“Grahhh!”

Old Kompi came charging in like a madman.

What’s wrong with this old man?

Did he eat something bad?

“Gegak!”  
“Grahhhh!”

His cry sounded unusual.

Though he’s not exactly known for his temperament, I could consider him a bit of a quirky prankster.

Perhaps his whacking my head with a stick was an expression of affection.

But this time is different.

*Kekek* has turned into *Grahhh*.

Just as Old Kompi leaped, aiming to sink his sharp teeth into my snout, it happened.

“Saaaak!”

He looked terrifying, like a demon incarnate.

The usually gentle Shweshwe glared at Old Kompi with a fierce expression.

*Thud!*

Old Kompi landed clumsily.

“Ke, kek?”

His cries turned soft again.

“Grahhh!”

There are no parents who can outshine their children.

And there certainly aren’t any grandfathers who can outshine their granddaughters.

Hey, how does it feel to be the one who hit me?

He looked quite proud.

“Gegak!”  
“Grah….”

Upon hearing my cry, Old Kompi immediately wore a scary expression.

“Saaaak!”

He was swiftly subdued by Shweshwe.

“Gak…”

Old Kompi looked at me with an expression as if he had lost everything.

“Gak-gak.”

I mean, you should’ve behaved well in the first place.

I gently scratched the top of Shweshwe's head.

“Gorong…”  
“Gek!”

Old Kompi screamed.

Shweshwe glared at him, and he immediately closed his mouth.

…He looked a bit pitiful.

The standoff didn’t last long.

Old Kompi raised both hands and lowered his tail.

“Kek kek.”

Just let me live.

No, just keep Shweshwe calm.

That’s what he seemed to be saying.

“Gak-gak.”  
“Peep!”

Shweshwe returned to his round little face as if to say he never got angry.

Old Kompi stared at the scene blankly, then thumped his tail on the ground once.

“Kek.”  
“Gak?”  
“Kek kek.”

Old Kompi pointed at himself and me.

He also pointed at the lizards.

As a lizard with good instincts, I knew what that meant.

He was saying to reduce the number because he was too big and could accidentally step on the lizards.

Old Kompi was dancing alone as he did before.

Though his face wasn’t dull, I now understood that this dance was a facade.

I knew how much I suffered because of it.

“Gegak!”

Letting out a cry that revealed I knew the truth, Old Kompi drooped.

*Shhh…*

He stopped dancing and activated his shrink ability.

“Peep, peep?”

My size kept decreasing until I became the same size as Old Kompi.

“Peep!”

Suddenly, Shweshwe looked like he was about to squash me.

Seeing his sparkling eyes, it seemed he was very interested in my smaller form.

After all, he almost acted like he would swallow me when he saw this form last time.

“Peep!”

Shweshwe swung his tail back and forth.

It was cute, but we shouldn’t be doing this here.

“Look at Old Kompi over there, bleeding from the mouth.”

He was trembling in fear.

Did Shweshwe notice that? His eyes turned sly.

I wondered if they had met before.

From what the Snake Queen said, it seemed they hadn’t interacted for quite some time.

…Could it be that Shweshwe is older than I thought?

“Peep?”

Hearing that peeping sound, it didn’t seem likely.

“Kek kek!”

Old Kompi turned away first.

Since this is the boundary of his territory, he likely meant to invite us deeper in.

“Gak.”

I walked along with Shweshwe, or more accurately, I climbed onto Shweshwe’s back.

“Peep, peep?”

Shweshwe tilted his head.

Riding a giant snake feels romantic, but the only giant snake around me is the Snake Queen.

I couldn’t ride her, so I took advantage of my smaller size and climbed onto Shweshwe.

“Keeeaah!”

I felt as though I heard a scream echoing in my mind.

“Gak-gak-gak.”

But whatever Old Kompi said, I was currently in Shweshwe’s favor.

I could only grit my teeth and endure.

“Geg-gag!”  
“Gegak!”

Surprisingly, the geckos were helping me carry the stone tablet I brought.

That must be quite heavy.

You’re definitely at a high level.

“Gak-gak!”

And so we headed toward the center of the territory.

*

A small welcoming ceremony was held.

The hero of the Young Dragon Village, the return of Komodo-Rania.

And on top of that, the Snake Princess was present.

An unprecedented event unfolded, where the geckos gasped and the blue-tongued skinks knelt.

Shweshwe and I enjoyed the welcome ceremony.

Shweshwe, who was initially disgusted by the geckos’ dance, seemed to get caught up in it at some point.

To be precise, he looked at me with a tail wagging, seemingly interested in the choreography where they bit the back of their necks.

Whatever happens, I hope they all get along with the lizards.

Old Kompi will take good care of them, but Shweshwe will be living here for a while.

Though I said a while, it’ll be at most a week.

I have to bring him back right after defeating the King of Birds.

“Shweshwe.”  
“Kek…”

Old Kompi was still in a fluster.

Shweshwe wasn’t hissing, but he also didn’t show any signs of affection.

Still, as we reached the end of the welcoming ceremony, Old Kompi gathered his courage and patted Shweshwe’s head a little.

Of course, Shweshwe bit Old Kompi’s head immediately after.

“Kek…”

Even though he was drenched in saliva, Old Kompi seemed to feel good about getting a bit closer to his granddaughter.

The welcoming ceremony ended, and the gathered lizards began to disperse one by one.

“Gorong…”

After feasting on the meat offered here, Shweshwe fell asleep.

Maybe it’s because he’s still growing, but he was quite the sleepyhead.

Well, he did eat a good elixir this time.

It seems he’s trying to grow taller.

*Tap, tap.*

A small campfire was lit next to the sleeping Shweshwe.

…How did that happen?

Could it have come from Old Kompi’s mouth?

If that were the case, he should have done that last time as well.

Old Kompi gazed at Shweshwe with a content expression.

Since we’re all reptiles, we have sensitive bodies to temperature.

Old Kompi probably lit the fire out of concern that his granddaughter might be uncomfortable.

“Gorong…”

Shweshwe was sleeping with his snout upturned, snoring away.

Yet he still stretched his tail, brushing against me.

“Kek…”

Old Kompi sighed.

At this point, he seemed to have given up somewhat.

Time passed, and all the other lizards had gone to sleep.

A few nocturnal ones were rolling around, playing, but only Old Kompi and I remained around Shweshwe.

At this hour when everyone was asleep, Old Kompi brought over a bottle of liquor.

When a daughter gets married, they bring out a special rice wine; should this be called the lesser version?

Both Argenta and the Snake Queen had their own bottles of liquor.

It seems that renowned beings all have a bottle of their own.

I thought I might tie up Dansoyoung later and make her brew some.

…Would she mix poison into the alcohol?

While I was lost in such futile thoughts, I sat down.

Old Kompi brought some nuts and dried fruits to nibble on.

In my original size, it would be a single bite’s worth, but now I was in a shrunk state.

There was enough for the two of us.

*Crunch.*

Old Kompi poured some liquor into my cup.

*Glug.*

I poured some liquor into Old Kompi’s cup as well.

“Kek.”

Drink up.

That’s probably what he meant.

I downed it in one go.

“Gek!”

Bitter.

It tasted like quite a strong liquor.

As soon as the cup was emptied, it was refilled.

“Kek.”

Drink up.

“Gak-gak.”

Hoo.

It’s bitter, but it goes down smoothly.

And so we exchanged cups back and forth.

Old Kompi wore a serious expression, unlike usual.

Now it was time for the main topic.

The Snake Queen and the King of Birds were about to clash.

This would be a monumental event that could change the dynamics of the jungle in an instant.

It would be the same for all other beings, but Old Kompi’s mind would be even more complicated.

Those two were beings he raised like his own children.

If it were a fight between a teenager and their parents, it might be brushed off, but now they were aiming for each other’s throats.

Old Kompi stared at Shweshwe for a long time.

Then he looked at me for a few seconds.

He tipped his cup again.

“Kek.”  
“Gak.”

Old Kompi’s expression was dark.

I couldn’t read the message the Snake Queen wrote.

So, I had no way of knowing exactly what it said.

The only thing I could be sure of was that Old Kompi was excluded from this battle.

If he could conclude this matter himself, he wouldn’t have that expression.

Anxiety, worry, sadness, sorrow.

Perhaps even anger.

Or it might be the emotion of regret that bloomed on Old Kompi’s face.

Old Kompi, Hunwi, and the young dragon.

The young dragon means small dragon.

But being small doesn’t mean being young.

Old Kompi is neither human nor a mammal.

Yet it was evident that he had aged significantly.

There were no signs of wrinkles, nor was there any gray in his scales.

I couldn’t find any traces like missing teeth or intact claws.

But I could tell he was exhausted.

The Great Arhat killed all of the young dragon’s disciples.

His disciples were beings he could call family.

The one who killed such precious beings was his own son.

If I were in Old Kompi’s place, I would be filled with unbridled hatred and resentment toward the Great Arhat.

But Old Kompi wasn’t like that.

He worried for the Snake Queen just as much as he worried for the King of Birds.

It was ironic.

He wouldn’t have forgiven that sin.

…From the perspective of someone without children, it’s hard to comprehend the heart of a parent.

There was only one thing I could do.

*Glug.*

I poured liquor into my empty cup.

Old Kompi stared at me for quite a while.

He lifted the liquor bottle and poured it into my cup.

“Kek.”

We clinked our cups together.

The cheap liquor with a murky color sloshed around.

Since my cup was filled to the brim, the liquor spilled over and wet both our hands.

But I didn’t care and drank it all in one go.

The taste of the liquor was still bitter.

But it wouldn’t be as bitter as Old Kompi’s palate.

“Kek-kek.”

Take care of my daughter.

Was that what I heard, or was it just my imagination?

“Gak-gak.”

Don’t worry, Old Kompi.

I’ll protect the Snake Queen, who is far stronger than me; that would be a silly thing to say.

But at the very least, I could stay by her side.

[The young dragon trusts you.]

…How embarrassing.

Old Kompi finished the remaining liquor in his mouth.

Then he handed me a small stone tablet.

What it was, I couldn’t tell, but it had a small mark and drawing on it.

One hand pointed to the sky while the other pointed to the ground.

Just from a glance, I could tell it had something to do with martial arts.

Old Kompi, if you had this, you should have brought it out sooner.

“Kekek.”

Of course, even if I saw this, it wouldn’t mean I could immediately learn martial arts.

Without a master like Baek Yeon-Yeong, it would be hard to understand the principles even by looking at it.

In fact, I couldn’t discern what the lines excluding the drawings meant.

But it wouldn’t mean that the stone tablet would be of no help to me.

All the countless marks I’ve seen until now.

And this unusual stone tablet that stood out clearly.

All of these were gradually accumulating.

They would be the nutrients that would exponentially grow me.

[The young dragon wishes for your victory.]

[You acquire the status: Blessing of the Young Dragon.]

The stone tablet that Old Kompi brought was likely a martial art containing his essence.

Though he didn’t record it himself, he must have built up that immense power by looking at this.

And now he passed that onto me.

He wanted me to conclude the story between the Snake Queen and the Great Arhat instead of himself.

“Gek.”

But I’m not that kind-hearted lizard who takes requests like that.

I’m just a clever lizard acting solely for my own gain.

“Kek-kek.”

So, fighting the Great Arhat wasn’t out of any request made to me.

I was already planning to do that anyway; I was just being a bit dramatic.

“Gegak.”

I locked eyes with Old Kompi.

Gone was the dull expression of the old Kompi.

He is the father of the Snake Queen and the grandfather of Shweshwe.

And he’s also a young dragon.

He extended his hand toward me.

I politely took his hand.

The crackling campfire.

The cheap liquor that tasted like it was hastily brewed.

Two lizards shaking hands in that place.

It was quite an amusing sight.

But it wouldn’t be ridiculous.

After pouring the liquor from the bottle into my cup, I drank it down.

I felt a slight buzz.

I looked again at the stone tablet handed to me by the young dragon.

…Wait.

Why is the person in the drawing bald?

“Gegak?”

So, it means he’s bald.

“Kek-kek.”

The young dragon laughed, looking at my head.

My shiny, scale-less head.

“Gegak!”  
“Kekekekek!”

No way. Did he bring this out just to mock me?

Is he recognizing me while teaching me martial arts?

“Gegagagak!”

Give me back my emotions!