It wasn’t about being wicked or lacking consideration. He simply lived in a different world. His common sense was twisted—not that it mattered, since so many others thought the sa way. At this point, it wasn’t a question of right or wrong.
It was just different. They had stacked a tower using blocks that didn’t fit together, barely holding balance. A single touch would bring it all crashing down. Just like now.
“How could soone so superior end up like this?”
“The beast bit . But this will be the end of it. Even if the holand has been neglecting Ende, they won’t tolerate outright rebellion. Once the vassal states are inford, they’ll show the might of humanity.”
Well, the vassal states probably wouldn’t want to waste too many resources on this useless scrap of land. They had more pressing priorities.
“But it all cos down to whether you can inform them or not, doesn’t it?”
“What?”
“If I, soone so concerned about the rights of pig beastn, were to stop you here and sell you to Orcma... then all that superiority of yours, all that power of the vassal states—none of it would matter.”
As I smiled slyly, Welsh flinched and stepped forward. She was extrely tense; her ears and tail stood stiffly upright. Duke Erectus, looking incredulous, spoke.
“Y-You would sell out? Are you saying you’d side with beasts?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m just curious. What exactly do you an by humanity’s superiority? Because right now, you don’t look superior at all.”
“I don’t?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The very noble who claims to be superior is now running around in rags. If not for the capable hunting dog at your side, you would have been caught already. Look—right now, you’re relying on Welsh.”
The way he was sticking close behind Welsh made them look more like a mother and son than a master and servant. If he had seen himself in a mirror, he wouldn’t have been able to argue against . But Duke Erectus retorted easily.
“Welsh is my servant. And she is a beastman. It is only natural that she protects .”
“There is nothing natural about this world. Just like how your rule, which seed so ‘natural,’ has now [N O V E L I G H T] ended.”
“That’s only because those pig bastards stirred up ignorant beastn and launched a surprise attack!”
“You’re human, yet you couldn’t outmaneuver them? And you fell apart just because of a surprise attack? Can you really claim to be great and noble when you lost so easily? You failed with words, you failed with strength, you failed with politics. What do you even have left? Your arrogance?”
“You insolent—!”
“I don’t know whether humans are superior or not, but one thing’s clear. Since you lost to the orcs, that puts you at the sa level as a beast. You certainly look the part right now.”
Duke Erectus pointed at , shouting in outrage, but I ignored him completely and got back to the real reason I was here.
“Oh. Honestly, I don’t really care about you, Duke Erectus. You’re not that interesting. I ca here because I’m more curious about Welsh.”
That must have irritated him even more. He beca louder, but Welsh shoved her master back and stepped forward.
“...If I satisfy that curiosity, will you let my master go?”
“Hm? I never intended to capture him in the first place. Why would I?”
“You’re on Orcma’s side.”
“No. I’m on the side of humanity. And he’s human too. I help orcs just as much as I help him.”
“...You’re helping him?”
“Yes. You might secretly agree with , but this is actually helping him. It’s a valuable experience, don’t you think?”
Welsh, ever the loyal servant, couldn’t deny it. But she wasn’t naïve enough to believe outright. She remained wary, keeping a close eye on and the surroundings—while also trying very hard to ignore Azzy, who was panting beside us.
“What do you an, you’re interested in ?”
“I understand why the pig beastn want to reclaim their rights. That’s reasonable. And of course, it’s natural for beastn to believe all beastn are equal. But what about you? You’re a beastman, yet you protect a noble.”
“...Is that a question?”
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
“If your answer is ‘because he is my master,’ then that’s not what I’m asking. I want to know what you expect from him.”
She was born a servant and trained to be one. Indoctrinated, almost brainwashed, Welsh had beco the kind of servant who would gladly lay down her life for her master.
But she was still human. There was no way she would devote herself blindly, without wanting anything in return. The only institution that had ever succeeded in that level of brainwashing was the Holy Crown Church—and even they required an imnse prophetic power to do it. Comparing them to Duke Erectus would be an insult.
“There’s no reason for to follow my master.”
“I’m not asking for a reason. I can tell just by looking. That idiot of a master isn’t worth serving. And yet, you still follow him because you expect sothing from him, don’t you?”
“You bastard! What did you just say—”
Duke Erectus, unable to tolerate being left out of the conversation, tried to intervene. But he was powerless. He couldn’t stop , nor could he silence Welsh.
“...It’s true. I don’t expect anything from my master.”
“You know how pointless it is to expect soone to change. But you still hope for sothing, right? Compensation, gifts, rewards, praise—”
“I... I no longer expect things like that.”
Even if she no longer expected it, she still wished for it. The greater the gap between reality and expectation, the deeper the longing. Clenching her fists, Welsh spoke.
“My master is not a kind person. But there were tis when he was kind.”
“When?”
“A long ti ago, when we were children. Servant children are raised alongside their masters.”
Hunting hounds are raised from birth alongside their masters. They are conditioned early, trained to be loyal. A grown dog brought in from outside could be unpredictable, but a well-bred pup raised from the start would be different.
“He was mischievous even back then. When he heard that my body had grown stronger from training in internal energy, he grabbed a whip and hit . When I wore new, clean clothes, he threw mud at . He laughed when I stood there dumbfounded. He was always the one tornting .”
Wow. What a piece of trash. Rotten from the start.
“But... there were tis when he was kind. When I was exhausted and crying in a corner, he wiped my face with his own handkerchief. When I lost a treasured gift, he dug through the dirt to help find it. Back then, I was happy....”
Welsh, recalling those monts before his nature had fully hardened, lowered her gaze with a sorrowful expression.
“If I think about it, those monts were so few that I can count them. But still... there were tis. I don’t expect him to be like that again. But...”
She couldn’t let go.
It was classic gaslighting. He used her, tornted her, but because she had endured it from such a young age, she had normalized it. And now, she clung to those rare monts of kindness. One act of good overshadowing a hundred acts of cruelty.
But in a way, it also ant that even soone like him had once been a decent person. Deep inside, she was still hoping for him to return to that.
A sad, futile wish.
How was I supposed to grant that? I would have to turn that vile man into a decent human being. But changing soone wasn’t sothing I could do.
As I was about to express my sympathy, Azzy suddenly barked excitedly.
“You’re just like !”
“...What?”
“ too!”
Azzy bead and rubbed her face against Welsh.
“Humans fight! Humans bite! They order! They break promises!”
She was talking about how humans fought among themselves, used her as a weapon against each other, and never fulfilled their promise to fight the King of Wolves.
Wow. That’s awful. Who did that? Definitely not . I was completely disconnected from humanity at this point.
As I stood aside, Azzy grinned at Welsh.
“Woof! But one day, they’ll keep their promise! Because it’s a promise!”
“King....”
Welsh was in the sa situation. No, Azzy’s was on a much larger scale. Welsh only felt that way toward her master, but Azzy extended that sentint to all humans.
Humans were social creatures. Seeing soone worse off than herself, Welsh found a small sense of comfort. But realizing that she had used the King’s misfortune to console herself, she felt a brief pang of guilt and asked,
“What if they never keep their promise?”
“They will!”
“What if they don’t? What if your friends change their minds? Or sothing urgent happens, and they can’t fulfill it?”
“I’ll wait!”
“For how long?”
“For... how long?”
Seeing Azzy tilt her head, I could grasp the cruelty of a promise with no set date. Even death wouldn’t end it. She would simply start over and wander the world until it was fulfilled.
It was sothing unfathomable. But as the King of Beasts, she could manage it.
Welsh held Azzy tightly and whispered,
“...I’m sorry, King.”
“Woof? Why?”
“No reason. I just... I wish I could fight the wolves alongside you.”
But there was soone Welsh had to protect before Azzy. The sa was true for Azzy. Promises were important, but she protected humans regardless of them.
“It’s fine! Protect humans!”
“Thank you, King. My master is Duke Erectus, but you are my king.”
The dog and the beastman briefly touched noses, a simple farewell.
Though they shared a similar fate, Welsh—who had a relatively better situation—felt even more heartache, knowing that Azzy didn’t even realize her own misfortune.
“How fortunate. I’d like to have a servant like that too.”
At my words, Duke Erectus flinched so hard he nearly fell over. I kindly steadied him before speaking.
“To think she’d care for you so devotedly just because you were a little kind to her once in childhood. Azzy wouldn’t show that kind of loyalty. If I don’t give her a piece of at, she bares her fangs and growls.”
“And yet, you command the King of Dogs.”
“Azzy? Command her? Haha, you’re saying strange things. Azzy and I are friends. Friends can ask each other for favors and help each other out. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are friends.”
“Friends? With the King of Dogs?”
“What’s strange about that?”
“The King of Dogs is nothing more than a beast in human form.”
Oh. It had been a while since I’d heard that perspective. Unlike regressors, he considered Azzy to be nothing more than a unique dog. Well, that made sense. If even beastn weren’t counted as humans, treating Azzy as human would have been inconsistent. I had to admit—he was nothing if not consistent.
“I’m the sa kind of beast myself. Why wouldn’t we be friends?”
“...”
A mont ago, he might have argued. But after listening to my conversation with Welsh, he seed to be lost in thought.
“Not all humans are equal. You and I are different, for example. But even if people aren’t equal, they can still offer comfort and praise.”
“...So what is it that you want from ? Do you want to see beastn as equal to humans?”
What nonsense. Why would I? I didn’t care how he saw things. What mattered was that as the King of Humans, I could read the thoughts of beastn, aning they fell within the category of ‘human’—at least for . But if he didn’t believe that, then that was his own issue.
“No? Why would I try to change your mind? I have no interest in what you think or what you want.”
“What?”
“I said, I don’t care. Your desires are so simple they don’t even interest .”
Duke Erectus wasn’t especially evil or cruel.
To him, beastn simply weren’t human. Since they were never equal to begin with, nothing they did held much aning. No one would feel joy if livestock or pets praised them.
Maybe that was why he craved sothing more impressive. Raising the King of Dogs, defeating the King of Wolves—accomplishnts that other humans would recognize.
Ah. And though he had given up for now, reclaiming Ende from the pig beastn was on that list too.
Duke Erectus was just like anyone else—he wanted recognition. He just didn’t have any ‘humans’ around him who were qualified to give it.
So what was it that he really needed? Achievents? Or a human to acknowledge him?
“There are people who deeply cherish the tiny kindness you showed them as a child. But you aren’t the type of person to be satisfied with that, are you? Whether or not you’re capable of achieving more is a separate issue.”
If you looked at it differently, Duke Erectus already had both. A small act of kindness and a servant who treasured it. He simply couldn’t accept it because the deed was insignificant, and the servant was unworthy in his eyes.
But he wasn’t satisfied with the present. He wanted to reach higher.
Well, that wasn’t sothing I could help with. All I could do was wish him luck.
Stopping them from contacting the vassal states was Orcma’s job. I took Azzy, who was still exchanging farewells with Welsh, and slipped away into a secluded alley.
I didn’t bother reading where those two were headed. I didn’t need to.
Before long, I ran into a group of orcs restricting passage. At the front, stacking up carts to form a barricade, was Grull. I casually approached him.
“Still haven’t found them?”
“We’re tracking them by scent now! We’ll find them soon!”
Oh. Using a beastman’s sense of sll to track them. Now...?
I tilted my head and asked,
“Huh? So what were you doing until now?”
“...Figuring out how to track them!”
“Ah. Got it. You should add that to the manual. Good luck.”
Did their entire response manual disappear? Even with Mayor Treavor helping, these small gaps were appearing everywhere.
As I was about to pass by, Grull suddenly called out urgently.
“Wait. Magician! Do you have a way to find him?”
“You an, do I know where they are right now? If it were , I’d hire a beastman with a good nose and have them track him.”
It was a sharp jab, but perhaps it was too high-level for an orc’s sense of humor. Grull, instead of catching the sarcasm, brightened and asked,
“Oh! Do you know a beastman with a keen nose? Introduce !”
“...It’s too late for that now. You’re better off doing it yourself.”
“Damn. Next ti, speak up sooner!”
Hmm. And they were causing such a commotion at night too. Could they really govern Ende and seize power like this?
But it was their ideal, their ambition. Their ability was what was being tested. I’d watch a little longer.
As I made my way back to the mansion, Azzy sniffed at herself and asked,
“Woof? Sll, track?”
“No. Don’t track it.”
If a wolf ca right to my doorstep, I wouldn’t be able to just sit and watch.
But my promise to Azzy ca before their ambitions.
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