A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Luchael

Luchael had just left the countryhouse where he lived with his parents and three brothers, he was barely three days' walk from the place where he grew up but he already felt as if he had explored those lands like the most experienced adventurers. In reality, Luchael had barely set foot off the beaten tracks of the kingdom and hadn't yet mustered the courage to explore even the simplest dungeon.

He walked holding his black colored lips tight, humming the tune of a song he was playing on his mandolin, that was his primary - and only - source of income, Luchael would have liked to venture into some dungeon and start proving his worth, the truth is that he found the dungeons too dangerous for a person alone, and he hadn't yet found an adventuring party that was interested in enlisting someone with the skill set he had.

Skill sets that boiled down to playing the mandolin, brewing a few concoctions, and launching a single attack from behind before fleeing in panic.

All Adventurers start from the bottom! There is no need to judge!

Things will change in Stanbroodge, he thought as his rosy eyes moved away from the road to range over the grassy fields and lingered, daydreaming, on the mountain peaks he could see in the distance. This city will be my launching pad towards fame and riches!

His long ears turned forward when out of the corner of his eye he noticed something black and yellow begin to emerge from the grass.

A monster??

Luchael focused his attention on the lizard monster that was emerging from the vegetation at an adequate distance to allow him to esca... EXECUTE A STRATEGIC RETREAT without running the risk of being attacked from behind.

[Salmadrer (Lv.2)]

A monster! A monster!

Luchael immediately stopped his pace and separated his right hand from the mandolin to grasp the hilt of his rapier. The blood had frozen in his veins, his heart was beating wildly and his legs were shaking, the salmadrer seemed to hesitate in his attack and appeared to not be particularly intelligent since it had shown itself before it was the ideal moment to ambush him.

It's my chance! This monster doesn't seem too smart, one thrust will be enough! he thought, distancing his feet, ready for the leporan's famous lightning strike. He was about to flex his legs to give himself momentum when he noticed that the salmadrer had stopped and was desperately trying to point out that it was holding something in its mouth, but isn't that...

Rondadrilla. For the leporans it didn't mean anything in particular, but humans had various festivals during the summer in which they exchanged twigs of that flower as a sign of friendship and good intentions. Is it possible that the lizard monster was trying to approach peacefully? This didn't make any sense! Luchael knew that monsters were creatures of pure instinct, incapable of the logical reasoning of humanoids, and if it was true that ascended monsters obtained humanoid intelligences, it was clear that that salmadrer was not an ascended monster.

Luchael separated his hand from the hilt of his rapier, am I going crazy? he wondered, "uhm...peace? My… my name is Luchael Pincup, and I come in peace,” he said out loud as he tried his best to stop his legs from shaking.

The salmadrer continued to approach with it head held high and the rondarilla sprigs on display until it was just over four feet away, when it got there, it spat them on the ground and began wagging its tail as if it were a canogh.

"Greetings…?" Luchael's tone bore witness to all his confusion and uncertainty, at the very least, the terror was turning into normal fear, "can you understand me?"

The salmadrer made hissing sounds and produced something similar to sighs.

Maybe it could understand but not speak?

"Oh! I have an idea!" The leporan placed the mandolin on the ground and placed three coins on the ground, two in one place and one in another, “I will ask you some questions. Touch the two coins to say YES and the single coin to say NO,” he said, helping himself with his hand to make sure the bizarre monster understood him.

The lizard monster stretched out a paw towards YES. But then it was true that it was really understanding what he was telling to it!

“Are you really able to understand everything I say?”

Yes.

“So you're an ascended monster?”

A moment of pause, the monster seemed to reflect and look at an empty spot at its side. No.

“So you are intelligent but you are not an ascended monster,” the leporan said to himself, “how come you approached me?” a moment later he corrected himself, realizing that it was a question that couldn't be answered in such a simple way, “do you need my help?”

Yes.

By now the fear and adrenaline had drained from his body, Luchael had lowered his guard when he realized that the monster did not want to hurt him. “You really are a strange monster,” he said honestly as he stood on his knees and palms on the ground, his long, straight cream-colored hair brushing the ground, “are you able to tell me how I can help you?”

The monster didn't hesitate for a single moment: it turned and moved its head a few times pointed to the nearby town of Stanbroodge.

“Why would a monster want to go to Stanbroodge?? Do you want to die??"

No. No. No. No. No.

Luchael tilted his head slightly, “mhm…” he straightened his back and snapped his fingers when he realized what the bizarre monster wanted, “do you need a ride and a safe place to hide in the city?”

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes… Y E S.

Luchael rubbed his chin, the request the salmadrer was making to him wasn't something that impossible to fulfill, it was small enough that he could have picked it up and put it in his backpack, getting past the guards wasn't who knows what titanic task and once he found an inn, he could have kept it safe in his room, if it had wanted a hiding place that much.

The problem was that this was something he had never heard of before that moment: an ordinary monster capable of reasoning? His parents and the bards had never told anything about something like this. What could have been the goals of a creature that would normally be driven only by hunger and the desire to become more powerful?

But there was also an advantage in helping such a creature, perhaps Luchael could have made money by using it to explore the dungeons, it wouldn't even have been such a mean thing considering that they would both have leveled up.

And he would also have obtained creation materials and precious objects, since the salmadrer would have had no use for those things...

"All right! I will help you enter the city, and not only that, I will also offer you shelter!” He exclaimed with a broad smile, “you see, the city is a dangerous place. Big towns like Stanbroodge have their own Adventurers Guild headquarters, there are plenty of people who could kill you without a second thought!”

The salmadrer tensed its muscles and its long, thick tail became as stiff as a thick tree branch.

“We could… we could become allies! What do you say? I can offer you food and shelter, in exchange you will accompany me in exploring the dungeons and protect me from other monsters!" Luchael twitched his ears happily and extended a hand towards the salmadrer, “what do you think? It seems like an equivalent exchange to me!”

The lizard monster brought its large, completely black eyes to the leporan's hand, then raised them again to look at his face, for a moment reflecting himself in the black abysses of that creature's eyes gave Luchael goosebumps. The little monster reached out one of its little paws and tried to take Luchael's in an attempt to reproduce a handshake.

That monster was truly unusual.