Yep, this person is old.

The way she speaks about Irina, the ancient Amazon matriarch from thousands of years ago...

As if they were contemporaries, as if they had met and spoken, or maybe even been friends.

"Was Irina a friend of yours?" I asked her directly, curious about the connection between this ancient serpent-woman and the legendary Amazon matriarch.

Ah, and then something unexpectedly cute happened, something that completely contradicted the terrifying and powerful image that this creature had built up over the course of the past few Chapters!

The big, scary serpent woman with the dark sclera, purple pupils, and the massive horns... began to blush a little bit.

A faint rosy color spread across her pale cheeks like dawn breaking over a winter landscape.

She seemed genuinely startled by my question, caught off guard by its directness, and she started scratching her chin with one long finger in a nervous and self-conscious gesture.

"Uh... I would not say that she was a friend, exactly. Such a term feels far too embarrassing," her voice faltered a little bit as she spoke, losing some of its commanding authority and gaining a softer, more vulnerable quality.

"But we did help each other quite a lot over the years, and we went through many difficult experiences together. And I suppose I miss her presence in my life now that I am awake again. So I will ask you once more: where is she? Do you know where I can find her? I don’t sense her magic in Verdant Spire."

"..."

Mhm. This is a difficult question to answer.

How do I say what I know in a way that will not make her angry?

Okay, let us just go with the guts.

Let us be honest and straightforward and let the chips fall where they may.

That is usually the best approach in situations like this, even if it feels uncomfortable in the moment.

I began speaking slowly, carefully choosing my words.

"Uh.... Uhm... I don’t know.."

"..."

"..."

Tsk.

The silence that stretched between us after was really awkward and uncomfortable, heavy with unspoken questions and unexpressed emotions.

Why did her expression shift so suddenly from curiosity to something darker and more painful?

"I only recently came to this region, as I mentioned before," I started again, trying to fill the uncomfortable silence with more information that might help clarify my situation. "So I don’t know that much. I did hear that she was last seen during the final battle of the last Celestial War.

"She apparently did something that ended the war swiftly. But I have no idea if she is somewhere else in the world right now, or if she is simply not with us anymore."

The Grootslang only watched me speak with what I would call a saddened expression on her face, her features softening and her eyes growing distant as she absorbed my words.

After I told her my part, she looked up at the bright moon hanging in the night sky above us, then down to the ground beneath her feet.

Her expression was still sad and thoughtful, filled with a kind of grief that she wasn’t trying to hide from me.

"Tell me, oh divine being," she said finally, her voice quieter than before, "how long ago did the war end? How many years have passed since its conclusion?"

...I’m not quite a divine being, but okay...

I replied to her question with the information I had gathered, trying to be as accurate as possible. "The war had ended for over 3800 years or so. Though I heard that the conflict itself started roughly 5000 years ago, so it lasted for a very long time before finally reaching its conclusion."

She looked at me suddenly, her dark eyes widening dramatically in her pale face, and her large breasts jiggled with the force of her sudden movement as she processed what I had just told her.

"H-Hold up! Are you telling me that I’ve been unconscious for five thousand fucking years?! That can’t be right! Do I even have a lifespan?!"

"..."

Wh... What was that sudden outburst? And where did that vulgar language come from?

When she saw my visible shock at her unexpected profanity, she immediately went back to ancient goddess mode, straightening her posture and composing her features, trying to regain her dignified bearing.

"I mean, I thought only some hundred of years had passed me by while I slumbered in my cave," she scraped her long, sharp nails over the surface of the stone beneath her, leaving deep gouges in the rock as a physical manifestation of agitation.

"That is what I meant to say. N... Not the other ’F’ thing. But to be out of the world for so long, for five entire millennia... What about Lazarus? Is he still alive? Mótsognir and Sakura? And that adorable fairy queen, Titania — is that woman still as insufferably beautiful and powerful as she has always been?"

"Ahaha! Slow down, slow down, you’re asking too many questions at once... and you’re hyperventilating," I waved at her with both hands to stop her from spiraling further into panic and anxiety. "Sakura is alive and well. Titania too. And the others you mentioned, Lazarus and Mótsognir, they are also alive and doing just fine, based on the brief interactions I’ve had with them."

Hearing that her old friends were still alive in the world, despite the passage of so many thousands of years, she visibly calmed down.

Her shoulders relaxed, breathing steadied, and a small but genuine smile spread across her lips, transforming her fierce and intimidating face into something softer and more approachable.

"I see... that is good," she said quietly, her voice warm with relief and something that might have been gratitude. "It is good to know that they are still here."

The smile she wore was such a peaceful one, such a gentle and contented expression, that I felt its warmth echo inside my own chest as well.

The feeling of knowing that your friends and your loved ones are alright, that they have survived the trials and tribulations of time and war — there might be no other feeling like it in the world.

"You have a wonderful smile... Grootslang," I involuntarily muttered, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"..."

...Ah, my mouth sometimes has a mind of its own, speaking thoughts that should probably remain private and internal.

I hope she is not angry with me for the unsolicited complime—

"Eh?! Eh?! Wh-What is happening right now? Are you coming to me, is that what this is? Are you trying to seduce me with sweet words and gentle compliments?!"

She began to fluster really hard, her entire body shifting away from my smaller self as if I were radiating some kind of infectious heat that she needed to escape.

Ouch.

Her pale cheeks burned bright red, and her hands fluttered nervously in front of her chest. "I w-will have you know, stranger, that I am keeping my ch-chastity and my virtue for my prince charming who will come for me on a white horse. I will not be swayed by the casual flattery of some powerful being who happen to cross my path!"

Uhm, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but this person sure uses some... interesting and unusual phrases when she is flustered.

Some of them sound almost like they come from a different time period or a different cultural context entirely.

She was cute when she acted like this, though, despite her enormous size and her obvious power.

There was something endearing about watching such a mighty creature reduced to stammering and blushing by a few simple words of praise.

"Uh, Grootslang—"

"My name is not Grootslang," ah, her authority was back now.

Restored in the span of a single second as she gathered her composure and straightened her posture, looking down at me with her commanding presence fully reengaged.

"When I was just born, newly hatched from my egg, still weak, small, and vulnerable, Lazarus and Irina found me wandering alone in the wilderness. They took me in and raised me for a time. And they named me Violette. That is my name."

Oh... That is a French name, is it not?

Violette.

Well, it sounds French to my ears, soft and elegant... and slightly romantic.

Ah, and now that I think about it, Renard Valois is also a French name.

Renard, meaning "fox" in French.

That damn fox truly is a fox in every sense of the word, sly and cunning and seemingly several steps ahead of everyone around him.

Hmph. Lucifer nearly killed him, though.

I smiled up at the large beauty sitting across from me on the broken stone platform, feeling a warmth in my chest, then said: "It fits you very well, Violette. The name suits you perfectly."

And her face cracked open like an eggshell under pressure, revealing the shy and blushing and flustered mess hiding beneath the surface.

She was adorable when she was like this, and I could not help but feel a little fond of her.