NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69: unexpected
A few minutes later lazza and I were being escorted towards the lizard-man's village while ka'zeck swim smoothly beside us he wasn't the only one either around us were the ones that just attacked us
It turned out the smaller lizard-man was female and healer even more shocking or rather not really considering his personality she was his wife
" sorry about not getting here sooner we left as soon as word reached us that you entered the swamp " ka'zeck wife apologized Still shocked this brute had such a empathetic partner it took me a minute to answer " no it's fine I should have gone easier I just didn't realize what was attacking me"
around me the lizard-man flicked their pride as warrior's were hurt being talked about like they were children
After a hour of moving through the swamp not really saying much we Finally started coming up on the lizard-man's village
Thatched hut stood all around us some floating on the murky water other stood on a structures built from the trees near by usually the bigger huts from these huts lizard-men swam to and frow doing what ever needed doing for the day some were talking to their family and friends on the bigger huts with more support all this stopped when they noticed outsiders entering their village
I paused for a moment seeing their movement it was uncomfortable having them all stare at me usual Elise is by my side so it's easier for me to handle situations like this but since she wasn't her those feelings came back strong
Pushing them down i continued forward following our escorts
Eventually we were led into one of the bigger thatch building were the tribe slowly gathered around a lizard-man with Grey scales and scars covering a portion of his body even the tip of his tail was missing seemingly bit off by some creature long ago
" welcome " the lizard-man's voice was hoarse like he was on verge of losing it " he is the who I lost to in the tournament elder " ka'zeck said moving to his side followed by the female lizard-man the other moved back a little but still stood close by
The elder hummed as he looked at me seemingly a little surprised " why have you come here"
I looked at him not sure what to say " you tell me one of my carriages was attacked on it way to the town and as far as I know I haven't done anything to offend you " the elder opened his snout like mouth but someone from the crowd around us yelled
" offend us? Your entire species offends us all you humans are a scourge on our goddess beautiful world " all around me I could hear murmurs of agreement
Trying to keep calm i turned towards where the voice came from I smiled " your right humans are a scourge even a parasite that takes whatever it wants and if there is something they don't like they destroy it or force it to change their greed is endless..their desire never-ending...their cruelty knowing no-bounds but the limit of their imagination "
the dark aura and killing intent coming off of me made everyone recoil back the animal instincts deep inside them screaming that they were in danger
except lazza but even she just felt uncomfortable because she hasn't seen me get like this in a while
" so believe me when I tell you I understand your hatred towards humanity at least " I took a breath trying to get the anger leave me
" but as much as I don't want to admit it or think they don't do enough there are good humans and I like to think I'm one of them so I ask you with sincerity to please leave my people in peace "
As the elder and everyone regained their composer he looked at me confused and intrigued " you speak like you are not human yourself "
I shrugged my shoulders " I've never really felt human and as I grew older I felt rejected by my own kind not that I really cared because at that point I found humanity to be too ignorant and lack of a better word....fucking retarded I know I'm not perfect but at least I try to understand things I don't like or get "
The elder studied me for a bit with a stranger expression probably not sure what to think after hearing that
eventually he let out a huff causing steam to appear from his nostrils " you have my word we will not harm your people but that's not all you wanted was it"
" no I'm sure you know but the people of my town were starving for a long time before I arrived and one of the reason was because you ran them off I also wanted to ask for permission to farm some land here so my people won't starve when our reserves run out " I explained after shaking my head
Sighing The elder looked towards a effigy of a beautiful giant sunflower like plant with all sorts of colors on it then looked back at me " I will grant you what you seek if you take out a harbinger of our goddess counterpart that is slowly destroying the woodlands "
Confused I waiting for him to explain " a creature appeared on the edge of the woodlands to the north a few weeks ago slowly making it's way to us bringing decay with it a quarter of the our lands have already been lost if you can take the beast down I will let you use that land and a bit of the surrounding area for farmland "
Lazza opened her mouth but I held up my hand " this is more then acceptable just point me in the way of that monster and it will be gone in no time "
Before he could answer me ka'zeck stood up " I will take them to it I was hoping I could fight that thing again " nodding the elder picked up a wood staff next to him then hit the floor twice
seeing this the crowd around us broke apart to continue their day talking amongst themselves about what happened some in agreement others not so much some were just hopeful to have the terrible creature be dealt with before it can reach them
Leave the embrace of the female lizard-man that came with us here ka'zeck walked out of the hut waving for us to follow him
While we were moving through the village I got shocked by the lizard-man's ingenuity and commitment to not taking more then they need from the land while leaving it unchanged
their were a couple water wheels here and there slowly turning as water dripped off from it's wheels turning but if you paid attention you could the design of the wheel allowed fish to flow freely between it with out getting caught
Not too far from that they had a wet farm with crop partially submerged in water with different kinds of koi looking fish swimming throughout it keeping bad pest and bugs away
When ka'zeck came to a stop we were in front of another hut but unlike the rest this one had a giant plume of smoke coming from its opened roof along with the sounds of multiple hammers hitting steel ka'zeck stood at the entrance for a few moments before entering
Inside the ringing of hammers got louder along with the heat making lazza and i start to sweat
Looking towards the source of the noise and heat I saw four lizard-man around a big anvil with a red hot piece of metal sitting on it looking at the slab of metal I realized it looked a lot like ka'zeck tail blade moving my gaze down I noticed his blade was indeed gone
Just as I got curious what they were doing the one hold some clamps connected to the metal tensed up as another holding a hammer brought it down the strike to the slab was precise but powerful just as that strike finished the other one holding a hammer brought his down striking the same spot with the same amount of skill
After they went alternated a couple times the fourth one holding a needle like object quickly moved forward engraving a rune on it with great speed and control taking a better look at them I realized they were another female lizard-man
Once the engraving was done a wave of energy was released with some burst on heat and the process repeated a few more times just like that except every rune engraved was different then the previous one
After the fifth rune and another round of banging the one holding on to the metal with the clamps picked it up quenching in the swamp below threw a hole in the floor
I thought that would ruin it but once it got polished and sharpened again it looked better then the last time I saw it
" thank you rune-priestess I will use these blessings well " ka'zeck said to the female after she handed him the tail blade
The priestess didn't respond to him just nodding before leaving the hut entirely not fazed like it was normal ka'zeck thanked the blacksmiths as well before leaving too
" what was that about " I asked curious " I asked the blacksmiths and rune-priestess to upgrade my blade a little for our next fight though it seems ill be using for another purpose at least for now"
I stared at him from behind even more confused " didn't you try to fight me without it though " ka'zeck paused for a moment before continuing " The blade is a tool for my strength not the vessel of it I would have beaten you without it"
I rolled my eyes and continued following him out of the village