Chapter 172 - A Tale from Afar. The Aloof King and the Gentle King

The soldiers who overthrew the Kingdom tore down the royal castle and established military rule. The first king to visit their new nation was none other than the King of Dogs.

The King of Dogs personally visited the Military State and asked them to help drive out the wolves.

At the time, the Military State was thoroughly sick of kings. This was both a condemnation of incompetence and an expression of the inferiority felt by those whom a king had not chosen.

Even a Beast King was no exception. To the Military State, the King of Dogs, who constantly quarreled with wolves while claiming to represent all dogs, was no different from a warmongering tyrant.

Still, the Military State was not a collection of idiots who would try to kill the King of Dogs out of mere hatred. Instead, they made another offer.

They would provide a place beyond the wolves' eyes and noses, where she was to stay hidden. If she kept her promise, they would help the dogs defeat the wolves.

Of course, there were political calculations behind this as well.

The King of Dogs would draw in the King of Wolves. Having earned its neighbors' displeasure by executing its king, the Military State needed a few bombs in hand to set off in an emergency. Otherwise, the fragile newborn nation was certain to be shattered and ruined by foreign invasion.

The King of Dogs nodded at the Military State's offer. It was the first agreement made since the nation's founding.

But nations, too, change their tune once they have gotten what they need.

When the day approached to repay that old debt, the Military State felt only one thing.

Discomfiture.

“... King of Dogs. You broke your promise.”

General Buidun, the defense commander, strode out of headquarters. The officers hurried out of his way. A few tried to remain in front of him, warning him of the danger, but hastily withdrew at his gesture.

Facing the King of Dogs alone, General Buidun spoke slowly.

“Our promise was conditional on your staying quietly in the bottomless pit until the appointed time. But you left that place.”

“Woof.”

Azi snorted and barked. General Buidun expected the King of Dogs to argue.

Don't be unreasonable.

How could I stay when the bottomless pit is gone?

Twenty-five years was long enough to wait.

If she answered that way, he intended to seize on her words and gain whatever advantage he could.

It was a thoroughly political attempt to shift responsibility, transparent yet difficult to counter.

Behind it lay General Buidun's political calculation: to extract concessions from the King of Dogs.

But then:

“You don't want to keep your promise.”

The King of Dogs' words made General Buidun flinch.

Too innocent to be called human, yet could this being simply be dismissed as a dog? This being who had so precisely identified his position and the Military State's?

“Scared of wolves? Don't want to fight?”

General Buidun answered slowly. Unlike before, it was not to gain a psychological advantage, but because he did not know what to say.

“We are not afraid. We simply aren't ready. The time has not yet...”

“I'm ready.”

Azi looked straight at the general as she spoke.

“Wolves form packs. I don't form a pack. Instead, I make promises with humans. Humans who promise me are my pack.”

“... We are not dogs. We cannot be your pack.”

“I know. You're human. That's why I promised. To lead the way when we fight wolves. I'll protect humans, and humans will protect me.”

Too innocent to be called a treaty, yet it could not be dismissed as a mere promise.

Wolves: symbols of the wild, kings among the most savage animals. Clever, ferocious beasts that had clashed with humans countless times.

Their king, the King of Wolves, attacked humans more aggressively than any other beast. And humans would drive the wolves away alongside their friends.

... Though that, too, was a thing of the past.

“Woof. I waited like a good dog. Kept waiting, believing you'd keep your promise. No sunlight. No walks. It wasn't fun, but to chase away wolves. To protect humans. I endured it and kept waiting.”

The split crown hummed. The King of Dogs, spokesperson for all dogs, was commanding humans to help her kind.

Watching that symbol of kingship assert its powerful presence, Buidun felt anger boiling up from deep within.

She was different from the false kings humans had. The beastkin standing before him was chosen by the world. A true King of Dogs, who genuinely cared for dogs, represented them, and possessed the power to do so.

Why? Why did only insignificant beasts have kings? The more Buidun dwelled on it, the more hatred and inferiority surged within him. But as a wily old politician, he concealed his emotions expertly.

“... That is none of our concern. Mobilizing troops to fight wolves would be irrational.”

“You won't keep your promise?”

“It is not for me to decide.”

General Buidun was one of the Military State's few full generals, but he could not decide matters of such importance alone. A cabinet meeting had to be held through the communications officers, and a resolution passed.

But General Buidun knew. The Military State would never fight the King of Wolves.

With the bottomless pit gone, they could not afford to fight the King of Wolves. A horde of jackals would soon converge on the Bottomless Pit Wasteland, where Mother Earth's blessing would soon return.

There would be war. Sooner than expected, but already anticipated. The Military State was preparing for war with the League of Nations, with the Bottomless Pit Wasteland forming their border.

Opening a second front from the very beginning, when seizing the initiative mattered most, would only prolong the war.

“Why should we get involved in your war in the first place? Humans have no king. Why should humans suffer for a conflict between kings?”

“Humans got rid of the King of Humans. Said they didn't need him, so he disappeared. That's why I have to make promises with humans.”

Azi answered forlornly.

“But humans don't remember their promises. No one keeps them...”

Her resigned tone was pitiful, but this was too great a matter to act on emotion alone. General Buidun waved a hand.

“If your business is finished, would you leave now? We have work to do.”

“... You're bad.”

General Buidun gave a hollow laugh and replied.

“What can you do, King of Dogs? Will you attack us? Turn against humans because we broke our promise?”

General Buidun sneered, knowing the King of Dogs could never do that.

And he was right. Even with humans bearing swords and spears packed in front of her, Azi felt no hostility toward them.

But humans alone were exempt from Azi's hostility.

Swords and spears were another matter. Azi bared her teeth at everything that was not human.

“I'm going to throw a tantrum.”

“Meoow.”

Fluffy, snow-white hair reaching her waist. A tail both still and agile. Pricked cat ears.

The cat beastkin's lofty appearance would briefly capture anyone's gaze. Swishing her tail, she stretched languidly, extending her forepaws as her back formed a gentle curve.

Having thoroughly loosened up, Nabi licked her forepaw and murmured.

“Stupid doggy. King or not, you're still chained, meow. Still seeking humans even when you get nothing in return. Pitiful, meow...”

The crown floating above Nabi's head twisted this way and that, then disappeared. The King of Dogs' pronouncement on behalf of her kind had briefly brought out Nabi's crown, but upon realizing that the declaration was directed solely at humans, the King of Cats laid aside her royal duties and returned to being an individual.

Watching Azi throw her “tantrum,” Nabi stirred.

“Meoow. All that darting around gets my blood pumping. Want help, meow?”

It was a tiny murmur that might have seeped into a crack in the ground. Yet Azi's ears pricked up as she rampaged far below. She, too, voiced her refusal quietly.

“Woof. No.”

At the answer, Nabi lowered her half-raised body again and gave a languid yawn.

“Meow. Suit yourself. You poor, stupid doggy.”

An observer once more, Nabi silently watched the King of Dogs rampage.

In considering the King of Dogs' tantrum, the emphasis had to be on “King,” rather than “Dogs.”

Fifteen military armaments had already been damaged. Every gleaming, sharp-edged weapon now bore unsightly tooth marks. The officers who had sworn never to release their weapons even in death retracted that vow today.

The damage was not limited to weapons. If anything, weapons in human hands and armor wrapped around human bodies were relatively intact.

Compared with what had happened to things unconnected to humans, they at least retained their original shape.

The entire headquarters looked as though a bomb had struck it. No, as though a gigantic practitioner of earth arts had overturned the ground itself.

The headquarters walls were clad in Level 4 alchemical steel to withstand outside attacks. Azi treated it like loose wallpaper.

In other words, she tore it off with her teeth.

The alchemical steel was not mere wallpaper, but armor nailed to the building's exterior. With that ripped off by a single creature's teeth, the building could hardly remain intact. Once so imposing, Defense Headquarters now lay open to view, its very walls torn away.

Not one military motor carriage remained upright on all four wheels. Doors raked by claws had crumpled, exposing the interiors through the gaps.

The yard and walls were covered in footprints and claw marks. Had a farmer been there, they would have taken it for freshly plowed earth and planted seeds.

The officers could do nothing but chase after Azi. Only by doing that could they reach her before she half-destroyed something.

Whenever their hands came close, Azi barked happily as if playing tag and bolted somewhere else.

At last, General Buidun could bear no more and shouted.

“Enough of this rampage!”

Shoving aside the officer guarding him, he launched himself forward without even donning a military armament. He covered thirty meters in a single leap, spread his palm wide, and swept through the space before him. Blue energy surged from each finger, descending on Azi like a net.

Azi leaped as though burned. She moved so hastily that her body embedded itself halfway into a wall. General Buidun clicked his tongue and pursued her again.

The officers marveled at their commander's martial prowess.

“That's our general...!”

But General Buidun knew.

The King of Dogs was reacting so sensitively because he was fighting barehanded and unarmored.

General Buidun's fists were fast and powerful. Blocking or deflecting them would send a tremendous shock through him. Of course, he had the strength and energy arts to withstand it, but Azi could not subject a human to even that much danger.

Biting weapons apart or tearing military armaments to shreds was the most she could do.

That was why, despite easily disarming the other officers, she gave General Buidun's attacks a wide berth.

General Buidun shouted as he chased after Azi.

“Get lost! Leave the Military State and find another master! A human who'll kill wolves for you!”

“Woof, woof!”

Azi barked threateningly at General Buidun, who had broken his promise and now had the gall to blame her. Naturally, he did not so much as blink.

Instead, he thought to himself.

Even a dog who could do no more than “play” with humans possessed this much power.

Then how powerful must the King of Wolves be, wielding even greater strength solely to destroy humans? And he would hunt systematically in a pack with other wolves...

Surely this was the price humans paid for abandoning their king.

This was why they should have secured the King of Dogs before the promise was fulfilled.

The very meaning of regret implied being too late. General Buidun shook off his thoughts and shouted.

“The human you seek isn't in the Military State! Get lost!”

“Awooooo!”

The beast's howl rang on. General Buidun was trying to drive Azi away when he flinched at the killing intent overhead and looked up.

Seated on her coffin and watching the events below, Tyrkanzyaka turned her head at the killing intent beside her.

Shei was pointing Earth's Ripple downward, her expression as serious as a surveyor taking measurements.

“... What are you doing?”

“Wait a moment. I'm calculating how many seconds it'll take to hit if I drop it from here.”

Earth's Ripple weighed as much as a great mountain, but its power was ultimately grounded in earth arts. It could not shatter the ground with its weight alone.

Still, it could produce an impact comparable to a falling boulder. Dropped from this height, it would not leave even a general unscathed.

Had Tyrkanzyaka not intervened, General Buidun would not have escaped unharmed.

“Did you not say we must find Hugh? Why have you suddenly decided to kill someone?”

“I thought I'd seen that general somewhere. He's with the Lords of Creation. He's one of the bastards running and supporting them. Better to kill him now.”

Tyrkanzyaka frowned.

“If you must kill him, do it after asking where Hugh is. Will they not become uncooperative if you kill someone of his standing?”

“That's why I'm trying to kill him by just dropping Earth's Ripple, without revealing who we are.”

“Of course they would never suspect us if we appeared after their general was killed by a sword falling from the sky.”

Tyrkanzyaka scolded Shei, but Shei had not acted without thinking. She had simply forgotten to explain, unused to explaining herself to anyone.

For now, she drew Earth's Ripple back and decided to address her companion's doubts first.

“There's no reason to keep him alive. The Lords of Creation are very different from the Military State. When it comes to achieving their goals, they don't weigh methods, means, or costs. After all the Lords of Creation bases and supply agents we destroyed on the way here, do you think he'll cooperate willingly? He really might take Hugh hostage.”

“Hmm.”

Tyrkanzyaka looked down, seemingly troubled. Their help would make things easier, but she had no wish whatsoever to endanger him.

Abandoning that plan without hesitation, she gestured to Shei.

“In that case, leave him be. If we can kill him whenever we wish, why kill him now and make enemies? Let us deal with him after we find Hugh.”

“Ugh. I want to kill him now...”

But as Tyrkanzyaka said, General Buidun could be killed at any time. There was no need to make an outright enemy of the Military State already.

Shei clicked her tongue and put Earth's Ripple away.

“Tsk. Can't be helped. General Buidun isn't even the one really in charge.”

The real power behind the Lords of Creation was not him, but the Master of Arms, one of the Six Generals. A weapon master stronger than anyone in a fight he had prepared for.

Shei had brought him down several times in previous loops, but the weapons he changed each time had given even her a great deal of trouble.

Perhaps it was better to leave Buidun alive than kill him here and put the Master of Arms on his guard.

“A wise decision. Since things have turned out this way, let us use the second and third methods. What is the second?”

“The second is asking Azi and Nabi to find him. With a Beast King's sense of smell, they should find him quickly with just a little legwork.”

“Oh? A sound plan. And the third?”

Shei grinned. She had been waiting for a chance to prove her competence, and now she puffed out her chest and declared proudly:

“The third is getting information from an information guild. I know how to contact them.”

“An information guild.”

As she had hoped, Tyrkanzyaka looked interested. Shei continued, a little smugly.

“When it comes to information brokers in Amitengrad, it's Black Cat. They're a magazine specializing in gossip and exposés, but their work rivals any information guild's. Go to their secret members-only counter and they'll sell you information. Pay a commission and they'll even investigate for you. Finding one person isn't particularly dangerous, so they should find him soon enough.”

Yet no one there anticipated what information awaited them at that magazine founded by beastkin.