This was Granuel. The child of Baston and Fiya, and a cute baby toddler. He was an ishkawtan like his father, for that was how species worked in this world, provided it was even possible to procreate. The species is inherited from one parent, and the same Mutations carry over. The Mutations of the other parent would have little to no effect, but they could still pass down certain traits, like how Granuel’s hair was a very dark blue, owing to his fountan heritage.

“Activate fire magic!” I shouted, and proceeded to tickle the boy. He laughed and we played, chasing each other around.

I was still kind of miffed that Mom and Dad went out to hunt together for probably a whole week or more, just before I got to finally manifest magic and summon fire. But I wouldn’t let that get in the way of having fun in the present.

I ran around and chased Granuel until he got tired, and then I carried him around like an airplane, to the boy’s great amusement. I still itched to hold a sword and manipulate magic, to continue my training regimen. An annoyance built inside me because I wasn’t doing just that. But there was more to life than constant training, so I pushed it all down and burnt my excess energy some other way.

I ran many laps around our hill, holding Granuel above my head as he shrieked happily. We crawled on the grass, we rolled around the hill, I climbed the trees while Granuel cheered. It took quite a long time due to me being a human with monstrous endurance, but I grew exhausted in the end.

I collapsed on the grass and laid down. I smiled as Granuel did the same, falling asleep in short order.

The sky was bright and shining, and the warmth of it was paradise on my face. My whole body was drenched in sweat, and the exhaustion came out as desperate pants. The clamor of the crowds below faded, and I breathed in the rampant nature all around us.

I’d grown to love this feeling, the sensation of being truly spent and completely drained. It was a new experience, for I never liked going to the gym in my past life, even if I did begrudgingly do it.

[Human Skin has reached Level 4!]

~~~

“Hey, Haell. Get up. Come on, you’re dirty.” Fiya nudged me with her foot, and I groaned up at her. I quickly perked up once I saw the assortment of fruit on the tray that she brought. All of it was chilled to perfection, and there was even a pitcher of ice if I preferred it to be even colder. Refrigerators were by no means common here, but our families certainly could afford the luxury, and it was great.

We went back to their house/store afterward, and I did a quick change of clothes. I played board games with Fiya while Granuel slept, and I got to watch Baston at work shaping a sculpture out of plants. It was meticulous work, shaping the figure of a woman with an axe and a pointy shield in place of hands.

Evel, an angel that often hung out in this continent. She should get a job.

It was a relaxing time with only a few customers coming by, usually for healing. The town guards who came by were rude, but the guards of the tree wall were not. Most of them were belfegors, and they were a lot more jovial, apparently having a long-standing deal with Baston for heals at a discount. Baston also managed to sell some poisons, as well as certain substances that had to be sold under the table.

For lunch, I wanted to eat at some dinner, and Fiya agreed to come with me. We brought Granuel along, and I carried him as we walked the busy streets.

“People of Latarus!” I heard someone shout after having walked a block or so. It was a woman wearing the brown and yellow colors of the army. “You are safe here. Provided for. But do you know who you owe your prosperity to? The army! The soldiers fighting on the shores of Grandera as we speak, holding back the crustecars of the deep that seek to destroy and devour our lands. They are the cousins of the cursetaceans that have hunted our empire for generations, they have come from the deep just like the creations of the accursed dragon. And They. Are. Coming. For. You.”

The people of the outer district–my neighbors–listened, huddled in with those of the same species, and exchanging whispered words among each other. I saw a crustecar child among them, looking down dejectedly at all these pronouncements. It didn’t help that people kept a wide berth from her, widening every time the soldier upon the pulpit of crates talked about the savage crustecars coming to savage our lands.

“So I ask you, dear citizens!” The soldier continued her tirade. “Will you continue to be protected? Or do you wish to be the ones to protect your fellow countrymen, to provide for your family!?” Her voice turned softer, but no less fanatic. “I know it is a hard ask, I know it is difficult and scary. But know that if you were to die, then you would be honored, and so will those you live behind be taken care of. The prosperity the crustecars threaten to take away, we will give back tenfold!”

A great cheer rose in the crowd, especially for the final part. The people here were given an enemy to hate, they were given a way to feel superior and just, and more material rewards were dangled in front of them, which many here sorely needed.

There was a hunger here that I was only beginning to understand. I’d seen poverty before, I’d come close plenty of times in my past life, but there was something different about the way the Angelore Empire ran itself. The possibilities were gravely limited, unless if you were a human or better. There were nets to catch those who fell through the cracks, but these nets had saw-bladed thorns. From terrible working conditions, to enlistment as basically meatshields and probing scouts, to even literal fucking exile. There were no homeless people in the town of Latarus.

I had to remember that our house by the hill was the exception, this wasn’t a well-off area by any means.

Fiya touched my shoulder, a smirk on her face. “Hey, Haell? Feel like enlisting?”

I shook my head and we both laughed at the fucking joke.

What a waste of fucking time.

~~~

We had a nice dinner at a kobold’s place. He breathed his fire softly, cooking the meat just right.

It was nice to see. Kobolds were known for the raw power of their breath attacks and not finesse, but Mutations were more versatile and malleable than that. They were called Mutations after all, they could mutate.

Maybe I can use that concept to become a demon! Make my eyes goat-like, turn my skin red, get some bloody cool hooves. I didn’t even have that last in my last life. Aaaahhhhh it’d be sooo coooll!!

I requested that we go through the market districts afterward, and not just because I wanted to look at the many monster parts on display and dream of a better future. The better ones were on the other side of the river anyway, but I liked the vibe much better here.

I perused the shops, grabbed some snacks, and ate them on the way. Fried chicken was a staple in any world, even if it wasn’t exactly chicken! Heh. I can think of a few many people who would totally fit with a chicken Mutation!

I was looking at the skull of a cowboar that an adventurer was proudly boasting about killing, having drawn quite a big crowd. The rest of her party was inside the diner behind her, having drink after drink. She was the only one who oddly didn’t seem drunk despite the outlandish things she was saying.

“And then I heard a revelation from the angels themselves! The weakpoint in the head. I had to be brave and face the beast, to walk ahead of my friends and protect them from harm!”

Yeah, no shit the head is a weakness. What the fuck are we talking about?

I shook my head and was promptly distracted by a different stall. It was of two crustecars bedecked in accessories of shells and stone. None of their jewelry looked in any way expensive, but they were certainly expressive. Suitably interested, I left the boasting woman and went to visit the stall across the road. Fiya followed behind me, carrying Granuel in her arms.

“Man, why don’t people like our bracelets? They’re so coo–”

One of them was speaking, but the other quickly elbowed her. “Shhh! We have customers!” He turned to us, and I could almost feel the smile that I could not discern in his, well, literal crab face. “Hello there! I’m Billy and this is my sister Berry. We’re here trying to keep the tradition of crustecar crafts alive–”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Crustecrafts.”

“--We do not call it that.”

“Aww, but I like the name,” I interjected.

“O-oh? Well, then, I suppose some people do call it that…”

“Yay!” I clapped and picked up a necklace. It was a bunch of shiny shells and smooth rocks of varying sizes strung together. The hair rope was golden and tough.

“An excellent eye! That is an accessory that means ‘Life’.”

“Oh? Nice. I like life. Life good.”

“Yes, yes! I like her.” Berry said.

“Yay! I like you too!” I high-fived two of her three humanoid hands. I also bumped my fist with her big claw.

“It is a way of language of the crustecar people,” the brother said. “The sizes of the rocks correspond to letters of Varyalan. This cluster here is the letter ‘L’. The three small ones in succession is a break, to indicate the letter is complete. And then the next letter is ‘I’...”

“It’s like morse code!” I blurted out.

The two crustecars stared at me for a second.

“Yes! That’s what it is!” Berry congratulated me. “Well, we call it Morsian. But you’re incredibly close! Very smart!”

“Yes. You know of it?” Billy asked.

“Oh, yeah. I’ve heard about it.” I did not lie. How else would I know about something if I didn’t hear about it?

“Oh?” He grew excited at that. “People are talking about our language? Really!?”

I laughed awkwardly. “I’ve got a lot of weird friends and acquaintances.” Which is certainly true, the people around me are weird, but I didn’t hear about Morse Code from them.

“I see…”

“Yeah… I wouldn’t say it’s common knowledge. But it’s definitely very interesting!”

“Oh! Thank you!” Again, I thought he was smiling. That was the energy he gave off. Fuck, how can I even tell? “So umm, would you like to purchase that?”

“Hmm. Well, maybe. Plus a few other ones. How much?”

“One gold each!” Berry declared proudly. Billy slapped her across the carapace.

“Oi! We’re not here to rip off people!”

“Eeehhh. But we do need the money…”

“She is a child, Berry!” Oh right. I’m literally five.

“But…”

I handed them enough silver to form a gold coin. Turns out that I had just enough.

Berry immediately perked up, but Billy pushed the money back to me, although I definitely felt the hesitation there. “Please. We can’t accept this.”

“Yes we can!”

Billy leveled her another glare, and Berry wilted.

“Hmmm…” I pushed it back into his three hands. “How about for three… no, four of them!”

Berry perked right back up. “Deal!”

“Berry… you know it’s still way too much…”

I shook my head. “No. Your people’s culture, the struggles that I know you face, it’s worth something. It’s worth at least this much.”

They both began to wail. That made me take a step back in surprise and worry, but Fiya whispered to me that it was just the way crustecar’s cried, for joy or for ill. Tears did not fall from their eyes.

I smiled, having understood, and waited for them to calm down. They helped me pick out the trinkets afterwards, and I even got to learn a bit of Morsian. A brief thought entered my mind if some poor soul got reincarnated into a crustecar’s body–Or shit! They’re not a poor soul. There was nothing wrong with being a crustecar. They’re cool.

I didn’t take the ‘life’ necklace for myself, I gave that instead to Granuel, who promptly began chewing on it. That’s right, little guy! That’s the spirit!

I also picked something out for both my parents. ‘Love’ for the both of them.

It was no surprise that the crustecars had made multiples of the word. People were obsessed with it, no matter the world.

I was considering what I should get for myself when an adventurer barged into my conversation.

“A bunch of stupid trinkets?” said the same woman who was bragging about the cowboar she slew. “Who’s going to buy that?”

“I would!” I quickly rushed to defend my new friends. Fiya was shielding Granuel with her body… and she’d already equipped her mace prosthetic.

Nice. I have backup.

The adventurer looked at me. “Ah, a child. Is that what you’re doing now? Corrupting the youth?”

The crustecars remained silent. Sad and scared.

The braggart rummaged through her pack and brought out a thick book. I… recognized it.

Oh no. This is why people hate adventurers. This is why my grandpa rants about them so often.

Okay, people as a whole don’t actually hate adventurers. I do. And so do most of my friends and loved ones.

“Everyone has a purpose, a divinely ordained role. And yours isn’t to be sitting in the market here, selling silly little trinkets.” She explained… without actually opening the book. This was what had become of the adventurers. Glorified preachers. Those who went to hostile lands to teach the ignorant. Except they actually mostly stayed within the empire’s borders. Not that they never fought monsters anymore, but they only went after the weaker ones now apparently. Or at least, those were no longer the most highly acclaimed or lucrative of jobs. It’s fooling some stupid noble into hiring you so that you may peddle your embellished tales of glory in peace.

The adventurer here finished her explanation, about how the crustecar shells were hard to protect the other citizens at the frontline of battles. “Even now, your people invade our homes and destroy our livelihoods. You have a duty to make up for that, so do something productive with your life instead of selling literal scraps.”

“I… Maybe we should just go…” Berry said dejectedly. Billy could not bring himself to disagree, but I did.

“Wait! I still haven’t picked out mine. You gotta help me find it. Something along the lines of revenge, or vengeance, or just victory in battle. Come on.”

They glanced at each other, before deciding to help me out. The adventurer clicked her tongue and asked if they even had a permit to be here.

The two crustecars froze.

“Aha! I knew it! No one respectable would actually sign up on this bullshit! Guards! Hey guards!”

“I…” Billy shook. “We should really go, sorry kid.” He handed me two bracelets, but it was too late. The guards were quick to respond for once.

“What is going on here?” A tall man asked, about as tall as my mom. I strongly doubt he’s as high level though. No way.

The adventurer explained the situation, and the guard whirled around on the two crustecars.

“I see. What do you have to say for yourselves?”

“I… we tried!” Berry cried. “You didn’t allow us to register.”

The guard nodded. “That is the law. Your species isn’t fit to lead a business. But now you have committed a crime knowingly.”

“But we tried! No one would hire us! I tried!”

“Oh? That’s strange, because I’m pretty sure that the army would have accepted you if you actually did try. You have only yourselves to blame.”

“But I don’t want to be a soldier! I don’t… it’s too scary and dangerous!”

The guard shook his head. “It is your duty, it is your role, and it is what you were made for. And it is in your attempts to shirk your duty and purpose, knowingly, that we are having problems today.”

“No… you can’t just decide that…”

“I did not. It was the angels themselves who decreed it to be so.”

Billy tapped his sister’s carapace. Their eyes met and he shook his head, stifling whatever else she wanted to say. Tears continued to flow out of Berry’s eyes.

I pulled on Fiya’s skirt, but she gave me a soft shake of her head, hiding her weapon. She refused to fight, and I understood, even if it annoyed me. It could only annoy me for I was not yet strong enough to destroy whatever or whomever it was that displeased me so.

In the end, Billy and Berry were sentenced to five months of community service in the form of joining adventurer parties in culling the local monster population, so that they may ‘finally put their tough shells to good use.’

Failure to comply would summarily result in execution. There was no in-between here, for Angelore had few prisons.

‘Victory.’

‘Freedom.

I finally read the Morsian in my own bracelets once they had left. I got the latter one for free, and it was something that Billy and Berry chose for me of their own volition.

I loved it.