71 53: Beastman City Inbahanes.txt




 Our wagon was in the territory of the beast city of Invahannes.

 At the end of the road, we could see the remains of a garrison of soldiers dispatched from the kingdom.

 It seemed that at any given time, hundreds of Kingdom troops were stationed at the garrison over there, and it seemed to be a place where the residents of the city of Invahannes, who were repeating the armed uprising, were monitored.

 But now it's only packed with a few soldiers, and the task of maintaining security has been taken over by a vigilante group.


 After passing through the garrison, we saw a town without walls or fortifications beyond the small mountains and flat grasslands.

 According to Susana, who had researched Invahannes beforehand, the population was small compared to Huguhanotes, and the number of people living in the territory was about 30,000 in the surrounding villages combined.

 There were only about half as many people as in Huguannotes.


 Although demons occur to some extent in the vicinity, no walls have been built to protect the city. The reason for this is that the inhabitants of this city do not have good feelings towards the kingdom, so something could happen at any time that would cause the inhabitants to rise up and holed up in the city. It seems that the kingdom is afraid of this and won't give permission for the construction of the city.

 For this reason, the residents of Inverness, who are always ready for an attack by monsters, have a high sense of self-defense, and a vigilante group has been created.

 It is said that these vigilante groups often got into disputes with the kingdom's garrison forces, leading to armed uprisings.


 However, the disputes only lasted until Radcliffe's gyre became the lord of the land, and now the vigilantes are said to have been hired as an organization to protect the security of the city.

 Our carriage was on its way to such a city in Inverness.


'Looks like the ruins of the garrison aren't being used: ....... Just a few people for maintenance?'

It's been two years since the Royal Army pulled out. It's been two years since the Royal Army pulled out, so it looks like there's grass all over the place. Besides, it seems that they've abolished the identification of passers-by here.


 The wagons are passing through the ruins of a garrison that once served as a checkpoint for those entering the city of Inverness from the road.

 It's called a garrison, but it's surrounded by a wall, so in effect it's a well-developed place that could be called a fort.

 Such a garrison is now just a place where detained Royal Army soldiers are weeding around in their spare time.


''It's such a waste to leave these facilities unattended. ......

It's a symbol of the long history of the kingdom's rule over Inverness. "It's a symbol of the long history of the Kingdom of Inverness, and it's the place where the independent kingdom of Inverness was forced to sign a humiliating annexation, so I think the people of Inverness want to destroy it.


 While we were passing through the garrison, Susana was giving me some history about the place.


'So that's how it works ....... I've only been aware of being a King of Hertford citizen since I was born, but the inhabitants of this place are different?

The majority of the inhabitants of Inverness must feel the same way since it has been annexed for so long. However, I believe that the beastmen are treated less favorably than the humans in the Hertford Kingdom, and if they were treated coldly, they would want to turn the current world upside down.

Really? ......

That's what it's all about.


 It was true that in the royal capital, the beastmen were rare because of their appearance, and although it wasn't so much discrimination as it was discrimination, they were sometimes unconsciously looked down upon by the human race.

 It was said that the beastmen would only hang out with the beastmen because the number of people in the royal capital was small.

 So I feel like there was an extra barrier.


''Invahannes is a city with more beastmen, so I'd appreciate it if you could just avoid any trouble. And with Flick-sama's skill, it seems like he could knock down all the beastmen in the city.''


 Susana, driving the wagon, was jokingly advising me to pull my weight.


 Even if she doesn't advise me, I'll still be careful of trouble, and even if I do get into trouble, I'm willing to find a peaceful solution.

 No matter what, I have no intention of acting barbarically by knocking down all the beastmen.


''It's okay. I'm not that savage. I'm not going to fight with anyone who's willing to talk.

What do you do when you can't communicate with them?

...... If your opponent pulls out first, you fight. That's it. I'm not that nice to them either.

Yes, sir.


 I don't know if she was satisfied or dismayed by my answer, but Susana didn't ask any more questions.

 Later, the carriage arrives at the entrance to the city of Inverness.


'Let's just have a look inside. We, the Inverness Neighborhood Watch, are now in charge of security.


 At the entrance to the city where a simple fence was built, beastmen with weapons in their hands were working to check people entering and leaving the city.


 Some of the beastmen we passed in the royal capital and on the streets had a near-human appearance, but the home of the beastmen is still the home of the beastmen, some of them have a strong beastliness.


 The beastman inspecting our wagon had the face of a wolf and the body of a man, and his entire body was covered in gray body hair.

 It seems that the beastification that occurs in the body of a beastman is different for each person.

 Some had only their ears beastified and their appearance was close to the human race, some had their faces and limbs beastified, and some even looked close to the creature from which the beastification came, and even though they were beastmen, their appearance was very different.

 So far, the original creatures of beastmen's beastification that have been confirmed are eight types: rabbit, tiger, cat, dog, wolf, bird, cow, and fox.


 Thinking it would be rude to stare at them too closely, I glanced at the beastmen who were inspecting the interior of the car.


''For now, the interior of the car is fine, just one woman as declared. What's the purpose of your visit?

'I have an errand for the Adventurer's Guild here: ...... I'm from the Yuguhanotes.

'The Adventurer's Guild ....... Come to think of it, the woman inside was a platinum grade adventurer. And the swordsman over there is an adventurer too. Are you going to be taking requests for a while over here?


 The wolf beastman's gaze, after completing his inspection of the car, lingered on the adventurer's insignia on my cloak collar.

 From the look in his eyes, I could read that this city doesn't usually have very good feelings for adventurers who stream in from other cities.


''Yes, we're talking about staying in the city for a while to carry out our requests. And we'll--


 When Susana was about to show them the parenthetical letter that showed that they were messengers of the Yuguhanotes Frontier Count, there was suddenly a lot of noise around them.


''Te, enemy attack--! Pterodactyl! There's a huge pterodactyl! All hands, bring your bows!


 I was able to fly pretty high up to avoid detection, but you found me: .......

 Beastmen seem to have better eyesight than the human race.


''Wait a minute. That pterosaur isn't an enemy. Actually...


 I jumped off the carriage and was explaining to the beastmen with the bows, trying to stop the beastmen from starting to shoot at Dimol from the watchtower.


 I took pity on leaving Dimol alone, so I had asked him to fly and follow me to a high place where the bows couldn't reach him, but the beastmen with good eyes seemed to have spotted him.

 The beastly vigilantes, who seemed to be accustomed to the demon's attack, heard the warning from the guards, quickly returned to the camp and brought their bows and began to fire at Dimol.

 However, no arrows could reach Dimol, who was flying at a considerable altitude.


''Don't get in the way. How could a pterodactyl not attack someone?!''


 The wolf beastman who was inspecting our carriage also seems to have taken a bow of his own and shoots an arrow at Dimol.


''Please wait. That pterosaur is my family's property. May I declare that anyone who draws a bow to that pterodactyl is a person who shows hostility to my House of Enestrosa?


 When Noelia noticed the commotion, she emerged from the cargo bay and showed the bowed beastmen a pendant with the coat of arms of the Enestrosa family to the beastmen who were holding their bows.

 Noelia's actions stopped the beastmen from drawing their bows.


''The Enestrosa family ...... is the frontier count of the Yuguhanotes! But the pterodactyl attacks people--

''Don't worry. That pterosaur will do whatever Master Flick says. If he tells you not to eat, he's been trained to stay off food forever until he starves to death. If the pterosaur should ever run amok or attack anyone, I hereby declare that the Enestrosa family will bear full responsibility.

That sort of thing is a problem for us here at .......


 The wolf beastman seemed to be in charge of the vigilante group, and he had a puzzled look on his face when he heard Noelia's words.

 Then Susana showed him a parchment of a parenthetical letter written by Lloyd.


''It's a parenthetical letter in the handwriting of the Frontier Count-sama. Since it's a parent letter to my lord, I can't show you the contents, but as Noelia-sama said, it says that the Enestrosa family will take responsibility for all the problems caused by that pterodactyl,''

''Such talks have to be passed through beforehand. Besides, letting a pterodactyl into the city is unheard of!


 The wolf beastman was even more confused when he saw the parenthetical letter Susana was showing him.

 For his part, he didn't want to let it go through on its own and make it a problem later.


 If this was the case, it was unlikely to get off the ground.

 I had a feeling that it would be better for me to leave the city with Dimolu until the decision of the deputy in charge of the city was made.


'Noelia, I'll stay with Dimolu in the garrison over there. I'll be able to explain the situation to the detained Royal Army soldiers there and at least let them take care of Dimol. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you could talk me through it.


 Noelia glanced at me, but eventually she let out a huff and nodded.


''Yes, sir. I will negotiate the permission for Dimol to stay and so on. As soon as we're done, we'll come to the garrison, so please wait for a while.

Thank you. I'm sorry to put Noelia through the wringer.

No, I don't think it would be a hardship if I could help Master Fricke.

I'm so sorry.


 I bowed deeply to Noelia, who was in the form of pushing the trouble on me, and whistled and called for Dimol.

 Dimol, who was flying above, had come down to the ground in one fell swoop when he noticed my signal.


''Yo, the pterodactyl is coming! Ready!

Dimol isn't going to attack us, so just relax.


 The beastmen who reacted to the swooping Dimol reacted by turning their arrows again.

 Realizing that I couldn't persuade them, I immediately began chanting my magic.


''Invisible air. It's a solid barrier that appears around you. Wind Barrier.


 I generate a wind barrier on the body of the approaching Dimol.

 The magic that I activated bounces back the arrows fired by the beastmen, and I jumped on Dimolu's body that had come down to the surface of the ground, and flew directly towards the tarmac.