How to Raise a Beast
I had gone out on a short day trip with Alfred to learn the basics of raising a beast.
“Alfred, did you prepare what I asked for?”
“Yes, Young Master. It is wine from the Orleans viscount’s estate.”
“Perfect. A twenty-year vintage. One bottle of this and that old man will melt like butter.”
In this era, well-crafted wine served as an excellent tool for bribery. Without the modern convenience of sitting at a computer to satisfy one’s desires, the culture of alcohol and lavish parties had naturally flourished. Our Arnold family operated our own brewery, so using another noble house’s wine as a bribe stung my pride in more ways than one… Still, that could change once Maron’s totem proved its worth.
It was a totem capable of turning single-crop fields into double-crop fields. I should be able to alter taste, fruit size, and various other factors as well. If we produced wine from such superior modified crops, it would send ripples through the empire’s rigid liquor market. Even if it only appealed to specific connoisseurs, that would be more than enough. There were countless ways to put it to use.
Anyway.
“Please enter, Young Master.”
“I’ll wrap this up quickly and be out soon.”
I made a brief sign of the cross, then stepped through the door Alfred held open. A cross-shaped symbol stood directly before the main entrance. A platform for scripture readings and long wooden benches lined up on either side completed the picture. It was a typical cathedral, and on the foremost bench sat a clergyman with hair streaked in gray.
“You have arrived, Young Master of Arnold.”
“It has been a while, Bishop.”
“Hehehe, Bishop, you say. What an awkward title.”
The clergyman’s name was Alexon. He oversaw the church facilities in the empire’s northeast. Until two years ago he had been just another ordinary priest, distinguished only by his seniority. But after linking up with the Arnold barony’s orphan project, his reputation had soared. It was rare for a noble house to work so closely with the church to lead welfare efforts for children orphaned by beastman raids.
“A man destined to become archbishop one day should not already be crushed by the weight of his position.”
“Archbishop at my age? Bishop is more than enough.”
“You wound me, saying such things. Especially when we share such grand ambitions.”
“Hahaha, well, well.”
After a bit of smooth flattery and the presentation of the twenty-year Orleans vintage, the corners of his mouth stretched practically to his ears. A clergyman might normally frown on alcohol, but the Alexon before me was a man who could never get enough of Orleans mountain wine.
“Are you requesting additional healing personnel? Children with serious illnesses or chronic conditions have scarcely appeared lately.”
“No. I came to ask for your blessings, Bishop.”
“Blessings?”
“The Blessing of Fortitude, the Blessing of the Gentle Breeze, and the Blessing of the Lake—three of each, if you would. Please record any extras on this card.”
“Good heavens. Are you marching off to war? I cannot imagine the young master needing to risk his body so.”
“It is merely some physical labor that has come up. I ask for your kind assistance.”
I bowed respectfully to Bishop Alexon and handed over several blank cards along with the request. He pressed his lips together for a moment, then nodded.
“I shall bestow the blessings at once. I will craft them with the highest possible potency so they may be used whenever needed.”
I nodded in return and received Alexon’s blessings. With this, my preparations to wrestle Karin into submission were complete.
“Ah, one more thing, if I may?”
“What is it?”
“I will soon need to request the dispatch of a few mages and knights.”
Karin, the wolf beastman, had been born into the proud bloodline of an alpha. The golden radiance in her eyes proved her noble lineage. Yet even an alpha required the protection of the pack while still a pup. Ordinary wolves reached adulthood at three years of age, but Karin needed more time.
Then her parents were murdered by humans, and she herself was kidnapped by humans and sold to humans.
It was disgusting. She hated being locked inside this cramped room when her kind lived with the forest as their home.
“What would you like for today’s—”
“Meat.”
“For this meal—”
“Meat.”
So she kept chanting meat, meat. When she had lived in the forest, asking for meat had been the request that troubled her parents most. The maids’ troubled expressions told her everything. This works. Karin was certain.
Stupid humans. Even wolf beastmen who knew the forest better than anyone could not easily obtain meat. How could humans—with their weak legs and blunt nails and toenails—possibly hunt? Yet here they were, diligently offering meat to win her favor. It was hilarious.
“Do you really think I’ll obediently follow along?”
Karin was a predator. A beast of the forest, a wolf of the forest. She would not claim to be its master, but she was confident she surpassed even elves in close combat. Being comparable to elves made comparing her to humans an insult. An insult.
“Go ahead and try it. I’ll take all your meat.”
Then they would not survive the winter and would starve to death, right? Karin admired her perfect food-boycott plan, and so nearly two weeks passed.
“Meat…”
Karin’s breath caught at the sight of the perfectly grilled steak. Beef. A luxury she had rarely tasted in the forest, yet after receiving it at every single meal she now felt sick just looking at it. She was a wolf beastman, but she still possessed the sensibilities of an ordinary human girl. She liked meat more than most girls her age, but not so much that she could stomach eating the same dish dozens of times.
“I don’t want to eat anymore.”
She needed a new form of protest. The food boycott was fine, but if things continued she would only ever taste steak.
“Something… something new…”
Just as she was pondering a fresh method of revenge—
“Still eating nothing but meat? At this rate you’ll bankrupt our entire territory’s livestock farms.”
“Human!”
The culprit who had locked her here. The one who had thrown her into a prison without bars finally showed his face.
“Let’s begin with proper introductions. I am Fabian. Fabian Arnold. Your master.”
“Wolves have no masters!”
Fabian employed an entirely different approach from the one he had used with the other two. Constanze could be persuaded with words, and she possessed noble values she refused to compromise—hence her hostility and resentment. Maron actively cooperated in exchange for farmland.
But Karin was different. True to her wolf-blooded beastman nature that would never submit to humans, she felt instinctive revulsion at the very idea of a human standing above her. It was a different case from Constanze, who acted on noble pride and justification.
Yet in some ways, resolving Karin’s issue was simpler.
“Don’t wolves follow the leader of the pack?”
“…”
“Since you currently have no pack, you could call yourself the leader.”
“If you’re mocking me for having nothing left, I’ll kill you right now!”
“Which is why I will pull you down from that leader position.”
“…A human? Me?”
“Once I make you realize I stand higher in the hierarchy, you’ll become much more obedient.”
Beasts lived by strict hierarchy. He would crush her with rank so she could no longer hole up in the corner and waste meat. That was Fabian’s plan. It was why he had visited Alexon and received those blessings.
Once recognized as a pack member and leader, one must periodically accept challenges from the wolf beastman, right?
It was a common headache for those who took in wolf beastmen. Even after training them to fit one’s tastes, they would periodically challenge their owner like fighting dogs. But what did it matter? Fabian was not stubborn enough to ignore a clear shortcut. For a wolf beastman, true salvation might lie in gaining a pack leader they could trust and rely upon.
“Do I look funny to you?”
“What?”
“Because I’m young, female, and alone—do I look funny to you? A mere human.”
“Not particularly.”
“Then you won’t regret dying here?”
Karin bared her teeth and growled, clearly exasperated.
“Release me. Take off this thing that stops me from attacking you. Release it.”
“Imprint, disable aggression suppression function.”
The stage was set. If he subdued her with force now and imprinted his superiority several times, even Karin would no longer dare to defy him so openly.
He deliberately issued the command slowly to the slave imprint engraved on Karin’s choker.
“Ugh!”
The instant Karin’s nails shot toward Fabian’s throat—
“I’ll establish the hierarchy first. We can handle etiquette training later.”
“…!”
Fabian’s hand snatched her wrist.
In truth, it was largely thanks to the triple blessing doping he had received… but establishing hierarchy with a pet had always worked this way. The owner used every trick available, and the pet that fell for it decided the owner was amazing and offered loyalty. A wolf beastman would likely be no different.