Beastkin Ride and the Viscount's Tragic Legacy
Minwoo and Aisha had been chatting when Annie, who had been watching them from the side, suddenly spoke up as if struck by a sudden thought.
"By any chance, could it be the work of dream demons?"
"Dream demons?"
At the word dream demons, Minwoo and Aisha whipped around to stare at Annie in surprise. Naturally, the reasons for their shock were worlds apart. Minwoo had just come from a chat with the dream demons' representative, while Aisha was simply stunned by the utterly unexpected term.
Annie pressed on. "Actually, I've had some weird dreams lately too. But considering this place, it doesn't seem all that strange."
"...I see."
It did make a certain sense. After all, Roswell Village was the closest settlement to the barren wasteland housing the Demon King's Castle.
Aisha nodded, seemingly convinced by Annie's words, and turned back to Minwoo with another apology. "Sorry, Minwoo. Looks like it really was just a bad dream, like you said. And Annie, sorry for the unnecessary fuss."
"Oh, no, think nothing of it..."
In the end, Minwoo's full-throttle(?) performance, bolstered by Annie's timely assist, convinced Aisha beyond doubt that yesterday's escapades had been nothing more than a dream.
...
The two raced across the open plains.
"This is... way too embarrassing, don't you think?"
"Really? I don't mind at all... There aren't any prying eyes around anyway, so try not to worry. You don't wanna rough it overnight either, right Minwoo?"
"True, but... I feel kinda bad for you, Aisha..."
"What're you talking about? You carried me when I was in heat... ahem... when I was, uh, hurting, remember? Call it even."
"...If you insist that much, guess I can't argue. Take good care of me, then."
After resting another full day, Minwoo and Aisha rose early the next morning and promptly left Roswell Village. According to Aisha, heading east for half a day would bring them to Selton Viscountcy, a small territory, so no need for another night outdoors.
Unfortunately, that timeline was based on her speed—and Minwoo couldn't hope to keep up. So Aisha proposed a new mode of travel, and Minwoo agreed without a second thought.
Now, though, he was starting to regret it a little.
"Wh-whoa, it sure is fast... but kinda scary! The wind's biting too."
"That so? I thought humans rode horses and such all the time—feels about the same, no?"
"Ah, well... folks back home didn't really ride horses much..."
"Gotcha... Oh, watch your tongue—don't bite it."
Aisha was sprinting on all fours, Minwoo clinging to her back. Beastification. The signature ability of all beastkin. In their everyday form, they looked human save for ears and tail—but unleashing beastification turned them into something truly animalistic.
In Aisha's case, she transformed into the form of a sleek female cat. Appearance only, though—her size rivaled a leopard's. No, she was straight-up a jet-black panther.
Beastification boosted physical stats like strength and agility, but at the cost of steady mana drain. Think of it as a limiter release. Beastkin often used it in emergencies or major battles.
Aisha was an exception. As a martial artist at the pinnacle of her class, she was actually stronger in her base form. Something about beastification hindering her martial techniques. For her, it was reserved for special cases—like ferrying someone along right now.
Still, a time-limited transformation? Cool as hell, even if impractical.
Musing on that, Minwoo ran his hand through Aisha's fur in her black panther guise. The softness felt different from her human form—deeper, more inviting. He could see why people kept dogs or cats as pets now. That irresistible urge to keep petting...
"Grrowl...! Cut it out, Minwoo..."
"Ah, sorry. It was just so soft, I got carried away..."
"D-don't even say that..."
Watching the embarrassed black panther-Aisha, Minwoo wondered if he was awakening to some new kink.
...
Minwoo and Aisha arrived safely at Selton Viscountcy as the sun dipped low. No monster encounters or game-like drama en route—which made sense. They were deep in imperial territory, where beasts had been hunted to near-extinction ages ago. The Roswell incident had actually been a freak outlier.
Thanks to Aisha's status as a former hero, entry formalities flew by. By full dusk, they were in the viscount's manor, sipping tea in the drawing room while awaiting their host.
Aisha set down her cup with a grimace—she clearly wasn't a fan of the bitter brew—and said, "If things go smoothly from here, we'll hit the capital soon."
"Huh? The capital's that close already?"
Was this world's continent smaller than he'd thought? The question flickered through Minwoo's mind, but Aisha's explanation cleared it up.
"Nah, distance-wise, we've got a ways to go. But nobles with territories always have teleportation arrays linked straight to the capital. Borrow one, and we're there in a flash. Roswell didn't have a lord, so no dice there..."
"Ah, got it..."
Minwoo marveled anew at the wonders of magic. Though a twinge of regret hit him too—he'd planned to savor Aisha slowly en route to the capital. Meeting the heroes sooner was fine, but she was too fine a prize to sample just once or twice and discard.
As Minwoo mulled his happy dilemma, Aisha suddenly dropped her gaze, tail swishing side to side. "S-so, anyway... you're really set on going back to your original world, Minwoo?"
"Huh? Ah... well."
Come to think of it, Aisha believed Minwoo was heading to the capital to find a way home—she had suggested it, after all.
But his departure would mean a second heartbreak for her. She hid it well, but Minwoo knew she was head over heels.
"I'll be tied up playing hero mentor for a bit, but... parting ways with you like this feels kinda lonely."
"..."
Minwoo pondered his response to her surprisingly direct words when—
"Terribly sorry to keep you waiting. Lady Aisha. I'm Selton."
The viscount entered the drawing room.
...
"A... favor?"
"Y-yes, that's right."
Selton Viscount was a middle-aged man around Jerome the Incubus Lord's apparent age. Unlike the handsome Jerome, he was your standard pot-bellied uncle—but his face carried a kindly vibe. Hard to judge by looks alone, of course.
The viscount readily approved their use of the teleport array but mentioned one request.
"Truth be told, this is something only Lady Aisha could help with..."
"?"
What could demand such a lengthy preamble? The tale that followed piqued even Minwoo's interest.
...
The current viscount's great-great-grandfather—three generations back, that is. Said ancestor had fallen for a beastkin woman. He was already a married middle-aged man by then, and she'd been mere chattel—a slave. But somehow, love bloomed.
Then came the previous hero, Leon, abolishing beastkin slavery. Unable to keep her as property, the old viscount fretted... until she chose to stay on as a maid. She too had been drawn to his kindness, free of slaveholder cruelty.
His wife—the great-great-grandmother—disapproved, though. Nobles keeping a mistress or two was no big deal, but a beastkin? She was an extreme human supremacist, loathing the idea of her husband bedding "that beast bitch."
To split them, she hatched a scheme: Hire a beastkin male to rape the woman during her heat cycle.
Predictably, pregnancy followed. Human-beastkin pairings were infertile, so the evidence was ironclad—she'd bedded another.
Furious and betrayed, the viscount cast her out without hearing her side.
Time passed. Regret set in. He scrambled to find her, only to learn she'd been brutally murdered on his wife's orders.
But the story didn't end there. The slain beastkin had left behind a newborn baby girl.