This morning was not a normal morning. Everyone was tense!
Hissa had a key and she rang a bell and showed the time.
Then we were all given a package in skin and inside there was a lead pencil and a slate and a sponge.
"Well, every day after breakfast, we're going to go to the other building! And everyone on time! That goes for you too, Ivan. It's up to you to organize yourself in your cave, but I would like you to come here. One day you'll have an accident and no one will come to help you."
Another lizard woman came in and introduced herself but Hissa spoke up: "I introduce you to Sister Misha, she comes from another tribe and finished her work there, the children being too old or taken away by the big one of silver."
FEAR
Arthur: "If I am not wise, the big silver comes to get me?"????" Did he cry?
Hissa: "It doesn't work that way!
The big silver is a GENTLE being! and it does not hurt children! He was the one who established this temple! He reads the minds of children and people and when parents want children he takes them to a new family with whom they will be happy.
When a child is disobedient, he takes him to his family or he will learn his place."
Emilie: "Why haven't we heard from you?"
Hissa:" People hate lizard men, we are barely tolerated as humans but most are persecuted or transformed worse than into slaves, into work beasts. It's unfair, but without the protection of the big silver, humans or orcs would rush in here and it would be a massacre.
We keep our village a secret and so we can live happily ever after.
You too will have to keep it a secret!
That goes for you too, Ivan!"
The tension dropped a notch, but we were stressed.
DING DING DING DING!
We entered a room with a stove in the middle, and a painting at the back, on the wall, made of slates.
And he had tables and stools covered with skins on sponges.
A SCHOOL! Nice!
Then, Misha spoke: I am your teacher from today and as you can see, there are more stools than orphans!
Some have files and others do not.
I would ask humans to take the chairs with backs and leave the stools to others.
Emilie: "Why Mrs. Misha?"
Misha: "Emilie, before you cut off the floor, you have to lift your finger to ask permission to speak or it would be impossible to work. But to answer your question, let's say that lizard men have a tail....and the file is in the way or could hurt..."
HAHAHAHA, laughs.
Then the door opened and a rush of lizard children rushed into the classroom.
full of hiss and click that humans didn't understand, but I did!
I pretended not to understand...
It was not nice what they said and my face frowned when they criticized my friends for having hair, that he was sweating and that they looked like monkeys...
Arthur: "What's wrong, Ivan?"
I: "At the next meeting, I have another secret to tell you...".
Our group became more united a notch.
In the playground, the orphans and others were in a separate group.
DING DING DING DING
The time to go back to school was announced
Misha, helped by Hissa stammered and said:
"Excuse me, but all the classes here are given in common. So it is forbidden to speak the lizard! You must live with the world and if you do not speak the common well, you will be in danger of permanent death and you will find yourself in a cage or as an animal. The common differentiates you from the beasts. Our morphology being too marked by our reptilian skin, some would even be tempted to hunt us for our skin."
Misha demanded that the children be separated and mixed.
A human and a lizard in pairs.
"You'll have to help each other! "
"Now: TEST. Don't be afraid, it's to form groups of those who need the basics and others who need more advanced knowledge."
The alphabet here was different but it didn't cause any problems, Hissa gave me a scroll with the correspondence.
I had excellent results in math, common and technology. And my magic bases had gaps in the sense of creating and managing mana in theory, but I had a torrent of mana. the difference was such that comparing a pool with an ocean. It was a million times. But I had to keep it a secret.
Then sword and stick fighting, self defense and then hunting and fishing and finally economics, to manage a household, find a job and count and learn to put aside.
Then there were recruits and compulsory military service for girls and boys alike, especially since physically there was almost no difference between male and female lizards, and it was only a few details in the eyes, horns for those who had them and thorns. Males tended to have horns and spikes that grew like a beard and their talons on their feet were more towards the animal than females, more towards humans.
With claws, males tended to be almost naked and without shoes, while females dressed more out of modesty than out of need.
I excelled in all these subjects except history and geography because I knew nothing, but then NOTHING of the world where I was.
I was put in the advanced class given by Misha and the others stayed with Hissa.
In the evening, Hissa called out to me before I went back into the forest:"
Ivan, I'm a pain in the ass, but I'm really scared for you! I would cry all the tears in my body if anything happened to you. I know I can never replace your mom, but I love you like the son I never had. You are kind and you have done so much for us! We eat great thanks to the game you brought back and the fridge you fixed. But please stay here!"
"Mommy Hissa! "
Oh, my God! Oh, my God!
And she squeezed me against her chest. And covered me with kisses!
"I still have secrets I'd like to keep because I love you all and you in particular. Let's say, I have, like a curse at night and you know I have strong magic, you've seen it and I can't hide anything from you and at night I have to recover from the day... And it's incompatible with the dormitory. And it's better this way!"
Hissa squatted down and placed her hands on my shoulders:
"Ivan, two things:
1, everyone here loves you and we trust you no matter what the circumstances. You will always be our Ivan! You have your reasons and I believe you! No one has ever forced a child here!
2, The Scouts discovered a mass grave with large predators, finally, devoured remains. There's a terrifying creature and probably a super predator lurking around where you're going to sleep. It is probably bigger than the big silver one! Even with your powerful magic and great strength you will end up being killed or mutilated!
Come and see! They brought back a mold of his claws.
One of them is more than a meter long!"
I saw a mould of one of my claws that I left in the mud when I caught a boar and left a pile of bones and carcasses after my meal.
"Okay, I'll tidy up and clean up..."
Shit, my tongue was faster than my mind
Hissa:"??????? Huh?"
Me: "I'll clean up my cave then!"
Hissa:" But it has nothing to do with it!! having a clean or dirty cave, if he comes to eat you..."
Me: "Trust me, it's never going to happen!
Hissa, crying: "That's what all the reckless orphans said before they disappeared"
"Oh, I forgot, you're summoned by the village chief, nothing serious but it's due to your results"
In the evening, I fled to the forest and put a large pile of wood on the carcasses and set fire to clean up the disaster and avoid flies.
I started to tidy up my den and clean up the area.
I built a bed, more as a guest room and with a palisade to make a fake camp.
I started to sleep when I saw 2 scouts coming in my direction.
I cast the barrier spell but put a stone wall in front of it to hide the entrance.
It was effective and they turned back.
However, they were surprised by the woodshed and the cleaned area, which was clean again!
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator