Published: September 10, 2025
“Phew, time for a little break.”
I muttered to myself and sat down on a conveniently placed rock by the roadside.
While I rested, people carrying heavy loads kept moving along the path.
After passing the junction leading to the mining city, the flow of people on the highway suddenly thinned out. I probably felt even more isolated because I was out of stamina and others kept forging ahead. I wanted to hitch a ride on a carriage, but those were prioritized for children, the elderly, and pregnant women, followed by those carrying piles of cargo.
“Ta-fu-he-he... ho-hi...”
I heard something from further down the road.
Turning around a hill beside the path, I saw dogs and cats wearing clothes calling out to passersby but being treated coldly.
Dogs and cats talking—now that’s quite a fantasy world.
According to the AR display, those kids belonged to the dog humanoid and catperson races.
“Someone, please help the lizard…”
“Please~”
Their speech was a bit hard to catch, so I mentally filled in the gaps.
“Someone, please help the lizard.”
“Please~ the lizard might die~?”
Maybe the lizard, their pet, had gotten injured?
“Shut up, beastmen! Don’t go around speaking so casually!”
“—Ow!”
A dog humanoid child clinging to a man walking ahead was kicked hard, tumbling into the grassy roadside.
Hey, what are you doing to such a small kid?
“Doggy~!”
The catperson child hurried over to the dog humanoid’s side.
I stepped off the path and headed toward the two of them.
“…Ne, Neko.”
“Nyu.”
Noticing my approach, the dog humanoid kid’s face showed fear, while the catperson child spread their arms protectively in front of the dog humanoid.
“I’m not here to harm you. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I am!”
When I asked, the dog humanoid child stood up vigorously and declared that.
Judging by their condition, the injury was probably just a bruise.
Still, I should check if there were any fractures.
“Where?”
“Over here!”
The dog humanoid child grabbed my hand and took off running.
The abandoned catperson child called out in a panic, “Doggy, wait~” and quickly followed.
—The path?
I thought they were running toward the grasslands, but there was a narrow trail hidden by weeds.
At the end of the narrow path was a rocky area, and between the rocks, what looked like houses came into view.
No sign of people.
It was probably an abandoned village deserted quite a while ago.
The dog humanoid child headed toward one of the houses.
“—W-Who are you?!”
Inside the derelict house, a pointed stick was thrust at us.
The wielder was a lizardman with orange hair and scales.
Though hard to tell at first glance, she appeared to be a sixteen-year-old female.
Her speech was mixed with scratching sounds, making it hard to understand, but like with the other two, I filled in the words mentally.
“Wait!”
“Is this person a good one?”
The dog humanoid and catperson children stepped between us and her.
“Dog? Cat? You two, alone, came all the way to the highway?”
The lizardman child panted as she questioned them.
I just noticed—her wrapped cloth was stained red. It was dim, but the ground where she stood also looked dark and wet. If that was blood, she must have been bleeding heavily.
“—Ugh!”
““Lizard!””
The lizardman child dropped to her knees.
She seemed too weak to even stand.
—We need a doctor, fast.
Just as I thought that, I remembered we weren’t in Japan.
—Right!
“Here.”
I took out a potion from storage via my bag and offered it.
“A… magic potion?”
The lizardman child’s eyes widened, but she didn’t reach for it.
Maybe she suspected poison?
“It’s not poison.”
I opened the bottle and took a tiny sip to demonstrate.
“Bitter!”
The taste was so bitter I almost teared up, but I held it down and swallowed the potion.
“Should be fine, right? So drink it.”
Still hesitant, I pressed the bottle toward the lizardman child.
“Really okay to drink?”
After much hesitation, she asked, and I nodded.
“Lizard~”
“Drink quickly!”