CH 76

“About that snake. He’s the one who brought it onto the boat.”

“What?” Luisen was startled. Cullen was the culprit behind this catastrophe? Wasn’t he a poor, young man struggling to take care of his fallen caravan members and running himself ragged to catch the runaway ghoul?

“Tell me exactly what you told him,” Luisen asked Cullen. It seems that, now that Cullen’s reason and shame had returned to his body, he didn’t particularly want to expand on this topic, but Carlton tapped the man on his back. Immediately, Cullen opened his mouth; apparently, whatever Carlton did was effective.

Cullen had no intent to lie and frankly said, “That snake. Actually, it’s a snake I raised.”

When Cullen said something absolutely insane with a clear and steady expression, the young lord began to doubt his ears. “You raised it? Like a pet?”

Cullen nodded.

Luisen knew of several nobles who made a hobby out of raising vipers. They claimed that the serpent’s sparkling eyes were cute. Of course, they also felt a thrill from the threat of being bitten. However, this was different–this thing was definitely a monster.

Even though this snake was more petite, the evil vibe it exuded and its aggression towards humans were at a level that no ordinary person could handle. A sane person would feel instinctively repulsed by the monster and would either run away or kill it. The unexpected answer made Luisen loathe to interrogate this man further; rather, he wanted to distance himself from him. “You had no idea it was a monster, right?”

“Of course, I didn’t! If I knew, how could I raise it? But, is it truly a monster? Perhaps you’re mistaken? That child is really gentle and beautiful… If you look carefully, its eyes sparkle…” Cullen bragged like a true pet owner. ‘Our child is so pretty. So kind and nice,’ he cooed indulgently. 1 However, that beautiful and kind pet snake was a monster that bit and killed people.

‘Crazy. He’s absolutely insane.’

Luisen couldn’t believe that in all the years of his life, he would come across someone that found a monster to be cute and lovable. Did they really need to continue to talk with this guy? Cullen showed no signs of stopping his boasting about his pet monster.

‘Why should I listen any further to this story?’ When Luisen turned to the mercenary, Carlton struck Cullen once more.

Cullen finally returned to his senses and went back to the original topic. “Ah. So, I met my baby when…”

The Allos caravan had gathered in Dubless County. At that time they had arrived in the South early to seek opportunities, for they had expected the South to be embroiled in a war–especially the Anies Duchy. Cullen had been ostracized by the members of the caravan and felt quite lonely; just then, he became acquainted with a man.

Cullen had remembered that the man was easygoing and quite kind, even though he seemed a little strange. That man was the one who gifted Cullen the snake.

Luisen was dumbfounded, “Who gives someone a monster? Honestly, even if you didn’t know it was a monster, didn’t you feel uncomfortable when you received it? You just took it?”

“…At first, I was a little put off by its serpentine appearance, so I refused. But, the person said that, if I had a snake, the others wouldn’t harass me and would help me out. Then, he forced me to hold it.” Cullen agreed and said that he felt too uncomfortable with the snake at first. However, he was being bullied by his colleagues in a distant land; plus, he couldn’t refuse since the man had handed the snake over as a parting gift.

“Actually, I was originally going to release it in a forest or someplace like that. I felt a bit repulsed. However, as I continued to raise it, I grew attached. I was caught in a very difficult spot.”  Cullen was definitely stuck in a bad situation. The Allos caravan had traveled to the south with all intentions of walking on a golden road, but the situation in the South had exceeded all of their expectations.

All because of the Duke of Anies.

The Duke of Anies had coaxed Carlton into preventing collateral damage with his wise and humble attitude; he had even prevented problems that would have risen with the locust swarms through his surprising foresight. The Southern lords had also surrendered to Carlton, like dominoes falling one after another, because of the swarm; the southern crisis had ended without a single battle.

Luisen coughed and rubbed at his nose. ‘I did pretty well, huh?’

Carlton looked at the young lord with admiration in his eyes.

Cullen looked as if he couldn’t understand why the people in front of him were acting like this. “…I don’t understand why you’re so happy, but… Anyway our caravan decided to pack up, cut our losses, and return.”

The Allos caravan had been preparing weapons as their main cache for an outbreak of war. However, as there was no battle, they couldn’t dispose of all the stock they had brought and were forced to return. This trip had cost the Allos caravan dearly. Not only the owner, but the other caravan members became anxious and tense. In turn, they directed all that stress at Cullen. It was fortunate that only words flew at the handyman–usually, a few clubs and fists flew at him as well.

Other than the extra violence that resulted from the caravan’s setbacks; its members had appeased the boredom of their long journey by mocking and insulting Cullen. It was easy to imagine how worse the return journey would be. Cullen was sure he’d be beaten to death on this trip.

In that mess, this baby snake was the one to comfort him. The baby snake didn’t bully Cullen and listened to Cullen’s stories silently. In this lonely and distressing situation, the baby snake was Cullen’s only friend.

Curiously, if he carried the snake in his embrace, the caravan members wouldn’t harass him. Whenever they raised their hands to hit Cullen, the members were suddenly pierced with fear and avoided him. Did the man speak true? Was the snake truly helping Cullen? It was hard to believe that a small snake would have so much power, but Cullen became more and more fond of the snake.

“That’s because it’s a monster. Most people would avoid a monster’s presence.”

“He said that I’m different from ordinary people–he said that I have talent.”

“The man who gave you the snake told you that?”

“Yes.”

That man was incredibly suspicious. Luisen looked at Carlton. Without the need to voice anything out loud, Carlton was able to answer the young lord’s unasked question. “Considering his body language, it doesn’t sound like a lie.”

“So you say. But, didn’t he cry for us to help him, panicking and saying that we’re all going to die from an infectious disease?”

“No, no. I really thought it was an infectious disease!” Cullen was terrified to have another ‘sincere conversation’ with Carlton in the river. He waved his hands in aggressive denial.

“I didn’t even know my baby was venomous until a little while ago.”

“How did you not know that?”

“It has never bitten anyone until now; although, sometimes it goes off to hunt on its own… But all snakes are like that, right?” Until earlier, Cullen truly believed that an epidemic was about to break out. But, when Luisen observed the Allos caravan members, Cullen also saw the triangular bite mark. It was too particular and unique to deny. That mark matched the tooth of the snake he had been raising.

Only then did Cullen realize that the members had been bitten by his snake and that the symptoms weren’t caused by a disease.

“If you realized that, why didn’t you tell us immediately? Why didn’t you speak?”

“…That’s…You’re not going to leave my baby alone once you find out, right…?” Cullen wanted to save his snake. That’s why he secretly snuck down to the basement to find it. He believed that if he took it and hid it well, making it unable to bite others again, the rumors of an infectious disease would disappear and the situation would calm down.

‘Of course, with no more bite victims, the suspicions of a possible infectious disease would disappear…but is that even possible?’

A monster was a monster, not an animal. A human could not control a monster as they pleased.

‘No–there are some people that have the ability to control monsters.’ A throbbing headache was growing in the young lord’s brain. “Were you going to let all these people die in order to save your snake?”

“…For the caravan members…That’s not enough to repay the hurt they’ve given me.” Cullen clenched his trembling fists. The resentment within him surfaced; his eyes looked distant yet delighted–as if he was imagining something pleasant.

‘…Let’s stop talking further on this topic.’

The young lord wasn’t sure if Cullen was originally a normal person that turned insane from the constant bullying or if he was originally such a psycho, but the reality, currently, was that he was struggling to save a monster. It wouldn’t be fruitful to debate a crazy person. Even a normal person would become unstable from being around someone like him. “You said you came down to capture the snake, correct? So you must know the method to lure him out?”

“…I know how, but… But…I can’t say. You’ll kill it if you catch it… NghH!”

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Slap–

Carlton hit Cullen in the back of the head. Cullen’s neck bent forward as if it had broken.

“Do you think we’re nicely recommending you to do this? Summon the snake.” Carlton tyrannized the handyman.

Cullen shook his head, shivering, “I…I don’t want to.”

“Then do you want to die?”

“But…”

“Or, should I make you suffer more than death?” Carlton smiled and pointed toward the river.

Cullen, filled with despair, quivered as he begged Luisen. “Revered Pilgrim, merciful pilgrim. Please don’t let that vicious bastard harass me.”

Was he really trying to garner sympathy in his position? Luisen was dumbfounded. Carlton dragged Cullen by his nape; Cullen cried and struggled. He struggled for a long time considering the mercenary was his opponent.

His affection for the snake was that sincere–a friendship between an alienated person and a snake. It was a heartbreaking story, but Luisen felt uncomfortable that a monster with a deadly poison was considered a pet.

“I’ll speak! The box! There’s a box! No matter how far it goes, it’ll always come back to the box when the sun comes up!”

“Where is that box?”

“O-Over there…” Cullen sobbed as he pointed to someplace on the ground. The box was rolling around on the floor, disturbed by Cullen’s stumbling after  Carlton hit him. While Carlton shook the handyman to try and force more potential information from Cullen, Luisen went to pick up the box directly.

The wooden box was painted black; its texture and solidity were so luxurious that even Luisen admired the crate. It wasn’t something that a junior caravan member would carry. Luisen opened the box and was struck with terror.