The children's gazes were not caused by hunger --- something that would've been impossible a few years ago. This gave Zaryusu a feeling of happiness.
With his back facing the reluctant gazes, he passed through the residential area and arrived at the hut that was his destination.
This area was not connected to the village. Going a bit further, and it became dissimilar to the wetlands which were the general depth of the lake. This hut, which was sturdier than it looked, was built on this subtle border and was larger in size than Zaryusu’s home.
The strangest feature was that it was tilted. Because of this reason, approximately half of the house was submerged in the water. This was not collapsed due to damage, but was intentionally constructed to be so.
Swishing, Zaryusu got closer to the house whilst making audible water noises.
Wheedling sounds could be heard from the hut, it could probably smell the scent of fishes.
With a squeak, the head of a snake with deep brown scales and amber eye-pupils appeared from the window. after confirming that it was Zaryusu, the neck extended and coquettishly twisted around him.
“Good, good.”
With a habitual hand movement, Zaryusu stroked the snake’s body. The snake comfortably squinted using the eye protection membrane. Zaryusu also thought that the scaly snakeskin felt fine.
This creature was Zaryusu’s pet, called Rororo.
Since Rororo was raised from young, it was as if it could actually understand language.
“Rororo, I’ve bought food. Be good and eat it okay?”
Zaryusu chucked the brought fish through the window. ‘Dang’ and ‘Pluck’ sounds came from the inside.
“I really want to stay and play, but right now I really need to attend to the fish . See you in a bit.”
It probably understood the contents of the speech, and let out a reluctant noise and slowly released Zaryusu before returning inside the house. Afterwards, a chewing sound could be heard from inside.
Having confirmed that Rororo was in good health, judging by the spirited manner of eating, Zaryusu left the hut.
Zaryusu’s destination after departing the hut was the lake, which was a fair distance away from the village.
Zaryusu silently pattered along the forest. Swimming in the water should be much faster, but his concerns of ‘whether any problems would occur on land’ had fostered his habit of monitoring the land path. It was just that the trees would obstruct his line of sight while walking, therefore to Zaryusu it could also be considered a matter which consumed his concentration quite a bit.
Finally he could see his destination from a gap in the trees. Zaryusu let out a sigh of relief since no obstacles had arisen along the way. With only a short distance left to travel through the forest, Zaryusu quickened his pace.
Brushing aside tree branches like a diver swimming in the water, Zaryusu widened his eyes in surprise. This was because he saw the back figure of a person he did not expect to encounter.
That person was similar to Zaryusu: a lizardman with black scales.
“Older brother…”
“...Oh, it’s you.”
The lizardman with black scales turned his head around and looked welcomingly at Zaryusu. This lizardman was the current tribe chief of the ‘Green Claw’ tribe; Zaryusu’s elder brother Shasuryu.
He won the competition to be a chief twice in a row, and retained his position without needing to fight this year. His body was amazingly huge. When he stood next to Zaryusu, who was of an average build, he made him look small in comparison.
There was a single long, white and old scar on his black scales. It looked like lightning piercing through dark clouds.
This fellow who carried an enormous sword on his back, was close two meters in height and was huge and plain. The steel sword —— proof of being tribe chief —— had magic which increased its sharpness and prevented rusting.
Zaryusu and his older brother stood next to each other on the lakeside.
“What are you doing here?”
“...Older brother, that should not be your line, but mine. This is not the kind of place the tribe chief would need to visit personally.”
“Muu-”
Lost for words, Shasuryu muttered his catch phrase, then turned to look at the lake in front of them.
Sticks stretched out from inside the lake, surrounding the area. Being carefully placed, there were very fine mesh nets between the sticks. Their purpose was obvious with a single glance.
It was a fish farm.
“Could it be… stealing a meal?”
Hearing Zaryusu’s words, Shasuryu’s tail jumped and flapped against the ground with a flopping sound.
“Muu, there is no way that could happen. I am only here to check up on the breeding conditions.”
“...”
“Younger brother, do you see your older brother in that kind of light?!”
Finishing his statement with a strong intonation, Shasuryu slid one foot forwards. The pressure he gave off felt like a wall pressing down on Zaryusu. Even Zaryusu, who was an experienced traveller and veteran of many battles, felt the urge to take a couple of steps backwards.
However, he had the perfect retort.
“If it’s only to inspect the breeding conditions, then it also means that you don’t want them. Such a shame, elder brother. If they were raised well, I was thinking about giving some of them to you.”
“Muu-”
The flopping sound stopped, and the tail appeared dejected.
“So very aromatic too. They have become nicely fattened because of the nutrients diligently fed to them, even more plump than hunted fish.”
“Oh-”
“If you keep them in your mouth, some really good tasting juice will flow out. Biting down with a crunch will also make it seemingly melt in your mouth."
“Muuu-”
Once again the cocked tail gave off a flopping sound, and it was even more intense than before.
Half of Zaryusu’s attention was transfixed on that tail, the other half was directed to addressing his elder brother in an almost teasing manner.
“Sister-in-law has also mentioned this before. Elder brother’s tail is just too honest.”
“What? That horrible person, making fun of her husband. Say again, which part is honest?”
At the sight of his elder brother replying whilst looking over his shoulder at the tail which was still, Zaryusu was momentarily lost and don’t know how to react, before vaguely replying ‘right’.
“Huh. That horrible person… If you have a woman… then you will understand how I feel right now.”
“I won’t be able to marry.”
“Huh, nonsense. Is it because of that mark? You’re better off ignoring whatever those elders say. Saying that there are no women in this village who find your affection annoying… even the person with the most beautiful tail will accept you.”
Lizardmen stored nutrients in their tails, therefore having a thicker tail was an important key factor for the opposite sex. In the past, Zaryusu would have chosen a thick-tailed female. However, the grown up Zaryusu, who now had an understanding of the world, wouldn’t choose in such a way.
“Taking the current situation in the village into account, I have no desire for females with thicker tails. If I had to use tails as the criteria, I would choose a female with a slim tail instead. Personally, I think one like sister-in-law’s is also fine.”
“Of course it is fine for someone with your personality… except, don’t you dare mess around. I do not want to butcher anyone over some silly matters. Speaking of which, you also ought to realise the pain of being married. It’s just not fair that I am the only one.”
“Hey, hey, elder brother... I’ll tell sister-in-law.”
“Ugh… this is one of the pains of being married. Even me, your elder brother and tribe chief, can be threatened.”
Boisterous laughter sounded out by the peaceful lakeside.
After the laughter stopped, Shasuryu looked at the fish lake as he voiced out some words of frustration.
“But honestly? It’s just too great; Your…”
Zaryusu came to the rescue of his elder brother who fell silent.
“Do you mean the breeding farm?”
“Right, right, that’s the one. In our tribe’s past we have never had an individual who would do such a thing. Furthermore. many people already know of its success. In the future, more and more people will feel envy at the sight of your fish and copy your ways.”
“It’s all thanks to elder brother. I know elder brother has said all kinds of things about me to everybody.”
“Younger brother, talking to many people about reality does not count for much. That kind of stuff is merely recounting anecdotes. If it weren’t for your hard work in nurturing such delicious fish from this breeding farm, those words would have been meaningless.”
The initial breeding farms were constantly failing. This was expected, since they were built solely based on the impressions from talks during his travels. Just the construction of the fence was met with constant setbacks. After a year of trial and error, although the fish lake was created, there was still more work to be done.
Fish could not be left alone without being looked after. It was necessary to obtain fish feed.
The fish in the fish lake had died out many times by experimenting with a wide variety of food for the sake of finding out what kind of feed was best. There were also instances of the surrounding nets being broken by monsters, freeing all of the fish.
There were some who criticised him behind his back for ‘treating fish captured for food as toys’. There were also those who said that he was nothing but a fool. However, the results of his efforts finally bore fruit.
The shadows of enormous, swimming fish were reflected on the lake’s surface. Comparing its size to hunted fish, it would be in the very large category, and no lizardmen would believe that these were fish that had been completely reared from birth, apart from Zaryusu’s elder brother and sister-in-law.
“...Simply amazing, younger brother.”
Seeing the same sight, Zaryusu’s elder brother said this in a low voice at the same time. His words were filled with emotion.
“This is also thanks to elder brother.”
The younger brother who replied also conveyed such emotions in his tone.
“Huh, what have I done?”
Truthfully, elder brother - Shasuryu did not do anything. However, that was just the official stance.
During times when the fish health deteriorated, priests would suddenly show up here. When collecting materials to build a fence, there would be many individuals who came to help. When captured fish were separated and allocated, there would be live fish. In addition, there were also fruits brought back by the hunters to be used as fish feed.
Those fellows who came over to assist all refused to reveal who they were doing this favour for. However, even the dumbest person would realise who was pulling the strings, even if the person was adamant on not disclosing the name.
Because it was not appropriate for the tribe chief to look after travellers, who had seceded from the tribe hierarchy.
“Elder brother, wait for them to grow a little more larger, then I shall take some to your place first.”
“Hum. Then I’ll look forward to it.”
Turning around, Shasuryu took a step away from the place, then said in a low voice.
“I’m sorry.”
“...What are you saying, elder brother. Elder brother has not committed any wrong.”
These words may or may not have been heard. Zaryusu merely looked silently at the back figure of Shasuryu moving away from the lake shore.
Having confirmed the condition of the fish lake and returned to the village, Zaryusu suddenly felt a strange feeling, and looked towards the sky, yet there was nothing out of the ordinary up there. The whole sky was blue, with a thin layer of clouds at the mountains towards the north.
It was the usual landscape.
There were no changes. Just at the moment he brushed it off as a misconception, a weird layer of clouds appeared in the middle of the sky.
Almost at the same time, black clouds which blocked out the sunlight suddenly appeared at the centre of the village. Those were thick rainclouds which cast a shadow over the entire village.
Everyone was surprised and looked up into the sky.
The druids had said there would be clear skies for the entire day. Priests made their weather forecasts using both magic and their many years of knowledge accumulated through experience, therefore the accuracy of their predictions was extremely high. As such, anything that was not predicted would come as a surprise to anyone.
However, the strangest feature was that there were no rainclouds apart from the dark clouds covering the village. Simply put, it was as if someone had called out the clouds and placed it above the village.
Furthermore another strange feature appeared.
Whilst the clouds swirled with the village as the epicentre, they also expanded in range at a constant rate. It was as if the sandwiched sky was being invaded by the terrible momentum of the ominous dark clouds.
Warriors all around scrambled to be on alert. Children escaped by rushing back into their homes. Zaryusu bent down, observing the surrounding while reaching towards Frost Pain.
The dark clouds completely covered the sky, and blue sky could still be seen in the far distance. It was as if the dark clouds were targeting this village.
From there, a clamour arose in the village centre. The wind carried over a high-pitched sound produced by lizardmen’s vocal chords.
That sound was an alarm, one which signaled that there were formidable enemies and advised others to evacuate according to the situation.
Zaryusu who heard this sound bolted along the wetlands at a speed which was fast for lizardmen.
Run. Run. Keep on running.
Moving in the wetlands was extremely difficult, requiring use of the tail to act as counterbalance. At a speed unattainable by humans —— although lizardmen feet were more suited for this environment —— Zaryusu reached the source of the alarm.
At that place, Shasuryu and the tribe’s warriors had formed a circular formation, staring at the village centre.