I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 420: Bom's Magic

Things were quite awkward between Bom and Levinas.

Well, more accurately, only Levinas was being awkward around Bom.

"Why do snake beast-kin like being bad...?"

"Because the Dragon King told us to."

"D-Dragon King...?"

"Yeah! The god of us snake beast-kin!"

God of the snake beast-kin.

Was it like the Elder Horned Rabbit for the horned rabbit beast-kin?

Curious, I had to ask:

"Bom, why did the Dragon King tell you to act badly?"

"Just before ascending, humans spotted the Dragon King and prevented them from becoming a proper dragon."

"You can't become a dragon if humans spot you?"

"No, if they'd said 'That's a dragon!' they would have become one. But instead they said 'That's just a big snake!'"

Ah.

So that's why they became a giant snake instead of a dragon?

It started making sense why the Dragon King and snake beast-kin were so twisted.

"So you act badly because of the Dragon King's orders?"

"Yeah. I have to spread chaos throughout the world for the Dragon King."

"I see."

Her bad behavior wasn't entirely her own choice.

That explained why her attempts at being bad seemed so clumsy.

Maybe Bom didn't actually enjoy being bad...

"Time for my next bad deed!"

Before I could finish my thought, Bom ran toward a patch of grass.

A few ants were wandering around searching for food.

Bom dropped some of her chocolate among them.

"Bom, giving food isn't really a bad thing?"

"No, just watch!"

An ant examining the chocolate crawled away through the grass.

The chocolate piece seemed too big - it looked like it went to get help carrying it.

"Shuin! Ant!"

"Yeah, there are lots of ants."

The scout ant returned with its companions.

Just as we gathered to watch the ants try to move the chocolate, Bom quickly reached down and snatched it away.

"No chocolate for you."

"Heuk! She stole the chocolate!"

"Bad!"

The children were shocked seeing Bom take away the chocolate.

But then she pulled out a small piece of biscuit.

"Eat this instead."

"A biscuit?"

"Yeah. They had sweet chocolate, but suddenly getting a biscuit instead will be super disappointing!"

"Hmm..."

Wouldn't ants be equally happy with chocolate or biscuits?

The biscuit piece was actually bigger, so quantity-wise it seemed better.

Something felt off, but since our children were so shocked, I decided to count it as a bad deed anyway.

"Ant snack."

Gaeul and Bom watched the ants carry away the biscuit.

During this fascinating moment, Levinas called me and Saebyeok over.

"King...! Dark King...!"

Levinas led us behind a nearby tree.

Crouching down, she whispered:

"This is terrible...! Snake beast-kin are just too evil...!"

For Levinas, who always tried to find good in others, to say something like this...

Her trauma from snake beast-kin must run deep.

Though Bom's nature didn't seem truly bad.

It was sad seeing them unable to get closer.

"Are you very scared?"

"Levinas isn't scared of snake beast-kin at all...!"

"Really?"

"...Maybe a tiny bit scared...!"

Woo.

Levinas's ears drooped.

Seeing this, Saebyeok, who had been quietly watching, spoke up:

"Is it hard to become friends?"

"I don't know...!"

"Then maybe we could try finding good things about Bom?"

So Saebyeok also thought Bom wasn't truly bad?

She was trying to help Bom and Levinas get closer.

"Mm...! Then Levinas will try to find good things about snake beast-kin...!"

After Levinas's declaration, we walked back toward Bom.

Gaeul was giggling while watching ants beside Bom.

"Gaeul, what's so funny?"

"Ant!"

Gaeul reached into the tall grass.

What emerged was an ant as big as our Seol.

"...!"

Seeing the ant magnified like under a microscope made our ears and tail fur stand on end.

We'd heard about giant ant monsters - it looked exactly like that.

"Monster! The snake beast-kin made a monster!"

"This isn't a monster."

"...If it's not a monster, is it some new species?"

Did our world have ants over 30cm long?

I observed the ant from a distance.

I thought I was used to this kind of thing thanks to Kkamang, but ants felt different somehow.

"Shuin! Ant!"

Gaeul gestured that the ant had grown bigger.

Maybe Bom had used her ability to enlarge it.

"Did you make it bigger?"

"Yeah. I was going to surprise people with it, but I changed my mind."

"Why?"

"I don't like scaring my friends too."

Bom's gaze was fixed on our raised ears and tails.

She must have noticed how startled we were.

She really didn't seem like such a bad child after all.

I thought this while watching the ant shrink back to normal size.

**

"Can you use transformation abilities?"

"Yeah. Transformation and change, I guess you could say."

"I see."

So she used her change ability to fix the tent too.

I'd heard not all beast-kin had abilities like this.

But there were many beast-kin with amazing abilities around me.

It was quite fascinating.

While I was thinking about Bom's abilities, Levinas approached her.

"Snake beast-kin, we horned rabbits have a guardian deity too."

"Yeah, I know. The Elder Horned Rabbit."

"No way?!"

For the first time, Levinas showed excitement.

Her eyes were practically sparkling.

"Yeah. I heard the Elder Horned Rabbit has amazing abilities."

"That's right! The Elder Horned Rabbit is amazing!"

Amazing indeed.

The ability to block others' mana.

Depending on who used it with, that power could become catastrophic.

If our Master gained the ability to block mana...

That would truly be incredible.

Perhaps even all the world's adventurers together couldn't win.

"But even though the Elder Horned Rabbit is great, our Dragon King is a bit greater."

"What?!"

Just as Levinas was trying to show friendliness, Bom dropped this line.

At these words, Levinas's eyes went wide.

"Our Dragon King almost became a real dragon. That's a true deity."

"W-well, dragons are amazing, but the Elder Horned Rabbit is just as amazing..."

"Yeah. Amazing, but our Dragon King is a little more amazing."

Levinas tried compromising by saying they were similar, but Bom wouldn't yield, insisting dragons were stronger.

Bom seemed to genuinely believe dragons were stronger, rather than just being stubborn.

Having never seen a dragon, I couldn't judge who was more amazing, but I decided to mediate between them.

Their newly-formed closeness seemed in danger of disappearing.

"I think Levinas is right. The Elder Horned Rabbit and Dragon King are about equal."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because they're friends, so they must be somewhat alike."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

Bom accepted this with surprise, while Levinas puffed out her chest saying "That's right!"

I was relieved to have settled things well.

Before the children could argue more about this, I changed the subject.

"Bom, can you show us your ability?"

"The transformation?"

"Yeah. Can you use it on anyone?"

"No, I can't use it on people stronger than me. Their mana blocks it."

I see.

So it wasn't an almighty ability.

I pointed at Encia, who was just coming out of the guild building.

"Then could you use it on Encia over there?"

"She's probably too strong? Though if she gives permission, I could."

So it was possible if the person consented.

It felt somewhat similar to Han Yeoreum's information ability.

I wanted to see exactly how Bom's ability worked.

"Then let's ask Encia."

"Okay."

We all ran over to Encia.

She greeted us with a smile.

"Encia, Encia."

"What is it?"

"Bom has transformation abilities. Is there anything you'd like to transform into?"

"Bom..."

Encia's gaze fell on Bom.

Meeting Encia's eyes, Bom looked down nervously.

Even though Encia hadn't done anything threatening.

"Hmm... there's nothing in particular I want to transform into."

"Ah..."

I'd wanted to see how Bom's ability worked on someone stronger than her.

It was disappointing we couldn't see it.

"Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to see Bom's ability."

"Ah, if that's the case..."

Encia approached Bom.

Bom flinched but suddenly burst out laughing.

"What?!"

"Would you like to use your ability on me?"

"How about a frog?!"

"...I'd prefer to maintain human form."

At the mention of frogs, Encia showed rare emotional disturbance.

Just in case, I made a request to Bom.

"Bom, no weird transformations, okay?"

"Okay. We're friends so I won't do anything weird."

Black mana rose from Bom's hands.

The mana wrapped around Encia like fog.

"How is it?"

"I don't sense anything negative..."

Encia's body started shrinking.

She seemed to shrink to about my size, but the black mana made it hard to see clearly.

"Encia?"

Was this really okay?

I was getting worried even though I'd asked for this.

I swallowed nervously while watching Encia.

"Oh..."

When the mana cleared, Encia had become a young child.

As young as Gaeul.

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