Chapter 72

"Big sister! Your tail is so cute!!!"

"What!? No way! You talk about my tail on our first meeting!? Are you a pervert!?"

The woman who seemed to be a lizardman, rumored to be extinct, blushed and twisted her body as if to hide her ample chest in response to Jitaro’s zero-delicacy comment.

The tragic atmosphere that had surrounded her dissipated, but the tension also vanished, so it was probably for the best.

"Ah, just ignore that idiot. He’s a pervert."

"Craft-san!? That’s too harsh, isn’t it!?"

"Just be quiet for a while, about three years."

"Three years!?"

Jitaro was rudely dismissed, and I turned my attention back to the lizard girl. I called her a girl, but she looked about my age. I think she’s in her early twenties by human standards, but with the case of Reifan, it’s hard to tell the age of a non-human. I just decided to call her a girl in my mind, thinking it’s better to underestimate her age than overestimate it.

"Are you a lizardman? We humans thought you were extinct..."

"That’s..."

The lizard girl hesitated. Perhaps it was something she couldn’t easily talk about. When I looked at Raidock, he silently gave me the go-ahead to continue.

"You looked like you were running from something..."

"Here they come!"

Jitaro and Soral almost simultaneously drew their bows, forming a defensive formation around me and the lizard girl a moment later.

"Moda! Reifan! Whatever it is, stop it!"

"Got it! Raidock-san!"

Immediately, the priest Bep sent all the support magic he could to the two. Bep, who chose highly effective spells despite their short duration, was indeed reliable.

Crashing through the surrounding trees, a giant frog-like creature appeared before us.

"What the heck is that? I’ve never seen anything like it."

"Be careful! We don’t know what it can do!"

Unfortunately, Raidock’s warning was in vain. The frog spat out a huge mass from its mouth.

"I’ll stop it!"

"Whoa!"

"No wayyyyyy!"

Reifan and Moda pushed their large shields forward to block the attack. The lizard girl shouted at the same time.

Splash!

The mass turned out to be a liquid. The large amount of liquid, shot at high speed, shattered on their shields and rained down on the entire party in small droplets.

"Aaaah! It’s no good! This is a powerful paralyzing poison! I’ve been running... I’ve been running so far!"

"What!? Paralyzing poison!?"

I reflexively pulled a potion bottle (test tube type) from my belt and used magic to pop the lid off.

"Drink it!"

"Huh..."

I forced the potion bottle into the lizard girl’s mouth without hesitation.

"Gag gag gag!?"

"Don’t worry, it’s a healing potion. I could have sprinkled it, but since you said it was powerful, I made you drink it just to be safe."

"Cough! Cough!"

"How are you feeling?"

"...No way... I’m not... numb at all... Usually, no antidote has any effect on me."

"It seems to be working. You should drink this too."

"What is it?"

"An antidote. It should work on paralysis unless it’s highly specialized."

"Oh... thank you."

The lizard girl drank the potion sincerely.

"Let’s go!"

"What!?"

As she raised her head, six more giant paralyzing frogs appeared from the depths of the forest.

"Craft-san!"

"What!?"

"Are these frogs tasty?"

"Haah!?"

Before I could answer, the lizard girl opened her mouth wide in surprise.

"Hmm, I wonder? Why don’t you try it? We have plenty of antidotes."

"Sure thing!"

"No! Run! These Paralyze Baron Frogs are also physically powerful! They have three tongues that can whip like whips!"

The girl pleaded desperately, but it was too late.

"Wind and Snow Slash!"

"Finishing Touch!"

"Take this!"

"Rock Collapse!"

"...Dark Dance of Death"

"Blazing Flame Pillar!"

"Fireball!"

The frogs, unable to use their signature tongue attacks, were instantly turned into grilled or minced meat and scattered on the ground.

"...Huh?"

"Hey, are these monsters or animals?"

"Ah... m-monsters."

"Then gather their magic stones!"

"Right!"

A magic stone from a monster I’ve never seen before. This is exciting.

"Unbelievable... to instantly kill a Baron... "

"They’re top-notch adventurers. Are there more frogs?"

"...! No! The village... the village is being attacked by over a hundred Baron Frogs!"

"What?"

I glanced at Raidock, who smirked back at me.

"You don’t need to ask, do you?"

Damn, he’s so cool. Get lost.

"Raidock-samaaaa"

Eva is being ignored.

"Alright, tell us where the village is! I’m Craft. Craft Waken. What’s your name?"

She was startled and straightened up.

"I’m Shururu, the daughter of the mayor of Gourd Swamp Village, Challe. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier."

"Don’t worry about it. Alright, Shururu. Can you lead us to the village?"

"That’s..."

I could see Shururu’s internal struggle. She wanted to save the village, but was unsure if she could trust these unknown adventurers.

"Don’t worry. We’ll definitely help you."

"...Alright. Please... save the village!"

"Sure! Leave it to us!"

"Alright! Everyone, let’s go! The frogs aren’t much, but don’t let your guard down! Shururu-san, can you lead the way?"

"...Yes!"

We immediately set off for the village, led by Shururu. On the way, we decided to exchange information.

"So, Shururu, you are a lizardman, right?"

"Yes, we are lizardmen."

"In stories, I thought you’d look more like reptiles. You’re almost indistinguishable from humans."

"Ah, that’s..."

Did I say something rude?

"There’s a lot of individual variation in our physiology. Many lizardmen have more prominent scales all over their bodies!"

It seems that those with more scales are considered more prestigious among lizardmen. I shouldn’t have asked.

"Hehe, to us humans, Shururu looks beautiful and attractive."

"...What!?"

"That’s right! Shururu-san is beautiful! I can vouch for it!"

"Really... me?"

"Each race has different standards, I guess. But the point is, some look more human, and some look more reptilian."

"Yes."

I almost called her a lizard several times but decided against it.

"So, Shururu, you seem to know about humans."

"That’s..."

"Can’t talk about it?"

"...To put it simply, contact with humans is forbidden."

"I see."

That explains her hesitation earlier.

"Shururu, it’s okay. We won’t harm you. We’ll prove it by saving your village."

"Why are you helping us, people you’ve just met?"

"That’s..."

There are two reasons.

One is that this area, while claimed by the kingdom, is considered the territory of the border lord. Technically, if the area is developed and recognized by the king, it will become the border lord’s territory, but generally, this undeveloped area is treated as the border lord’s territory.

And this border development is entrusted to Kyle.

In other words, the residents here are practically Kyle’s people. So, not helping is not an option.

And the other reason is...

"Isn’t it enough that I want to help?"

I want to use this power to help those in need.

At that, Shururu smiled for the first time.

"No, I’m glad."

And so, we began our urgent mission to save the lizardmen, who were thought to be extinct.

I need to find some time to review the typo reports I received...