Sweat was slowly dripping along my body, falling to the marshy soil as summer sunlight beat down on my glistening body. I wasn't quite tanned yet, but my normally light complexion was certainly starting to take a more evenly cooked turn thanks to the lizardmen being not as caring when it comes to what qualifies as 'indecent exposure'. I'm still wearing my boxers, I'm not a freak or nothing, but at the very least I can focus more on getting that summer look while I exercise.
At the moment I was jogging laps around the village, getting the occasional odd or dirty look from one of the lizards. I'll admit it was starting to get annoying, but it's not like I can force them to like me so I can't really do anything. I wave to one of the few lizards that seem more friendly than the others with a smile, getting a light wave back as he carries on his work on carrying some building materials.
As I jog, I plan out my mental route for the day. Talk with the villager in charge of the fishery for one, I need to check on that and make sure things are flowing smoothly. The man that's having it built next to his house, Sashumo, sounds like he's hit a snag, so I'll need to see what it is and try to help fix it. As best as I can anyways, it's not like I did it for a living anyways.
Number two, start coordinating with the craftsmen and hunters. As a primarily piscivorous species, the lizardmen aren't all that well adapted for hunting on land, so I'm going to need to share trapping techniques if we want to snag some decent meals for them. And the reason the craftsmen and hunters are being grouped together for this one is mostly for making the most of every part, including the blood. I know that particular subject hasn't been mentioned outside of the albinos of the tribe, and I'm afraid it's not gonna be a fun sell because the albinos working with blood probably won't alleviate superstitions. Unfortunately, they're also the only ones with enough mana to do it.
And finally, talk with the guy that passes for military leadership around here. I'm going to need a lot of luck for that one, the war chief doesn't sound like the friendliest of guys in the village. Worse still, I hear he's in the same camp that's been opposed to some of the changes I've been wanting to bring to help things out around here.
I take a moment to slow down and catch my breath, having been at my jog for quite some time now. I swig from my waterskin, grateful that I'm getting water to drink, even if it's warm and came from the swamp. I could just have used {Create Water} or something I guess, but I've been saving my mana primarily for experimentation. So, tolerable swamp water it is.
Just as I'm about to put my skin back and continue jogging a few more laps, I'm caught off guard by the sound of someone behind me.
"So, you're the human?" I heard a masculine voice say with no small amount of venom.
Huh, took 'em long enough. Figured I'd bump into some of the more stubborn ones sooner or later.
I slowly turned around, and was greeted by the sight of three lizardmen standing there in a thuggish manner. Honestly, if it weren't for a fact that these guys barely knew what a book was I'd think they were trying to mimic comic book muggers or something.
"Don't see any other humans running around here," I quipped. "Y'all need something?"
The head honcho growled at that, stepping forward and attempting to look intimidating. Which probably would have worked, if I didn't already have experience with this sort of thing a hundred times over.
"We need you to stay away from the younglings," He snarled into my face. Alright, note to self, introduce these guys to oral hygiene.
"Reason being?" I asked, crossing my arms and raising a brow.
"You're a poison," He told me lowly. "The other day I caught my little sister prattling on about your 'paper', about how she couldn't wait to write stories, and about all the other ideas you had shared with the children"
Are… are you serious?
"Why is that bad, if I may ask?"
He scoffs, placing a claw on my shoulder, making me feel its sharp points dig into my skin just lightly enough to avoid drawing blood. "Because it's not the way of the lizardmen. We pass on our tales through word of mouth, we hunt and fish, we sleep in our huts because it is our way. It is how we weed out the week, and ensure only the strongest of us may stand and carry on the legacy of our tribes. These ideas you keep trying to introduce are human, they will soften us up and make us ripe for conquering like your villages often are"
"And how's that working for you? You got kicked out of your homeland, prosecuted on your whole journey, and got your shit kicked in when you finally found a place to call home"
I realized a little too late that the words that slipped out of my mouth were probably not the best choice judging by his widening snarl. That being said, momma ain't raised no bitch so I might as well double down. I lean upwards and meet his eyes with my own, squinting at him and giving a snarl of my own.
"Face it buddy, strength is no good if you ain't got the brains to use it. Quite frankly, if I had to wager, your reaction tells me you only got two brain cells left in that noggin of yours. And they're both fighting for third place".
His eyes widened at that, just quickly enough that most people wouldn't have caught on, but I saw it. He clamped his claw into my shoulder now, blood dribbling down my back.
I attempted to gasp, clawing at the arm holding me down by my throat with one arm and striking him in the face with the other. His goons both came from the sides and grabbed my arms. Despite the bloody nose I gave that prick, he didn't seem all that fazed as he released his hold on my windpipe. I sucked in what air I could, but that was short lived as he punched me just below the sternum, forcing tears to well into my eyes from the pain. Despite this however, what air I sucked in was used to spit up a loogie right into his face.
Totally worth it for not letting these jackasses get away with hurting Clay like they did, even as I felt my jaw get dislocated by a brick.
"If you're looking for a fight punk…" I growled, staring right back at him unflinchingly. I grabbed his arm and forcefully moved it off of my shoulder, even as his claws slowly raked my skin with it. "... Then I suggest we take this somewhere we won't mess anything up".
There it was again, that flash of surprise. It lasted much longer this time though, and even his goons didn't seem to expect it. Huh, I guess these guys are used to being top dogs. I can work with this.
"Of course, if you're afraid that you can't hold your own against a human, I'm more than willing to let this slide"
Anger. Then… mirth?
"Hah! The human has a sense of humor," He let out with a laugh. He pulls his claw away and that sneer of his returns. Standing back, he motions to his goons. Both of them come at me from either side, and I'm forced to act.
"{Jump}!" I yell out, springing upwards and above them. I land behind and leap forward again, kicking the ringleader in the chest just as he turns around. As I do this, I pull a silent {Insight Check} as my foot connects.
{Male Lizardman (Young Adult: Level 16)}
Oh yeah, I can work with this.
"{Entangle}!" I shout out, wrapping weaving grasses around the three of them. They struggle and writhe against the marshland flora. Before I could open my mouth and cast another spell however, we were interrupted.
"What is going on here?!" I hear someone shout, and I'm surprised to see one of the village elders coming to investigate the scene. I attempted to speak up, but was shut down by a wave of the elder's hand. I clicked my jaw shut, no need to make this mess nasty by talking out of turn in this mediation. Which sucks, cause if memory serves the elders are against me at the moment.
"Elder, this human spits on our ways. I was merely trying to stop him from manipulating our children as he has been. When confronted, he provoked and assaulted us!" The lizardman answered.
Alright, I probably didn't help my case by casting spells on these bastards, but it's not like I was going to take it lying down. The elder turns to myself, squinting at me.
"What say you in your defense, outsider?" The old lizard asked.
"I spoke only when spoken to, and did so to defend myself. I will wholeheartedly admit I was in the wrong with my quips and remarks to their own threats rather than remaining calm, but I was not the one to attempt to strike first. Despite this, I did my best to restrain them rather than to significantly injure them in any capacity," I responded, motioning to the bleeding wound on my shoulder at the mention of being attacked first.
"You lie!" The lizard barked. "You fought with hate, like the human you are!"
"Enough!" The elder shouted at the lizardman, receiving a degree of surprise. "You speak out of turn Sozuu. Human, what proof do you have that you were holding back?"
Well fuck, I doubt I have any witnesses that'll stand up for me. Guess I have to go for shock and awe. I deactivate the {Entangle} spell and reach my hand out over a barren part of the marshlands, casting my spell.
"{Sleet Storm}!" I cast, and soon a large, dark cloud formed in the air with wisps of mist forming between it and the ground. The spell kicked off in full, coating the marshy soil in a sheet of ice and slosh, sharp drops of freezing rain coating everything in the vicinity of the spell, which was actually a fairly decent area. As the spell ran its course, I turned to the lizards who stared at my display with fear and awe.
"If I fought with hate, I would have made you suffer for every second. And if I wanted to make you suffer, I would have used any number of ice spells at my disposal," I explained. "With that said, I still would like to apologize. Maybe if I kept my snark toned back, this whole mess could have been easily avoided. I would much prefer it if we could talk things out properly".
The elder stared between the ongoing storm not that far from us, at myself, and the offending party, before shaking his head. "Loathe as I am to admit it, the human very much has the strength to do significant harm if that were his intent. And yet, all he has done is merely held you in place with his magic. Sozuu, what say you to this?"
The lizardman growled. "But he struck first!"
Really? This kindergarten bullshit?
"But did you move with the intent to strike him before he struck you?" The elder asked, and the bully showed his surprise for just a moment. Thankfully, the old lizard caught onto it as well, and shook his head at the goons again. "Honestly, you should know better. He may be an outsider and a human, but he's still helping us regardless of this. At the very least, don't go unnecessarily provoking him, understood?"
… Come again?
"But-"
"Understood?"
The thugs at least had the brains to look embarrassed, and bowed to the elder. "Understood, Elder Osai"
"Good, now off with you three, I don't want to catch you causing any more trouble," The now named 'Osai' commanded, the lizards now scampering off to do whatever it was they were doing before they decided to fuck with me.
"Uh… thank you, elder. For what it's worth, I appreciate it," I told him as he began walking away. He stopped for a moment, and gave me a look I couldn't quite decipher. Regardless, he nodded, and continued his way out.
I was left to myself, a few lizards still staring in awe at the storm sloshing its frozen payload in the distance. I sigh, realizing that I more or less advertised one of my greater spells to the rest of the village. Wasn't exactly hiding it, but knowing about my ice magic probably won't bring any appeal to me either. I continued on my jog, deciding to keep it a little shorter as I now had a destination in mind.
The sooner I get my ducks in a row and get some of these villagers to know me personally rather than just following the words of an elder against an outsider like me, the better. God I fucking hate politics.
The sight of the fishery ponds greeted me, this being the first time I've been able to get a proper look at them. Of course, calling it a fishery was a bit… generous. Or calling them ponds for that matter. They were large and long primitive stick and net fences in the water, presumably made to be just tight enough to keep the carp from getting out into the main marsh. I saw faint outlines of them in the murky depths, swimming about their enclosure lazily.
I kneel by the water, getting a closer look at the edge of the bank.
"I presume you're here to see how it's coming along?" I heard another man ask. I turned around to be greeted by a lizardman in a simple plant-fiber kilt, leaning on a long spear. I nodded, getting up to greet him properly.
"Yup, you'd be right. Heard you were having some issues, wanted to come along and help wherever I could"
The lizardman sighed in relief, a small smile forming. "That's good to hear. It would be nice to know just what kind of vision Zarusosa saw in you"
"You know the old man?" I asked, to which the crocodile look-a-like laughed.
"My father used to butt heads with him in competitions between the tribes from what I know. He's always seemed like the friendly sort, so if he vouches for you then I should at least give you a chance"
"I appreciate it by the way, it's always nice to have someone to talk to," I said with a nod, before motioning to the fisheries. "So let's get to the meat and potatoes of the situation, what seems to be wrong?"
The lizardman nodded, "Straight to the point, appreciated. There's two things wrong at the moment. The fish don't seem to be growing by much, and something keeps eating them. I've tried keeping an eye on them, but it seems to be happening the moment I look away"
That's… hmmm… there's a couple things here, those two correlate with each other when it comes to one problem in particular. "I see… if I could take a look?"
Sashumo cocked his head with mild confusion, but nodded. I took that as my go ahead, and cast my spells.
"{Darkvision}, {Water Breathing}," I spoke aloud, getting a look of surprise from the lizard.
I gently step into the water, slowly sinking until I'm underneath. As I open my eyes in the murky depths, I'm delighted to see I can still spy things almost as though they were on the surface. A little silty, but manageable. And here comes the hard part. Actually breathing the water. It's kinda hard to avoid doing something that's completely ingrained into your psyche, but… I need to inhale. I open my mouth slowly, and struggle to actually force myself to do it.
I feel water fill my lungs, and though my initial reaction is to panic I realize that… it doesn't actual hurt. It doesn't burn or anything, it's just like breathing, but like breathing through a wet pillow. Kinda weird and difficult, but doable. I gently swim throughout the enclosure, and I'm delighted to see that the fish farmer chose to follow me underwater. We both stroke our way through the farm, and I notice a couple of things already.
Not only are the fish pretty unhealthy looking, but… there's a lack of plantlife. I sift through the muck gently with a stick I picked up off of the fishery floor, well aware of the fact that water bugs may very well be in it. It's unusually loose, moreso for a more swampy area. I dig up what seems to be the remnants of a root system… only for one of the carp to swing by and snag it hurriedly with its mouth, seemingly uncaring for the both of us being down there. Man, say what you will, at least these things are pretty placid.
Wait a minute… I reach into the silt with my bare hands, noticing a speck of white that doesn't look like any piece of root or stick. I pull out what's left of a bony carp skeleton, the pieces falling off and floating back to the marshy bottom. I look to Sashumo who's looking at the bones in my hands with surprise, and I motioned for us to surface. We breach the water and I force the water in my lungs out with a strange heaving motion, almost kind of like throwing up. I don't know, it's not like I've ever drowned before, even on purpose.
"I think I know what the problem is," I told him after vacating the last globs of marsh water from my lungs. "I believe they're cannibalizing each other"
"Cannibalizing each other?" He asked with worry, to which I nodded.
"Certain species will do so in times of resource scarcity, particularly when growing from juvenile to adult. Have you been feeding them enough? I noticed the waterbed seemed awfully devoid of plantlife as well, something that certainly wouldn't help. A self-reliant system isn't quite enough to keep a population well fed and grown if you want to reach a size large enough to effectively farm and cull, especially when that plant-life is cleaned out more quickly than can be regrown in a given area. If these were land creatures I'd suggest maybe herding them to different pastures, but as it stands we don't have much of a choice"
The lizardman opened his mouth, then shut it and looked off to the side in thought. I rolled my eyes at the realization he seemed to be coming to, and I couldn't help but give him a pat on the shoulder.
"S'alright, we all have our moments. Thankfully, carp are some of the most resilient bastards around, I'm sure we can scrounge up some feed for them with some surface side plants"
We swam back to the bank, and I stepped back out onto the bank and gave a stretch. After that brief moment of being back on land, I turn back to him and sigh.
"So, we'll need to get a regular source of feed for them. I'll help where I can, but I've unfortunately got my hands full. I'd say you're doing pretty okay with the fishery actually. Might wanna replace the fishery walls with something a little sturdier than nets, but other than that… we should actually have a functioning fishery at our disposal here"
The lizardman nodded, and we briefly exchanged pleasantries for a moment longer before parting ways. As I continue my jog through the village, I consider my options. On one end, getting iron production up is pretty high priority, but on the other end I'm pretty sure it'd be useless if the villagers don't like me. Which means I need to come up with something that makes them at least a little friendlier. Certainly don't wanna even get close to the village war chief until a few more of the lizards are okay with me being around. But until then, the craftsmen.
The crafting huts of the village were a little… weathered, compared to some of the other buildings. They were obviously loved, but they seem to be some of the older ones around. I knock on the side of the hut and poke my head in.
"Knock knock, is this where the toolmakers and such work?"
I was greeted by the sight of a few lizards working on various tasks such as repairing what little clothes they wore, or making pots. One lizard in particular however, stood out from the others as he chipped away at a piece of bone, making a spearhead from the looks of it. The reason said lizard stuck out was because of the sheer size of him. How the hell did I not see someone as big and noticeable as this guy in the anime?
"You need something?" He… no, she replied. Yeah, body or not, no mistaking that voice. Deep, but definitely feminine.
"Uh, I uh…" Fuck. Okay, not good. Totally don't feel underdressed in my boxers. "... came here to speak with some of the local craftsmen about an… opportunity to work with metal…"
I couldn't help but trail off as she stood up in full. God damn is she big. She easily towered over most of the other lizards, practically Godzilla in her own right. The hell is she doing in a village of scrawnier-sided lizardmen? She looked down on me with a squint, just scraping past half her height.
"What kind of metal?" She asked me slowly, seemingly eyeing me up.
"Er, iron ma'am. The albinos and I have developed a method for creating iron from animal's blood, and uh… we, er, I wanted to see if there was anyone up to the task of shaping metal?"
She hummed at that. "I have no experience with metalworking, none of us do for that matter. Even if we had it in significant amounts, I doubt we would be able to produce anything useful in due time"
"I-I actually have some experience ma'am, though it's not much" I admitted. "My uncle was a, er, expert of sorts when it came to the subject, he showed me the basics".
He really was an oddball. Was all into the medieval living style for some reason. Said it would be useful to know if needed. Only ever had me work with copper though, because of how easy it was to work with as a teen.
"Truly? I suppose as long as you're willing to show us what you know, we could probably take it from there," The tall lizardwoman responded with a nod. "Very well, when can we expect to receive iron to work with?"
"We're building up a small stockpile at the moment, but once we can get a regular flow moving we can start working with it. We uh, we have to build a proper forge before we can do anything of the sort however. I wanted to hopefully coordinate with you and your people about producing bellows, tongs to at least act as a temporary stopgap for some of the more basic metalworking, that sort of thing. This is gonna need a lot of planning and preparation, but I am willing to help anywhere it's needed to sort things out. Overall, probably a month minimum before we could do anything"
She barked a laugh, patting my shoulder. Fuck is she strong.
"Very well human, you seem to know what you're doing, and you know what you want done. I can respect that. At the very least know that I'm willing to work on this. Is there anything else you wished to speak about while you're here? I can't imagine that was the only reason you sought us out".
"Er, yes actually. Tell me, how good are your woodworkers?"
Nolan Potts, Human (Karma: 50 [Neutral]) [17/21 Spell slots used]
Classes: Brawler (5), Ranger (3), Druid (4), Clothier (3). Total Level (15).
Spells (Druid): Frostbite, Entangle, Create or Destroy Water, Guidance, Jump, Cure Wounds, Dust Devil, Protect from Poison, Hold Person, Spike Growth, Lesser Restoration, Water Breathing, Darkvision, Sleetstorm
Spells (Ranger): Animal Friendship, Speak to Animals, Ensnaring Strike
Gear: Canvas Clothes (Sturdy, Weathered), Oak-Handled Brush-hook, Canvas Coyote Pack of Holding, Bundles of Herbs (Medicinal), Bundles of Smoked Bug Meat, Bone toolkit
Items of Note: {Humble Beginnings}, {Emerald Moon}
Party Members are as follows…
Member One: Todone, Son of Kodrotti, Toadman (Karma: -30 [Neutral])
Classes: Toadman Warrior (9), Brawler (8), Total Level (17).
Member Two: Crusch Lulu of the Red Eyes (Karma: 50 [Neutral])
Classes: Awakened Elder Blood Lizardman (1), Druid (6), Spirit Shaman (3), Summoner (1), Total Level (11)
AN: Oof, good news bad news. Good news is, I'm loving my new job. Bad news, work schedule is a little wonky. So, I won't be able to write as much as I want to. Giving y'all the warning, cause I know some of you liked how fast I pumped the chapters out beforehand.