A Friendly Request for Cooperation

I'd truly appreciate it if everyone could just cooperate...

"Um... the priest's dwelling changes all the time. Well, more precisely, it's the 'entrance' that changes..."

"So the location itself stays the same?"

"Yes. It used to be identical every single time, but ever since the priest declared seclusion, the entrance began shifting from place to place all over the forest. The beastmen dragged their exhausted bodies around searching for it, but in the end they gave up."

The entrance changes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every time, huh...

Most likely some movement magic or an authority operating through spatial coordinates.

"It doesn't matter. Just tell me anywhere that used to be an entrance."

"A place that has been an entrance once never becomes one again. Even if you went there—"

"I can find it. As long as there's a trace."

If it was a spatial coordinate magic formula, I could reverse-trace whatever invoked those coordinates and travel straight to it.

Of course, they might notice my presence and dispel it...

If they're a mage of that caliber, they're probably the culprit anyway.

And if it turned out to be an authority, then the priest's movements might ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply be Blue-Ring's will.

"Ah... yes! Then I'll tell you!"

KABOOM!

A roar that shook the very foundations of the earth. The house lurched in an instant, and the beastmen clinging flat against the windows all lost their balance at once and slid down to the ground.

"Come out, you cowards!"

"Those bastards are finally making their move!"

"What's going on?"

"The neighboring village is attacking! We have to go out there!"

Cora sprang up from her seat. As she hurried to leave, she glanced at Poro, whose color had drained from his face, pressed her lips briefly to his forehead, and slipped out the door.

I looked out past the half-open door.

The two villages were already pressed up against each other, locked in a war of nerves. I turned my head and caught sight of Poro, cold sweat beading down his face.

"...So, what should we do about this?"

The blue eyes gazing down at him flashed, cold and razor-sharp.

"You damned wretches! Because of you, Ita's been left a walking corpse!"

"How is that our fault?!"

"Your village has more sick than anyone, doesn't it! And you dragged them all the way here and spread the disease to us!"

"It's not even contagious! The priest never said a word about it spreading!"

The two villages collided head-on and were now snarling at each other across the divide.

Any one of them would have gladly put those sharp claws and hardy bodies to use the moment someone else made the first move — yet not a single soul stepped forward. Every one of them had a family to protect, and protecting that family meant they couldn't afford to waste their already-thin manpower.

Of course, had the culprit been exposed, they would have charged without a second thought. But they hadn't found so much as a trace of the culprit, let alone the culprit themselves.

Still, that too was only a matter of time. If the situation grew desperate enough, teeth would come out eventually.

"By the way. What exactly are you all leaning on, strutting around like that?"

"Wh-what?"

The tiger beastman bared his fangs. He was the chief of the village opposite Cora's — a genuine powerhouse who, despite having caught the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sickness himself, had crushed most of its effects under sheer physical might.

His enormous claws glinted in the sunlight.

"Over half your village is sick and even your bear is flat on his back — so what, exactly, is left for you to be puffing your chest up about?"

"Grrr..."

"And that Poro fellow was getting around fine for a sick man, but seeing as he hasn't shown his face, isn't he collapsed too?"

"P-Poro has his circumstances!"

A slow, mocking tilt of the head.

"Those circumstances being him moaning in a sickbed, right, you dumb mutt?"

"...I'm a wolf!"

"A cur's a cur, wolf or not."

The tiger beastman flicked his hand. His beastmen began swiftly encircling the people of this village.

Even granting that Cora's side were wolves, they were desperately short on anyone capable of fighting. The bear beastman hailed as the village's strongest had long since been bedridden, and Poro was...

"...You're really going through with this?"

"I don't want to either. But well, one of the two villages has to survive, doesn't it?"

Very well then. Everyone, att—

"I'm afraid I can't allow that."

I revealed myself, cutting straight through the clamor. At the sight of me, the beastmen of this village flinched and shrank back in fear.

"...Who the hell is that woman?"

Tiger-striped hair and clothing that declared his nature at a glance, and the yellow eyes of an apex predator. That towering frame and those razor claws were genuinely menacing — far more than any ordinary human could hope to handle.

'Menacing?'

"I've decided. Let's find the culprit. I doubt rounding you all up would solve anything anyway."

"Who gave you the right to decide that? You don't even look like a beastman—"

"Well, you see."

CRUNCH.

KRA-BOOOM!!!

"That's my decision."

A hyena beastman had charged in and crumpled to the ground before anyone knew what was happening. He must have attacked me before the tiger in charge could even bark out his mad order.

Looking closer, his beastification had progressed to a frightening degree.

'His sickness must have been far ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠along indeed.'

There was a reason these people had grown so desperate.

"You!"

The tiger beastman came charging. His assault was fiercer than even the Mole Beastkin ranker I had faced before — mana-laden claws carving burning arcs through the air, the pressure of an apex predator swallowing the entire surroundings.

"Ugh!"

"Aaaagh!"

The beastmen with frail bodies or those closer to herbivores trembled where they stood.

I drew out my spear.

"You think a pathetic skewer like that can stop me?!"

"Not bad, actually."

The shaft spun in a blur. Flowing like water, the spearhead moved exactly twice — and every one of those sharp claws went flying.

The cleanly severed claws scattered into the tiger beastman's eyes.

"GRAAAAAGH!!!"

"But there's no need for your head to become a beast along with the rest of you."

To squander such a formidable body on nothing but brute brawling. Strength and intelligence — a beastman blessed with both advantages, and yet he was exercising neither.

If the sickness was to blame, it couldn't be helped.

CRUNCH.

"Gahk!"

The world does not extend its sympathy to every sob story it hears.

"Lord Hoa lost..."

"How is this possible!"

"Hey! What the hell is that woman?"

"...We don't know either. Some stranger who suddenly knocked Poro flat!"

"What?"

I'd truly appreciate it if everyone could just cooperate...

You will, won't you?

I put on my friendliest smile.

Usually, this is the part where everyone nods along and does as I say.

And that holds true even now.

Rune Village, Cora's home, and Re Village, the tiger beastmen's domain.

Rune Village's total population came to 128, of whom only 45 could currently function normally — the rest lay in sickbeds or hovered on the brink of death.

Re Village's numbers were comparable at 132, but those still capable of normal activity numbered around 75 — nearly double.

BANG!

"So! Wasn't it those bastards who did it?!"

"What did you say, you rabbit?!"

"Any fool can see the bigger group did it on purpose!"

"Why you—!"

"Enough."

A figure rose to his full height, and every mouth gathered inside Rune Village's only meeting hall snapped shut.

Everyone's, that is, but one.

"From this moment on, if anyone speaks without permission... mm... there may be a little 'punishment'...?"

I idly fiddled with my spear shaft. Not for any particular reason.

Hm. It's quiet now.

The people of each village glared daggers across the room, seated in two hostile halves. The hall was far too small for the number of beastmen gathered, and a portion of them stood watching from the edges.

And at the very center of it all — me.

I swept my gaze over each of them in turn before speaking again.

"Now then, Lord Hoa. Am I right that you are the chief of Re Village?"

"...The chief is... No. As of now, I am the chief."

"......"

'The man holding the position of chief is already on shaky ground, I see.'

It hardly came as a surprise. Rune Village's strongest, the bear beastman, and Poro alike were both bedridden with sickness.

"Are the people you brought with you the entirety of your village?"

"No. The ones I brought are those still fit for combat. I left about ten able-bodied people behind to hold the village."

"Then your village would be the easier one to attack, wouldn't it?"

"That's true enough... but we're the ones on the offensive regardless. There's no force out there that would strike at our village."

No force, is it.

"Well. I'd say that's a bit difficult to say for certain."

"...What?"

"The culprit might not be here at all — and with your village's manpower drained, someone could well be watching for an opening. Plenty of people are entangled in this affair, after all."

Above all else...

'Something about all this feels off.'

This situation, somehow, didn't feel unfamiliar at all.

...Ding!

[(1/261)]