Giant Lizard

At the Lousouth family mansion in the Royal Capital, my father, Baran, stood in his office with a grim set to his jaw. Beside him stood his butler, facing off with a demonic man adorned with wings and horns.

Baran’s expression remained stony.

"A stampede broke out in the frontier, and Yuri repelled it? What exactly is going on?"

"We don't know," the demon replied. "We lured a massive pack of Wolves toward him, but they were cut down with ease."

"It wasn't just 'luring them,' it was a full-blown stampede! Besides, Yuri shouldn't have the capacity to slaughter that many Wolves."

"Regarding that, I cannot be certain, but..."

In contrast to Baran’s agitation, the demonic man allowed a faint, amused smile to play on his lips. "He is indeed a son of the Lousouth house, it seems. After assessing the situation in an instant, he apparently lured the Wolves into a series of pitfall traps."

"Even someone with Yuri’s pathetic Aptitude could manage a few pitfalls."

Everyone in the Lousouth family—a lineage of Masterminds—was born with high Aptitude parameters. Years ago, when an Appraiser was summoned to check our stats, Yuri’s numbers had been the lowest in the family by a staggering margin.

Name: Yuri Lousouth HP: D MP: C Attack: D Defense: E Agility: E Magic Power: C

【Skill】 Swordsmanship: D

【Magic】 Earth: C, Dark: C

The Aptitude Appraisal performed by a professional Appraiser didn't provide precise numerical details like Yuri’s own Appraisal did. Only a Player could see the exact values. It was likely a special privilege granted by the system, as the game required everything to be quantified.

Furthermore, Yuri had been using his innate Disguise Skill to ensure that, to any outside observer, he appeared to be nothing more than average. He did this in the hope that his assassination targets would grow overconfident...

Even when he eventually joined the protagonist’s party, his parameters remained at the same level as the other allies solely because he maintained that Disguise. His father, Baran, had fallen for the fake stats completely. He was now forced to revise his opinion, assuming that even with such mediocre Aptitude, one could still put up a decent fight against Wolves.

"Please, be at ease," the demon said. "It was our oversight to misjudge your son’s capabilities. For our next move, we have prepared a Monster that your son could never hope to match."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"A Dragon."

"Kukuku... Indeed. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary for a Dragon to 'accidentally' appear in the frontier."

Dragons possessed the highest tier of power. Once one appeared, the Kingdom's Knight Order would be mobilized, and even then, they rarely managed to kill the beast; repelling it was usually the best they could hope for. It wasn't the kind of Monster you unleashed on a single Lord, nor was it something anyone could survive by mere effort.

If Yuri managed to deal with this, it would mean he was hiding a terrifying amount of power.

If he’s been hiding his true strength even from me, Baran thought, I’ll have to re-evaluate him. Though, he likely only survived the last encounter through sheer luck.

"But after that territory is wiped out, what then? I’ll be branded an incompetent Duke for leaving a Dragon to its own devices and letting my son be killed."

"We have already accounted for that. Once the territory is destroyed, you, Milord, will defeat the Dragon. By doing so, your prestige will only grow."

"I see. However... even I cannot slay a Dragon."

"The Dragon will do the destroying, but the creature you face will be a Giant Lizard. Why don't we simply say you 'mistook its identity due to its massive size'?"

If any witnesses survived, the plan would crumble, but the village was full of nothing but old people. None of them were expected to survive a Dragon attack.

"Is there a Dragon that truly resembles a lizard?"

"Yes. The Earth Dragon. It cannot fly, and to the untrained eye, it looks remarkably like a lizard. Its abilities are a grade below other Dragons, but even so, it remains a natural disaster for the Human race."

"True. Even I would be hard-pressed to defeat one."

Baran desperately fought the urge to laugh. As they finalized their dark designs, they failed to notice that the office door was slightly ajar.

---

A few days after Yuri finished the tools, the last of the Wolves were finally stored in the warehouse. With that task done, Fritz moved on to refining the moat.

Yuri and the others were out surveying the river and mapping the surrounding area. Apparently, this was necessary work for developing the territory, though Fritz didn't quite see the point.

At first, Fritz had been suspicious. Is he really just the son of a corrupt Lord? He had wondered that the moment Yuri took over the territory, but now, not a shred of doubt remained. Yuri was a bit naive—a man with out-of-this-world abilities who occasionally did something completely absurd—but his core motivation was always "I want to make this land better." It made him a man Fritz found impossible to hate.

Swayed by the earnest atmosphere, Fritz realized he had settled into the village before he even knew it. Still, he eventually had to go report the status of his escort mission. He worked his shovel, deciding that once the moat was finished and the village was secure, he would tell Yuri he needed to head out for a while.

Then, he noticed the silence. The nearby forest was eerily still.

"No sound at all... that’s strange."

Fritz squinted toward the trees. There, he saw a pack of Wolves charging toward him, just like before.

"A-again!?"

He didn't have a weapon on him—only the Shovel. He couldn't count on Yuri to bail him out this time. He would have to face the pack, which had completely outclassed him before, with nothing but a digging tool.

He had dug the moat to keep them out of the village, but that was their only defense. Even a deep trench could be bypassed if the Wolves used the bodies of their fallen to form a bridge. Fritz had to thin their numbers now. He cursed himself for not bringing his axe, but it was too late for regrets.

No, get a grip! My job is to buy time. Yuri-sama will notice and come running soon.

He slapped his cheeks to focus and leveled the Shovel.

"Come on! Fritz the apprentice Mercenary is your opponent!"

Suddenly, the Wolves veered away, sprinting past him as if their lives depended on it. They looked less like they were attacking and more like they were being hunted.

"W-what on earth...?"

He watched them flee in a daze, but his confusion was short-lived. A new Monster emerged, radiating an aura of intimidation that made the Wolves look like puppies.

"A-an Earth Dragon..."

It was a Giant Lizard, its massive frame almost entirely encased in rock. It was a creature granted the title of "Dragon" solely because of its overwhelming power. Though it had lost the ability to fly, its stone armor made it resistant to both physical and magic attacks. A charge from a beast that size was said to be able to level castle walls.

"T-that's impossible... I-I have to run..."

Fritz couldn't see a single path to victory against this walking natural disaster, not even for Yuri. This territory was finally being rebuilt, but his life came first. Yet, he knew that if he ran, everyone else would be trampled. As a Mercenary, his job was to distract the beast and draw it away from the village. He didn't need to win; he just needed to be a target.

"C-come here, you Giant Lizard! I’m your opponent!"

With shaking legs, Fritz leveled the Shovel. He swung it with every ounce of strength he possessed. In the next instant, a beam of light erupted from the tool, gouging a massive chunk out of the Earth Dragon’s side.

"Wha—!?" Fritz shrieked.

The Earth Dragon paused, seemingly unable to comprehend how it had been wounded. It stared at its own body in confusion. Where the light had struck, there was a gaping hole, as if the flesh and stone had never existed at all.

"I-I get it! Its body is made of rock. Which basically means it’s Earth! If that’s the case, this Shovel can handle it!"

It was a reckless leap in logic, but given the results, Fritz forced himself to believe it.

And so, after a fierce "death struggle" (read: a completely one-sided slaughter), Fritz narrowly managed to defeat the Earth Dragon (read: without taking a single scratch).

As Fritz stood there, feeling a complicated mix of emotions, a sudden jolt of pain—like a massive electrical discharge—coursed through his body. He collapsed in a heap right next to the fallen dragon.

---

While Fritz was engaged in his "death struggle" with the Earth Dragon, we had reached the riverside. I kept my Presence Detection active, spanning the entire area. Naturally, I was aware that an Earth Dragon was attacking.

However...

"An Earth Dragon, huh..."

"Is something wrong?" Fee asked.

"No, it's just that an Earth Dragon is attacking the territory..."

"Then we have to hurry back and intercept it!"

"Honestly? I really don't feel like it."

In the game, the Earth Dragon was a nuisance—a Monster with high stats but very little "flavor." Being a Dragon, it gave a decent amount of experience, but it was immune to almost all physical and magic attacks. This "noob-killer" mob had exactly one weakness: weapons imbued with Earth Specialization.

Those weapons were rare, which was why it was considered such a threat. But the most annoying part? It dropped almost no sellable materials. You’d put in all that effort for zero reward. That’s why I couldn't find the motivation.

"Well, Fritz can handle it. As long as he has a tool with Earth Specialization, that thing is no stronger than a Wolf."

"Is it really not that tough?"

"Yeah. Anyway, more importantly, I need to figure out how to pipe Water into the territory...!?"

I felt the Earth Dragon’s presence vanish. But immediately after, a different signal hit my radar. This was the greatest crisis we had faced since arriving in this land.

"This is bad, Fee. We’re heading back. Now!"

"Is the Earth Dragon that dangerous after all?"

"It’s way worse than that! If we don't deal with this, the territory is doomed!"

Fee saw the genuine panic on my face and realized the gravity of the situation. "What is it? What’s coming?"

"An opponent who leads the world to ruin... Yes, the Saint!!"

For some reason, my Presence Detection had just picked up the signature of the Saint—the girl who was supposed to be safely tucked away in the Royal Capital.