29-sai Dokushin wa Isekai ch.35

Weekly chapters (2/2)

This is quite long chapter.
But, it’s a good one.

Anyway, enjoy~

Translator: Raizu
Editor: Mirp

Episode 35 ~I decided to support the Beastkin Village~

It’s more serious than I thought, that’s the impression I got as Torn guided me around the village.
Poorly made wooden fences that seemed to be built in a hurry, partially trampled down farmland, and half destroyed houses gave the village a rustic look.
There were tents that might not survive being torn apart by heavy wind and rain, from which sounds of painful moans could be heard. Exhausted looking people acting as stand-in nurses

And more than anything…

[Uーn, the situation is more dire than I expected.]

[Why of course, many people lost not only their homes, but also their loved ones.]

Melcina gave me a severe glance as she said so, before mingling with the people to take part in helping the wounded. She’s a kind girl, isn’t she?
But unfortunately I already have Marl. What a shame.
Meanwhile I saw Sherry a bit away from the others, with Karen sticking with her as if worrying that something might happen to the other kids. What nice kids they are.

[Where are we going?]

[First is the warehouse, where we’ll store the foods and medicines. Then we’ll process the trolls’ meat at the back of the warehouse.]

Torn was quick to pull my attention away from the surroundings. Well, with their supplies of food and medicine running low, the people’s morale will also plummet, so…as I thought about that, another armed beastkins group stood in our way.

The most prominent among the other group was the big bodied bearkin.
Well, he’s certainly a bearkin…but he looked no different from a regular bear. If not for the metal rod in his hand, I might’ve mistaken him as a monster instead of a beastkin.
Other than the bearkin, there was a spear wielding tiger-eared woman, and a horse with the upper body of a woman-this one was clearly a centaur. The latter carried a naginata and shortbow.
Just what kind of beastkin was this one? She has both of ‘mostly human’ and ‘mostly animal’ characteristics, unlike most other beastkin who only has one of those categories.
Yosh, from now on, let’s just refer to those with mostly human traits as “half-beast”, while those that are pretty much bipedal animals as “beastkin”. I hope they won’t mind such diversification.

[It seems that you brought back a lot today, Torn. Will it be enough for today’s meal?]

[Probably. Would you let us through already, Deborah?

I was totally shocked when I heard the bearkin-Deborah’s voice. Because her voice sounded so feminine and sexy. That’s a major gap compared to how she looked.
The female bearkin approached me with loud steps. What do you want? I’m already in a relationship, you know?
My gad, she’s no shorter than 2 m tall. I’m quite tall myself but I had to look up in order to see her face.
When I stared at her, she stared back at me. If I dare to be blunt, I’d probably stroke the fluffy looking furs of hers already.

[Fuh, nn…. I don’t see any malice in him. What’s up with this boy anyway?]

[He’ll be our patron for a while]

[Haa?]

Deborah was dumbfounded.
Even so, referring to me as a ‘boy’ is a bit… well, to be fair I do look much younger than my actual age. I tend to forget that little fact.
Along the way to the warehouse, Torn began to explain things out to Deborah. When the topic arrived at how I want to build a country, Deborah gave me a glance. I guess all of them had the same opinion about my intention.

[Apart from the story, the supplies are really helping.]

So they’re not really convinced at all. They’re treating me well only because of the supply! Woe is me!
Or maybe it’s too early for me to talk that big? Dammit, if I knew it much earlier I wouldn’t have done that.
I took a glance at the half tiger lady and the centaur girl, but they responded with such severe gazes. What’s with you guys? I hadn’t done anything wrong.
Anyway we finally arrived in front of a warehouse-like building.
A pair of small half-mouses guarded the entrance. How these half-mouses were selected to guard their precious warehouse is beyond me.

[ [ Torn-san, welcome ba――Geeh!? A human!?] ]

I was quite surprised by how they spoke. It’s hard to notice since they’re short, but their faces are nearly identical. Are they twins? Don’t tell me it’s because they’re half-mouse?
Anyway, this kind of reaction would repeat itself for the entire day unless I do something about it, so I chose to get over it already and prepared to dump the supplies and troll corpses out.
Torn was busy giving instruction to the two mouse guards, so I asked Relix, who was about to walk away for instruction.

[Ah, just put it around here. We’ll be gathering more people to help.]

That said, Relix went off on his own. So without further ado, I took out the troll corpses from my inventory.
Uun, it would be difficult to process these huge bodies. I could easily dismantle it by using my inventory menu, but should I really do that?
Didn’t they say that they’ll process the meat behind the warehouse? Next were the supplies.

[That is quite a lot…]

[I just bought some recently, so I could immediately escape without care just in case I made an enemy out of the country. That’s why I bought quite a lot]

I kept taking out dried meat and freshly baked bread while replying to Torn’s comment. Among the supplies were beans, dried fruit, dried vegetables, smoked dried food, homemade salted meat, also some stuff I bought from street side stalls like meat skewers and soup.
I bought a whole pot of stew and soup, so there was a reasonable amount of them. Torn then began to arrange for quick distribution, since it would become cold soon.
In the end, I took out almost everything except for the high-end materials and stuff that would go bad soon.
The preserved foods were kept on the innermost part of the warehouse, while those that must be used immediately were put near the entrance.
Antidote and medicines for wounds were on a separate side to those for sickness. They also put a label on each bottle, so it’s easy to organize them.
I also took out bandages, clean cloth, and barrels filled with water. Adding in some firewood as a bonus since I had some stocked.

[If I take out more than this, I don’t think the warehouse will be enough to store all of them]

[Thank you, we’ll be able to survive for a while with this.]

Pamela’s eyes were glittering when she saw how stuffed the warehouse was now. Seeing her ears stood up straight like that, I could tell that she’s happy.
Now, all that’s left inside my inventory were monster materials, weapons and ores, as well as enough food and potions I’d kept for my own use. It’s considerably empty now.
I let Torn and the others worked on organizing the supplies, since I didn’t know how they did it.

[Next is treating the injured and the sick. Are they being gathered in a certain building?]

[I’ll guide you there. Follow me]

Deborah said so and started walking. The half-tiger lady and the centaur-lady either stayed put to help organize the supplies or out on the field somewhere.
The bearkin lady walked in rather large strides while I followed from behind her. In front of me, there’s the sight of her short but fluffy tail swaying around as she walked. Boy, how I really want to touch it.

[Fuooooooooooooo!]

[Hyaan!? Wha!? Youu!]

When I lost to the temptation and sloppily touched Deborah’s tail, I was rewarded with a smack of her metal rod.
I would’ve lost my head if I was just a normal human. What a ferocious bear.

[What’re you doing!? Do you want to be hit again?!]

[Stop, you’ve hit me enough! I mean, your tail was cutely swaying around in front of me, isn’t it a common sense that it makes me want to stroke it a bit?]

[Mu… I guess, so? There is no helping it then. But, please don’t get touchy feely without permission. You might not know this because you are a human, but being touched in the rear is embarrassing for us.]

Deborah’s anger somehow subsided, and she acted like a shy girl afterward. If it came from a sexy older sister, then without a doubt I’d be salivating by now. But it’s a 2+ m tall bear who’s speaking here. And with a ferocious looking metal rod to add. It’s really surreal.

[I get it. I’ll get permission next time. So, can I touch it? I’ll be more gentle this time.]

[Ho, how can I decide when there are so many eyes watching us… stop saying something stupid and let’s go already.]

Her voice sounded so sexy, but her huge bear form turned me off. But what if she’s invisible! She must’ve sounded a lot sexier that way!

I couldn’t stop thinking about stupid thing, so I hurriedly followed her.
A rancid smell attacked my nostril as we approached a certain building. The hygiene wasn’t very good it seemed.

[Clean cloth and water, and I suppose more clothings are needed as well.]

[Indeed, but before you came we severely lacked those things.]

[Please collect as much dirty cloth as possible then. I’ll clean them all with magic.]

A dirty cloth can still be reused if washed properly and boiled in hot water. But I can bypass all that stuff with magic.
I saw Deborah nodded and left to do as I said, so I stepped into the building that looked a lot like a field hospital.
There were those who had severe cuts, and those who lost their legs from below the knee, and some who were screaming in agony as pus leaked out from their wounds. There were a total of 16 patients with either light and heavy injuries.
Probably afraid seeing a human coming in, the nurses huddled together in the corner of the room as they stared at me apprehensively.

[I’m Taichi Mitsuba, came to this village under Torn’s approval. I’m here to heal the patients with my magic. Can I start immediately?]

It can’t be helped if they’re scared, so I just have to be calm and gentle.
By the way, among the nurses, there was a dogkin kid whose head resembled a yorkshire terrier dog breed, a red panda look-a-like beastkin, and a half-rabbit kid. There it is, the famous rabbit-eared girl.
The dogkin and red pandakin were especially fluffy too, fuee.

[…..]

It’s not like my smile was faked or forced, but, for some reason, the three also huddled together and started trembling.
Don’t react so excessively like that, please? Do these beastkins tend to be too sensitive or something like that?
In any case, I should just do what I need to do. I concentrated and began by casting purification on the patients inside the building.
The entire body would be wrapped in a shuffling sensation for a while, as our body and clothes were purified at the same time. Meanwhile, one of the three trembled immensely before passing out.
Next, I approached the nearest patient.

This one had slash wounds, seemingly caused by a blade-like object, on his left shoulder and right flank.
When I removed the bandage, his wound had started to rot, leaking pus and putrid smell out. This patient was a strong looking tigerkin who was already unconscious judging how he didn’t let out any sound of pain.
When I touched his body, it’s still warm and he’s still breathing albeit weakly. However, my detection skill sensed that her presence was almost gone. Using my magic eyes, I could see that his magic power reserve was mostly depleted.
It’s the so-called near death state.

[….not gonna work, huh?]

As I expected, regular healing magic won’t do.
Regular healing magic will only work on those who are healthy and well fed. On the other hand, it wouldn’t do much to those with low vitality, such as these patients who hadn’t been absorbing enough nutrition lately.
But it’s nothing I can’t handle. In addition to the normal healing magic I used just now――I also casted different kinds of healing magic.
It’s called regeneration, a magic which I obtained when my healing magic reached level 3.
Regeneration uses the caster’s magic power in order to compensate for the target’s lack in vital energy to heal their wound. In other words, it’ll still heal even if the target is in a weakened state. In fact, I can even regrow a missing limb with it.

[Amazing…]

The magical light coming out from my hand enveloped the tigerkin’s wound. The abses disappeared and the wound started to close itself at a speed that naked eyes could perceive. It’s still a creepy sight no matter how many times I’ve seen it.
At one point, the dogkin kid had approached and was now looking at me with glittering eyes.
By the way, a magical healing potion out there follows a very close principle to this Regeneration spell. A particularly powerful potion can even regrow severed limb, although Marl’s potions are not at that level just yet.
By the time his wound was fully healed, the tigerkin was sleeping in a much calmer state. He shouldn’t be dying anytime soon now. After this, he should be able to make a full recovery as long as he eats properly from now on.

[Next patient? Please guide me to the most severe case first.]

[Ye, yessir!]

The dogkin kid promptly guided me to the patient with the heaviest injury.
Next was a horsekin, whose back was littered with sting wounds and a missing right leg. The sting wounds were leaking with pus, and signs of necrosis had appeared on the stump of his knee. It was truly a miracle that this guy is still alive.

[Nununu…]

I used regeneration once more to heal the horsekin.
By the way, this spell used up quite a lot of MP. No wonder it’s not that popular among humans who could use healing magic.
Because the MP efficiency is horrendous. Not only the recovery rate slower than the regular healing spell, regrowing a pinky would probably exhaust three regular healers.
For example, if the tigerkin from earlier was in a healthier state, the MP consumption would only be around 10 to 15.
Healing the tigerkin with regeneration actually took 72 MP. That’s like 7 times the normal consumption. Since a regular healer usually only has 100 to 120 MP, a single one of them would not be able to heal even two patients in a day.
Like this horsekin, a regular healer wouldn’t be able to regrow his missing leg in a single day. The process will take several days and exhaust the healer every time, which severely limits the number of patients that could be treated.

[Ha,haa? I am…?]

The horsekin regained consciousness soon after I completely regrow his leg. Of course, he couldn’t move it normally yet.
I continued to one patient after another. The worst case was indeed the horsekin, with the other patients being no worse than the tigerkin.
Since there were 16 patients, it became somewhat tiring for me. When I checked, my 4438 MP had been reduced to slightly less than half at 2122 MP.

[Er, sir, well done. And thank you very much.]

The little dogkin’s tail wagged around happily. What a cute puppy, can I bring it home?
For the time being, since our distance was already close to begin with, I took the chance to stroke the dogkin’s head. Yoーshiyoshiyoshiyoshi!
The dogkin yelped at first, but eventually fell silent as my stroking continued. The fur also felt really good on my skin since I had purified the entire place earlier.
Since it’s a bit uncomfortable to stroke the head while standing, I squatted down and even hugged the dogkin. Ahー, thisー, is truly like a panaceaー.

[I’ve brought…the, eeh?]

Deborah, carrying a pile of cloth as she entered the building, let out a dumbfounded voice.

[Oh, we’re already done here.]

[Ri, right…]

Deborah’s eyes were darting between me and the mewling and fluttery little dogkin on my arms.
The little dogkin’s eyes were closed while being stroked by me. And the tail was wagging around cutely.

[A, anyway I’ve brought all these here, so deal with it first. Okay?]

Deborah casually pulled the little dogkin away from me and shoved the pile of dirty cloth to me in exchange. How forceful.

[Oh, how about the injured?]

[It’s a bit of a chore on my part. But everyone is healed and cleaned.]

After purifying the pile of dirty cloth that was forced upon me by Deborah and disinfecting it by soaking them in hot water inside a bucket I made with earth magic, I returned to the warehouse.
They’re already begun cooking in front of the warehouse. I supposed it’s only natural since the villagers hadn’t been eating well for a couple of days now. They’re in the process of smoking the troll’s meat now.

[…really?]

Torn responded to Deborah with a suspicious gaze.
Nn? Am I still suspected? Are you guys really that untrusting? Well I guess it’s only natural for them.

[I see, so he’s that kind of guy after all.]

[Saying that he’s a hero is—]

Detection and Danger Detection were triggered at the same time.
Multiple presence were approaching the village. The fact that danger detection also triggered means bad news.
Their number was not that many, but their life signs were actually more robust than that of the trolls.

[Something is coming out.]

Having said that, I turned around and started walking toward the incoming signs.
Torn and Deborah also followed. Their atmosphere changed, as they apparently also sensed the incoming danger.
Since the village wasn’t that large to begin with, we quickly arrived at the fences surrounding the village. I easily jumped over the fences that were as tall as myself, and wait for the life signs to show themselves outside.

[Leave this one to me.]

I drew my mithril sword out as I said so, motioning Torn and Deborah to not follow me crossing the fences.
The other able villagers had also armed themselves. The rabbitkin Pamela and the half-tiger who followed Deborah earlier were among them. All of them rushed here to defend their village.
The owner of the signs soon showed themselves after toppling a tree down.

[What is that?]

They’re monsters I had never seen before. Three of them.
One of the three looked like an upright standing dragon, with a long neck that sported vicious looking barbs. The evil aura exuding from it gives it a sense that it’s a demon instead of a monster.
It also had a small pair of wings on its back, but I don’t think it can be used for flight. Perhaps just an ornament of some sort?
The two others behind it were monstrous looking creatures with strangely long limbs. Both were laughing creepily with screeching voices.
Looking at them with magic eyes, I could see powerful magic power radiated from them. It’s the kind of magical pattern I’ve never seen before.
While I was still observing them, the upright standing dragon suddenly rushed in with tremendous momentum. I could’ve just dodge, but doing so would let it break through the fences behind me, thus allowing it to wreak havoc on the village. Not on my watch.
As I thought about how to deal with them, the long necked dragon lunged in to bite me off with its sharp teeth.

[Toh!]

I, of course, didn’t want to get bitten, so I kicked the dragon on its chin with all my might. The gigantic monster was propelled upward and spun vertically in midair as a result.

[Ee.]

A surprised voice came not only from Torn and co. behind me, but also from the black monstrosities that were still standing by. Oh, so they’re capable of expression?
The dragon that I kicked to the air finally landed on the ground and didn’t even move anymore.

[An opening.]

Infusing my legs with magic, I kicked the ground, approaching one of the two black monsters.
I swung my sword downward, cleaving the black monster vertically, before following it with a horizontal slash to the torso, cutting both its body and long arms in half.
The black monster collapsed while scattering blackish red body fluids.

[Die—]

My sword turned to the remaining black monster.
It tried to escape, but I was much faster. My sword dug deeply into its back. After it also collapsed to the ground, I relentlessly stepped on it and double tapped it.
All of that took less than 10 seconds.

[…..]

The beastkins watching behind me were left agape and wide eyed. Why of course, behold the glorious demonstration of my power! Kuhahahaha!
While I was basking in joy, the upright dragon that I sent spinning in midair earlier groggily woke up. It’s like a newborn fowl trying to stand on its own feet. Hey hey, it’s still capable of standing up.
I was less than 20 m away from it, so I could see the smoke coming out from its chin. Did it just heal itself? How troublesome.

[GHAAAAAAA!!]

The moment it let out an intelligible shout, my danger detection immediately flared up. In my magic eyes, I could only see a large mass of magic power speeding up towards me.

[Uooo! Just what kind of magic is that?]

I swung my sword down, cutting the incoming mass of magic. Without the magic eyes, no one would be able to see it, but it’s like a shockwave or an air blast. This would probably be the first time I saw a monster use magic.
Speaking of which, what I did was purely out of reflex. I didn’t know that a spell could be cut with a sword slash before. But I guess if it couldn’t, magic spells would be too convenient for battle. I suppose there is a reason why people separate magic users into first class and second class.
I calmly walked toward the demon dragon (temporary name) while slashing at the invisible attack it spewed out repeatedly.

[GHUOOOOOO!]

The demon dragon raises its sturdy and sharp looking claws, and closes in to me.
This time around, instead of that stupid charge it did earlier, obviously it intended to commence a melee fight.

[Yo, ho, ha.]

This fellow, was actually pretty tough.
Instead of just swinging its claws around randomly, it fought with well defined and proper combat technique.
Not only attacking with its claws, it also made use of its elbows, and launched attacks with small openings like when it chained together a kick and a tail swing. In addition to that, it also managed to sneak in some of that invisible magic attack it previously did.
I don’t know about Deborah, but if Torn were to fight this guy, I don’t think he’d manage to last for long.

But well, too bad that I’m here as the opponent.

I cut off its outstretched arm, and its tail as it tried to cover its retreat.
Lacing my fist with magic, I bare handedly punched the invisible magic attack that was aiming for my face, and following the momentum, I sidekicked the demon dragon’s head.
The demon dragon staggered as it received a major concussion to the head.

[Fuhn!]

In a flash of light, my mithril sword had beheaded the demon dragon. The huge body fell to its knees, vanquished.
I quickly stored the demon dragon’s corpse in my inventory. I also collected the two dead black monsters so that I could bring them to the adventurer guild later to have it appraised.
When I looked back to the village, half of the entire beastkin villagers who had gathered behind the fence immediately cower back.

[…Un.]

I must commend myself for not laughing right away.
Well, I guess it’s only a natural reaction. They used to fear humans as a whole, so it’s no wonder how frightened they’d become after seeing a human with power that they could never imagine.
Torn and Deborah were among them, staring at me with indecipherable gazes.

[Torn, I’m going to go back shortly. But I’ll come here again tomorrow, so please list everything you’d need.]

[Yeah…]

Torn replied while giving me an apologetic look.
It’s a shame, but there’s nothing else I could do. The villagers here hadn’t really put their trust in me yet.

[And can I bring Karen, Sherry, and that little dogkin at the treatment center back?]

[Scram!]

Chi, stingy bastards. I did a long range transfer to my mansion at capital Alfen with Torn’s shout in the background.

[Welcome back.]

Mabel greeted me as soon as I arrived back at the mansion. Jack-san is probably accompanying Marl at the moment.

[Yeah, I’m home. Where is Marl?]

[Marl-sama hasn’t returned yet]

It’s near midday already. If she hadn’t returned yet, then she probably had lunch at the palace right after the negotiation, and maybe a tea break or something before going back.
She should return after lunchtime.

[Taichi-sama, how about having lunch first?]

[Right… shall I bring Fram to eat outside?]

[Yes, as you wish.]

Since Marl wasn’t here right now, then let’s just go with Fram instead. It’s also a good opportunity to get along with her.
I still didn’t know how to treat her, and I felt self conscious about her predicament that I couldn’t help but to feel that I have to do my best to make it up with her. I had to somehow get along with her.

Once inside the bedroom, I stored my leather armor and clothes inside my inventory. It’s convenient, using the inventory to spawn and take off things instantly.
I could probably use it to emulate the certain Kaito the third instant glider trick. Who knows? (TL note: he’s probably referring to both Kaito Kid and Lupin the third)
I didn’t sweat that much, but I cleansed my body and underwear once more. For etiquette concern.

[Master, excuse me.]

Right after I cleaned up, Fram entered the bedroom. She seemed bewildered by my appearance at first.

[Ah, please wait a minute. I’ll put on… why are you taking off your clothes?]

[Well, seeing master’s appearance when I arrived here, isn’t this why master called for me?]

Fram said such a playful thing with a deadpan serious expression. That’s how it is, she always had a serious look on her face all the time. She could make what supposedly a remark with subtle sexual harassment into something serious with the way she look.
Well, not that I hate it. If anything, it excites me to be sexually harassed by a beautiful woman. Marl also made sure that I stayed entertained most of the time.

[That’s not it. Enticing offer though. I’m wondering if you would like to go out with me for a meal? Let’s consider it a date.]

But she does have a lot to do as a maid. So I steeled myself to get a NO as an answer.

[……understood, I will have as much fun as possible while it last.]

[Then would you please get out for a bit?]

[This is frustrating. I’m fine with doing it right now actually.]

[You’re being too frank about it…! But that’s fine too. Although today it will be lunch then some strolling around maybe to the adventurers guild and the commercial district.]

It’s good to hear that she’s at least interested in a physical relationship. Perhaps more skinship is the best way to get along with Fram.
Now that I think about it, I’ve been managing to keep my pants on because of Marl. Truly, the perfect way for a woman to make a man stay loyal is either through his stomach or his crotch. Well, it can’t be helped, I’m a healthy young man after all.

[So it’s postponed until further notice today?]

[Then let’s do it later tonight.]

I should keep the tea for when it’s cloudy.
Let’s take the chance while Marl is away, although given our relationship, I guess I shouldn’t be worried too much.
Marl herself acknowledged Fram’s position, so she wouldn’t be all that jealous if I do this, right?

=====

Crossing through the third gate with my maid, Fram, we arrived at the new city.
The new city hadn’t been fully recovered from the great flood. The number of homeless people straying around the boulevard had visibly reduced, but the evacuees still hadn’t returned to their villages yet.
On the other hand the city reconstruction had already begun since the flood ended prematurely.
They started releveling the land outside the fourth wall to develop another area that would soon be the new “new city”. Barracks had been constructed around the development areas.
Rural areas around the capital were surprisingly quite intact due to how the great flood was stopped at an unprecedented speed. This leads to less amount of money and other resources required for reconstruction, which means that there will be no economy upheaval. That was what the government had announced.
Despite the chaos, everything seemed to gradually return to place once more. I could see smiles on the passersby’s faces along the way.

[It’s lively here.]

[Indeed it is, be careful of your surroundings.]

We stood out among the crowd because there’s a beautiful woman in a maid uniform walking next to me. Standing out also means that we’ll invite more trouble.
I’m currently wearing higher quality clothes than I usually wear. It’s to make me look like a young noble, even if just in appearance.
The mithril sword I used to defeat the demon dragon hung on my waist. Meanwhile Fram didn’t seem to carry any weapon on her.
We strolled around the new city for a bit, before stopping by at the commercial district guild.
Looking at the counter, there were the usual trading materials like ores and medicinal herbs. But Huey wasn’t around.

[Please inform Huey. A very prospective customer wants to meet him.]

After I informed the clerk, Huey appeared after about three minutes. His face turned sour upon seeing me.

[What’s with that 『ah, here comes a troublesome person』expression?]

[Since you already know then I’ll just be frank. What do you want today? As you already know, I’m very busy—–hey, what’s with that beautiful maid? What happened to Marl?]

[This would be our first meeting, my name is Fram, Taichi-sama’s concubine. Nice to meet you.]

[Bastard should just go explode!]

After hearing Fram’s self introduction Huey promptly shouted to the ceiling. Kuhaha, just howl like a dog, you loser.
But that’s not why I came here, so I decided to cut to the main subject.

[I want to buy supplies. Food, clothing, and also medicine. Can you arrange it?]

Huey pondered at my request for a while.

[Whether I can arrange it or not, I can’t say just yet. But how much do you really want? Since you didn’t just go and buy it on any random stores, it must be of a fairly huge amount.]

[Yes, I want enough food to maintain forty to fifty soldiers for a month.]

[One month worth of supply for one platoon of knights? The amount will be quite a lot you know?]

[How much to be exact?]

[About eight to ten carriages.]

That’s more than what I expected. The challenge here would be the storage.

[OK, that’s fine. Can you prepare it immediately?]

[Well it’ll take a day, give or take… But are you serious? I won’t take a return even if it turns out you can’t transport them all.]

[Don’t worry, it won’t be a problem.]

I could certainly take them all tehee. Sorry, but it’ll be okay. I’ll manage somehow.

[I’ll come again tomorrow at this same time. Please withdraw the payment from the money I’ve deposited on the guild.]

[Next time, please bring more weapons too. Inquiries about it are flooding in.]

[I’ll see what I can do.]

I went out of the commercial district guild office afterward. Fram bowed courteously to Huey before following me.
Now that it’s taken care of, shall we have lunch outside now? Or maybe stroll around more to sightsee?

[Why such a large amount of supplies?]

[About that huh? Fram, what do you think about the beastkin?]

I asked as we strolled the street. Fram pondered about it for a while before giving me a reply.

[I don’t have any particular concern about them. Now and then, they will continue to serve the humans, yes?]

Un?

[What do you mean by serving?]

[?? It’s about the beastkin serving the humans, right?]

Fram tilted her head in question. Apparently it’s common sense for her.
Muu, is it really a common sense for those who live in Karendil Kingdom? The line of thought about 『beastkin exists to serve humans』seemed to be a deeply rooted belief.

[Ahー, no. Of course I know that. I rarely saw beastkin around here, so I just want to know your thoughts about them.]

[I see. Their senses are sharp, and their physique is strong. Their reproductive capability is much higher than human’s, and they can also mate with humans. It is said that their lifespan is shorter than human’s, with fifty at the longest.]

When their bloodline mixed with human’s, those with thick blood seemed to be born as beastkin, while those with thin bloodline would be born as half-beast.
It’s also said that a child born between a half-beast and human will be a half-beast albeit with less beastly traits, while a child from a half-beast and a beastkin could be either a half beast or a beastkin. A child between a human and a beastkin will most likely be a half-beast.

[In the past, some noblemen were known to take half-beast as concubine.]

[Why?]

[Beastkin and half-beast heir cannot fight for the right for the family leadership. Even if they bear a child, there won’t be any dispute. Meanwhile, being taken by a noble would in turn raise the entire tribe’s position. But now that birth control is easier, the nobles prefer human concubines more nowadays.]

While saying so, Fram put her left index finger through the ring made from her right fingers. Stop that please? A lady shouldn’t make that kind of hand sign.

[I heard that the practice of exchanging the child born from beastkin or half-beast concubine is still popular among some nobles.]

[They’d even trade?]

[They’d raise them to become a new concubine, or simply train them to become slaves. I heard it’s common to sell children born from a beastkin or half-beast concubines as slaves.]

The story was nauseating. But they never saw the beastkin as their equal from the first place.
I guess it’s similar to the slavery on earth. The beastkin and the half-beasts of this world were treated like livestock instead of people.
The problem was even more grave than I previously thought.
No, I’m not exactly a moral person. So the world ‘racism’ and ‘slavery’ wouldn’t cause me to overeact like I’m allergic to it.
What irked me was the discrimination. Discrimination certainly existed in various forms from my origin country, but fortunately I was never part of it.
If discrimination could not truly disappear even from a so called more 『advanced and cultured』country, can I really cleanse it from this world?

[Master?]

[Ah, no. I’m just thinking.]

[If master pities the beastkin, then why don’t we visit the slave market? There should be many of them there. But I think master should consult Marl-sama before buying one.]

[No, there is no such intention at the moment. More importantly, let’s find a place to have lunch, it’s lunchtime already.]

Ah well, I guess I’ve reached a pinnacle in terms of physical combat now. Fighting an 『imaginary opponent』like this could be fun as well.
If everything else fails, violence could always become a valid last option. Am I right? No, I at least have to try. Attempt all other options first.
In any case, preparation should be made. For myself especially.

=====

[Is it already done?]

[Guh, no, no more!]

[My turn hasn’t even come and it’s over already…!?]

[Now what?]

[Judging from the stickiness, I feel like it’s me who suffered a terrible loss!]

[ [ Then let’s do it again, come on ] ]