The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

Once the village was established, a long time passed.

Even as generations changed several times after the village was formed, the wizarding family remained ever gracious, not begrudging the people who settled around them but offering their magic freely to help their neighbors in need. They didn’t forget their kindness and diligently protected the villagers from dangerous monsters lurking nearby, minimizing the number of disappearances among them.

In light of their dedication, the villagers never forgot the grace bestowed upon them by the wizarding family and held them in high respect.

Yet, like any ideal society created by humans, this period of goodness couldn’t last forever.

It began when the Eldriksir family wizards started to weaken gradually, as if cursed, their bodily conditions deteriorating with every passing generation.

When the village was first established, the wizards—who lacked nothing as a family—found their numbers dwindling over time, until ultimately only one was left.

That mad wizard, Joyra Eldriksir, was the last remaining member of the wizarding family.

From a young age, Joyra had one dream: to become a doctor and cure the hereditary ailments that plagued his family for generations.

Perhaps it was because he witnessed his parents die young or maybe because he himself suffered many illnesses from a tender age, but he was a child far more interested in medicine than magic.

Unlike his ancestors, he actively traveled to other cities and towns, passionately collecting medical resources and building his knowledge.

“Joyra was such a kind and caring person…”

Yet, despite this, he generously shared the knowledge he painstakingly acquired with the villagers, just as his ancestors had shared their magic.

“But ever since Joyra brought back an artifact of the Ancient Empire from somewhere, he changed.”

When did it start?

At some point, Joyra began to feel that simply studying medicine was insufficient to treat more people and develop his skills.

Could it be that as his body started to break down like his ancestors, he began to feel restless?

Perhaps he was engulfed in fear that only by regularly studying ordinary medicine would he fail to heal himself and die.

He sought methods beyond ordinary medicine, and the means he chose was magic.

Once upon a time, it was said that the Ancient Empire utilized various forms of magic that have since been completely lost, including magics that manipulate space, elongate or shorten time, and control life.

Of these, Joyra was particularly drawn to the magic of life.

Turning his gaze toward the magic of the Ancient Empire, he began gathering anything related to life magic—knowledge or antiques—with reckless abandon.

However, restoring the magic of the Ancient Empire was no simple task, and many days were spent in vain, wasting time. Then one day, he returned to the village, beaming with a genuine smile, holding an antique he declared to be the real deal.

That item was something a Lizardman and a Half-Elf had found during their travels and sold to an antique shop for a mere pittance. The important fact wasn’t how it came into his possession but that, unlike anything he had collected thus far, it was genuinely a valuable artifact of the Ancient Empire.

Grasping for hope at the edge of the cliff, Joyra soon became engrossed in studying that artifact and grew increasingly excited at each layer of mystery he peeled away, hoping to unveil the secrets of the Ancient Empire.

However, from a certain day onward, Joyra’s state noticeably changed for the worse.

He often spent days in a daze as if struck by some great shock, mumbling to himself in disbelief or tearing at his hair.

Concerned villagers would ask what was the matter, and each time, he forced a smile, brushing it off as nothing, but it was evident to anyone that he was not okay.

Adding to his troubles, his already poor physical condition worsened further as he faced mental strain, his health deteriorating at an alarming rate, until finally, when he left the mansion, he appeared like a living corpse.

Seeing his ragged state, the villagers could no longer bear to watch and resolved that when he next emerged from the mansion, they would forcefully extract the secrets he was hiding to help him. Just then, Joyra stepped outside.

But by the time Joyra emerged from the mansion, it was all too late.

Appearing completely detached from reality, Joyra ignored the concerned words of the villagers and instantly cast a spell, causing everyone to faint.

And when the villagers slowly regained consciousness, they soon realized that all the Beastkin among them had vanished.

“It was obvious to us that Joyra had taken them,” the old village chief said, his voice breaking with emotion. “Since then, we pleaded with Joyra to return the kidnapped villagers, even reaching out to passing adventurers and the people from the Holy Kingdom for help. But Joyra never responded to us, and those we sent to confront him were overpowered and have not returned.”

With that lament, tears streamed down the old chief’s face.

When Joyra first discovered the artifact, he had smiled brightly, expressing hopes of restoring forgotten magic from the Ancient Empire to improve his condition and help many live healthier lives… How could things have come to this? This must certainly be the work of the artifact of the Ancient Empire—it’s driven Joyra mad! Sniff…

As the chief’s words hung heavily in the air, we all were left speechless in shock.

We had pictured worst-case scenarios involving merely a few monsters bothering the village, but the chief’s accounts were far more serious than we could have imagined.

Particularly, Aila, a paladin from the Holy Kingdom who was currently under ecclesiastical scrutiny, listened intently at the mention of the artifact of the Ancient Empire, her expression sharpening.

Then there was the mention of people from the Holy Kingdom.

There were plenty of elements in the chief’s words of concern.

“Though it’s a small village and we can’t offer much in terms of money, we promise to give what we can! Please, we ask that Joyra regains his senses and brings back the kidnapped villagers!” the chief pleaded, bowing his head so low it nearly touched the ground.

To be honest, it wasn’t hard to understand the chief’s desperation.

The Lizardman village I hailed from faced challenges of its own due to a lack of infrastructure, despite not being entirely powerless in terms of strength.

Astram, on the other hand, had a reputation as a city of adventurers, and so the Adventurer Guild was robust, filled with many skilled adventurers. But for such a small village, things were different.

There were no resident adventurers, and hiring one meant traveling to the nearest city. However, even then, there was no guarantee that a qualified adventurer could be found to help, so having adventurers like us passing nearby was indeed a rare opportunity.

“…”

“The situation is unfortunate, but…”

“Uh, yeah…”

But that was merely the chief’s perspective.

If the village has its conditions, then we had ours too.

First and foremost, we were pressed to head towards the Holy Kingdom posthaste, and wasting time in a place like this was out of the question.

Plus, Aila was being pursued by the Holy Kingdom’s pursuers.

Naturally, if we stormed the mansion to subdue the mad wizard, we would likely encounter the Holy Kingdom’s people, and that could jeopardize all the efforts Aila had made to evade them.

Moreover, we didn’t particularly need the money.

We had a good amount of travel funds before setting out, and requests like the ones made in rural areas generally offered pathetic rewards compared to the labor involved.

Besides, hadn’t several groups already attempted to enter that mad wizard’s mansion without a single one returning?

There were far too many reasons to outright refuse this request.

And so, I came to a decision in my mind.

“I’ll accept the request.”

“Y-Yes… huh!?”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll be staying here. You all should leave for the Holy Kingdom first. Once the request is completed, I’ll depart as well.”

The chief looked shocked, unable to hide his surprise at my easy acceptance.

Hoo.

What could I do?

There were enough reasons to refuse, but if there was even one reason to help out, that was enough.

Besides, as a Lizardman, I had a duty to help.

If I ignored people in distress, I’d have to contend with my own conscience later.

“You can leave first thing tomorrow. I’ll handle this request alone and follow after you.”

“No, we can’t allow that.”

“Are you saying you want to pretend this village doesn’t exist…?”

“Quite the opposite.”

At Mari’s words, laced with a smile, I finally glanced around at my party and realized it wasn’t just Mari; everyone was gazing at me with smiles on their faces.

“Kurto can’t bear the burden alone. We’ll go with you.”

Thus, Aila was the first to express her intent to join.

“But you need to get to the Holy Kingdom as soon as possible…”

“True, my circumstances are urgent, but that doesn’t mean I can ignore those in peril. I became a paladin to rescue those in need. I have no intention of turning a blind eye to the powerless. Daria will surely understand.”

“And if we all join forces, we can wrap this up quickly, so it won’t hold us back too much.”

“Ah, ah… thank you… truly…”

At those words, the chief wept and fell to his knees, and we did our best to calm him down.

The next morning, we set out for the Eldriksir Mansion, where the mad wizard resided.

---