Chapter 164: Duriputu
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 164: Duriputu
I’d been kidnapped by the Red Dragon.
Though perhaps “imprisoned” was a more fitting word.
Fortunately, she hadn’t flown off with me to some unknown location; she was using the very volcano I had climbed as her nest.
If she had taken me somewhere completely unfamiliar, I wouldn’t have been able to find my way back to the 100,000 Great Mountains even if I escaped. But since I was still here, all I had to do was sneak away, and the problem would be solved.
I’d run to Baek Yeon-yeong and start gek-geking, and she would take care of the rest.
Of course, that was all assuming I could escape.
The fiery energy emanating from the volcano was too intense for any single individual to bear. It grew stronger the higher one climbed, and this place, which was practically the summit, felt hot enough to cook me alive just by standing still.
Thankfully, I was wrapped in the Fire Rat’s pelt, so I wasn’t in any immediate danger. I had also consumed its inner core, after all.
But the moment I took this pelt off, a host of problems would arise.
Besides, I had a feeling the Red Dragon was sometimes thinking about tossing me into the lava.
To her, it might be no different from a warm hot spring, but the moment I went in, I’d be turned into Gomodo stew.
Could I escape if I evolved?
I considered it, but it remained just a thought.
If I were to evolve now, my choice would be the Gomodo-Salamander.
A divine spirit beast that wields fire.
It wasn’t a bad option, but my opponent was the Red Dragon.
Even if I could control fire, it would be meaningless against her.
She’d probably be delighted and toss me into the lava, saying I could withstand it now.
I had to put off evolving for a while.
Unless, of course, I could evolve into the Crushing Dragon.
For now, I had no choice but to continue this life—a life of resting my head on the Red Dragon’s lap and snuggling into her.
I really didn’t want to, but circumstances had forced my hand.
“Gek gek.”
“…Seeing this, you don’t seem like a complete baby.”
I was in the middle of enjoying a truly unavoidable lap pillow.
“Hey, little one.”
The Red Dragon was calling me by a strange nickname.
To call the divine beast of the Gaegaek Cult, the great Gomodo, in such a way…
It was unacceptable.
“Gek.”
I’ll let it slide, just this once.
“Could you open your mouth for me?”
Even as she asked, her hand was already at my snout.
Seriously, why is everyone so obsessed with looking inside my mouth?
Baek Yeon-yeong, the Snake Queen…
Chirpy even walked in there on her own two feet.
Tang Soyeong’s dumpling-bun hair had been in there a few times, too.
Creeeak.
I opened my mouth as she asked.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, the Red Dragon stuck her head inside.
“Geeeek…”
“I felt the energies of fire and cold inside you. So she fed you Snow Ginseng and Hwari.”
She spoke in a voice tinged with interest.
“I don’t know who it was, but they fed you some fine elixirs.”
Elixirs with the Red Dragon’s seal of approval.
They were gifts bestowed upon me by my Snake Queen.
“Looking closely, there’s some poison, too. And the inner cores… wait, just how many did you eat?”
“Gek gek?”
“Okbong’s honey, the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Spirit Fruit, and… Gongcheongseokyu?”
The Red Dragon pulled her head out of my mouth and stared at me intently.
“There’s no way you could have obtained all of this in such a short time…”
She stroked my scales once.
“Did you go around seducing them just because you have some pretty scales?”
“Gek!”
Seducing them? How rude.
I simply received fair compensation.
“Still, that’s just… What kind of person falls head over heels for a lizard that can’t even talk? It’s not like they’re raising you to eat you later.”
She looked a little frustrated for some reason.
“If I’d known, maybe I should have stolen a Purple Spirit Pill or something.”
A Purple Spirit Pill?
Isn’t that the elixir of the Mount Hua Sect?
“Gek…”
I cautiously watched the Red Dragon’s expression.
If I played my cards right, I might be able to get one out of her.
“Hmph. You seem to know what’s good for you.”
“Gek gek.”
“It’s a bit difficult right now, but I’ll bring you one when I move the nest later.”
The Red Dragon patted my head.
To think that I, the divine beast of a religion, was being treated like this.
But the possibility of getting an elixir made me feel generous enough to let it go.
Even if I was going to run, I should at least get what I’m owed before I bolt.
“Now that I’ve checked what’s inside you, I just need to figure out how to raise you.”
Her meaning of “raise” seemed a little different from Baek Yeon-yeong’s idea of teaching me.
Does she really think I’m just a baby lizard?
Well, dragons are fundamentally long-lived spirit beasts, and her human form appeared to be that of an adult, so she must be incomparably older than me.
Considering that, maybe it wasn’t so strange.
After all, it hadn’t even been a year since I was born in this world.
But look at this body.
How could this possibly be a baby lizard?
“…Then again, it suddenly feels like a lot of work.”
The Red Dragon yawned.
“Maybe if I just hug you to sleep for about fifty years, you’ll be all grown up?”
Her sense of time seemed very different from mine.
If she hugged me for fifty years, there wouldn’t even be any bones left.
“Just kidding, just kidding.”
Right. If you’re going to raise me, you’d better take responsibility.
Just toss me a few techniques and elixirs, and I’ll gratefully accept them.
“I should at least teach you how to talk.”
“Gek gek.”
That was a skill I desperately needed to learn.
Communicating with just “gek gek” had been so difficult.
…Although, it seemed to have worked out pretty well so far.
Even if I couldn’t speak human language, I needed a way to communicate with other spirit beasts.
“But there’s something we have to do before that, you know?”
“Gek?”
“We’ll be living here for a while, so we need to decorate the nest.”
I wasn’t sure why decorating a nest was so important, but this was the Red Dragon.
In other words, a Red Dragon.
And what are red dragons? The very symbol of greed.
The kind of dragon that hoards all sorts of treasures in its lair and breathes fire on any intruders.
“Little one, I’m going to go get some treasures, so you guard the nest well.”
She’s going to get treasures?
…Is this my chance?
There were a few things I wanted to learn from her, but that was based on the assumption that I’d be stuck here.
Honestly, the best course of action was to get out of this place.
It felt a bit rude to put it this way, but if I had to describe the Red Dragon as a character, she was something like a gyaru [a trendy, often flighty, Japanese fashion subculture].
She might teach me diligently for a while, only to yawn and say, “I’m bored now,” before swallowing me whole in one gulp.
She seemed somewhat irresponsible.
The Red Dragon’s golden eyes stared right through me.
It wasn’t a metaphor; it literally felt like a hole was being bored into my body.
“Hmph.”
She snorted.
“You’re not thinking of running away, are you?”
“Gek!”
How did she know?
“I’m sure you wouldn’t, but you know what will happen if you try to escape and I catch you, right?”
Crack. Crackle.
Her body began to transform.
Her horns and tail grew larger, and wings sprouted from her back.
But that wasn’t all.
She was slowly returning from her human form to her true form.
“Grrrrrr…”
Her body was so massive I had to crane my neck all the way back to see her.
Flames flickered with every breath she took.
“Little one. I hope you won’t make such a foolish choice.”
Her voice was the same as in her human form, but there was no sense of dissonance.
Just look at that form.
A dragon. A real dragon.
The sight before me was terrifying, but at the same time, my heart pounded with excitement.
Scales that seemed to be crafted from crimson rubies, wings large enough to blot out the sky.
Flames dancing between her scales, razor-sharp claws and talons.
How could anyone look away from such a being?
As I stared blankly, the Red Dragon let out her characteristic snort.
“Hmph. They say even babies know what’s pretty.”
Seeming pleased, she flapped her wings.
Fwoooooosh.
The resulting gust of wind caused the surrounding flames and lava to surge wildly.
“Guard the house well, little one.”
Only then did I realize how foolish my plan to escape in her absence had been.
If I tried to run and got caught, I would end up as a roasted lizard on a spit.
“Gek…”
I had to find another way.
A way to leave this place that she would accept.
*
“Polyg… amyyyyy!”
“Polyggg… amy…”
Bicorns.
Along with unicorns, they were spirit beasts said to be among the most mysterious of beings.
Unicorns protect the love of a pure maiden.
Does that mean their counterparts, the bicorns, hate pure maidens?
No, not necessarily.
Even a pure maiden would earn their nod of approval if she joined someone’s group.
Because her heart had been captured.
If anything, they disliked beings who used their bodies frivolously.
Since bicorns were creatures that moved in herds, their individual views could differ slightly—on where the line was drawn between a pure maiden and an impure non-virgin who used her body freely.
Their ability to speak more fluently than unicorns stemmed from this.
They were constantly debating with their herd.
Most of their arguments ended in conversation.
But sometimes, they didn’t.
“Polygamyyyy!”
“Polyg… amyyyyy!”
CRASH!
Two bicorns were fighting, ramming their heads against each other.
No amount of debate could bridge their differences.
Today’s topic of contention was their idol, the Black Sun.
The Black Sun had been captured.
Of course, that event was likely just one part of polygamy.
The problem was that the one captured was the Black Sun.
The Black Sun was a legendary being capable of achieving harmony with all species.
But now, he was captured by a single individual.
An individual was trying to swallow the sun.
“Husband Thief?”
“Husband Thief! Husband Thief!”
“Polygamyyyyyy!”
They engaged in a serious debate over whether this, too, was a part of the Husband Thief phenomenon.
They rammed their heads together, competing to see whose opinion was correct.
If there was one conclusion they reached, it was that if this situation continued, the Black Sun’s fire would be swallowed completely.
The Red Dragon was an inherently greedy being.
She would never hand over what was hers to anyone else.
“Polygamyyyyyy!”
Polygamy would disappear.
“Mono… ga…? Kraaaahk!”
“Pure Love… Duriputu!”
Duriputu (投離䬌偸).
To be shaken from one’s place, eventually leaving and stealing away.
In other words, it meant turning from polygamy to monogamy.
Even for a bicorn, this was unacceptable.
They could not tolerate the Black Sun becoming a Duriputu.
But there was nothing they could do.
They had no way to intervene in the Black Sun’s affairs.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
Except for a single white wolf that had appeared beside them at some point.
The bicorns stopped fighting.
They had a good idea of where that wolf was headed.
“…That’s not it.”
Baek Rang denied it.
“I’m just going to confirm something.”
But that statement was the final nail in the coffin.
“Polygamyyyy!”
Her body was pure.
But her heart was elsewhere.
She had become a being that the bicorns had every reason to worship.
Moreover, she was refusing to admit that her heart had been captured.
“Poly… hehe… gamy… hehehe…”
The bicorns looked like they were about to die from joy.
“What?”
And at the same time, they realized she was the only one who could save the endangered Black Sun.
“That lizard is captured right now?”