[“Hmm, trying to find their scent in this place is difficult,”] Saori complained. [“I thought a canine’s nose should be better than this but tracking with scent alone is proving a challenge.”]
[“Could it be because your monster form hasn’t matured yet, Miss Saori?”] Tasianna stated. ["Lady Hestia's dragon wings are currently incapable of bringing her into the sky due to its lack of growth."]
[“Yeah, Tasianna might be right,”] I concurred. [“You’re only two months old. Nothing to do besides waiting.”]
Saori and I have transformed back into our original forms and I'm currently carrying the unconscious virigress mother with her cub, Rajah. We were currently traversing through the rainforest part of the Belzac forest, searching for the virigress mum’s two other children, who were abducted from her.
After I deduced that she was trying to rescue her babies, I made sure to ask her as much as I could. It was honestly quite hard as we couldn't communicate through words nor paper. As it was with Rajah, we had to rely on gestures alone.
As she didn’t need to speak and had [Starvation], we couldn’t just leave her hungry while I questioned her. Saori and Tasianna did their best to help her drink and eat using our precious rations, which, thankfully, wasn’t reduced by too much.
From what I learned, she had three cubs including Rajah. During the stampede that happened a few days ago, she was separated by Rajah during the whole chaos. Virigress usually hunted and lived in trees but due to a flock of birds and other tree climbers, Rajah fell down into the wave of monsters.
She and her two remaining cubs searched for him for a whole day but were unable to do so. As she couldn't just waste days and days to find one of her cubs while her others starved, she had to abandon Rajah to make sure that her other two could survive.
The cubs were able to hunt but she couldn’t risk having them hunt by themselves, at least when they were this young.
It was very likely that our party was the reason why the mother couldn't find Rajah during this time, as we did wander away from the area with him. Although, as a daughter myself, I wanted to condemn her for leaving Rajah to die, however, I also could understand that it was hard on her.The moment she found Rajah again, she groomed and showered him with affection that only a distraught mother would give her lost child.
Maybe it was the same thing with my dragon parents? I thought as I heard this from the virigress mother.
Anyways, as the herd of animals was fleeing to the north, she was forced by the circumstance to follow them. Predators follow the prey, a simple logical decision that led the group into the rainforest a day before our arrival.
She found a massive lake deeper in the swamp and thought it was a well-suited area to hunt in, considering it was a hotspot for animal activity. Unfortunately, that idea was quickly squashed as that was when she noticed the giant crocodile-like thing emerging from the lake’s depths, forcing her to run away.
At that point, fortune completely left her. She was ambushed at a moment of inattentiveness by a thrown spear, lodging into her back, and her cubs have stolen away from her. She would have also perished at that moment were it not for the fact that she managed to injure one of her attackers, which forced them to retreat with the poisoned.
She tried to pursue them but accidentally triggered the ottha group, which brought her to the brink of death until we saved her.
Through some very specific questions, I was able to learn that the group was all wielding weapons like spears, shields, and sword. They had four limbs, stood upright, were covered in scales from head to tail, and that they had reptile-like heads.
From then on, any fantasy lover should be able to guess what those individuals were. I mean, when I’m using my [Humanization Lv. 5] form, I literally look like a female humanoid lizard, seeing as how my whole body was covered in scales.
I was talking about lizardmen, of course. Tasianna informed me that like dragonewts, lizardmen were counted among the beastmen. While dragonewt were the descendants of dragons, lizardman was a general term for any beastmen possessing a reptilian monster's blood.
Tasianna also warned me that I should make sure that I wasn’t mistaking lizardmen for saurians. What the hell were saurians you might ask? They were followers of the goddess Plesia and inhabitants from a continent far away from ours.
She never met one, but she was told that saurians were righteous and embodied the Goddess of Water’s main tenet of upholding courteousness. If it were saurians then there was a chance that we could settle this diplomatically.
Honestly, I wanted to eradicate them. My rage from hearing the whole story was burning brightly like a sun and I felt no reluctance at the very idea of “murder”, believing it was more like the “killing” I did to save Tasianna.
They might have the intelligence of a human, just like those trolls, but I couldn’t care less. Diplomacy can kiss my scaly butt if those cubs are dead!
That’s when I decided that our party will launch a rescue operation to hopefully get to the cubs in time. Thankfully, Saori was able to follow the scent of the group with the help of the spear that we had.
For your information, it wasn’t a crudely survivalist made spear, but its wooden shaft was polished, and it had a metal top, something a blacksmith or metalworker would make. It was worn down, the top has seen usage as there was evidence of blood, and despite an effort to maintain it, the metal top had chips.
These lizardmen weren’t like the kobolds and orcs that I have met in this forest, they were people that came from the outside.
Anyways, after the decision, our group transformed back into our original forms as we needed to transport the two virigress with us. The virigress mother was shocked to see our true forms, warily trying to distance herself from us but quickly realized that it was us after we used [Telepathy] to tell her about it.
Rajah, on the other hand, already knew about it and wasn’t really shocked. Frankly, he had no real reaction when we showed it to him the first time. Somehow…he just accepted it. Nothing else. He was nuzzling his head at me despite my larger size.
He is a true cutie. An undisciplined but adorable cutie.
Traveling through the swamp, the mother finally succumbed to her physical exhaustion and fell asleep. Tasianna decided to clean her from all the muck and blood as she found it disgusting that she was sitting on my back while dirty.
Once cleaned, her rich green fur returned, resembling Rajah’s. I also noticed that she didn’t look like a tiger at all, now that the mud was gone, which confused me ‘cause Rajah looked like a tiger’s cub.
The mother had the appearance of a Jaguar so maybe male virigresses are more tiger-like while females are jaguar-like? Sexual dimorphism isn’t anything to be surprised about.
[“I think they are close by…at least I hope my nose is correct,”] Saori said uncertainly.
[“Then, this is where we humanize,”] I said.
No matter if they had lizard heads or not, it would be more productive if the one you are talking to isn’t a large dragon. Tasianna insisted that we should try to resolve this peacefully, arguing that they were intelligent and that we may reason with them.
I found that statement hypocritical. How could I, of all people, even start discriminating between “intelligent” and “not intelligent”. I kill monsters to survive without batting an eye, not even giving them a chance to say their piece.
Ja, I did help Saori and Tasianna, and, ja, I did adopt Rajah and have decided to save his siblings, but that just made me fickle.
Honestly, I could continue this train of thought and begin philosophizing like the ancient Greek but I’m not smart enough for that. Merely thinking of a proper answer or if I really am a hypocrite by agreeing to Tasianna’s request was making my parallel minds get a headache.
Now humanized, I gave everybody a short briefing, [“Ok, first we shall look for the cubs. If they are still alive then we will try diplomacy otherwise…,”] I didn’t end my sentence as everybody here knew what I was about to say.
Saori, now carrying the sleeping virigress, Tasianna, Rajah, and I slowly prowled through the trees, all having [Stealth] and [Presence Killer] active. Rajah was especially motivated as his siblings' lives were at stake.
Once we were close enough, we then climbed up a tree and continued from there. The dense leaves of the trees helped cover the blue dresses that Saori and I were wearing.
Looking down, a group of bipedal lizards came into sight. They had scales covering their body colored in various colors and were all wearing badly maintained clothes.
All of them had exactly what you would expect, a lizard head that looked both intimidating and intelligent. Some had bone spikes protruding from their backs, while others had frills and webbing growing from their heads, acting like hair.
Sexual dimorphism seems to be apparent with them, too. The males had large, bulky bodies with rough scales that looked like the plating of a crocodile, while the females were taller and had leaner bodies with more smooth, vibrant-colored scales.
The male lizardmen were armed while the females only had small knives as they carried berries, mushrooms, and firewood with their arms. From the lit campfire, I presumed they were about to make camp.
[“Some of them have armor but most of them…well, they are rags,”] Saori pointed out. ["Honestly, they are so badly maintained that I cannot believe they are wearing them. They just covered the essentials and that was all. No style, creative, or anything.”]
Due to the spear and how they were able to outsmart the virigress mum, I had a different image of the group in my mind. The armor didn’t look very expensive, but it didn’t have any holes like their clothes. If you disregarded their weapons and armor, then they seemed more like a group of impoverished people.
Still, what the hell were they doing so deep in the forest then?! Besides a few people being equipped, they still didn’t have many tools; they weren’t even carrying around baskets or bags.
Either they were confident in their abilities or why else would they wander into the Belzac forest looking like that?
Identify.
Lizardman's Status BoardProfile:
Name: Caszcur
Level: 11
Race: Krokus Lizardman
Age: 32 Years
Job: Carpenter
Status:
Health: 249/383 Mana: 35/35 Strength: 209 Intelligence: 45 Vitality: 109 Wisdom: 73 Agility: 94 Stamina: 198/311 Effects: None Skill: Physical abilities and related[Enhanced Claws Lv. 3]
[Enhanced Fangs Lv. 3]
[Spear Technique Lv. 2]
[Unarmed Technique Lv. 3]
Senses and movement skills[Stealth Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 2]
[Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 2]
[Enhanced Vision Lv. 1]
[Tracking Lv. 1]
[Night Vision Lv. 3]
[Evasion Lv. 1]
[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 1]
[Swimming Lv. 4]
[Aquatic Fighter Lv. 1]
Resistances[Physical Resistance Lv. 3]
[Pain Resistance Lv. 2]
[Disease Resistance Lv. 3]
[Bleeding Resistance Lv. 3]
[Poison Resistance Lv. 3]
[Paralyzation Resistance Lv. 2]
[Torpor Resistance Lv. 1]
[Wind Resistance Lv. 1]
[Water Resistance Lv. 2]
Stat Growths and related[Health Recovery Lv. 3]
[Stamina Recovery Lv. 2]
[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 1]
[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 1]
Others[Cooking Lv. 2]
[Dismantle Lv. 3]
[Woodworking Lv. 5]
[Craftsman Lv. 4]
[Blacksmith Lv. 1]
[Metalwork Lv. 1]
[Handiwork Lv. 2]
[Starvation Lv. 3]
Ability List: Spear Abilities[Pierce]
[Flash Pierce]
Beastmen had higher parameters in all their stats except for Mana and Intelligence, which is one of the reasons why despite their physical prowess, they were considered weaker than humans in the era when the System hadn’t existed yet, at least that’s what Tasianna told me.
Sure enough, his stats were enough to take down every G and F rank monsters, but it wasn’t enough to fight against an E rank. This guy seemed like the leader of this group but in a solo fight, he would have had no chance against the virigress mother, who was an E rank.
Still, "Carpenter"? This guy's Job was a carpenter and he was supposed to be the leader? From observing the group, I saw him giving orders to everybody in the camp and both his stats and appearance screamed: "I'm the head honcho".
Which meant, these guys weren't hunters, poachers, nor "adventurers", they were simply normal people that have wandered in too deeply. Idiocy if you asked me.
Urgh, how could they have been this arrogant to wander into this place looking like that? What a bunch of suicidal idiots. Tch…they are making me furious, not at the fact that they kidnapped Rajah’s sibling, but at how terrible they were looking…idiots…what a bunch of Dummköpfe!
[“Hestia, you will give our location away if you do not keep your bloodlust in check,”] Saori reprimanded me.
[“Hmph! These people are looking down at our birthplace, Saori,”] I lashed out. [“The Belzac forest is not a forgiving place and these people are coming in here completely unprepared. Look at them as they continue preparing their camp, none the wiser that a cadejo and a dragon are spying on them.”]
Saori glanced at me before messing up my hair with her hand, [“…Keep the ‘tsun’ part to yourself, Hestia. I found the cubs, look over there.”]
Directing my eyes over at the direction Saori was pointing at, I could see the cubs trapped in a wooden cage, made with twigs and thatch holding them together.
The cubs were dirty, their green fur lost the vibrancy that Rajah’s had, and they were shivering meekly, scared of what was about to happen to them.
Besides being hungry and slightly bruised, they were in better shape than when we found their mother.
[“Cool yourself down,”] Saori looked at me. [“Try speaking with them first and if the negotiation turns bad, I will drop down and rescue the cubs. After that, you may do what you like, Hestia.”]
[“They don’t have [Telepathy] but most beastmen should know Common tongue,”] Tasianna said. [“I’ll translate your words so let us hope that they are rational enough to listen to us.”]
Ok…deep breathes…in…and out. Calm yourself, Hestia. Smother the flame.
[“Rajah,”] I turned my eyes to his. [“You stay up here and help Saori out, ok? Be a good boy and listen to her. I promise, whatever happens, I will save and bring back your siblings.”]
Rajah gave an affirming meow and nuzzled his head around my legs, probably telling me that he believed in me.
[“Saori, I’ll leave Plan B to you. Take care of these two for me, ok?”] I told her.
[“Leave it to me. Go in and break a bone…uhh, not literally and please do not do it before everything derails,”] Saori awkwardly assured me.
I giggled a bit as she used that sort of idiom but wasn't sure if I would take it seriously…I won't if everything works out peacefully.
Tasianna and I dropped off the tree and slid back into the shadows of the trees, walking to the opposite side of lizardmen camp and deactivated our stealth skills there.
If something were to happen, then their attention would be directed at me and their backs would be face Saori. They might be weak, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious, especially when we didn’t know if they had a trick up their sleeves.
Now in their view, we confidently walked towards them, which agitated the guards.
“Saaaah! Lappsasha! Lappsasha! Hiiljka gu Caszcur!” one of them said, as one began running into the camp while the rest readied their weapons.
[“I can confirm that they speak Common tongue, Lady Hestia,”] Tasianna announced. [“His accent was thick, but I will be able to understand them.”]
[“What did he say?”] I asked.
I managed to understand “Lappsasha”, which was “intruder”, and “Caszcur” but everything else was swallowed by the lizard-like hissing accent. Even if I wanted to prance around with my speaking and understanding skills, I will not be able to so today.
I was relatively still a novice and handling a volatile situation like this requires perfect speaking and listening skills.
[“He said, ‘Saaaah! Intruder! Intruder! Send for Caszcur!’,”] Tasianna translated. [“’Saaah’ was just a war cry, or maybe it was more akin to ‘aaaah’?”]
As much as this discussion would be terribly interesting, my focus was strained in the direction of the people pointing their weapons at me, essentially threatening me. I couldn’t see my face, but I knew that my eyes were locked onto every single one of these guards, leaking my animosity as my body felt the desire to rip them all into pieces for provoking me.
It was clear that these guys weren’t trained soldiers nor fighters as their quaking legs couldn’t handle my glare for more than five seconds, collapsing onto the ground and soiling themselves.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! this pitiful scene was enough to loosen the tension inside me.
Oh my, how could grown adult lizardmen be terrorized by a small girl like me? I only went up to their waist and you’re telling me that they couldn’t even handle being stared by me?! They were armored and armed too, while I was only wearing a one-piece and some socks.
OMG, this totally kills their intimidating appearances for me. So lame…
Awesome, now I feel bad for doing that to them…
“Jaka-?! Jakaop sus buzta ki lire?!” suddenly, the lizardman, Caszcur, arrived with the guard that called for him. “Wuh niji! Jukaop…haji sa kiljaja?”
[“…Urgh…he said, ‘Wha-? What is going on here?! You two! Who…wait, an insect?’,”] Tasianna told me dejectedly, tears were building in her eyes. [“I-I’ll…begin establishing communications at your command, Princess Hestia.”]
[“No ‘Princess Hestia’, address me normally, Tasianna,”] I told Tasianna before she started speaking with the lizardmen group’s leader. ["Do you actually believe they will take us seriously when you address me like a princess, hell, what are we supposed to do when they actually do take it seriously, huh? You may begin but please don't expose me."]
[“Yes, of course, Lady Hestia,”] Tasianna bowed to me and then turned to the lizardman named Caszcur. [“I would like to request that you turn your frown into a smile, my Lady. It would do us no good, otherwise.”]
Sigh, what a pain…
Obediently listening to Tasianna’s advice, I slouched my shoulders before readjusting my posture, displaying everything I learned from my etiquette lessons on Earth.
Casting the frown away, I first let my face regain its default state for a second before moving my muscles to change my expression. Considering what just…uhh, happened, I don’t think an extravagant smile would do.
Considering that these people were practically “normal” working class and how my face just looked like, I think a neutral expression with a slight smile would be more appropriate. Make them feel comfortable without overdoing it but still showing that I mean business through my eye contact.
In the meantime, Tasianna also told me that she will be translating everything to me through [Telepathy] in real-time, as best as she could despite splitting concentration. I wish I were able to participate in the negotiation to alleviate Tasianna's need to translate everything, but a week and a few days are not enough to learn a completely foreign language.
“Greetings and blessing to you from the Goddess of Water on his fine Waterday,” still flapping her wings mid-air, Tasianna gave a polite curtsey as an introduction.
Tasianna wasn’t an extremely religious person but she still showed great piety towards the gods by counting each day, making sure that she remembered the calendar and every single day. As each day of a week, besides the seventh, was dedicated to the gods, she found it important to count them.
It was considered polite to greet others with the day that their god is dedicated to. If they were saurians then we could appease them by stating this, otherwise, we could only hope that they worshiped Plesia, the Goddess of Waters.
Tasianna continued, “My name is Tasianna, a fairy, and I speak in the name of my mistress, Lady Hestia Atsuko. May I ask for your name and which gods you worship?”
Oi, I said to address me normally! I wanted to scold Tasianna but knew that it was my fault for not being more specific…verdammt.
“Uhh, I see…” the tall lizardman said, clearly surprised that Tasianna spoke. “My name is Caszcur, the leader of this group of lizardfolk. Why are you asking, huh? What do you want?”
They didn’t reciprocate the greeting and they just confirmed that they were lizardmen. Guess our attempt was a dud.
As Caszcur regained his bearing, he responded to Tasianna with a powerful voice fitting for a man of his size. This gave the lizardmen guards who pissed their pants a chance to stand up, they then ran to their leader’s side, and once again pointed their weapons at us, although with shaking legs.
I honestly have no idea if I should feel bad for them ‘cause I was feeling a bit annoyed that they haven’t lowered their weapons yet. Even Caszcur wasn’t making an effort by ordering them to lower them, despite our friendly talks.
Urgh, I know they were probably wary of us, but this still didn’t sit right with me.
“We would like to speak about the virigress cubs you have in your camp,” undeterred that he didn’t name his gods, Tasianna stated our goals.
“What is a ‘virigress’ supposed to be?” he asked confused.
“Those are the green felines that you have captured. They are in your camp, no?” Tasianna explained.
Sharpening his eyes, Caszcur’s suspicion towards us did not waver, “And how in Marsven’s name do you know that, huh? Spit it out already! You two are not welcome here so stop slithering around our tails.”
[“This rude fellow doesn’t seem very willing to speak,”] Tasianna stated. [“However, although he didn’t want to state his gods, he unconsciously spoke about them. They seem to be followers of Marsven, the God of the Dark, and through proxy, probably also Edna’s.”]
From Tasianna’s lectures, I learned that Marsven, the God ruling over the dark element, and Edna, the Goddess of Monsters and Fertility, are one of two god couples. Compared to Marsven, Edna was once a mortal that was given apotheosis by Marsven to become both his wife and subordinate goddess.
“We would like to request that you free them,” Tasianna demanded.
“Free? And why should we do that, huh?” Caszcur, finally losing his patience for us, unsheathed his sword. “I won’t say it again, leave us now, otherwise we will kill you two!”
“Heh…,” I unwillingly let out a snicker at his ultimatum.
“What are you laughing about, huh?! You, lizard-lass, don’t you know what it means to be threatened?” Caszcur, annoyed that I leaked a giggle, pointed his sword at me.
"Control yourself!" Tasianna shouted as she flew in front of me to stand in between me and the sword point. “We are here in peace, but you are showing us unneeded animosity. I suggest you correct your rude behavior and show, Lady Hestia, a bit more respect.”
While Tasianna showed no hostility when she was threatened, genuine anger surfaced when the lizardman leader directed his sword at me. Her stare, as cold as the freezing south pole, pierced through the lizardmen's body as an icy mist started to materialize around her hands, a sign that she was about to begin casting her magic.
All the lizardmen flinched from this sight, instinctively knowing that if they were to anger us any further, that a fight would happen. The guards that had to endure my early presence all looked at each other, already knowing how frightening I could become.
The group began talking with each other quietly, believing that I wouldn’t be able to hear them. Eavesdropping might be considered rude, but they were rude to me first, so this is only fair. I told Tasianna what I heard, and she translated it for me.
“C-Caszcur, let us lower our weapons and hear them out,” a guard said.
“What?!” Caszcur spat out. “What the fuck are you suggesting, huh?! These people are dangerous, and we don’t even know if they are headhunters sent by that army of monsters. We haven’t sacrificed everybody back then just to be caught here!”
“B-But, isn’t the girl a lizardfolk, also? She might have more human blood but scale-kin is scale-kin, right?" another guard responded.
Army of monsters? Human blood? Ignoring the former, it seems like there was a misunderstanding about my race. Why is it that they can’t see me as a dragonewt?
[“Tasianna, tell them that I’m a dragonewt,”] I told my fairy friend.
Acknowledging my request, Tasianna spoke to the lizardmen, “Excuse me but there seems to be a misunderstanding. My Lady is not a lizardman but a dragonewt.”
Realizing that we overheard them, everybody froze in surprise, only Caszcur was able to continue speaking, "Y-You eavesdropped on us. W-What the hell is wrong with you. Have you not…urgh, HEY, what are you doing?!"
Before he could continue speaking, a few of the guards threw their weapon on the ground and grabbed him, “Caszcur, you idiot, stop speaking and cool down your head, first!”
“By Marsven’s name, didn't she just tell us that she's a dragonewt? That means she's neither a slave nor a headhunter, r-right?" another guard said in a panic.
“Kargryxmor! She must be a follower of the dragon god! She might also have other companions!” another said energetically.
“We’re so close! We’re saved! D-Down on your knees! We need to apologize for threatening the lass!”
Simultaneously nodded at the last guard’s words, every single guard threw Caszcur to the side like a ragdoll and then ran towards me before prostrating in front of me, while shouting “Ilsa lek gaznunt! Plersiz, ilsa histe!”.
[“…Uhhh, t-they are shouting ‘We are sorry! Please, help us!’…, Lady Hestia,”] Tasianna said flabbergasted.
How in the hell did this happen! Weren’t we hating each other just a minute ago?!
It can’t be said that I was any less surprised by everything that is happening just now. I mean, we threatened each other just a second ago and now these people are on their knees, begging me for help.
All this uproar was loud enough that the rest of the lizardmen from the camp came over to see what is happened. A whole crowd began forming before me, all curiously watching a group of adults begging a young dragon girl in an almost pitiful way.
While I would consider them idiots for doing this, I couldn’t help but feel extreme embarrassment from being apologized in this sort of way. Instead of a burning fire inside my chest, it seems like it was eaten up by the soaring flames heating inside my head.
The blood rushing up to my brain began making me dizzy as I wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. This wasn’t what we planned! It wasn’t even close to what I wanted to do here!
[“Tasianna! Tell them to stand up at once, please! They need to stop prostrating this instance!”] I shouted flustered.
However, despite her efforts, everything was drowned by the synchronized voices of the lizardmen guards shouting from the top of their lungs. Influenced by this, the whole crowd of lizardmen behind them also began speaking louder and louder. Can somebody please shut these idiots up!
…Somebody besides me, please!
“Shut up!” as if he heard my plea, the lizardman Caszcur stood up and ran at the prostrating guards, shouting at them, all while throwing them back on their feet. “You krill eaters, have you all forgotten about that giant monster that destroyed everything a few days ago?! Is everybody in this camp trying to kill themselves by telling it our location! Shut up already!”
Once he managed to calm everybody down, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh from this, silently thanking him.
“And you!” however, it didn’t take long for him to once again direct his anger at me, now pointing his sharp finger at me. “I don’t care if you’re a dragonewt or whatever, but I won’t endanger everybody here for somebody as suspicious as you. Leave now!”
“We will not leave without the virigress cubs,” Tasianna said adamantly from the side.
Turning his head to the side to give her a glance for a second, he suddenly grabbed my jaw with his hand and then continued shouting, close enough that his spit was touching the [Draconic Barrier] covering my face, “Why aren’t you speaking, huh?! You some little noble girl that isn’t even willing to talk to a slave like me, huh?! You too good to speak to me, huh?! What the hell are you even doing in this forest, anyways, dressed up like you’re on some kinda funny-little trip, huh?!”
“Kosh saf obiero juc ils,” I said nonchalantly, feeling no threat from this overgrown lizard. (Get your hand off me,)
Hearing me say that seems to have agitated him even further, “Now you’re talking, huh?! You’re probably pissing your scales now that your attendant can’t do anything for you anymore, right, you spoiled skink-ARRRRRRGH!”
Screaming in pain, Caszcur released his hand from my jaw and began wailing on the ground, holding his hand that was pierced by an [Ice Spike].
[“Lady Hestia! I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! I can’t believe that I let you get touched by that savage! I’m so sorry that I reacted too slowly,”] Tasianna exclaimed, tears in her eyes as she apologized to me. [“I’m still too slow, I’m so sorry. I should have protected you the moment, I felt that…”]
[“Tasianna everything is alright,”] I interrupted her. [“I never was in any threat at all. He only needed me to vent his stress out and I was willing to do so. I should be the one to say sorry for making you worry.”]
Caszcur’s power was merely below an E rank monster. He couldn’t even hurt me even if he actually wanted to. Physically, I might look feeble in comparison to him but the stat difference between us was unquestionable.
It was actually a mistake from him to come this close to me. He might have thought that he could crush my head in case I resisted him, but my claws only needed a second to skewer his heart out of his body.
“You beast!” Tasianna accepting my apology with a bow, then turned her anger towards Caszcur. “How dare you sully Lady Hestia’s face! You deserved being hit by that ice spell!”
“Y-You did this to me?!” Caszcur said incredulously. “Y-You two tail polishers! Sakanta kroac kroks! I will…ARGHHH, KROAC, MY BACK!”
Krill eaters, skink, and now tail polishers? Are they insults? What are they supposed to mean?
While I was analyzing these weird idioms and words, Saori appeared out of nowhere, carrying the virigress mother on her back, Rajah with her left arm, and the cage with the cubs with the right.
Hearing what Caszcur was saying to me, she stomped her feet onto his back, pushing his face into the mud.
[“Mission complete. Nice work attracting mostly everybody from the camp,”] Saori said, ignoring the cussing lizardman struggling under her feet.
[“Nice work. I guess with that, we solved everything without spilling any blood,”] I said before realizing the frozen blood on Caszcur’s hand. [“Well, we didn’t spill much blood at least.”]
“Tail polishers!” Caszcur shouted out. “Everybody, look at them stealing our food! That skink lass is no savior, she’s just a filthy thief.”
His pained shouts were loud enough that most of the lizardmen were quite agitated by it. They began to hiss and yell as they began unsheathing their weapons. Ignorant of our abilities, the angry mob was compelled to attack us for rescuing the cubs.
"Thief? Me?!" I responded in my defense, annoyed at what he was calling me. "Dude, as I would do something beneath me like stealing.”
I said everything in English so he probably wasn’t able to understand me. I just wanted to vent it out.
[“…Hestia, what are you even saying at this very moment?!”] Saori looked at me with a bewildered face. [“That is not the issue here! Come on, it is time to go!”]
She was visibly angry at me for defending myself from being insulted. He said something terrible to me and I was the one to be reprimanded? Isn't that a bit unfair?
Urgh, whatever…I was planning to kill them anyway. This gives me enough reason to do so.
Raising my arm, I started forming a blazing red magic circle above my head. A small ball of fiery gas started materializing on it, first growing to the size of a soccer ball, or football like Papa forced me to say, then to a yoga ball, and then stopping when it reached the size of a giant inflatable beach ball.
Once the angry mob of lizardman saw my [Scorching Sun], their bodies froze on the spot, terror clear visible on their faces. They neither screamed nor fled, completely overwhelmed by the [Terror (Major)] that appeared in their status boards.
Even Caszcur finally realized what sort of person he managed to anger. His crocodile-like jaw hanged loosely as his eyes watched in horror as I was readying the killing blow.
Stay there and watch. Food? You tried turning Rajah’s siblings into food? Nobody important to me will suffer under my watch!
…Die.
“PLEARSIZ! PLEARSIZ, KTOPA!”
Before I could actually throw my spell at the mob, another group of lizardmen started prostrating in front of me. It felt like déjà vu but that’s ‘cause I recognized these people; they were the guards from before.
“PLEASIZ! ILLSA HAT OVLA BUMANTAMEND! PLEASIZ, OH KALMN LATHUE!” the guards shouted, weeping at the very same time.
As Tasianna wasn’t translating anymore, I was unable to understand them. Asking her, she told me that they said, “Please! Please, stop! Please! We ask for forgiveness! Please, oh fair-scaled one!”.
It seemed that every single one of these lizardman guards were talented in speaking out simultaneously, as their combined voices were even more powerful than before. They would make a great choir.
[“Tell that one to stand up,”] I told Tasianna while pointing at the lizardman who spoke out first. [“Ask him if they are actually willing to talk it out peacefully. If he is, then ask for his name and that he will lead the negotiation from now onwards.”]
We might be handling it like a bunch of thugs but who cares at this point. I’ll reflect on this later on but if it kept Rajah’s sibling from turning into dinner, then I won’t regret this decision.
Daunted, they agreed to our demands easily. I un-cast my [Scorching Sun] and the new de facto lizardman leader introduced himself as Aksmias before bidding us to follow them into the camp.
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