The next morning, Grandma Mora gathered all the beastmen living in the camp, as we had planned the day before.
In the camp square, various beasts were looking at me with suspicious faces.
The races were diverse, with some being single and others gathering in families.
Approximately 200 in total?
That"s a lot more than expected.
It was nerve-racking as in everyone"s eyes, hatred and grudge were evident as they looked at me, a Human. If it weren"t for Sena and the rest who stood closely with me, I would"ve felt helpless
Alright! This is the crucial moment! I"ll do it!
As I was about to start speaking, a giant tigerman stepped out of the group and glared at me
As the name suggests, tigermen are a beastmen with the appearance of the tiger. Moreover, they are muscular and tall, hence when they glare at you, the intimidation was out of this world.
We gathered around because Granny told us to, but what is this all about? To begin with, why the h.e.l.l is a human in our camp? Aahh?
I responded to the tigermen"s roaring demand for answer, after taking a deep breath.
"I"ll explain that now.-Listen I want you all to hear me out. You will definitely not lose out. It"s a story that will benefit you all."
The story was concisely summarized so that the children could understand it.
In short, why don"t you all migrate to my land? As simple as that.
I don"t want them to do anything. I simply brought on an idea for them to live in my land and build their city there.
Of course, I"ll lend a hand and will send a.s.sistance their way until it gets on track.
But eventually, I want the city to develop in a way that they are able to sustain the city by themselves.
I told them just that.
The beastmen who have finished listening to my words were confused and noisy as expected.
Meanwhile, only the Tigermen mentioned earlier looked calm.
"I don"t get it. Why would you give us land?"
Well, a natural question.
I can tell them what I told Ms Mola, but it will only increase their suspicion.
Beastmen who will easily believe in a human"s good will, are definite minority
They believe in me because Sena and the rest has a debt of grat.i.tude toward me and Grandma Mola has the insight to see things fairly.
But in front of them, there was only mistrust.
So, I decided to say this.
"It"s just a whim"
"A whim you say?"
"I have a land that is uninterrupted by anyone, but there is no one else to live in. So I decided to bring in residents from elsewhere."
"Well, why don"t you just let humans, people of your own race live there."
"If I gather humans, I risk being deemed to be robbing the territory. In that respect, beastmen who are not recognized to be a civilian by the territory in the first place would of course not cause such problem."
"I see. Well, at least it makes sense. But why is it us?"
"I got acquainted with Sena from a little incident, so I knew the camp was there, but that"s it. There"s no deep reason."
"Well, you"re saying anyone was fine."
"Right, if you say it like that."
The Tigermen curiously stroked his beard, then peeled his fangs fiercely and looked down at me from the top of his head.
"But I still can"t believe what humans say. There is no way such a convenient story exists.
A number of jeering were thrown in agreeing with his words.
"That"s right! Can you believe what humans say!"
"What are you saying, now that you"re done stealing our land!"
"Anyway, we all know it"s a lie!"
"In the first place, aren"t you still just a brat!"
"You"re going to trick us into working in the mine!"
Jeering gradually grew larger and turned into abusive words towards me.
Well, so far, as expected.
There is no need to rush.Well then, next is-
At that moment, a stone flew at me at a blazing speed.
Faster then me dodging it, Sena catches it with her hand
"What are you doing? It"s dangerous!"
Sena erected her tail and shouted, and the boy who was the culprit who threw the stone, werewolf, pointed at me.
"My father and mother were killed by humans! So I hate all humans! Just go away!"
I"m hurt by the sorrowful demand of the werewolf boy.
At the moment my heart was shaken, Nao shouted from the side.
"It"s not this person who killed your parents!"
"Shut up! All Humans are the same! Every Humans should just die!"
"What the h.e.l.l! You can say that again! I"ll peel that fur!"
I reached out to stop Nao, who jumped as soon as she finished with her words, but all I caught was an empty air
A fight would be bad in this situation! I should stop them before they start fighting
When I was impatient, I tried to run, and Tigerman grabbed Nao"s neck and lifted her. Nao hanged like a kitten and struggled to get out.
"Release me old man! I"ll beat that idiot!"
"... You"re as impatient of a brat as ever. Just calm down for a bit."
"Shut up, stupid! I"m telling to let go!"
Nao"s fist hit tigerman"s nose directly, making a gatsun sound, however, the tigerman didn"t look perturbed as he just shrugged.
"Alright. I just have to let you go right."
I caught Nao in hurry as she was thrown towards my direction.
"Hey, it"s dangerous! Treat her more gently!"
"Ah? Felper won"t be injured by just that"
Even if that was true, what kind of guy would throw a girl!
While I was angry, I noticed that Nao turned bright red in my arms.
"Oh, my bad! Was it painful?"
"Oh no, no, no, no, it"s okay nya!"
Nao, who shook her head repeatedly, slipped out of my arm and hid behind Sena. Then, she peeked at me shyly.
…… Well, even though it was an emergency, holding a young girl might not have been good. I will be careful in the future.
The tigerman, who saw such an exchange, laughed loudly.
"Gahahaha! You"ve skillfully tamed that Nao!"
"... Don"t say it in such a vulgar words. It shows what kind of person you are."
"What is it? Do you have a complaint?"
I did not retreat to the approaching terrifying tigerman.
"My name is Kaito"
"Ahh? So what?"
"I haven"t introduced myself yet. What"s your name?"
When I asked, the Tigermen frowned as if was taken back.
"I want to know. What"s your name?"
"... Garaf"
"Well, it"s a cool name.Nice to meet you, Garaf
Saying so I offered my right hand to shake his hand, and Garaf"s eyes widened.
"... what do you think you are doing?"
"It"s just a handshake. Have you ever shaken a hand?"
"I"m not asking you about that ..."
Garaff scratched his cheeks with his long claws, then crossed his arms and exhaled.
"... By looking at Nao"s reaction,I understand you don"t have a bad intention. However, I just can"t understand. Why do you, a human, need to take care of us beastmen?"
"I want you to tell me, why a human can"t care for a beastmen?"
"No, that"s ..."
"This is how we share our names and communicate our thoughts with each other. If so, there"s nothing that separates us. Is that wrong?"
Garaf became silent to my words.
So I looked at other beastmen.
"I know that you beastmen have a grudge against humans. That"s a natural feeling, but I don"t want to afflict pain on you guys. At least, why not have a look at the land t hat I"m about to give it to you guys through your own eyes? ""
After a moment of silence after listening to my proposition, questioning voices were raised.
"Where is that land?"
I point to the sky at the question.
"It"s located in the sky. I own a land floating in the sky."
In response to this answer, the beasts began to get ruffled.
Before it gets worse, Sena exclaims.
"You may not be able believe it, but it"s true! In fact, our families are living there!"
Sena"s remarks, which would be highly creditable even in the camp, were effective. Beastmen were leaning towards the atmosphere that may not be a lie.
As if to keep the momentum, Mr. Mora began to speak.
"Everyone, I want to ask. If we stay here, will we still have a future? No, there isn"t. We will just rot away. Then, aren"t we supposed to seek a new land? "
No beastmen weren"t able to answer as they stood still, just hanging.
I knew that they were worried.
But don"t give them too much time to ponder here.
The more people think, the more they become stubborn.
If you want to make a change, you have to push them.