I Became the Only Reptile in the Community

Chapter 53

—–CROW—– 

“Eek!”

-Ugh!

[……]

What was going on?  I rolled my eyes while watching the intense battle unfolding before me. Silphy and Cheong, who were usually so considerate of each other, were now glaring at each other with narrowed eyes.

“Why don’t you give up, Silphy?”

-Why don’t you yield to me, Cheong?

Honestly, as someone who was watching this whole situation unfold in real-time and knew all the details, I wondered why they had to fight over such a trivial thing.

[Why don’t you just eat something else?]

“El, stay out of it!”

-That’s right! El, be quiet!

The reason for their fight was simply that they both wanted to eat the last amrita.  Actually, even the word “last” was misleading.  As soon as you left the cave, no, if you just turned your head here, the fruits hanging all over were all amrita.

‘You could just go out and pick more.’

*Boom.*

*Whoosh.*

-Our Cheong, considering all the times I’ve yielded to you, why don’t you just give it to me this time?

“Since you’ve yielded to me so many times, shouldn’t you just yield to me again this time?”

-Did your conscience disappear along with your transformation into a human?

Eventually, they even released their power, trying to claim the amrita for themselves. Feeling the powerful steel (gold) energy and wind energy inside the cave, I decided to quickly move away, lest I get caught up in their power.

[They’re so hard to understand.]

Was I the only one who didn’t understand?

*Swish. Swish.*

No way.

They were definitely the strange ones.

To reassure myself that I was normal, I hurriedly posted on the forum.

[Am I abnormal?]

-Author: DragonSnack

Cheong and Silphy are about to fight over who gets to eat the last amrita, and I can’t understand why.

There are amrita fruits all over the place as soon as you leave the cave.

Do you guys understand?

-lololol

-Nope

-Cute

└ikr lol

└Guild Master, post a picture of Cheong and Silphy too.

└(Author): I refuse.

└Damn it.

Looking at the comments that were coming up in real time, it seemed that everyone was thinking the same thing as me.

Yeah, I was normal.

Two out of three were strange, so I was a fool for thinking that I was the strange one.

‘Silphy wasn’t usually like this.’

Normally, Silphy would yield to Cheong. That was the usual scene in our home.  It was probably because Silphy was considerate of Cheong, who wasn’t a Divine Beast and couldn’t communicate properly, treating her like a younger sister.

But after the Wind Spirit King visited, the situation had subtly changed.

[Now that Cheong is also a Divine Beast and can shapeshift into a human, Silphy probably thinks there’s no reason to be considerate anymore.]

Yes, Silphy had stopped being considerate of Cheong.  Unlike the past, when she had thought of Cheong as someone below her or someone who needed to be cared for, she now saw Cheong as a strong equal, a powerhouse with the strength to stand shoulder to shoulder with her.

‘Silphy’s actions are certainly correct, but…’

Because of that, they fought more often, and it made me uncomfortable to live with them.

*Drip. Drip.*

[This should be enough.]

I looked at the amrita I had picked without damaging them, using the wind.  With this amount, surely they would stop fighting.

I took on the role of a mediator to stop their fighting. With the amrita secured by the wind, I went back home.

-Eek!

“Krrr!”

[They’re still fighting.]

Why didn’t they just split it in half?

Seeing them so determined to eat a whole amrita alone, I showed them the amrita I had just harvested and said,

[Stop fighting. There’s more amrita here, so eat it.]

“El is the best!”

-No need to go out, how annoying!

*Clap.*

As if they had been waiting for it, they clapped their hands and high-fived each other.  Looking at that, my mind went blank, and I thought to myself,

‘Don’t tell me they were doing that on purpose because they didn’t want to go pick more amrita?’

To make me move?

I should have thought, ‘No way that’s possible,’ but lately, I had been solving their fights so often that a seed of suspicion was beginning to sprout.

No, really. If they had been working together to make me move, using their brains…

“Hehe! Let’s eat together, El!”

-Wow! This time the fruit is so ripe and delicious!

[Well, it’s fine.]

Yeah, if they laughed like that just because I moved a little, then it was fine.

It might be a naive thought, but if anyone saw them laughing and playing like that, they would probably think the same as me.

[…So, what brings you here?]

But even such peaceful times were bound to turn somber with the sudden appearance of an intruder.  I quietly whispered, moving outside the cave so that Silphy and Cheong couldn’t hear.

Then, the bushes behind me rustled slightly, and a wolf with grey fur emerged…

[Stop. Don’t show yourself. I don’t want to disturb Silphy and Cheong.]

[Understood.]

At my words, the wolf, who was about to come out of the bushes, hid himself again and spoke quietly, only loud enough for me to hear.  However, my face didn’t soften. On the contrary, it became more hardened as I spoke.

[I clearly told you to be prepared if you ever came back. Have you already forgotten my words?]

[I haven’t forgotten the words of Black Despair. I merely came to express my gratitude to Black Despair.]

[Gratitude, you say.]

Well, I could guess what kind of gratitude he was talking about.  It was probably about protecting this area with Ceres’s power, as they had said before.

[Thinking about your actions back then, I can only call you stupid. If you had just listened to me and quietly left, no one would have been hurt.]

[It’s the result of our choices. Those who have left will all understand. No, even if they don’t, we’ll have to make them understand.]

[…You’ve grown more than before.]

Before, he had been just a plaything, but now he seemed at least twice as strong as he was back then. His size had increased. He might actually be able to leave a scratch on my scales this time?

[It’s all thanks to you.]

[Stop with the flattery. If you’ve finished expressing your gratitude, then leave.]

[……]

As expected, there was no way he would have ignored my warning and come back just to express his gratitude.  Feeling his presence still lurking in the bushes, I sighed and asked,

[So, what’s the real reason you came to see me?]

[I came because I have information to share with Black Despair. Do you know about the rumors of a ghost that has been wandering around here recently?]

[A ghost, you say? No, I haven’t heard anything about it.]

Since I had come here, I hadn’t met anyone except for Cheong, Silphy, and Ceres.  Lately, I had been hesitant to visit Ceres because I felt like I would be disturbing her work, so I had been seeing her less.

[It’s a rumor that has been spreading in the areas where our group and other beasts reside. It’s a rumor about an unidentified being with a large white cloth wandering around Paradise at night.]

[Why are you so sure it’s a ghost?]

[Because physical attacks don’t work on it, and all of the words of the creature in the rumors are accompanied by a cold chill and a curse. These are typical characteristics of ghosts.]

Hmm. A ghost covered in white cloth.

Honestly, there was someone who came to mind. But the fact that it still existed in this era was surprising.

[Has anyone been having nightmares since that thing appeared?]

[That’s right! As expected of Black Despair. You know about the ghost!]

It was him. The thing I was thinking of was the correct one.

‘Why is a Wraith here already?’

A Wraith. A monster that usually appeared in places like cemeteries or haunted mansions.

Physical attacks didn’t work on them, so you had to add a mage to your party, or use an effect that changed your attacks from physical to magical damage, or hunt them with attacks infused with divine power.

They weren’t particularly rewarding, so not many people hunted them, but why was it here now?

‘According to the Wraith’s setting, they were a mass of resentment that appeared in places where human spirits gathered.’

The fact that I hadn’t seen any humans here bothered me.

Still, others knew of humans, so I thought they might be living in tribes somewhere far away.

‘If there’s a Wraith here, does that mean a large number of humans died nearby?’

Then I needed to know.

Where the humans were.

[Where was the Wraith last seen?]

[Are you planning to deal with it personally?]

[There’s something I want to confirm. Just speak quickly.]

I didn’t know if I could get proper information from a mass of resentment, but it wouldn’t be too late to meet it and make a judgment.

‘Cheong and Silphy… it’s best to leave them alone.’

So I got information about the Wraith from the wolf Divine Beast and decided to sneak out at night to find the Wraith, without Silphy and Cheong knowing.

—–CROW—–