#019. The Beastkin Are Too Kind (2)

#019. The Beastkin Are Too Kind (2)

Nina flicked her tongue out, a *shaa*-ing sound in the brush, then crushed the head of the venomous snake that slithered toward them with a hoof.

Anna, oblivious to the danger that had crept close, remained lashed to Nina’s back, mouth agape, dead to the world in sleep.

“Ian. Keep your wits about you. A bite means someone sucking on the wound all day.”

“Mn.”

“And aren’t there just a lot of monsters here.”

As Gorgo had remarked, the monster density was unusually high.

The beastkin lived on monster meat, but poisonous varieties weren’t exactly the most appetizing fare.

“Which means the Poison Bloom quality should be excellent. Perfect for a high-paying commission.”

Mother, with her peculiar force, slaughtered every venomous insect in the swamp, from giant venom ants to giant venom spiders.

Honestly, the monsters weren’t the real danger.

The truly perilous moment arrived when, too late to return to town, they revisited the beastkin encampment to rent lodging.

“Finally, you’ve arrived. Teresa of Motherhood.”

“Do you have business with me?”

“Business? Of course, we do. Come along quietly, and we’ll keep all your limbs intact.”

Beneath a mane of dark grey hair, a wolf beastkin with sharp ears and savage canines rapped against a cage with a *tang, tang, tang*.

Entering a slave cage meant, obviously, they intended to capture them.

“Oppa. Why aren’t they *mung-nyang*?”

“Predatory beastkin are just like that.”

“Well aren’t you knowledgeable, little one. You’re quite pretty, so we’ll sell you to a particularly nice place. If you’re good at being affectionate, they might even keep you around and dote on you.”

Mother hurled a dagger at the wolf beastkin’s presumptuous words.

The wolf beastkin, who had been leering at me and flicking his tongue, reacted instinctively and batted the dagger away with a claw.

*Thwack!*

The claw, unable to withstand the dagger’s force, shattered, and the wolf beastkin let out a pained shriek.

A second thrown dagger followed in quick succession, lodging itself deep in the wolf beastkin’s throat.

The wolf beastkin had frozen, unable to keep up with the speed of the assassination, and now they simultaneously growled and bared their sharp fangs.

“Looking for a beating.”

“You want to die that badly?”

Seven wolf beastkin went on the offensive all at once.

One was dealt with by surprise, but taking on seven predatory beastkin, surely, would be difficult.

Though, honestly, Mother would probably capture them somehow.

More precisely, it would be difficult for Mother to protect us.

I could feel on my skin that Mother and Nina were both aware of me and Anna.

Gorgo even had the air of someone who had resigned themselves to death.

Mother, who was rebellious.

Human, who was insecure.

Beastkin, who lacked drive.

Gone was the resolute state that these past selves possessed.

The moment the clash seemed inevitable, the cat beastkin guard, who always seemed to have poor posture, appeared.

“What the hell are you lot doing?”

“You speakin’ to us right now?”

“Ears gone bad? Why are you predator types loitering?”

The wolf beastman stared at the cat beastman guard with an expression of disbelief.

Of course, the cat-like nature wasn’t one to easily bow its head just because of threats.

“Are you taking the side of humans now? This is a conflict between beastmen and humans. You better not pick the wrong side to get involved with.”

“Don’t speak nonsense-nya. We respect multicultural families-nya. Don’t torment those poor humans-nya.”

It was a surprising thing.

For docile beastmen to reveal hostility in front of predator beastmen.

Even though cat beastmen belonged to the predator type, they used animal-like suffixes at the end of every sentence like docile beastmen, making them beings that straddled the line between predator and docile.

Meaning, they were a beastman species with a gentler side compared to the predator type.

Cat beastmen and wolf beastmen.

Usually, in a relationship where they saw each other as troublesome opponents, a cat beastman wouldn’t blatantly reveal hostility towards a wolf beastman like this.

My in-game common sense had been completely overturned today.

‘Was my own wicked heart twisting and misinterpreting the cat beastman’s pure kindness?’

Looking back, the cat beastman had been consistently kind.

He even guided me around the camp, showing me the facilities, and introduced me to the other beastmen.

He imprinted my face and scent as a guest of the group to eliminate any possibility of attack or conflict.

He even listened to my destination and prepared necessary supplies for me.

His posture was suspiciously awkward, and he seemed weak, constantly taking a seat somewhere, but perhaps his shortcomings were what made him kinder to the weak.

The strong have no reason to empathize with weakness, but the weak can understand and empathize with the position of the weak, can’t they?

“Didn’t you guys always look down on us docile beastmen as inferior beings who haven’t even graduated from animal speech?”

“That’s right, woof! Dog beastmen aren’t inferior beings who wag their tails at every human, woof!”

“Ooki-eek! Monkey beastmen aren’t thieves, eek! It’s just that the crops in other people’s fields look tastier than the crops in our own fields, eek!”

The cat beastman guard glared at the docile beastmen who were undermining the credibility of their statements with unconvincing arguments, silently calling them hopeless cases.

The good atmosphere had soured completely.

The wolf beastmen smirked, as expected of the inferior, lower-class beastmen.

“Enough with the nonsense. All beastman tribes have a duty to help each other. You wouldn’t defy the will of the Beastman Alliance, would you? Don’t forget that our wolf beastmen are a race that possesses a member of the Beastman Revival Council, which holds voting rights within the Alliance.”

Beastmen possessed their own unique alliance.

Countless beastman species and tribes, groups.

The ＜Beastman Alliance＞ was established to protect their interests and survive the competition with pure-blooded humans.

And the Beastman Revival Council, composed of 12 council members who held the decision-making power of that Beastman Alliance.

Although it started as an alliance of the twelve zodiac animals – rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig – the times had changed by the game’s starting point.

With the split between the predator faction and the docile faction, the docile faction races had long lost their seats on the Beastman Revival Council to the predator faction.

If they fell out of favor with the Beastman Revival Council, this beastman camp would also lose the support and trade network of the Beastman Alliance.

Meaning, even if humans attacked to enslave the weak beastmen, no one would protect them, they would be coldly ignored, and perhaps even encouraged.

‘They could betray me at any time. From a practical standpoint, that would be the normal thing to do.’

If a probability roll were to occur, the betrayal probability of the beastman camp garrison would immediately approach 99%.

Was it happening again?

Was the mind-controller, who couldn’t trust the purity of people and could only communicate with insincere pretense, going to have to reveal his wicked nature again to ensure survival?

‘No, it doesn’t matter. If I can stain my own hands to protect my family…’

I’d happily soil these hands a hundred times more.

How many times had Mother bloodied hers?

And Gorgo, how often did he lead the way through the woods, hacking at branches for our sake?

What of Nina, enduring the unpleasant sensation of her hooves crushing venomous insects?

Everyone sacrifices.

It’s merely my turn now.

And so, I was resolved to unleash the power of indoctrination once more when…

“A load of catnip, that is.”

The feline beastfolk guard, exceeding my expectations, raised his voice against the cruel power.

“What can the Beastfolk Revival do if not a single one is left alive?”

Even the mild-mannered beastfolk, even the herbivores, joined the cat-guard, encircling the wolf beastfolk, forming a cordon.

The beastfolk, who were usually so hesitant and unable to straighten their shoulders, now stood tall, chests puffed out, declaring with pride:

“Beastfolk stand for the weak, not the strong, that is. Even if your Beastfolk Revival pushes its principle of the strong prevail, it cannot simply overturn the rules set by our folk, that is.”

Their own principles.

Their own beliefs.

For the feline beastfolk and the others of the beastfolk settlement, who lived by those principles and beliefs, the threats of the powerful meant nothing more than an enemy to be confronted.

The wolf beastfolk, realizing the situation had gone awry, couldn’t hide their unease, glancing about nervously.

Even among the pacifists, the feline beastfolk still possessed the instincts of a predator, and he didn’t miss this subtle shift, stepping forward.

“Crush the suppressors, that is!”

Before Mother or Nina could even react, the beastfolk swarmed like angry bees, ten of them descending on each wolf beastfolk, clinging, pinning, and tearing.

Even if their savage claws managed to injure one or two, the sheer force of numbers was overwhelming.

“Kraaagh!”

The alpha wolf beastfolk, the highest-ranking among them, flung off three or four beastfolk with each thrashing movement, but after Nina’s arrow robbed him of an eye, he fell, helpless.

The beastfolk of this settlement had risked everything, defying the wolf clan, who boasted a member of the Beastfolk Revival’s Zodiac Council.

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” I asked, amazed by their courage. The cat-guard stroked his whiskers and chuckled, “Nyaha!

“A capable female does not get her clan stolen, that is. You are our people, that is.”

Pure goodwill, offered without any indoctrination.

My gratitude knew no bounds.

Perhaps that’s why.

I gently stroked the leg hair of the feline beastfolk guard captain, caressing it as one might praise a cat that had successfully hunted.

“I’m so sorry that the fur that was so lustrous is now matted with blood and dirtied. I’ll repay this debt somehow, I promise.”

“Nyaaa?!”

“Ian!”

For some reason, Mother scolded me.

The feline beastfolk guard captain also had his tail standing tall and trying to cover behind his pants.

He couldn’t hide it all with his hands, and his tail was sticking out between his fingers.

I distinctly remember the sound of his pitiful scream, his face as red as beet root, but after that my memories are hazy.

Gorgo had covered my eyes in shock, the beastfolk were flustered, trying to explain it wasn’t my intention, and Mother was radiating hostility, creating pure chaos.

“Even so, it was all good memories. I’d like to visit again someday, just to repay the favor.”

“Ian, you… when you grow up, never, ever think about going to the beastkin camp alone.”

“Why?”

“Just don’t, that’s why.”

Gorgon’s unfair oppression saw Nina and Mom, even Anna who probably didn’t understand a thing, nodding along.

“What did Anna even understand?”

“Can’t let Oppa get taken away!”

“?”

Anyway, having officially completed the Rank 4 request, Teresa’s party proved they were qualified to enter the dungeon.

Next up, the dungeon.

Time to challenge the request that Part 3 boss, Bully Papa, forced on the guild.

“Take me with ya!”

But as we were about to accept the request, an unexpected person came to find us.

It was the Cat Beastkin Guard Captain.

“What about the camp? Why are you here?”

“Dogs are better at guarding the house, nya.”

“You’re not gonna start wagging your tail again, are you?”

Nina’s suspicious glare made the Cat Guard Captain burst out.

“T-The tail wags when I’m happy, nya! It doesn’t only stand up for *that* reason, nya! I ran away from the camp in shame as it is, don’t do this to me!”

Come to think of it, he was a brave beastkin who even fought the wolf beastkin for us.

It felt wrong to coldly chase him away.

And so, we ended up adopting a stray cat beastkin who had lost his home.