“Chief, there’s a problem!” I was already on my way to find out what was causing a commotion when a warrior approached me.

The warrior was breathing heavily and was slightly leaning on his tail; it was clear that he’d run all the way here.

“What is it? Did the beasts attack again?” I continued walking towards the noise as I interrogated the warrior.

“No chief, it’s not a beast. We first thought she was an elf, but she’s not completely scale-less. She’s not attacking either, she just approached the south gate and started talking.” The warrior walked next to me as he responded.

“Talking? What about?” I stopped for a second and thought to myself; ‘If she talks, she’s not a beast, but I’ve never heard of an Elf with scales… It might be possible though, we don’t know a lot about them.’

“None of the warriors on guards speak the trade language, so we don’t know.” His response was understandable, we rarely had contact with the elves, so few bothered to learn the trade language.

We arrived at the gate and I quickly climbed the watchtower. I looked down and spotted the cause of all the noise.

Twelve warriors had gathered near the gate and the guard leader was constantly yelling orders. Several groups of younglings were also there, and the wives were desperately stopping them from approaching the stranger.

The stranger in question was standing several steps from the gate. When I entered the watchtower, she spotted me, and now her eyes were fixed on me.

I studied her for a bit until, eventually, someone else entered the watchtower.

“Is that the elf? What’s she been doing?” ‘s-Aru spoke after spotting the figure on the ground.

I looked at him for a moment before I responded. “I don’t know if she’s an elf; She has the figure like one and doesn’t have a tail, but she does have scales and claws. Her eyes are also weird; I thought that all elves had green eyes.”

“Well, I don’t care whether or not she is one. Let’s just have the warriors get her.” ‘s-Aru was about to order the warriors to catch the intruder when he was stopped.

“Don’t be an idiot. Can’t you tell she’s a core warrior? She’ll shred them to pieces.” ‘b-Gozu had appeared behind us without either of us noticing.

“We don’t have a choice then, let’s go talk to her.”

 

“You’re telling me she isn’t an elf? She clearly isn’t one of us either, so what is she then?” After a few moments of silence, I finally spoke up.

‘b-Gozu was the only one in the village who was proficient with the trade language, so he had been translating the visitor’s words.

“She says she is a ‘human’, they’re similar to elves but not the same. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re like what the winged are to us.” ‘b-Gozu’s translated my words and, after thinking for a moment, gave me an answer.

“What, so she thinks she’s better than other elves?” I couldn’t help but think of the winged; just because they could fly, they refused to associate themselves with us.

‘b-Gozu quickly responded to calm my anger: “I think it’s a bit more complicated than that. She keeps avoiding the topic, however, so we should stop talking about it; we won’t be able to stop her if she gets angry, ‘s-Liru is gone after all.”

His words reminded me of the situation we were in, so I quickly calmed down: “Fine, so what is she here for?”

‘b-Gozu talked to the human for a while before he responded to me: “She… She says she and some other humans are living in… the hive. She’s here to trade.”

Before I could respond, ‘s-Aru, who had been listening silently, stood up. “The hive? That’s ridiculous, she’s obviously lying. Why are we still listening to her, let’s throw her out already!”

“ ’s-Aru, calm down. I know you don’t like the elves, but we can’t annoy her. Just think about it; they can afford to send out a core warrior even though they’re living in the hive. They must have tons of core warriors or maybe even a core master. Even if you can defeat her, we won’t live long enough to tell the tale.” I quickly responded and ‘s-Aru sat back down.

Although he calmed down, he wasn’t giving up yet: “Then what would you have us do? If they do have that kind of force, then there’s no way this trade will be fair; They’ll just force us to hand over all our food without anything in return. If that’s how it’s going to be, I’d rather fight, however futile it is.”

“Fight? You’d give up the lives of the wives and younglings just because you can’t stand a bit of hunger? You’re the head warrior now, you should be ashamed of yourself!” Hearing his words, I couldn’t help but respond angrily.

I calmed myself down and faced ‘b-Gozu: “Is it like ‘s-Aru says? Are they here to extort us?”

‘b-Gozu spoke a few more words with the human before he responded to me: “No, they do plan on paying us. They don’t want to set up anything long term yet, but they want to buy as much food as we can spare right now.”

I thought for a few moments but eventually agreed to the trade.

 

Hella’s POV

After I worked out the details of the trade with the lizardmen, I stayed the night in their village.

The village had a population of a few hundred lizardmen. According ‘b-Gozu, the lizardman I’d spoken with, it could be considered as a medium-sized village.

During the conversation with ‘b-Gozu, I learned that in this world, the only sentient races were the elves and the lizardmen.

The elves are physically similar to humans. The only noticeable differences are their pointed ears and their smaller build.

I guessed there were probably more differences, but the lizardmen knew little about them, so I couldn’t confirm my suspicions.

Because the village would occasionally trade with the elves, the hut I occupied was built to accommodate guests.

Although lizardmen preferred the muddy ground, the elves, and me too, didn’t appreciate it much.

Because of this, this hut was one of the few that had a wooden floor installed.

Apart from that, the furniture inside was built to suit elves and, because we’re alike, it suited me quite well.

I was sitting on the bed cross-legged and was focused on my mana.

A few days ago, I discovered that, if I spread my mana out in the surroundings, I can detect living creatures nearby.

Because I was rarely around so many living creatures, I used this chance to practise this ability.

I focused on a small group of lizardmen. Based on the way they were moving, I guessed that they were moving the food I’d bought from them.

Because my pouch of holding could only hold small items, the bags of food had to be transported the normal way; on a small cart.

The image I had of lizardmen, was that of barbaric hunter-gatherer tribes, but this wasn’t true.

If I compared them to human civilization, they’d probably be in the early middle ages and, although they looted them from beasts instead of minting them, they even had currency.

 

I felt two people approaching my hut, so I retracted my mana and stood up to greet them.

“Chief, ‘b-Gozu, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Whilst all lizardmen looked alike to me, based on his clothes and the medallion on his chest, I could conclude the visitor was the village head.

Next to him stood ‘b-Gozu. He was missing his left arm, so he was quite easy to identify as well.

 “We have little problem. Maybe you help?” My ‘translation’ skill didn’t translate the lizardmen language. It did, however, translate the trade language; the language the lizardmen and elves used to communicate.

Because of this, I could communicate with ‘b-Gozu, who could speak the trade language.

He wasn’t fluent in it, but we managed to understand each other.

“Of course, come in.” I stood aside to let the lizardmen in.

They sat down on the ground and I followed suit.

“You live at hive, yes?” After a few seconds, ‘b-Gozu spoke.

“The cave system? Yes, I do.”

“Then, you hunt in forest there, yes?” I answered with a quick ‘yes’ and he continued; “Warrior group lost. You seen?”

It took me a little while, but eventually understood what he meant. A group of warriors that had gone there must have disappeared and, because I lived nearby, they were wondering if I’d seen them.

‘Must be that group of lizardmen.’ I thought back to the group of lizardmen I’d fought, and killed, before.

They were the reason I suspected the existence of a village of lizardmen.

At the time, I thought of them as slightly more intelligent monsters and I’d first intended to just plunder the village for food.

It probably wasn’t a smart idea to inform ‘b-Gozu about any of that. “Can’t say I’ve seen any lizardmen there. I’ll ask around when I get back home.” 

“Thankful. They important. Old head-warrior and shaman.” ‘b-Gozu and the chief exchanged a few words and then took their leave.

 

“Boat ready.” Upon hearing ‘b-Gozu’s words, I opened my eyes.

Since there wasn’t anything else to do, I cultivated with ‘Mana absorption’ whenever I had time.

I stood up from my cross-legged position and responded to ‘b-Gozu: “Great, let’s go then.”

Since the longest part of the trip was along the river, we decided to use a raft to transport the food.

I walked to the raft and boarded it.

Apart from me and ‘b-Gozu, everyone walked along the shore.

Four lizardmen held ropes connected to the raft. They were able to steer the raft and made sure we didn’t hit any rocks.

The rest of the lizardmen acted as escort, getting rid of any monsters we came across.

“Bit much to call it a boat, don’t you think?” To kill a bit of time, I talked to ‘b-Gozu.

“Yes, not big boat. Little boat not need. Leave. Take back boat hard.”

“You’ll leave the boat once we get there?”, I asked him, to clarify.

“Yes, just wood.”

“Makes sense, I guess; Downstream is easy, but going against the flow takes effort.” We chatted for a while longer until we were eventually interrupted.

The lizardmen on the ground pulled their ropes tight and we came to a stop.

‘b-Gozu yelled at the lizardmen, who promptly replied.

“Beast attack. We wait.” Hearing ‘b-Gozu’s words, I stood up and promptly noticed a pack of wolves.

The lizardmen guarding us slowly approached them with their weapons drawn.

The biggest wolf lifted its head and howled, signalling his comrades to attack.

As he did so, one of the lizardmen took the opportunity and used his bow to shoot the beast.

The arrow lodged itself in the wolf’s neck and he instantly died.

Panic visibly spread among the wolves, as they all froze and looked at their, now dead, leader.

Whilst it only took a moment for another wolf to take charge, it was more than enough time for the lizardmen.

Another arrow struck its target and, as the injured wolf staggered, the front most lizardman impaled it with his sword.

The wolf died and two lizardmen rushed forward, forcefully splitting the pack of wolves in two.

One half of the pack was kept at bay by two lizardmen with spears, whilst the second half was attacked by the rest of the guards.

Like this, the lizardmen quickly, and safely, wiped out the wolves.

As one half of the pack was wiped out, the other quickly turned tail and ran.

The lizardmen didn’t chase the wolves and instead gathered up the dead wolves.

“I’ll give you another silver for those wolves.” Not wanting to miss out on the extra food, I quickly bought the wolves.

The lizardmen put the wolves on the raft and we set off again.

We continued along the river, occasionally being attacked, and, when the sun was about to set, we tied down the raft and set up camp.

Since I hadn’t done anything all day, I offered to take watch, but ‘b-Gozu promptly refused.

Not wanting to argue, I instead picked a flat looking rock and sat down on it to cultivate.

I sat through the night in this semi-awake state, and when the sun appeared on the horizon, I stood up.

I made a fire and, using some meat and fruits, I made a simple breakfast.

The others must have smelled it, as I heard people getting up.

They joined me for breakfast and after breaking up camp, we got back on the raft.

 

When the sun was right overhead, I could hear a sound getting progressively loud.

We had reached the cliff and several dozen metres away, I could see the river disappear.

“Here. We not go further.” Before we set off, ‘b-Gozu already told me they wouldn’t escort me any further.

I wasn’t sure why, but the lizardmen refused to go near the caves, or the ‘Hive’ as they call it.

The lizardmen lifted the raft out of the river and put it on the ground.

After saying goodbye, the lizardmen swiftly left in the direction we came.

‘Phew~’ Looking at the small mountain of food, I let out a sigh.

I used my ‘Voice’ skill to make it lighter and lifted one side of the raft.

Since there was a lot of food, it took quite a bit of effort to move the raft.

I had to stop every ten minutes or so to catch my breath, and when it started to get dark, I found my way back home.

With a loud sound, the raft dropped on the ground.

‘I’ve had enough, the others can move it inside.’ As I massaged my tired muscles, I made my way into the caves.

“I’m back!” I yelled loudly as I made my way into the cave we used for cooking and eating.

The cave was unexpectedly empty, so I stopped for a moment.

“Hey, guys? Where’ you at?” I turned around and started searching the caves.

Everyone usually kept their personal items in their caves; Since the caves were completely empty, it gave off an abandoned atmosphere.

“Guys?” I looked through the last few caves, and all I found was the unused equipment we kept in storage.

I exited the caves and looked around.

Behind me, the cliff, in front of me the plains and to the left the forest; nothing that gave me any clue as to where everyone was.

‘Right…’ I thought for a few moments and re-entered the caves.

I walked to the fireplace and stuck my hand in it.

‘Cold, they’re long gone.’ If the others had been here today, they’d have used the fire to make breakfast and lunch. Because there wasn’t any lingering heat, they obviously weren’t.

‘Problem is, where did they go and, more importantly, why did they go.’ I brushed the ash of my hands and started exploring the caves again.

‘Now, this is interesting.’ Transferring the knife to my left hand, I picked up a small rock.

I moved the pebble around between my fingers as I looked at the monster before me.

Black skin, vague humanoid-like body, elongated skull, protrusions from its back, and when it opened its mouth, a smaller mouth extended.

“A xenomorph this time? Wherever you’re getting these, you aren’t scaring me.” I swung my arm, and the rock was sent flying.

It hit the alien in its chest and fell to the ground, before it hit the ground, however, it vanished.

‘Right, moving on.’ I ignored the monster and continued through the passage.

Since I returned home, these monsters showed up in increasing amounts.

Obviously, they weren’t real; Someone, or something, was trying to scare me.

At first, a big group of trolls appeared; I stumbled across them when I was exploring the caves. I wouldn’t have been able to defeat them, but getting away from them was certainly possible, which I did.

After that, I searched different parts of the caves until I came across more monsters, from which I then had to run.

This continued for a while until I eventually decided to fight a group.

When I did, I figured out what was going on: The monsters were illusions.

Having learned this, I promptly ignored the monsters and moved further into the caves.

As I ventured deeper into the ground, more dangerous monsters appeared.

When I came across a giant spider, I, again, ignored it.

The spider, however, was real and injured me.

I managed to defeat it, but it became evident that I couldn’t just ignore any monster I came across.

Experimenting for a bit, I found a way to differentiate illusions from real monsters.

From the way that they looked, to what they sounded like and even to how they smelled, they were very life-like.

The illusions, however, didn’t interact well with the world around them.

When I, for example, threw a rock at them, the rock would, indeed, appear to bounce off, but after that, the rock would disappear and appear where it had actually landed.

Using this method, I safely made my way further down.

As I did, the monsters that appeared started to change.

Instead of monsters that appeared in this world, creatures from my memories started to appear.

I used to watch tons of tv, so there was a huge variety of monsters to choose from.

They got more and more frequent like someone was desperately trying to keep me away.

After getting past the xenomorph, I entered a huge cave and let out a sigh.

“Ha, finally found you.”