Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Its English name: Blue Dragon Sea Slug.

That was what my Senior Sister really was.

This creature, drifting atop the sea, at a glance looks like a tiny azure dragon flying through the sky.

So its English name is Blue Dragon.

A little dragon barely three inches long (about 9 cm), its back a vivid azure like a jade jewel in the heavens, with faint blue stripes flowing down over it like rippling waves, reminiscent of the Milky Way.

Its belly side was silver-white as if it had swallowed moonlight, and when it caught the light off the waves, it could make you hallucinate that it was floating above the clouds.

On its head were cerata, three pairs of feelers rising like horns. These feelers danced with the supple grace of a dragon’s whiskers swaying in the wind, and their tips were sharp like spearpoints, flickering like blue flames whenever they caught the light.

And that creature was floating on top of a bronze bathtub.

Small and darling, quiet without a single ripple.

I stared blankly at Senior Sister, and Senior Sister stammered,

“J-j-Junior Brother, did I surprise you? I-it’s gross, right?”

The “gyaaaak!”-style cry of admiration I’d blurted out—my wives would never have misunderstood that.

They would have known it was a pure shout of joy that comes out when you discover a beautiful poison creature.

But Senior Sister misunderstood that sound and sent me a look like she was blaming herself.

I snapped out of it and hurriedly shouted.

Because Senior Sister could get hurt.

“No! Gross? Absolutely not! Never!”

How could anyone—no, how could anyone say Senior Sister was gross?

Senior Sister was a blue dragon sea slug poison creature with the title of the most beautiful mollusk in the world.

“N-no, Junior Brother. Junior Brother hasn’t even been up from the lower realm for long. There’s no way you could think a body like this is okay.”

“N-no. Absolutely not.”

“No, Junior Brother. What kind of person would think a body like this is okay? It’s fine. I just—if I was going to answer Junior Brother’s question, I had no choice but to show you this body.”

“No, I’m telling you it’s not!”

Just a moment ago, I’d misunderstood Senior Sister’s actions and Senior Sister had denied it over and over.

Now it had turned into the complete opposite.

Was this some kind of mirror therapy?

I felt like I was about to go crazy and start doing backflips, but Senior Sister said in a firm voice,

“Junior Brother, between you and me, let’s not lie.”

I couldn’t exactly tear my heart out and show it to her.

After agonizing, a good idea came to me.

“Senior Sister, it’s true. Th-then—yeah. Senior Sister, put some clothes on first. I’ll make you see that I’m not lying.”

“?”

Senior Sister stared at me for a moment, then cutely clung to the rim of the bronze tub and said in a cautious voice,

“O-okay, I get it, so... turn your head.”

“Understood.”

The instant I spun around, I could faintly hear the sound of water dripping.

After that, the sound of soft cloth brushing skin, like she was wiping away moisture.

Then the light friction of fabric sliding.

A moment later, Senior Sister’s voice came again.

“Junior Brother. You can turn around now.”

“Understood. Chief Steward Mong-a, could you come in?”

“Huh? Yes.”

After calling Chief Steward Mong-a in as she watched the inside from outside, I asked her.

“I’m going to go inside the space created by the Heavenly Heart Linked Poison Peach Garden Map with Senior Sister for a moment, so could you watch over me?”

“Huh? Yes.”

Chief Steward Mong-a looked a little flustered, then nodded.

I lightly placed my hand on Senior Sister’s shoulder and spoke.

“Don’t move inside. Please wait for a moment.”

“Ah... okay, Junior Brother.”

Senior Sister turned into smoke and was sucked into my nose.

Since this place blocked Law Arts, I’d been a little worried, but maybe because it was the same kind of energy, Senior Sister’s movement went through without a problem.

After putting Senior Sister into Dokmul-hyang, I sat down right there and quickly entered Dokmul-hyang myself.

As soon as we arrived inside, Senior Sister’s eyes went wide, and in a voice like she couldn’t believe it, she asked,

“Junior Brother, th-th-what is this?”

“A poison creature—no, it’s a space made with the Heavenly Heart Linked Poison Peach Garden Map?”

At my answer, Senior Sister shook her head fiercely.

“N-no. This is abnormal. Even Father’s wasn’t this wide. This is practically like an ordinary world, isn’t it?”

I’d been assuming the Dokmul-hyang I made was just a normal Heavenly Heart Linked Poison Peach Garden Map space, but it didn’t feel like that.

Tilting my head, I said,

“It’s not?”

“Yes. Father’s was about the size of a siheyuan.”

“That small? No—so that’s the normal size?”

“Yes.”

A siheyuan was a traditional compound house in the Central Plains.

Four sides enclosed by walls, a broad central courtyard spread out in the middle, and behind the main residence where the head of the household lived, there was a rear garden—that kind of structure.

Sizes varied, but no matter how big the siheyuan was, compared to my space it was tiny.

I decided I’d check later why there was such a difference, and first I told Senior Sister,

“We’ll figure out later why there’s such a difference, but that’s not important right now, so this way.”

As I led Senior Sister toward the area where my wives lived, I told the wives in the group chat in advance that I was bringing Senior Sister.

[”Hwa-eun, I brought Senior Sister into Dokmul-hyang. I’m bringing her home.”]

[”So-ryong, you should’ve told us ahead of time!”]

A gentle scolding came back.

Since I’d suddenly brought a guest, it seemed like that was why.

“S-s-sorry.”

“It’s not that you need to apologize, but from now on, when you bring a guest, please tell us in advance. We have to clean the house and the village, and there’s a lot to do.”

“Ah, understood.”

I quietly swallowed the question of whether they couldn’t just show how they lived.

I had a bad feeling that if I butted in with one more word, I’d get yelled at even more.

When we arrived at the village with Senior Sister, my wives and the children were already waiting, and with bright faces, they greeted Senior Sister.

“Welcome, Elder.”

“Welcome.”

“Welcome.”

-Sliiiide. [”Hello, Grandma Senior Sister.”]

-Slip. [”Hello.”]

-Chii. [”Nice to meet you.”]

Behind my wives were the children in human form, and even the children who still weren’t registered and were in poison-creature form.

When Senior Sister saw that scene, her eyes rounded wide in shock.

“Th-th-this? I-is what I’m thinking right?”

“It is, Senior Sister.”

That was when Zihwa, holding Jayo, walked toward me and said,

“Dad, you’re back.”

-Piyo.

Jayo tried to lunge into my arms.

Jayo stretched her arms out toward me.

Zihwa patted Jayo’s head and said,

“Dad can’t hold you right now, so let’s get held later. Right now, he can’t touch you.”

-Piyooo.

Jayo’s face fell at that.

This kid’s been completely obsessed with Dad lately, to the point I almost feel sorry for Zihwa.

I couldn’t touch her, but I mimed petting her as I said,

“Sorry, Jayo. Dad will hold you outside later.”

-Piyo.

After soothing Jayo, I heard Senior Sister’s sobbing voice.

“Hic... S-so Junior Brother is j-just like Father too...?”

When I turned my head, Senior Sister was covering her mouth and sniffling.

Looks like she only now understood, from the bottom of her heart, that when I’d said she wasn’t gross, I meant it.

They weren’t kidding when they said seeing once beats hearing a hundred times.

Once Senior Sister realized I was raising other poison creatures too—and that I was raising a daughter like Senior Sister—she finally understood my sincerity.

“Of course. I’m raising a daughter like Senior Sister too.”

After having my wives prepare tea, I seated Senior Sister in the bamboo pavilion.

Because we’d been in the middle of talking earlier.

And then I asked what I was curious about.

“As far as I know, Master’s first wife was the Gold-Crowned Lion King, and aside from her, I heard he ascended together with four poison creatures. If that’s the case, then the four poison creatures Master formed bonds with should be one of the Ten Great Venoms or the Twenty-Four Poison Branch, right? So why is Senior Sister a Blue Sea Swallow?

There’s no Blue Sea Swallow in the Central Plains Ten Great Venoms or the Twenty-Four Poison Branch.”

Master had only recorded things in books about the Ten Great Venoms and the Twenty-Four Poison Branch.

But it felt like he’d hidden a poison creature somewhere.

Because there was no record of any spirit creature rooted in the blue dragon sea slug among the Ten Great Venoms or the Twenty-Four Poison Branch.

“Seriously, leaving your disciple out.”

I felt a little hurt.

It felt like he hadn’t written everything down in the Secret Compendium of Venomous Creatures of the World and had kept his own private honey pot separate.

Collectors are usually like that.

They don’t open up all their private gathering spots.

There are all kinds of reasons for it, and since I was a MeTuber, I couldn’t exactly reveal all my gathering spots.

If people swarmed in, there were always thoughtless idiots who came with them and destroyed the habitat.

But if he was leaving it behind for his clan and his successor, shouldn’t he have recorded everything?

Senior Sister tilted her head at my question.

“Blue Sea Swallow?”

“Ah—it’s the name of the creature that’s the origin of a spirit creature like Senior Sister. They call it Blue Sea Swallow because it looks like a blue sea swallow.”

“Ah, I see. Blue Sea Swallow. That’s a good name. Anyway, the ones who ascended with Father were First Mother and four aunts. And Mother was the second wife Father met here.”

“Ah, he met her here?”

“Yes. Since First Mother couldn’t have a child, he took a second wife, and that was Mother.”

From my conversation with Senior Sister, I got three pieces of information.

First: the remaining four poison creatures who ascended with Master were female, but they weren’t Master’s wives. Second: Senior Sister’s mother was a spirit creature who ascended from somewhere else. And third: it wasn’t that he’d hidden a honey pot from me.

Feeling guilty for having been sulky for a moment, I apologized internally and said,

“Ah, then Senior Sister’s mother—the second wife—was a Blue Sea Swallow?”

“Yes. Mother died after giving birth to me, though.”

“Oh... I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I heard Mother was a cultivated spirit creature who collapsed unconscious and sickly by the seaside, which has now become the territory of spirit creatures here in the Nine Heavens, and Father saved her.

That’s how they formed a bond, and she became Father’s wife.

Since I’m a child born from the two of them’s energy, I can take human form even though my realm is low.

But maybe because of that, my body doesn’t rise in realm. Even this realm—I’m only here because Father barely managed to raise it for me.”

At Senior Sister’s words, I nodded along, then my gaze drifted to Jayo.

In case Jayo might have some problem like Senior Sister.

Jayo wasn’t registered either, but inside Dokmul-hyang she was in human form, so it didn’t look all that different from Senior Sister’s situation.

But then Zihwa shook her head with an expression like it was strange.

“That’s odd. Being born from two beings’ energy doesn’t cause problems. If anything, being born carrying both of their outward forms means she was born successfully receiving both of their abilities.”

True.

Senior Sister talked like she was some half-and-half, incomplete body, but Senior Sister’s human body—her blood vessels were weak, but it was a perfect human body.

And even though I hadn’t examined it closely, Senior Sister’s blue dragon sea slug body didn’t look strange either.

Because it was incredibly pretty and cute.

At that, Senior Sister nodded too.

“I’ve heard other people say that too, but what can I do? This is still my body.”

I thought it was strange, but Senior Sister’s face was dark, so I decided to change the subject.

No point dragging it out and only making Senior Sister feel worse.

“Anyway, looks like Master liking poison creatures is exactly like me. Even the second wife he got was a poison creature. Haha.”

Blue dragon sea slug was a poison creature.

That was why I said it, but Senior Sister shook her head.

“A poison creature? No, Junior Brother. Mother and I aren’t poison creatures.”

“Huh?”

At that, something flickered through my mind.

Senior Sister’s body being like that—

Maybe it wasn’t a congenital problem, but something acquired later.