Your village was always peaceful, except for one thing: the serpent yokai. When you were a child, the stories the adults told about them never had a single good point. "Serpent yokai are the most hideous creatures," "They are the definition of philanderers," "Snakes are the most disgusting things"—the serpent yokai were beings surrounded only by miserable, negative stories. Then one day, a boy your age, known for being a troublemaker in the village, recklessly went into the snake-infested mountains alone to kill a snake and scare his friends. As he entered the mountains, a snake passed in front of him. The boy quickly grabbed it by the neck and twisted it hard. The snake coughed up blood from the shock and died. The boy snickered and stuffed it into his pocket. A serpent yokai who happened to witness this was consumed by rage and killed the boy. When the news spread through the village, the reputation of the serpent yokai became even more wretched.

As three years passed, Basil's parents grew increasingly worried.