Chapter 5: There's a job to be done
"Hello little human. Say, what would it take to get my child's debt pardoned?" Asked the even taller lizard woman.
"I asked for her love and she gave it to me, there is no more debt." Aki imediatly answered with some confusion in his tone, causing the white scaled elder to groan.
"Husband, is this your fault?" She asked the two meters tall crocodile.
"He said the same thing to me, just over a story instead of art." He shrugged.
"Ok, look, I'll say this straight, I don't like you. Many of my children were killed or captured by humans, same for at least half the elders of the tribe. And we live on the end of fucking nowhere. I don't know why you are here, but I don't want to find out what will happen if notice goes out that we have a human here. Leave." She drily told him the facts, the other occupant of the room just turned from one speaker to the other.
"After the goblins are dealt with. I will ask if Xera wants to come with me, but I never intended to put her in more danger than she was aware off." He told her, sadness clear in his voice.
"You'd leave behind a woman expecting your child?" Asked the crocodile, no emotion distinguishable.
"We did not go that far. Though I know how her privates look like, it is because I helped her with the goblin parasites. While I have pleasured her, is was in no way which a human can reproduce, exactly because I was afraid of separating after falling so hard for someone. She likely told you that because she expected better treatment for me, otherwise, I would very much like a lesson on your species reproduction before telling you whether I'd like to take back my previous statement or not." Said Aki, at first confused, then increasingly worried.
"Unless humans have changed since I last checked, no, she would not be pregnant if you tongue banged her or the like." Sighed the albino woman by his side. "I'll explain that to you another day honey, for now just let me do the talking." She seemed about to beat her head against the walls.
"That is great to hear, now, about the war..." He sighed.
"What can you do?" Asked the stressed woman.
"About anything to some extent, but I'm better at magic and construction, generally traps. My earth magic is level five, I imagine Harry told you how it got there, and most of my general casting skill are level 4 or 5, except for mana domain, multicasting and quick casting, which are level 2, 3 and 3 respectively. I can also cast fire, water, wind and mind magic at level 3, plus life and light magic at level 2. Most of my close quarter skills are focused being a quick rogue or ranger, but I don't really have any experience with a bow." Aki rapidly fired.
A moment later one of his in laws was letting put a stroundous belly laugh and the other held her temples.
"Kid, I literally just told you I want you dead, how can you so easily tell me your whole stats page like that?" She frowned. She was definitely more expressive then her granddaughter.
"You'd get to know I have mind magic one way or another, it's better to be trustworthy and use the magic's effect than hiding it and seem suspicious." He shrugged.
"I hate you."
"Anything else would be weird." He pointed out, making the shaman fall from his stool while doubling over in laughter.
*****
"And then she said I'd have to marry you no matter what." He told his lover.
Xera, however, held out his shoulders and looked deep in his eyes.
"Aki, I'm not stupid, I know there's a decision that I need to make even if it took me some days to notice it. Right now, I'm tending on the possible future we might have together. Life here has all of my family, but it is also dull. I don't want to be treated like I'm a baby anymore, I was running away when I got caught for fucks sake!" She sighed, finally admitting it out loud. "And cursing out loud is actually very therapeutic."
"You're seventeen damn it!" Complained her grandmother.
"You do remember you were half a continent away from your home tribe when you were that age, right? And had an egg you carried with yourself." Pointed out her husband.
"Shut up! I'm a terrible example!"
"Because you're alive and only had two children who did the same as you instead of just staying and fucking like rabbits?"
"Pretty close actually, Xera's mother still comes to visit every year, but we have not the foggiest who her father is." The shaman pointed out.
"That explains her name and why she doesn't like being called with diminutives. Kind of always though you were older though." Aki pointed out.
"We mature faster, so I technically spent more time as an adult and less as a child nowadays, but what's wrong with Xera? Is there a reason why you call me Harry?" She pointed out.
"Where I come from it's the kind of name a woman would take on as a pseudonym if they ever became a sex worker. In some other cultures it is recognized as a name with divine or demonic descent, so people would not use it directly. And Harry is the name of a famous wizard where I come from." He explained.
"That, explains a lot more." She pointed out.
"And I know of no cultures with such naming sense, though I have met two prostitutes and one succubus with that name." Admitted the chief, actually only thinking about her words after she'd said them.
"Well fuck mom." She blurted out. "We're having a talk when she gets here."
"Hey, it's also a name for a beautiful war goddess, so maybe don't chew her out too much?" Aki tried, already too deep in the conversation to imitate his in-law's technique of finding the the floor and walls were very interesting.
"That's very nice, but we're still talking it out later. Now, we should really go to the armory and get you some leathers." She sighed, a bit less triggered since no one else actually cared about the revelation.
"Yeah, I'm just going to need my pants back. What happened to them anyway?"
"They tore apart when you were draged over." Said the old lizard.
"Really? And no one bought any for me even after we just stood here discussing for more than an hour? Even Xera is dressed again damn it!" He pointed out, eliciting a laugh out of all present in the room.
*****
"So you mean armor technique just needs you to know how to better avoid damage? Great to know." Aki said while dodging another spear cut with a burst of wind to his feet. Truth be told, he had a lot of blood jarring out from multiple wounds, but that was only until he learned how to reinforce his body to automatically close the wounds if they were not the kind that would allow his guts to flow out.
Those moments teached him that no, his healing was not even close to passable no matter what others told him.
It was apparently also very easy to make and remake wooden copies of leather armor, which all lizarman preferred thanks to their naturally strong and resilient body, since they still recognized the need for protection of vitals besides their natural ones. They actually ussed it everywhere but combat practice since they were not too good at making their own and their supply was usually repaired goods from adventurers. A surprising amount not even being their kills.
"That's enough everyone, twenty laps around the village and you're off home!" Announced the chief, who was heading a general training for all hunters and guards.
Aki imediatly changed into his leather armor, not much minding the diced shirt and pants he now wore. His in law had been specially rough on him since she now didn't want him to just die off.
Finding his lover was actually a simple task, but when Aki saw her surrounded by other people and noticed that she had what she passed for a smile, he decided to just get his share of love at their new hut. Which he was going to reinforce. A lot.
When he ran, he was one of the fastest, his mana and stamina keeping up only because he pulled in the surrounding's energy, and even then he needed to slow down plenty of times so his regeneration could pace itself.
That left Aki with about half his mana when he got back home, meaning he didn't actually have much leeway to reinforce the place.
He'd certainly maxed out the apprentice soldier job though, it simply wasn't made for the kind of grueling and torture like training he went through, so he was ready to change into the last job before he broke through his wall.
"Aki? Why is the hut so much blockier? I'm sorry I didn't run with you, but I was talking with some, you're naked."
"Yeah, just took a bath and needed to see if your grandmother left any scars. You see anything?" He asked, walking closer and holding her hand to his chest.
"Are you trying to seduce me?" She asked with some confusion.
"Nope, just putting you in position." He smiled, quickly getting her in a princess carry and going for their furs, his hands already playing with her armor.
That night, no one got to visit the village's baby sister. No one got five meters to the door actually.
The next morning.
"You two, I'm coming inside in five minutes and it better not smell like a demon cult's orgy when I step in!" Said Mara, who could actually hear her granddaughter's curses as she got up.
The sun had been up for some time too, but all she got were half-assed excuses from the boy, who ended up saying that it was his duty, and some very embarrassed apologies out of her girl.
"Well, at least I don't need to worry about the continuation of my bloodline. Just don't miss the trainings, ok? We've got all of four days or so before we start launching an attack, so we're preparing as much as we can." She pointed out, actually not missing the strange look the both of them gave for a second.
"You will find me much better than yesterday ma'am." He pointed out.
And indeed, the moment he stepped up as her punch bag/sparring partner, she noticed he probably had had yet more breakthroughs in some skills. Which made no sense, something like that should only happen if he'd changed jobs.
Had the couple left while under their vigilance so they could have another tipe of fight?
She was not about to ask about it.
*****
By the time they were about to leave, Aki was quite close to maxing out his warrior job, but hadn't actually leveled up his skills much. He did, however, obtain a new title.
Honorary member of the Kinao tribe.
It allowed him to peruse the effects of the chief's commanding skills, which gave buffs to troops under her. Plus being more easy to like within their community and having a small chance of feeling an attraction to the place if it were ever in peril.
It may have been because of the various people he'd been introduced to, or because now he was officially married to Xera, nuptials and all.
The cerimony wasn't anything worth mentioning, except maybe for the votes, which were way cheesier than what the lizard men are ussed to. From their point of view, romance is something for after the marriage after all, the reason for the matrimony generally being that the female was pregnant or some kind of deal between families.
Aki was certainly more passionate about his love after that though, the responsibility of being chosen weighting on him like he'd been tasked with saving a planet. He was happy about it, a lot actually, considering how little it'd bothered him to be diced to pieces recently, but he took his wife's happiness quite seriously now, always with her in mind.
This made him unable to really connect to those that had approached him with friendly intentions, as he instead focused entirely in his training ritm, preparing both to protect and to run away. Except for the hours of cuddling, bickering with and loving his wife.
He'd even picked up a bit of cooking from her, which in his opinion was something great that allowed them to build more rapport.
Xara on the other hand, felt rather overwhelmed at the idea that she was officially married and expected to soon begin her own family, as basically everyone told her whenever they had a chance.
There was apparently a competition to see which clutch sibling she would have to name her children after. Whoever got the more points got priority in the order.
At least Aki was confident enough about their survival and victory, seeming more worried about nailing a similar confidence in her head. And other things.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone