So there I was, rushing out of the Divine Hall towards the surface, feeling the voices of Asherat and Arthur echoing above me as I passed through the floor, but not really hearing them. Sigh I couldn’t really say that I was trying to ignore their urgent voices, but who could blame me? Once I hit the ground, there was no way those two would be able to follow me!
If I hesitated even a little and stayed in the temple longer… well, I’d be caught up in the overwhelming storm of tasks that Asherat would throw at me. Yikes! It would be just like when I woke up from a long sleep, only to be pinned beneath an endless pile of work at my desk!
Seriously, is it too much to ask for a moment to breathe? I just woke up, for crying out loud! I thought I deserved at least a breath of fresh air!
And let’s not forget about Arthur, who had stood at my door for nearly a hundred years. Very heavy on the pressure, that one. He pretended to be all cool and collected, but what on earth was he thinking?
I knew he had rational feelings for me. I mean, he even gave me a ring! If he didn’t know that, it would be ridiculous!
But liking me was something that had been lingering since childhood. It was natural to admire and look up to an adult who took care of you in dangerous situations, right?
Sure, back then, I was stuck in a body made of rock… but that meant he was interested in what was inside and not just my looks! So I could give him that one.
But the fact that he continued to like me, knowing my identity and that I was a god… I just couldn’t wrap my head around it! I mean, no matter how much of an emperor he was, he was still dealing with a god here! Groan What had twisted his mind so badly?
Honestly, I thought he’d wallow in a crush for a bit and then find a nice lady to marry off to after I left. What had happened to him?! Ugh, truly baffling!
And he even became a god himself and ascended! Plus, he spent hundreds of years guarding my door!! Did he think I was going to wake up at some specific time and just sit around waiting?!
Thank goodness I was understanding, or else I might scream “Aaaaaah! Stalker!!!” and hit him with a full-powered punch!
But I mean, he is a stalker! Shrug A stalker who chased after me all the way to the Divine Hall just because he became a god himself….
Ugh, I really don’t get it. I can’t fathom how Arthur ended up this way. Sure, it’s fine that he has feelings for me, but pouring out feelings that won’t be reciprocated… that’s a bit hard to understand.
I mean, I would never return those feelings in the first place.
Clears throat! Anyway! I figured I shouldn’t stay in the temple any longer, and I dashed out, ready to take in this new world.
First things first… Let’s see what changes have happened on the surface in these 300 years.
How about I check out the Lizardmen first?
In those 300 years, the Lizardmen’s ecology has changed quite a bit.
While it was limited, the prayers the Lizardmen received allowed them to overcome environmental constraints, enabling them to spread out in different directions.
With their naturally good dispositions and physically unmatched strength, Lizardmen were welcome no matter where they went.
A warrior who could take on any monster, and a hunter or fisherman who could easily feed a small village – that was the skilled Lizardmen for you!
These Lizardmen were welcomed everywhere, and thus began to settle all over the world.
Of course, all that requires an environment where they could secure a decent amount of water. No matter how much they prayed to the water spirits to overcome moisture constraints, they couldn’t do that every day.
Sure, Lizardmen’s scales could regenerate, but if they kept pulling them out every day, they’d be left with some scale-less Lizardmen!
Hmmm, anyway, these settled Lizardmen engaged in various activities, and one of the biggest achievements was successfully making paper out of trees other than Papyrus.
In contrast to the Papyrus we frequently saw, this new paper was whiter and made of a different material.
Upon inspection, it seemed a Lizardman skilled in making Papyrus had settled elsewhere and didn’t want to waste their skills, and so attempted to recreate Papyrus using various trees.
After many trials and experiments with different materials, they successfully invented paper!
Admittedly, it was a far cry from the quality of modern paper… but what can you do? You can’t compare it to modern technology’s quality.
In fact, it was even a bit inferior to Papyrus. If there was an advantage to it over Papyrus, it was that it was a bit more resistant to moisture and easier to source.
Thus, the method of creating paper from trees other than Papyrus began to spread, making the use of paper a commonplace occurrence.
And so, the traditional Papyrus began to be treated as luxury paper, while the paper made from other trees became the cheap stuff.
I wondered if this new development in paper had affected the Lizardmen, but surprisingly, it didn’t have much impact on them.
Those who had been using Papyrus continued to do so, while the poor quality paper was utilized by those who couldn’t afford Papyrus due to its high price.
Mages, nobles, the royal family, and even the wealthy continued to use Papyrus, so their overall sales remained unaffected.
Hmm, let’s put the Papyrus story aside and move on to paper!
The biggest change brought by the invention of paper was the drop in book prices.
Of course, the fact that you still had to transcribe using ink didn’t change, but since the cost of paper made up a significant portion of book costs and that had dropped, it was only natural for book prices to fall.
In the days when only Papyrus existed, only the upper class could afford books, but with prices being lower now, even the middle class could get their hands on some.
Thanks to that, there was a slight reduction in illiteracy, but that wasn’t very important, so let’s gloss over that.
So much for the Papyrus and paper discussions! Now, where was I? Ah yes, back to the Lizardmen story!
Thanks to the previously moisture constraints, the Lizardmen who hadn’t traveled much due to that began to spread out into various places, almost like they were blowing off steam!
Some even traveled to other nations, while others went north, where they could overcome moisture, but not the cold, so they came back down. Some tried to interact with Elves and Dwarves.
There were even brave Lizardmen who crossed the enormous mountain range that spanned the continent, heading east.
I have no idea how they managed to get across those rugged mountains, but it seems the humans on the eastern side were quite shocked by the sight of a Lizardman for the first time.
At first, they were scared and hostile, but after discovering that this Lizardman was strong and had a good heart, they received various help and eventually came to regard Lizardmen as precious beings.
And after various events unfolded, they even praised Lizardmen as miraculous beings and crowned them as kings!
Hmm. And then it became a little awkward to mention the mixed blood of humans and Lizardmen.
At first, I was stunned that Lizardmen could mix with humans. How could that be? But then again, there were other hybrid beastmen, so in this world where all sorts of races could mix, it wouldn’t be surprising for a hybrid of Lizardmen and humans to arise.
Anyway, the offspring of Lizardmen and humans were physically robust and, except for the unique vertical slit pupils that appeared only under specific circumstances and some scales covering parts of their skin, they were fundamentally similar to humans.
That vertically slit pupil… their eyes looked pretty regular at first, similar to humans, but when emotions ran high, they’d reveal their true form.
I just can’t comprehend how these hybrids mix. But well, maybe it’s part of the mysteries of life. Even I, the Goddess of Life, can’t fully understand these mysteries!
Thus, the half-breeds of humans and Lizardmen inherited the throne from their kings, dealt with various conflicts with neighboring nations, and after a series of events, these large and small nations engaged in fierce wars, ultimately conquering the Middle Land.
I don’t know the details of that process, but I imagine it was an intense battle. According to the records, they mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers for each fight.
But wait, in the west, wars only involved at most ten thousand troops, so why were there so many people here? Was it because food was plentiful? Was it because they relied on rice, which had a high yield per unit area? But they also had rice in the west, right?
Ah, speaking of which, the rat beastmen, who relied on rice alone, also had quite a population. Maybe it really was the rice?
I’m not so sure.
Anyway, the human and Lizardmen hybrids… the brave king who became a miraculous being declared the unification of the Middle Land and changed the country’s name to Zhu Zhao, and his surname to Long!
The empire of the east, the Zhou Dynasty, was established!
