How to Raise a Beast
“Imprint, release aggression suppression function.”
I pushed every one of Karin’s instincts into overdrive, then disabled the imprint’s effect. Even if she hadn’t been a wolf, any beast with ambitions to become pack leader would trigger the same response: the current leader had to step forward and punish the challenger. At this moment, with her own pack scattered and herself alone, Karin clearly saw herself as the sole alpha of a one-wolf pack. If someone tried to stand above her, her beastman blood would scream at her to fight.
“Grr!”
The attack came at the exact timing I had predicted. It was a lethal strike aimed straight at my throat. But her arms were still short from her young age, limiting both reach and speed. Thanks to the triple blessing package—Strength, Gentle Breeze, and Lake’s Blessing—my body could handle it with ease. Bishop Alexon might not have an impressive career on paper, but the man knew how to lay down a blessing like a pro.
“Want to keep going?”
“Die!”
I caught her wrist a split second before her claws could rip into my neck and asked the question. Instantly a kick shot toward my groin. Crazy girl. I twisted my knee up in reflex and blocked it. Shin slammed against shin. The moment pain twisted her face and broke her balance, I released her.
-Crash!
Karin tumbled backward, rolling across the floor in a rather undignified heap. I immediately mounted her, pinning both wrists down at once. I knew joint locks from my consistent self-defense training, but there was no need to be that cruel to a girl who was only around Constanze’s age. Besides, with the blessing buffs running through me, I held an overwhelming advantage in raw strength.
“You can keep trying if you want. Challenge me anytime. I’ll take every single one. But until you beat me, you follow my orders.”
“Get lost…!”
Karin glared at me with bloodshot eyes. Her pinned arms twitched. Her legs flailed, searching for any opening to attack. Then our eyes met.
“Get lo—”
She swallowed the rest of the word. Those signature golden eyes trembled, then slid away to the side.
“……”
Even her voice had failed her. All I felt rolling off her was a heavy, crushing sense of defeat. The exchange had been sloppy, but a clear hierarchy had been established.
“Not fighting anymore?”
“This isn’t over.”
“Sure looked like it was. I heard wolf beastmen who join human society cause chaos by picking fights everywhere they go.”
“You think trash like you can command the noble bloodline of the forest? Once I get older…”
“Perfect timing. I only planned to raise you until you become an adult anyway. Once you’re grown, earn your own money and live however you want.”
“Eek!”
A tremor ran through her. On the wrist I still held down, her fist—claws fully extended—tightened, then slowly loosened. The rigid claws slid back beneath her skin.
“So this is what it feels like?”
In the end, establishing hierarchy was just another desire. Like how the three great urges—lust, hunger, sleep—left a lull once satisfied, a wolf beastman’s need to settle the pecking order seemed to fade once it was decided, suppressed by hormones. The effect would probably last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.
“I’ll let you go. Let’s talk first, yeah?”
“…Moving made me hungry.”
“We can talk while we eat.”
“I want something other than meat.”
“You eat vegetables? Want some french fries?”
“Yeah.”
Now that her urge to challenge me had died down, her appetite seemed to surge forward to fill the gap. Resistance forgotten, Karin whined that she was starving. I helped her to her feet.
“That thing around your neck—I’ll remove it soon too.”
“Really?”
“I’ve proven I can suppress you. And after I do, it looks like you can’t attack me for a while. Let’s go fill our bellies.”
Honestly, she felt far safer than Constanze. There was a clear safety brake built into her instincts. Once she adapted to life here in a year or two, it would be better to free her completely. Just like I promised Maron, I wanted a relationship built on genuine trust rather than a slave imprint. That kind of bond was healthier and made it easier to plant real affection for the Arnold Barony.
“Young master. The food you requested. I left the sauce on the side.”
“Thanks. Good work.”
Hoping to slowly close the distance between us, I set the plate of french fries the maid handed me in front of Karin.
“Want sauce on them?”
“I can eat just fine without that junk. I eat raw potatoes without complaint. Don’t think I’ll go along with human cooking and eat that sweet-smelling garbage.”
Even after the hierarchy was set, it seemed verbal sarcasm was still on the table. I gave a bitter smile at her grumpy muttering, then speared a fry with my fork, dipped it in the honey-based sauce, and popped it into my mouth.
“Then don’t eat any.”
“…?”
Eating fries with honey was already a pretty weird preference. I only got used to it after trying it a few times since arriving here. Plain fries were delicious too. I had zero intention of forcing my tastes on her.
“……”
Karin pressed her lips into a tight line and puffed out her cheeks. I stared at her, wondering what was going on, then realized.
Right now, to her, I’m the pack leader.
She had lost the hierarchy duel. In wolf beastman society, the alpha’s word was law. If I told her not to eat, she literally could not eat. If nothing else, matters of food management were carved into her DNA.
“It was a joke. Eat them.”
“…Don’t give weird orders about food.”
She muttered the complaint under her breath, then stayed completely silent until every last fry was gone—each one carefully dipped in sauce. She had probably planned to try one plain at the end, but afraid I might forbid it again, she frantically dipped them all. They must have suited her taste after all.
“This kid will be happy if I give her french fries whenever she asks for snacks. Pay attention to that. She really enjoyed them.”
“W-when did I! When did I enjoy them!”
“See? Make them even tastier next time.”
“I will do my best, young master.”
“If they’re more delicious… I might eat them one more time…”
Eating lots of good food would probably mellow out her personality. Let’s just get along with smiles.
For the next several days, Karin stayed by my side from the moment she woke up until she fell asleep. Unlike Maron, who personally tended the fields, or Constanze, who was busy with black magic research to produce results, Karin had nothing specific to do yet. It wasn’t time to teach her martial arts. Teaching her how to live in human society came first.
“Okay, the name Karin is written like this.”
“Writing a name? Sounds gross.”
“No, um…”
How exactly was I supposed to explain this? Beastmen were usually taught survival skills first. Given that Karin had lived isolated deep in the forest, that tendency was probably even stronger. Education like this had been completely foreign to her life.
“Karin. Imagine there’s a person who can’t speak.”
“That’s sad.”
“…Don’t you think those people would still want to communicate?”
“I guess?”
“Letters and writing were created to make that communication easier.”
“Can’t you just use sign language? I used it with kids who hurt their throats. Just a little more practice on hand signals and it’s easy.”
She already understood sign language, which made introducing the concept of writing surprisingly difficult. Still, I had already raised hundreds of orphans. I had taken in children who couldn’t read, suffered from malnutrition and complications, and turned them into proper guards or given them farmland to farm. This would work too. It might be hard, but if I kept teaching Karin, she would get it eventually.
“Everyone has different talents, right? Some people are absolutely terrible at sign language.”
“…Is that true?”
“It is. So they created writing for people like that. This is your name written in the empire’s script.”
“Oh…”
I would teach her step by step, starting at eye level, and raise her into a proper talent.
“Let’s treat it like drawing pictures and take it slow. Once you can write your name properly, I’ll grant one wish.”
“What kind of wish?”
“I could let you eat something delicious, or if there’s a lesson you want to hear, I can arrange that too.”
Kids like her didn’t even understand why they should study, so I had to use a purely carrot-based teaching method. When they showed interest, I would gently tug them along so they absorbed the lesson as if enchanted. Building the habit of studying was the most important part.
“I made it!”
Defense Turret
Created by Constanze
Automatically targets and fires condensed black magic using charged amethysts. Installed along the borders of the Arnold Barony.
“The Automatic Magic Sentry! I made it!”
She really was the perfect candidate for the carrot-and-stick approach. No matter what you did, she bounced right back up like a roly-poly toy and grew straight. I hadn’t expected her to deliver results this quickly.