#018. Demi-Humans Are Too Kind (1)

#018. Demi-Humans Are Too Kind (1)

The Demi-human Cartel is commonly infamous as a troll group that ruins games.

-Guard duty, huh? I don’t stand guard for those weaker than me, ya know!

-Vanguard? The spot where you’re first to be hit with a sword? I don’t stand vanguard for those weaker than me, woof!

“Meal duty? Dishwashing? I refuse to partake in equitable labor with those weaker than myself!”

For instance, back when I played as an adventurer guild employee, mixing beastkin into a pure human party dropped the party stability from a starting 20 down to a 10.

As beastkin are fundamentally beasts, they are utterly governed by the law of the jungle and the logic of strength, resulting in a lack of cooperation.

What happens if trouble flares up on a mission?

*Swoosh,* goes the beastkin, slitting the throats of the party members and fleeing to another city.

Usually, a rescue party would be sent out only weeks later, barely managing to recover corpses.

In the end, it’s treated as a total disappearance, leaving behind a nagging feeling of ‘Schrödinger’s perpetrator,’ as one can’t be sure if the human party members were killed by monsters or by the beastkin.

‘Though sometimes, there are survivors, which leaves an even worse aftertaste.’

Hearing from one or two survivors that their precious, carefully raised adventurers were slaughtered by a beastkin.

Tearfully issuing a wanted poster only leads to the escaped beastkin forming a solid team with other beastkin or being specially recruited as a cadre in a criminal organization.

Catching the escaped beastkin is hard enough, but the retaliation from other beastkin or the criminal organization that follows makes even the most capable bounty hunters balk at the thought of catching this treacherous beastkin.

And *those* vile beastkin have just granted our Teresa Party permission to use the external campsite.

As a player with the memories of one, even before I was a mind-control mage, this is a moment where I think, ‘What on earth?’

‘Is Mom that amazing? Or is it Nina?’

Could this vile, traitorous race truly be showing us compassion?

There’s no way they’d be considerate of me, some useless human child.

Even as I struggled to conceal my heart, overflowing with suspicion, the whispers persisted.

“Human! Why?”

“Circumstances, ya know!”

The beastkin we passed on the road shot surprised looks at the humans, the cat-beastkin busily spread some word, and other beastkin gave us meaningful glances.

The stares directed at *me*, in particular, were numerous, so it was only natural that I would reach this conclusion, based on my game knowledge.

‘If things go sour, they plan to kidnap the weakest, but most valuable, male hostage!’

If I’m underestimated, I could be kidnapped at any moment.

I took care to ensure every action was flawless, and as I meticulously avoided exposing weaknesses, the beastkin grew increasingly agitated, seemingly infuriated by my cautiousness.

Some even seemed to be concealing weapons, suspiciously adjusting their collars and hiding their bodies.

“Gorgoh. Would you take my hand?”

“Suddenly?”

Gorgoh was also frightened by the suspicious atmosphere, and I urged him to pay even more attention.

A predator will attack its prey even more fiercely if it sees fear.

“Don’t be too afraid.”

“…!”

“I’m here, you know.”

Even if someone is kidnapped, it’ll be me before it’s Gorgoh.

Seemingly eased by my reassurance, Gorgoh chuckled wryly.

“You, really. I’ve been thinking this for a while, but I’m the nanny, so why are you always trying to take care of me?”

Having nothing to say, I awkwardly smiled, and the beastkin scurried off somewhere.

Did Mom give them a scary look to frighten them, after seeing how scared we were?

As the crowd thinned, I felt somewhat relieved and let out a small sigh of relief.

* * *

The beastkin had seen a new world.

“A boy? What is *that*. He’s just too darling.”

“I never knew. All Suin, male or female, are tomboys. That a composed boy could actually exist…”

“Ugh. What is with those measured steps? Is he trying to seduce us or something?”

In the Suin world, where survival meant tearing through the wild, regardless of gender, the males were brimming with a masculine energy and a wildness.

A masculine boy who didn’t readily bare his teeth, careful of his posture, refined in his bearing?

Such a thing was a rumored fantasy.

Only the pampered young masters, raised like orchids in greenhouses with the finest education among pure-blooded humans, were like that, or so they said.

But what’s this?

A boy straight out of those stories had appeared in the Suin’s outer camp.

In a camp full of macho female Suin, among those who were on the frontlines, appeared an exquisite young male.

“Human! Why?”

“There’s a reason, nya!”

The cat Suin who had brought the humans gestured towards the young male.

“That male child has a human female and a centaur female as his mothers, nya!”

“What?!”

“Shhh! Don’t startle the child just because he has two mothers, nya. I don’t know where you found him, but it will hurt him if you openly pity the poor thing, nya!”

The female Suin were caught between revulsion, pity, and confusion.

Two mothers?

Had a female paired with a female?

The thought alone was repulsive.

But what was the child’s sin for being raised by two mothers?

Especially when one was a pure-blooded human, and the other was Suin.

Pure blood and mixed breed.

The two children and the human male who followed them like a shadow.

A family with quite the complicated lineage.

Fortunately, the Suin were generally tolerant of multicultural families.

The Suin, with their strong connection to the wild, often died young, making tribal cultures of jointly raising the children of their pack common.

The crumbling of the psychological barrier toward multicultural families also played a role, as Suin of different species banded together against the powerful forces of the pure-blooded human race.

“He even calls the centaur female ‘mother’ himself, nya.”

“He’s such a filial son that he begs us not to take his precious mothers away from him, nya!”

Being male and a child was already a likeable start, but with his refined bearing the likeability soared, and now with the filial piety bonus.

He even acknowledged a different species, a centaur, as his mother, his mindset wasn’t any different than Suin who are used to communal child rearing.

It meant that even if one of the Suin females snatched him up and got pregnant, he would smoothly fit into the tribe and group as a prize groom.

“I’m so turned on that I can barely hold back my heat, meow!”

“My chest is standing at attention, embarrassing, squawk!”

The Suin knew of the human culture where females were labeled as perverts if they were caught in heat in front of a male.

And especially in front of such a desirable groom, being branded as a pervert meant disqualification from the bride candidacy.

Even while breathing heavily with excitement, the Suin females fidgeted, unsure of what to do.

The robust females quickly tried to hide their hard nipples by adjusting their collars or turning away, desperately trying to conceal their breasts.

“Gorgon. Won’t you hold my hand?”

“Suddenly?”

Even that, that most prized of grooms holding the hand of a larger male than himself, set the hearts of the beastkin ablaze.

“Don’t be too frightened.”

“…!”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Such precocious words and deeds, comforting even an adult larger than him as if he were a child, were proof of an innate paternal instinct.

The sight of him, always capable of soothing a child, the very image of a fine father, made the female beastkin imagine even their grandchildren’s names, soaring on wings of blissful fantasy.

“Honestly, kid. I’ve been thinking, aren’t I supposed to be the one taking care of you?”

The beastkin females, at the sight of the shy, subtle smile that graced the larger male’s face at those words, could no longer contain their bodies, throbbing at the peak of their heat, and rushed to the nearest restrooms.

“This won’t do, staying here.”

Teresa, sensing the reason behind the beastkin females’ behavior, spoke up. The cat beastkin, his face scarred, who had been tasked with showing them around the facility, voiced his unjust grievance on behalf of them all, his voice tinged with a strange distress.

“…They aren’t usually like this. It’s honestly your kid’s fault, nya.”

*Your young male beastkin seduced us first.*

*It’s your fault!*

Such gazes of indignation were wasted on the mother.

The cat beastkin, unable to meet Teresa’s cold stare, filled with the condemnation of a pervert, couldn’t lift his head.

The thought that this woman might become his mother-in-law made him even more self-conscious.

“Still, they seem fairly reserved. I imagined a beastkin settlement would be ten times as wild as the Adventurers’ Guild. And there aren’t many people around, either.”

“That’s because you… Nah, nothing.”

“?”

Gorgo tilted his head at Nina’s words, but Nina was too embarrassed to voice the frailties of the females in front of a male.

“This is a map with the geographical information for this area, nya.”

“This is herb, nya.”

“This is a horn to ward off venomous snakes, nya.”

“These are glasses to ward off teddy bears, nya.”

“This is a rope that will allow you to escape even if you fall into a swamp, nya.”

Ian, watching the cat beastkin strip the settlement’s supplies bare like a giving tree, asked,

“Is it alright for you to give us all this?”

“Beastkin don’t usually haggle amongst themselves, nya. If you have a beastkin mother, you’re one of our settlement, nya.”

Unlike the beastkin, who accepted everything as a matter of course, without so much as a thank you, the young human male beastkin politely expressed his gratitude.

“I will repay this kindness, no matter what.”

Decorum, passed.

Politeness, passed.

Groom material, passed.

Having arbitrarily completed her assessment of Ian, her body began to exhibit physiological phenomena.

The cat beastkin, desperately trying to hide his tail, which kept springing upright, beneath his thighs, gestured awkwardly towards the general vicinity of the exit.

“The, the sunlight has been too much, making me tired, nya. I’m going to sit and rest here, so find your own way out, nya.”

The beastkin had no way of knowing that Ian’s display of masculinity was merely a cautious attempt to allow the wicked beastkin absolutely no opening. All he could focus on was concealing his tail, which was verging on being completely out of control.

Avoiding Nina’s glare, which seemed to say, *I know exactly what your tail is doing right now*, he kept his head bowed low until she had passed.