Isekai Lizardman Survival Log

The unidentified shadow lazily swam and disappeared deep into the lake.

We, who had been holding our breath while observing the shadow, finally relaxed.

“Phew―. Fortunately, it didn’t jump out…”

Chik-chik, who seemed to have lost all strength and was slumped on my head, might have fallen off if I hadn’t kept my head up as I glared at the lake.

The shadow that appeared on the surface wasn’t as big as the Tarasque, but it was quite massive. If such a huge creature had been living in the lake, I couldn’t have missed it, yet it moved around the lake as if it owned the place….

“…This is driving me crazy.”

I’m not blind; there’s no way I could have overlooked such a huge monster.

No, if such a monster had been there in the first place, I wouldn’t have even approached the lake, let alone entered it.

Just yesterday, the old man was causing a ruckus in the lake, and there was no sign of such a thing appearing.

In the end, it must be because of the blood we poured yesterday….

‘I never heard about anything like this….’

Judging by its size, it would be most fitting to call it the lord of the lake, but I’ve never heard such a story in my life.

The old man took the lead in pouring the blood, and the uncle agreed, so neither of them must have known.

If the two people who have lived in the village the longest didn’t know, the others probably don’t either.

I pushed the remaining meat in my hand into my mouth. It was so delicious just a moment ago, but somehow it now tasted bitter.

“Chik-chik. Go ask the old man and come back.”

I poked Chik-chik, who seemed tired and had become limp like a liquid, with my finger, and it sluggishly got up.

“What about you, Boss?”
“Well, I have to stay here, don’t I?”

I gently lifted Chik-chik and sat down on the ground. When I lowered my hand softly, Chik-chik wriggled as if it didn’t want to go.

“I don’t even have the strength to walk…”

Gone was its energetic appearance from earlier, and now it was just a limp furball. I tickled its side, and it rolled around on the ground, making a fuss.

“Ah, alright! I’ll go! I’m going!”
“I’m counting on you.”
“Ugh.”

Chik-chik slapped my hand with its stubby tail and quickly scampered away on all fours.

Running twice as fast as Derek, Chik-chik quickly became a dot and disappeared. I suddenly remembered Derek, who had underestimated that furball because of its small size and ended up being beaten by its tiny body.

It’s already a headache figuring out how to train that half-wit who couldn’t even land an effective hit, let alone get close, throughout our sparring session….

“…I guess I’ll have to ask Chik-chik to be his opponent for a while.”

I turned my head and stared intently at the lake.

Whatever monster was hiding there, someone had to keep watch here.

I feel sorry for Derek, but I don’t have time to spar with him. He might not like it, but he’ll have to learn by getting beaten up by Chik-chik.

I slowly inhaled, suppressing my presence and blending into nature.

-I am a rock. I am a rock.

While giving myself this suggestion, I sat still like a rock with my eyes wide open.

The wind passing by the lakeshore, the insects crawling on the ground, the wildflowers rooted nearby.

As I shook off my awkwardness and accepted everything, their movements subtly changed, and I became a large rock sitting on the lakeshore.

How long had I been a rock? After what felt like such a long time that my eyes would have dried out if not for my inner eyelids.

Splash―

There was a sound of splashing in the lake. The fish-men corpses floating on the lake disappeared, and in the brief void created on the surface as if something had been sucked in.

Bloop―

A flat, wide snout appeared.

Creeak― Thud―!

As the towering tree collapsed, the workers chopped off the small branches with axes.

“…Sigh.”
“Why are you sighing again, Jamel?”
“Aren’t you tired?”

Ignoring the troll who was making dying noises, I lifted my axe and struck the tree.

Thwack

Due to my large size, I had to hold the tree with one hand and lean my body to swing the axe, but for someone with a monstrous body like mine, rather than a human, it wasn’t that difficult.

At most, my waist might feel a bit stiff. Even that would end if I just stretched for a moment, so how sturdy am I?

“Stop exaggerating.”

For a troll with superior recovery ability, even if his strength is less than mine, is it appropriate to make such dying noises?

Creeak― Thud―!

After felling another tree, I straightened my back with a crack, and Jamel looked at me as if I were a monster.

“…Am I the strange one here?”
“If you have the energy to grumble, Jamel, swing that axe one more time.”

I detached the freshly felled tree from its stump and handed it to the workers, and six of them came to receive it.

“I― won’t lose either―!”

Thwack― Thwack― Thwack―

With a sound that rang in my head, Kart fiercely swung his axe.

As expected of an orc, he certainly handles the axe well.

Unlike me or Jamel, he’s not absurdly large, so he just needs to lower his posture a bit, making him faster too.

“Jamel, Kart is working so hard, so don’t think about slacking off.”
“…I never said I wouldn’t work.”

Jamel grumbled but started swinging his axe again. I watched his comical figure for a moment as he awkwardly bent his body to swing the axe.

“Heave―ho.”

I shouldered the log that had all its branches removed.

As I shouldered two logs, each larger than my height, on each shoulder, I felt a considerable weight pressing down. Since it took six workers to lift it, it was quite heavy.

“I’ll bring some snacks!”

-Woohoo!

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at Kart’s voice, which stood out even among six other orcs.

‘His voice really is loud.’

As I walked, treading on the soil dug up to remove tree stumps, the scene of the west gate, transformed from a slaughterhouse to a sawmill, came into view.

As I placed the logs I had shouldered onto the pile of logs stacked like stairs, a white furball suddenly appeared on top of my head.

“Boss! I’m tired!”

Chik-chik, slumped like a slime, enthusiastically explained how hard it had worked, saying that because it was the smallest and had good hand skills, the uncle had made it run all sorts of errands.

After gossiping for a while, it soon collapsed, and even when I stroked its head, there was no response, as if it was completely exhausted.
Usually, it would have grumbled or hummed, but seeing it lying face down as if dead made me feel sorry.

“Okay, okay. I got it. I’ll ask the uncle to give you lots of meat.”
“You must! You absolutely must!”

At the mention of food, it seemed to regain energy, raising its limp arms and chattering away.

As I headed towards the busy interior of the sawmill, I saw the uncle holding a tool in his hand, looking somewhat displeased.

Thwack

-Do your job properly―!

He finally threw the hammer in his hand at the back of an orc’s head who was sawing.

Fortunately, it didn’t get stuck in his head, so it seemed he hadn’t completely lost his reason yet.

‘He might end up killing someone at this rate.’

No matter how much of a slacker that guy was, we can’t afford to lose even one worker in this situation.

“Uncle. I’m here.”
“―! Oh, Rex, you’re here. Mordo’s here too?”
“Uncle! Give me meat!”
“Give the kids a lot, will you?”
“Ah, right. Got it.”

Perhaps because he was so busy he could barely think straight, the uncle roughly chopped some meat and handed it over.

Thanks to giving Chik-chik three times its usual portion, it hummed contentedly.

“Nom!”

It happily bit into the meat, which was three times the amount from yesterday, and shivered with joy.

“Can you eat all that?”
“I’m going to eat it all!”

I couldn’t help but smile bitterly at the sight of it hurriedly stuffing the meat into its mouth, as if someone was going to take it away.

With Chik-chik on my head and huge chunks of meat in both arms, I walked on, and saw seven orcs lying on the ground and one troll resting against a tree.

“He―y!”

Kart, who had only turned his head while lying down in response to my call, saw the meat in my arms and jumped up, running over.

“Me―at―!”

-Meat? Meat!

After lightly fending off the orcs who rose like zombies at the mention of meat and charged at me, I approached Jamel, who was pretending to sleep while leaning against a tree.

“Jamel, I know you’re awake, so get up already.”
“Ugh…. Alright.”

Jamel staggered to his feet and gathered leaves and twigs.

“Hoo―.”

Then he breathed out a weak flame to light a fire, transferring the spark to a campfire he had somehow prepared.

“Give it here.”

Jamel washed his hands with water droplets he created, then cut the meat into appropriate sizes.

Then he prepared suitable branches into skewers and stuck the meat on them. Chik-chik, who had already eaten all its raw meat, looked at the skewers stuck near the campfire with shocked eyes.

“…!”

Ignoring Chik-chik’s reaction, Jamel turned the skewers appropriately, grilling the meat to a golden brown.

“Jamel! Can we eat now―!”
“No. Wait.”

Kart looked at the grilled skewers, drooling between his tusks, but Jamel firmly stopped him.

“Jamel! How about now―!”
“Wait a little longer.”

True to his orcish nature, Kart asked again not long after, and Jamel answered irritably.

“Jamel―! Now―!”
“Oh, wait, you pig―!”

Thud―!

Only after getting hit on the head by Jamel did Kart finally quiet down, and we all huddled together amicably by the campfire.

“Jamel is mean.”
“What are you saying, you pig.”

Kart grumbled while rubbing the bump on his head, but Jamel carefully turned the skewers, ignoring him.

As time passed, all sides of the meat turned golden brown, and oil dripped down the surface. The sound of swallowing saliva could be heard.

“Wait.”
“How much longer do we have to wait―!”

When Kart’s outstretched hand was stopped, he shouted as if enraged, but Jamel, true to his troll nature, didn’t change his expression and reached into his pocket.

Jamel took out a skewer and carefully tilted a water bottle he had pulled from his pocket. A reddish sauce with a fresh scent flowed from the bottle onto the skewer.

‘Is this wild strawberry?’

I guessed the ingredients from the sweet and sour scent that tickled my nose. Wild strawberries, a few herbs, and… apple?

I could smell the unique scent of pineapple, so it seems apple was indeed used.

As I analyzed the sauce, thinking what strange thoughts these were, Jamel handed me a skewer.

“Thank you for the meal.”
“Yeah, enjoy it.”

The skewer, evenly coated with sauce, made my appetite rise involuntarily. Chik-chik seemed to feel the same way, drooling profusely.

Ignoring my slightly damp head, I took a bite of the skewer, and the meat juices burst in my mouth.

Despite being grilled on a skewer, which should have let quite a bit of juice escape, the juices that spread enough to wet my mouth blended with the sweet and sour sauce, enhancing the flavor.

The savory taste felt with each chew of the meat lingered on my tongue, and the spread-out meat juices swept through my mouth, engraving their presence everywhere.

Just as the meat’s characteristic greasiness spread out and my appetite was about to wane, the sour sauce rinsed my mouth, and the mixed meat juices teased my palate, making me continue eating.

-It’s― de―licious―!
-Woohoo―!

After savoring the taste for a while and swallowing the meat, I heard the orcs cheering beside me.

“…Boss.”

I looked up at the pitiful voice and saw Chik-chik looking at me with tears in its eyes, but saliva was still flowing from its mouth, making me smile bitterly.

“Here.”
“Yay―!”

When I gave it a piece, it happily received it with both hands, took a bite, and then opened its eyes wide as if shocked.

Soon, it started making a fuss on top of my head, which had become damp with saliva and tears, as if deeply moved. Ignoring this, I took another bite of the skewer.

-Jamel! Jamel is a genius―!

I looked at the orcs who had become closer to Jamel, wondering if the old man had spoken correctly, and then my gaze fell on the pile of logs stacked nearby.

How many harpoons could we make if we turned all of those into weapons? Including what’s in the sawmill, it should be at least several dozen. If we do well, maybe even a hundred might be possible.

Considering the size, one or two shots won’t be enough, so it’s better to have plenty of ammunition.

I raised the corners of my mouth, thinking about the housewarming gift for the creature that had arbitrarily taken up residence in someone else’s lake.