Rei hesitated, unsure what to make of the scene before him.
A building had appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the area adjacent to the Treant Forest. To be precise, it was a portion of what appeared to be a castle.
He had been searching through the building with Ielo when he detected a presence in one of the rooms. The inhabitants had reacted to the names Zozo and Gaga, which had prompted him to step inside.
What greeted him, however, was a Female Lizardman sheltering numerous Lizardman children behind her.
Rei didn't know enough about Lizardmen to estimate their age by appearance alone. Even so, a Lizardman barely half his own height—and Rei himself was only half of Gaga's—was undoubtedly a child.
The Female Lizardman shielding the children showed clear signs of fear, yet she refused to back down, her eyes never leaving Rei.
He studied her for a moment, then surveyed the room.
It was fairly spacious, roughly ten to twelve tatami mats in size. Several shelves lined the walls, and atop them sat a large quantity of eggs.
Between the eggs and the number of Lizardman children present, Rei could piece together the room's purpose.
A nursery, maybe? No, considering the eggs... an incubation room, perhaps?
He racked his brain for how to handle the Female Lizardman and the frightened children. If they shared a common language, this wouldn't be nearly so difficult. In that regard, he deeply regretted not bringing Zozo along.
"Ah... um, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," he said, resorting to exaggerated gestures to convey his intent. Simple messages came across well enough, but anything more complex was nearly impossible to communicate.
The Female Lizardman clearly had no idea what he was trying to say. If anything, his gesturing looked like some sort of bizarre dance.
Then, without warning, she cried out.
"●●●●！"
For a fleeting moment, Rei thought his message had gotten through—but her gaze was directed not at him, but at Ielo, hovering behind him.
She dropped to her knees before Ielo in unmistakable reverence.
What surprised Rei was that every one of the Lizardman children followed suit, kneeling in unison. It was a display that could only be described as awe.
Well... I should have seen that coming.
Given how other Lizardmen had reacted to Elena and Ielo, this was exactly what he should have expected. Still, there was a hollow sting in knowing that his frantic gesturing had accomplished nothing, while Ielo's mere presence had dissolved their hostility in an instant. He pushed the feeling aside.
"Ielo, you saved the day."
"Kyu? Kyuu!"
Ielo let out a cheerful chirp, clearly delighted at having been useful.
Seeing Rei address the creature so warmly, the Female Lizardman cast a questioning glance his way. She had initially been certain he was an enemy. But seeing him interact so casually with a being like Ielo planted a seed of doubt—perhaps he wasn't a threat after all.
...Not that it mattered much. Without a shared language, there was only so far trust could carry them.
From her perspective, she couldn't simply let Rei wander freely.
"Ah... how about some food? Want to eat?"
With gestures failing him, Rei was grateful Ielo had at least established him as a non-threat. He decided to try a different approach to closing the distance between them.
From his Misty Ring, he produced Orc skewers.
He briefly wondered whether it was appropriate to feed grilled meat to Lizardman children—or to the Female Lizardman, for that matter. But the moment the skewers appeared, every child stopped kneeling and locked their eyes on Rei with rapt attention.
The Female Lizardman said something to them, but the children paid her no heed whatsoever.
I don't know about time zones, but from what Zozo told me, the difference shouldn't be that drastic. Which means it's nighttime in their world too—middle of the night, actually. So these kids were fast asleep, woken up in the dead of night, and now they want to eat Orc skewers?
Rei sometimes ate heavy meals for breakfast himself, but being roused from a deep sleep at midnight to eat Orc skewers? He could manage it, but it wasn't exactly his first choice.
Then again, when I was in Japan, if we had curry for dinner, I'd eat it again for breakfast the next morning without a second thought... but waking up in the middle of the night is different...
He tried to recall his childhood habits, but the Lizardman children were staring so desperately at the skewers that he gave up and produced several more, handing them out.
The Female Lizardman watched in stunned disbelief as freshly grilled skewers materialized from thin air. But for the children, appetite trumped astonishment.
"Here, one each."
Rei approached and distributed the skewers. The moment a child's fingers closed around one, it vanished into their mouth. Their faces lit up with unmistakable joy.
"You should have some too."
"●●？"
The Female Lizardman hesitated over the offered skewer. But when Ielo, still circling around Rei, let out a single chirp, that seemed to tip the scales. She rose to her feet and accepted it.
Carefully, she brought the skewer to her mouth.
Through his interactions with Zozo, Rei already knew that Lizardman taste wasn't so different from his own. And the children were happily devouring theirs, so he wasn't particularly worried. Still, he watched her out of the corner of his eye.
She took one bite, chewed a few times—and froze.
Then, the next instant, she was tearing into the skewer with abandon.
Not being cautious about poison... is that really wise? I mean, there's nothing wrong with these, but still. Is it because of Ielo?
Perhaps they reasoned that anyone Ielo trusted wouldn't stoop to poison. He couldn't be certain, but the theory made sense.
What he needed more than anything right now was Zozo, who could bridge the language gap between them.
For reasons Rei didn't fully understand, Zozo harbored a fierce loyalty toward him. That meant there was a strong chance he would eventually find his way here. And when he did, the Stone Tablet would make communication possible.
...Or perhaps they would recognize Zozo's face even before that.
"How about we head outside instead of staying here?"
Rei pantomimed going outdoors, but the Female Lizardman flatly refused. The gesture itself was simple enough to convey, so the message had landed—she just wouldn't comply.
Why? Rei glanced around the room and immediately understood.
The shelves were covered in eggs. Given the children's presence, these were almost certainly Lizardman eggs. She wasn't going to abandon them.
But wait—if this is an egg storage facility, isn't it strange for her to be here alone? You'd expect more caretakers. Unless these children are low-ranking, or...
His train of thought led him back to the building itself, severed partway through.
Perhaps the other Lizardman caretakers had been on the other side of the cut—wherever that was now—and only this section had been teleported to their world.
For one terrifying instant, a darker thought surfaced: what if the castle connected to this building had failed its teleportation and was now adrift in the dimensional rift? Rei deliberately shoved the idea aside.
"Ah, right. Well, if we're staying here for now... shouldn't the children get some sleep?"
He tried to pantomime the suggestion, but it was too complex. The message didn't land.
Not that it mattered much. Between the skewers and Ielo's presence, the children were wide awake with excitement. Sleep was the last thing on their minds.
I'd love to ask how many others are in this building. But without Zozo's Stone Tablet, how am I even supposed to ask? Should I leave them here and explore the rest? There might be other rooms with Lizardmen guarding children or eggs just like this one.
It was a reasonable thought, but Rei questioned its likelihood. If others were in the same situation, they might have already noticed the teleportation and regrouped. On the other hand, if they understood their role, they might refuse to budge—just like the Female Lizardman here.
If it were only children, they could move while protecting them. But the eggs complicated things. Even at a glance, there were over twenty of them. If these were Lizardman eggs, there was no way the people in this room could carry them all.
"So, what am I supposed to do? If Ielo could talk to the Lizardmen, I could at least tell them to move."
"Kyu?"
Ielo, who had been peering curiously at the eggs on a nearby shelf, tilted its head at Rei's words.
Even understanding the gravity of the situation, Rei couldn't help but find the gesture endearing.
If Ielo could communicate with the Lizardmen... Come to think of it, Set and Ielo communicate despite being entirely different species—a Gryphon and a Black Dragon. So wouldn't it be possible for Ielo to communicate with Lizardmen too, as fellow reptilian creatures?
Rei knew he was grasping at straws. But Set and Ielo's ability to communicate proved it wasn't impossible. And if it worked, the implications were enormous: Rei could relay messages to Set, Set to Ielo, and Ielo to the Lizardmen—all without needing the Stone Tablet.
"Kyuu?"
Perhaps because Rei was staring at it, Ielo tilted its head again with an inquisitive chirp. It was the kind of gesture some might call cloying, but when Set or Ielo did it, it was simply adorable.
"No, it's nothing. Just—don't go breaking those eggs, alright?"
Ielo puffed up with a cry that clearly said, Obviously not!
Rei watched Ielo for a moment—then his gaze drifted to the eggs beside it, and a new worry surfaced.
What if being teleported across worlds while still in egg form had caused some kind of harm? They hadn't just moved from one place to another; they had crossed from an entirely different world. That was far from ordinary, and the possibility that it had affected the eggs was very real.
They'll be... fine, right?
From the bottom of his heart, Rei hoped that if the teleportation had any effect at all, it would be a beneficial one. But there was nothing he could do to verify it right now. All he could do was wait.
"Grrrrrrrrr!"
A guttural cry suddenly echoed through the building.
The Female Lizardman and the children startled, looking around in alarm. But Rei and Ielo recognized the sound instantly—Set's cry—and showed no sign of distress.
That said, Set wouldn't cry out without reason. Something must have happened. Even so, the call carried no hostility or wariness, which ruled out an enemy attack.
"I'm going to check on things. Stay put."
With a few calming gestures, Rei left the room with Ielo in tow.