“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.