Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 181: Fabre in the Four Heavenly Houses

When the village chief asked, Older Sister Seol responded, “You said you requested help from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace? I’d like to hear more about that. I just returned from a trip to the Central Plains, so I’m not fully informed.”

She had plans to stay for a few days due to business at Tengchong Volcano.

The villagers’ faces darkened at her reply.

The chief looked a bit flustered as he said, “Ah… I see. Then please come inside.”

As we followed the chief into the village, it seemed to be constructed from volcanic rock, with dark basalt jutting out in various places.

The village resembled Jeju Island, and while I reminisced about the past, Older Sister Seol’s telepathic message reached me.

[Long, while we’re looking for Hwa-jeong, we should help this village too. We can’t just ignore it as people from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace. Listen to their stories and step in to help. It’s a chance to get your face known here.]

Although we weren’t a support force dispatched from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, we planned to stay in the village, so we couldn’t turn a blind eye.

The story felt familiar too, and since both Older Sister Seol and I were from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace and were planning to stay here for a while, we had to lend a hand.

In Yunnan, the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace was like a big brother to the ethnic minorities living scattered in the subtropical jungles.

Besides, in this era, staying somewhere meant they had to take care of your home, meals, and laundry during your time there, so we had to pay for the meals.

I nodded at Older Sister Seol’s telepathic message.

‘Okay, I understand what you mean.’

As we entered the chief’s house, he set down some tea and snacks before speaking.

“Where should I start? Ah, right… about a month or two ago, it began when some villagers reported seeing rats fleeing the village in droves at night.”

“Rats were fleeing?”

“Yes, as if they were running away from something.”

The idea that rats fled meant they were scared of something that had invaded the village.

Just as I had expected when I heard the story from the Sichuan Province Lord.

‘So, all the rats really did run away?’

I had suspected that they would flee upon hearing that they disappeared from the Sichuan Province Lord, but now there were actually witnesses.

As I nodded, the chief continued, “After that, one by one, our livestock started disappearing at night. We raise a lot of pigs in our village, and since nearly half of them have vanished, we quickly sent word to the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace for help.”

“Hmm… I see.”

“Yes, due to the nearby volcano, we can’t farm anything other than crops, so we rely heavily on raising pigs for food. Losing half of them is devastating…”

Once the chief finished speaking, Hwa Eun’s telepathic voice echoed in my head.

[Wei So-ryong, this sounds similar to what the Sichuan Province Lord mentioned, doesn’t it?]

It seemed Hwa Eun shared my line of thought.

I nodded in response to her comment and interrupted the chief’s speech with Older Sister Seol.

“Since we’ll be staying in this village for a while anyway, let’s offer our assistance. Older Sister Seol.”

The chief looked at me, tilting his head in confusion. “Who is this…?”

“Oh, this is my younger brother. Wei So-ryong.”

“Whoa! The heir of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace!”

The chief’s eyes widened in shock at hearing I was Older Sister Seol’s brother.

Well, I wasn’t technically an heir since I was adopted, but I bowed respectfully and reassured him not to worry.

I wasn’t sure what kind of giant bug it was, but knowing Spicy Fabre was on the case meant it would be resolved quickly.

‘Wow, the chief is a lucky guy, isn’t he?’

“We will definitely help with this issue, so please don’t worry. I’ve heard of something similar before.”

“Really?!”

The chief’s eyes widened in disbelief at my claim.

“I suspect it might be the work of a giant insect,” I grinned.

“A… a giant insect?!”

As I provided some information to reassure the chief, he fled in fright at the mention of a giant bug.

Nodding, I continued explaining, “Yes, I’ve heard reports of footprints from further locations. Also, to assist you, I might need to bring my children who are waiting just outside the village. Would that be okay?”

When I asked if I could bring in the children I had instructed to wait outside, the chief nodded eagerly.

He probably had a good relationship with the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace and had welcomed their beasts as guests before.

“Ah, you’re talking about the beasts of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace? That’s completely fine! It’s well-known that they are gentle creatures. If they are here to protect us, we’ll be at ease.”

Well, they weren’t precisely beasts from the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace, but rather Spirit Venomous Creatures. Since I had received permission, it would be fine.

I signaled to Chao, who had been waiting in my mind.

‘Chao, bring the kids in. I’ll go to meet you.’

‘Zuru.’

Chao quickly responded as if they had been waiting.

“Then, I guess I’ll step out and get the kids.”

“That sounds good. I should also take this opportunity to see the creatures of the Southern Barbarian Beast Palace.”

As we dashed towards the village entrance with the eager chief, soon, Hwa Eun and Chao appeared… with Yo-hwa wearing Hwa-yang on her head, on one side a black shell, and on the other a sparkling emerald green shell, along with Bin.

Even from a distance, they gleamed with a brilliant shine.

‘Wow… whomever’s daughters are these, they’ve grown so well!’

Admiring the smooth and shiny appearance of the two girls, I heard the chief’s trembling voice next to me.

“Could it be…?”

He seemed to be questioning whether the two approaching could indeed be the ones he thought.

I quickly ruffled the hair of the three girls as they rushed to me and answered the chief’s question.

“Yes, they’re my daughters. Aren’t they beautiful? Kids, you should greet him!”

– Zuru.

– Zrut.

– Kisi.

As I instructed them to greet, they bowed their heads in response.

Seeing them behave so well showed that my parenting was on the right track, and a sense of pride filled me.

After all, demonstrating the ability to greet adults properly showed good household upbringing, didn’t it?

The chief looked at me with a dazed expression, before hesitantly asking with a trembling voice, “Earlier, you mentioned it might be the work of a giant insect?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…”

The chief’s eyes were filled with trepidation.

I realized he seemed to be grappling with the idea of employing another giant insect to drive out the first.

To clear any misunderstandings, I quickly elaborated.

“My children don’t eat things like pigs, so you don’t have to worry. Moreover, they grew up around humans since they were young, so they won’t harm anyone. They’ve been trained well.”

Finally, the chief’s mouth opened, and he managed to let out a hesitant welcome.

“W-Welcome.”

*

“First, let’s go to the hot springs.”

“That sounds great. I really want to wash up.”

“So do I.”

The girls were eager to wash off the sweat they accumulated from traversing through the jungle.

We decided to unwind, wash up at the hot springs, and also look for Hwa-jeong.

“That would be wise.”

So, during a short walk, we arrived at the foot of the mountain.

As we arrived at the beautiful valley where white steam swirled and flowed down, Cha-ryong led us a bit further upstream.

“Over there.”

As we followed Cha-ryong and dipped our hands into the stream, we found the water to be quite warm.

The water wasn’t boiling, but it was perfect for soaking.

“When we came here last time, we found that the spots where the water surged were a lot hotter, while the water flowing here wasn’t too hot.”

Looking upstream toward where Cha-ryong pointed, we could see a place similar to a spring bubbling up.

After passing through several such places, we began to hear the sound of water cascading from a distance, and soon enough, a shallow waterfall appeared.

It wasn’t too high, maybe about three meters.

– Chwaaa.

The refreshing sound of flowing water came from the waterfall, and Cha-ryong explained, “This was the spot. I was looking for a bit of solitude from Do-ryong and was led to this bottom here.”

I decided to ask why they were seeking solitude from Brother Gyu-seong later, in the quiet of the evening, and allowed Hwa Eun and the other women to wash up first in a more private area further upstream.

Then, I promptly returned to examine the base of the waterfall.

It didn’t seem too deep, only about a meter, so I figured I could inspect it well enough.

“Alright, let’s examine the bottom here first.”

“Should we soak a bit?”

“I was looking forward to it.”

Bathing amongst men in this era meant stripping down to shorts and splashing in, while cleaning ourselves.

The men dove in excitedly to wash while searching around the bottom.

Due to the bubbles from the falling water, the liquid appeared murky, so we’d have to see for ourselves to check it out.

“Fwooo…”

I submerged and surfaced repeatedly, collecting stones for inspection.

Brother Gyu-seong, Ji-ryong, Kwon-ryong, and the other brothers grabbed stones as diligently as common laborers.

But Hwa-jeong was certainly proving to be elusive.

“Phew… This isn’t going anywhere quickly.”

“Of course, it’s a treasure; how often do you expect to find anything like it?”

“I’m getting hungry; let’s wrap this up. But if pigs are disappearing in the village, we must deal with the hunt ourselves.”

“Should we?”

“Sounds good. Junior Hero, I’m curious about how our Cha-ryong secretly navigated here with Sword Phoenix.”

The nods of agreement from the other brothers confirmed that men’s thoughts indeed aligned.

*

“Long, wake up; it’s your turn.”

“Yaaaaawn. Already time?”

“Yes.”

While I was in a deep slumber, Brother Gyu-seong had come to wake me.

Since the village had been complaining about the disappearing beasts, we decided to take turns watching over it.

“If you’re sleepy, I can take your turn.”

“No, brother. It’s my turn. I need to check in on Chao and Bin too, so I should go.”

Seeing me yawn, Brother Gyu-seong looked concerned, suggesting I could rest, but I couldn’t do that.

I had my two daughters on guard at my request, so I couldn’t just sleep in.

First, I decided to summon Chao, who was up in the sky keeping watch over the village.

‘Chao, Dad’s awake. Can you come down for a moment?’

‘Zuru.’

Chao replied just moments later.

‘Zuru.’

Rubbing my eyes and looking up, the pitch dark filling my vision.

The moon was obscured by clouds, leaving no light.

A little while later, Chao appeared by the lantern hanging outside the house.

“Zuru.”

“Alright, Chao. Let’s go up for a bit.”

I asked Chao to help wake me up and also check out the view of the village.

As Chao wrapped around me and began to fly higher, the village looked mostly dark, with the only light coming from the lanterns scattered around.

‘Bin Ah, are you alright?’

‘Zrut!’

I mentally checked in with Bin and received a response, confirming all was well.

At that moment, Chao suddenly started to rub my cheek in the air, where no one was around.

‘Zuru.’

“What an adorable first daughter, aren’t you?”

The wind up in the sky along with Chao’s slightly cooler exterior began to make me more alert.

Just as I was playfully enjoying Chao’s antics, something strange caught my eye below.

‘What’s that?’

The lanterns lit around the village’s central well began to flicker out one by one, as if turning off a switch.

As the few remaining lanterns extinguished themselves, darkness enveloped the village in an instant.

– Quack!

Almost immediately, a strange, short scream echoed faintly in the night sky, followed by Bin’s warning filling my head.

“Here Dad! Here!”

Bin must have spotted something.

I quickly asked Chao to go lower, and loudly called out to Brother Gyu-seong, who still seemed to be dozing in the air.

“Gyu-seong!”

– Kwadang! Kudadang!

Sure enough, he came tumbling out of the darkened Bamboo House, rolling towards us.

“What’s going on?!”

“Something’s appeared!”

“What about the lanterns?!”

Landing on the ground, I quickly used the Fire-Kindling Technique to ignite the lanterns and telepathically asked Bin.

‘Bin, where are you!? Don’t get too close!’

The answer that came back to me was just one word.

Water.

There hadn’t been any streams nearby, so ‘water’ likely meant the well.

Arriving at the well while hurrying, I saw Bin had plunged her head into the well and was emitting a fierce warning.

– Zuru! Zurut!

“Bin, come back!”

I pulled Bin back and lowered the lantern down the well, revealing a swiftly scattering shape along the cave wall.

And then, on one side of the wall of the well, a large hole came into view.

‘What is that?’

The fading silhouette of whatever had disappeared lingered dimly in my eyes.