"Hahh~ Another boring day comes to its end. Nothing too interesting happened today either, not even some lizardmen trying to pick up our oranges or something." Sighed a Human guard wearing silver-colored armor and holding into a spear.
"Why do you always mention those lizards?" Sighed his companion at the side.
"Well… I always wish they could have become our citizens too, they look strong. I mean, have you seen those guys? They're tall, got scales for armor, and can punch someone to death probably…" Sighed the first guard.
"That's it?" Wondered the other soldier.
"Well, the girls are kind of cute, don't you find lizards adorable sometimes? Lizardmen girls are kind of cute… I want a lizardman wife…" Sighed the man.
"You're definitely a weirdo." Sighed the second soldier.
Hector was a young human on the age of 21, he was assigned as the Gate Guard with his companion, Brace, as the two were rather strong and had good physiques, they often worked out through the morning to maintain their good physique and were skilled at the spear after practicing since they were children, alongside being quite good at magic.
Since he was a child that Hector had a dull life, born as the son of a small family of farmers in the Orange Town, nothing too special ever happened through his life… Or well, that's how he put his life into perspective. Aside from having to deal with the sect disciple assholes, life was very carefree.
The occasional adventurers came and went, the dungeon exploration was a commonplace thing, but the only dungeon near this village was a dungeon where only Horned Rabbits appeared, a low-ranked dungeon that even newbie adventurers could clear to gain some resources, so it was often called the "newbie village" or "starter village" by many adventurers.
Living in such a safe village gave a comfortable life with nothing to worry about as much, there was even a big capital nearby where he cold go if he needed something special. He had lived comfortably even as a mildly poor man.
The pay for being a soldier wasn't so big, but it was decent, and he enjoyed being a gatekeeper, it was easy job without many risk aside from slaying an occasional monster, and if it was too big, there was nothing stopping him from calling backup and resolve the problem quickly and easily.
But Hector had a certain problem, he had always had a hard time finding girls on his life. In a town with such a variety of races, he had seen cute girls from all sorts of races. But it could be said that the girls were never interested in an "NPC-like character" such as him, sadly. He had tried dating girls he met in the taverns or inns, but nothing came out of it, they were mostly always searching for stronger men, adventurers that could take them into trips or something, in such a village where people came and go, it was the usual.
All the childhood friends that were girls were already married with his friends; he was a loner… But he had good memories about a certain girl he once met. When he was just 10 years of age and wandered too close to the jungle borders out while trying to catch bugs. It was one of these days like any other, but when he wandered inside catching bugs…
"Oh, a rhinoceros beetle!"
The young Hector back then grabbed the beetle quickly, looking at it move its legs around, it was hopeless before his hand… The boy smiled, quickly putting the bug on his net.
*Rustle*
However, as he caught the bug, he had suddenly heard the bushes behind him rustling around, as if something was lurking, something big enough to make the plants move.
He quickly got a big frightened back then, thinking it was a wild wolf or something, so he had slowly begun to walk back while looking at the bush, as something emerged from it.
It was a small green-scaled hand, it looked delicate and slim, and had long white claws, the hand was adorably painted with white paintings, resembling flowers, and the hand even had a bracelet made of flowers as well…
"Huh? W-What's that? Who's there?"
"Grakuh…"
"Huh?"
Suddenly, the sound of a little voice emerged from the bushes, as a small… humanoid lizard appeared. It was around half his size, and it was standing in two legs, with a clear humanoid-shaped body, but small, chubby, and quite round, even the head was cute, and had a crown of flowers atop its head.
"Ah! A-A lizardman!" Cried the Young Hector back then, falling over is butt in surprise.
"Grakuh grakh! Grakh?"
However, despite his fear, the little lizardman had the voice of a cute girl, and she slowly walked towards him.
"P-Please don't hurt me!" He cried.
"Hurt… No." Said the little lizardman girl, petting his head.
"Eh?" Asked Hector in surprise, the girl could speak his language.
"W-Who are you?" He asked. "Are you really a lizardman?"
"Liza… Graku grakakah"
"Eh? I cannot really understand you…"
"Bagu… bug…"
"Eh? Bug? You want a bug?"
The girl nodded adorable, pointing at the net that Hector had, he quickly grabbed the beetle and showed it to her.
"You're interested in this bug? Hehe, it's pretty cool, isn't it?"
GROWL…
"Eh?!"
The boy quickly realized the girl's stomach roared rather hungrily.
"Bug… bagu…"
The girl insisted on asking for the bug from Hector, but he didn't realized what she really wanted.
"Y-You want to hold it?" He wondered, as he blushed a bit when the girl got closer to him, as she nodded to his question.
"Okay…"
The girl grabbed the bug, and ate it leisurely.
CRUNCH.
"Ah…! Y-You ate it?! Uegh…"
The boy was about to puke out of the gross crunch that the girl made when she ate the bug, but she seemed to enjoy its crunchy texture…
"Hmm! Yum yum!" She said happily. "Grakahaku haku!"
She got happy, and petted Hector again, taking out a flower bracelet and gifting it to him…
