1059. That’s the right thing to do.
The cave leading to the City of the Beastmen served as the equivalent of a city wall in a human city.
The interior was so complex, requiring navigation solely by scent, that it was common for mediocre monsters to wander aimlessly and starve to death if they entered. In this way, the Beastmen defended their territory and established orchards.
I grow fruit, too.
They also raise children.
Beastmen society is self-sufficient, without relying on others. Through communal child-rearing, the group sticks together, yet remains highly wary of the outside world and the approach of other species.
We may not be the first humans, fairies, or dragons to enter this far.
“It must be a very rare case,”
Encred thought. It was easy to guess this, as he had seen the eyes of most of the beastmen he met on his way here turn round and wide.
Conversely, it was a bit difficult to understand the female elder who was suddenly offering her neck right before his eyes.
He wasn’t even that surprised to see Dunbakel arrive.
Even if a threatening enemy has appeared in the city, shouldn’t I at least ask for help? I could have just told him, but why would I go out of my way to ask the Suin I abandoned, who is absolutely furious?
That part seems clever, too.
The fact that they prioritize speaking to Dunbakel over themselves is one thing. After all, if they were to leave the beastman I abandoned behind and just scream for me to save them, it certainly wouldn’t look good.
However, they don’t seem like people who speak with such calculations in mind.
Two of the elders frowned at Taffy’s sudden remark. One furrowed his brow, while the other displayed three long horizontal wrinkles on his forehead. “
They are all older beastmen,” Encreed thought as he looked at the bandaged beastman, who was estimated to be roughly of the rank of a hero in knight or beastman society.
That one beastman right now is far more threatening than the one who is outwardly displaying his emotions by frowning. Quietly gathering his strength, he was a fellow ready to act if things went wrong.
“Don’t do it.”
Encred spoke to the bandaged prisoner.
“……Is there any reason for me to listen to you?”
His un-bandaged eye is a dull yellow. If it were just a little brighter, wouldn’t that be a golden demon eye too?
Well, they said Dunbakel was banished because of his beast form.
They said it was some kind of curse, like a legend passed down in beastman society.
Encred thought of both grandiose and trivial reasons, but he just spoke the reality.
“He’s acting all coy right now, but if you mess with him, you’re going to get screwed. You’re going to get absolutely hammered.”
The ‘that guy’ Encred mentioned was Dunbakel.
“Are you going to get involved too?”
The warrior-class beastman half-listened to Encred’s words and asked. No, perhaps it should be said that his resolve was already so firm that there was no room for a warning to intervene. His courage was admirable, even while carrying an injury. Both his question and his attitude.
“I’m not cutting in.”
“You’re saying that as a knight, right?”
What was he calculating when he said that? Since he discussed the article, the moment I nodded, it became something akin to a pledge, so it became a promise that had to be kept.
“Right. I won’t be the first to do anything.”
Encred did not hesitate. Dunbakel simply stared silently at Taffy, who had extended his neck.
“Why is the situation turning out this way?”
Sinar spoke as if singing. Temares looked at a few of the elders, peering into the bolted walls of their hearts.
They all displayed signs of anxiety and nervousness. Dissatisfaction and dizziness were also visible, but the majority was anxiety.
The fact that such emotions were visible to so many likely meant that a threat had been placed upon the entire Beastman City.
In their gaze toward Dunbakel, anticipation outweighed anxiety. Should one call it a peculiar emotional arc?
Ultimately, lean on the past you have abandoned.
“Don’t mess with me, Toffee.”
The beastman Taffy, who had offered his neck, spoke. The bandaged beastman looked at Dunbakel. He wasn’t glaring, but he appeared ready to fight at any moment.
It’s actually useful.
Encreed saw it that way. It wasn’t as bad as Dunbakel’s, but it wasn’t clumsy either.
If I just do a little more.
He should have had a decent fight against Dunbakel, but right now, Dunbakel would win nine out of ten times. Encreed watched the situation unfolding while lost in distracting thoughts.
“If I need the heads of all eight, I will do it.”
“Taffy.”
The male elder who had told her to bring peaches from behind called out to her.
“If we can protect everyone who remains with the eight of us, then we will be left.”
Is that a selfish remark? It didn’t sound that way.
“Kill us and protect the city. Dunbakel.”
Taffy spoke, and the woman known as the old fortune teller, who stood two steps away from the eight elders, took a long tube from her bosom, struck a flint to light it, and inhaled and exhaled the smoke.
Puffing gray smoke passed between Dunbakel and the Council of Elders.
“Tofi, if you think I’m wrong, just try attacking any of them and you’ll see.”
I do not know how the Beast Elder Council operates, but what Taffy said was not something she had persuaded everyone to say.
She was speaking unilaterally, yet she believed that everyone would follow her lead.
No sooner had she finished speaking than Topi, the warrior Beastman who had been standing still, drew the sword she had been resting diagonally on her back.
It was longer than a shortsword but slightly shorter than a longsword. Its curved blade made it a weapon suitable for slashing and thrusting.
It would be a little more useful for slashing than thrusting.
It was less curved than a saber and thinner than that.
He gripped it with both hands and lunged straight at the blue-eyed human man. In other words, he was aiming for Encred.
Look at this bastard.
As soon as I said I wouldn’t do anything first, he suddenly attacked me.
Is this an expression of his determination not to try to use the oath to his advantage?
Encred watched silently for a moment, then tripped him and struck the arm holding the sword from below with his right forearm, spreading his fingers to strike the Adam’s apple between his thumb and index finger. *
Thud.* The guy stopped dead with the sound of the impact and drooled.
“Crack.”
Speed, timing, momentum, intimidation.
It was a feat made possible by the stark difference in every aspect. He charged
at me with his sword drawn, yet was rendered helpless by a single gesture. The suffocated man looked up, his back bent. I saw blue eyes that revealed no emotion whatsoever.
‘I’m going to die.’
He sensed the killing intent and rolled backward. It was a swift movement. Encrid saw this but did not do anything in particular.
“……Ah.”
“What is this.”
The two elders who had been frowning were surprised. The rest were the same.
Torsoe, this is correct.
Taffy spoke again. The male elder who had handed over the peach smiled. Then, after nodding and catching his breath, he opened his mouth with a calm demeanor. His tone was light, as if a minstrel were warming up his voice after a good rest of about three days.
“I think I need to explain the situation, Dunbakel. You’ve come for revenge, haven’t you? You certainly didn’t come to burn down the entire Beastman city, so bear it with the necks of our eight. Well, if any of us don’t want to die, I’d appreciate it if you stopped around five. You’re going to ask why, aren’t you? If we go over one cave here, there is a very wide and large river. A massive monster, the kind you’d only see in the ocean, has sprung out of it. Why did it come out? Well, we don’t know. But one thing is certain. If we don’t kill that thing, the water source for our orchard will dry up. If the orchard dries up, we won’t be able to live here either, and since we won’t have the energy to dig a cave this big and find a place to hide, we might end up becoming wanderers like giants. Several of us stepped forward to fight in our own way. That Topi over there is the bravest of us, but his face was shredded, and another hero is dead. Should we have gathered all the young Beastman warriors and fought until only one remained? Maybe we should have done that from the start. Anyway, looking at it now, there is no chance of winning. The conclusion is that we will dry up. It means we are dying. The old woman said we needed outside help, but she was still deliberating. As you know, we have never reached out to the outside world before. Then you came. Is this good fortune or bad fortune? I will consider it good fortune. That a beastman, stronger than any hero, has returned at a moment like this.
The man named Torsoe spoke while catching his breath appropriately, so his words were neither fast nor slow, leaving no room for interruption. It was eloquent speech.
Bullshit.
Dunbakel answered.
“If you can’t trust me, there’s nothing I can do, but I just hope you promise me.”
Taffy spoke again.
Encred simply thought that
Beastmen have a sense of shame.
Even when told to rely on others, they desperately tried to solve the problem among themselves.
Whether wise or foolish, the point was that they were trying to overcome the current situation somehow.
Beastmen are inherently highly wary of the outside world and stick together tightly; to such an extent that if a problem arises in a Beastman city, even those who had left return to the Cave where they were born, unable to forget the memories of being cared for in their childhood. He
had heard such stories in passing. Did he view Dunbakel as one of those Beastmen?
“Why would I? I don’t want to.”
Dunbakel only opened his mouth to speak. His expression remained the same. Esther looked up at the sky, admiring the clear sunlight. The sky was very high, and fluffy white clouds passed overhead. It was not a good day to kill someone.
Wouldn’t it work?
Torsoe asks, and Taffy watches. In the meantime, three more of the remaining elders joined in. They showed their determination by standing behind Taffy. The
relatively young beastman called the Hero watched and spoke.
“They will need a meat shield. I will do it. I will fight to the death. I have no ambition to go to Kriemhart’s holy war. I just want the opportunity to fight for the city.”
He hated what the sole beastman hero had said even more. Dunbakel hated seeing those who had been so harsh to him now trying to sacrifice themselves like this.
I won’t stop you.
Enkrid said. They abandoned him, drove him out, and did not allow him to return.
Puff.
The beast-man known as the old fortune teller silently exhales smoke. One of the watching elders kneels down.
If this will relieve your anger.
Another elder kneels.
There are many children. Please protect them.
Ah.
Dunbakel recalled his childhood. Starting from a certain day, everyone ostracized and pushed him away. They wouldn’t easily hang out with him.
A few children and an old fortune teller were his only conversation partners.
“The monster from the sea has a nose as keen as ours. Watch out. It preys on beastmen. It has become even more ferocious over the past few days. In particular, the scent emanating from it is fatal to us.”
That was Torsoe’s word. Dunbakel quietly caught his breath, then drew his sword. Chiriring—the scimitar made of pure iron emitted a chilling light. He harbored
no murderous intent or hostility, but if that blade fell, someone’s head would roll on the ground.
Even a troll cannot survive with their head severed, so a beastman would naturally die.
I really hate it.
Dunbakel muttered.
He meant it. He hated what they were doing, and he hated himself for being unable to turn a blind eye to this place. He also hated the beastmen living behind him, completely unaware of anything.
Ah, I hate it all.
Dunbakel swung her sword, but no one’s head fell. Her blade sliced through the air, between the kneeling prisoners known as the Council of Elders.
Come out.
Dunbakel walked through them.
You, guide the way.
As he passed by, he struck the side of the only warrior, Suin.
“Uh, uh, sure.”
He followed behind Dunbakel. Brown hair peeking out from between the bandages fluttered in the wind.
“You are the guide.”
“Puff,” the old woman said, puffing away smoke. Encred looked her straight in the eye and answered.
“Guidance? I’ve never done that. It was the choice of the prisoner named Dunbakel. I’m not the type to follow just because someone tells me to.”
“It becomes a milestone in life not by coercion, but by showing it. That is what a guide is.”
A guttural, phlegm-clearing laugh came from the old fortune teller.
“indeed.”
Sinar speaks, and Esther nods silently.
“He is certainly a joy to look at. So, are you planning to just leave that broad-minded Suin alone?”
Sinar continued speaking.
“Ah, we should go together. Dunbakel.”
Encred answered and walked toward the beastman who had gone ahead—a comrade and someone like a younger sister. Dunbakel walked forward, repeating the words “I hate it” countless times. No
matter what was chattering behind him, nothing registered in his ears.
Experiences or memories from childhood can become shackles.
When Dunbakel drew his sword, he recalled the face of the Elder who had looked after him when he was very young.
Taffy had picked clover to make a headband for him, and Torsø had brought all the delicious fruits to feed him.
The beastmans’ communal parenting was what made them all feel like parents. This was the reason the beastman who left the city eventually returned.
Even for Dunbakel, who had been driven out, the memories of that time remained vivid. So, was his current choice simply driven by affection? That was not it.
Dunbakel knew that severing someone’s neck with a sword would not bring him any sense of relief. Furthermore, he had to decide the direction he would take from this point forward.
The way I live.
Let’s move toward tomorrow, not yesterday.
So, instead of swinging our swords at their necks, let’s cut off the monsters’ heads. Let’s not create a child more unfortunate than ourselves with that.
This isn’t my home anymore.
It is a whisper that cannot be heard even by the person next to her.
Dunbakel had cast aside her life because she ultimately had nowhere to stay, but not anymore.
She has the Order of the Mad Knights and the Border Guard.
“Hey, Smell. Go run wild and have some fun.”
The Western savage who beats him up at the drop of a hat acts like a much older brother.
If you don’t like it, just cut it all down.
Even the crazy swordsman, who acts like he doesn’t care but always chimes in whenever something happens, acts like a brother.
“Suin doesn’t usually trade with regular merchant guilds. How about we go easy on them and open up some trading?”
There is also a guy named Krais who is like a younger brother looking out for practical interests.
Sister, do as your heart leads you.
A religious person who prays for himself has appeared.
“Call me if they behave too badly.”
I also made a good friend named Teresa. She keeps treating me like a younger sibling, though.
“Call me too.”
“What? Do you think I’ll just play around?”
Pell and that bastard Roford, speaking on her behalf as she leaves, really seem like friends. Or perhaps half-siblings.
Sinar and Esther flash faint smiles. Those two seemed less like good rivals and more like an older sister and a younger sister.
Above all.
You did the right thing.
It was a man who placed his hand on my head with a soft thud.
The man with black hair and blue eyes, who had been everyone’s beacon, continued speaking.
So let’s go kill some monsters.
If she had gained strength while wandering the continent, she would have wielded the blade of revenge, but not anymore. Before building her skills, she sought a place for her heart to settle first.
“I knew this would happen, didn’t I?”
As they walked, Dunbakel asked.
“uh.”
Encred smiled and nodded. That smile was so refreshing and cool.
Dunbakel brought up a pointless remark.
“If you’re going to sleep with another beastman, sleep with me first………”
“So you want to die.”
The eldest sister fairy interrupts her from behind. There is also the second sister witch, staring with eyes as cold as a frozen lake.
“I was just kidding. Just… can’t I even speak?”
At some point, Dunbakel returned to her original self.
“Monsters really do pop up everywhere.”
With those words, Encreed entered the cave. It was the path leading to the river.
