Seventy-five: Mutual understanding’s important, huh?

“Ghah!”

The lizardman warrior took a deep gash, unable to dodge Baron Frog’s long tongue attack.

Another lizardman tried to come to his aid, but Jurala barked sharply.

“Idiot! Don’t break formation!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The lizardman who’d stepped forward grimaced (probably) and returned to his post.

I pulled out a Healing Potion bottle and tossed it.

The bottle struck the wounded warrior crouched on the ground, shattered, and vanished—only the Healing Potion itself poured over the warrior’s body.

Back in adventurer days, magic weak, had to sharpen my knife-throwing to make up for it. Never thought it’d come in handy like this. Life’s weird. Sigh.

“Ugh… you again? Thanks… saved me.”

Healing Potion’s still around. Don’t push yourself—just use it when you need to. Efficient.

Yeah, I’ll take you up on that. Thanks.

Shurl’s brother Julara watched our exchange over the battlefield, eyes flicking sideways as he directed the fight.

“Human male.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. My name’s Julara, son of the Chief of Gourd Swamp Village. Tell me yours.”

“I’m Craft Walken. Just call me Craft. I bear the alchemist’s mark.”

“Alchemy? Not magic, then?”

“Close enough. Think of me as a mage who specializes in potions and gear.”

“Our clan’s lost its mark long ago. A few spells still linger, but even those won’t last. …Craft, I’m counting on you. Next village chief.”

“What?”

I need your help protecting this village. Medicine and warriors alone won’t cut it anymore. I’m counting on Craft’s healing, and on the strength of your fighters out there.

The lizardmen around me were more surprised than Julara, who bowed low.

“That Julara…?”

“Opponent’s human, right?”

“Still, you’ve made it clear not all humans are bad.”

“True, but…”

Julara fixed me with a sharp stare.

“Craft will heal here. I’m asking your comrades—the fighters outside, and the archers—to guard this place.”

“Guard? What are you thinking?”

“We’re gonna take down that Titan Duke Frog!”

Julara declared it with force. The lizardmen around us roared back.

Half in fear, half in battle cry—determined.

"That's the spirit, next village chief! Warrior Julara! I'm with you!"

"Wha—? Idiot! The enemy's a Titan Duke, you know!? What're you thinking!?"

"Clearly, the Baron's drawn here because of him! What's there to hesitate about when slaying the enemy's leader?"

"I get the logic! But! It's a Titan Duke, for crying out loud! There's no way we can win!"

"Then you'd rather just sit here and get crushed to death!?"

The older lizardman warrior and the one I'd healed earlier were shouting at each other fiercely.

"Enough! This is final! Julara speaks with the village chief's full trust!"

"...Guh..."

"Hahaha! Thought you were still a kid, but you've grown, Julara!"

"Cut the 'kid' stuff, please..."

Julara clearly couldn't stand up to the older lizardman.

"Alright! I'll leave only the bare minimum of soldiers behind and form the assault unit right away!"

"Wait a sec, Julara."

"What? Craft?"

"I'm the one who should handle this. Raidock... better leave it to my comrades out there, the ones running wild."

"What?!"

"I'm glad you're trusting me with defense. But I don't know this village's layout. I don't know this building's structure. And coordinating with the remaining lizards? Impossible."

"That's... true."

"Then we should move as a guerrilla unit."

"Then you'll be sending us straight into a death trap!"

"You're the next village chief, right? You should stay here and lead the defense."

"I get what you're saying, Craft... but..."

Relax. I’m not going to die out there. If things get bad, I’ll come right back here. So actually, I’d appreciate it if you held the line. And if I take out that creepy frog, maybe I’ll earn a little more trust, huh?

...You’re not actually going to die, are you?

The lizardman locks eyes with me, straight on.

Ah, same as the maid Ryuuko—pupils vertical.

Yeah. Worst case, I’ll just check things out and come back.

...I don’t usually ask guests for help, but I’m asking now.

Got it. Leave it to me....First, though, I gotta thin out these barons around the manor.

Agreed. Warriors! Thanks to Craft’s potion, those barons’ nasty paralysis won’t work on us anymore! Rise up! Defend our home!!

“““OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!””””

Julara’s call ignites the fighters. They rally, and the line steadies.

It’s almost night! The baron’ll move slower once it’s dark! We’ve gotta secure some sleep before then!

Huh? They’re frogs—shouldn’t they be night creatures? Guess that’s what you get with monsters. Makes no sense.

“I’ll back you up with magic too!”

“Craft? Weren’t attack spells banned for Raidock’s older brother?”

“Got a few things to check. I’ll keep it light—just support. You’re counting on Jitarou’s bow now.”

“Leave it to me! Protecting Shururu’s my job, that’s all!”

Yeah, man. Jitarou’s got no grudge against non-humans. That’s real admirable.

…Can Lizardmen even have kids with humans?

Thinking about nonsense like that, we push back the frog creatures before nightfall, set up a makeshift barrier, and finally catch our breath.

Raidock and the others who’d been out fighting were finally able to slip inside the building once the sun went down.

◆

Torchlight flickered on the walls, casting trembling shadows.

With all the injured and sick now able to move, the great hall had cleared out, so we were led there.

Thanks to Marilyn and Bep.

Round mats woven from grass were laid out, and we were told to sit.

In the lizardmen’s homeland, chairs never really caught on, I guess.

Julara sat cross-legged at the front, us forming a half-circle around her.

Shururu stood beside her.

They looked so different it was hard to believe they were siblings.

The front lines had settled enough to allow a meeting to begin.

Some warriors had already started taking shifts to sleep.

Nightfall had slowed the frogs down.

I'm Julara, son of the village chief of Bottle Swamp. Thank you for your help this time.

I'm Raidock. I'm leading this party.

When Raidock said that, Julara glanced at me sideways.

"Craft is the brains of this group. You can think of him as deputy leader if you want."

"A man like that as deputy leader?"

Julara blinked his reptilian eyes repeatedly. He seemed to have misunderstood something.

"Julara, Raidock's nothing like me. He's brilliant. Sharp mind. Top-tier swordsman too."

"...Seems like we've stumbled onto someone truly extraordinary."

"I've said it before—none of us want to hurt you. We'll leave if you tell us to. But we found the lizardfolk. The ones history says are extinct. We'd rather help them than harm them."

"Help? Friends?"

I take up Raidock's words.

"We're trying to make this land safe. We're building a life here. To the Julara and their kind, we're probably a nuisance. But we're the ones pushing forward with the settlement."

"...So you're trying to take over this land, aren't you?"

I pause, thinking.

Put it harshly, yeah. That's exactly what it is. From the start, the Kingdom of Magaria claims this place as theirs.

It's unclaimed land, sure—but they've declared it theirs.

So if they hear that lizardfolk, thought to be extinct, have been found here... well.

The one in charge doesn’t want domination. Just… how the kingdom sees it, now that’s the question. Ah, you know what a kingdom is?

Not sure how close the meaning matches with humans, but basically, someone like a village chief or clan elder, tied together?

That understanding’s fine.

If they get what a nation is, will they follow?

I’ve got two ideas I could propose as the local authority.

Two?

One’s talking so you can keep living here like before. Just make it look like you’re under control—formality’s easier that way.

You want us to put ourselves under your control?

Probably. To the kingdom, anyone living here is already under their rule. But if the kingdom moves directly, we can’t even guess what’ll happen to the lizardfolk.

…So humans really are like the legends say.

Knowing what kind of legends… my head hurts.

Look back at history, and it’s easy enough to imagine how they’ve always looked down on half-breeds and beastfolk.

“Might not believe me, but the one in charge here’s been trying to end that kind of discrimination.”

“……”

“If we can build trust with you, we could push to the kingdom that the lizardfolk are allies.”

“Used as political tools… or, more importantly, you’re making promises like that without even checking with Craft’s master? You sure that’s safe?”

Raidock and Leifan both cracked a smile at Jurala’s straight talk.

“Relax. Craft’s master… well, not exactly, but the one in charge here, they’ll never ignore a proposal from Craft. They’ll only make it better.”

“Yeah, yeah. Craft’s got his quirks, and Kyle’s way too protective too.”

Jurala nodded at their antics.

“Seems like friends, huh. But I can’t accept that plan.”

Guess it’s impossible after all...

"About living under human rule—that’s something we could negotiate, if the village chief and I talk it over."

Huh? There’s another reason?

"We lizardfolk prefer clean marshlands and wetlands. But..."

Jurala stopped mid-sentence.

"Baron’s raiders poisoned this gourd marsh with corpses and toxins. It’ll take decades to return to how it was. So the proposal to live as we did before? That’s impossible."

Ah. I see.

We could’ve considered living under human rule if we could’ve kept living the way we did. But we can’t even do that anymore, right?

We were already in a crisis with food. There were a few lizardman settlements, but swamps and marshlands were overrun by monsters. They fled one by one, until finally all survivors ended up here, in this gourd marsh. Living here now is impossible.

The lizardmen managed to survive barely, scraping by. But as monsters and other problems grew worse, they gradually gathered together. All the lizardmen ended up in this gourd marsh. Naturally, food ran out.

Then a group of frogs came hopping over, croaking. That was the end of the last hope.

Leifan stood silent for a while. Then snapped his fingers.

"Hey, Craft. Can’t we protect the lizardmen?"

"Protect?"

"Yeah. There’re tons of settlers coming to Goldendown, but a lot of ‘em blow all their coin just getting here, end up like refugees, right? Goldendown’s got a system to give ‘em temporary protection, don’t they?"

"Yeah, that one."

Plenty of people. Not a bad thing.

If we don’t care about who lives here, just absorb ‘em under protection—no matter what the kingdom says, we won’t get burned."

"Julara, our town’s full of folks who lost their homes. And we’ve got a system that gives shelter and work to people like that. Why not try it?"

Julara paused, thinking.

Back in the day, I sneaked a peek at a human village. Couldn’t live there, but not impossible either. Still, unless you’re some kind of weirdo, you wouldn’t want to live in a stone village. The one I saw was a tiny place tucked away in some remote spot. Probably bigger towns exist, though?

Goldendown’s… well, it’s probably massive. Stone buildings everywhere.

Fighters might tough it out. But for women and children? That’d be rough.

Ugh. We’re scratching our heads.

Then Jitarou’s cheerful voice cut through.

“How about we just move them to that swamp where the hydra was?”

““Ah.””

My voice and Leifan’s synced up.

“True, if adventurers help out, we could slowly expand the areas the lizardfolk can live in.”

“Hey, why not get them to help with the clearing?”

“What’re you talking about?”

"The reason we gave up on developing that swamp wasn’t just because there weren’t enough adventurers back then, or because it was too far from the village—nobody ever showed up to live there and manage it."

"Is that so?!"

I finally got what Leifan was getting at.

"That swamp’s huge. Let the lizardfolk use part of it as a settlement. Clear the rest and grow rice! They’ll guard the fields—work for them, protection in return. Farmers won’t fear the half-breeds so much if they’re the ones defending their land!"

"Yeah! What do you think?"

"Brilliant!"

I couldn’t help it—I hugged Leifan.

"Wha—?! Craft?!?"

"Ah, sorry. Got carried away."

"N-Not bad, but—jerk me out of my skin, okay?!"

"Sorry, sorry. Feels like I’m hugging a schoolkid."

I teach practical skills too, but some clingy students grab me or kick me—so I ended up hugging Leifan, thinking he looked just like the kid.

"Wait—! That’s me you’re treating like a kid!?"

"Right, Julara. Let me explain this proposal clearly."

"Ah, yeah."

"Stop pretending I don’t exist, okay!?"

I dodged Leifan’s stare, brushing past his attention, and explained the earlier point plainly.

"Ah… not bad. Of course, we’ll need to check the site. And Hydra…?"

"We’ll handle the culling—our adventurer’s guild’s fully on board."

"Hmm…"

One thing’s bugging me. Zaid’s new settlement’s way closer to marshland than Goldendown is.

If it’s not gonna work, let’s just build them a livable spot near the great river flowing north of Goldendown.

“Hey Julara, if you’re ready to ditch this land, why not just leave that Titan Duke alone and run? What’s the big deal?”

“Fine if it’s just warriors. But there are women and children, elders too. Even if we ran right now with nothing, people would start starving. Running away’ll take preparation. And besides…”

There’s more, isn’t there?

“Actually, we found a cave a little ways off. Not frogs—some other kind of monster, in big numbers. More than half our warriors are already heading out to kill them. If we leave now, we’re abandoning those fighters.”

“That’s…”

Another thing—thought we could flank the barons if we just held out till they came back. Without Craft showing up, it was impossible no matter how you looked at it.

Makes sense. So we couldn’t just abandon the village right away.

“Thanks to Craft, we can resist the paralysis toxin. If we pass it to the returning warriors, we might’ve even wiped out the barons…”

Past tense.

“But Titan Duke Frog’s a problem. Just having him around draws barons in like clockwork. No chance of winning while he’s still standing.”

“So that’s why you were fixated on killing the fat duke.”

“That’s right.”

Got it. I nodded at Raidock, and he gave me the same look.

“Leave it to us.”

Perfectly synced—got laughed at by the rest of the crew.

Sorry for the late update!

Sending double the usual amount in return!

Forgive me!