Chapter 37 : IF-108 ‘Nessho’ Part 3

The little snake was startled by the barrage of thoughts. 

“Did you meet your ancestors?”

“Really?” 

“For real?” 

“Wow…!” 

“Then are you a high priest?” 

“Is that why?!”

Surely there wasn’t much time.

Endless questions that left the little snake unsure whether it was being told to go forward or not.

The concept of multitasking was too difficult for the little snake’s small brain.

Eventually, after listening to all the questions while nervously twitching its tail, the little snake continued moving.

“How was it meeting your ancestor in person?” 

“Aren’t they sleeping?” 

“I heard they always sleep, but if they’re awake, I really want to meet them!”

The thoughts were full of excitement.

Whatever the person imagined, the little snake was sure that they would be disappointed as soon as they met their ancestor.

The little snake shook its head.

“Ancestor.” 

“Good.” 

“But…” 

“Bad.” 

“Severe.” 

“Caution.”

“Eh…?” 

“I don’t really understand.” 

“Tell me more!”

The little snake had already used up most of its vocabulary, but it still wasn’t sure how to elaborate.

The little snake hissed and moved forward.

It squeezed through a gap between some particularly large stones and entered a relatively intact area with little debris.

“We’re almost there!”

The other’s thoughts were clearly getting closer, so it couldn’t be long now.

“Really?”

“Can you break through the wall?” 

“Two-legged creatures.” 

“A lot of them.”

“Yeah!” 

“It’s a skill I inherited from my mom!” 

“As long as the levered wall ahead isn’t in the way, I’ve never encountered a block anywhere I’ve been!”

“I can definitely pass through all the two-legged creatures!”

The little snake was confident, though it had no idea how it would break through the defenses of all those two-legged creatures.

It was certain it could soon appear before its ancestor.

With dreams swelling in its chest, the little snake continued crawling proudly.

Bii?!

However, that confidence shattered in less than a minute.

The little snake’s plump body trembled.

“Grrr.”

-“Kwaah!”

No matter where it looked, all it saw were beasts.

Countless beasts were threatening the little snake, opening their mouths as if they would attack at any moment.

Biiing!! 

The little snake desperately shouted out thoughts.

“Beasts!” 

“Fear!” 

“Help!” 

“Help!”

“Eh?!” 

“Oh no, if you’re stranded there, how can I help you…?!”

The response was a thought of not being able to help. 

The little snake was on the verge of fainting.

“Whoosh.” 

A warmth spread.

A warmth on its lower jaw, as if telling it to snap out of it.

Bii? 

The little snake opened its eyes and finally relaxed. 

The beasts, though glaring at the little snake, couldn’t approach it. 

It was as if they were blocked by an invisible wall.

A transparent prison.

The little snake was familiar with this from the two-legged creatures.

“Beasts.” 

“Trapped.” 

“Safe.” 

Letting out a relieved sigh, the little snake signaled that it was okay. 

“Phew, that was a close call!” 

“I thought I wouldn’t even get to meet them.” 

“So, can you lower the lever now?” 

The other’s thoughts were transmitted. 

And the little snake blinked. 

‘What was a lever?’ 

Although the little snake had learned a lot from its mother in the mountain village, it had never heard of a lever.

Of course, it had to know what a lever was to raise or lower it. 

The little snake tilted its head and wagged its tail in confusion.

 “Lever.” 

“What?”

“Eh?” 

“You don’t know what a lever is?”

“You’re not from the city, huh?” 

“Then, where did you learn thoughts?” 

“It must have been hard to get used to.”

“Bii?”

The little snake made a confused sound.

The ancestor’s words had been hard to understand, but the will behind them was so strong that the general meaning was conveyed to the little snake. 

But this thought was different—it didn’t have that strength. 

“So what was a lever?”

The little snake asked again, not understanding.

“City.” 

“What?”

“Eh?”

“You don’t know what a city is?”

“It’s the holy land that the ancestor and the first high priest built by the lake after the judgment!”

“I’ve never been there though…”

“Judgment?”

“Holy land?”

“What?”

“Eh…?”

“Uh, well…” 

“The holy land is the resting place of the ancestors managed by the high priest, and the judgment…” 

“Uh…” 

***

“A long time ago, the angry ancestor did something to humans, and they were originally humans but turned into two-legged creatures since then…”

“Biiing…” 

It was already hard to understand. 

Now, the little snake could barely make sense of the thoughts.

“So, the two-legged creatures were originally not beasts, but humans…” 

“Biiik.”

“What in the world was that supposed to mean?” 

“What was a lever…?”

The little snake ignored the explanations and continued crawling.

‘How much time had passed?’

When the little snake faced the next wall, it realized the other had stopped explaining, knowing it wasn’t listening.

“… Waaah, why are you asking me about this? I’ve never been to the city! It’s not like a homework check! If you meet the ancestor, just ask them!”

That was exactly right.

Upon hearing this thought, the little snake hit the ground with its tail.

Indeed. 

The ancestor knew everything, so it could have just asked them later.

The little snake expressed its sincere gratitude.

“Correct.” 

“Genius?” 

“The best!”

“Yaaah!” 

***

After making me explain for so long! 

“You bad snake!”

For some reason, the other got angry after the little snake expressed gratitude.

But when the little snake praised them as the best, they only got angrier.

The little snake puckered its lips.

“Anger.” 

“Why?” 

“Mind.” 

“Strange.”

Ignoring the nonsensical thoughts, the little snake looked up at the wall.

A wall with no escape.

The little snake could feel it.

If it could get over this wall, the thoughts would be right in front of it.

‘Could there be a door here?’

The little snake looked around and indeed found a place where it could open the door by pushing it down with its hands.

“Discovery.”

With a jump.

Thud.

Plop. 

A flawless sequence of three actions.

But the result was far from ideal.

The door didn’t budge at all. 

The little snake was stunned by the unexpected result and blinked its eyes.

“???”

“… 

“What now?” 

“Door.” 

“Doesn’t work.” 

“What?” 

The little snake was restless.

But the other responded calmly, as if saying it was no big deal.

“Maybe it’s just locked?”

“Locked?” 

“What?” 

“Solution.” 

“What?”

“Just go around it a bit. 

“The whole place is falling apart, so there’s probably a way through anywhere.” 

“Confirmed.”

It didn’t matter which way.

The solution was simpler than expected, and the little snake, which had been tense, relaxed its scales.

With ease, the little snake hopped to try other doors. 

Finding one that opened, the little snake entered. 

A place filled with transparent prisons.

From the arrangement alone, it seemed similar to where the little snake had been just moments ago.

However, unlike before, the little snake was not scared this time.

—Whoosh. 

It was still the warmth under its jaw that comforted it, but…

The transparent prison was just a prison, and there were no beasts inside!

The little snake, feeling much more at ease now that there were no beasts to shrink away from, continued to move toward the thoughts.

“Prison.” 

“Empty.” 

“No beasts.”

The little snake smiled and moved leisurely toward the thoughts.

” …What?”

“Why aren’t there any?”

“The two-legged creatures wouldn’t have released them…” 

“What’s up with the prison?”

The other’s thoughts demanded an explanation, sounding confused, but the little snake didn’t have much to say.

The fact that there were no beasts in the prison was just something it felt from the aura.

As for how it was…

The transparent prison had walls that melted away and turned opaque, so even if it looked inside, it couldn’t see what was inside.

That’s the only way the little snake could express it.

“Prison.” 

“Melting.” 

“Don’t know.”

“Melting?”

“What do you mean…?” 

“Do you see a red lever next to you?”

“Lever?” 

“Don’t know.” 

“Red.” 

“Know.”

The little snake was frustrated because it didn’t know what a lever was, but the other kept mentioning it.

However, this time, it was able to move on.

The little snake didn’t know what a lever was, but it did know what red was.

The little snake looked around. 

If there was something red here, then surely…

 It must refer to that half-destroyed stick sticking out of the ground.

 The little snake conveyed this.

 “Red, lever. Broken.”

 As far as the little snake knew, when the two-legged creatures weren’t around, that lever must have been the final locking mechanism.

 “Are you strong?” 

“Did you learn to breathe fire from your ancestor or something…?”

The little snake made a confused sound.

 It didn’t understand the meaning of “breathing fire,” but it could tell it was a simple concept, making the thought feel completely out of place. 

“? Negative.”

“If there are no two-legged creatures, and the lever is broken… if it were me, I wouldn’t stay still.”

“Shouldn’t you run away?” 

“… What does that mean?”

A strange feeling crept into the little snake, so it looked behind.

There was nothing there.

“Bii?” 

Instead, something was in front.

***

Tap, tap. 

A long, bird-like creature with twig-like legs walked toward it.

Its eyes were dim, and its beak was sharp.

The little snake had seen something just like that bird before.

One of its siblings had been eaten by that wicked bird before being killed by its mother.

However, there was a difference… 

“Kwaak.”

The bird in front had purple feathers.

As it stared at the little snake, it drooled, and smoke began to rise from the ground.

“Biiing…?”

Whoosh.

The bead under its jaw warmed, and the little snake, realizing the situation, knew what it had to do.

The little snake jumped and ran.

“Kwaak!”

It quickly squeezed through the gap in the rocks.

As the bird melted the rocks in pursuit, the little snake dashed ahead.

“Help!” 

“Help!”

“Biiing!!”

The thoughts of the other were now so close.

The strange shape of the creature.

“Wow, now I see… why are you bringing that thing here?!” 

But there was no time to look closely. 

The little snake couldn’t die without reaching the ancestor’s call.

With its life on the line, the little snake crawled forward, bent its body with all its might, and shot forward.

 —Clank.

The red lever was lowered.