The Neutral Grounds of Cadelis
Cadelis. One hundred years ago, among all the cities of humanity, this had been the most prosperous capital of the empire. Though faint scars from the war still lingered here and there, the city now belonged entirely to the beastmen. What made it unique was that it wasn’t governed by any single race, but by the Priests of the Dragon.
The Priests of the Dragon were those who believed in and followed the guardian deity of all beastmen. They were the ones who received the Dragon’s solemn will and carried out its commands. If the Dragon was a living god upon this earth, then its priests were its apostles and angels. The city they managed was Cadelis.
No race was permitted to stir up conflict here. No nation could prowl its streets with blood-stained fangs and claws in preparation for war. That tradition had held for decades. But in recent years it had begun to fade. The reason was simple: the Dragon had remained in seclusion for a very long time.
For over several decades, it had given no particular instructions to the beastmen. Its silence had lasted so long that rumors now circulated—whispers that the Dragon was already dead and that the priests were hiding the truth. Still, even if the priests’ authority had weakened, Cadelis’s political importance had not changed in the slightest.
It was a sanctuary of harmony. A sworn ground of non-aggression. An implicit vow that, no matter how many wars raged across the continent, at least within Cadelis there would be no fighting. If war ever broke out even here, it would mean the peace the beastmen had maintained for decades had finally shattered completely.
That was why the academy had been built in Cadelis. Whatever their true intentions might be, every race at least outwardly proclaimed the shared goal of “the future and prosperity of all species.”
Cadelis Academy. Spring had arrived, and with it, the new semester.
“Kyaa!”
In front of the academy’s lecture hall, a girl clutching a book stumbled and fell hard after colliding with something. She had white hair and crimson eyes. Her long rabbit ears shot straight up in alarm as she frantically grabbed the fallen textbook titled Introduction to Magic Theory.
“Hey!”
The white-haired rabbit beastman immediately rounded on the person standing before her. He was massive. For a brief moment she felt a flicker of fear that he might be a carnivore, but her sense of injustice won out. Anger flared in her voice.
“What do you think you’re doing, blocking the path like that!”
The man had simply been standing still. He wasn’t meditating, nor was he waiting to shake someone down. Anyone watching would have said the girl had been walking with her head down, crashed into an innocent bystander, and then thrown a tantrum like it was his fault. But none of that mattered to the rabbit beastman named Bleber.
“Hey!!”
“...You’re loud.”
The man turned with clear irritation in his voice. He had blond hair and sun-bronzed skin. Deep annoyance swam in his brown eyes, but the two horns atop his head made his species obvious.
“Chattering nonstop. You talk too much.”
“What did you just say?!”
“If you were a horned beastman instead of a rabbit, that would have been the same as trying to gore me from behind. You do realize that, right?”
“U-ugh…!”
His words were painfully accurate. Bleber knew she was in the wrong for losing her temper like this, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Hey! You sheep beastman!”
“...What.”
His reaction was a little slow, but the blond sheep beastman finally turned to face her properly.
“Which tribe are you from? Where did you crawl out from to act this arrogantly?!”
“...Arrogant?”
“Answer me! Right now!”
Bleber’s hand quietly rested on her hip. A sharp short sword hung there. If she needed to, she could draw it in an instant and drive it straight through his heart.
“Who are you to interrogate me?”
“Ha, you’re asking who I am? The fact that you don’t know proves you’re suspicious! You must be a spy pretending to be a new student in that uniform!”
She had every right to demand answers.
“Listen carefully! I am the princess of the rabbit beastmen! The chosen successor who will inherit the King’s Symbol of the rabbit tribe!”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Did you not hear me? I said I am the successor to the King’s Symbol! As one of the future Twelve Kings…!”
“I heard you. It’s just ridiculous. Even if you really are the successor, that doesn’t automatically make you one of the Twelve Kings, does it?”
“What…?”
Bleber was stunned. She had never encountered such rude behavior in all her life within rabbit territory.
“Y-you insolent—!”
“You were the one who started being insolent. You enrolled at Cadelis Academy, yet you don’t even know the student rules?”
“Wh-what?”
“Ah. I suppose you might not.”
Student Rules
Article 1, Paragraph 1
All beastmen at Cadelis Academy are equal under the Dragon.
“......”
“This is Cadelis Academy. Are you perhaps a Dragon? If you’re using polymorph magic to disguise yourself as a beastman, I will apologize sincerely.”
“Uh, that’s…”
No matter how bold she was, Bleber wasn’t bold enough to impersonate a Dragon.
“I see you’re not. Then you’re just a rabbit—”
“I am not just a rabbit! I am the princess of the Rabbit Kingdom!”
“Oh, my mistake. Princess Bleber of the Rabbit Kingdom, then.”
“...Huh?”
Something felt wrong—
“So what?”
“What?”
“Whether you’re a princess or a queen, why should I care? We’re both new students. Both first-years.”
“Y-you…!”
“These days even members of the same race treat each other like strangers. We’re completely different species. Why should I show you any special courtesy? Unless the rabbit beastmen have already conquered and unified every tribe and nation on the continent, including the Twelve Races?”
“Y-you…!”
“If not, then let’s both just go our own ways. Stop bothering me.”
The sheep beastman gave a lazy wave and disappeared into the building without another word.
“Ha…!”
The sheer absurdity of it all nearly made her ears burn with rage, but Bleber forced her trembling fists open and swallowed her anger.
“That’s right. Mother did warn me. She said Cadelis Academy would be very different from the kingdom. That it would be exactly this kind of place.”
Bleber picked up the book that had fallen to the ground.
“Since I couldn’t bring any servants, I have to handle everything myself…”
Her gaze shifted to the rather large carrier behind her. She ground her teeth and glared in the direction the man had vanished.
“What the hell is his problem? So annoying. Did the sheep not send any message ahead of time?”
She simply couldn’t understand it.
“That damn ill-mannered king. Herbivores should be sticking together, yet he’s over here irritating everyone…!”
This academy was a gathering of countless races. In a way, it was a battlefield. Unless you were truly confident in your own strength, making enemies was the last thing you should do.
Yet that tanned, blond sheep beastman… just who was he?
“Seriously, no manners at all. Throwing around someone’s name like that… wait.”
Bleber suddenly realized something.
“How did he know my name? Did I ever tell him?”
She searched her memory. She had mentioned being the successor to the King’s Symbol, but she was certain she had never given her name. Which meant—
“That sheep bastard knew exactly who I was and still treated me like that?!”
He had ignored her completely even after recognizing her.
“Y-you…!”
Bleber’s rabbit ears shot straight up toward the sky.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
After venting for a short while, Bleber made her way to the dormitory, unpacked her belongings in her assigned room, and flung herself onto the bed.
“Ha, seriously…”
Her irritation refused to fade. It wasn’t simply because of the long carriage journey that had taken over a week to reach Cadelis, nor was it only because the first beastman she met after arriving turned out to be a rude male jerk.
“Why do I have to prove myself in a place like this…?”
Just being at Cadelis Academy was infuriating.
The Rabbit Queen had declared that the King’s Symbol would be awarded to whoever achieved the highest grades at the academy. Originally, tradition dictated that the symbol would pass to the eldest daughter—the princess. But the queen had suddenly changed that longstanding custom, as if she had lost her mind.
If Bleber had simply done nothing, the King’s Symbol would have been hers and she would have become the queen who united all rabbits. Now it had become a trial. Other rabbits—even those who weren’t royalty—could obtain the symbol if they earned top grades until graduation. Even non-rabbits could claim it!
“Ugh… uuu…!”
What if she failed to obtain the King’s Symbol? Could she still become queen of the rabbit tribe? Bloodline was one symbol of royalty, and she had that, but would the rabbits truly accept a queen who did not possess the King’s Symbol?
Success meant she broke even. Failure meant ruin.
Bleber had no idea where to direct the frustration and fury boiling inside her.
“Hmm…?”
When she turned to look out the window, Bleber saw it.
“Huh?!”
It was the back of that blond jerk. Both hands stuffed into his uniform pockets, he was being surrounded and pressured by no fewer than three massive figures. Every one of them was enormous. They weren’t even in fully humanoid forms—their species traits were blatantly obvious from the neck up. They were fishmen.
No matter how strong the sheep beastman’s legs might be, if those great white shark-like giants were closing in on him—
“N-no!”
Bleber sprang off the bed and dashed outside. A few dormitory students flinched at the sight of her, but she paid them no mind and kept running. Regardless of how rude the sheep was, she could not stand by and watch carnivores oppress an herbivore through brute force.
“Hey, you lot—”
She sprinted at full speed, but when she reached the alley—
Thud!
“...Huh?”
In the narrow passage stood only three fish tribe students lying sprawled on the ground with their mouths hanging open. Their eyes had rolled back in their heads as if they had been knocked unconscious the instant they were struck in the solar plexus.
“How… did this happen…?”