian way of thinking was difficult to grasp.
Of course, I knew that these creatures called birds would perform flashy dances to court females.
So, the female bird marries a male based solely on his flashy appearance.
And in that regard, my dragon-like appearance was an automatic pass.
…I suddenly understood the avian mindset.
“Gegegek!”
Should I call this the curse of knowledge?
I didn’t want to know.
“As a father, how could I tell you to take my daughter when she is still so young? Above all, the war isn’t even over yet.”
Then what are you trying to say?
“When my daughter ascends to the throne. And when you become a true dragon. Will you come find me then?”
Snob.
Argentavis was a massive snob.
Though he seemed to have a bit of loyalty.
“Saaaak!”
Swish-Swish, who had been gulping down eggs, must have caught a whiff of something. She raised her triangular head and quickly slithered over.
“Chirp chirp!”
“Swish swish!”
Swish-Swish and Chirpy naturally started bickering.
Should I be glad that at least the Snake Queen and Argentavis weren’t fighting?
They both seemed to be misunderstanding something.
From the long-tailed tit’s perspective, Swish-Swish was the incumbent.
She probably thought she needed to push her out to make a place for herself.
From Swish-Swish’s perspective, she was already upset about the Queen taking her spot as my companion, and now some bird she’d never seen before was rolling in.
A situation where they felt they must push each other out!
They seemed to be thinking along those lines, but that was a huge misunderstanding.
I’m really sorry to say this, but I like humans.
Of course, you’re cute for beasts, but you’re clearly not human.
…If Swish-Swish became a well-endowed lamia who resembled the Snake Queen…
…and if Chirpy became a cute harpy, I might give it some thought.
“Peep?”
“Chirp?”
Swish-Swish and Chirpy turned their heads at the same time.
Did they hear my thoughts or something?
I could see Swish-Swish maybe hearing them, but the long-tailed tit shouldn’t be able to.
It was fine even if they did hear.
There was no way Chirpy and Swish-Swish were going to become human overnight, right?
Of course, the Swish-Swish I saw in the Mirror of Possibilities did become a beautiful lamia who resembled her mother, but that was literally just seeing a possibility.
Since she was walking the path of a spirit beast, it could take decades.
In other words, I was safe for the time being.
“…Peep.”
“Chirp.”
Swish-Swish and Chirpy stopped fighting.
Right, you two will rule the jungle in the future, so you should get along.
“Piiik.”
“Chiiirp.”
…It looked like they’d come to some sort of agreement.
I didn’t know what it was about, but I was relieved they seemed to have found a common goal.
“Gekgek!”
I should stop worrying and fill my stomach.
I was planning to get moving right after this feast ended.