Chapter 166: Chapter 165: The Secrets Of Beastmen

Beastmen.

Their presence became prominent shortly after the series of calamities struck this world.

A mysterious race that seemed to be a fusion of humans and animals.

Upon their emergence, they claimed to be the new humanity and the epitome of progress, constantly displaying their ambition to dominate over humans.

Although the damage they caused was not as severe as that by the undead or the Demon King’s army, they were still a target for extermination as they were in a struggle for survival.

“Please help us!!!!”

But why was a group of these beastmen swarming the gate and pleading for help from the soldiers and residents?

“Our comrades are dying! Please provide us with a place to rest, even if it’s just for a little while!”

“We can’t rest properly outside because it’s crawling with monsters! Please, just a little… even a little bit would be enough, please!!”

The beastmen, who appeared to be in poor condition, were gasping for breath or trembling, hugging each other, and desperately pleading.

Despite their beastly appearance, their human traits showed that they were not just mere animals.

Yes, they certainly possessed a personality.

“Get lost!!! How dare you crawl in here?!”

“Come any closer, and I’ll blow your heads off!”

But the faces of the soldiers confronting them were filled with fear and hatred.

It was a natural reaction.

No matter how much they could communicate, unlike the demons or undead, letting them in was akin to bringing enemies into the camp during a war.

“Please, I beg you!”

Surely, the beastmen were aware of this.

Nevertheless, the fox beastman, presumed to be the leader, bowed her head to the ground, disregarding the arrows aimed at them.

“Even if it’s just for a moment. We’ll leave quietly once our comrades’ condition improves. Or at least until the main group that followed our scent arrives…”

“Danger!!!”

At that moment, the arrow was deflected by the swipe of the lion beastman next to her.

Amid the standoff, one of the soldiers, unable to bear the tension, had fired an arrow at them.

“Are you crazy!? Firing without orders, provoking them…”

“Shut up! What more do you need to see? They’re beastmen! Do you know how many villages have been destroyed by them?!”

“Yeah, if we could deal with anyone who could talk, we wouldn’t be at odds with the Demon King’s army or the undead!”

“How can we deal with them when they call themselves the Anti-Human Alliance? There’s nothing more to see. They’re enemies, enemies!!”

“Captain! Give us the order!”

The soldiers, starting with the first shot, began to rally.

The lion beastman snarled and glared at them menacingly in response to the hostile atmosphere.

“Grr, I didn’t think we could talk to humans anyway. We should just wipe them all out and take over…”

“No, we can’t do that!”

The fox beastman quickly restrained the lion beastman.

Even though an arrow almost hit her head, she tried to restrain the enraged lion beastman.

“You know our people aren’t in good condition right now! The reason they’re hostile to us is largely our responsibility…”

“Don’t talk about responsibility! If they hadn’t treated us like failures from the start, we wouldn’t be in this situation!”

“Even so…!”

Unlike the humans, who were united in hostility, the beastman representatives were divided on whether to fight or not.

Meanwhile, many of the beastmen behind them were either sick or looking worried and anxious.

The lion beastman was also wary of them and couldn’t just charge in emotionally.

Anyone could see that they weren’t pretending to attack this place.

“…Hero, what should we do?”

Lieutenant Sanson asked me, observing the situation objectively from the gate.

Unlike the soldiers at the gate, he was focused solely on me, waiting for my opinion.

“Can I make the decision?”

“The gate’s captain seems to be waiting for your opinion as well.”

The reason they hadn’t given the order to fire yet was because the captain hadn’t given his command.

Though he was in charge, they couldn’t ignore my influence as a hero, so their tense gazes were directed at me.

Alright, so my opinion is the most important here.

“Hero, give us the order!”

“We need to drive them away from here… No, we need to exterminate them all!”

Realizing this, the soldiers slowly turned their attention from the captain to me.

I turned away from them and briefly looked at the beastmen below the wall.

“Please…”

The desperate fox beastman and the lion beastman, who was ready to use force if necessary.

If we drive them away, conflict is inevitable, but letting them in also carries risks.

Whichever choice we make, we can’t expect it to go smoothly since they are an enemy force.

Objectively, it would be more sensible to block the danger from the outside rather than let it in.

“Ah, ah…”

However, there was one reason I couldn’t just draw my weapon and charge at them.

From the moment Francheska heard that the beastmen had approached, her complexion had turned pale.

“Flang, are you alright?”

“No. It’s just that…”

“I understand that you’re scared because the beastmen have come in groups. Please go down for now. We’ll handle this.”

“I can’t do that. How can I leave them…?”

Flang trembled, unsure of what to do at Sanson’s words.

Even after revealing her true nature, she had always maintained her composure, so why was she so shaken upon facing the beastmen?

“…Can we find a place as far from the residential area as possible for them?”

I couldn’t know the reason, but I could make a guess.

None other than one who claimed to be the protector of humanity, and the connection Airi had made suggested something significant about the beastmen.

“Hero, what do you mean…?”

“You’re not seriously thinking of letting them in, are you?”

“They said it would only be until their main group joins them, so I don’t think simply dealing with them will be enough.”

I wanted to gently convey my most rational thoughts to the shocked soldiers.

“Beastmen are a race with a strong sense of kinship. If they find out we drove them away or killed them, they might lead their entire group to raze this place.”

“We’ve prepared for that. They’re clearly enemies of humanity too…!”

“I’m not prepared for that.”

The uproar stopped abruptly at my firm declaration.

In the silence that followed, I spoke to them in a heavy voice.

“No matter how much I’m recognized as a hero, I’m not invincible. Even if I fight with you, someone might still end up buried here.”

“But…”

“I don’t want to see people I know die in front of me.”

“…”

“…Please, if you’re truly worried, I’ll guard them myself. Just prepare a place and stay as far away as possible.”

I knew it was a dangerous choice, but I was determined to carry out my current stance.

I was confident that if my choice was wrong, the protector of humanity, who had the duty to guard them, would have stopped me immediately.

After much persuasion, the gate’s defense unit provided a place to accommodate the beastmen.

It was just an unused outpost, but having walls and a roof meant they could be safely cared for, which was fortunate.

Yes, a place like this would avoid unnecessary friction, which was ideal.

“Damn, who would have thought we’d end up indebted to humans?”

As the expedition members brought in supplies for treatment and rest, I heard the lion beastman guarding the outpost grumbling.

Though they were reluctantly accepting help, they still harbored negative feelings towards humanity.

“Don’t say that, Leon. We’re the ones receiving help here.”

The fox beastman spoke cautiously, as if admonishing the lion beastman.

Her demeanor was gentle, contrary to the stereotype of beastmen being fierce, but the lion beastman only looked more irritated.

“Is there any kindness without price in this world? And that guy volunteered to watch over us. Heroes are usually selfish jerks and idiots…”

Every word he said was true.

“Don’t worry. As long as you don’t harm us, we don’t intend to harm you either.”

Thinking there was no point in arguing, I snorted and approached, causing the lion beastman’s body to tense up.

Unlike the lion beastman, the fox beastman bowed her head with a guilty expression.

“I’m sorry, we’re in no position to complain when we’re receiving help.”

“Well, we’ve been enemies until now, so it’s understandable. But we’re helping because we don’t want unnecessary friction either… Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, we’ll leave as soon as we’re better.”

It’s a relief that their leader is reasonable.

We should still be cautious, but if things go well, we can send them back without further conflict.

With that relief, I quietly introduced myself.

“I’m Hero Woo Hyo-sung, and you?”

“I’m Hororis, the leader of the Anti-Human—no, the Beastman Alliance reconnaissance team. And this is…”

“…Leon, a member of the reconnaissance team.”

“So he’s your subordinate?”

“Ugh! It’s just because of experience. Just wait, once I prove myself…”

Leon growled and clenched his fist.

Hororis, watching him, wore a troubled expression and turned her gaze inside the outpost.

“Anyway, that girl is amazing. Most humans are either shocked or scared of us, but she’s even taking care of us directly.”

In the direction of her gaze, a girl in a maid outfit was moving among the fallen beastmen.

She approached the beastmen who were trembling as if on the brink of death without hesitation, holding their hands and encouraging them.

“It’s alright. You just lost your composure a bit. You can do this.”

“Uh, uggh. Uh… Hah.”

“Take a deep breath. Slowly, quietly…”

“Hah, hah.”

Although it couldn’t be called proper treatment, her gentle words seemed effective as the beastmen’s condition quickly improved.

I wondered if she was knowledgeable about beastmen because she specialized in hunting them, and I asked Hororis for more information.

“They don’t seem to have any major external injuries. What happened?”

“They went into a frenzy during their activities.”

“Frenzy?”

“Yes, when they’re under mental stress, their rationality gets overwhelmed by their wild instincts…”

“That’s too much.”

Leon interrupted the explanation with a dismissive tone.

But Hororis couldn’t ignore his words and quickly closed her mouth, watching him warily.

“…Hey, human.”

Leon, behind Hororis’s gaze, spoke quietly to me.

“Thanks for helping us, but… don’t try to learn too much about our nature. It won’t be good for you to know too much.”

“…If that’s what you want.”

Quite rude for someone receiving help.

I wanted to say that, but I decided to keep quiet for now.

There would be other opportunities to learn about the beastmen’s nature.

Late at night, after the beastmen’s condition had somewhat improved.

Francheska, who had watched over their condition until late, finally explained their situation to me when I asked.

“Many of the beastmen who came here are on the verge of beastification.”

“…Beastification?”

“Beastmen are beings whose physical structures were forcibly transformed for external reasons.”

Francheska looked around the outpost where they were resting.

The complex emotions in her gaze and the way she placed her hand on her chest clearly expressed her inner turmoil.

“Since they weren’t born this way, their bodies are highly unstable. If that balance is disrupted by external shocks… they eventually lose their sanity completely and fall into an irreversible frenzy.”

“Irreversible… what do you mean?”

“Humanity has probably seen it many times. Beastmen going on a rampage, destroying settlements or massacring humans.”

One reason for their hostility towards humanity is the frenzy inherent in their race.

Normally, that would be the end of the story, but Francheska’s suddenly darkened expression presented a different level of dissonance from what I usually knew of her.

Isn’t it strange?

That someone who claims to be a companion of humanity would show such a reaction to a race hostile to humans like the orcs.

“…Wait.”

No, perhaps she was reacting this way because of such reasoning.

With that thought, I voiced my sudden question to her.

“Beastmen… were forcibly transformed?”

Beastmen started to rampage after the calamity, so they, like the Demon King’s army or the undead, were believed to have been born in the successive calamities.

But the one in front of me is a being that has shared history with the empire for a thousand years.

The reason she reacted so intensely was probably because she had encountered the existence of beastmen in that history.

“Then, the beastmen we know were originally…”

“Humans, perhaps.”

Francheska spoke before the hypothesis could even form in my mind.

As my heart sank at her words, Francheska began to raise her head.

“…If that’s true, what will you do?”

I realized.

Why her voice was so gentle when caring for the beastmen.

And why she turned pale when she first saw the beastmen.

“If, regardless of the reason, they were truly human… can you embrace those who are now classified as non-human?”

From the perspective of someone who had protected humanity for a thousand years, facing the sight of humans turning against each other.

Who could imagine how that heart could become twisted?

-Swoosh!

As if to reflect those feelings, a cold wind began to blow in front of the outpost.

No, it wasn’t just a normal change in the weather.

The cold and ferocity in that wind indicated that someone was creating it artificially.

“I have a question for the humans over there.”

At the sound of a deep voice amidst the frost in the wind, Francheska and I reflexively turned our gazes there.

A shadow approached, cutting through the snowstorm that had started to blow.

When the figure finally stood in the moonlit spot, it revealed a huge white fur cloak.

Seeing that figure, I immediately recalled a beastman from a wanted poster created by humans.

“I came here because I smelled my comrades…”

“Can you honestly tell me what state those behind you are in?”

Phobia Homer, Assault Team Leader of the Anti-Human Alliance.

Even I, as a hero, couldn’t guarantee a complete victory against him, the strongest warrior of the beastmen.