SWNOVELXO Chapter 419
The land of monsters, rarely visited by humans, known as the Verde Jungle.
In a remote corner of that jungle, there stands a small hut that seems out of place.
It once might have looked decent, but now, left abandoned in the humid jungle air, it resembles a ruin more than a hut.
Creak
A Lizardman entered the old, neglected hut.
This Lizardman limped, holding a crutch in one hand, and seemed to struggle with daily life without it.
Lizardmen are a species that can regrow lost limbs if they eat well and live healthily for a few years.
Among Lizardmen, who naturally possess remarkable regenerative abilities, it is extremely rare to find one with permanent disabilities caused by accidents.
However, considering that this Lizardman, Iot, once suffered an injury so severe that it nearly cost him his life, his survival is nothing short of a miracle by Lizardman standards.
In fact, had it not been for the unique skills of the village shaman and an equally exceptional Lizardman hunter, Iot would have been buried somewhere in the Verde Jungle long ago.
Iot looked around the dust-covered hut and lightly brushed off the furniture with his free hand.
The thick layer of dust, combined with the humid jungle air, clung stubbornly to the boxes, refusing to budge.
“…It’s been too long. I should clean up.”
Iot’s condition had improved significantly over the past few years. Although his legs were permanently disabled, he could now manage light outings without trouble.
However, continuing as an active hunter was out of the question, so he retired. Thanks to Kurt, who risked his life hunting dangerous monsters to save him, Iot now had enough rare materials to live comfortably for the rest of his life. But for someone who had lived as a hunter all his life, sitting idle at home was unbearably boring.
Thus, Iot occasionally taught village hunters or inspected their tools. The hut he visited this time was one such tool.
For hunters who embarked on long expeditions or hunts that prevented them from returning to the village the same day, huts like these were built near hunting grounds to store supplies or serve as shelters during expeditions.
This particular hut was once used by Kurt but had since been abandoned.
However, just because it wasn’t in use now didn’t mean it wouldn’t be needed in the future.
Iot, now quite adept at moving with his crutch, busily inspected the hut.
He dusted off the hut, discarded arrows that had been ruined by moisture, replaced them with new ones, checked the hut’s damaged areas, repaired minor issues himself, and noted major damages to request repairs from the village carpenter.
After some time spent inspecting and repairing the hut,
“Hoo… I must have been lying down too long. My stamina is terrible.”
Iot, having finished cleaning, sat down on a chair with a heavy sigh.
Once the village’s top hunter before Kurt, years spent in a coma had left him with less stamina than an average Lizardman.
Realizing it was lunchtime, Iot decided to take a break and opened the lunchbox he had brought from home.
Normally, he would have carelessly eaten preserved food, but in recent years, he had started cooking to better understand his estranged son’s dreams.
Clatter
Today’s lunchbox contained a traditional Lizardman dish.
A Lizardman-style steak set, complete with a steak dripping with blood and slightly soiled leafy greens, neatly arranged.
Though his son would never agree, this Lizardman-style steak set was a traditional dish with a long history, dating back to his distant ancestors.
From what he remembered hearing from the village shaman as a child, it was even a delicacy enjoyed by the nobility of the Ancient Empire.
Iot picked up a piece of meat with a fork from the blood-soaked lunchbox.
“Hmm. Today’s is better than usual.”
Maybe even his son would be impressed by his cooking skills?
Iot, who would have made Kurt’s face twist in silent horror with his self-praise, swallowed the steak, its juices and blood nearly indistinguishable.
Unfortunately, the cursed taste buds of Lizardmen, perhaps exchanged for their remarkable regenerative abilities, couldn’t detect any flavor, but the texture of the nearly raw steak was satisfying.
As he ate, Iot lifted a wooden box.
It was something he had found in a corner of the hut while cleaning.
The box showed signs of multiple waterproof layers to protect its contents from moisture.
For his son to have kept something so carefully…
Even among family, it wasn’t right to snoop into others’ belongings, but curiosity got the better of him.
Iot carefully opened the box.
Inside was a book.
Upon seeing its contents, Iot sighed deeply.
“Kurt, you actually took a book from the shaman’s house…”
Like most Lizardmen in the village, Iot knew little about books, but he immediately recognized that this book had been stolen from the shaman’s house.
After all, over 90% of the village’s books belonged to the shaman, and it was no secret that Kurt had sneaked into the shaman’s house as a child.
Wondering how to apologize to the shaman, Iot looked at the book’s cover.
It was an old book written by a human scholar and traveler who had observed and studied numerous human species across the world.
It was also a book that a man, once human, had read over and over, dreaming of returning to humanity.
Curious, Iot tried to read the book, but even Kurt, who had studied hard, struggled with some of the difficult words, reading it sporadically.
For Iot, who only knew basic characters, reading this old book filled with archaic vocabulary was impossible.
“Ah…!”
Perhaps because he was attempting something unfamiliar.
The book slipped from Iot’s hands and fell to the floor.
As it fell, a page opened by chance.
On that page was a creature resembling a Lizardman but with wings, horns, and a much larger, more powerful build.
Next to it was a drawing of the creature transforming into a human form.
The page looked particularly worn, as if it had been read countless times.
.
.
.
Long ago, after the fall of the Ancient Empire, numerous human species migrated to this world.
They all had various characteristics, but their body structures were almost identical to humans.
Some were too small or large by human standards, some had wings, different skin colors, or horns, but their skeletal structures were all similar to humans.
Thus, we collectively refer to these intelligent non-human species as human species.
However, only one species deviates from this definition of human species.
Dragons.
With snake-like eyes, demon-like horns, they are the embodiment of fear and greed. Winged evil.
In fact, I struggled greatly with whether it was appropriate to include dragons in this book about other species.
Whether to include them as human species because they possess intelligence and can interact with humans, or to exclude them because their form differs from other human species, remains a contentious topic in academia.
Like other human species, they possess sufficient intelligence for interaction, but their skeletal structure is entirely different, making them aberrant beings composed of twisted greed and arrogance.
From my research, they appeared in history around the same time as demons.
From the moment they appeared, dragons sought to dominate and exploit humans, and their history is essentially a history of human oppression and liberation from them.
As a result of the endless bloodshed between humans and dragons, by the time I wrote this book, most dragons had been exterminated, with only a few survivors living quietly.
Ultimately, dragons and humans cannot coexist.
Moreover, they possess bodies as strong and sturdy as their arrogance. Simultaneously, they are said to have mana control abilities rivaling those of wizards, fairies, and demons, known for their magical prowess.
Why do such evil species possess such immense power?
Perhaps it is because of their immense power that they can survive despite their evil nature.
Dragons not only excel in mana control but also use various magics, from common spells to unique wizard magics, with a violent and barbaric nature that makes one wonder how they mastered so many spells.
They even mimic human and wizard magics and use unique magics other human species cannot, the most famous being polymorph magic.
The illustration on this page depicts that polymorph magic.
A magic that distorts and transforms their massive bodies into human forms using magical power.
There are countless magics in the world, and if we include those lost since the Ancient Empire, the number becomes incalculable.
Reluctantly, among these countless magics, their ability to biologically distort their own species is truly special.
Dragons use many such unique magics.
The above information is common knowledge, but unfortunately, meeting and observing real dragons is highly restricted, making further details difficult to include.
I will conclude the discussion on dragons here.
The next chapter will cover demons, another embodiment of evil alongside dragons. I hope readers do not close the book in disappointment but continue reading to the end.