The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

"Ah, it is a tragic tale," the lizardman replied, almost sounding like he was going to cry. "I am a merchant you see, and I was carting rice from the capital to Arconia which is in high demand, only to be jumped by human robbers! They took my cart, the rice, and any money I had! I can only thank my stars that my clothes wouldn't fit them, else they'd have taken them too!"

"Bandits…" I muttered under my breath. I had already run into a group that had caused quite a ruckus back in Granny Qi's village. "Yeah, you shouldn't have traveled like that without any guards…"

He shook his head despondently. "I only realize that now far too late - given what happened to me, but I always used to go along this route, and such things never happened to me or to anyone I know!"

"Yeah," I mused. "Security's kind of gone to the dogs after the siege, but I'm sure it'll get better with time." It wasn't just an issue with security, it was that there were too many people left with nothing in the aftermath of the dryad invasion.

"...dogs?"

Oh right, this world didn't have dogs in it - which to me, was reason enough to find a way back home regardless if there still was or wasn't anyone waiting for me on the other side who I knew. "Just a figure of speech where I'm from. I'm heading towards the capital myself, if you want, you can ride with me and I'll drop you somewhere there."

I was actually a bit surprised that he had been the only one who had asked me for aide up till this point. I knew there were a lot of people who couldn't go back to their villages or were otherwise suffering in one way or the other - and I had even prepared extra food and some coins to hand over to them if needed before heading out to Granny Qi's village.

After all, even if I couldn't help everyone, I knew what it had been like to have nothing, not even a roof over your head. I could always help someone.

And yet, no one had approached me. I somehow doubted that was because there was just no one who really needed help desperately - and I had a sinking feeling the further that I got along that the fact I was riding a bear might've been the culprit.

The lizardman shook his head. "Thank you for your generosity, but I live in Arconia - that's where my house is. I was stuck, unfortunately in the capital due to the dryad invasion, and it was only now I had the courage to make the journey back. It seems I might've benefited from waiting a bit longer… but what can I say? I couldn't bear the thought of being away from my family any longer…"

"Alright then," I said to him. "Right over there in that direction - about three hours away - or I guess about six or seven for you, is a village which is rebuilding. You can stay the night there for three Denarii, meals included." I counted out about forty Denarii, which should've been enough for him to get to Arconia before moving to hand it to him.

He threw his hands up in protest, however. "No, Lord-"

"Again, I am no one's lord."

"-Master Liberomancer, I've already benefited from your kindness so much, I could not dare impose on you anymore," he said, seemingly adamant about refusing the money. "I… I'll find a way to earn my way back - whether it's by doing odd jobs for the farms or the like or via credit. This is… just too much."

I raised an eyebrow. I didn't want to judge on appearances, but the guy didn't exactly look like he was suited for working on a farm. "Do you think you'll be able to do so? Do you have any experience working on a farm? It's not easy work."

I had no firsthand experience in that regard, though after seeing how the villagers worked and listening to Granny Qi's stories about her childhood, I knew that life in the villages was difficult.

"I used to back when I was younger, on my great-uncle's farm," he said. "I can work for my meals."

I scratched my chin. "They might not have extra food in some spaces - why not take half or even a quarter then?" I asked him. It was clear that he was hesitant to take the money, and though I wasn't sure, I think there was a bit of shame in accepting it.

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He looked like he came from a relatively well-off if not outright wealthy family, and if he hadn't been robbed he definitely wouldn't be in this position. There was a bit more stigma to accepting coins than there was to accepting a meal. It had been the same for me back when I had first come to Arconia. "You might be able to pay for a ride to Arconia and see your family sooner." I gave him that last push. Really though, why was I having to be the one who was trying to convince him to take the money?

"Ah… I…" he seemed to hesitate quite a bit.

"If you're worried about paying it back… don't… I mean, there was a time when I had to rely on the charity of strangers as well, consider this paying that forward," I said. "I'm sure there are people back in Arconia you'll meet who need assistance, and when you see them, you can hand them some aide thinking of them like me."

He did tear up a bit on hearing that, and reluctantly took the money. "L-Master Liberomancer, I mean, this village you pointed me to, is it a human village?"

Oh, right.

"Yes it is…" I said. I wanted to believe that given the recent dryad invasion, humans and lizardmen had put all their differences aside and would cooperate - though I knew from even my limited experience in this world that it was quite naive to think that way. If it wasn't that way in the city, it would be even less so out here.

This was the most time I'd spent in the countryside, I had only really been to Granny Qi's village and back, and that one lizardmen village I'd gone too in order to deal with an Elephant Frog. The rural areas were a bit different than the city itself. Most areas in the city were segregated in the sense that they were lizardmen only or human only, but there were also places in-between such areas where it was more mixed. You might have a human house next to a lizardman house, and when it came to shops this was even more common because most of the marketplaces were shared, though buyers and sellers still had a tendency to stick to their own species when it came to choosing a shop.

As for the villages though, they were generally clustered, as in you'd have a cluster of lizardmen villages and then a cluster of human villages, with a reasonable distance in-between the two clusters that would ensure that they might never really cross paths with each other.

There was no mixing of species in the villages themselves; in a human village, there would only be humans, and in a lizardmen village, there would only be lizardmen residents. One would think that with most of them having to take up refuge in Arconia that even if they had biased feelings, they might've been able to get over them after sharing a common enemy for so long.

I had rested recently in a lizardmen village twice up till now, and had never been mistreated.

Then again, I was not an ordinary human- I was a Master Liberomancer, and several of them even recognized me as the Spider King of Arconia when I introduced myself. I also had several documents from Lance himself proving my identity, as well as an invitation from the king.

I could've used either of them at any moment to call in a few favors if need be and perhaps even demanded to be quartered in their houses for free - though I had never needed to nor would I want to. On the contrary, I had overpaid the villagers to some degree for my stay, but I was somewhat fine with that knowing their current conditions.

But could someone like him, who was a normal lizardman, feel comfortable around humans? And would the humans treat him the way the lizardmen had me?

I couldn't be sure of either of those things.

"Yes," I finally said. "I don't think they'll treat you any differently, especially if you say that you met me, you can tell them that the Spider King of Arconia sent you… but if that still bothers you greatly there is a lizardman village further down the road which is somewhat functional, but you'll have to run if you want to get there before nightfall. Thing is, if you arrive there past dusk, there is a chance they might mistake you for a bandit."

"I think I'll take my chances with my own kind," he said. "Thank you so much for the fish and this other gift!" He made to bow but I asked him to stop for what felt like the thousandth time.

"There is no need for that, it is only natural for us to help one another in these difficult times," I said. The dryad invasion had been much like a natural disaster - only it had arguably caused more damage than a hurricane or flood would. People were supposed to get together and aide each other in situations like this. Back on Earth, the federal government would've no doubt voted on a massive relief package and spending bill for such an area. The issue was that Chipker was far smaller than a country like the United States, and much of Chipker had been affected at the very least, indirectly by the dryad invasion. It was like a nation-wide disaster occurring in a poorer country back home which didn't have the resources to mount a proper national response.

"Before you leave though, can you tell me more about these bandits?" I asked him. Though I knew many of them chose that life because of recent events, they were also only making things harder for other people. "What did they look like? And how many of them were there? Where did you find them?" I wasn't about to go out of my way to hunt them, but if they had the misfortune to run into me on the road…