Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Hongbi was shedding tears.

Judging by how sorrowfully he cried, there was clearly a story there.

If there weren’t, he wouldn’t show that kind of feeling in front of someone he hardly knew.

“Could it be... someone precious?” I thought.

With his power, something terrible could have happened.

Maybe he used his ability in anger and someone got swept away, or he tried to save someone and the person who got swept up was “deleted.”

His poison was such an enormous power that an accident was entirely plausible.

There’s a reason the black mamba that bit me to death in my past life is considered one of the most dangerous reptiles.

Those things have truly insane aggression.

They’re so vicious they’ll attack even dead bodies.

Because of that, keepers sometimes die by accident. Hongbi’s toxin, though, was on another level entirely.

At least black mambas give warning signs before an attack; Hongbi, if he suddenly spat his poison, would simply make anyone nearby vanish.

If he’d lost someone precious, that would have been a terrible wound—so I kept my face blank and smiled at him, then said:

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure of it.”

- Kwaa-aa... 『Huk...』 he croaked.

He fussed and croaked for a long while before calming down.

When he’d finally steadied and tentatively began to speak, I carefully asked what had happened to him.

- Kwa.『Um... well...』

“Are you a bit calmer now? It seems you have a story—could you tell me? If it’s hard to talk about, you don’t have to. Still, I’ll help you, you know.”

After a moment of silence, he began to tell his tale.

- Kwaaa... 『It was long ago... not long after I was born...』

What Hongbi told me was a precious memory with a girl.

Apparently, a girl had found the very young Hongbi and raised him, and he blamed himself for erasing that memory with his own hands.

- Kwaak. 『...That’s how it happened.』

“Oh.” When Hongbi finished his long story, staring up at the sky, I felt somewhat relieved.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a tale of him accidentally killing a person.

The victims had been only a dog and a rooster.

He truly was a delicate, tender creature.

The girl must have been shocked by the sudden deaths of her dog and rooster—so surprised that she reacted as she did.

To be precise, Hongbi felt sorrow because, by his mistake, he’d hurt the girl who had lovingly raised him, and because of that the relationships they’d built were all erased—as if by his poison—and that made him sad.

I could also understand the girl’s position.

If a pet you raised with all your love suddenly killed your other pets, you’d be shocked.

And unless you’re an expert like me who knows why such things happen, it would inspire terror.

Watching the creature you’d cared for erase other animals is not something a normal person can accept easily.

People fear what their reason can’t explain.

That’s why ancient people explained unexplainable natural phenomena—climate oddities and the like—as acts of gods or spirits.

“What a tragic thing.”

Of course, I could understand why it had happened.

A poison-dart frog spirit like him probably didn’t emit poison until he matured into a frog.

More precisely, he likely hadn’t emitted poison until he became a frog and ate termites.

As everyone who knows poison-dart frogs is aware, their toxins originate from alkaloids in the plants the prey eat, so until they consume those plants—or the termites that feed on fungi grown on those plants—the toxins don’t manifest in the frog’s body.

From what he told me, it seemed he had an instinct to eat termites. When he matured and followed that instinct, swallowing termites, he emitted his first poison while neither he nor his keepers knew what would happen. No wonder both parties were shocked.

“This is exactly why dangerous venomous creatures should be raised only by experts,” I muttered to myself.

That’s why I keep saying I’m an expert.

It happened often even in my previous life. People raised pretty reptiles without knowing anything, only to die because the animal had poison.

Even experts make fatal mistakes with their charges from time to time; how much more would ordinary people blunder?

I straightened up from my seat with resolve ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and said, “Then shall we start right away?”

- Kwa.『R-really!? Right now!?” he croaked, filled with anticipation.』

When he brightened up like that, I backed up a little and tossed the stone I’d picked up earlier at his head.

Tock.

The eager little face looking up at me blinked in daze as the stone struck his head.

He seemed puzzled, unable to understand what had just happened.

He stared at me with that puzzled look, and I smiled and said:

“You said you didn’t want to erase anyone, right? Then just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”

His expression slowly hardened.

From Hongbi’s trembling body surged an energy I hadn’t seen before.

- Kwaaaa! 『Graaah! You, you—this brat! If you break your promise to me even once—stop right there! I will wipe you completely from the world! Graaaah!』

He seemed to think I was pulling a fast one on him; then our game of tag began again.

***

For two days, Hongbi spewed poison like mad at my provocations.

At first his noxious miasma spread viciously, even reaching the imiters, but as time passed, he exponentially shrank its range. By the evening of the second day, it began to flicker as if his reserves had run dry, and finally, the poison vanished altogether.

Now, even as he strained with all his might, not a drop of toxic qi seeped out.

- Kwaa... 『Huff, huff...』

His eyes rolled back, having chased me without rest for two whole days. He collapsed by the water’s edge, panting. I slumped down on the opposite bank and said to him:

“Phew. Looks like the first stage is finally done.”

- Kwaa! 『W-what? You bastard... Just wait, I’ll...』

He still thought I’d just been mocking him. But there was a reason I hadn’t explained the full situation to him.

If I told him outright that he had to refrain from eating termites and instead spit out all his poison, he wouldn’t have been able to do it efficiently.

It’s like when you go to the hospital and try to pee on command—sometimes you just can’t.

Poison worked the same way, I was sure of it.

’Ugh, I really suffered that time at the hospital, when I just couldn’t go...’

And if I’d explained everything, he would’ve had to force himself to expel his poison consciously. For someone who grieved every time he emitted it, that would have been too hard.

The same principle applied with Hua-eun during the night. In official defense matches, it was... let’s just say, a real ordeal.

So I needed him to pour everything out with his whole heart. Even if I had to make him furious to do it.

Looking at him collapsed, sending me resentful glares, I asked:

“So now, there’s not even a drop left, right?”

- Kwaa! 『J-just wait. When I recover, I won’t let you off!』

It was time to tell him the truth.

Just in case, I tossed one last stone at his head.

I wanted to confirm that all the poison had truly been drawn out.

Thunk.

- Kwaa! 『Grrr...』

He snarled again as the stone struck him. His body trembled as if trying to muster strength, but sure enough, no poison leaked out.

Relieved, I said to him:

“Feels like I was just teasing you for no reason, doesn’t it? But... I did it on purpose.”

- Kwaa? 『On purpose? Of course it was on purpose, you villain! I was serious, but you trampled a frog’s sincerity. I’ll never forgive you. I must recover my energy quickly.』

Muttering about regaining his strength, he crawled toward the termite mounds. But I quickly leapt to block his way.

“Hold it!”

At the same time, through the group chat, I called on Gun Hyerin to bring me what I’d asked for.

『“Hyerin, bring what I requested.”

“Oh, is it over now? Got it.”』

Hongbi looked up at me, puzzled as I blocked his path.

I explained:

“You’re about to eat termites, right? If you do, you won’t be able to fulfill your wish of never making anything vanish again. Because your poison comes from those termites.”

- Kwaa!? 『What!?』

Hongbi’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t known that the termites he’d eaten were the cause of all this. He’d just followed instinct.

“Your poison builds up in your body from the termites you eat, and then it gushes out. That’s why I enraged you—so you’d spit it all out. If you eat termites again, the poison you just expelled will build up once more. So you must never eat them again.”

- Kwaa... 『I-it was because of termites?』

“That’s right.”

Soon, Gun Hyerin descended beside me, handing over something wrapped in a large leaf.

“Master, I brought it.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you unharmed?”

“Of course.”

Opening the leaf revealed several large, white, translucent bead-sized things.

What were they?

Termite eggs.

Most spirit beasts live on the energy of nature. I wasn’t sure if termites were Hongbi’s energy source or just for producing his poison, but I’d asked for these so that if he needed to eat, he’d have an alternative.

Termite eggs don’t contain the alkaloid toxins from plants, since those are secondary metabolites accumulated only after the termites eat fungus grown from leaves.

“Here. Eat these instead.”

I placed the eggs before him. He tilted his head and asked:

- Kwaa? 『What’s this?』

“Termite eggs.”

- Kwaa? 『Eggs? But didn’t you say I mustn’t eat termites...?』

“They grow fungus from leaves, and eating it fills them with poison. But before that—when they’re still eggs—there’s no toxin, so it’s safe. You can eat them without worry.”

He stared at me a moment, then gulped down the eggs.

Immediately, as if energized, he strode to the water and tried to draw out power. Nothing came. Instead, he waded in and began to wash himself.

His bathing almost looked solemn.

When he was done, he approached me on the bank, looking up.

- Kwaa. 『But...』

“Mm?”

- Kwaa. 『Come a little closer.』

Was he trying to thank me?

It felt like he wanted to whisper quietly out of shyness.

I leaned in, bringing my ear close—

When suddenly, he leapt and clamped onto my head.

Pain shot through my ear.

“Gyaaah!”

As he bit down on my ear, he bellowed:

- Kwaaaa! 『You bastard! You could’ve told me earlier! Don’t you ever do that again—I’ll beat it into you!』

“Ow, ow, ow! I-I’m sorry! I said I’m sorry!”

What a fiery-tempered fellow.