“It’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”
He tried to push me away several times, but pushing with a body burning with fever was impossible. He even swung his tail at me again, but it was like a cotton bat. No matter how much the guy struggled, not a bit of strength entered his limbs, so rather than painful, it was ticklish.
Overcoming the minor obstructive tactics, I checked his forehead temperature with my hand and it was truly scorching hot.
Unless the lizard’s identity is a dragon, no matter how I think about it, he’s a beastman… Beastmen usually strongly inherit animal characteristics in novels. No matter how human their appearance, ultimately their biological rhythms often follow animals. So for him, who would be reptilian, to have such a high fever was an extremely serious matter.
I immediately sprang up from my spot and headed to the communal bathroom. The dormitory had a bathroom and bathhouse that everyone used together, and there were several buckets in the bathhouse, so I grabbed one of them. It was a bucket used for carrying water.
Just in case, I cleaned the bucket thoroughly, filled it with cold water, grabbed a towel, and returned to the room.
“Wait a little. I’ll wipe you down.”
I wiped his sweat-drenched body with the wet towel. I wanted to wipe quickly, but my hands were small, and sadly, I was still a child, so my fingertips weren’t exactly deft.
“…Haah… Haah…”
The lizard, who had weakly tried to push me away several times but failed, eventually went limp and drooped. I took advantage of the gap to diligently wipe his body. Though it took some time, I was still able to finish safely.
“I need to put clothes on him… What should I do?”
Leaving him naked wasn’t a good choice, but unfortunately, it was beyond my strength to dress him. I tried, but I lacked the power. It might have been possible normally, but having suffered through labor all day, my strength seemed completely drained.
In the end, I settled for the second-best option of tightly wrapping the lizard’s body in the blanket.
“…But.”
I recalled the area I had tried not to look at while wiping his body. Even trying not to think about it was impossible. It was that unusual.
“Why is it bare?”
The lizard’s lower body had no genitalia that would indicate gender. That point was so unusual it kept bothering me.
But already being a beastman alone is unusual… Maybe the structure is different from humans. Right. Among animals, internal types are common too. I shouldn’t think of everything based on humans as the standard.
“Well, it’s not really my concern.”
After thinking that far, I stopped caring about it. More than anything, what was important to me now was making this lizard healthy. The regrettable point is that I don’t have medical knowledge. But there’s no need to worry.
“Originally, main characters don’t die easily.”
Every genre has an unwritten law. The fact that protagonists don’t die. Of course, if it’s a story aiming for a bad ending or sad ending, I don’t know, but generally protagonists are designed not to die. Unless they’re a fake protagonist.
And this tendency applied to characters with some weight even if they weren’t the protagonist. Unless it’s a special event or the right time, characters with weight don’t die. Dog deaths were perfect for getting criticized, so authors arranged proper endings for them for the sake of entertainment.
If I were the protagonist, the possibility of this lizard dying would have been high. The death of surrounding people becomes a tragic event for the protagonist and sometimes becomes the foundation for awakening. Of course, that’s the story for when the lizard becomes an important person to me.
But leaving all these premises aside, I’m an extra. A lead character dying before the story even begins while being nursed by an extra’s hands. It’s not impossible, but generally it’s absurd.
Anyway, what was most important to me was that even if I nursed him like crap, the lizard before my eyes wouldn’t die.
“Phew, I’m tired.”
I stretched and loosened my stiff body. Having come back from hard labor and even caring for a sick person, I ached all over.
“Should I rest for a bit…”
My stomach was subtly appealing for food, but my whole body ached and I was tired. Right now it was rest over food. But the lizard was occupying the bed, and the only blanket was also covering the lizard.
“Just move over a little…”
After moving the lizard, who had become one with the blanket, over a bit, I curled up and lay down next to him. I don’t have bad sleeping habits, so there shouldn’t be a problem sleeping together on the bed.
The bed was a generous size when one adult lay down, and the lizard and I were young and small, so it was spacious even with two people lying down. I peacefully closed my eyes. And before thinking about anything, perhaps because of accumulated fatigue, I fell into a sleep like death.
But regrettably, the sleep didn’t continue long. A strong impact was applied to my body, which had been dreaming nothing due to fatigue, and thanks to that, sleep fled like a shot.
“Heok!”
Whether it was late night, the surroundings were completely dark. I looked around with bleary eyes.
The reason I woke up was easy to find. The naked lizard straddling my body. Because of the fever that still hadn’t subsided, the lizard was glaring at me with a flushed face. He was even trying to strangle my neck with hands that couldn’t properly hold strength.
Indeed, a main character. Dangerous. I barely managed to smile hazily and opened my mouth.
“Um… won’t you let go?”
Chapter 2: Frankenstein Lizard (1)
“…Human.”
Perhaps because of the high fever, his hazy green eyes were turbid, mixed with wariness. Moreover, the killing intent flowing from that small body was extraordinary. It was enough to understand what it meant to be overwhelmed by atmosphere, which often appeared in novels.
“What… are you scheming?”
Scheming? There’s no such grand thing as a scheme. Rather, I know my place well. I wasn’t the material to do something. Since I have no information about this world, the so-called honey-sucking is ruined, and I don’t have the ability or money to accomplish anything.
In this situation, my interest is only one thing. Finding out the identity of this novel. I wanted to know the identity and know the protagonist.
It’s not that I’ll do something by knowing the protagonist. I just want to watch the protagonist from afar and enjoy the story. Since I’ve entered a novel anyway, shouldn’t I fully enjoy it in 3D?
But looking at what this lizard says and does to me, he seems to be wary of something else. The main reason for his wariness is probably that I’m human.
With just a little thought, the reason could be easily deduced. In fact, there was no need to deduce. Beastmen exist in various positions in genre novels. The protagonist’s heroine. Male protagonist. Conquest target, etc. Those set up like that are fortunate. Because at least they are positioned as the same people.
But humans discriminate against things different from themselves, and a slave system exists in this world. Since it was a cruel world where humans even sold humans, beastmen were clearly expensive trading targets. Because rarity is discriminated against while simultaneously having high value.
Those who mainly trade them are clearly humans, and my race is human. But I can say for certain I’m different from such shameless bastards.
“I don’t have any particular scheme.”
I spoke kindly as if telling him not to worry, but the light of distrust in the lizard’s eyes only became sharper. He seemed to think I was speaking empty words.
Of course! Even I wouldn’t trust a race that sells me as a slave!
“Really. If I was going to do something to you, I would have sold you already.”
Whether my answer worked, the lizard’s pupils wavered for a moment. I didn’t miss that gap and quickly rolled up the lizard in the blanket and hugged him tightly so he couldn’t move. Since he still hadn’t properly recovered, it was easy to subdue him, albeit sloppily.
“What are you doing…! As expected, humans are…!”
I cut off the lizard’s words trying to curse and slowly patted his body.
“Let’s sleep more. You’re sick. When you’re sick, sleeping is the best.”
Normally he should eat, but even if I gave him food now, he seemed too excited to eat. Moreover, whether it was still hard to be awake, his heavy blinking eyes looked precarious.
He probably found it hard to move and wanted to sleep more, but thinking his life was in danger, he seemed to be desperately trying to stay awake. Then I have no choice but to force him to sleep. If there’s no harm to his body even after sleeping and waking up, he’ll calm down a bit.
“Lullaby… Lullaby…”
I patted the lizard’s body at a steady pace. I wasn’t good at singing lullabies and had never put a child to sleep, so it was surely clumsy. But fortunately, the lizard stopped glaring at me like he’d kill me and obediently fell asleep again. It was probably because he was too exhausted and had no stamina.
After seeing that, I too was relieved and my eyes grew heavier, and at some point I fell asleep.
* * *
“Heuk.”
I woke up with a start as if someone had grabbed my collar and pulled me up. Looking at the sunlight streaming through the window, it seemed to be late morning.
I blinked for a moment and tried to drive away the remaining sleepiness. In the meantime, feeling a gaze sharp enough to sting my skin, I looked down as is and could see the lizard with irritated eyes. He was placed on my stomach, tightly wrapped in the blanket just as I had done yesterday.
“Let go.”
Though he spoke sharply, seeing that he couldn’t escape from within my weak arms, it seemed his strength hadn’t recovered yet. I obediently released the arms I’d been hugging him with and sat up.
The lizard crawled away and curled up clinging to the wall. The same killing intent as the first day didn’t come from him.
“Still having a hard time?”
Whether he’d sweated during the night, strands of hair were stuck to his forehead. I arranged his hair and checked the temperature of his forehead. Fortunately, the fever had gone down compared to yesterday, but it was still warm. Anyway, what was important was that he’d improved. Since I was up anyway, I should feed him something.
“Wait a moment.”
I roughly changed clothes and went to get food. Because it was late morning, a small growling sound came from my stomach too. I should bring mine too.
