Chapter 116: Locals 

The situation was certainly nothing I expected.

A city of lizard monsters. Hundreds of these creatures filled it, clearly intelligent enough to form an advanced enough structure. There were homes, gardens, and play equipment. These creatures were clearly doing daily jobs while others were playing with little lizard creatures that had no tails.

Now there was genuinely a lot I was curious about. I wanted to know how a city like this could’ve formed. No other races of monsters were intelligent enough to create a proper society, and most ones that fought only acted on animal-level instincts.

I’m going to assume you don’t mean going down there and killing them individually, and what took you so long to start speaking?

(“ My own reason, and yes ”)

Espoiramissa partly answered my question. I was leaning towards its reason for being silent was due to its disagreement with my choices, but I could be wrong about that.

I thought about it; Espoiramissa’s words meant doom for this world if I wanted my prize. I wasn’t blind to that outcome; I knew taking the true core of the dungeon and using its mana would mean the destruction of the dungeon itself. 

These lizard creatures were nearly the first thing that came to a person's head when you heard lizardman. They were bipedal lizards, with full lizard-like bodies; they weren’t identical, as there were varying colours for scales, and some had different fin structures on their heads.

If the choice required me to directly murder these lizards and there was no alternative… I think I would do it. I wouldn’t enjoy or be happy about it, but I would do it. My selfishness and desire to live were too strong to stop now.

My presence on the wall didn’t go unnoticed for long, as eventually someone saw me, who then yelled out to another, who alerted others. 

It was quick.

Warriors grabbed weapons that were stationed on walls or roofs. Not everyone moved towards me. A few on the ground moved into key positions, and then– 

Woosh!

–Two lizardmen jumped up onto the wall’s ledge. The one to my right was a large green lizard with white scales on its chest and bright orange frills on its neck. The one to my left was another size larger; if the first was about my height, the second one was fifty percent taller than me. It had sandy yellow scales and black tattoo-esc markings on its chest, and deep scars were covering its face and arms. 

“C-Eal, surround.” The first one called out, sticking to a cautious approach. In their hands were large, long spears that, if I had to guess, appeared to specialise in poking creatures off the wall who were trying to climb it. Though not the best weapon if they wanted to fight me.

“Al-Roo, all be well.”

Wait, what?

It took a moment for me to register that I could understand them. They clearly weren’t speaking my language, and they were using hisses and other sounds I couldn’t make to communicate.

I turned slightly to the larger one of them; he seemed to be the one in charge, but I kept the other guard in my sight.

“Can you understand me?” I asked.

There was a small shake of his grip on his weapon; his eyes narrowed as he stared at me. The other lizard creature's eyes widened in shock, completely surprised by what he had heard.

Espr?

I immediately blamed Espr for this phenomenon. I didn’t believe this was something that just happened because of the world.

(“ My blessing to you. Due to my presence you are able to understand any creature that can communicate to you, and vice versa, to an extent of course ”)

Why couldn’t I understand other monsters then?

(“ They didn’t have the intelligence to create a form of proper communication  ”)

What the heck is the bar for a proper form of communication?

I had seen monsters that had built structures and could yell across long distances to alert others. I would consider that communication, but I didn’t have time to look into that bullshit.

“That we can…” The larger lizard replied, with his weapon still raised high. “Are you hostile?”

“Not at the moment.” I shrugged.

“That shall be seen…” He warned. “Would you care to follow? Otherwise, please leave this meraimaka.”

That probably refers to this city? I’m not sure how this translation thing works...

I didn’t know if it was Espr translating the language or, as it said, some sort of blessing that made understanding possible. Espr referred to it as a blessing, but it also stated it happened because it was in my soul, and I could see Espr referring to itself as a blessing in my life.

I examined these guards; I felt that I was stronger, so for the moment I was happy to comply with their demands. My curiosity to see what the city was like outweighed any intent to remove them from sight.

I raised my arms, and no weapons were visible on my body. I stored the arrow quickly, and it was tucked away in my armour.

The guards did as stated and made me follow them. There was no rope or chains; I had a feeling neither was going to be effective, but it could’ve also been a sign of respect on their part.

They didn’t shy away from the city, as we went right through to go to whatever destination they wanted to take me.

I looked around the city. Small works of art–made of sand and paint were hanging up–houses had been built and repaired with different materials, and the ground was worn down in areas where they frequently walked, and bright green moss grew in the corners.

It was a fascinating sight that I knew many people would be jealous of.

(“ You seem pretty fine with the eventual complete destruction of this civilization. I thought humans were excited to find another intelligent species in the stars  ”)

Fine is the wrong word, but I have accepted it, and stop trying to group me in your board spectrums in an attempt to make me feel bad.

Maybe Espr’s silence earlier was done in an attempt to make me feel worse about what was going to happen to this world. Giving up would create an outcome that Espr would be happy with.

(“ Oh, don’t you want to try and save them? ”)

I can’t afford to risk my life for that.

(“ I seem to remember you nearly dying on Jelannax colony ”)

I wasn’t nearly dying because I was helping them out. I was injured because I got hit by an attack from a person I was hunting.

(“ And why were you there in the first place? ”)

Because I wanted to kill people. You aren’t going to trick me like that.

I went to the station because I knew Dominous Hood would raid it, and therefore it was an opportunity to destroy more of their forces.

My escort stopped at a tented door, nothing blocking our path besides customs.

“Cole-Ra-Cu, we are seeking entry.” The large lizardman then turned to me. “We are nearly here.”

Suddenly the leaves of the tent’s entrance opened up, and we walked into an open area. The ground was decorated with many markings, but they didn’t appear magically. They depicted the lizards hugging, crafting, forging, and fighting; it was a sign of history. Towards the centre, the markings turned into a large flower of pinks, reds, and greens. 

There was one lizardman sitting in the centre with no tail and its legs crossed. It was a white-scaled creature with black scales dotting down its arms. 

“Entry accepted. Welcome speaker metal one. We hadn’t expected another world remnant to cross paths. ” The lizard's eyes opened up. His speech sounded more crusty and dry than the other two. I guessed that might mean he was an older one, but appearance-wise, he didn’t have anything that signified to me that he was an old lizard.

I could feel the wariness in the air, but for some reason, they had enough trust to let me in, or knew it was useless to deny my entry. Either way, I appreciated them not making this difficult.

I didn’t know what I could learn from these lizards, but I was hungry to learn at least a little bit more about this side of Existence, since Espr kept quiet about it. Though I understood they may not have many answers, it was worth asking.

(“ Well, remember if you ever want to escape these problems, I am always here ”)

Here is a well-deserved, fuck you.

I went along with the flow and introduced myself, “Hello as well, my name is…”

“We have speaker guest!” Another lizard ran in, similar in height to the first shorter guard I met. Its bright blue scales that shone were so much brighter than any of the three around me, but I did remember seeing lizardmen with similar bright scales on the way here.

The one in the middle didn’t turn to the one who ran through the opposite entrance.

“Younger, don’t interrupt.” And chucked a rock that was in front of it behind its head, and it landed directly on the new lizard's head.

“Ouch…”

I guess scale brightness is an age thing.

This was certainly going to be an interesting meeting.