Chapter: 272
Thus, Queo was now able to enter the seawater. The first thing he did after freeing himself from the most significant shackle of the Lizardman was.
“Fish in the sea… Catch as many as possible…!”
Queo prioritized his instincts as a fisherman over his ability to escape.
Well, it’s not that I don’t understand; it’s just that only small fish were coming out of the little stream flowing through the island.
How many and how large would the fish be in that vast ocean? Occasionally, from a distance, you could see a big fish leaping out of the water. What would it feel like not to be able to jump in and catch it?
For a Lizardman fisherman, who was skilled at swimming and catching fish, it would be hard to resist.
Queo hesitated because he thought his life might be in danger if he went in, but that problem had now been resolved.
Therefore, Queo, hastily diving into the sea, began catching fish.
For the plump fish that lived peacefully in the surrounding waters, it was an unexpected appearance of a natural enemy.
After catching fish from the sea for several days, Queo filled his belly and replenished the nutrients in his emaciated tail.
With that thickness of a tail… it should last him about two weeks.
“Alright. Now that I’ve had my fill…”
Oh, are we finally leaving?
“Shall we try making a boat?”
Ah, so that’s where we’re starting from.
To be fair, swimming back without a boat would typically be impossible.
It might take several days to reach the river where Queo had left, and there’s no way he could swim non-stop for that length of time.
So, Queo dried and twisted the cut grass to make a primitive rope, then broke stones against a rock to craft an axe, tying it to a suitable branch.
Feels like a square sandbox game!
Using a crudely made stone axe, he cut down appropriately thick trees, trimmed them, cut down and refined others, gathering wood that was too thin to be called logs, and tied them together with the dried grass rope.
“Alright. This should do.”
A makeshift raft was created by bundling the wood together.
While it might not be the prettiest because there weren’t any adequately sized trees on the island, it should be sufficient to carry Queo’s weight.
“Let’s see… I think this amount of food will be enough.”
After setting up the raft with wooden poles and securely fastening the ropes with dried fish, Queo pushed the raft toward the shore.
While he had replenished his nutrition sufficiently, he thought it’d be smart to pack some dried fish for emergency food—just in case.
“I wonder how many days it’s been since I arrived on this island… I don’t really know, but it feels like it’s time to depart.”
In fact, it had been exactly 205 days since he had drifted to the island. Of course, Queo himself was unaware of this.
And he had no intention of telling anyone!
“Alright. Let’s go. If the Creator Dragon is watching over us, everything should be fine…!”
Hmm. It’s nice that Queo is faithful, but he talks as if he knows I’m observing him.
I am actually witnessing this!
“Creator Dragon, please help me…”
After saying this, Queo scratched at his bare chin where all his scales had been plucked out, then pulled off a scale near his neck and placed it on his palm.
From there, transparent water began to spout from the scale, transforming into a watery armor enveloping Queo’s body.
“Okay. Let’s head out…”
With all preparations completed, Queo pushed the raft toward the sea.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
By finding a way to overcome the racial limitations of the Lizardmen, Queo brought about a significant change among them… well, not really.
Certainly, the resolution of the issues concerning moisture and swimming in the ocean had substantial significance for the Lizardmen, but a few problems with the method existed.
First issue: Only those capable of communicating at least minimally with the water spirits could suggest a deal.
A person needed either a natural affinity allowing for direct communication with the water spirits, or to have developed good compatibility over time through close living with water…
If you weren’t that kind of person, the deal with the water spirit couldn’t even happen.
To propose a mutually beneficial deal, you needed to be able to communicate, after all.
Secondly, unlike previously known sorcery, methods relying on this strange concept of a deal created resentment among many sorcerers.
The relationship with spirits is one built on mutual sharing and borrowing of strength. A system of dealing with spirits that disrupts this understanding was hard to accept.
Thus, while the sorcerers shied away from making deals with the spirits, they instead attempted to achieve the same effects through their interactions.
However, spirits were not so easily inclined to lend their power.
They may have been willing to grant strength by merging with a body or an obsidian weapon, but producing water from thin air was an entirely different matter.
To explain this further, we need to discern the nature of the power that spirits wield.
Spirits are beings without a physical form, souls reborn in a natural state. They possess magical power through their surroundings or natural elements in order to maintain their existence.
For a spirit to produce water from nothingness is impossible without magical power. If a spirit had neither a contract nor a magical stone to restore its magical power, it had to expend its own magical essence to create water.
In cases where spirits wield power through a body or obsidian, they were merely utilizing the magical power within the Lizardman’s body, so it was not an issue. However, creating something out of nothing was a different story altogether.
The essence of transactions with spirits lay in the cost of expending magical power and satisfying the spirit’s yearning for flesh by offering scales in exchange for strength.
An elf who had made a contract with a spirit would have it much easier… But Lizardmen couldn’t enter into such contracts.
Spirits. Is it due to the fact that Lizardmen and dragons branched off from the same roots but took separate paths? Or is that ancestral memory engraved in their instincts?
For Lizardmen, who could not treat the spirits casually, it was impossible to contract with them and command them like subordinates.
Honestly, with the kinds of divisions we see here, they could easily be regarded as entirely separate beings. Truly troublesome, those Lizardmen are.
In any case, although a deal with spirits was frowned upon by the majority of sorcerers, after a while, a small number of young sorcerers recognized its necessity. After several refinements, a single prayer was crafted.
A prayer for communication with water spirits, known as the Prayer of Clear Water.
A prayer that assists even Lizardmen, who do not have good affinity with water spirits, in attracting their interest and concluding deals with them.
Of course, the necessity for offering scales from the lower jaw remains unchanged. However, through this prayer, they could borrow the spirits’ powers and surmount previously insurmountable circumstances.
While the older sorcerers still disapproved of such transactions, they couldn’t help but acknowledge their usefulness.
Oh, and just to slip this in: After all the ups and downs, Queo-Tlan returned to his homeland.
“Look at this sparkling appearance… The Creator Dragon must possess scales as radiant as these…”
After enduring every hardship, narrowly escaping death, and barely returning from drifting on a small island, Queo-Tlan sought out the Lizardman with whom he had made a bet and acquired the statue of the Creation Dragon… me.
Well, if he’s satisfied, I guess it’s okay!
By the way, that Lizardman who placed the bet stubbornly ignored Queo-Tlan’s warning about the dangers of the sea and ventured out, narrowly escaping with his life after nearly being killed or something.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
“Water spirit. Today, I offer you my scales.”
The burly Lizardman knelt in a corner of the room, closing his eyes to begin his prayer.
“In return, please grant me pure, clean water. Protect me with water as clear as you are.”
He pulled a single scale from his neck, where only a few scales remained, placed it in his palm, and bowed his head slightly.
“If you watch over my journey, I can go anywhere.”
Then, the scale slowly faded away, and clear, transparent water began to envelop the Lizardman’s skin.
Thus, upon completing the prayer to the water spirit, the Lizardman picked up the leather armor he had placed beside him.
Leather armor that tightly protected the lower jaw, neck, and upper chest.
This was the armor used by Lizardmen who traveled long distances or worked at sea, as they lacked scales from their lower jaws and necks due to offering them up to the water spirits.
“Isn’t it tiring to pray like that every day? Especially when you’re literally peeling off your scales…?”
The elf girl observed the Lizardman with a worried expression.
“It’s just part of the routine for a traveling Lizardman. The scales will grow back with time.”
“How about taking advantage of the water spirit I made a contract with? That way, you wouldn’t have to give up any scales.”
The Lizardman shook his head at her proposal.
“If I draw upon the power of the spirit I made a contract with, I might not need to remove my scales. But that would mean severing my deal with the water spirit granting me strength. Doing so might incur the wrath of that water spirit.”
“Hmm… I’m still having a hard time grasping the Lizardmen’s spirit dynamics. It’s getting slightly frustrating.”
At this, the Lizardman smiled softly at the disgruntled elf.
“Differences between species aren’t easily bridged.”
With that, the Lizardman stood up, adjusting the leather armor in his hands.
Though this leather armor was weaker than his own scales… it served as an essential piece of armor that protected his weak points.
While somewhat frustrating, it was necessary to protect the vulnerable spot left by the removal of the scales.
At that moment.
“Are we not ready yet?”
The silver-haired girl with horns, the Dragon Priestess, peeked through the door with her head slightly stuck out.
Her face looked a bit pouty, as if she had been waiting for quite some time.
“Ah, Dragon Priestess, the prayer is already finished. I’ll be ready to go shortly.”
The Lizardman hastily threw on his leather armor and attempted to exit the room.
Well, he was trying to leave.
“Just a moment.”
The Dragon Priestess looked at the Lizardman’s neck and lower jaw now devoid of scales, then gently reached out her hand.
In an instant, a soft light spread from the tips of the Dragon Priestess’s fingers. After a single breath, the light vanished entirely.
And right there stood the Lizardman’s densely packed scales.
“What is this…?”
“Alright, let’s get going.”
Both the Lizardman and the elf smiled faintly, observing the Dragon Priestess regenerating all the scales she had plucked in the blink of an eye, walking away as if nothing had happened.
– A record of the adventures of a hero’s party.
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