Zaryusu fell silent, she was right.
The other party gave them time, announced the order of attack deliberately and didn’t get in the way of Zaryusu’s efforts to form an alliance. What if their plan all along was to gather all the lizardmen in order to annihilate them.
“I have many worries, someone who thinks as deeply as you should feel even more so. But no matter what, we will fight this battle with our foes… We can think about the other things after that.”
“They won’t give up even if we win. The chance of them giving up is abysmal.”
“That might be so, but what you said that night is true. Look—”
Crusch extended her arms toward the empty space before her. But Zaryusu understood that she was referring to the entire village.
"Look at all the lizardmen from the various tribes working towards the same goal.”
Indeed, the lizardmen from all the tribes were advancing together as one.
The image of the five tribe banquet surfaced in Zaryusu’s mind. The tribes were interacting harmoniously together without reservation. It would be a lie to say the survivors from the two destroyed tribe bore no grudges. But they displayed the will to swallow their grudge in the face of this incident.
The irony.
Zaryusu muttered. He always thought their divided worlds would carry on forever, he never thought the appearance of a mutual enemy would allow him to witness the unity of the lizardmen.
"We need to protect the possibility of our future, Zaryusu. The alliance of all the tribes would promote our development.”
Building walls with mud was a technique Zaryusu had never seen before. But now, the other tribes knew about this technique. In the future, all the lizardmen tribes would build such walls. With such strong walls, it should be able to keep the monsters from breaking in. That way, the chances of the weak young ones being attacked would fall, and the number of lizardmen would increase.
They could meet the increase in demand for food by using Zaryusu’s fish breeding farm.
Maybe in the near future, all lizardmen will unite into one giant tribe in these swamps.
“Let us obtain victory, Zaryusu. It is impossible for us to know what happens in the future, maybe everything would be over after this battle. If that is so, we can start developing a wonderful world without food problems and the need for lizardmen to kill each other.”
Crusch smiled. Zaryusu suppressed his emotion, if he allowed his feeling to run loose, he might not be able to reign in it; but he had something he had to say.
“You are an excellent female lizardman— After this battle is over, please tell me the answer to that question I asked when we first met.”
Crusch smile became even more brilliant.
“I understand, Zaryusu. I will tell you my answer after this is all over—”
♦ ♦ ♦
Demiurge was in a great mood as he hummed while he worked.
He picked up the polished bone, wondering where he should put it for the best presentation. Shortly after, he made his decision and sliced off the tip and place it within the item he was building.
The bone fitted in perfectly like a piece of a puzzle.
If building a house without using nails is known as ‘precision wood joint’, then what Demiurge was doing should be ‘precision bone joint’.
“That looks great.”
Demiurge caressed the bone with a smile on his face. If he continued to work on it, he had a feeling he can complete an outstanding piece.
“But… I am lacking the right femur of a man about 1.2m in height.”
He could complete it even if he don’t find that bone. But without it, it wouldn’t look as nice.
Usually, Demiurge would compromise and make do with this. But this gift was meant for his beloved master, so he had to make it perfect.
“It would be great if I can find something suitable.”
Demiurge, who was in a good mood, started moving.
Actually, Demiurge liked to create such items. His interest was not in using bones to make items, but in carpentry work. His interest in this field was rather wide, from art pieces to furniture, his skills had surpassed that of weekend hobbyist.
In fact, if you ignore the material he was using, anyone would be impressed by the quality of his work.
The other items displayed in this tentage, such as the bronze bust of the master cast from lava, all sort of chairs and clamps are all made by Demiurge. They might be for practical use and lack decorations, but they were all excellent pieces.
As Demiurge was studying a material he picked up from a corner of the tent, he felt some movement near the entrance.
Demiurge put the bone in his hands back gently and held the item bestowed to him by his master that might not be replaceable, focusing on what was happening outside. Normally, the one outside should be his underling or colleague. No one could have broken through all three layer of Demiurge’s defences without him noticing, but he had to be wary of the one who had controlled Shalltear.
Several seconds later, someone opened the entrance of the tent. He was dressed in pure white, wearing a mask with a long beak like a bird.
Peruchinera.
He was a clown, a creation of the Supreme Being just like Demiurge. For this operation, he had been assigned to assist Demiurge.
Confirming that he was not under mind control, the tension in Demiurge’s eyes dispersed, and he relaxed the grip on the item in his hand.
“Demiurge-sama, the skin has been peeled.”
These words made Demiurge felt that it was a shame.
Demiurge wanted to enjoy this work himself, but in order to guard against the mysterious enemies, he couldn’t leave his post most of the time and had to assign the task to Peruchinera.
Demiurge did not express his emotions and gave new instructions to Peruchinera.
“Good work. Well then, begin the next phase. It would be disrespectful if we give that thing to Ainz-sama like this.”
Demiurge asked Peruchinera who was bowing gracefully.
“So, how many died?”
“None. Thanks to the tormentor, they only lost consciousness, therefore we can continue peeling their skin soon. A few were unwilling to be healed… but that was within expectation, so there is no issue.”
“That is splendid.”