Chapter 22: The Dawn of Humanity (4)

I used every means at my disposal to somehow teach the primitive humans how to make fire.

Honestly, teaching such things to beasts who can't communicate and can barely use tools is not an easy task, so there were many trials and errors and smashed wooden boards... But after all that effort, I somehow managed to teach them, so isn't that good enough?

Let's skip over the sacrifice of the humans who probably got blisters on their hands from rubbing until their hands were raw.

It's good that I had them light a fire and then use it to start a bonfire with firewood, but... These humans are a bit... How should I put it... Too curious.

At first, they were terrified of the hot heat and bright light and didn't want to go near the fire at all, but after realizing that fire doesn't affect them if they keep their distance, they kept staring at the fire, and now they're fascinated by it and trying to put various things in it.

Somehow they've already gone hunting, as they're skewering skinned meat on tree branches and roasting it over the fire, slightly charring fruits and eating them too. They're even sticking their hands in and screaming from getting burned. Why are you putting animal skins in?! Don't put grass or wood in! The fire will grow!!!

There were some minor inci-, ahem, minor events where the fire almost grew out of control due to things some humans put in, but well, this much is trivial.

Anyway, now that I've taught them how to make and use fire, my job here seems to be done.

Then shall I go teach how to use fire in other places as well?

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"Grrrk?! That appearance... Are you the Creation God Dragon?!"

"Oh, you remember me well."

It seems the Lizardmen admirably remembered me.

Although dozens of generations must have passed, it seems it was passed down very accurately.

"Of course! Grrrk! The deeds of the Creation God Dragon and the numerous histories about the Creation God Dragon will be recorded on stone tablets and passed down for generations!"

No, I don't think it needs to be passed down for generations... You even engraved it on stone tablets?!

"Especially when the world is filled with sin! We must definitely pass down the image of punishing the sins rampant in this world as the Destruction God Dragon! As descendants of those who witnessed such events! We will not forget the warning!!"

No, what's this Destruction God Dragon!!! It sounds like a name that came from a severe case of chuunibyou?! Is this about when I ended the Age of Dragons?! That was because I was quite angry in the first place!!! It's something I still regret a bit even now!!! I won't do such a thing again?!

While hiding these inner thoughts, I outwardly showed no reaction and opened my mouth.

"I'm glad to see you're doing well."

"This is all thanks to the Creation God Dragon taking care of us. The rituals we offer to the Creation God Dragon have now become a festival, but our faith in the Creation God Dragon still hasn't disappeared."

Hmm. They're good fellows unlike their appearance. Really. Just looking at them, they look like ferocious muscular lizard humans.

If only the dragons had followed even a fraction of these guys' claws, they wouldn't have done such things. Tsk.

"But what brings you here suddenly?"

"Hmm. It's nothing much. I came to give you a small gift."

At the word 'gift', the Lizardmen tilt their heads.

"We've already received so many things from the Creation God Dragon, yet you're giving us another gift?"

"I thought it was about time I taught you this as well."

I gathered magical power and lit a flame in my palm.

"This is...?"

"It's fire. Hot heat, light that drives away darkness, and a hungry thing that devours everything."

The Lizardman looked at the fire with curious eyes.

Ah, but these guys. Didn't they develop sorcery that borrows the power of elementals?

There should have been fire elementals among the elementals... But I didn't see them using fire at all.

"This energy... It's similar to the energy of elementals that don't listen to our words."

"Hm? They don't listen?"

"Yes. There are elementals that are very capricious and don't properly listen to our words. The energy they contain seems similar to this fire."

Uh, hmm... Could it be that they don't get along well with fire elementals?

Looking around, there are water elementals and wind elementals. There are occasionally earth elementals too, but fire elementals hardly exist.

Is their compatibility with Lizardmen not good? Or does the humid environment where Lizardmen live give a bad impression to fire elementals?

Well, I'm not sure, but there seems to be some problem.

"Anyway, if you learn about this fire, you'll be able to use it in various useful ways, so take it."

I distributed the items needed to make fire to the Lizardmen.

Hmm, it's really convenient when we can communicate. I really should teach language to humans too.

"Isn't this wood?"

"Yes, it's wood. If you could borrow the power of fire elementals, it would be simple, but since you can't, don't you need to use something like this?"

Hmm. In a way, it's fortunate that Lizardmen and fire elementals don't get along well. If I came prepared to give this as a gift and heard "We already know that!", how awkward would that be?

I demonstrated how to make fire using wood while explaining to the Lizardmen.

Rubbing wooden sticks vigorously to create friction heat and make small sparks, then rubbing well-dried grass or leaves against the sparks to grow the fire.

Of course, in that process, making wind blow to supply enough oxygen is a given.

It's really convenient that Lizardmen's skin is covered with scales so they don't get blisters.

"Ooh... It burns from the wood."

"That's right. Now we put this on well-dried firewood... Oh."

Come to think of it, the environment where Lizardmen live is very humid, can they make bone-dry firewood?

And can Lizardmen be exposed to such heat that can evaporate moisture?

Hmm... There were certainly lizards that could live in desert-like environments, but how about Lizardmen? I'm not sure.

"You can make fire by putting this flame on well-dried wood chunks."

But the flame doesn't grow as big as expected. It's not even half the size of when I lit a fire in the human group before. Hmm...

Could it be related to the fact that fire elementals hardly appear in this area? It's a bit curious.

"It's very fascinating, but what can we do with this?"

"What... You can light up darkness, and get heat. Aren't you weak to cold?"

"That's certainly true, but..."

Because Lizardmen can't regulate their body temperature themselves, they had a hard time surviving unless in a warm environment.

If they can use fire... They could greatly expand their range of activity.

Maybe... They might even come into contact with humans?

Humans who can't use stone tools yet, and Lizardmen who are greatly affected by the environment but use stone tools made of obsidian.

I'm quite curious about what would happen if the two met. Hmm.

"If you place a Lizardman whose body temperature has dropped in a difficult situation near this fire, their body temperature will quickly rise. That alone makes this fire valuable."

"But just approaching it makes our scales feel very dry..."

"It's not much different from the sunbathing you often do, just a bit faster and stronger. If you're careful about that point, you can use this fire to greatly expand your range of activity. Just pay more attention to replenishing moisture."

At my words, the Lizardman bowed his head in gratitude.

"To give us such a precious thing. I don't know how to express our gratitude."

"It's nothing. Even if I hadn't taught you, you would have discovered it someday. I just shortened that time a bit."

I smiled gently and pointed at the well-burning bonfire as I spoke.

"This fire will not only give you warm heat, but also provide light in darkness..."

I lightly gestured to pull a dried fish nearby.

A fish with its belly cut open and innards removed. It must have been a fish being dried for long-term storage.

"You can cook fish like this or animal meat using the hot heat."

The slightly fishy-smelling fish circled above the bonfire for a while, and became a delicious grilled fish cooked to a golden brown.

It would have been more delicious if there was salt or other spices... But we can't help not having those!

"There are many other ways to use it, but I'll leave figuring those out as your homework."

It's certainly not because I'm too lazy to tell you.

Certainly not.

"Ah, you can make fire with other things too, I only showed you this one."

I briefly demonstrated how to make fire using a bow made of grass rope and how to make fire by rubbing a tree branch in a groove.

Honestly, making fire by rubbing hands is the hardest method. I should teach various methods.

As for flint... Won't the Lizardmen figure it out on their own?

They're already using flaked stone tools, so they must be familiar with striking stone against stone.

Now then, let's watch for a while... how much fire changes human civilization.