Volume 4, Chapter 3: I became a Fourth-grader, Part 2
Half a year has pa.s.sed since the Daemon King declared war on all of the human nations.
In the three human nations that bordered the 『Forest of Monsters』 which was close to the Daemon’s territory, forts had been constructed in various places and mercenaries had been contracted in preparation of the invasion of the Daemon King’s army. In the last six months, there had only been minor skirmishes with the Daemon army’s scouts and beastmen bandits, along with small groups of monsters.
So, where had the Daemon King’s army gone?
What had they been doing up until now, and what were they doing now……
“GyaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
A beastman, wearing a slightly stained armour, stabbed poorly-clothed other beastman with a spear.
Even though they were both Beastmen, while the one who had been killed looked like a human, the one who was wearing the armour looked like a wolf with a reptile’s eyes. After being splattered with blood, it licked its own face with a snakelike tongue and a distorted smile.
The Daemons… a mixed-blood group of abandoned humans and demi-humans and monsters.
The agonising screams of death were the only thing that could be heard.
They who were armed with rusty swords and spears, wearing thin and dirty armour, had struck a small village, killing and looting its fleeing inhabitants with extreme cruelty.
The 『Forest of Monsters』 that separated the Daemon territory from the human nations was a dangerous place where monsters rampaged, but there were also a few villages within it.
There were people who separated themselves, being unable to accept the way of the Daemons. There were humans who had chosen to share their lives with the beastmen and Daemons. There were slaves and stragglers who’d run away from human society.
These people had gradually congregated, seeking escape from both humans and Daemons, and had built a village in this dangerous forest, and although they feared the Daemons, they were able to eke out a bare-bones life.
That is, until today……
“M-mother”
A five year old cat-eared young girl was crying, her face distorted as she shook the still body of a bloodstained human woman.
“Tch, she died so easily, it’s going to be a pain in the rear to transport.”
As the lizard beastman spit out his complaint, he ripped off a piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth, sloppily chewing.
“I think I’ll eat the innards first… Oi, brat! I’ll take you back as my fresh food, so just be docile until I eat you.”
“Heee…”
The Daemons who had thick monster blood would even stoop to eating humans or other beastmen.
The soldiers of the Daemon army attacked all the settlements, pillaging all the food from the villages, killing everyone but the young women and children, as they were tasked with bringing back playthings for food and ‘comfort’.
However, this was a mission in name only. Even if they were left to their own devices, the Daemons would have done the same by instinct.
There is not a single one with the heart of a 『Person』.
For the Daemons, anyone weaker than they were were existences to take from, and they wouldn"t come to a mutual understanding even if they talked, only ever seeing the weak as livestock.
“……Hmm?”
A lizard beastman realised that the area was strangely quiet.
Wiping the bloodstains from his mouth, he could only hear the m.u.f.fled crying of the little girl. Even if he strained his ears, he could hear nothing else at all.
There were ten-odd of them who had raided this place. There were only about 50 people in the village, so it should have been easy to annihilate, so it was unnatural that he couldn’t hear any of the women or children making tormented noises or screaming.
“What’s going on…? Brat, you’re coming with me!”
“…N-Nooooo”
“Shutup!”
The little cat-eared girl was struck and went silent, and the lizardman left the roughshod cabin with his spear.
“Wha…”
As the lizard beastman walked out to look, he saw all of the villagers that they had killed…… and all of his comrades with their swords and spears at the ready… had become stone statues.
“What the… this…”
The lizardman couldn’t recognise that those stone statues were his companions.
Why were there stone statues that looked like his companions? Where did the people that he had personally put into place go?
Maybe they’d found prey and had intentionally left him out of it, and he felt indignant that he had been made a fool of and that they’d run off without telling him.
As a lizardman, who was of limited intelligence, he didn’t understand that this situation was due to an 『Enemy』.
“…………”
The lizardman noticed a pet.i.te person walking about the centre of the village.
Looking completely out of place, it was a human girl dressed up in a white ap.r.o.n over a black dress of excellent make.
More than her unperturbed expression, even in the face of this miserable scene, she was walking about as if she were on nothing more than a calm stroll while on her errands, which was even more strange.
“……Hehe…”
Looking at the pretty girl, with her beautiful blond hair and soft, not-yet-adult flesh, the lizardman smiled vulgarly. …But,
“…He-Hey, girlie.”
Rushing towards the girl who looked like she was walking slowly past his eyes, the lizardman hurriedly lowered his spear and called out to her to stop.
“Oi!?”
But that girl didn’t stop walking at all, as if she hadn"t heard a voice. The lizardman’s face twisted with anger, and he rushed towards her, stabbing his spear.
*buchii*…
There was the sound of fibres being torn…
“……Excuse me. May I help you…?”
“……e……a”
s.n.a.t.c.hing away the lizardman’s spear in an instant, tearing off both of his arms and throwing them both away like garbage, the girl turned to look at the lizardman for the first time.
“……a…GyaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
His brain finally catching up to reality, the lizardman fell to his knees even as he screamed out in fear and pain.
The girl looked down coldly at him.
“If you have no business with me, then I do. ……oh?”
Even as the lizardman’s piteous screams went on like the BGM, the blond-haired girl looked at the terrified catgirl who was staring at her with fear in her eyes.
“…………”
“…………”
As the girl stared quietly, from under the feet of the cat-eared girl, something was giving off a vague steam.
As the girl continued to stare at the child who made an accident, she spoke
“…Please be quiet.”
She casually stuck her hands into the chest cavity of the screaming beastman, and pulled out his heart without making a single sound.
…*gehi*
Without even glancing at the lizardman who had grown quiet with a strange sound, the girl offered that blood-covered heart to the cat-eared child with an expressionless face.
“Want to eat it?”
“……!?”
The little girl paled and shook her head vigorously.
“Is that so… Then… will you be eating this?”
The young lady faintly knitted her eyebrows, and then swallowed the b.l.o.o.d.y lump of meat in a single mouthful, taking out the dried seafood from her pockets and presenting it to the little girl.
“………”
As expected the little girl didn’t refuse, as she received it in shock. The young lady patted the little girl’s cat ears, and the edges of her lips went up slightly, then vanished into the forest outside the village.
She loved cats.
By sheer luck, there were villages on the way to her destination, and she couldn’t resist the charm of the 『Cat Eared Ones』 while she removed the obstacles in her way. Tina had stroked them instinctively when she fed the little girl, so she continued towards her original destination with a satisfied face.
“……Cats don’t like hearts.”
She wrote in her love diary about her most beloved master.
App"s Notes: Golly, I just love the gory cuteness that is this series sometimes! (Still can"t beat the kitty sword)
Piroton"s Notes: Man, I love this series. The only thing is that it"s not so great when complex sentences occur and my lack of grammar fails me.