Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

Cheonhae, floating nearby and watching the conversation we were having.

At my call, Cheonhae approached my side at high speed.

Then, Cheonhae put one tentacle to my head and spoke to me.

[”Fingers? I don’t have fingers, though?”]

[”Your feet.”]

[”Ah, feet. But why feet?”]

[”Originally, Senior Sister’s species lives by eating the tentacles attached to the feet of a species like yours.”]

[”Hiiik! You cut off feet and eat them?!”]

[”No, no, just the tentacles. I mean, this hair attached to the tip of the foot here. Could you let Senior Sister eat just a little bit of this hair?”]

[”Ah, hair.”]

Cheonhae lifted one foot and examined it as if staring at it.

It seemed to be thinking it over.

Even if it was hair attached to the foot, it was still part of the body, after all.

But a jellyfish does not feel pain even if the tentacles growing on its feet fall off.

What is connected to these tentacles is basic sensory nerves (rudimentary sensory nerves), but it’s not like humans where there is pain perception—it detects light, smell, and direction.

Still, if the tentacle falls off, it recovers within two or three days, so it wasn’t a big burden.

For a human, it was about the level of burden of body hair.

Cheonhae, who had been hesitating a little, soon nodded.

[”I-If it’s just a little, it’s fine.”]

[”I’ll only ask for a little too. Originally, it’s not Cheonhae but a different kind of jellyfish I need. I’m just planning to confirm that one thing—whether Senior Sister really needs the tentacles.”]

Since Cheonhae had given permission, I thought this was going well, and it was right as I was about to call Senior Sister over this way.

Cheonhae grabbed me and said,

[”But before that, I have a favor.”]

[”A favor?”]

[”Yes, I also, um... Please do that registration thing for me.”]

[”R-Registration?”]

At Cheonhae’s words, I flinched a little.

Registering Cheonhae was no problem at all, but it was because I thought of the kid I’d put on standby in advance.

Ranghu.

The one I had told to wait just a little last time, and then kept putting it off.

After seriously thinking it over, I said to Cheonhae,

[”R-Registration, huh. Could we feed Senior Sister a little tentacle first, and then do it after that?”]

Registering Cheonhae was no problem at all, but Ranghu needed to brace herself mentally, no matter what.

So I tried to soothe her like that, but Cheonhae said in a sulky voice,

[”I-I want to speak with a voice too! If you don’t do it, I won’t let you suck the tentacles.”]

Huh, what a mess this was.

When I turned my head and looked at Senior Sister, Senior Sister looked extremely expectant.

Even though she didn’t know why I had called Cheonhae, she seemed to think there would be some method right away.

‘Ha. Do I have a choice?’

In the end, it was something I had to do someday anyway, so I nodded and said okay.

[”All right. I’ll do it.”]

[”Yay!”]

[”But I have to do Ranghu first. Wait just a little.”]

[”Okay.”]

First, I decided to explain the exact situation to Senior Sister and my wives who were waiting.

Because my wives had been making faces like they didn’t understand and had asked questions.

”Why Cheonhye, sir?”

”Cheonhae?”

”Is Cheonhae medicine?”

”Ah, it’s similar, but the reason I asked Cheonhae to let Senior Sister suck a finger is because the hairs growing on Cheonhye’s feet contain poison, and that is something Blue Sea Swallow-type creatures like Senior Sister absolutely need to protect their bodies.”

”Ahh, I see.”

”Huh. That’s fascinating.”

”Seriously, Soryong knows everything.”

”Yes, but Cheonhae is throwing a tantrum, saying she won’t let fingers be sucked unless I register her, so I guess I have to register her first. Though I should start with Ranghu, who has been waiting for a while now.”

My wives, who had been happy saying I knew all sorts of things, paused at the name Ranghu and then nodded.

”Well, Ranghu has been waiting a long time.”

”Yeah.”

”Well, it really is time.”

My wives were all in a state of feeling like it was time.

I first sent Hyang-i on an errand.

”Hyang, bring Sister Ranghu. Tell her Dad called her.”

-Tseureut. 『Got it, Dad.』

After Hyang-i scampered off to one side and disappeared, not much time had passed when, from one side, there came a buzzing sound.

Ranghu was flying this way with a few worker bees.

-Buuung.

The wing sound, how should I put it?

It felt extremely excited.

A completely different feeling from usual.

-Buuuung.

Ranghu flew in quickly, then circled me once while hovering in place.

With a bright expression like she was asking why I’d called her, she waggled her antennae, so I took a deep breath and said,

”You said you wanted it. Registration. I’m going to do it today.”

-Buuung? Buuuung?

”Yeah.”

Flappy wingbeats that felt like she was asking if it was really true again and again.

Nodding, I raised my hand as if placing it over her head.

Since this was a space inside my body, saliva and things like that were no longer necessary.

Because back when it was Black Spot, I’d already registered once and knew registration was fully possible even like this.

As I thought about registering Ranghu, Ranghu’s body began to glow brightly.

But there was something strange: the bodies of the other worker bees that had followed along, guarding Ranghu, also started glowing brightly at the same time.

At the same time, the worker bees descended to the ground.

The moment the worker bees settled onto the ground, sparkles of light flickered here and there throughout the Poison-Things Fragrance.

It felt like not only Ranghu, but even all the worker bees that had been flying around were being registered simultaneously.

”Th-This is!?”

”Soryong, why is that? Why even the worker bees?”

”W-What is this?”

My wives made startled expressions as they looked at the surrounding clusters of light.

Like they were flustered by the sudden event.

But I could tell why this was happening all of a sudden.

Originally, bee societies have a sex determination system called haplodiploidy.

When a queen bee is born, it mates with multiple drone bees inside the hive, and at that time it takes in the sperm from multiple drones and uses it for the rest of its life.

Because of that, worker bees have the same mother but secure genetic diversity with different fathers.

However, the queen bee uses sperm only when giving birth to daughters—worker bees.

If the queen bee lays an unfertilized egg, an unfertilized egg, it will always become a drone.

Then something strange occurs here: the daughter is a being that received two sets of genes—father’s genes and mother’s genes—but the son was born with only the mother’s genes, so doesn’t that mean the son has the same genetic traits as the mother?

Because ordinary organisms have to be born with paired genes.

So if it inherited the mother’s genes exactly as it is, then it should naturally be female, but the strange point is that it’s male.

But there is a secret here.

Drone bees have only half of their mother’s genes.

Uniquely, they are born even with half a set of genes.

Then does the sperm of a male that has only half a set of genes contain only a quarter of a set? No, it does not.

When the male makes sperm, it doesn’t undergo meiosis and instead produces sperm as-is, so a male’s sperm contains information identical to its own genes.

This is the genetic system that bees have, but the Golden-Furred Bee King is different.

Over here, it gives birth to offspring only through parthenogenesis.

Parthenogenesis means the mother passes down one hundred percent of the genes, so aside from differences in class, the genes are the same.

It meant Ranghu and the worker bees all had the same genetic traits.

Even if I didn’t know the details, my thought was that this martial art—the martial art that creates the Heavenly Deep Abyss Poison Martial Mausoleum Dao—seemed to register at the genetic level.

Because if you look at Jayo, she hadn’t even been registered, but it counted as registered, saying she had my genes and Zihwa’s genes.

If even half-and-half mixed genes were like that, then what about when it’s the same genes?

As I was thinking that, the clusters of light subsided.

When all the surrounding lights disappeared too, what revealed itself was a creature with a peculiar appearance.

”A, a beast-person? No, an insect-person?”

When the clusters of light subsided, what appeared from within was a person with bee wings.

They were winged girls with antennae and bee-like eyes.

So, in a previous life, there was a word called ”furry” meaning beast-people, and girls appeared who looked like they were going back and forth between furry level 1 and level 2.

On top of that, Ranghu appeared with the look of some kind of well-built South American woman.

Blonde hair, big chest and hips.

That kind of state.

”Ah, ahh. It works! It works! Now I can speak too! Soryong! I’ve waited a long time! Ah. R-Right, I can’t do that here.”

Ranghu dashed over to try to hug me, but passed right through.

Thinking things were going to get pretty annoying from now on, I asked Senior Sister.

Because it was strange.

Up to now, when you registered, it was mostly a human appearance, and aside from racial traits or individual characteristics, it was about the level of hair color.

”Senior Sister, do you happen to know why it turns out like this?”

”Like what?”

”We registered with the Heavenly Deep Abyss Poison Martial Mausoleum Dao—why were they all human until now, but these kids aren’t?”

At my question, Senior Sister shook her head.

It seemed Senior Sister didn’t know either.

”I don’t really know. This is my first time seeing something like this.

I did learn the Heavenly Deep Abyss Poison Martial Mausoleum Dao through Father, but the only thing I registered was Chief Steward Mong-a. My realm was low, so I couldn’t register more.”

”Really?”

The only ones who could answer this would be Master or Madam, or else the other poison-things of Master whom Senior Sister called aunts.

Thinking I’d have to ask when I found Master’s traces or found them later, I called Cheonhae.

”Cheonhae, come here.”

Cheonhae floated over as if dancing softly.

I quickly raised my hand and, in my heart, thought about registering Cheonhae.

Then, as expected, clusters of light rose from Cheonhae’s body, and the registration process began.

The clusters of light slowly grew.

Since it was becoming a human body, it felt like the body was growing, and after a while, the light died down, and what appeared was a woman with a rather embarrassing look.

Originally, in my mental image she had been a little kid, but maybe she had grown in the meantime—Cheonhae looked like a woman in her early twenties, but the problem was that her entire body was transparent.

Like a slime woman (?) that would show up in a fantasy comic from a previous life—something like that.

Unlike Ranghu, there were no jellyfish characteristics at all; only the body was transparent.

To the point you could see the people on the opposite side through her.

”I-I’m transparent.”

”This one’s different from normal again, Master.”

”Yeah.”

Cheonhae, who had had her eyes closed, opened them, checked her body, and said in a dejected voice,

”What the heck, why am I the only one who’s transparent. Hiiing.”

It seemed she didn’t like being transparent.

But transparent wasn’t bad either, and if she threw a tantrum asking me to change it, I had no way of doing that.

I hurriedly praised her looks.

”You’re pretty, though.”

”R-Really?”

When I told her transparent wasn’t bad either, she looked her body over here and there, then soon pulled herself together.

”Well, if Uncle Soryong says it’s okay, then it’s okay, I guess.”

”Of course. Oh wow, our Cheonhye is pretty.”

”Hehe.”

How long was this girl going to keep cosplaying as a kid?

Right now she had the appearance of a woman in her twenties, after all.

While thinking that, it seemed Cheonhye had calmed down too, so I decided to hurry and test Senior Sister.

”Cheonhye, then I kept my promise, so you too. You have to keep your promise quickly.”

”Ah, right. Okay, Uncle.”

Cheonhye approached Senior Sister and held out a finger, saying,

”Here, you should only eat a little.”

Even looking like that, I wondered if there would still be tentacles on the finger, but after she looked at me and I nodded, Senior Sister took a deep breath, then put Cheonhye’s finger in her mouth.

-Chup.

But she sucked for a long time, and there was no reaction at all.

”Senior Sister, you don’t feel anything?”

Senior Sister nodded while holding Cheonhye’s finger in her mouth.

As I was thinking maybe I was wrong, Cheonhye said,

”Ah, there weren’t any tentacles on the finger, Uncle.”

No wonder it felt weird.

Then, just as I was thinking we had to go outside—

Cheonhye suddenly grabbed Senior Sister’s head with both hands, tossed out one line, and kissed Senior Sister exactly as it was.

”I think there are tentacles on the tongue.”

-Chup.

Senior Sister’s eyes went round at Cheonhye’s sudden taste-dance.

Senior Sister’s two fists clenched tight.

At that sight, I asked Hwa-eun with a blank expression,

”Hwa, Hwa-eun, do lilies bloom in the Poison-Things Fragrance too?”

That pure flower suddenly came to mind.

Just, absentmindedly.