It's morning when I wake up.

It seems that nobody tried to take me out when I was asleep.

That's good.

It would be quite annoying and I don't really want to destroy this village.

I get up and exit the house.

"Ah...good morning."

The human from yesterday is standing by the entrance.

"...hi."

He still seems a little cautious of me.

But most of his hostility is gone now.

"Suddon said I should lead you to the storehouse when you wake up."

"The dragon meat is being prepared for you there."

Oh, that's right.

The dragons from yesterday were being processed by them.

And I said I want meat from one of them.

Well, let's go get it then.

And so, we slowly walk over to the storehouse.

I feel like all the lizardmen around look happier than yesterday.

Something good happened?

I notice some of the lizardman kids hiding behind crates or barrels and watching me.

When I look in their direction, they immediately fall back behind their cover.

What's their deal?

Do they want something from me?

Finally, we arrive at the storehouse and enter it.

It's quite a big place.

Its interior reminds me of Edona's workshop a bit.

Except instead of machines, there are monster corpses.

And instead of intelligent looking humans, there are muscular lizardmen...

Okay, maybe it's not that similar.

"Ah, good morning."

Suddon, the village chief greets me after he notices me.

"...good morning."

"We are about done with skinning and deboning these dragons."

"How do you want us to wrap up the meat you wanted?"

"That's not needed."

I can just store it away after all.

"Huh? No, I mean...it will be easier to carry if we tie it up or something."

"I won't carry it."

He looks confused.

I guess he didn't see me store away that water at the lake.

Hmm, I should show him then.

I stretch out my arm and pull out something random out of my storage.

It's one of the books from the dungeon.

"I can store it."

I put the book away again.

Suddon looks even more confused.

"...that's...an interesting ability..."

"But it's too big...so I need to cut it up..."

"...I see..."

"Then, let my people handle that."

"It should be done in few minutes."

"...okay."

And in a few moments, one of the dragon's meat is sliced up into manageable bits and presented to me.

I store them all one by one with my magic.

Well now.

I got the water I wanted as well as some extra food.

I guess I should leave soon.

But first, I should ask about this 'lightning mountain'.

They might know how far it is.

"...by the way."

"Do you know where the lightning mountain is?"

"...lightning mountain...?"

"Is that where you are headed?"

"Yes."

"Hmm..."

"I don't know a mountain called that, but if you are looking for some mountains, there are just up north."

"There is also a really tall mountain range further to east from here, but the monsters there are extremely powerful."

"...I see, thanks."

Hmm...

Well, I know I need to go north because that's where the quest pointer was going.

But I don't know how far I need to go.

And since these people don't know about the thunder mountain, it might be really far...

...or maybe they just don't know it's called 'thunder mountain'...

"Are you leaving soon?"

The human...Zarrdos was his name I think, then approached me.

"Probably..."

He still seems really out of place.

I don't really care but...

I guess I'm kind of curious after all.

"...say."

"Why is a human like you...in a village full of lizardmen?"

He stops for a second and then averts his gaze.

Maybe I'm being too nosy...

"I don't know."

Huh?

"I...grew up here and was always treated like everyone else."

He...grew up here?

So a human was born to lizardmen?

That...doesn't really make sense...

"Well..."

"I was told my human parents left me here...but I don't know much else..."

Oh...

So it was like that...

Well, I guess that's fine.

After that, I chatted with Zarrdos a bit and found out some interesting information.

I didn't really touch the subject of his origins anymore.

But I asked more about monster nation.

And...it's huge.

Too huge.

From what he told me, it could even be bigger than the entire Armundis kingdom.

And that's just the parts the people in this village know about.

Something tells me this is going to be a long journey...

"Excuse me..."

Suddon approaches me again.

"If you are heading north, do you mind some of our people accompanying you a bit of the way?"

"They will be able to guide you and show you the paths."

Hmm, that sounds useful.

Why not?

"Sure..."

|= A few hours later =|

We finally set off.

It's me, Zarrdos the human and four other lizardmen.

I think their names were...Jurio,Kurada...Leida and...Vindict?

Remembering names is so hard...

Especially when they all look so similar.

The only difference between them are their clothes and the color of their scales in hard to see parts.

And I won't bother looking all over their bodies just to confirm it.

At least they are two male and two female.

Which means that if it's not the one, it's the other.

But they sure are useful to have around.

They showed me a certain herb mixture, which keeps the invisible poisonous things away.

It's amazing.

I don't need to waste any mana on them now.

After half a day's time worth of walking, we finally started to approach the mountains.

And as we got closer to the mountains...

The sun got blocked by dark clouds.

And eventually, it started raining.

I actually haven't experienced rain before.

I only heard about it.

But wow...

Droplets of water are really falling from the sky.

It's almost like a really ineffective large scale water magic attack.

If that happened sooner, I wouldn't need to make that detour to the village.

But then I wouldn't meet these guys...

Hmm...

...

...but this rain...

It may be cool, but at the same time, it's annoying.

Because it dampens my fire spells.

It's not like they are unusable, but it sure is inconvenient.

And not only that.

It gets a lot colder and my fur gets all wet.

Why was I ever amazed by this?

This is terrible.

I hate rain.

After we arrived at the mountain range, we searched for a cave to hide from the rain.

It didn't take long until we found one.

I shook off the water and was about to dry myself with fire magic.

But that was when I realized that I wasn't wet anymore.

What?

I just shook a little and now I'm totally dry.

...

Was that perhaps...

Magical water?

...no way.

That actually was a magical attack?

When I look at the others, their expressions seem...dark...

"...hey..."

"What was that?"

On my question, they break eye contact and clench their fists.

"...the king..."

"There's no proof yet!"

"It could be...something else..."

"...you saw it yourself."

"It was only raining on us."

"There is nothing powerful enough for that...other than the king."

"Tch..."

Oh...

It was only raining on us?

I didn't even notice...

...and what are they talking about?

The king?

What king?

"What are you talking about...?"

"You see..."

"There's a really strong monster living in these mountains..."

"But we know that it isn't actually hostile unless we are hostile."

"We call it 'the king'."

A really strong monster you say?

"What kind of monster is it?"

"...a dragon."

What?

Wait...

Didn't I massacre some dragons earlier?

Is it angry because I did that?

"...is it angry because I killed these dragons yesterday?"

"No..."

"Those were exiles."

"It shouldn't care what we do to those."

Exiles?

It almost sounds like there is some country of dragons around here...

But I didn't see anything from above.

Is it underground...?

...

And wait.

If it really doesn't care about these 'exiles', then what was that magical rain about?

"...maybe..."

Everyone turns their attention to Zarrdos after he mutters that.

"...maybe it thinks we brought you to kill it?"

"Your presence might have alerted it..."

...so it is my fault after all?

But I need to cross here...

Do I have to fight it then?

...or can it communicate?

Maybe I can just tell it I don't mean harm.

"...can it talk?"

"No...at least I don't think so..."

"Then...how can you know what it does or doesn't mind us doing?"

"...from experience."

"It's usually very angry when we try to invade its mountains."

"But if we take a certain path, we don't get attacked at all."

"And as long as we don't enter the mountains outside that one path, it doesn't do anything."

"Not even if we kill dragons outside of that area."

"That's why we call them 'exiles'."

...I see.

Hmm...

But now, it isn't the case.

Even though it was harmless, it used rain on us.

It might be something akin to warning.

...

"Then, I'll fight it."

Everyone looks at me with doubtful looks.

"...can you?"

"Of course."

Walking around this mountain range would be too troublesome.

They all look at each other.

And then Zarrdos speaks to me.

"...we are very sorry..."

"But we can't go with you..."

That is...

Of course not.

You would get in the way.

"...I know."

"I'll go back to your village after I have defeated it."

"...alright then."

"I guess we will part here."

I nod at his words and they all return it with a nod of their own.

They then leave the cave and head back to the village.

Well...this party didn't last too long.

I better kill this dragon...king or whatever it is quickly.

After waiting a bit, I walk outside the cave.

The rain keeps hitting my face as I look up at the mountain.

Bonus:

A little more info about notable monsters Reiza has defeated:

Stone gargoyle

Level: 85

Count: 215.

Alone, they aren't too tough.

But with these numbers, they can easily swarm you.

"A nice and simple first obstacle!"

"And if you linger around for too long, another wave will come, so they encourage progress!"

"It's a genius design if I do say so myself!"

Ember slime

Level: 512

Before the addition of ember ogre, it was fire slime level 316.

It only uses expert level magic and not much else.

"First boss has to be easy, right?"

Ember ogre

Level: 851

Added after purple slime titan was first defeated.

His main weapon is his club and monstrous strength, but he can also use advanced level fire magic.

"But not too easy..."

Dark griffon

Level: 485

Is very agile and can fly.

Uses its talons and beak for close combat or expert level dark magic for long ranged attacks.

"Just a filler boss..."

"He isn't too exciting to be honest."

Purple slime (titan)

Level: 864

Is more or less immobile.

However, it can split its body into smaller slimes.

These slimes drain mana and make you blind with a mere touch.

"This one...turned out to be a lot stronger than I anticipated."

Arachnea empress

Level: 1345

A giant spider who can poison with mere touch and uses expert level dark magic for long distances.

She also has hundreds of spider minions.

"She really wasn't meant to be killed in a single hit...like...seriously..."

"Why is balancing so hard?!"

Lightning skeleton

Level: 34

Can use expert level lightning magic.

And also has an ar_ific__l _o__ ___ _ ________ ________ __ ________.

"Hey, don't reveal that yet!"

Nightmare dragon

Level: 2154

Uses advanced level phantom and intermediate level hell magic.

Can also use expert fire, dark and wind magic.

"The perfect final boss!"

"I wanted Reiza to confront it directly, so I erased that clone bomb she sent."

"But I didn't expect her to defeat it like that..."

Elder island turtle

Level: 2853

Its shell is even tougher than Bedrock behemoth's skin.

However, its actual body has basically zero defensive capabilities.

It can use advanced acid magic and master earth magic.

"That fight was so anti-climactic!"

"Why would you use your most powerful move first?!"

"That doesn't make any sense!"