Chapter 92: Beware of Lamias in Spring (2)

  "Phew… Alright."

  As her cold tail coiled around my waist, the chill sent shivers through my body, but it wasn’t unbearable. The sensation was more of a light chill than something severe.

  I iionally activated my mana circuits to slightly increase my body temperature. As I hugged the Lamia, she began to squirm, sluggishly ing her arms around my bad coiliail more tightly around my waist.

  "Ugh!"

  The pressure on my waist was strong enough to make me gasp, but it didn’t feel like she was trying to harm me. It seemed like she was simply holding on tightly to g to my warmth. I made sure to y body with mana to prevent any damage and stayed still.

  Squirm, squirm...

  Her right breast, which I had uncovered earlier, now pressed against my chest, the exposed nipple brushing against me. Meanwhile, her left breast remained covered by its protective yer, creating a strange, unbanced sensation through the tact.

  "..."

  I noticed her eyelids trembling slightly. A moment ter, her eyes opened halfway.

  'Don’t snakes have poor eyesight?'

  Even if their vision wasn’t sharp, it shouldn’t be bad enough to miss something right in front of their nose. With her face so close to mihat our noses almost touched, she must be able to see me.

  Through her half-open eyelids, I could make out her vertical pupils. They felt slightly alien pared to human eyes, but the irises, veiled in their color, softehe effeless one looked closely.

  'Her eyes are surprisingly pretty... And her lips, too...'

  Uhe sharp, intimidatiures one might expect from a snake, her lips curved gently, resembling the shape of a soft, feline smile. It was an expression that exuded an uedly pleasant and cheerful impression.

  Slide...

  As her body warmed up, she started to move more actively, pressing herself against me even more. Her face rubbed against mine as she tried to absorb more warmth.

  Ssss... ssss...

  I felt the tips of her forked tongue brush past my ear. The sensatio a slight shiver down my spine, but apart from that, it wasn’t much different from hugging a dark-haired beauty.

  Crack.

  "Ugh!"

  However, as her body loosened up, the pressure of her coils around me increased, making it harder to breathe.

  "Ugh...!"

  Thankfully, I had freed my arms in advance. If I had kept them pio my sides, things could have gotten serious. I quickly pressed down on the back of her neck, targeting her cervical spine—a oint for most living creatures, not just snakes. Gradually applying force, I mao push her away slightly, causing her coils to loosen around my waist.

  "C-Cold..."

  She trembled, fully opening her eyes. Her irises were a deep, abyssal bck that trasted sharply with her pale skin, giving her ahereal appearance.

  The Lamia stared at me with a vat expression for a moment before reag out toward me. This time, I lifted my legs slightly to create space, ensuring I wouldn’t get trapped by her tail again. Then, I hugged her once more.

  Slide.

  Now moving much mently, the Lamia pressed her face against my chest, sav the warmth of my body for a long while.

  "…Who are you?"

  "For someone who’s been hugging me for thirty mihat’s a te question."

  "My body was too cold… I couldn’t think straight..."

  Her earlier, stiff movements had softened, and she now tilted her head curiously, blinkihick shes as she looked at me.

  "Now that your temperature’s back up, could you let go of me?"

  The Lamia hesitated, her tail swaying slightly as if relut, but she uncoiled herself and moved back.

  "Huh? Why is this out...?"

  "Ahem!"

  Notig her exposed nipple, the Lamia quickly tucked it bader its protective yer before sittily in front of me, her coils f a circle. She lowered her head slightly, a gesture that seemed either submissive or cautious.

  'Is she signaling that she doesn’t want to fight? Or is this just defensive p?'

  Either way, it seemed possible to unicate with her.

  "Wow… You’re tall…"

  For humans and demi-humans, height is directly ected to their upright posture. Eveaurs, despite their rger lower halves, usually stood tall. Lamias, however, had a snake-like lower body, which made their "legs" essentially the thiess of their sorsos.

  Although her upper body alone didn’t make her look short, I still had to look down to meet her gaze. From her perspective, I probably seemed twice her size.

  Slide...

  She coiled her tail more tightly around herself, croug slightly. Her posture was clearly defensive, even to my eyes.

  trary to popur belief, snakes are naturally timid creatures. Most sacks happehey panic at the sight of humans or animals and sh out in desperation. It wasn’t surprising that she seemed nervous.

  "Do you live around here?"

  "No, I live a little farther away. My home is deeper ihe s."

  So, she was indeed a resident of the area I was headed toward.

  "I’ll get straight to the point. I’m looking for the missing men from around here. Most of them are young ao have disappeared without tag their families. Any idea what might have happened?"

  Lying often takes more effort than telling the truth, especially when the versatioers on the edge of mutual uanding.

  'If she’s barely able to verse, she’s uo fabricate an intricate lie.'

  I studied the Lamia’s fad body carefully.

  'With a body this size, could she eat a person?'

  While snakes expand their bodies to e rge prey, Lamias, with their humanoid torsos, had a throat structure much smaller than that of a snake. Even with a wide-open mouth, they’d struggle to swallow anything bigger than a fist.

  Additionally, unlike snakes, whose straight esophagi allow them to gulp down prey, Lamias have a human-like structure with a bent throat. This would limit them to prey only slightly rger than what a person could eat.

  'But with arms, she could probably process her prey before eating it.'

  Her anatomy wasn’t enough to rule out suspi, so I closely observed her expressions aions.

  "Those men should be on their way back to the vilge by now."

  "…What?"

  Her response was pletely ued.

  I’d anticipated denial, an admission, or even a fession that they’d been devoured. Instead, she casually cimed they were returning to the vilge.

  "…They weren’t kidnapped?"

  "They came te marriages. But I guess humans find us strange, so things didn’t work out, and it ehere."

  "Wait, you’re not… eating them? Marriage arras?"

  "Eat them? Why would we? That’s ridiculous."

  For a moment, I was at a loss for words.

  "I mean, huma might taste better or be sidered a delicacy or something..."

  "Taste?"

  Ah, right. Snakes don’t have much sense of taste; they e prey purely for nutritional value.

  For Lamias, "taste" wouldn’t be a factor. What mattered would be horey was to e and digest.

  'So, there’s no practical reason for them to eat humans.'

  Still, it wasn’t wise to take her words at face value.

  "Are you here te a marriage?"

  I decided it might be easier to gairust if I preteo be a prospective suitor rather than openly iigating the missing men.

  "Yes. I was looking for a partner and was directed here, but I got lost along the way..."

  "Really? Then you’re a guest! e with me!"

  Her defensive posture instantly disappeared. She wagged her tail enthusiastically, reminding me more of a puppy than a snake.

  "Didn’t you have something to do?"

  "Oh, I had a task from Hayang, but if I felt like I’d freeze, I was supposed to e back. So, I’m done now."

  Hayang? Likely someone in a leadership role within the vilge—perhaps a chief or a priestess.

  Lamia society is said to be primitive and tribal, so it’s likely Hayang held a religious or leadership position.

  "I’ll carry ygage for you!"

  Most people would say "carry," but since Lamias pull things, it made sense she’d phrase it that way.

  "It’s quite heavy."

  My bag tained not only my armor but also Shuru and Molng. It wasn’t something a single Lamia should easily handle.

  Slide...

  "Let’s go!"

  She grabbed the bag and slid over the muddy ground with ease, moving surprisingly fast. It seemed my bag wasn’t a burden at all.

  'Is her lower body that strong? That would expin it.'

  She wasn’t faster tha a full sprint, but her smooth gliding through the sy terrain allowed her to maintain an impressive pace. I had to work to keep up with her, even without carrying anything.

  "If you’re tired, you ride on my back."

  I wasn’t particurly tired, but serving energy for emergencies seemed wise, so I climbed onto her back without protest.

  'Oh... She’s soft.'

  Her tail, now warm from activity, felt surprisingly smooth and supple, a pleasaioe the faint snake-like musk lingering around her.

  Slide, slide—

  As she effortlessly navigated the s, her speed increased the deeper we went. The weather, initially chilly, soon turiflingly warm, leaving me short of breath.

  "Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked your . I’m Ban."

  "You call me Kamang."

  Kamang? It sounded like the name of a tryside dog.

  "Only Hayang and I were born without patterns in our scales, so there’s no fusion."

  Swoosh—!

  Gliding over the s like a fish in water, Kamang soht me to what looked like a vilge.

  'There are people here.'

  A few men, their heads at about human eye level despite the Lamias being much shorter, were leaving the vilge. They held their noses as if trying to block a stend spat on the ground as they walked out.

  'Judging by their faces and demeanor, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been through anything dangerous.'

  If that was the case, my mission was teically plete.

  'Still, my superior wouldn’t have sent me for something this simple. There must be more to this.'

  Kamang brought me to the rgest and most eborately decorated structure in the vilge. While the other homes were simple wooden huts, this one had a proper design with stoairs leading to its entrance.

  "Hayang! We have a guest!"

  Excited, Kamang waved her hands as another Lamia emerged, pushing aside a woven curtain made of branches.

  "Wow..."

  Her white hair shimmered like silk, and her radiant scales gleamed shtly they almost didn’t look like scales, resembling smooth white flesh. Her lower body exuded an otherworldly beauty.

  Uhe other Lamias, who tucked their nipples uheir protective shells, this one wore a flowing, elegant garment that covered her upper body.

  'She must be the priestess of this vilge.'

  Though not imbued with divine power, her aura carried the blessing of a powerful force, marking her as someo to be uimated.

  Her golden gaze stood out as she opened her eyes, her irises glowing with a light so radiant it seemed to spill from her pupils, creating the illusion of entirely golden eyes.

  "Wele, Ban of the Mage Knight Order. Did you receive my letter?"

  At her words, I pulled the letter from my bag.

  "It seems to have reached me safely."

  Wait. So the t who requested this mission... was the Lamia standing before me?

  Ultimate-Harem-fan