NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32
Chapter 32: Subrace (7)
In this world, besides humans, there are various subraces, but the most vile of them all are the beast-like beastmen!
The abomination born from the sinful union of humanity’s ancestors with beasts! That’s what beastmen are!
We must eliminate all of them to cleanse humanity’s sins!
Beasts, to the forest! To the fields! Back to the wild!!! That’s the most natural form!
So, killing off all the beastmen in this world is what promises a bright future for us humans… W-What! You beasts!!!
Get lost! Get lost!!! You furry-smelling creatures!!! Keep your hands to yourself!!!
– Statement by a human supremacist.
The human supremacist who made this declaration was barely saved by the guards while being beaten by beastmen and was dragged away.
A few days later, he was found as a cold corpse in a cold prison.
It’s clarified that this person’s statement does not represent all humans.
How terrible and frightening is this thought?
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Some time passed. Like, a few hundred years.
Thinking of a few hundred years as “just a little”… My sense of time has really gone weird. Heh.
Well, when you rush through time, a few decades can pass in a blink.
Anyway, by the time it was getting common to see beastmen mixed in with humans.
I decided to check out some of the tech humans had going on.
First up, the really important stuff: agriculture.
The basic farming I initially taught to the lizardmen was passed on to humans, slowly evolving and changing.
Farming wasn’t just about throwing seeds around; it was about leveling the land, planting, and managing it until the sprouts grew.
And then yanking out all the other plants that are not the ones we want, so we can get the maximum yield.
Of course, there were still tons of mistakes. They just didn’t get the whole land power thing… you know, soil fertility? They didn’t understand why they needed to grow things that help the soil fertility either and assumed that throwing lots of crops onto the land would work, only to tank their whole agriculture. So, yeah, lots of blunders were popping up.
But hey, compared to where they started, they were definitely getting better, so that’s a win, right?
Thanks to raising cows as livestock, they got a good labor force too… you could say they were making progress.
Though the production was still pretty low since they weren’t doing any breed improvements yet. Maybe I’ll just do it myself if it comes to that. Hmm.
Well, those details can wait. Let’s move on from agriculture.
So, the grains they got from farming were being stored for the long haul in fire-baked pottery.
Sure, they were still pretty lacking, making pottery that looked like it was designed by a toddler, but the fact that they could store grains was a significant advantage.
Compared to the days of hunting for every meal and starving when the hunt failed, this was practically heaven. The importance of saving has been established!
Next was livestock farming. Raising various animals meant they could score some meat and other goodies.
Counting livestock farming alongside agriculture meant humans weren’t just relying on gathering and hunting anymore.
Eggs, milk, wool, and all those by-products were super helpful… so yeah, livestock farming’s usefulness goes without saying.
Next up: spinning thread. Then weaving to make cloth… Ah, weaving was still pretty rough around the edges.
But they were using the thread they made to fish. Progress, I guess?
I wonder when they’ll start making clothes out of fabric? Just curious, that’s all.
Besides that, there was language, moving from chipped stone tools to ground stone tools, even making simple baskets out of tree bark or leaves… well, that was about the level of human technology at that point.
Maybe it’s time to teach them something new… I was thinking while all this was going on.
Then humans discovered a new tech all by themselves.
Well, maybe calling it “by themselves” is a stretch.
“Black stone! Dig it up! Trade with lizardmen! Food for everyone! Work!”
They were mining obsidian from a quarry left behind by the lizardmen.
Yup, that was mining.
Humans who stumbled upon the lizardmen’s obsidian quarry started making their own stone axes and pickaxes to get in on the action.
With no iron or even bronze knowledge, the only thing they could mine was obsidian. But hey, they seemed to know the score, maybe from past trades with the lizardmen.
So some of the humans figured out that digging into the ground could yield good stuff.
Hmm. It’s a pretty cool outcome that they learned a skill I didn’t teach them. At this rate, they might keep developing even without my help.
Of course, I wasn’t planning on handing it over just yet.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Time flew by, and humans kept evolving.
They got to the point where they awkwardly made cloth from threads and even put together some clothes.
They started brainstorming about what to do with the thread, and before long, they twisted it into rope.
That’s how they built houses, saw upright trees on water, and tied those trees together to make primitive rafts.
Pretty impressive that they somehow figured out fishing with thread, wooden sticks, and needles made of bone.
I mean, how did they know fish like bugs? They even baited their hooks with worms!
And then there was the notable discovery of… bronze.
The first find was actually pretty amusing; it happened while they were baking pottery and trying to bake random stuff at the same time.
Among all the baked goods, they found a metal with a relatively low melting point, which turned out to be bronze, a mix of copper and another metal.
Bronze. The first metal.
Some humans got a bit too curious and lost a hand or two from the molten bronze, but hey, that’s just a minor issue, right?
Of course, they couldn’t use the hot liquid metal as is, but thanks to some kind-hearted soul, they learned to melt it in stone bowls and pour it into sand molds to cool off.
They were still making clumsy items, but in due time, I bet they’d produce some pretty cool stuff.
Maybe even the dwarves, that fantasy staple, would show up.
Hmm, that’s something to look forward to. If there are elves, there should also be dwarves!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
To these rapidly advancing humans, I had another gift ready.
Yggdrasil and Sylphid might complain about my favoritism… but what can I say? I was human once — well, thousands of years ago.
But I’ve cut back significantly! I was watching for ages before preparing a gift!
Anyway, the gift I prepared was none other than… the wheel.
A circular object with an axle in the center. A crucial tool used for carts, wagons, bicycles, and cars. You know, the whole shebang.
I handed the wheel to the leader of the humans… or should I say the king now. Anyway, the wheel went to him.
I wonder how many generations have passed since I gave the crown to a human. The crown had passed through countless hands, nearly a hundred times by now. Yet, stories about me kept circulating, or they somehow had memories of me passed down in their blood? There was absolutely no problem with accepting my gift.
After showing him the wheel and how it spins around the axle… I built a simple handcart out of wood and gifted it, and the human king was totally fascinated by it.
After that, they got to work making wheels from wood, creating carts. A whole new world opened up for transportation, though that’s a side note.
What’s really important now isn’t such trivialities.
“Mom.”
As I was going around observing humans, a tiny voice called out to me.
It was the quietest of my kids. The highest mountain. The forehead of the world. It was Sagarmatha speaking.
“What’s up?”
I tuned in to Sagarmatha’s voice, and with a hint of hesitation, Sagarmatha said.
“Can I wipe out the humans?”
“What are you talking about?!”
An unexpected declaration of human extermination! Was this kid always this reckless?!
No! Absolutely not! This child was usually calm and cautious; they never acted rashly!?
“Humans have started digging into me. Can I wipe them out?”
“No, could you please explain?! Why the sudden massacre?!”
At my questioning, Sagarmatha sighed softly and spoke calmly.
“Humans entered the caves within me, and now they’ve begun digging down into the ground from inside the caves. It’s annoying, so I’ll wipe them out.”
“No, please stop with the wiping out!! That’s way too harsh!”
This kid used to be so quiet; how did they become obsessed with extermination!
For now, I should check on the humans digging into Sagarmatha.
“But why ask me?”
“Because you have a strong favoritism towards humans. I thought if I was going to wipe them out, I should at least get your permission first.”
Hmm. So Sagarmatha thinks that way.
Do my other kids see me as having a huge favoritism towards humans?
Well, it can’t be helped. I was human once too.
“Alright, I need to check out the humans digging into you.”
What in the world could the humans be after as they boldly dug into Sagarmatha’s great height seeking caves?
What are they trying to dig for down there?
Do they even realize that if they dig the wrong way, they could cause the rocks to collapse and bury them alive?
Not that I know much… but I’ll take a closer look.
I need to understand why they have dug into Sagarmatha.
If they’re holding onto some wrong idea… well, I might just pull them out myself.