Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 156: Fabre in the Four Heavenly Houses

As Lee Tae’s words sunk in, the gaze of the water bandits, which had been tense since my arrival, darkened with greater fear.

The dead person had surely been lively just yesterday, yet he was now discovered as a shriveled corpse.

It certainly did not look like a regular death, which seemed to strongly implicate my children.

The notion of someone dying in such a shriveled state was supernatural, so it was only natural for a supernatural being known as a Spirit Venomous Creature to be suspected.

Moreover, those children suspected as the culprits were indeed mine, so the water bandits were undoubtedly fearful of me as well.

To them, wouldn’t I and my children appear as some sort of devil and devil summoner?

‘This is irritating, yet it has turned out rather coincidental. It seems I must clear up this misunderstanding!’

I had sent the message that my children eat people to instill fear in the water bandits, but who would have thought that someone would meet such an odd death in this situation?

With the issue of the Josen lord as well, this misunderstanding was quite troublesome.

Anyway, I was just thinking that it was time to clear up the misunderstanding when the fear in the water bandits’ eyes turned to pure terror at the sound that followed me.

– Tsuru? “Daddy?”

I had told them to come out once the mist cleared, but it seemed Bin followed me out in haste without any explanation.

As Bin’s cries echoed, the water bandits, terrified, stumbled backward in fear.

“Gah!”

“Ahhh!”

The scene of a seven-meter tall black centipede suddenly appearing from the mist was indeed frightful.

Coupled with yesterday’s firm scare and now this misunderstanding, the water bandits fell back so hard they hit their butts on the ground.

In my head, Bin’s voice rang adorably.

It felt like swift action was necessary.

I called Hua Eun closer for a discussion, planning to set straight the misunderstandings held by Lee Tae and the water bandits immediately.

If the misunderstandings deepened, there would be no turning back.

“It seems the water bandits are misunderstanding that our children turned that corpse into this state. We must clear the misunderstanding.”

“Our children?! What nonsense…”

Hua Eun replied, making a dumbfounded expression at my explanation.

Cuddling Bin in her arms, she said, “They’re so small, innocent, and sweet. It makes me feel upset…”

Honestly, the appearance of Chao and Bin, only looked cute and tiny through the affection filter in Hua Eun’s and my eyes. Take that filter away, and they could be said to be seven-meter monstrosities.

Thus, after awkwardly smiling at Hua Eun’s response, I also patted Bin’s head and explained to Lee Tae.

“It seems they think our children made that corpse? That corpse? It’s a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Our children do not eat people.”

“Yes!?”

The moment I said my children do not eat people, Lee Tae’s eyes widened in shock.

He questioned me with disbelief, having just received the message that they devoured people yesterday.

“Yesterday, you definitely told us you would feed us…”

“Well, that was just to scare you. These children don’t eat anything since they are Spirit Venomous Creatures.”

Lee Tae and the water bandits exchanged looks, contemplating whether to believe me or not.

They seemed to be struggling with their thoughts on whether they should trust my words.

I decided to convey reality to the troubled Lee Tae and the water bandits.

It was somewhat a cold statement, but it was better than letting misunderstandings accumulate.

“You may not believe me, but if my children really did eat people, would I be here trying to clarify this?”

If Chao, Bin, and Yo-hwa were truly eating people, to be honest, there wouldn’t be a way for Lee Tae and the water bandits to stop them.

And if the trio couldn’t be stopped, all that would be left for the water bandits would be to sit back and be eaten in turn.

Pointing that out made Lee Tae flinch as he nodded his head.

“Y-yeah, if the Spirit Venomous Creatures went rampaging, nobody could stop them, so there’s no reason for them to secretly eat us.”

Lee Tae’s words seemed to conjure fresh memories of yesterday, causing the water bandits to shudder.

One of the water bandits asked Lee Tae, “S-sir, but how did Bang-kyu die?”

Just then, footsteps approached from the cabin side, and Older Sister Seol emerged from the mist, saying, “We’re about to find that out.”

*

First, with Older Sister Seol’s help, we decided to examine the corpse.

According to Seol, the traces of the crime usually remain on the corpse.

Well, it wasn’t wrong. Seol expressed confidence, claiming that among the beast palace’s hunting techniques, examining the traces on the corpse was one.

Though I was half skeptical, her examination of the corpse looked quite professional.

Unlike this era, she was meticulously checking the pupils, inside the mouth, and the skin for traces.

Without gloves, Older Sister Seol was rummaging through the corpse with chopsticks.

With the assistance of the water bandits, Older Sister Seol examined the corpse and tilted her head, suggesting that the corpse was not Bang-kyu.

“This isn’t exactly Bang-kyu.”

“Not Bang-kyu?”

Hua Eun questioned Seol’s words, and Seol nodded in response.

“Bang-kyu refers to a completely dried corpse, while this one has only had its blood drained. That’s why it’s all shriveled and pale. The skin is in such a stage that it hasn’t dried out completely.”

“Just drained of blood?”

Although I thought it was a dried corpse, Seol’s explanation said otherwise.

When I opened my eyes wide at the comment about blood being completely drained, Seol again nodded.

“Yeah. When a person dies and becomes a corpse, the blood hardens and bruising appears, right? However, this corpse shows none of that.

When beasts or people die, that bruising begins to surface after a little while, but this corpse shows no such signs. That means all the blood left the body either while alive or within a very short time after death.”

“Then, could it be the Blood Cult!?”

Seeing that blood was all sucked dry, the most suspected organization indeed was the Blood Cult.

My mention of the Blood Cult painted the faces of everyone with tension.

If my guess was correct, that would mean the Blood Cult might be lurking within the village.

“Indeed, if it’s blood, then the Blood Cult…”

“The Blood Cult!? Those vile bastards!?”

But at that moment, Seol’s voice interrupted.

“The Blood Cult usually makes wounds on the body and sucks the blood from there, right? But this person doesn’t seem to have any such wounds.

To me, it doesn’t look like the work of the Blood Cult. This is something different.”

Sure enough, as Seol said, the Blood Cult creatures make cuts with knives or daggers to suck blood like mosquitoes.

The Elders of the Blood Cult had shown such behavior before, so if there were no wounds, it couldn’t be the Blood Cult.

“Is there anything else?”

With the opinion swaying away from the Blood Cult, I felt a bit relieved.

I asked if Seol had any other discoveries, but she shook her head.

“Well, if there had been some blood left, I could have figured out more. But without blood, I can’t see the wounds either.”

Regrettably, that was all Seol found out.

If there was nothing else to gather from the corpse, it seemed necessary to carry out an on-site investigation.

Just as important as the corpse was the on-site inspection.

“Then, let’s head to Ija’s house. There might be some traces left.”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

“So-ryong, I’ll see if there’s any poison left on this corpse. It seems a bit unusual that no one noticed when someone died in the village last night.”

“Ah, got it. Hua Eun.”

Leaving Hua Eun to check for poison, I headed instead with Lee Tae towards the heart of the village.

Perhaps influenced by the events of last night, as we crossed the village, the villagers looked at us with fearful eyes and murmured.

Arriving at a small thatched cottage at the foot of the mountain, led by Lee Tae, we were greeted by a simple structure made of bamboo.

“Here, So-ryong-nim.”

Entering by Lee Tae’s guidance, we saw a bamboo bed inside the disheveled house.

The area around the bed was quite messy, likely due to the presence of people.

“The subordinates said that the corpse was lying on that bed like a dead body.”

As I moved closer to the bed while listening to Lee Tae’s explanation, I could once again faintly smell the fragrance of coriander wafting through the air.

While Koreans don’t particularly favor the scent, it seemed that here, they like to eat coriander due to the odor of fish.

I decided to explore the interior of the hut a bit more.

“Lying right on that bamboo bed…”

“Yes, they said the body was in a stiff state.”

Other than the ragged blanket on the bed, there weren’t any noticeable traces. Together with Lee Tae and Older Sister Seol, we meticulously checked the entrance and windows for any sign of a visitor, but nothing of significance appeared.

“Looks like there’s nothing here.”

“Indeed…”

Returning empty-handed, I asked Hua Eun if she discovered any poison, but she responded that the results would only appear tomorrow.

“Looks like we won’t know whether there’s poison until tomorrow.”

“Don’t tell me someone will die again before Hua Eun figures something out?”

“D-don’t say that. Older Sister Seol, that would be bad.”

I tried to suppress the anxiety that surged from Older Sister Seol’s inquiry, but that feeling of unease couldn’t be shaken off.

The next morning, as the morning mist dispersed, the water bandits returned with word of another victim.

“So-ryong-nim! A person! A person! Was found dead! This time, it’s two!”

“Two!?”

I felt that the incident was spiraling into a maze.

*

Where Older Sister Seol and I ran to was another house near the small hut we visited yesterday.

Upon entering, we found a young couple lying dead on a bed.

There were no signs of resistance, and they looked as if they had peacefully fallen asleep together.

“No one touched them?”

“Yes, Lady.”

Quickly approaching, Seol examined them with a serious expression.

“Both are also bloodless.”

Once again, the news of bloodlessness echoed.

At that moment.

As Seol inspected the two corpses, she seemed to discover something strange, tilting her head and saying, “What’s this?”

As she touched the bedding near the bed and brought her hand to her nose to sniff, she asked, “Is there something?”

“Water? The bedding is wet.”

“Water? Could it be urine they leaked while dying?”

“No, it doesn’t smell like urine. It’s a bit fishy, though. Strange, huh?”

Seol constantly tilted her head while trying to uncover the identity of the liquid.

Then, a breeze blowing from outside wafted in, bringing once again the faint scent of coriander.

Continually smelling of coriander all around created a tingly sensation in my head.

But something important seemed to slip my mind.

‘What’s this? I feel like I’m forgetting something important.’

After examining for a long while with Seol, we ultimately came up empty-handed, and the mood in the water bandit village turned gloomy.

We actively clarified things, yet it seemed that not everyone was convinced.

Around the afternoon, Hua Eun informed us that she had found paralysis poison on the initial corpse, which made me ponder if it could be some poison like Venomous Insects that sucks blood, but nothing specific came to mind.

And that night.

As I sat with Older Sister Seol, earnestly hoping no one would die today, Lee Tae approached us, bringing fish dishes from the shore.

“This may not be much…”

“There’s no food, yet you bring this? What are you doing?”

“I brought this to show my gratitude for sincerely looking into the deaths of people like us, So-ryong-nim.”

“Today, you instructed your subordinates to patrol the village, yes?”

“Yes, I instructed them to split into three groups of two and patrol.”

Lightly frying the fish and braising it in soy sauce, it had that earthy smell flooding my mouth, even though we had already eaten dinner, I put a piece in my mouth, tasting the robust flavor.

“Ugh…”

I couldn’t help but almost gag, making me spontaneously think of coriander.

Seeing my reaction, Lee Tae hurriedly said, “W-we made it to suit our taste, but that was a mistake. I’ll make it again. If you came from the shore, naturally it would be fishy…”

“Ah, no. It’s fishy, but… where’s the coriander?”

Noticing the absence of the coriander that I had been smelling, I tilted my head, and the response came back.

“We’re not good at detecting fishy smells, so we never put any coriander in.”

“You haven’t put coriander in at all?”

“Yes. It has been years since we’ve eaten coriander.”

The moment I heard Lee Tae’s words, a page from my insect Venomous Insects dictionary swept across my mind.

The mass of body fluid left on the bed and the smell of coriander.

‘Why didn’t I think of that!?’

“Bin Ah!”

– Tsuru?

I ran towards the cabin calling Bin Ah’s name, and she quickly poked her head out at the entrance of the cabin.

Grabbing a lantern, I dashed towards the village.

“Let’s go!”

Arriving at the house of the first victim with Bin Ah.

As I shone the light on the walls, I saw something black dripping down one side of the wall.

What I was looking for was right there.

And at that moment.

– Thud.

– Tsuru!

As I illuminated the ceiling with the lantern, thumb-sized bedbugs began to fall like raindrops from the ceiling, startling Bin Ah, who wrapped around me and began slicing the bedbugs in half.

– Crack!

The culprit behind the murder cottage incident was undoubtedly those thumb-sized bedbugs.