Chapter 93: Snakes Are Surprisingly Cute (1)

  "Please, e inside."

  Following the white Lamia, I ehe interior of the house. Uhe other huts, which were structed by yering branches and weaving viogether, this house had walls coated with mud, creating a fully enclosed structure.

  It was clear this was the fi house in the vilge.

  "Wow..."

  What surprised me even more was the warmth i was almost unfortably warm for me, though it seemed to have the opposite effe the Lamias. Kamang, the bck Lamia, moved with more energy, her tail swaying happily as if she were in high spirits.

  "Kamang, behave yourself in front of uest."

  At the white Lamia’s gentle reprimand, Kamang coiled up ly in a warm er and sat still. The white Lamia followed suit, coiliail to increase her tact with the warm floor.

  "I heard humans live with raised furniture, like chairs, but we don’t have anything like that here."

  It made sense. With snake-like lower bodies, sitting on chairs would likely be unfortable for them. Still...

  'If the floor were just solid, I wouldn’t mind sitting on it, but it’s sy here...'

  Scraping the ground with my shoe, I noticed that beh the yer of mud was a stone floor. It seemed the Lamias had id the stoo avoid scraping their bodies, though their movements still brought in a thin yer of mud.

  "If you ’t find a pce to sit..."

  Ssss—

  The white Lamia uncoiled her tail ae toward me.

  "You’re wele to sit here."

  "Won’t that be heavy? And isn’t it improper to sit on your body?"

  "It’s fihe weight of a single human isn’t much for a Lamia."

  Relutly, I accepted her offer and carefully perched myself oail.

  'It’s warm... Is it because she was he hearth? Surprisingly fortable.'

  If a chair could replicate this sensation, it could probably be sold to exorbitant prices. The softness, the way it adjusted to the shape of my body—this was far more fortable than any wooden chair.

  'A fasatiion.'

  The aura emanating from the white Lamia added to her mystique. It wasn’t as striking as the radiant halo seen on saintesses who served deities of love and marriage, but the faint light surrounding her body was enough to show her e to some divine power.

  "This must be your first time seeing a white-scaled Lamia. It’s alright if you think I look grotesque. I’m well aware that my appearance is unusual."

  "Not at all. In fact..."

  "And I’m sure humans find the Lamia’s appearance monstrous."

  It seemed Lamias cked fiden their looks.

  "The men who visited us often became angry ohey realized their prospective partners were Lamias a immediately."

  So it was indeed a matchmaking effort. But it was uandable. Even among elves, who resemble humans closely, interspecies marriages were rare. Most living beings are naturally drawn to their own kind.

  Even I didn’t fully uand it, but most people instinctively felt aversion or disfort toward other species. Some humans eveed homunculi, beings biologically indistinguishable from humans, as unnatural.

  Although such barriers had started to break dowime, leading to the rise of half-elves, half-orcs, and half-ogres, the overall number of suions remained low.

  'It’s increased pared to the past, but in terms of pertages, it’s still a small minority.'

  Even after years of peace, and even in vilges where different races lived and worked side by side, interspecies marriages remained rare.

  "So, why did you summon me here?"

  "Initially, we invited single men through merts te interspecies marriages between them and the Lamias in our vilge."

  So far, that made sense. Most respoo suvitations likely hadn’t been favorable.

  "However, an elder who advised us oter suggested inviting a knight to ensure safety, just in case somethi wrong."

  "You needed a knight for security during the event?"

  If they were simply inviting local men te marriages, it made seo have one knight present as a precaution.

  "But I doubt that’s the whole story."

  If it were just that, they wouldn’t have offered me this amulet, which essentially promised their full cooperation.

  It became clear that this situation wasn’t something a single knight could handle, which is why they had provided me with additional support measures a me here.

  "While nothing is firmed yet, there’s a possibility of an armed flict betweeilian species in this area. The elder decided it would be best to send you as a precaution."

  'So even here, there’s some kind of tension brewing?'

  In the beastman vilge, things had been peaceful enough that people walked around naked without issue. But this rimitive s. Here, the food operated relentlessly—Lamias huher creatures, were huhemselves, and peted with other species for resources.

  "So, I’m here to help with an iribal war?"

  "Yes. Ideally, we’d like to resolve this without violence, but it seems uhings will go that smoothly."

  My orders from the senior knight were clear: assist this group of Lamias during the flid eheir safety. This included maintaining order while weling men invited for matchmaking and defending against potential attacks from rival reptilian tribes.

  "Uood. I’ll stay here and provide prote. Whehe other men expected to arrive?"

  "The men traveling from the neighb vilge should arrive in about three days. I don’t foresee any major issues, but we’d appreciate your help."

  "Very well. I’ll look for a pce to stay nearby for the time being."

  As much as I appreciated the hospitality, tinuing to sit on her body felt improper. I began to rise, but the white Lamia’s expression immediately turned forlorn, and she lowered her head.

  "So, you do find our appearance repulsive after all."

  "What? No, that’s not—"

  "We’ve goo great lengths to make this space warm and inviting, but you’re leaving because you ’t stand to be around me, aren’t you?"

  That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

  This was her and Kamang’s home, and I couldn’t impose on them indefinitely. That was all there was to it.

  "It’s not that. I just don’t want to invenience you in your own home."

  "..."

  Her averted gaze suggested she thought I was just making excuses. Seeing her rea, I could only imagine how much reje these Lamias had faced from humans.

  Even in the capital, where different species lived together, prejudid hate crimes were still on. In rural areas like this, where memories of bloody wars with other races lingered, it was no wohe animosity ran deep.

  "No, really... I don’t find you repulsive. Quite the opposite—I think you’re beautiful."

  "Even if it’s just empty words, thank you..."

  Her voice was tinged with resignation. Clearly, her past wounds ran deep. I k on the muddy floor to meet her eyes at a closer level.

  With my knees bent, the height differeween us shrank, and I gently cupped her , turning her face toward mine.

  "Do these look like lying eyes to you?"

  Her golden irises, faintly glowing against the pale silver of her pupils, held a mixture of uainty and fear. She must have endured tless insults from the men who had e here before me.

  Lick.

  To reassure her, I licked her cheek gently, then brushed her h my lips. She flinched, startled, her tail instinctively coiling arouo push me away.

  But her attempt to fend me off with her tail was easy to ter—I simply shifted her bah my hand. Keeping hold of her , I leaned in and kissed her.

  'Oh… her tongue really is different.'

  A Lamia’s tongue was much lohan a human’s and forked at the tip. As my shorter, thicker toered her mouth, her loongue hesitated, unsure what to do. It ended up ing around mine clumsily.

  "Mmph...!"

  Her ck of trol gave me the advantage. I explored her mouth with my tongue, noting the sharp fangs tucked safely away in her gums. As long as she didn’t bare her teeth, there was no risk of getting hurt.

  Smack.

  As I pressed my lips firmly against hers, the ers of her mouth, desigo expand for swallowing rge prey, stretched slightly. Thankfully, the delicate membranes inside kept her face from splitting grotesquely. Instead, her mouth simply widened gracefully.

  "P-Please… release my tongue..."

  Her muffled voice sounded panicked, her toill entwined with miroking her back to calm her, I slowly pulled away, letting our tongues untangle.

  'It really is much lohan a human’s.'

  Even after retrag it, her tongue had briefly stretched down to her chest before disappearing into her mouth.

  "Do you believe me now?"

  She wiped her lips with her sleeve, still sticky from our mingled saliva. I did the same, watg as she tried to collect herself.

  "If you truly don’t find us repulsive, Sir Knight..."

  Rustle...

  The white Lamia bit the edge of her sleeve, pulling her garment aside and beginning to undress herself.

  "Could I ask for your help... here?"

  "What exactly do you need help with?"

  L her head, she lifted her lower body slightly, c her private area, still hiddeh her protective shell, with her hands.

  At this point, I had to ask.

  "Why gh so much effort t human men here for this?"

  "Because… only females are born in our tribe now. To tinue our lineage, we have no choice but t in males from other species."

  That settled it. If this was what they hen I would do my part.

  AnnouA Special Thank You!:

  I want to extend my deepest gratitude to [Isaac Coria], for supp me on Patreon!

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