Smoke meant fire. Fire meant civilisation. Possibly human, even. And that meant… booze and women and delicious human food and all other kinds of luxuries humans came up with!

Without thinking twice, I flew in the direction where the smoke came from. It was deceptively close, but as I flew, I took the time to raise even higher above the forest and see more of my surroundings.

The trees swayed on the wind under me like an ocean of green flames. It spanned as far as I could see, interrupted only by glimmers of water there in there in form of lakes and rivers. Far away in the Western direction I saw a blueish silhouette of a tall mountain range. It was, though, in almost opposite direction from the one I moved in, so I didn’t look too long.

The sun had gone down, and I still didn’t reach the source of the smoke. My wings were tired from the long flight and the smoke wasn’t visible in the dark. Therefore, I took a night of rest in a nest I made from my web on a tree. In the morning I caught a few bugs—not worth much EXP, but nutritious at least, drank some dew and kept moving.

By noon I finally saw it. The village. The sight made me sing with happiness and anticipation as I descended closer.

The village consisted out of three dozen huts with roofs covered with twigs and straw. Groups of humanoids were strolling around on one business or another, but to my great disappointment, they weren’t humans. I saw their green skin, their long snouts, and the tails that sprouted from their backs. They were something unfamiliar, but definitely monstrous.

I took care as I approached. Thankfully, my appearance was mostly that of a normal Garelia bird, and I didn’t have insect wings to creep anyone out—yet. It gave me a reason to think that the creatures won’t pay me much attention.

I flew down to sit on a roof of a wooden hut. I wasn’t the only bird strolling around the village—many others kept in the vicinity, eager to peck at the scraps the creatures might lose by accident. From up close, I studied the village and its inhabitants further.

The monsters, from this close, resembled lizards a lot. What I thought to be skin at first turned out to be scales, and their snouts were lizard-like too. They were much shorter than humans, about a meter tall at most, and chatted amongst each other in chirping that resembled that of birds. Most importantly, though, they walked on two legs and had thumbs.

The village and its inhabitants were very primitive. It was clear from the first sight on the clothes the creatures wore, if they could even be called such. At most, they would have fur or leather loincloths or chest pieces, but most didn’t have even that. Many had weapons, but those were spears and knives made from wood and stone. The most high-tech piece of equipment I saw around were some clothes, armour and weapon parts that looked stolen from someone twice the creatures’ size and badly refitted.

No booze. No women either, at least no women that I could identify as such. A wave of disappointment fell on me for a moment. Then I wondered how I will be able to catch and eat one of these monsters. They weren’t bigger than the boar I ate, so I didn’t expect much EXP, but their form would be great for long-term use and relatively cheap. Of course, it’s all only until I find something more human-like.

The monsters didn’t look especially strong. It wasn’t only in their stature—thin and fragile from a glance—but in their behaviour, too. They moved in groups almost at all times, no matter what the task they performed. I studied them for three days, and even what I assumed were their scouts, always moved in thirds. I watched them during a hunt—they were good in group tactics, but didn’t use any special abilities.

Even in their village were posted guards to keep watch over everything.

For me, it was most inconvenient. It would be quite tricky to catch a monster unawares so I could immobilise them in my web. My original plan was to get into one of the huts and tie a creature down while it slept, but it was obvious that a single scream of alarm would attract others. It would be much better to catch one outside of the village, but also much harder.

I considered hunting something else and returning to the lizardfolk when I could take two of them in a fight, but then I noticed something else that might give me a way to get what I wanted.

One of the lizardfolk appeared to be sick. Its movements were sluggish and became progressively more so with each day I watched. I didn’t pay it much attention at first, but by the end of my observation, I realised it was an opportunity to use.

Despite its terrible state of health, the lizardfolk kept doing all his normal duties, hunting and preparing food. Others did nothing to help him, either, despite the sluggishness with which it moved its feet.

From the lizardfolk’s behaviour, it was only a matter of time before it will get lost during a hunt. Then it would be an easy picking for me. Or, it will go scouting together with another lizardfolk and I will be able to kill both using the sick lizardfolk’s helplessness. It was all just perfect. Opportunities kept falling into my hands.

I stalked the sick lizardfolk day and night for another day until he finally got separated from his hunter group. It was my time to strike.