The Attacked Beastman

The decision was made—we were heading to the Royal Capital. I moved quickly, gathering everyone to start our preparations.

The traveling party would consist of five people: me, Fee, Fritz, Emilina, and Emma.

Those staying behind to guard the territory were Sasha, Rick, Dozul, Al, the mercenaries, and the orphans.

"Meat Bro, what do you want us to do?" Al asked.

"Right. First, I need you to manage the Mercenary Inn. Do any of you kids want to try running it?"

When I put the question to the group, three hands shot up.

"I think I’d like to try," one boy said.

"I’m really good at cleaning!" a girl added.

"I want to... learn how to cook," another whispered.

They were more enthusiastic than I’d expected. Still, is it really okay to leave this to kids? Their customers are going to be rough-looking mercenaries; surely they’ll need an adult to supervise.

The Village Head must have sensed my hesitation, because he stepped in among the children.

"In that case, we shall provide our assistance. Hard manual labor is beyond us now, but we can certainly help with the bookkeeping and management."

"That would be a huge help, but... are you sure?"

"Of course, Lord Yuri. You are working yourself to the bone to rebuild our home. If we didn't help, we’d be cursed to the end of our days."

"I understand. Then I'll leave the inn in your hands."

The real issue was the mercenaries. I usually gave them work in the form of requests and paid them in cash. I had plenty of tasks that needed doing, but I was running dangerously low on funds.

Alan was currently selling my Mock Refrigerators—a name that had unfortunately stuck because I’d jokingly referred to the failed prototypes as such—which provided a steady stream of income. However, almost all of that money was immediately spent buying the food necessary to sustain the territory. With the recent influx of people, we were going to hit rock bottom soon.

On the other hand, if I turned away the mercenaries who had traveled all this way, my reputation would take a massive hit.

"Oh, right. Those guys only came here because they saw my sword, you know?" Fritz mentioned, as if it were an afterthought.

Why the hell didn't you mention such a vital detail earlier? If I’d known that, I would have been working them like dogs since the house-building phase...

"I'm going to prepare some formal request forms," I announced to the mercenaries. "The completion reward for your service will be this: I will personally forge a custom weapon for every one of you!"

"Wooooooo!"

"That’s what we’ve been waiting to hear!"

They were easy enough to motivate. I needed them to scout the surrounding area, tend the fields, and start on the construction of permanent housing.

As I was mentally calculating how to divide the labor, Dozul approached me.

"It’s about time you got started on my Smithy, lad."

"Right, I haven't forgotten. But I don't know the first thing about the layout of a forge, so take a few mercenaries and build it however you see fit."

"I’ve been waiting to hear those words. I’ll be taking a few of these lads with me, then."

Without waiting for an answer, Dozul grabbed two mercenaries and dragged them off. No sooner had he left than Sasha came running toward me, her face pale with panic.

"Big Brother, it’s terrible! You have to come, quick!"

"What happened?"

"You'll see when you get there!"

Sasha grabbed my hand and took off. Fee, Emilina, Fritz, and Al followed close on my heels.

We raced past the City Wall guarding the settlement. There, collapsed on the ground, lay a girl drenched in blood. What caught my eye immediately were the animal ears atop her head and the tail resting near her waist.

I glanced at Fee. She gave me a small, solemn nod.

As I thought... a Beastman.

This land bordered four different nations, so I had expected members of other races to appear eventually. The presence of Rick the Kijin and Dozul the Dwarf had already set the precedent. However, this girl's condition and the location where she'd been found suggested something far more ominous.

"Emilina, can you use Healing Magic?"

"Of course."

Most citizens of the Kingdom tend to harbor a deep-seated prejudice against other races. But Emilina was the Saint—the woman who, in the original story, defeated the Mastermind alongside the hero and brought about racial peace. I knew she wouldn't hesitate to treat a wounded girl, regardless of her race.

"Fee, get some clean cloth and find a place for her to lie down. We’ll move her inside as soon as the treatment is finished."

"I'll get it ready right away!" Fee cried, dashing off.

Then Al spoke up, his voice uncharacteristically timid. "Big Brother, what can I do?"

He was showing a level of initiative that was unrecognizable from the boy who used to bully Fee. In just a few months, he had grown up significantly.

"Right. Go help Fee."

"Yeah!" Al ran after her.

"How is she? Will she make it?" I asked Emilina.

"The wounds are deep. With my current Magic Power, it might be a close call..."

Emilina was the most proficient healer in the territory. If she couldn't save the girl, no one could.

"Yuri, is there anything I can do?" Fritz asked.

"Your turn comes later. I’ll need someone to carry her to a bed once she’s stable."

"...Understood." Fritz gritted his teeth, clearly frustrated by his own helplessness.

While they focused on the girl, I turned my gaze toward the border of the Beastman Kingdom.

Five people... no, six.

They were doing a decent job of masking their presence, but the pursuers were already close. One of them felt particularly dangerous—I could feel the gathering mana of Dark Attribute Magic.

As a deterrent, I used my magic to manifest a Rock Bullet and launched it toward the dangerous one. I expected them to dodge, but the Attack must have hit home, because one of the presences vanished instantly.

There were still five left. I didn't want a fight breaking out right next to a patient.

"Fritz, I’m leaving this spot to you," I said. "If anything happens, don't hold back. Take them down."

"I'm going with—"

"No. I might have missed one or two of them. You’re the only one here who can protect Emilina."

"Hah. Fine, leave it to me. Just make sure you watch your own back."

"Obviously. Compared to a pack of Wolves, this is nothing."

I gave him a quick smirk and used my magic to lift myself into the air, soaring toward the remaining presences.

---

A group of suspicious men in black clothing were crouching in the treeline, trying to stay hidden. I didn't give them the chance. I launched a volley of rocks, shattering the trees they were using for cover.

"I know you're there. That was a warning. Show yourselves."

I manifested another large rock above my head to drive the point home. For a moment, there was silence.

"Fine..."

I fired the rock into the dirt right next to one of the hidden signatures.

"Eek!"

A man let out a terrified yelp and scrambled out into the open.

"St-stop! We don't want to fight!"

The man who emerged with his hands raised was a Beastman, just like the girl. Following his lead, the rest of the group shuffled out of the shadows. They were all Beastmen, and every one of them was covered in wounds.

"Why are you lurking around my territory? Depending on your answer—"

"It’s a misunderstanding! We’re being hunted! We fled here because we had nowhere else to go!"

"Then why were you hiding from me? And you’re the ones who left that girl by my gate, aren't you?"

They looked to be of the same tribe as the girl. It wasn't a hard guess.

"We heard rumors of a strange Lord who kept a Beastman as an attendant. We thought... we thought you might save her. But 'he' is still after us. we had to stay hidden so he wouldn't find us..."

"He?"

"A member of the Demon Race. He attacked us out of nowhere. We’ve been running for our lives, but we heard he has allies within the Human kingdoms. We were prepared to make a final stand here rather than be caught in a pincer movement."

The man looked at me desperately. "Please, will you help us?"

"Hey! He's a Human, remember?" one of the others hissed.

"But the one who's saving Elu is a Human too, isn't he?"

"Right... well, I’m that 'strange Lord' you were looking for," I interrupted. "But I don't feel anyone else nearby besides you lot."

Unless they were using some god-tier concealment magic I’d never encountered before, the area was clear. The Beastmen, however, looked at me like I'd lost my mind.

"That's impossible! He was just firing magic at us a moment ago!"

"Ah... if it was rock magic, that was me. My bad."

"No, it wasn't rocks! It was Dark Magic!"

That triggered a memory.

"Oh... sorry about that, too. I thought he was aiming for us, so I accidentally..."

"Accidentally...?"

"I think I killed him."

I led the stunned group back to where the first presence had been. There, pinned under a massive rock and very much unconscious, was a member of the Demon Race.

The Beastmen stood there, mouths agape, looking back and forth between me and the defeated demon.

"The Demon Race warrior we couldn't even scratch... even with all of us fighting together... he took him down in one hit?"

"What kind of monstrous power is this?"

"If we have his strength... could we finally fulfill our wish?"

They began whispering frantically among themselves. Then, as one, they bowed deeply to me.

"Lord of the Human race. We have a desperate request. Please, lend us your strength!"

Seeing them like that brought a specific event to mind. In the original story, the protagonist saves the Beastman Princess and eventually goes on to liberate the Beastman Kingdom.

The one pulling the strings behind that conflict is my father. I have no intention of doing something as suicidal as picking a fight with him to 'save' a kingdom. I’m not touching the original plot with a ten-foot pole.

"You just want me to shelter you until your wounds are healed, right? That’s fine."

"R-really? Just like that?"

"In exchange, you’re going to work for this territory."

"Of course! Anything! Thank you... I never dreamed there was a place in a Human land where we could live in peace..."

"We'll settle the details back at the settlement. Follow me."

"Yes, sir!"

After binding the demon to ensure he wouldn't be a problem, we began the trek back to my territory.