Chapter 289 : Lizardmen and Strange Beliefs
The lizardmen surged forward, seemingly wanting to rush into the bath and pierce all the girls through.
But this woke Lonis up with a start—she no longer dared to play dead. Instead, she raised her tail from the bath and said loudly: "Who got skinned and cooked! I'm still alive, I'm fine!"
"It's the divine messenger?!"
"Ah, it's the divine form fox!"
Seeing Lonis suddenly raise her head, these lizardmen prostrated themselves on the ground like devout believers seeing their lord.
They were filled with tears, dropped their weapons, and their pious appearance would shock anyone who saw it.
......
"Divine messenger... are they talking about Lonis?"
"Seems like it..."
Although the girls looked at each other in confusion, not having to fight was at least a good thing.
And Elucia? She seemed to have discovered something and suddenly hugged Lonis's arm.
"That's right, this is our fox divine messenger! We are the fox divine messenger's servants, accompanying the divine messenger for bathing."
"Wh-what..."
"Why don't you withdraw quickly? Do you want to peek at the divine messenger's bath?"
"!!"
Elucia's words were very effective. After being scolded like this, these lizardmen all stepped back in shock.
"Village Chief, we..."
"Let's, let's withdraw first! After all, this is the first time in 10 years that the divine messenger has appeared here. It's normal for there to be some... unexpected situations..."
......
Just like that, the lizardmen respectfully withdrew.
And Lonis, although somewhat dissatisfied with Elucia—this black-hearted girl clearly treated her as a toy, but now claimed to be taking care of her bathing—couldn't worry about such things given the bizarre current situation.
"Elucia, what's going on?"
"Hmm... if I'm not mistaken, this group of lizardmen might be the remaining C-class or D-class personnel from the Post-Apocalyptic Independent Kingdom."
"Wh-what?!"
Elucia's speculation made everyone shudder.
"Didn't Princess Sethilu find many documents? It's foreseeable that the past Post-Apocalyptic Independent Kingdom developed many technologies to defeat the surface human kingdoms. If technology appeared that fused human cells with animal cells, that wouldn't be surprising."
"!"
"So when the Post-Apocalyptic Independent Kingdom was destroyed, these ordinary people survived... Princess Sethilu, your Bright Ember Kingdom didn't invade the deep underground at that time, right?"
"Yes... we probably didn't go deep, because the underground miasma would affect ordinary people. So even after all these years, we haven't sent people deep underground and still know very little about the Underground World."
Sethilu would regularly cast blessing magic for everyone, with a duration of 12 hours. If this time was exceeded, even Lonis would experience adverse reactions in the Underground World.
......
"Yes, then that's correct. After nearly a thousand years of development, this group of humans has gradually fused with their own mutated cells, becoming lizardmen. They have their own culture and their own beliefs."
"Is it... something related to foxes?"
Lonis wagged her tail and asked curiously.
"Perhaps, but if we want to figure it out, we still need to enter this group of lizardmen's camp to investigate."
"Eh?"
"After all, this place is closely related to the underground Post-Apocalyptic Kingdom. Having such an opportunity to figure out what Caster is up to would be a great help."
That was Elucia's plan, but when it came time to implement it, the girls discovered a problem.
Because...
Lonis had only washed stockings and shoes—she hadn't washed the clothes and skirts at all... They were still soaking in the hot spring, wet and dirty.
This meant that whether Elucia or the other girls had no clothes to wear and could only walk wearing just underwear and shoes.
"Lonis, what exactly were you doing!"
"Wah, Master, didn't you call me over? I didn't have time..."
"Didn't have time? In half an hour, you only washed stockings and shoes?"
"Wuu..."
"Hmph, did you also do something strange with our stockings? You little..."
"No, absolutely not!!!"
Lonis was so scared her tail stood up straight. In fact, although she really wanted to do something with the stockings, she ultimately didn't act on it.
She was just being lazy due to lack of motivation and being at a loss about the girls' clothes.
"Hmph, I'll settle accounts with you later. Now, take this!"
"This...?"
"Protection Warm Jade, one for each person. Don't lose it. Hmph, damn little fox!"
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
......
......
The girls prepared by the hot spring, while not far outside, the lizardmen stood nervously.
"V-Village Chief. Haven't we... already angered the divine messenger?"
"Yes, we've definitely angered her. So we must offer the most delicious tribute for the divine messenger to enjoy... Unfortunately, my body is no longer what it used to be. Who is willing to volunteer?"
"Ugh!"
The young, strong lizardmen looked at each other, but none dared step forward.
It wasn't that they were unwilling to take risks, but they were all afraid their bodies couldn't withstand it and wouldn't satisfy the divine messenger. And if they made the divine messenger angry then, the consequences would be even more serious.
"Sigh..."
The old lizardman sighed. Seeing the younger generation's timid appearance, he knew that even if he sent them up, they probably wouldn't last more than ten seconds before surrendering out of fear.
After all, the divine messenger wasn't ordinary.
That pure white figure, the stamina that grew stronger with battle—no existence could compare.
"V-Village Chief, we... we don't need to worry. The divine messenger's visit this time might not be for tribute..."
"Not for tribute? Right... this time the divine messenger is wearing clothes."
Although only wearing a little clothing, she was still dressed.
And since she was dressed, the divine messenger might not have come to demand tribute.
Then what was it for?
Was it to give divine oracles to the villagers?
But regardless, grand hospitality was necessary. The divine messenger must be made happy for the village's current predicament to be resolved.
So...
"You few, hurry back to the village and bring the palanquin from the great hall."
"!"
"Call more people, bring wives and sisters too. The divine messenger also likes girls!"
Under the village chief's command, the lizardmen began bustling about.