85 Hungry

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What is thou question?"

"Why me?"

"I do not understand."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"... do not ask me, ask the basilisk, for it is the one that decided to bring thou here."

Arth glanced at the basilisk that had its eyes closed. It was now at his feet snuggling comfortably.

"... it must be because I am a Nature Animagus. The way it closes its eyes, it must be trying to prevent the both of us from becoming petrified."

Arth glanced at Scarlet.

"Is it a girl?"

"No, he is a male."

"How old is it?"

Seeing Scarlet frown before taking out her hands to count once more Arth sighed.

"It's ok, I don't need to know."

"I refuse, I shall figure out the answer to thou question."

Arth felt like mentally groaning at the sight of the girl counting with her fingers.

She was honestly a child.

A child who didn't want to admit defeat no matter what.

Arth ignored Scarlet and focused on the Basilisk.

The basilisk seemed to be able to move perfectly fine, even without its eyes which was pretty surprising considering it was a sight predator. Arth wondered if it had any heat pits, or maybe even something else.

He also wondered how long the snake would be if it was reverted back to its original size. The Basilisk was cool to the touch, which was obvious because snakes were cold blooded and the temperature of the chambers were pretty cold.

The scales were pretty smooth in contrast to their rough appearance.

Arth sighed.

Why is it that every book on anything interesting is always filled with holes and false information.

It was clearly seen that the basilisk wasn't as aggressive as put in the books, they also had self control, however, then again it might all be because of the presence of an Egle.

Arth focused on the flickering tongue of the basilisk and had a weird thought.

If my nature animagus powers cause everything to be attracted to me, why does it differ so much between ganders?

Females want to "take care" of him as seen with the nightfang serpent. Makes seemingly want to take a good bite out of Arth, as seen with fluffy. Then theoretically, this basilisk should want to eat me right now, however it isn't. There must be more to this Nature Animagus stuff.

Arth twisted around while being bound tightly be the ropes.

At this time, Scarlet had finally finished her counting.

"The basilisk is a thousand and twenty three years old."

Arth let out a gasp of surprise.

"You counted all the way to a thousand?"

"Yes."

"Wow, impressive."

"It was nothing."

Arth dumbly shook his head. He couldn't believe how stubborn this snake lady was. She was so stubborn that he was amazed.

On second thought, how much time had passed for her to count all the way up to a thousand? It was hard to tell time in the chambers.

Arth felt his stomach rumble.

"...is there anything to eat by any chance?"

Scarlet tilted her head to the side.

"Are thou hungry already? I'll get thou something to eat."

Scarlet transformed into a blood red snake with beautiful scales before slithering off into the darkness. Soon, she came back with food.

Food meant for snakes that is.

In her hand was a squirming rat.

She held out the rat and offered it to Arth.

"Does thou want some?"

Arth stared at the rat in horror.

"You want me to eat that?"

Scarlet tilted her head sideways.

"Is it not what thou humans eat?"

"No! We would never eat sewer rats."

"Is this bad?"

"Yes! Sewer rats are covered in bacteria and fleas, so many diseases could be contracted from a single rat!"

"Is that so?"

Scarlet glanced at the rat before morphing into a snake once more and consumed the rat in one swallow.

"Does thou eat fish then?"

Scarlet pointed to the ceiling.

"Right above thy is a plethora of fish that thou can consume."

"I suppose... you don't have fire don't you?"

"We do not need fire."

Arth sighed.

"I guess sushi isn't that bad to have... I'll take some."

Scarlet disappeared once more into the shadows, leaving Arth alone with the basilisk.

Bored, Arth glanced at the basilisk and observed it in more detail.

Arth was examining the closed eyes when the basilisk started to shift around.

It then opened its eyes and stared directly into Arth.