Work Prophet
Chapter 81 - 42: Swamp Monster

Chapter 81: Chapter 42: Swamp Monster

"You’re saying those lizard people are actually followers of Saturday? So, that means...Saturday had them come to rob me?"

Miss Rabbit was astonished by her own deduction.

It was like having just finished an episode of Conan, the astonishment of realizing, "the culprit is among us."

She had not expected to expose the Black Hand that had been troubling the Arias family for centuries so easily.

But then a new thought struck her, "That’s not right, didn’t you say that our family’s Ancient Spirit is also related to Saturday? How could a God protect us and also plunder us at the same time?"

"The Sosokus that those lizard people worship, who is also the embodiment of Saturday, did not direct them to raid everywhere. They came out of the swamp on their own need for ironware, women, and food,"

Li Yu explained, "I asked their leader, and he said that at first, their ancestors wanted to trade with the local Lord—bartering goods. The Lord agreed to their request, but before long, he turned on them, not only hiking up the prices of the goods repeatedly, but also demanding them to pay taxes like his other subjects.

"At its most outrageous point, the prices of a fire scythe increased six-fold in a single day. Unwilling to agree to the ever-more-oppressive terms, a conflict broke out between them and the trade official, which led the Lord to order the deaths of all present lizard people.

"In retaliation, the lizard people set a village on fire. As a result, the Lord lured their leader out of the swamp under the pretext of negotiation and shot him to death with a volley of arrows. The feud between them just grew deeper and deeper from then on.

"Of course, this is only their side of the story. The exact truth is unknown to anyone. Since then, they simply resorted to robbery whenever they lacked something because their ancestors had warned them not to trust those outside the swamp, especially those greedy Nobles."

Li Yu paused, then continued, "Moreover, they are very cunning, only deploying a small number of their people for each raid, hardly ever more than a hundred, because they understand that these minor raids are generally dealt with by the local Lords themselves. If they revealed the true number of their tribe, it could potentially lead to the deployment of a large army to encircle them."

Ireya’s expression turned sour, and she snorted, "Are they treating the Arias family like an easy mark, just coming to fleece us whenever they feel like it? Then why did they suddenly send out thousands of people this time? Don’t they realize that even if they take Teacup Castle, they can’t possibly become the Lords of this land? Marquis Kuren and the other Nobles of the West will not tolerate such a thing happening."

"They’re well aware that escaping is a slim chance of survival, but staying in the swamp is a dead end," Li Yu said, his expression turning serious.

The girl sensed something unusual and waved her hand, instructing all the irrelevant individuals to leave, only keeping her confidants. Then she asked, "What exactly happened in the swamp?"

"A Dragon arrived there," Li Yu said.

"What, what did you say?" Ireya thought she had prepared for the worst, yet upon hearing Li Yu’s words, she still couldn’t help but doubt her own ears.

"A Dragon," Li Yu repeated, "Although it’s not yet confirmed, according to the lizard people, the beast greatly resembles the giant lizards they have always hunted, but it is much larger. It has two wings on its back, its body covered in black scales, nearly impervious to swords and spears, and it can breathe terrifying flames from its mouth.

"It has a huge appetite, likely in its growing phase. When the lizard people first saw it, it was fishing, no bigger than a ewe at the time. But it swallowed a fish nearly its own size in one gulp, making its belly swell up tremendously.

"The lizard people took advantage of its inability to fly and launched some tentative attacks, but whether it was wooden spears or iron swords, they couldn’t penetrate its scales. In desperation, it opened its mouth, spewed out a jet of flame, and scorched two of the lizard people. Then, it took advantage of the chaos to escape."

"By the time those lizard people saw it again a month later, it had grown as large as an adult bull, possessing a strong tail that could sweep down a small tree with a single swipe. Its claws were sharp as knives, easily slicing open all prey, not to mention that devastating wildfire."

"The dragon had come back for revenge. It caught the lizard people off guard, killing seven before it spread its wings and flew away, but it wasn’t long before it returned again."

"This time, it came to hunt. Most of the food in the swamp had been harvested by those lizard people. As the dragon grew larger, its need for food increased by the day. When it couldn’t catch enough prey, it started to hunt the lizard people."

"Within just three months, dozens of battles took place, and the lizard people suffered heavy losses. Neither traps nor blades could harm the dragon, and over time, as it grew bigger and bigger. By the time they decided to leave the swamp, that monster had grown larger than a standard cottage."

"And now it no longer slaughtered indiscriminately. Every ten days to half a month, it would visit the lizard people’s dwellings, swallow six or seven lizard people, then immediately leave. It clearly had come to regard the lizard people as livestock, just as humans do."

"Fear spread rapidly among the lizard people. If they stayed there, they would eventually become nothing but food for the dragon. In the end, the lizard people resolved to leave their homeland where they had lived for thousands of years."

This news was so shocking that Miss Rabbit was numbed by it once again.

She leaned against the wall with one hand and massaged her temples with the other, exhaustedly saying, "Wait for me a moment, I need to digest this."

It wasn’t just her; almost everyone who heard the news and Ireya had a similar reaction.

After a while, Fosto was the first to recover, his eyes wide as he said, "How could it be a dragon? Those terrifying creatures have been extinct from the Bratis Continent for three thousand years. So much time has passed, and no one has seen a trace of a dragon since then."

"How could they suddenly appear? Could this... could this be a lie told by the lizard people?"

"It doesn’t seem like it, if there were no dragon, they wouldn’t have had to risk annihilation by an army to leave their homeland," Jude said, stroking his chin.

"Perhaps some other calamity occurred in the swamp, causing a serious problem with their food or water source that forced them to leave, and then they concocted this lie about the dragon."

The new steward Yago voiced what many others were thinking.

It was more comforting to believe that some other explanation was plausible, rather than a terrifying creature suddenly appearing in the territory they lived in.

Li Yu didn’t deny their doubts outright; instead, he nodded, saying, "Your skepticism has merit. How about this: you can choose a few trustworthy individuals, and I will have the lizard people guide them into the swamp to search for the dragon."