So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

One day, in another world where I fell and became a snake.

Mother Medusa was killed, her head cut off by a knight, and my siblings died burning while fighting each other against humans.

Born white alone, I drifted into the forest and lived there.

Getting bitten by insects and eating insects in return, meeting the centipede couple, almost dying from a cockatrice bite.

That's how I survived, evolving little by little.

How many friends could someone like me have had?

My acquaintances were at best.

The goblin tribe, Nanaluk, Mother Centipede, Mrs. Gorilla, the Shadow Forest monsters, Father, Pelerian, the dwarves and Roil...

No, come to think of it, there are quite a lot.

To think I'd have so many acquaintances.

My snake relationships now seem broader and deeper than my human relationships in my previous life.

Anyway, Zain and Oliver are also among the humans I know.

Actually, the number of 'humans' I know is rather small.

They say even brushing sleeves is a connection by fate.

Even meeting once is a significant connection, but to meet again in this distant land.

Zain and Oliver must surely be connected by the threads of fate too.

"Saaah!"

So I greeted them that way but.

"Huerk!"

"..."

Zain, supposedly a knight, screamed and Oliver froze stiff.

They're this happy to see me, right?

"W-w-why are you here?"

At least the calm Oliver asked that.

Was he so curious he had to add 'why' three times?

Seeing this, it seems Rania hadn't told them about my existence.

'I'm teaching children here with Obern.'

Explore new worlds at empire

"I see..."

'Rania is my excellent student.'

Oliver squeezed his eyes shut.

"Th-th-that's a very good thing."

Looking at Zain, he was whispering in conversation with Rania.

His expressions were varied.

Looking at them together, these two men seemed to really care for Rania.

I should greet Zain too.

When I approached him, Zain jumped up.

He jumped up because he was so happy to see me.

I jumped up too in response.

"L-long time no see."

'Yes, good to see you Zain. But why do they keep calling you Jarein?'

"Ah, that's because at the Iron Lion Knights..."

As Zain was answering as if entranced, suddenly Oliver ran over like lightning and hit Zain's side.

"Oof!"

"Hahaha, Jarein, what nonsense are you talking about."

Ah, so that's it.

I'm not so dense as to not notice.

Zain, who was from the Iron Lion Knights, is hiding his identity.

Since Knight Zain died there swept away by monsters, the one here is just a wandering knight feeling called Jarein.

'So that's the concept.'

"Ah... yes."

But to even throw punches.

As far as I know, knights were essentially nobles, and hunters were wildfolk even if skilled.

They must have become friends.

I understand well since my middle school friends used to hit me like that too.

They seemed a bit excited but fortunately calmed down soon.

This wasn't just a social call after all.

Oliver cleared his throat and spoke.

"You said you wanted to learn how to explore forests?"

They finally noticed they hadn't shown proper respect to the prince.

"I greet Your Highness. I am Hunter Oliver."

"Knight Jarein."

The old Phili might have thrown a fit about them not immediately showing respect.

"Ah, yes, pleased to meet you."

But whether the golden child training method worked.

Or whether he was intimidated by their dramatic reactions, Phili quietly accepted their greetings.

"Ahem, yes, and let me add one thing."

Oliver spoke definitively as if trying to regain his charisma.

"You have found the most qualified instructors."

That confidence drew an "ooh" sound.

"Though I'm not part of Black Den, I pride myself that my abilities as a hunter don't fall behind Black Den's hunters."

Black Den refers to none other than Heilit Langrey's hunters' guild.

Oliver was saying he was better than those top hunters.

"Tepery Forest isn't particularly rough or dangerous. However, being an old forest, there are more than enough places to hide a few gold coins. While there are monsters too, it's nothing compared to the magic realm. Everyone, feeling more confident?"

Oliver grinned.

The trio smiled along seeing his expression.

Then suddenly Oliver shouted.

"One, two, three!"

Oliver's smiling expression twisted sharply.

"Just now, all three of you died."

"Wh-what..."

"Your Highness died from dozens of stings from bees living in rotting trees, Lady Rania starved to death after getting lost in the forest, and Amain there died from a wild boar goring his stomach!"

The trio wore dumbfounded expressions.

But Oliver's presence was so intimidating, they froze unable to make any retort.

Only after the atmosphere had sufficiently chilled did Oliver smile.

"Don't take the forest lightly. What I just said are things that can easily happen. Individual combat ability doesn't necessarily correlate with surviving in forests. Without training, even knights who use aura often die in forests. Isn't that right, Sir Jarein?"

"Oliver speaks true."

"Right? Since we don't have much time, I'll teach only the most important things in crash course."

Wow.

I couldn't help but admire.

As I felt when learning the Ferang School Dagger Technique before, this hunter Oliver's teaching ability isn't bad at all.

Honestly, it seems better than Obern's.

Obern, you should learn from Oliver too.

"There are three important things. First is not getting lost, second is finding paths, third is making paths."

Oh, he speaks plausibly.

"If you get lost in the forest, you die. Especially in the magic realm, if you can't find shelter to spend the night, your chances of dying increase by half. This is because when you can't preserve your stamina, even your senses become dull. As long as you listen to my lecture, you won't get lost. I promise."

It's the kind of confidence like saying you can get a perfect score on college entrance exams if you listen to his focused lectures.

There was a reason for that confidence.

He took out multiply folded paper from his backpack.

"This is a map of Tepery Forest. Memorize it until you can draw the forest map without looking at it by test day."

What was unfolded was none other than a map of the test location.

When the revealed secret turned out more mundane than expected, the students made disappointed sounds.

Especially Phili snorted.

"You acted so high and mighty just over a map?"

This kid still hasn't fixed his bad habits.

Just as I was about to smack his bottom, Oliver spoke seriously.

"Whee- thud!"

"Wh-what?"

"Do you know what sound that is?"

Oliver spoke without even smiling.

"That's the sound of Your Highness failing in last place. Since you didn't memorize the map and looking at you, you seem slow physically, you'll fail from the first round."

"Kuk."

"For reference, His Highness the Second Prince will likely pass. There's no way they wouldn't have looked at the map too."

"Are you d-done talking!"

I laughed.

And smacked Phili's bottom so he couldn't act up anymore.

「Using Tail Whip lv3.」

Whack!

Phili fell forward with a scream.

"Why, why only hit me?"

"Saah!"

Because the other kids are already studying the map diligently.