Chapter 50: Den of Beasts
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 50: Den of Beasts
“Hey, young man. What’re you in for?”
“Got locked up for beating a pig that wouldn’t listen.”
“Since when is it not the law to tame a disobedient animal with a switch?”
The young man nodded in agreement.
“And you, old man? What’d they get you for?”
“Got caught forcing myself on a goat.”
“A goat? Fair enough.”
Once again, they nodded in agreement. Then, the men’s gazes turned to me.
“You there, the black-haired foreigner. What’d you do to get locked up?”
“I abandoned a beastkin.”
“What? Look at this piece of shit.”
“You abandoned a beastkin? Do you have no blood in your veins, no tears in your eyes? Did you even consider the feelings of the abandoned beastkin?”
What the hell is with these guys?
These guys are in for assault and fucking beastkin, and they’re jumping down my throat for abandonment?
“First of all, I never abandoned any beastkin. I just set them free.”
“That’s what all you abandoners say. ‘I was returning them to nature.’ ‘I was setting them free.’ When the truth is you just got tired of raising them and irresponsibly threw them away.”
“No. I fed them, raised them, gave them a place to sleep, and even sent them safely back to their hometown. How is that abandoning them? Where else in the world would you find such a kind master?”
“Bah! A beastkin slave belongs by their master’s side. If you can’t take responsibility to the very end, you shouldn’t have taken them in from the start! Hmph. Tsk. Just another madman who doesn’t understand the other’s heart.”
The old man shot me a look you’d give the lowest scum before turning his head away.
Not only him, but everyone else in the prison turned their eyes away and shuffled back, creating distance. To them, I must have looked like some kind of poisonous toad.
Since when is setting a beastkin free considered abandonment?
Common sense would dictate that setting them free is a good thing. Who in their right mind would want to be a slave, unless they were some kind of masochist?
These damn furries. I do all this for them, and this is how they repay my kindness. It’s so unfair.
So, what happens to me now?
Am I going to rot away in this dark prison for the rest of my life?
I don’t have time for this. The situation was suffocating.
It was the third day of my imprisonment.
As I was letting out a series of dejected sighs, Seira appeared, a file of documents tucked under one arm.
“Open it.”
A beastkin officer unlocked the prison gate and pulled me outside. Seira gestured with her head for me to follow.
“May divine punishment strike you down, you heinous bastard.”
“The abandoned beastkin will be waiting for you with their claws sharpened.”
The prisoners pressed their faces against the iron bars, spewing curses at me. I wiped the flying spit off my clothes.
This isn't an execution, is it?
Following behind Seira, the gears in my head started turning furiously.
Could I escape if I used an invisibility robe?
I still had enough points to buy one.
The problem was the close proximity; even if I turned invisible, I’d be discovered immediately. And a beastkin’s sense of smell is sharp. Even if they couldn’t see me, they’d definitely find me.
As weak as I was, I couldn’t even shake off Seira by herself. I came to the conclusion that escape was absolutely impossible.
In that case, the best I could do was run my mouth.
“Um, Ms. Seira~? Could we perhaps clear up this little misunderstanding?”
“What misunderstanding would that be?”
“The one about me abandoning a beastkin. I love beastkin so much, why would I ever abandon them?”
Seira didn’t even glance at me, nor did she reply. Nevertheless, I poured my heart and soul into conveying my feelings.
“I’m serious! You have no idea how hard I’m trying to suppress the urge to stroke your tail right now.”
At that, her tail, which had been swaying seductively from side to side, froze mid-sway.
Squeeze.
She brought it around to her front and hugged it with her hands. Only then did she turn her head to look at me, her eyes painted with contempt.
“You pervert…”
It only made things worse.
I’m sorry, my slaves. It looks like this is the end for me.
We walked down a long corridor.
Seira stopped in front of a room.
“Please, go inside.”
Who in the world could be in there?
I opened the door with a sense of dread. I peeked my head in to check the interior, and the person inside was…
“Yo, Slave Reaper Karami!”
“Furry Bolt, the shitty gay…?”
“What?”
“Ah, a slip of the tongue, Mr. Shitty Gay.”
“Looks like being locked in prison has made you lose your mind. It happens.”
The person in the room was none other than the beastkin enthusiast, Bolt. This was the first time we’d met since the Slave Carnival.
“Mr. Bolt, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, you know me. I love beastkin, so I visit Vestia often. When I heard you’d been captured, I came running.”
“Well, thank you for that, but what difference does you being here make?”
Seira interjected.
“Lord Bolt is a great benefactor who takes in beastkin slaves from all over the Traul Kingdom. To our Vestia Kingdom, he is a savior.”
“I do that too, you know? Besides, Mr. Bolt is…”
Furry Bolt the gay saves beastkin slaves to satisfy his own shady desires. Aren’t I a hundred times better than that guy?
But Seira’s expression soured instantly.
“What’s important is how the beastkin feel. They prefer to be loved rather than abandoned. Not by someone like you.”
“Karami, abandoning those cute little ones. How could you do something so terrible? Beastkin fear being abandoned more than death. You truly are the Slave Reaper, I see.”
“…”
I gave up trying to talk to them.
To think I live in a world where I’m a worse person than a guy who fucks beastkin. I’ve lived my life in vain.
“You were originally fated to rot in prison, but Lord Bolt has vouched for you.”
“Vouched for me?”
“While you are staying in Vestia, you will accompany Lord Bolt and learn how to properly treat beastkin. If you show that you have changed, we will reconsider the charge of beastkin abandonment.”
“…”
You want me to learn? From this guy?
Furry Bolt the gay beamed.
“I’ll be in your care for a while, Karami. I’ll make sure you’re reborn as a true beastkin lover.”
*
On our way out of the building.
Seira followed close behind. Ever since she’d slammed me into the ground, her every action made me nervous.
“Why are you following me?”
“It’s an official assignment. I am to observe you to see if you cause any trouble and to evaluate whether your attitude towards beastkin changes.”
“Look, I’m telling you, I’m innocent…”
Her expression made it clear she wouldn’t believe a word I said unless I physically pulled my brain out to show her. In the end, I had no choice but to prove what a kind slave trader I was.
I sighed, but decided to be thankful that I’d at least arrived in Vestia safely.
“Thank you, Mr. Bolt.”
“Haha, nothing to thank me for. When in a foreign land, we humans have to help each other out.”
It seemed Mr. Bolt was the only one I could rely on.
As we exited the building, a beastkin who had been standing outside approached us.
The beastkin of Tale of Survival are largely divided into two types. There are the cosplay-type beastkin, who just have ears and a tail and could pass for human, and then there are the 80% beastkin that furries would go crazy for.
The woman before me was somewhere in the middle. Her brilliant green hair fanned out to the sides like a canopy. Her arms resembled a bird’s wings, and her feet were those of a bird. She was a bird beastkin.
“Lord Bolt!”
“Oh, my Buddy. Why did you come all this way instead of waiting at the shop?”
“I was worried about you, Master… I-Is this person the Slave Reaper?”
“Yes. He’s my friend. He’ll be with me for a while. Karami, this is my slave, Buddy.”
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Karami.”
“I-I’m Buddy…”
The bird beastkin called Buddy looked at me with anxious eyes. It felt like she was terrified of me but was forcing herself to interact because I was Bolt’s friend.
An awkward atmosphere settled in.
Bolt subtly offered a helping hand.
“You’ll be seeing a lot of each other. We can’t have you being this uncomfortable. Karami, why don’t you pat Buddy’s head?”
“Suddenly?”
“Buddy loves having her head patted. It’s a great way to close the distance between you two.”
“Umm…”
“You can’t treat beastkin the same way you treat humans, you know?”
Is this for real?
I glanced at Seira, but she didn’t seem inclined to stop me. That meant if I backed down now, my evaluation score would likely take a hit.
Right, when in Vestia, do as the Vestians do.
Every race has a different culture, and beastkin are a race that’s even more subdivided.
It seemed right to follow Bolt’s advice here.
“Then, excuse me for a moment. Please tell me if you don’t like it.”
“O-Okay…”
I carefully placed my hand on Buddy’s head and, watching her reaction, began to pat it.
“Ngh.”
“Oh…”
It was a strange sensation. It was a softness different from normal hair, like the well-groomed feathers of a bird.
It felt so good it made me think I should get a bird beastkin for myself.
“Haah…”
But what was that sound?
While I was engrossed in patting her head, something strange was happening below. Buddy couldn’t keep her body still and was squirming.
Her face was flushed red, and strange moans escaped her lips.
“…Mr. Bolt? What’s happening to her?”
“Buddy is a parrot beastkin. She loves having her head and neck stroked. There’s nothing better for forming a bond.”
Is it really okay to keep patting her?
Something feels very wrong here.
“Hah, hah. It feels so good. Buddy feels so, so good…!”
…
Why did her breathing suddenly become as ragged as an old man’s?
And ‘Buddy’…?
Why was she referring to herself in the third person? And at this timing, of all times.
Buddy is a parrot beastkin.
Parrots are creatures that mimic human speech.
Which means these moans and words were an imitation of someone else…
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I slowly removed my hand.
“So? Do you feel like you’ve gotten a little closer to Buddy now?”
Bolt chattered on with a grin, as if nothing was wrong with the situation that had just unfolded.
Seira nodded to herself and scribbled something on her documents. The people around us were also watching with pleased expressions.
I was the only one who couldn’t smile. All I did was pat her head… but I felt like something precious deep inside me had been defiled. An indescribable sense of shittiness washed over me.
I realized it then.
I absolutely cannot stay here for long.
This wasn’t a paradise for beastkin; it was a den of beasts. One wrong move and I’d lose my humanity and become a beast myself.