Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Yoha’s silk was to run from the spot where the Silver Fish spirit beast had vanished all the way to a quiet clearing we’d found nearby.

It was a low grassy patch well away from trees or rocks, with a single large tree standing in the middle.

I’d been told that long ago a lightning strike had set the area ablaze, leaving only that one great tree.

At first, I’d thought of luring the thing into a storage shed it was familiar with, but after seeing the exterior of the building rot away under its venom during our first encounter, that idea was off the table.

If it spewed venom again, it could damage the property or the building itself.

In that first encounter alone, the venom it spat had chewed up about twenty percent of the shed’s exterior, starting from the corner.

If I tried to catch it in the shed and it went all out with its venom, my father-in-law might mourn the loss.

Not to mention, the shed’s contents — including the silk inside — wouldn’t survive.

After trailing the silk for a while, we reached the clearing.

Standing beneath the big tree in the middle, I praised Yoha.

“Good work, Yoha.”

– Kishishi. 『Should I stop here, Brother?』

“Yeah.”

I dragged Yoha’s silk right to the base of the tree, gathered some of it into a lump, and tied bait to a thick branch above.

It was a strip of cloth I’d woven from Yoha’s silk over the past three days, during which it had absorbed my skin flakes and sweat. I tied it to her web and hung it from the branch, right where the creature would like it.

’This should make it want to tear into it with glee.’

Silverfish eat cloth and paper because they like the proteins and carbohydrates those materials contain.

But if you asked which they preferred, the answer was obvious — protein.

It’s like asking a person to choose between meat and bread; most will pick the meat.

So paper is less appealing than silk, and silk is less appealing than skin flakes.

Just in case wild animals or something else brushed against the silk, I looped it around grass stems here and there to hold it steady.

When all the preparations were done and I’d returned to the base of the tree, Gun Hye-rin came up and tugged at my sleeve.

“Master, th-then let’s rest a bit, and come back after dinner.”

Her cheeks were flushed red, her ears just as crimson.

She was always fine normally, but whenever she spoke to me after a kiss, she was like this.

It had already been three days since that kiss, yet she was still flustered.

’If Hye-rin really can’t handle racy things, maybe having three wives won’t be so hard after all...’

Her look gave me hope that even with three wives it could work out, but then her voice came again.

“Master?”

“Ah, yes. Let’s go. Jiryeon, you too.”

“Yes, So-ryong.”

Snapping out of my thoughts, I turned to Yoha.

“Yoha, we’ll go have a meal. Watch this place for me until we get back.”

– Kishit. 『Got it, Brother. Go ahead. I’ll keep watch here.』

The sun hadn’t set yet, so it wasn’t time for the nocturnal silverfish-like spirit to appear.

I was asking Yoha to keep watch while we went down to rest and have dinner before returning.

Yoha quickly scurried up the tree.

Leading the way down the mountain, I slowed my pace after a while.

A quick glance back showed the tree was now out of sight.

I casually slipped my hands around Hye-rin’s and the princess’s waists.

’Ahem. If you’re the husband, this much is fine, right?’

“Mm.”

“Hehe, So-ryong.”

At my touch, Hye-rin shivered like she’d been struck by lightning, while the princess, not a snake, wrapped herself snugly around me.

Two completely opposite reactions.

The princess chuckled at Hye-rin’s fluster.

“Hye-rin, stop being so shy. So-ryong is our lord now. If you get worked up over a mere kiss, how will you handle the wedding night...?”

It had already been three days since the kiss, so it was amusing to her.

’Right — she was the one who boldly asked me to kiss her, and now she’s like this. If you’re going to react that way, maybe don’t bring it up in the first place. Still... it’s cute.’

Honestly, if she weren’t my woman, her usual behavior would just be frustrating — I’d be wondering what was wrong with her. But with that title of “my woman” in front, it somehow looked adorable.

At the princess’s words, I chuckled, but Hye-rin protested.

“B-but Master touched my chest! That was too embarrassing!”

“Huh?”

The princess blinked at me, eyes going wide.

Then her voice rose in complaint.

“Wait, you told me to wait until the wedding!”

She was talking about the time she told me to try touching her chest, and I refused, saying we’d do it after we were married. Now she wanted to know why I was playing favorites.

“Well, um... I only checked to make sure there were no issues after the enhancement in the mental space.”

I insisted there was no other intent — it was purely to confirm the upgrade had gone smoothly, like a medical examination.

Sure, usually a kiss stirs a man’s instincts to move his hands, but still.

The princess thrust out her chest and boldly demanded,

“Then check mine too.”

“Sh-should I?”

If I said no, she’d pout.

So began my first game of “doctor” since kindergarten.

“This is purely for medical purposes — to make sure what I chose in the mental space was applied correctly, and that you haven’t had any adverse effects like qi deviation.”

***

Chirrrr... chirrrr...

The night was filled with insect sounds.

The moon was hidden by clouds, leaving no moonlight, and the chorus of crickets was even louder than usual.

That’s because bugs are more active on moonless nights than on nights with a full moon — and tonight it was almost like a lullaby.

Somehow, while keeping watch from the tree with Yoha, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) I’d drifted off.

A full dinner and lying belly-down on Yoha’s soft fur, staring down from above, had lulled me to sleep.

『–Kishi. (Brother, I sense something.)』

I didn’t know how much time had passed, but her voice woke me in the mental link.

“Mm? You sense something?”

– Kit! (Yes!)

Following her pointing leg, I looked down. The slack silk we’d left loosely tangled in the grass was now taut, the other end being pulled.

And for some reason, the grass was slowly being dragged toward one side.

It was like watching a fishing float twitch when a fish bites.

“...It’s real?”

“Master, has it appeared?”

“Yes. I think it’s here.”

Yoha and I were in the tree.

The others — the kids, Hwa-eun, Hye-rin, and the princess — were scattered nearby in ambush.

Voices came over the mental link.

『We can’t see it from here yet, but tell us when it shows.』

『Got it, Hwa-eun.』

In the darkness, I activated the Beast-Eye Art, then followed it up with Infrared Vision to check the direction where the silk lay.

Still, the creature hadn’t shown itself.

Everyone was holding their breath, eyes fixed on the grass.

Then, after a while, the grass began to stir.

— Rustle. Rustle.

We watched the brush intently... only for something familiar to emerge in the most disappointing way.

— Oink-oink.

A huge wild boar shoved its snout through the grass.

『“Wait, that thing!? It’s going to mess up all the silk!”』

— Tchurrr. (What the...?)

“What’s a boar doing here...?”

Just as we were all exchanging exasperated looks over the unwelcome visitor—

— Shhhhk.

Yoha shot a stream of silk toward the boar at lightning speed.

From above the boar’s head, the silk flared into a funnel shape and wrapped around it in an instant.

— Squeee!

Before the boar could even let out a proper squeal, it was yanked toward us.

It tried to scramble back, but Yoha caught it by the scruff as it flew up to her, then bit its ankle to paralyze it before calling over Cho to drag it away.

『– Kishit. (Cho, move this thing to the side for me.)』

— Tchurr. (Got it, Sis.)

’Huh... Yoha’s gotten stronger.’

Her pedipalps and frame didn’t look that powerful, yet she’d just stopped a flying boar dead in midair. She definitely felt tougher than before.

As I recalled the form I’d seen on the stone tablet, Yoha’s voice came again.

『– Kishishi. (Something else is coming, Brother.)』

Something else.

『“Another boar?”』

“Boars do travel in groups,” Hwa-eun added.

She was right — boars often roam in herds, sometimes dozens, sometimes just a few.

So odds were high it was another boar... until a glint of silver flickered beyond the bushes.

『“Oh! This one’s the real thing!”』

Silver shining past the foliage could only mean the target had arrived.

Tension rose as we focused on the thicket. Leaves rustled... and then it stepped into view.

I hadn’t gotten a good look last time, but now I saw them clearly — long antennae and a streamlined body.

It really did look like a silver-scaled fish.

It slurped up the strands of silk Yoha had laid out, like noodles or spaghetti, inching closer to us.

The way its antennae danced, it was clearly delighted with the taste.

’Gotcha, you little prize! Thanks to you, I’ve got three wives now!’

I fixed my attention on it, determined to catch it and keep it with me for life. It kept sucking up the silk, drawing ever closer to the tree.

— Sluuurp... slurp.

It reached the base of the tree, spotted the loosened silk there, and its eyes widened.

The sucking noises went on for a while before ending with a crisp sound.

— Ppft.

The last bit of silk had vanished into its mouth.

Even after finishing, it looked around as if wanting more. Its antennae quivered in every direction before snapping upright.

Slowly, it raised its forelegs and looked up — toward Yoha’s silk cloth hanging above.

Its antennae trembled as though it had just spotted the most irresistible treat in the world.

That’s when the princess’s voice chimed in.

『“So-ryong, I thought spirit beasts were too smart to fall for crude bait like this, but it’s working surprisingly well.”』

She was watching from the opposite side of the brush with Hwa-eun, seemingly impressed the creature hadn’t pegged it as a trap.

Yoha’s silk was one thing, but the silk cloth dangling from the branch was obviously manmade bait to any human.

『“Heh, that’s because this one isn’t used to people.”』

“Not used to people? But it broke into a shed and stole silk.”

『“If it were truly used to people, it wouldn’t touch human possessions in the first place. And it wouldn’t have made such an obvious hole in the shed wall.”』

A creature wary of humans — aware of the danger — wouldn’t even approach a dwelling.

If forced, it would choose an entrance where it wouldn’t be noticed: the ceiling, or tunneling in from beneath.

But this one had just bored a hole in a visible corner.

Clearly, it wasn’t familiar with humans, so it wouldn’t question simple bait.

While the princess and I spoke, the creature began hopping. It wasn’t hanging very high, so after five or six jumps, it finally latched onto the cloth.

— Popo.

It let out a peculiar cry of glee... until that cry turned to panic.

— Pooo! Popo!

It was caught. It tried to leap down, but couldn’t break free.

The cloth tightened around it, wrapping it up in an instant like a cocoon.

“Got it!”

“Is it caught?”

— Kishit! 『Caught!』

“Heh... you dare strip us, huh?”

Everyone emerged from hiding and surrounded it.

The creature, perhaps trying to spit venom, shuddered at the sight of us — but unlike before, no silver dust sprayed from its body.

That was because Yoha’s silk cloth was wound tight around it.

Normally, its venom would dissolve even Yoha’s web... but there was a reason it wasn’t working.

Some spiders can attach liquid droplets to their webs — a trait seen in orb-weavers.

Spider silk is liquid inside the body, solidifying instantly when exposed to air. But orb-weavers can eject liquid silk and coat their threads with it.

Yoha could do the same.

Earlier, she had coated the cloth with plenty of liquid webbing.

From experience, I knew its venom’s real effect was to strip away the silver dust on its body.

Bound in sticky, liquid-coated silk, it couldn’t release its venom at all.

“Alright... with you, the Twenty-Four Poison Branch is complete.”

I grinned down at the bound creature.