After grilling pork and eating it deliciously, I ended up falling asleep while rolling around on the reeds with the kids without even realizing it.

It was probably because it had been so long since pork fat had gone into my stomach—it made me feel good and doze off.

When I opened my eyes, the sky above me was filled with starlight so bright it looked like it might pour down at any second.

A shooting star was streaking quickly from the right side of the sky to the left.

Anyone could see it was the middle of the night.

'No, if I fell asleep, she should’ve woken me up. What the hell is Gun Hye-rin even doing?'

We were supposed to depart after sunset, so if I’d fallen asleep, she should’ve woken me up—why the hell did she leave me like this until now? I grumbled inwardly as I sat up.

Originally, standing watch during field rest was Gun Hye-rin’s responsibility.

Not that I ever told her to do it.

Even if I treated her a little roughly sometimes, I never went as far as making her do grunt work.

Didn’t Gun Hye-rin say she’d been trained to respond sensitively to the movements of surrounding objects even while asleep?

That’s why I left it to her.

Looking around, I saw the kids fast asleep in the dark.

Hwanji and Hwana had coiled in a huge circle around the reed bedding I’d laid down, and the kids were curled up here and there inside it, sleeping.

And at my feet, Gun Hye-rin and the princess were curled up asleep.

Maybe because they’d been crowded by the kids, they were gently holding the edge of my pant leg between their thumb and forefinger.

I paused for a moment at the sight.

They were sleeping in such a pitiful, pathetic state.

'Seriously, why are they sleeping so miserably again... Agh!'

Why the hell were they lightly clutching my pant leg?

I stared at them for a long while, then quietly pried their fingers off the hem of my pants.

Then I carefully pulled over some reeds and covered the two of them.

'Sigh. This is really too much.'

In this world, it’s not considered a big problem for a husband to take concubines.

Since this is a Confucian society, if the wife gets jealous, that’s seen as the bigger problem.

So last time, when Hwa-eun said it was fine if I brought those two in as concubines, if I just made up my mind, accepting their feelings wouldn’t be that difficult.

Gun Hye-rin was a blonde beauty, and the princess was the very definition of noble elegance, so it wasn’t like I disliked their appearance.

Gun Hye-rin could be a bit frustrating at times personality-wise, but she was a good person.

The princess... well, she was a typical “Your Highness” type, doing her own thing at her own pace, but she wasn’t rude or anything.

When I think about all those factors—including Hwa-eun—they were women far too good for a venomous-creature otaku like me.

But it was because of the feelings caused by the Beast-Heart Technique that things got complicated.

Because it wasn’t real affection—they were feelings manufactured by the contract.

If I were to accept their affections in this situation, it’d feel like I was slyly taking advantage of women in desperate situations. It rubbed me the wrong way.

'What is this, some kind of Japanese hypnosis hentai or something... Ugh, but what if it’s real?'

Still, as I looked at their sleeping faces, that thought crept up on me.

What if it wasn’t because of the Beast-Heart Technique—what if it was real?

***

We started moving again in the dead of night.

That was when Gun Hye-rin woke up and started making a fuss.

“Huh! I—I ended up falling asleep! S-sorry, Master!”

“Uhh... Oh my! I didn’t realize... I’m sorry, So-ryong.”

Gun Hye-rin, who had suddenly jolted upright like a jiangshi in fright, saw me lying on Hwanji and Hwana’s back looking up at the sky, and hurriedly apologized along with the princess.

“It’s fine. You two must’ve been tired. Let’s go now. Kids, wake up—it’s time to move.”

I said casually, then called out to the kids, who quickly ran over to me.

— Chrrrk. 『Ah, I slept well. Shall we get going then?』

— Chrk! 『Let’s go!』

I climbed onto Hwanji and Hwana’s back and began heading upstream, while Gun Hye-rin wrapped herself around Yeondu, and the princess clung to Cho and slid across the water’s surface.

Honestly, I wanted to fly too, but Yo-hwa insisted on coming along, so I ended up riding Hwanji and Hwana for the first time in a while.

To be precise, I was lying on Yo-hwa, who was riding on Hwanji and Hwana.

And just like that, as we headed upriver, we startled a few early-morning fishermen who had come out at dawn.

A fork in the river.

“Master, the waterway is splitting.”

“It’s to the right from here, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay then, to the right.”

Our destination, the Tang Clan’s silk warehouse, was at the upstream end of a tributary near Sichuan’s provincial capital.

As we followed the winding waterway upstream, a small dock came into view.

There were Tang Clan warriors standing guard there, lanterns lit.

I’d heard the main Tang Clan warriors and the external guards rotated shifts, and sure enough, I recognized a few familiar faces I’d seen before at the main house.

“Thanks for your hard work.”

“Huh—! So-So-ryong-nim!”

“So-ryong-nim!”

They were startled at first by the kids’ appearance, then quickly collected themselves and approached with bright smiles.

I greeted them warmly and asked,

“How have you all been?”

“Of course, we’ve been well.”

“Good. Now, which way is the silk warehouse?”

“It’s over by the base of that mountain—you’ll need to walk about one shikjeong from here.”

“So it’s quite a distance from the riverbank?”

“Yes, silk doesn’t do well with humidity, after all.”

“Ah, makes sense. Thank you for your hard work.”

After parting ways with the guards, we followed the path for about thirty minutes before a large building came into view.

A facility surrounded by tall walls appeared before us.

I’d expected a few buildings thrown together when I heard “warehouse,” but the compound was bigger than I’d imagined.

There was even a huge five-story building, and several other sizable structures inside the facility.

“It’s bigger than I thought.”

“Right? No wonder they say the Tang Clan rules Sichuan.”

As we approached the entrance, a man who seemed to be in charge came rushing out alongside the guards.

His face looked pale, like he’d been stressed about something for a while.

“Y-you’ve arrived? I’m Warehouse Chief Yang Wu!”

But the moment he saw me, he greeted me with the kind of smile you’d give to a long-lost parent.

I returned the smile and spoke.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m So-ryong. This is our first time meeting, isn’t it?”

“I did see you from a distance at your wedding, but yes, this is our first time speaking.”

“Ah, so you attended the ceremony. Allow me to thank you for that.”

“N-not at all. No thanks needed.”

After exchanging brief greetings, I asked Warehouse Chief Yang Wu,

“So, where are the silkworms?”

At that, the man’s cheerful face froze slightly, and he tilted his head.

“Silkworms?”

“Yes, silkworms. Wasn’t I summoned here because the silkworms were sick and needed my help?”

At my question, Yang Wu’s face darkened slightly.

Shaking his head with a troubled look, he asked,

“Um... it’s not because of the silkworms. Didn’t you hear anything from the main house?”

“It’s not about silkworms?”

Since I hadn’t stopped by the main house, I didn’t know anything, and I answered with an awkward expression.

“Ah, I heard it was urgent, so I came straight here. I didn’t get any additional explanation from the main house. I was only told that my father-in-law was having trouble with something related to silk.”

“I-I see.”

The man looked a little disappointed, so I smiled and said,

“But don’t worry. To be honest, if it was a silkworm disease, I’d be unsure, but if it’s something else, then I’m confident.”

Truthfully, I had no idea what was going on, so I wasn’t very confident—but when I saw the man’s face, I felt like I had to at least pretend I was.

He looked like he might cry if I didn’t.

Well, I was more confident with things that weren’t silkworm-related.

'Come on, you're a grown man. Just say it without crying.'

At that, the man’s face brightened again.

He began explaining the situation.

“Yes, then since it seems you’re unfamiliar with this place, I’ll begin by explaining what this facility is.

I’d heard that the master weavers joined the main house recently and began weaving silk, but this isn’t a place where silk is produced—it’s a storage site where silk produced in Sichuan is gathered.

It’s a place where silk from all over Sichuan is bought up and collected before being sold throughout the Central Plains.”

As expected, the most profitable business is always brokerage.

So even our Tang Clan was doing brokerage work.

It seemed they were buying up silk produced all over Sichuan and handling its distribution.

Nodding along, I asked,

“Ah, I see. So then, what’s the problem?”

“Let’s talk while looking over there.”

Following the man, we walked between several buildings and arrived at what looked like a warehouse near the mountain.

It was oddly sealed-off in design, a fully enclosed structure, and he led us to one corner of the building.

“Please, take a look.”

What he pointed to was a hole.

But calling it a rat hole would be selling it short—it was much larger.

A typical rat hole might be the size of a golf ball at most, but this hole was large enough for a fist to go in and out.

“A r-rat hole?”

'Why is she stuttering all of a sudden?'

Gun Hye-rin suddenly stammered beside me and asked if it was a rat hole. I squatted down and examined it as I answered.

“No. I don’t think it’s a rat hole. For one, it’s too big for a rat to have made.”

“Then... something bigger? Like a weasel?”

The hole had been patched over with a couple of planks, but both of those planks also had holes in them.

The princess asked if maybe it was an animal like a weasel, but I shook my head.

“No. It’s strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yes, this hole wasn’t chewed through by something.”

It was exactly that. Something about this hole was off.

In my past life, there were those attachments for drills used to make clean holes—what were they called? Even if you used one of those, it wouldn’t come out this smooth.

'A hole saw, maybe?'

I’d used one myself to drill through a desk, and if you didn’t sand the edges afterward, you’d almost always cut your hand.

But this hole... how should I put it?

The edges of the hole were just too smooth.

Usually, if you make something out of wood, you’d have to coat the surface with something or polish it with use to make it smooth, but this looked as if it had been treated or worn smooth—utterly polished.

“When did this hole appear?”

“A-a month ago.”

If something had been burrowing through for years, it might’ve ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ worn down the edges, but in just one month? No way it would look like this.

“Whatever it is, it seems to be messing with the warehouse’s inventory.”

“Yes! That’s right!”

“Let’s take a look inside.”

When I asked the warehouse manager to show me the interior, his face lit up.

Following him to the entrance, he opened the door, revealing rows of neatly organized boxes on shelves.

They were high-grade boxes lacquered in black varnish. The man walked over to a box near the hole, pulled out one on the bottom shelf, tore off the seal, and opened the lid.

Inside were objects wrapped in paper.

They appeared to be bolts of silk.

Yang Wu lifted the topmost silk bundle, and the paper wrapping it sagged with a soft flop. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

That meant the contents inside were empty.

One, two, three, four, five, six... it looked like the box was supposed to hold ten bolts of silk, but not a single one remained inside the wrappers.

“So this one’s completely empty too...”

Yang Wu looked miserable as he confirmed the contents.

I patted his shoulder and said,

“Don’t worry too much. I’m here now, so this problem’s as good as solved.”

Lacquered boxes that insects and vermin shouldn’t easily be able to get into. Smoothly drilled holes through the boxes and the wrapping paper. And the silk, completely vanished without a trace.

A smile crept across my face.

Because, judging from everything I’d seen so far, this had to be the work of a spirit beast.

This was absolutely not something that could’ve happened unless a spirit beast was involved.

'It’s definitely not one of the Ten Great Venoms, and among the Twenty-Four Poison Branch, only the silver-scaled Euneo fish is left, so it can’t be one of those either. That means... another new species?'

Whatever it was, it absolutely reeked of a new species.