Fabre in Sacheon’s Tang

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Chapter 148: Spicy Fabre at the Four Heavenly Houses

“Who on earth are you?”

It wasn’t that I was genuinely unaware; I was simply flabbergasted.

No matter the variety of shapes or colors, there’s no way this Spicy Fabre wouldn’t recognize its own form, right?

Yet the reason I posed such a question was due to the remarkable size and color of this creature—something I had never seen before.

Staring blankly at the creature, which was introduced as Hua Ri by Botam, I could hear the equally bewildered voices of Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol beside me.

[Wei So-ryong, that’s not a Hua Ri, is it? No matter how you look at it? That looks like…]
[Wei So-ryong, that—. The size is puzzling, but it definitely resembles a tadpole… isn’t it?]

It seemed I wasn’t the only one who thought the creature introduced as Hua Ri was something completely different.

With expressions of disbelief, Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol, who knew much more about animals than the average person, were asking questions.

As Hua Eun mentioned, that’s a tadpole in Central Plains dialect.

It was definitely not the glorious Hua Ri but some sort of tadpole—a fact I couldn’t ignore.

‘It really is a tadpole, right? Its color resembles peach, and despite its immense size that might make it look like a pudgy carp at a glance, it lacks any pectoral or dorsal fins, not to mention that cute little snout. This is 100% a baby amphibian.’

A tadpole refers to the larval stage of amphibians like toads, frogs, and other amphibious creatures.

Seeing this creature made my Spicy Fabre heart skip a beat after a long time.

A pinkish hue reminiscent of peach.

No matter how you looked at it, its juvenile form was incredibly vibrant, making it appear to be a promising offspring of a poison dart frog or a toad.

Snakes, centipedes, scorpions, moths—all of them are great venomous creatures, but toads are particularly reputable among them.

Their cuteness and laid-back demeanor can ease the mood of anyone who looks at them, which is quite enchanting.

Is this perhaps a case of turning misfortune into fortune?

Yeon-du might be a bit regrettable, but something like Inner Dan doesn’t matter anymore.

A creature as gigantic as that tadpole—I’m incredibly excited to see what kind of frog or toad it will grow into.

‘I almost felt sorry for the princess saying there’s no Inner Dan, but rather, I should be thankful now.’

I was about to reply to the questions from the two when I noticed the creature that was swimming in the crystal-clear pond near the mountain peak, aimlessly flailing about.

Then came to mind the peculiarities I had overlooked in my daze.

I had been so distracted by the idea of cross-dressing that I completely missed several oddities.

‘Now that I think about it, there were quite a few strange points…’

First, when estimating the size of a typical fish, one generally uses the length from palm to forearm, but peculiarly, when it came to mentioning the Hua Ri at the Spirit Peak, what I heard was the size of a head.

I thought maybe it was just that the locals were a bit eccentric or had a different standard, but the truth was that this creature really was the size of a head!

A body the size of a head with a long tail—that was its true form.

Also, Botam is an island.

Hua Ri is a freshwater fish, a carp.

No matter how spirit-like it is, the idea of a freshwater fish, specifically a carp, living on an island makes no sense—I had completely overlooked that point.

Was that all?

This pond called Wol-yeong is named after the moon’s reflection, and a pond typically refers to stagnant water, which means that unless the carp were to fly, they couldn’t possibly have lived here!

So, naturally, it wouldn’t make sense for a precious koi to live in a pond on an island in the middle of the sea, yet I had been so preoccupied with other matters that I hadn’t thought about that at all.

With a dazed expression, I shifted my gaze away from the creature, deciding it was time to answer Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol’s questions.

Just as I was about to, a startled exclamation from Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol broke through.

“Monk Choa! Wh-what are you doing!?”

“W-what!?”

Surprised, the monk who guided us called out, and the two of them rushed over and pressed my face against their chests.

As I was about to push them away in shock and looked up, I saw both of them swiftly shaking their heads.

Their expressions were clear—something they absolutely couldn’t show.

‘Wh-what’s going on suddenly?’

Just then, the monk replied calmly.

“What? Well, of course, I’m here to bathe. You three should hurry and strip down too. It seems the Empress instructed us to help you cleanse yourselves before she brought you here…”

So that’s why this place is considered the Spirit Peak of Botam, and the reason why all men are prohibited from entering is that it’s a place for our bodies to be purified!

If it’s a public bath run by the nuns for women, it’s no wonder men can’t come up here! But, apparently, this caught Hua Eun off guard and she hurriedly explained.

“I guess the Empress didn’t manage to mention it. W-we just came to see the Hua Ri, that’s all.”

“Oh, is that so? I just assumed you were here to bathe. But since you’ve come all this way, we might as well wash up together. It’s not often we get a clear day like this, and the water here makes your skin beautifully smooth. You haven’t had a proper wash after coming here, right? Let’s dive in!”

“B-but even among women, how can we wash together upon first meeting!?”

“Y-yeah!”

The monk seemed undeterred by the suggestion of removing clothing, and I could feel the heat radiating from Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol.

With both of them astonished and questioning how they could strip down and wash when we were strangers, the monk answered nonchalantly.

“It’s just a body that will rot away. Modesty is merely a matter of perspective. No need to think like that; just come on in.”

‘Whoa, did this monk just hit us with a Casanova line…?’

This sounded less like a feeling of enlightenment and more like one-liners used to charm women.

Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol replied with furrowed brows.

“No, no! We just came to see the Hua Ri, that’s all, so we can’t!”

“Y-yeah.”

“Even if it’s with women, how can we bathe together on our first meeting?”

When Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol firmly refused, it seemed the monk resigned to giving up the idea of bathing.

The moment my vision cleared from the hands that covered my eyes, the monk approached, wearing a smile as she gathered her clothes.

“Isn’t it adorable? About ten years ago, shortly after a typhoon passed, it suddenly appeared in this pond. We refer to it as Yeongyeon because of this pond’s name.”

It was a relief that the topic shifted back from bathing to the tadpole, but Choa’s words left the three of us startled.

“Ten years?”

“Ten years?”

We were amazed by the fact that it wasn’t a Hua Ri but a tadpole, shocked by the monk’s sudden disrobing, and now astonished by the revelation that this creature had already been here for a decade.

‘W-wait, it’s been a tadpole for ten years!?’

After all, no amphibian could be in a tadpole state for that long.

While some toads do breed during the rainy season and behave like adults afterward by lying dormant underground until the next rainy season, or some frog tadpoles may hibernate in their tadpole form, that only applies to adults or during winter.

Naturally, a tadpole turning into an adult in the spring is to be expected, so I quickly approached, reaching my hand into the pond water.

Is it possible that, being a spirit, it could be in a long hibernation caused by unsuitable conditions?

Tadpoles aren’t that inactive, but if they were hibernating, they could still be moving around every now and then, making it hard for anyone to distinguish whether they were hibernating or not.

‘It doesn’t feel that cold, though?’

However, the water wasn’t cold at all.

The tadpole seemed very active, moving around in a manner that clearly showed it wasn’t hibernating.

‘It’s definitely not hibernating.’

I pulled on Hua Eun’s sleeve, telling her to ask the monk about a few things.

I needed to gather as much information as possible regarding the creature’s environment and diet if we were to safely take it back to the Tang Clan.

And also, why it was still in the tadpole phase.

[Hua Eun, please ask the monk if she ever fed it anything, whether its size is the same now as it was ten years ago, and other detailed questions like that. We need to know what it eats if we want to take it with us. In the meantime, I’ll take a stroll around the pond to survey the area.]

[Got it.]

“Monk Choa, may I ask you a few questions?”

“Of course! What’s on your mind?”

“Well, I have some questions regarding the, ahem, Hua Ri…”

While Hua Eun engaged in conversation with the monk, I quickly moved around the pond.

‘Let’s see what kind of ecological secrets it might hold.’

*

The guest quarters at Botam.

In a single room, I, Older Sister Seol, and Hua Eun gathered together for dinner.

The reason we were all in one room was that we had requested to stay for a few days to observe the creature’s habits.

Because at Botam, guests share rooms with a few others, they had assigned us accordingly.

It was a little startling, but thanks to Older Sister Seol, I was already familiar with such situations, so I sat at the table and began to share what I had discovered that day.

“There was nothing special around the pond. The water wasn’t too hot or cold… Most of it was filled by rainwater, and a little water flowed from rock crevices, but there was nothing particularly notable about it.

It wasn’t heavily mixed with lime; it was just very clean and clear water.

There weren’t any special plants or trees around either.”

After finishing my observations, I glanced at Hua Eun, who nodded in agreement.

Following my lead, Hua Eun then began to relay what she had learned from the monk earlier.

“It seems the monks would sometimes leave bits of food for the tadpole when they first discovered it, but it didn’t eat, so they stopped. They thought it was a spirit creature and therefore didn’t need food.

Its size is a bit bigger than ten years ago, but not significantly larger.”

The fact that it doesn’t eat anything is an idea the monks clearly didn’t fully understand.

From my experience with spirit creatures, I felt strongly that this one was certainly eating something.

The fact that it had grown even just a bit is a testament to that.

‘It definitely eats something…’

Earlier, I had a thought.

I wondered if it might absorb something as Yeon-du or Bin would, and I had asked Older Sister Seol to check for signs of energy flow around the pond.

However, just like the Empress, Older Sister Seol could only confirm that it lacked Inner Dan, which made me urge Hua Eun to continue.

“And then?”

“Well, the monks visit the pond at night with lanterns to bathe, and when they do, the creature swims towards them excitedly, they said. It seems they also struggled with the lamp oil running low when coming down after bathing, but that isn’t too important.”

“True, it doesn’t sound very significant.”

Both Hua Eun and I didn’t manage to discern anything crucial.

To take the tadpole, we really had to find out what it eats, and the seriousness of our expressions reflected that concern.

At the side, Older Sister Seol spoke with a worried expression.

“By the way, Wei So-ryong, I asked during dinner, but the monks seemed to be very fond of the Hua Ri—I mean, the tadpole. Do you think it’ll be alright if we take it? They seemed like they’d make a fuss if it’s taken, even if the Empress had given it to us.”

True to her caring nature, Older Sister Seol seemed worried that if the monks were to lose the tadpole, they’d cause quite a ruckus, but that was something I didn’t need to worry about.

Even if the Empress denied us, I had a flawless way to ensure that we’d take it home, even if the nuns kicked and screamed.

“That’s something you don’t need to worry about. I can handle it.”

“You can?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Older Sister Seol nodded at my reassurance.

She gazed out the window at the setting sun before turning to us.

“Let’s leave it to Wei So-ryong for that. So then, let me tell the Empress and we can head up the mountain after dark.”

“At night?”

“Well, there might be things that don’t show up during the day. Beasts tend to be active mostly at night, so we might see things we didn’t notice during the day.”

“Oh, right!”

Coming from someone with experience in handling wild beasts, Older Sister Seol suggested we examine things during the night.

It’s true that frogs and toads are primarily nocturnal.

Our sister is definitely deserving of being the Older Sister of this Spicy Fabre.

“Exactly! Let’s do that!”

*

As the sun set and the nuns finished their baths, we set out with lanterns in the dark twilight toward Wol-yeong (Moonlit Pond).

Even with our permits to move in such a sacred place, it just felt like a common bathhouse.

Upon reaching Wol-yeong, just as the name suggested, the moonlight shimmered across the pond’s surface.

As we approached, Hua Eun murmured, recalling the earlier as the creature swam over to us excitedly.

“Hey, little one, what do you eat?”

Before checking the surroundings, Hua Eun crouched down with the lantern, extending her hand to touch the creature, yet it sat still.

At that moment, Yeon-du, who had jumped out from my arms, looked at the creature and licked its lips with a sigh.

– Shaa…

It seemed to have accepted the shocking reality that it wasn’t a Hua Ri anymore, and I stroked Yeon-du’s head, feeling somewhat apologetic.

“I’ll make sure to find the Hua Ri next time and feed you. Sorry, Yeon-du.”

– Shaa shaa…

Yeon-du, showing its amiable personality, had a slightly disappointed expression before nodding.

Just then, Yeon-du suddenly gazed toward Hua Eun, its eyes widening in alarm.

– Shaaah!

The sharp sound in the night made us all turn to Yeon-du, who was pointing at Hua Eun while continually trying to convey something.

“What is it? Why, Yeon-du, what do you see?”

Although Older Sister Seol and Hua Eun looked around, there didn’t seem to be any unusual signs.

There was nothing dangerous nor anything particularly out of the ordinary, leaving both Hua Eun and Older Sister Seol confused.

“What is it? Yeon-du seems to have seen something. There’s nothing here.”

“What could have startled it like that?”

‘Saw something? What on earth did Yeon-du see at this hour…!’

And then it struck me.

The notion had suddenly occurred to me.

If Yeon-du could see infrared, that meant what it was perceiving was related to temperature.

I quickly jogged over to where Hua Eun was and brought the lantern closer to the surface of the water; the flames flickering within the oil lamp began flowing toward the tadpole’s mouth like a thread.