Chapter 68 Knocked Out

“I feel like it’s almost fully grown.”

Nagu thoughtfully held Hamoyin’s tail, which had grown to his ankles. The scales on the tail had become the same dazzling blue-green color as his back, and it felt cool and slippery to the touch, very comfortable.

“…Hmm.” Hamoyin’s tail moved slightly but didn’t pull away from Nagu’s hand, allowing her to continue touching it. Since his tail had grown, he was no longer tormented by the old cravings and pains, but a new problem had arisen: Nagu’s attention was entirely on his tail, and she would seize any opportunity to hold and touch it for a while.

A few days ago, during his mating season, things were relatively normal, and Nagu didn’t touch his tail much. But after the mating season ended, she became completely uninhibited.

Nagu had her reasons for being uninhibited. During the mating season, just a slight touch of Hamoyin’s tail would make him excited, but now that the mating season was over, if she didn’t touch it now, would she have to wait until the next mating season?

So at this moment, she was using her fingers to continuously scratch the tip of Hamoyin’s tail, as if teasing a small animal. “I remember you said your original tail could drag on the ground. Will it grow longer?”

“Maybe.” The tip of his tail curled around Nagu’s wrist and then released. “Or maybe not.”

“Hmm…” Nagu nodded thoughtfully. “I have another question.”

“What is it?”

Nagu covered her stomach with one hand and looked at Hamoyin. “Will I get pregnant with little lizards or little snakes?”

“…” Hamoyin tried to appear calm, but his tail had already stiffened behind him, and the tips of his ears were starting to heat up. He stared at Nagu’s stomach for a while before swallowing. “It’s unlikely…”

“What do you mean by ‘unlikely’?”

“It’s very difficult for humans and monsters to conceive offspring. If they do get pregnant, the offspring are usually stillborn or die shortly after birth.”

“Oh…” Nagu recalled the story Hamoyin had told her about his childhood, where monsters were very attentive to their young because of the low survival rate. “So, it’s basically impossible for me to have a baby?”

“Possible.”

“Possible?”

“It might happen, or it might not.”

Their gazes locked, and Nagu looked into Hamoyin’s seemingly emotionless golden pupils, feeling a bit mischievous. “Do you want it or not?”

Hamoyin’s throat made a gurgling sound, and his tail swayed restlessly behind him. He didn’t dare to tell Nagu that he hoped she could give birth to a bunch of his babies, fearing it would make her uncomfortable. “…”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Nagu leaned forward and hugged Hamoyin’s waist, her hand moving over the scales on his back. The good thing about passing the mating season was that she could touch Hamoyin without fear of being pinned down and exhausted. “Don’t you want it?”

“Would you be willing?” Hamoyin asked out of the blue.

“Willing for what?”

“Nothing.”

Nagu wouldn’t let him stop halfway, shaking Hamoyin’s waist vigorously. “Tell me, do you want it or not!” She actually knew that Hamoyin wanted to ask if she was willing to have his babies, but she wanted to hear him say it himself, which gave her a strange sense of satisfaction.

Hamoyin, unable to resist Nagu’s shaking, reached under her arms and lifted her up. “I said it’s nothing…”

Nagu, now held up, leaned on Hamoyin’s shoulder and looked down at him, pouting in dissatisfaction. “Fine, then if I think I’m pregnant with little lizards, I won’t tell you.”

“I’m not a lizard, nor a snake.”

“You’re not?” Thinking of this, Nagu felt annoyed. She bumped her forehead against Hamoyin’s. “You are!”

Hamoyin held Nagu, letting her play around, but after a few minutes, he suddenly turned his head to look out the treehouse window.

“What’s wrong?” Noticing Hamoyin’s movement, Nagu stopped tugging at his ears.

“Wait a moment.” Hamoyin put Nagu down, walked to the window, looked outside, and then quickly returned to pull Nagu towards the large wooden box inside the house. “Duogaluo is here.”

Nagu wasn’t very surprised. Considering the time, Duogaluo should indeed be coming to see Hamoyin. They still had the big task of seizing power to deal with, so she obediently let Hamoyin put her in the box. “I just stay in here?”

“Yes.” Hamoyin held the lid of the box with one hand and covered Nagu’s head with a fur. “It’ll be quick.”

She hadn’t seen Duogaluo for a while and wondered how he was doing. After Hamoyin closed the box, Nagu peeked through a small gap between the lid and the box. About ten minutes later, Duogaluo appeared on the platform outside the treehouse. He lifted the curtain at the door and walked in, immediately seeing Hamoyin standing in the middle of the room waiting for him.

“You…” Duogaluo wanted to ask if his mating season was over, but his eyes involuntarily looked at Hamoyin’s tail, which was now down to his ankles. “You’re recovering well.”

Hamoyin nodded, waiting for Duogaluo to continue.

After the greeting, Duogaluo didn’t rush to ask anything else, just looking around the simple treehouse. “Where’s the former witch? I don’t see her.”

“She’s gone, don’t know when.” Hamoyin’s expression didn’t change, his tone flat.

Surprisingly, Duogaluo didn’t show any surprise or confusion, just said lightly, “Is that so,” and then looked seriously at Hamoyin. “I ask you, don’t you think Nagu regaining her memory and the witch’s resurrection are related?”

“Nagu is very important to you, so I think you must have thought about these two things to some extent. After all, the resurrected witch didn’t go anywhere else but came to you.” Hamoyin didn’t speak.

“Then, the more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed. The things Nagu said to me before she regained her memory, and the former witch who, for some reason, stayed with you and had a good relationship with you after her resurrection…” Duogaluo said as he walked towards Hamoyin. “I originally just suspected it was possible, but then you told me the witch left on her own.”

“Are you trying to hide her?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Duogaluo raised his hand to block Hamoyin’s arm, which was swinging towards him. He quickly stepped back a few steps, but not far enough to be safe, as Hamoyin had already grabbed a nearby knife and lunged at him.

Duogaluo also drew a knife from his waist to block Hamoyin, but when the two bone knives clashed, Hamoyin quickly let go of his knife and punched Duogaluo’s throat.

“…Ugh!” Duogaluo kicked at Hamoyin’s waist, pushing him back a few steps, but Hamoyin’s tail struck his ankle.

“Are you serious!? Are you really trying to kill me!?” Duogaluo rolled on the floor to avoid Hamoyin’s attacks. As he endured the fierce assault, Duogaluo finally confirmed his previous suspicion: the former witch might be Nagu, or rather, the Nagu before she regained her memory!

“I’ve helped you and Nagu so many times!”

“Yes!!”

Hamoyin stopped attacking and looked towards the wooden box inside the house. Duogaluo also looked in that direction, following the sudden voice.

He saw the former witch, draped in fur, standing in the now-open box.
Hamoyin squinted at Nagu, his gaze as cold as a snake’s, making her shiver.

“…” Nagu shrank back under Hamoyin’s glare, but she couldn’t just watch Dogaro get killed by Hamoyin. “I, um, you can’t really kill Duogaluo.”

“So you really are Nagu?” Duogaluo propped himself up halfway from the ground, staring at her in disbelief. “How is this possible? What’s going on between you and the Mother Goddess?”

Hamoyin sighed, putting away his killing intent, and stood in front of Duogaluo, blocking his view. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me? Why didn’t you say that when you were trying to kill me!” Duogaluo coughed as he got up from the ground. “So, is she Nagu or not? What’s going on? And who is that white-skinned Nagu in the village?”

“That’s Nagu,” Hamoyin said flatly.

“Then, who is the one behind you?” Duogaluo pointed.

“That’s Nagu.”

Duogaluo, having just been beaten and now confused by Hamoyin’s ambiguous words, was about to explode. “Who is who exactly?!”

“The one in the village is indeed Nagu. I’m not Nagu, but you can call me Nagu because I don’t know my real name.” Nagu threw down the fur and walked to Hamoyin’s side. “Do you understand?”

“Do you think I can understand?”

“Yeah…”

Nagu looked up at Hamoyin standing still beside her, then at Duogaluo, who was confused. “Anyway… Anyway, you don’t have to worry too much about my situation. Let’s talk about Azuran. Isn’t that why you came to see Hamoyin today?”

Indeed, he came for Azuran, but Nagu’s situation made him very concerned. Duoagaluo’s expression was complicated. “Alright, after the rainy season, Azuran will lead people to the southern wasteland to clear out the remaining monsters. I will also participate. You should secretly follow the team.”

“We can create an opportunity during the clearing to let the monsters kill Azuran. This way, no one will be held responsible, just like with Gongduo. What do you think?”

“Okay.”

Faced with Hamoyin’s simple response, Duogaluo didn’t know how to reply and could only look at Nagu. “Going to the wasteland might take half a season. You should stay in the village during that time. I’ll arrange everything.”

“Alright…?” Nagu hesitated, but she had to compromise to deal with Azuran as soon as possible and leave.

Hamoyin didn’t express any opinion, seemingly agreeing by default.

“After the rainy season, come to the market and follow the river south. You’ll see our team in the plains. Just follow us without being noticed, and I’ll find a chance to meet you.”

After explaining the plan, Duogaluo wanted to ask more about Nagu, but seeing Hamoyin’s expression as if ready to slit his throat at any moment, he decided to retreat for now.

“If I hadn’t stopped you, would you really have killed Duogaluo?” Nagu asked after Duogaluo left. “Duogaluo hasn’t done anything evil.”

“I didn’t plan to kill him. I just wanted to knock him out.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Nagu was very skeptical of Hamoyin’s “yes,” but she did feel a bit cold-sweated by Duogaluo’s sharpness. “So now we just have to wait until after the rainy season? I’ll stay in the village, and you’ll deal with Azuran…”

Hamoyin didn’t answer. Instead, he suddenly started walking around the house, placing flint and some bone knives on a spread-out fur, then went to get the dried meat hanging from the beams.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, watching Hamoyin pack. “Why are you suddenly packing?”

“Leaving here,” Hamoyin said simply, then placed a few jars of herbal ointment on the fur. “Now.”

“Leaving? Leaving?” Nagu didn’t understand his actions and asked again, “Leaving here now to go where?”

“Anywhere.”

Hamoyin turned to look at Nagu. “I said I would take you away after killing Azuran. Now, we don’t need to wait. We’re leaving immediately.”

Nagu stood there, stunned, her mouth half-open like a fish. “Huh?”