So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

Judging by the salute, he must be a soldier.

Even just from his voice, you can tell he's an attention-seeking soldier.

Given that he's doing odd jobs in the rear instead of fighting monsters in the current situation, he probably usually serves the Viscount.

The commander is dead, and the monster wave is right in front of them.

In this urgent situation, holding onto a holy knight and asking whether to tidy up or put away the armor might be hard for an ordinary person to understand.

But I was different.

I too had been in the military, and I've done a few part-time jobs.

I've been directly called incompetent, and heard it much more behind my back.

'This guy...'

I wiped my nose with my tail.

The soldier loaded the armor onto a cart with a grunt.

"It's heavier than usual today."

Kya.

Even his muttering to himself is perfect.

He doesn't even know I'm inside the armor, what an endearing guy.

"You're lucky too. Thanks to some idiot."

'You're being too harsh. He's trying his best.'

Seeing him reminds me of my past life.

There's no need to explain my glorious military days.

Even after being discharged, my timid personality and slowness didn't improve.

My parents were very displeased with this.

They urged me to at least get a part-time job, so I applied to several places.

I don't know why, but the problem was that I failed every interview at every place I applied.

After this kept happening, my mother created a part-time position for me at a bar run by an acquaintance.

I remember the owner who welcomed me saying, 'So you're the one?'

He had a kind face, and thinking back now, he was really a nice person.

On the first day, I broke three beer mugs and spilled the army stew that was supposed to go to table 3 on the floor.

The owner just smiled awkwardly, but the other part-timer wasn't so forgiving.

He was four years younger than me, with tattoos on his arms and good looks.

'Ah bro, why are you like this? It's so fucking annoying.'

When he said that, I could only say,

'S-Sorry...'

It was so hard every day.

I felt my self-esteem dropping day by day.

There weren't many customers either, so I felt even more self-conscious as the owner kept sighing heavily.

Then one day.

It was raining heavily, probably due to the monsoon season, and there were particularly few customers that day.

'Kids, let's close up early today.'

As I was trying to hide my joy, the owner took out soju glasses and said we should have a drink together.

I didn't really like alcohol, but I felt pressured and accepted the glass.

The owner downed his drinks one after another.

The younger part-timer livened up the atmosphere.

I got a bit excited as the alcohol kicked in, and the owner smiled and praised me as he watched.

'It's hard work, isn't it? But you've improved a lot. You too.'

I was so happy.

That's why I drank more, which was probably the problem.

'There really were no customers today.'

When the owner said that.

'Yeah, I wish it was always this quiet. Hehe.'

At that moment.

It became so quiet that you could only hear the falling rain.

I had never seen such a cold look in the owner's eyes before.

What broke the silence was the laughter of my coworker, four years my junior.

'This is really fucking hilarious. Bro, why are you such a loser?'

Those words stayed in my head for a long time.

That part-time job was my last.

As I fell silent, Pelerian broke the silence.

"Why are you making such a wistful expression?"

'It's nothing. Hehe.'

It was a nostalgic memory.

I want to eat army stew.

The attention-seeking soldier put me and the armor down somewhere.

And then left.

It's dark, so it must be indoors.

I cautiously poked my head out.

"Phew!"

I'm alive!

This was inside an empty barracks.

It seems to be the place used by the hero I killed.

Large weapons and detailed maps were hanging on the walls.

My attention was immediately drawn to those maps.

'A map...'

A quite detailed map.

It hit me again that this wasn't Earth.

Kingdoms and empires were drawn, and there was an area labeled "Great Forest".

"It's a tactical map! Not something easily obtainable."

Properly made maps have always been strategic assets managed by the state.

Something stood out on the map.

A massive mountain range was drawn across the continent and kingdoms.

'That must be the Gray Mountains.'

It was one of the five or seven great magical realms of the continent.

One that was always included among them was the 'Mountain Range'.

"We've already come this far. We're closer to the Gray Mountains than the Great Forest now."

Pelerian excitedly approached the map.

"Here, and here."

He points to the entrance of the mountain range and deep inside it.

"My dungeons are here."

And the identity of the dungeon relatively close by is.

"This is my armory."

Armory, in other words, a weapon storage.

'You collected weapons too?!'

"Yes, we should head there first."

To hide a tree, you should hide it in a forest.

For a monster like me to hide, a magical realm would be the best.

I wanted to get a longsword anyway, so this works out well.

I'll have to ask later about what kind of weapons are in the dungeon.

"Grab the map first!"

My presence will soon be discovered.

I followed Pelerian's words and grabbed the map.

While I'm at it, I might as well take everything I can.

There wasn't much space left in my subspace, so I took the most valuable-looking things first.

And then something caught my eye.

'Oh, oh!'

The Viscount's armor.

More precisely, the gauntlet part.

The glove that tore out the chimera snake's heart was still clutching something.

Thin tree branches were covering the gauntlet, and inside was something bright red.

Could this be the chimera snake's mana stone?

──────────────

[Seed of the Root]

The origin used in creating the chimera.

──────────────

It wasn't.

Seeing the word 'seed' made me want to burst into tears.

Maybe if I plant this seed somewhere, a mini chimera snake will sprout.

That would be nice.

If that happens, I'll make sure to take good care of it.

In its next life, I'll make sure it doesn't grow up to be a stupid, ferocious, poorly made chimera without even an anus.

I'll raise it well from a young age.

"Truly a precious specimen! Make sure to take it! You can throw away the gold if you need space in the subspace!"

I won't leave its education to that wicked magician.

It might grow up to be an evil monster resembling a spider, like Chimera Fafnir.

To leave this behind, that soldier is quite something.

Equal to me, or perhaps even more so.

I tried to retrieve the chimera snake's seed.

'Why won't this open?'

But it wasn't easy.

The gauntlet was gripping the seed tightly, and something like tree roots covered it, making it impossible to open.

After struggling for a while, I found a solution.

I'm no longer a frustrated low-rank.

If I can't open the gauntlet, why not take the whole gauntlet?

Click!

As I undid the fastening, the gauntlet fell off.

I put the gauntlet into my spatial storage.

My spatial storage was already full, so I had no choice but to discard the gold I found in Pelerian's dungeon.

"Yes, well done. Now go quickly!"

'I'm taking it with me!'

Now there really was no time to spare.

It's chaotic outside.

Where should I go?

Ah, that way!

I dug a tunnel towards the wall of the barracks, burrowing downwards.

Voices could be heard from the door.

"Are you sure there was nothing inside the armor?"

"Y-yes, I believe so."

Poor soldier.

The moment I escaped outside.

"Y-you madman!"

I heard the screams of the Holy Knights behind me.

Let's run away quickly!