Chapter 67
Come to think of it, I found it strange too. Why was it treating me like its owner?
“Maybe it’s because I was right in front of it when it hatched?”
“That could be it. But you said it was following you even before it hatched.”
At Kaiden’s words, I nodded while walking after the silver earthworm.
I’d thought the first time I found it was near the cabin, but maybe it had been following me even before that. It might have been so small back then that I simply hadn’t noticed it.
“Then could it be because you killed the anaconda?”
Kaiden continued speaking while tensely scanning our surroundings, wary of a possible monster attack.
“Maybe it got imprinted then.”
Imprinting? What was this, some kind of werewolf?
“When I was studying monster ecology, I learned that sometimes monsters who lose their mother imprint on a soul with strong mana. In those cases, they follow that being like it’s their master.”
“That’s really unusual.”
“Yeah. It’s extremely rare.”
I looked at the back of the silver earthworm as it deliberately crawled along at a pace matching our steps.
Perhaps sensing my gaze, it flinched and cautiously glanced back at me. It couldn’t even bring itself to look me straight in the eye.
‘Setting everything else aside, isn’t this thing way too timid for an anaconda?’
Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any other monsters along the way, and we managed to reach the top of the cliff before sunset.
The place the silver earthworm led us to was exactly the cliff where Kaiden and I had fallen. The decaying corpse of a gigantic tarantula was proof enough.
The sour, rotting stench was so strong that I had to hold my breath for a moment.
Now that I thought about it, even though it hadn’t hatched yet, the silver earthworm must have been here at the time. Was that how it knew the location?
‘Did it know we were looking for this cliff and come to help us? But how?’
Even if it couldn’t speak, maybe it could understand us. If it truly was a monster and a higher life-form, it might be possible.
Either way, it was clearly trying to help us—and it was actually pretty useful.
“We got here properly.”
At my mutter, Kaiden looked down at the silver earthworm with an impressed expression.
“Wow, that earthworm’s smarter than I thought.”
At his words, the silver earthworm bounced around in protest. It clearly didn’t like being called an “earthworm.”
Sorry, kid. I’m calling you a silver earthworm too.
I carefully searched around the cliff. I wondered if my bag might have fallen somewhere nearby, but as expected, I couldn’t see it.
“What are you looking for?” Kaiden asked.
“My bag.”
Only then did Kaiden realize what I was searching for and started scanning the area with me. That was when—
Hiss, hiss.
A chilling sound made me look down, and I saw the silver earthworm spinning in circles at my feet.
It lifted its head while wriggling along the ground and flicked its tongue at me.
Then it crawled forward a bit, looked back at me, crawled forward again, and looked back once more.
“Looks like it wants us to follow it,” Kaiden said.
I bit my lower lip and hesitated for a moment.
Should I follow it…? It had led us all the way to this cliff. It should be trustworthy, right?
After agonizing over it, I finally followed behind it, pushing through the undergrowth.
Going a bit farther behind the giant tarantula’s corpse, we found the body of a medium-sized spider. The silver earthworm circled around it.
“Ugh… I really hate spiders.”
Shuddering, I clutched Kaiden’s collar. There was something underneath the spider, which was lying upside down.
Kaiden showed no sign of being bothered by insects at all. He casually knelt down in front of the spider.
The silver earthworm hopped around happily, as if welcoming Kaiden, almost like it was urging him to take a closer look.
A palm-sized, earthworm-like snake hopping around on the ground was a truly bizarre sight.
Kaiden tried to lift the spider’s leg, but it was heavy and didn’t budge easily.
“Margaret, I think one of your magic tools is trapped under here.”
At his words, I reluctantly stepped closer and placed my hand on the spider’s furry leg.
Ugh. The texture is awful. Ugh…
Following Kaiden’s lead, I lifted the spider’s leg. The moment it rose off the ground, the silver earthworm slipped underneath as if it had been waiting for the chance.
“Huh?”
I stared down in surprise as the little thing pushed out a flare with its head.
If it could talk, it looked like it would be shouting, “Heave-ho, heave-ho.”
Kaiden, equally astonished, watched the silver earthworm’s actions with a dumbfounded expression.
After completely pushing the flare out, it looked up at me with what seemed like a proud expression.
Well, snakes don’t really have expressions, so I couldn’t be sure—but the way it flicked its tongue at me felt just like a dog asking for praise.
There was no way a creature like this was just an ordinary snake. If, like Kaiden said, it had truly imprinted on me as its master, then everything made sense.
It was probably the baby anaconda that had tried to break out of that egg back then.
“Well done. Thank you.”
At my praise, it seemed delighted and spun around in place.
‘It’s even starting to look kind of cute.’
A fully grown anaconda would be terrifying, but this one was just a tiny, earthworm-like baby snake.
And a little thing that followed me around so energetically, eyes shining as if begging for affection—it was hard to dislike it completely.
I smiled faintly at the silver earthworm and picked up the flare.
The flare was intact. The cartridge was still inside. I hadn’t found my bag, but at least recovering this was a huge relief.
“Margaret?”
Kaiden, who had started heading back, called out to me. I set aside my thoughts and followed him back toward the cliff.
The sky was unusually clear that day, and the sunlight was warm. Thanks to the good visibility, the island spread out before us in especially vivid, brilliant colors.
The emerald river flowing beneath the cliff sparkled brilliantly, and the lush green foliage surrounding the cliff swayed peacefully.
“This island really is pretty,” Kaiden said when he noticed me gazing silently over the edge.
I glanced at him and nodded.
“Yeah. It’s beautiful.”
Who would ever think such a beautiful island was filled with horrifying monsters?
I stared at the island for a while longer before turning away.
“Let’s go back. Everyone will be worried.”
At my words, Kaiden nodded. Just then, the silver earthworm cautiously followed behind us toward the cabin.
When I turned around to look at it, it froze in surprise and nervously glanced around, gauging my reaction.
Whenever we moved, it quietly followed. When we stopped and looked back, it would flinch and freeze again.
I didn’t know why it was acting so pitiful. Was this some kind of pity-inducing tactic?
If it was, then it was working—at least to some extent. I was starting to feel sorry for it.
‘It doesn’t even look like a mouthful…’
If it lived alone, it probably wouldn’t survive even a day before getting eaten by another monster.
In the end, I couldn’t avoid making a decision. After staring at the silver earthworm with a conflicted expression, I asked it,
“Do you want to come with us?”
At my question, it hopped excitedly and rushed over, spinning around my feet at lightning speed.
“Wow, that snake bastard really acts like a dog,” Kaiden muttered.
I shot him an exasperated look.
“That wasn’t technically a curse, but it really sounded like one.”
He shrugged.
In the end, we decided to take the silver earthworm back to the cabin with us.
Since we were bringing it along anyway, I thought we might as well get a bit closer, so I gently poked its silver scales. Kaiden spoke up.
“If you’re taking it with us, why not give it a name?”
The silver earthworm, which had been lying still and letting me play with it, lifted its head.
For some reason, its yellow eyes seemed to sparkle.
“Eunji.”
It jerked upright.
“It’s short for Silver Earthworm.”
It ended up sounding like a Korean name, but no better idea came to mind.
What could I do? That was the limit of my naming sense.
