Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 20 Two Chairpersons
Hearing the obscure and incomprehensible words spoken by the wild man, Du Yi was speechless for a moment.

Although he was awakened from his molting slumber and was still a little groggy, the sight of these plump mammoths around him made it all worthwhile—their flesh, with its marbled texture and snowflake-like patterns, was so tender and juicy that it seemed impossible for them to grow in the wild.

This also led Du Yi to begin to appreciate the gifts of nature.

Upon seeing living people, Du Yi felt even better. Having slept for so long, he hadn't spoken to anyone for quite some time. Now that he had encountered two living people, he could chat with them and find out exactly how long he had slept and what new changes had occurred in the outside world.

This is the benefit of communicating with others. The information one can explore on their own is ultimately limited, but communicating with others allows them to obtain more information that they could not explore on their own, and to know things that they would otherwise have difficulty knowing.

But Du Yi never expected that there would be a language barrier.

"That doesn't make sense! Didn't I learn the language of these savages?"

Du Yi was quite puzzled. He remembered very clearly that the savage called the Radiant One had learned the way snakes sounded from him, and he had also learned some of the savages' language from him—through these languages, he had even been able to communicate smoothly with the Radiant One for decades.

But now, these languages ​​are completely useless.

The savage clearly didn't understand what he was saying.

He couldn't understand a word the savage was saying.

"This……"

Du Yi started scratching his head with his tail; at that moment, he felt that all the language he had learned before was for nothing.

However, this wasn't a big problem for him, since similar situations had occurred before—Du Yi had successful experience in communication.

Since we can't communicate in the same language, we might as well just use the most basic method.

Thinking this, Du Yi simply tore off a piece of mammoth meat and pushed it toward the two of them.

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As the fragrant elephant meat was pushed in front of them, the two people beside the giant snake had different expressions.

Looking at the two pieces of meat that had been separated in front of him, and especially seeing the other piece being pushed in front of the mage, the young Ignis's expression immediately became somewhat subtle.

When the mage saw a piece of meat being pushed in front of him, he burst into laughter.

The moment he heard the serpent god speak, he realized that it was indeed speaking Ignis, but in an ancient language from hundreds of years ago—a way of speaking that probably dates back to the time of the nineteenth Holy King, and no one speaks like that anymore.

Even he couldn't quite understand the meaning of these ancient sounds.

But that wasn't the main point. It was fine that he couldn't understand it; what really surprised him was that the young Ignis beside him also couldn't understand it.

Hearing that the other party was actually communicating with the gods in the current Ignis language, and seeing the stunned expressions on both sides, how could the mage not know that this young Ignis person and the serpent god in front of him had no way to communicate normally?

How could someone who can't even communicate normally with the serpent god be appointed as an apostle by the serpent god to collect sacrifices?

"And what I said before..."

Thinking of this, the mage couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Upon seeing the piece of meat before him, the mage became even more certain that he had safely survived this perilous ordeal.

After all, throughout the history of the Ignivas family, out of thirty-six generations of leaders, only the nineteenth Holy King had ever received food from the serpent god.

Although the first leader, who received magical power from the Serpent God, was clearly more noble in terms of status, the nineteenth Holy King, who received food from the Serpent God, was far more important than the first leader.

After all, the first leader obtained power merely by spying.

But the nineteenth Holy King had truly communicated with the Serpent God and even received wisdom from him. And now, the same treatment was being presented to him.

"Could it be, could it be..."

The mage was immediately filled with excitement.

To become a mage, he is also a member of the Ignivas family, not the Ignis people, but the Ignivas family—in other words, he is also royalty, and he can be considered a descendant of that holy king.

Now, after hundreds of years, the descendants of the Holy King have once again received the food bestowed by the Serpent God.

Doesn't this mean...

"Could I also achieve something comparable to that Holy King?"

The mage's face flushed bright red in an instant.

Thinking of the Holy King whose legend has been passed down to this day, the magician felt a surge of emotion. All along, he could only hear about that great figure in the records of his clan and in the legends of the streets and alleys—and now, at this very moment, he actually had the opportunity to become such a great figure!

"How could I have such a fate? How could I have such an opportunity..."

The thought of being hailed by thousands, being honored as the new generation of Holy King, and even replacing the nascent dawn to sit on the throne symbolizing royal power made the magician dizzy and even tremble with excitement.

But at that moment, he heard a chewing sound beside him.

It didn't originate from mid-air, but from beside them, and the one eating wasn't the great serpent god, but the young Ignis.

This immediately darkened the mage's face.

Indeed, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Receiving food from the serpent god meant that he had already begun to qualify as a holy king.

However, he wasn't the only one who had this great opportunity.

Beside him, the young Ignis was also enjoying the serpent god's blessings.

Upon sensing his gaze, the young Ignis even smiled.

"Indeed, I am not a messenger of any serpent god."

The young Ignis man spoke softly as he ate his meat.

"But if you've got the guts, go ahead and blast me to death in front of the Snake God."

"you……"

The mage immediately gritted his teeth.

But he held back in the end, simply because he was still enjoying the food bestowed by the serpent god, and he could not show any disrespect under any circumstances—although, due to the language barrier, those blasphemous words he had uttered earlier might not have killed him.

But right now, if he were to show any other expression towards the elephant meat that the serpent god had so carefully prepared, he would certainly not survive.

"But... what is the snake god trying to do?"

Chewing on the roasted meat in his mouth, the mage silently clenched his fist.

"How can there be two kings in Ignis?"

(End of this chapter)