So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

After a moment of silence.

The Margrave lifted his head.

His face was twisted like a malevolent spirit.

"You bastards!"

He spat foam and saliva.

"You dare humiliate me and toy with me? I'll tear you all into thousands of pieces. Especially you! Obern-!"

Obern's face turned pale.

It was certain.

The Margrave remembered everything.

Even how we handled them after he became foolish.

And that his subordinates, Rahan and Dana...

"Rahan, Dana, kill them all right now-"

...had betrayed him.

Then we couldn't just leave him be.

「Using Heavenly Thunder Spirit lv2」

"...killgagagak!"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Margrave's eyes that had regained consciousness rolled back again.

Phew.

That could have been dangerous.

"Ahem, hrm."

Though the Margrave had temporarily regained consciousness.

The result was rather desperate.

"Well, I've finished the treatment, so I'll be going now."

"Wait."

Dana stopped the old man who was trying to slip away.

"Can you return him to his previous state?"

"Now why would you ask that after I worked so hard to cure him..."

"Can you or can't you?"

"...I can."

If the conscious Margrave would hate us, then the foolish Margrave would be better.

"Then please return him to that state."

Dana handed over another ten gold coins.

The old man's face twisted as he accepted them.

"So you're making this old physician an accomplice too, eh?"

If Duiman were the type to run his mouth carelessly, he wouldn't have survived as a physician in the lower district.

Still, it's better to have insurance.

He carefully pulled out the golden needle that was stuck in the crown.

A moment later, the Margrave woke up again.

"Ubababa, hehe."

That's right, Margan.

That kind of smile suits you better.

"Since it's come to this, please take a look at Rahan's prosthetic arm."

"Dana, you're amazingly shameless even after all these years of knowing you."

Dana took Elder Duiman away.

"Haah, damn it."

Obern slumped into a chair.

Unlike Dana and Rahan, he and Phili had hoped the Margrave would wake up in his right mind.

And it would have been best if he didn't remember the period when his mind had regressed.

But the conscious Margrave was burning with hatred, so now we didn't dare try to cure him.

"In that case, we'll just have to say his body is hurting because the Margrave's pet bit him."

That was our Plan B.

Of course, it's not a perfect plan.

"I'm not sure if that will be easily accepted. And without the Margrave's protection, probably the Prince's and my position too... haah."

Obern, don't despair too much.

Don't worry too much either.

There's a saying in the world.

Half of the worries people have are about things that will never happen.

And the other half are about things that worrying won't help with.

And excluding those halves, only a tiny portion that remains are things that can be changed through worry.

In other words, it's enough to just do your best with whatever comes your way.

I like that saying.

So what's the best we can do right now?

First, 'train' the foolish Margrave a bit more...

That's when it happened.

'Oh my, Isil!'

Isil kept reaching out leaves toward the Margrave.

Does it want to eat the Margrave's brain that badly?

No, Jiji, you can't eat things like that. Hold back.

When I stopped Isil, it clung to me instead.

And then it used its skill first by itself.

「Demon Hunter's Vine Grass Isil lv19 uses Empathy lv3」

Oh.

Isil had shared skills with me through Empathy before.

I wondered what skill it was trying to share with me.

「Due to Empathy lv3, Demon Hunter's Vine Grass Isil lv19 temporarily gains Corruption lv1」

Oh, what's it doing now?

Hellfire and Corruption are hell-type magic that I possess.

And inevitably, Isil cast the magic.

Really, what a talented plant.

「Demon Hunter's Vine Grass Isil lv19 uses Corruption lv1」

The mental hell magic was cast on the foolish Margrave.

==

Duiman's main profession wasn't being a physician.

Though he had coincidentally reached an amazing level in acupuncture, his motivation for studying the human body wasn't to hone medical skills.

'Prosthetic maker'.

That was Duiman's main profession and dream.

That's why he had a decent relationship with the couple Rahan and Dana.

Adapting to prosthetics isn't easy.

And using prosthetics better than one's original arm is even harder.

In that regard, Rahan was the perfect client.

Whether due to his mysterious lineage or just lucky natural talent, he perfectly handled Duiman's prosthetics.

Perfect handling meant using every function Duiman had packed into the prosthetic without missing any.

Like flicking the wrist to make a blade pop out.

Or bending the elbow backward like a reverse joint to throw a chain sickle faster.

However, people like Rahan were very rare.

Moreover, due to his nature as a guard warrior, Rahan couldn't use flashy prosthetics.

He normally just wore gloves, pretending to have a normal arm.

Last time, Duiman had recommended a prosthetic with claw arms, but was flatly rejected.

Duiman had a dream.

To create a massive prosthetic armed with dozens of functions.

So after maintaining Rahan's prosthetic.

When a gorilla without both arms appeared.

Duiman's eyes couldn't help but shake violently.

"Th-that gorilla..."

"Ah, it's Professor Obern's monster gorilla."

Right, it must be a monster.

For a moment, he had a vision of attaching huge prosthetics to that gorilla's arms.

Had he gone senile?

A monster with low intelligence probably couldn't use prosthetics that even humans struggled with.

...Still, I want to try attaching one.

While thinking that.

"Teacher..."

The gorilla 'spoke'.

"Can I get prosthetics too...?"

'Yes, my son.' Duiman almost answered like that.

He even thought about adopting this gorilla.

"O-okay."

Just as he barely managed to answer through his overwhelming emotions.

CRASH!

There was a sound of something breaking outside.

Had the Margrave woken up?

But he was tied to the chair.

"Let's check!"

Dana shouted that, and they hurriedly went outside.

And they saw.

The Margrave was standing.

The ropes that had tied him to the chair were broken and scattered on the floor.

What had the snake been doing?

Looking closer, the snake was wrapped around the Margrave's neck.

And the seedling was fluttering its leaves on the Margrave's crown.

The Margrave turned to look at them.

That cold and arrogant gaze.

Obern, Dana, Rahan. They all felt fear from those cold eyes.

And then a roar burst from the Margrave's mouth:

"SAAACK!"

An icy silence fell.