Three fruits were placed in front of me.
By the way, the Beasts of the Zoo crew is a dictatorship.
The leader gets ownership of all the fruits.
Of course, it was the same for the insect army and the primate family.
The gorilla, accustomed to that system, had no questions about me monopolizing all the fruits.
It’s a welcome thing.
I eat one fruit first.
My body stiffened for a moment, but no one touches the fruits.
「The unripe root fruit of the World Tree burns away the impurities in your body.」
The purification effect was no longer particularly helpful to me.
「Inefficient body structure is improved.」
But this has a definite effect.
「Your venom glands become stronger, allowing you to secrete more venom.」
The venom glands in my head twitch.
Hmm, the fruit I ate this time showed the same effect as the previous one.
And I put one in my subspace.
‘I’ll use this one.’
The gorilla nodded as if it was natural.
What shocked her was what I did next.
I held out the remaining fruit.
And I cut it in half with my tail and threw it to the gorilla.
‘You eat half, and distribute the rest to the others according to their merits…’
“Kuoooooong!”
The gorilla wailed before I could finish speaking.
“Woooo! Thank-you-!”
‘Is it that touching?’
It seems clear that the monkey group was just family in name, but closer to labor exploitation.
“Really… thank… you!”
‘Yeah, yeah.’
Spot looked disappointed, but this time the gorilla’s activity was clearly high.
“Well, you’re making a big deal out of giving one out of three. After gobbling up two by yourself.”
‘I’m not going to eat one of them.’
I made that point clear to Pelerian.
I entrusted the gorilla with the command of the other monsters.
‘Wait here. Until I return.’
“Where’s… the boss… going?”
‘I’m going to that rocky area.’
I raised my tail to point at the rocky area.
“Big and cool snake there… Boss, die.”
‘It’s okay.’
“Why go?”
‘I’m going to meet family.’
That’s how I answered.
That one word seemed to touch something in the gorilla lady’s heart.
She pounded her chest.
“Good… luck!”
I didn’t expect her to say it so solemnly.
The monsters saw me off.
I headed towards the rocky area.
Unlike last time, no spider trackers followed me this time.
I took out a fruit from my subspace.
Yeah, last time my father suddenly ran away when he saw me.
Because I absolutely wanted to ride on my father’s back, I prepared a fruit this time.
“This is exciting.”
Even Pelerian was excited.
‘Polaris Serpent’ was a rare monster that excited even a great magician.
The fruit that emits a scent that bewitches monsters’ minds.
Will it catch my father too?
It was when I arrived at the rocky area.
I looked around for a while, but my father was nowhere to be seen.
Just as I was starting to think he might have left for good.
Kugugugugung!
My father appeared, raising his body from within the pile of rocks.
Another dramatic entrance.
──────────────
[Polaris Serpent lv???]
──────────────
As expected, nothing is visible except the name.
“Saaaaak!”
I called out to my father.
That your son has returned here!
With the delicious World Tree fruit!
But my father didn’t look at me.
He just looked around as if searching for someone again.
Only after confirming that no one else was there did he look at me.
The shocking thing happened next.
「Where’s… your mother…?」
Father spoke.
No, is that speech?
“It’s thought transmission! Amazing! As expected of a higher species!”
It’s difficult for us snakes to speak properly due to our oral structure.
It might be something like the inner sound transmission or six harmonies voice transmission that appears in martial arts novels.
I couldn’t imitate that skill, so I had no choice but to explain using body language.
With the most solemn expression possible, I raised my tail and slid it across the front of my neck.
‘She passed away.’
I didn’t expect father to shed tears.
「Phew.」
Huh, wait.
Isn’t that a sigh of relief?
Perhaps because he noticed me looking at him strangely.
Suddenly, father started looking up at the night sky.
The glittering in his eyes was clearly tears.
Tuk, tuduk.
Ice fragments fall to the ground.
Amazingly, he’s shedding tears made of ice.
It wasn’t the time to argue whether snakes can cry or not because we have membranes over our eyes.
「You… my child?」
Father looked down at me.
Yes, that’s right.
I held up the fruit.
Father slowly lowered his head towards me.
Father’s head coming right up to my nose.
Did he take interest in the fruit?
A gap appeared.
Actually, I had a plan that I had hesitated about.
Wondering if I should try using ‘Taming’ which had risen to level 8.
He might get angry. It probably won’t work anyway.
So I just pondered it for a moment.
「Polaris Serpent used ‘Taming lv10’.」
‘…’
I didn’t expect him to make the first move.
「Immune to mental attacks due to the trait ‘Indomitable’.」
Of course, it doesn’t work on me.
「Sorry…」
Clear embarrassment is felt.
Oh well, whatever!
「Using Taming lv8.」
「Failed to tame ‘Polaris Serpent’.」
I’m sorry.
I bowed my head.
Pelerian observed the situation and made a comment.
“Like father, like son.”
An awkward silence lingered.
==
After the snake left for the rocky area.
All the monsters belonging to the Beasts of the Zoo waited endlessly for their master.
A leader who leads monsters must be strong.
And must be able to feed its members.
The snake was an excellent leader in that regard.
The monsters respected and loved the snake because it took good care of their food.
The monsters feared the snake because, despite its small size, it had defeated every monster it had met so far.
But now the situation was different.
The snake went to meet the ‘big and cool snake’.
“Kyung, kyung.”
Spot barked at the gorilla.
The gorilla gave a bitter smile.
“Yes, it’s, no different, from, suicide…”
To the monsters, it seemed the snake had gone to die.
The ‘big and cool snake’.
Although weaker than the Silverback Akims and the swamp monster, it’s a monster that even those two strong ones don’t dare to confront carelessly.
Larger than anyone, possessing a terrible destruction beam.
The snake said it was going to meet family, but could it really come back alive?
No, even the gorilla didn’t think so.
“Kyung!”
“You say… we should go… rescue?”
The gorilla shook her head at Spot’ suggestion.
“The boss said… he’d come back.”
The gorilla decided to wait.
“I believe… in the promise… of family.”
Because the new family, the new leader, promised to return.
Before they knew it, it had become a dark night.
It was when everyone was sitting down, tired of waiting.
Drrrr-
The ground shook.
Could it be an earthquake?
Or has a new World Tree root sprouted?
“Awoooooo!”
Spot’ howl woke up the monsters.
“Awooooooo!”
It’s a howl of joy.
Noticing this, the gorilla quickly ran to Spot’ side.
And the gorilla too let out a roar of joy.
“Kuwooooooo-!”
A giant snake is approaching this way.
If that was all, it would be something to fear.
But surprisingly, a small snake was riding on top of the giant snake’s head.
“Baaaaam-! Booooss!”
The boss was returning riding the big and cool snake.