Chapter 97: Promise and Stubbornness
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 97: Promise and Stubbornness
As might be expected, the journey of the Undying man and the officer was anything but smooth.
After a brief search, they found Azzy dozing on her stomach in a corner of the first floor. That part, at least, was easy.
The problem was that only that part was easy.
“Ooh! Miss Dog!”
Her ears perked up, and her tail swayed. Sensing their presence, Azzy opened her eyes a sliver and examined the faces of the humans calling to her.
Then, she immediately started to growl.
“Grrrr.”
Her attitude was completely different from usual. It wasn't just unfamiliarity. Compared to this, her first meeting with the officer had been as warm as a reunion with an old friend.
This growl was directed solely at the Undying man—a sign of caution born from a fundamental aversion.
Sensing trouble, the officer looked at the Undying man.
“Trainee. Don't tell me.”
“Haha! Come to think of it, she was like this when I first came here too! It seems the Beast King isn't very fond of my kind!”
“Grrrrr.”
Eartheners.
An undying race that had offered their entire tribe to Mother Earth, becoming the beings closest to her.
True to their name, the flesh and blood of an Earthener resembled soil and lava. Their skin was hard but stiff like packed clay, and their blood flowed hot but solidified inside their bodies when it cooled—just like Mother Earth, who considered the entire world her body.
Therefore, while perhaps less offensive than a reeking vampire, Azzy felt no affinity for them.
“But it's fine! A beast being tamed for the first time is bound to bare its teeth and growl! Overcoming that to form a bond is the very wisdom humanity used to domesticate animals, is it not?”
The Undying man shouted confidently and strode toward Azzy.
“Miss Dog! Come, let us build our friendship!”
“Woof.”
CRACK.
Azzy irritably swatted the Undying man's right arm. With a sound like an exploding pile of dirt, his arm snapped and bent at a bizarre angle.
Instantly transformed into a man with a backward-jointed limb, the Undying man glanced down at his hand, scratched his head with his remaining left hand, and retreated. Only after he backed away did Azzy stop growling.
The officer glared at him with the coldest of eyes as he returned without a single accomplishment.
“…Hey.”
“Hahahaha! This beast is quite picky! My apologies, friend!”
The Undying man lifted his dangling right arm and exclaimed.
“I don't think I'm the one for the job!”
“Then what are we supposed to do?!”
Finally exploding, the lieutenant colonel stormed toward the Undying man. He offered an awkward smile as he snapped his dislocated right arm back into place.
“Haha. I shall leave this part to you, Lieutenant Colonel, a true human in name and deed! Since Miss Dog is, well, a dog, she should follow you more readily… Oof!”
A hard combat boot struck him in the shin. The pain shooting up his leg cut his words short, and he bent over.
Having berated the incompetent man, the officer tore her gaze away from him.
“Unbelievable. To think I used a leaf of the World Tree for this useless fool.”
“Haha! I have nothing to say! But don't you worry! My tribe doesn't dine and dash, at the very least!”
“I'd rather you just disappear from my sight right now.”
In the end, this useless man had accomplished nothing. The only “assistance” he'd provided was his noisy chattering.
As always, the success or failure of the mission now rested solely on the officer's abilities.
She walked past him and approached Azzy.
“Step aside. I'll do it.”
“I'm counting on you! Please accomplish what I could not!”
Leaving the ambiguous cheer—or jeer—behind her, the officer walked right up to Azzy. While Azzy had coldly rebuffed the Undying man, she wagged her tail and showed her delight at the officer’s approach.
The officer shouted before Azzy.
“Dog King, Puppy. Rise!”
“Woof!”
Azzy shot to her feet. Looking down slightly at the beaming dog, the officer spoke, enunciating each word.
“Listen carefully, Dog King. I am Lieutenant Colonel Callis Kritz of the Military State, appointed as the warden of Tantalus under the State's orders.”
“Woof? Bongwan? Is that something to eat?”
“…I am Lieutenant Colonel Callis Kritz.”
Only after she simplified her words did Azzy understand that the officer was introducing herself. She wagged her tail and replied cheerfully.
“Woof! Nice to meet you! I'm Puppy!”
“…What in the world was the person who named this generation's Dog King thinking? Of all the names to pick, this piece of crap.”
Muttering in discontent, the officer straightened her posture and spoke again.
“Puppy.”
“Woof! My name! You called me?”
“I, as a human, demand something of you.”
“Woof…”
The moment she heard the word “demand,” Azzy’s ears and tail drooped.
“Demands, no. Too much trouble.”
“You will listen. I am a human, and you are the Dog King. You must obey my words.”
“Woof…”
Azzy stood crookedly, making her annoyance plain. The officer couldn't decide whether to scold her for the insolent attitude or be grateful that she was listening at all.
In any case, the officer had a job to do. Clearing her throat, she spoke in a commanding tone.
“Puppy. I—no, I demand this of you. From now on, when I call you, you will come to me immediately.”
“Woof. Okay.”
Though she received a positive answer, the officer wasn't satisfied. Azzy’s reply had been so breezy that it felt too light.
The officer added a confirmation.
“…Even if another human calls for you, you are to ignore them and follow my word.”
“Woof? I can't do that.”
And her refusal was just as swift, and just as firm.
The officer gritted her teeth. This meant that if that laborer decided to interfere… she would never be able to get the Dog King out of Tantalus.
Growing impatient, the officer said.
“Why not? You are supposed to obey human commands! Therefore, you must follow the order I am giving you now! I have ordered you not to listen to him, so according to the covenant, you must ignore his words!”
“Woooof…”
“Answer me properly. Keep the promise!”
“The promise, it's not like that…”
“No, you have to obey!”
One can often see a reflection of oneself in the reaction of the person they face.
Azzy looked at the officer as one would a whining child, and meeting that calm gaze, the officer realized she was being unreasonable.
The officer currently had no power, no justification. All she had was a single promise made between humans and dogs long ago. She was stubbornly demanding the Dog King obey her, relying on something whose true nature she didn't even understand.
The first emotion the officer felt was shame. As she pressed her lips shut, Azzy spoke as if to soothe, or perhaps admonish, the petulant officer.
“I follow the words of humans. That's not obedience. It's trust. It's the hope from that long-ago promise, that if I follow a human, if I trust them and entrust myself to them, they will let me lean on them in return.”
“Right! So you must listen to my…!”
“You, human. But you're not the only human. Woof.”
Azzy calmly delivered a truth everyone knew but was reluctant to recall—that she was just one among countless humans—and carefully added.
“…And, woof. You're my friend, but I'm not your friend. You… you don't like me.”
The officer's body jolted.
Her true feelings had been seen through by a mere dog. Worse, the Dog King had perceived her heart and was even showing her consideration.
She had been defeated in both power and character.
That fact gnawed at the officer's pride.
The Human Regime was a group of human supremacists. They were a gathering of those who saw even beastkin as a step below humans. They fundamentally treated beasts with hatred.
The driving force behind that emotion was her unfortunate childhood, coupled with the beast's Star of the State she had witnessed that day.
For Callis, who had lost her only family—her father—to a beast, this kind of defeat was unacceptable.
“Shut up and obey me!”
Even as the officer lost her composure and screamed, Azzy didn't bat an eye. She simply watched, her large eyes filled with worry and concern.
That look grated on the officer, who reacted with a spasm of rage.
“Don't look at me with those eyes! You're just a beast!”
The officer's gaze darted around. Here in the cells of Tantalus, a place full of tools for restraining prisoners, remnants of them still lay about.
Among them, what caught her eye was a metal chain, broken in the middle, lying on the floor. Snatching up the chain, the officer walked toward Azzy, pulling it threateningly.
Guessing what she was about to do, the Undying man tried to stop her.
“Uh, Lieutenant Colonel. Wait. Isn't that a bit much? Maybe you should reconsider…”
“Shut up, you incompetent fool! If you had done your job properly, I wouldn't have to do this!”
The Undying man scratched the back of his head, looking deeply troubled. Meanwhile, the officer fashioned a loop with the chain and threw it at the still-unresisting Azzy.
Clang.
A makeshift loop of chain was thrown over Azzy's neck. Even as it tightened, Azzy only frowned, not fighting back. She just stared silently at the officer as the chain was wrapped twice around her neck.
I can't stand it. A mere dog that can't even defy a human, looking at me as if it understands everything…!
Even after cursing at her and wrapping a chain around her neck, the officer's anger didn't subside.
None of this would have happened if she had just obeyed from the start. If she had been cooperative with the mission, if she had followed her willingly, if she had helped her successfully complete her duty.
The problem was that a mere dog had defied her will.
“A beast like you deserves nothing more than to be leashed and dragged around! Even if you wear a human body and call yourself a king, you're still just an animal! Trying to solve this with words was a mistake. I should have done this from the start…!”
Just as she was about to unleash her pent-up feelings on the Dog King.
…Skyblade Art.
The space at the end of the hall shimmered, and a wind that should not exist in the Abyss began to blow.
It was followed by a sharp killing intent, like the edge of a blade.
Immediately after, a blade of wind shot down the first-floor corridor. It filled the wide space, tearing up everything in its path as it sped toward the officer.
More precisely, toward the officer's right arm, which was clutching the chain.
By the time the officer registered the murderous intent, the blade of Qi was nearly upon her. While she stood there blankly, still not fully comprehending the situation.
“Lieutenant Colonel!”
The Undying man rushed forward and blocked her path.
The blade of wind tore into him. A massive gash was carved from his right shoulder to his left flank, and the ensuing shockwave shredded his skin to rags. The now-blunted wind slammed violently into his body before scattering in every direction like an unbridled horse.
In less than a second, the Undying man looked as if his entire body had been diced by countless small blades.
Even knowing he was undying, it wasn't easy to remain composed after watching someone get ripped apart right before your eyes. The officer called his name without thinking.
“Rasch…!”
But the Undying Rasch was a monster who, despite being somewhat weakened, had been fine even after having his arm torn off.
With a dull thud, like a drum being struck, his body staggered for a moment, but he immediately slammed his right foot down and let out a sharp cry.
“Hup!”
He was still overflowing with vital essence. As the Undying man drew upon his power, his wounds healed in an instant. Torn muscles reformed, and his tattered skin became smooth again.
Having regenerated his body in a breath, the Undying man clenched his fists and called out to the figure approaching from the distance.
“Hey, isn't it a bit much to start swinging blades without a word, boy?”
The Regressor did not answer. She didn't even glance at the Undying man.
His eyes were fixed solely on Azzy and the chain around her neck.
“The chain.”
A voice as cold as sculpted ice carried on the wind.
The voice wasn't loud, nor was the distance short. Yet, the beautiful tone reached her ears as clearly as if it were whispered right next to her.
“Let it go.”
the Regressor said, her killing intent tightly controlled.