Fremd Torturchen - Volume 4 - Chapter 1

1

An Invitation from the Beastfolk

A few days ago, the Monarch, the Grand Monarch, and the King had fused into a mass of flesh and attacked the Capital, dealing it a fatal blow. Humanity had narrowly defeated them, though, finally ending the menace the fourteen demons had posed.

As proof of that, and to exemplify the conclusion of mankind’s nightmare, the Church had announced that an execution would be carried out.

Elisabeth Le Fanu, the Torture Princess and a peerless sinner, would be symbolically burned at the stake.

People had crowded around the execution site in order to catch a glimpse of that historic moment. Ultimately, the death sentence was put on hold.

The reason being that a new demon and contractor had loudly declared war on humanity.

In the end, the curtain had not fallen on mankind’s nightmare.

And so the Torture Princess, having escaped the stake, began her demon subjugation anew on the Church’s orders.

As for her current status, she was in her castle, asleep.

It was still early in the afternoon. In other words, she was enjoying a leisurely afternoon nap.

Elisabeth was lying down with her eyes closed, surrounded by stone walls and atop a well-made yet simple bed.

She looked almost like a lovely Sleeping Beauty. However, she wasn’t even slightly drowsy. The fact that her lips were pursed and her eyebrows occasionally twitched in frustration made it obvious.

Without warning, a strange noise rang out, and a white orb came hurtling through the broken shutters of the room’s window.

The Church’s communication device was emitting a shrill noise.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech! Crack!

The next moment, a swirling vortex of darkness and crimson flower petals appeared out of thin air, only for a whip to emerge from within it to strike the noisy intruder. The sphere took a sudden nosedive until Elisabeth extended a hand and caught it.

As the wings on the orb’s sides gently drooped, a huge number of glyphs flashed across its surface.

After she read its contents, Elisabeth quickly sat up.

“Good work.”

With that, she nodded and hurled the orb away. It went flying out the window.

Elisabeth clapped her hands together, then murmured in displeasure.

“I see… Hmph, showing our face rather frequently now, aren’t we? Amateur.”

Following that remark, she reached her hand out into empty space. Darkness and crimson petals swirled once more. Elisabeth withdrew a serrated knife designed for torture from within, then tossed it forward.

Thunk!

The knife firmly planted itself into both the wall and the map affixed to it.

The map was already riddled with knives. Each time the Church sent her information regarding sightings of a particular individual, she’d stabbed the map in the corresponding location. The arrangement of the knives was beginning to reveal a definite pattern to the sightings, one that likely not even the fugitive in question was aware of.

Elisabeth gazed at the map with her dark, crimson eyes. Then she opened her shapely mouth to speak.

The voice that came out of it was alarmingly hollow.

“Worry not, Kaito. Your days of bearing sins and being loathed by the world shall not be many.”

Suddenly, a tired smile made its way across her face.

Her voice was dry, yet full of pity as well.

“For soon, I will come to put you down myself.”

A heavy silence fell over the room. Snorting, Elisabeth lay back down on the bed.

She closed her eyes once more, but she tossed and turned restlessly, unable to find sleep. Eventually, covering her eyes with her arms, she ground her teeth as she whispered.

“’Tis quiet… Too quiet.”

Silence pervaded her castle.

There was no obnoxious voice asking her why the hell she was sleeping.

And there was no charming call, telling her it was time for tea, either.

That was only natural.

It would have been far stranger for there to be anyone eccentric enough to willingly talk to the Torture Princess.

Consequently, she was completely and utterly alone.

“Ah, achoo!”

“Ha, Master Kaito sneezed! How adorable! Or rather, are you all right? Have you caught a cold?”

“Um, y’know, I don’t think golem bodies can get sick. Maybe someone’s talking about me behind my back?”

Completely unfazed, Kaito rubbed his nose. Without a moment’s delay, Hina pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and gently pressed it against his face.

“All right, Master Kaito—blow!”

“Thanks, Hina. I’ll wash it and give it back, achoo!”

Kaito sneezed once more. Quickly folding up the handkerchief, Hina passionately clenched her fists.

“I think not! I will be taking this handkerchief, along with the memory of your delightfully adorable sneeze, and storing it in my treasured Master Kaito Collection as Collection Number 1983!”

“That’s gonna be a no. C’mon, give it here.”

“Never! Ahem. With all due respect, is this not but a meager request from your loving wife—eek, I said ‘wife’! Shall I bat my eyelashes?”

“Even being my wife doesn’t make it okay. You can’t keep it!”

“Master Kaito, you meanie!”

Hina puffed up her cheeks. “Making a cute face isn’t going to suddenly make it okay,” said Kaito as he took the handkerchief from her hand.

A mass of people was passing by as the two of them went through their inane exchange. The makeup of the crowds was truly varied, from their occupations and social statuses to their races. There were townsfolk and merchants, sailors and laborers, magical beast demolishers, demi-humans, and beastfolk. It was no wonder—the town was built at the intersection of two large rivers, serving as both a mooring place for ships and a hub for regional commerce.

Due to the diversity of the merchants and the sheer number of people, their surroundings were quite lively.

Stalls lined both sides of the road, and the busy sounds of trade filled the air. Although it looked like your run-of-the-mill market, this place had one special trait. No permit was required to sell by the roadside, nor were there restrictions on what could be sold. Perhaps it was because no one had to fear random inspections conducted by soldiers, but despite the dubious public order, the whole town was as animated as its inhabitants.

Even so, if one strained their ears, they could make out disquieting rumors.

“What, that old man? He went to the Capital. No matter how much building material ya bring up there, it’s never enough.”

“We’re in bad shape here. Our client went under, you see… No, as in, literally went under. All the apprentices got swallowed up by that mass of flesh. I still can’t believe it myself… What about you? I hear the apothecaries got hit real hard.”

“It was a real piece of work. And it isn’t just the apothecaries. Everything just keeps getting more expensive. And who knows how long it’ll take before things settle down…or how many people’ll string themselves up before then.”

A few days ago, the demons had invaded the Capital. The attack had been nothing short of devastating. Due to how concentrated the population was, the death toll had been immense. Many buildings with historical value had been destroyed. The main marketplace and the factories had been annihilated, too, in addition to the losses of various storehouses, transportation systems and communication devices, and many other essentials. The monetary damages had been incalculable.

And it hadn’t just affected the Capital—the surrounding regions accepting the massive influx of refugees were showing signs of financial strain as well. The labor shortages were becoming problematic, while the stability of the food supply was constantly in question. The damage to the nation’s economic and political center had cast a grave shadow over the lives of its people.

The current situation filled Kaito with sorrow. The conversation bubbling up around him continued to reach his ears.

“We don’t have enough workers to go around. But none of these refugees are taking any jobs. The Church says they’re working on it, but I dunno. The Capital itself has the paladins watching over things, so it’s doing all right, but everywhere else is in shambles.”

“They keep demanding more mercenaries, huh? They still haven’t caught the Kaiser’s contractor?”

Kaito and Hina instinctively exchanged a glance. Then they quickly distanced themselves from the marketplace.

After all, the Kaiser’s contractor in question was none other than Kaito himself.

The two of them were currently fugitives.

Of course, there was a profound reason behind that.

Once, after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of his father, Kaito had been killed. Following his death, Kaito’s soul had been summoned to another world, where he obtained a new life. And the one who’d summoned him had been none other than the Torture Princess, Elisabeth Le Fanu, a sinner fated to be executed after fulfilling her duty of killing fourteen demons.

Together with Kaito, the Torture Princess slew the demons who’d attacked the Capital, successfully completing the mission handed down to her by the Church. Having finally atoned for her crimes, she was supposed to have been burned at the stake. But Kaito refused to accept the Torture Princess’s fate. Accompanied by the Kaiser, whom he’d formed a contract with, Kaito turned against humanity. As the fifteenth demonic contractor, he’d loudly announced his intent to become a villain to the entire Capital.

All that had been for the sake of granting humanity a new enemy and convincing the Church to postpone Elisabeth’s execution.

This was how Kaito had come to shoulder the heavy burden of sin, now hated by all and on the run.

And as for Kaito and Hina’s current status, they were gathering provisions.

It was a trifling, obvious task. But the fact of the matter was that people needed to eat.

Kaito had yet to fully fuse with his demon. As such, he still required nutrients to survive. But serious obstacles stood in the way of his and Hina’s desire to procure a steady supply of food. First, the town’s food situation was strained because the supply lines had been thrown into disarray. But more importantly, Kaito’s left arm had assumed a beastly form, causing him to stand out considerably. The obvious solution would have been to ask Hina to buy what they needed, but her striking silver hair, emerald-green eyes, and miraculous beauty made that less than ideal.

Of course, Kaito wasn’t at a complete loss. The first time they confronted this problem, he’d turned to Vlad, who was ostensibly his teacher when it came to matters of magic.

“Shapeshifting, disguises, or invisibility spells, you say… Ha, how mundane! You know, I once had a device that could stop time, which would have easily prevented anyone from ever catching you. Back when I was alive, you see, I wasn’t particularly keen on surprise attacks. I would instead spearhead my demonic troops and boldly launch grand invasions. In short, my dear successor, I’m afraid I can’t be of much help. I never took it upon myself to even learn such uninspired spells in the first place!”

Well, he sure was completely useless.

Kaito dejectedly thought back to the pose Vlad had struck as he’d answered the question with a finger pressed against the side of his head. The stone in his pocket containing Vlad’s soul—or rather, a replica thereof—rattled around. He seemed to have sensed the slight against him and was protesting. But Kaito merely ignored him.

Well, at least I was able to cobble something together, in the end.

Kaito let out a sigh as he adjusted the bit where the black cloak covering his head and body had slipped down.

At the moment, Kaito and Hina were taking after the Butcher and concealing their faces behind black cloaks. It was a simple method, and one that would normally make them look rather conspicuous. However, there was no shortage of people in this town involved in illicit business, making their choice of attire quite common.

Somehow managing to avoid being noticed, the two of them turned their attention to their shopping.

“Should we check out that one next?”

“Okay!”

Nodding in agreement, Hina walked up to the fruit stand. There she found a basket left directly atop the cobbled pavement, and she pulled an orange out from it. Or rather, she pulled something that looked like an orange from it, although it might have been an entirely different fruit altogether.

After checking to make sure it had no serious bruises and hadn’t been chewed through by worms, she turned back toward Kaito.

“Is this acceptable?”

“Looks good to me. Let’s grab two of those… That, and two bags of dried figs, please.”

“Comin’ right up.”

The wizened merchant took Kaito’s order with a hoarse voice. Just as Kaito had suspected, the merchant didn’t even glance at his customer, simply bundling up the goods with practiced—albeit indifferent—movements. Kaito frowned as he handed over the payment. It was pricey, as was to be expected. But the price of commodities would probably only continue to rise.

It’s a good thing that Godd Deos was able to save the king and the bigwig aristocrats. The blame for most of society’s woes will probably end up falling on me. The economic decline, the shortage of goods, and the disorder stemming from the apocalyptic despair will most likely continue for a long while, but they should all improve as the Capital recovers. I just hope that things won’t get too bad before then…

It wasn’t only everyday folk who were feeling the squeeze; feudal lords, the representatives of the mercantile guilds, and the Church’s high clergy were under a great deal of pressure as well. All sorts of people and organizations were going broke. But all Kaito could do was hope for them to hold on.

As Kaito became lost in thought, Hina stored the oranges in the magical leather bag they’d taken from the castle. The bag was already loaded up with bundles of rice and herbs, rock salt, a few days’ worth of vegetables, and dried cheese.

“We should stock up on other stuff that’ll keep well, like dried meat and fish.”

“Understood. In that case, we should go there.”

Hina nodded, leading the way to the shop two stalls over. It might have been the shopkeeper’s seniority that made this booth noticeably nicer than any of the other offerings on the street. Slabs of meat hung from hooks affixed to its simple yet robust roof, and wooden wicker baskets lined the roadside in front of it. Chickens and ducks raised a loud clamor from within the cages. It seemed they were butchered beside the nearby well once purchased.

As they approached the shop, Kaito stopped in his tracks. Almost simultaneously, Hina quietly whispered to him.

“Master Kaito…”

“Don’t worry. I noticed.”

Kaito’s response was concise. As they spoke, Hina stooped over and looked at the ducks, while Kaito stood stock-still behind her. Without once shifting their gazes, the two of them searched their surroundings.

At some point, a disquieting presence had become mixed in with the hustle and bustle.

Several gazes filled with tension, wariness, and unmistakable animosity were focused on the two of them.

Furthermore, they could hear a commotion starting up in the distance. Somebody was forcibly stopping the flow of pedestrians. Although Kaito and Hina couldn’t see them yet, whoever the interlopers were, they were ignoring the protests of the people around them and trying to block off the street.

There could be no doubt that their objective was to apprehend the two fugitives.

Kaito shook his head slightly.

“I’ll admit my disguise was pretty garbage, but still… They found us pretty damn fast, didn’t they? What a pain.”

“It was unavoidable. The bounty on your head is rather large, after all. We should be grateful that at least we aren’t being ambushed by someone after they found out about the reward.”

“Yeah… Things got pretty messy last time.”

The two of them let out heavy sighs. The ducks kept on quacking.

At the same time, the crowd began to stir.

A group of armored men were approaching, violently pushing through the crowd. One of them shoved aside a drunkard, who pitched forward and tumbled to the ground. Their determined advance toppled over a handcart full of bouquets, too. An emaciated dog barked as it fled.

A chain of furious protests rang out. The band of warriors didn’t even spare the angry crowd a glance as they encircled Kaito and Hina.

The tension was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Everyone waited with bated breath to see what would happen.

Completely oblivious to the situation, a shopkeeper-like man emerged from the back of the stall, flourishing a meat cleaver.

“What’s all this ruckus, some kinda fight? I don’t care who’s in the right, but I’ll take the side of a pretty lady any day, my dear!”

“Ah, I happen to be married, so please don’t mind me. My deepest apologies for the trouble.”

With a quick bow, Hina drew away from the storefront. “And I’m her lucky husband,” said Kaito as he embraced her without missing a beat. With a sidelong glance, he confirmed who their pursuers were.

Leading the group were a few paladins from the Church’s local branch office. Everyone else in their party looked weak, both in posture and in build. It didn’t look like there were any mages or priests, even among the lookouts.

In spite of himself, Kaito felt let down. He shook his head a little.

As soon as they rushed at us all frantic-like, I had a feeling they weren’t any run-of-the-mill group.

“Man, they made the wrong choice.”

“Indeed, that they did.”

“Seriously.”

Kaito and Hina nodded at each other. Throughout their whole exchange, the paladins continued closing the distance.

Kaito squinted. The paladins’ silver suits of armor lacked their usual luster, and their gaits were sluggish. It looked like they’d been negligent in their daily training, not to mention failing to take good care of their armor. Despite the town’s size, being transferred here probably amounted to a demotion, and their days had likely been spent idly.

The man who appeared to be their leader raised an annoyed voice, one altogether lacking in zeal.

“You’re Kaito Sena, correct?”

“…Try to keep your foolishness in check, if you don’t mind.”

“Not planning on giving a straight answer, you bastard?!”

The man reached his arm out, his voice filled with pent-up rage. He grabbed Kaito’s shoulder and gave it a yank. Kaito turned around with little resistance. Upon seeing his face, the man gave a short gulp.

Kaito wore a wicked grin, one wholly befitting the Kaiser.

“To think someone would dare to go up against me with such shabby men and arms.”

Kaito’s voice was as cold as ice. The paladin went pale.

The situation would quickly deteriorate if the man was allowed to scream. Not wanting to provoke the crowd more than necessary, Kaito quickly set into motion. He reached into the pocket opposite the one where he kept Vlad’s stone and pulled out a fragment of a jewel.

A blue flash lit up the cobbled road. As it did, Kaito snapped his fingers.

“La (activate).”

The jewel fragment burst from within.

Azure light and black feathers surged up all around them. The two stark colors violently swallowed up Kaito, Hina, and all the nearby paladins. Against the backdrop of the terrified cries of bystanders and livestock, the azure and black wound together in a swirling eddy of magic.

Then, with a small popping noise, they vanished.

Clap, clap.

The soles of his leather shoes audibly struck the ground as Kaito landed.

Then he looked down at his surroundings from atop the ruined hill.

This was the location where the Torture Princess had fought the Duke and eventually burned him to death.

Kaito had traveled to that hill in the blink of an eye.

The jewel fragment was a magical teleportation device. By releasing the magic sealed within it, the user could instantly travel to a location where another fragment from the same jewel was buried.

Kaito had taken an old jewel from Elisabeth’s castle and, under Vlad’s tutelage, had used blood and pain as an intermediary to infuse it with mana for this purpose. Now that he thought about it, Vlad technically had been useful in getting out of their most recent jam.

Moments later, Hina touched down beside him. On the other hand, the paladins failed to stick their landings and ended up tumbling down the slope. One of them stepped on something dry, then screamed.

“Wh-what is this place?!”

Human bones lay scattered atop the hillside.

Due to their fierce battle against the Duke, the land here had been churned up, and many of the coffins resting in the earth had been destroyed.

“Looks like they’re all here.”

Kaito murmured quietly as the confusion and screams continued.

There was a reason he’d specifically chosen to come all the way to this distant place. Due to the Duke’s horrid deeds, the whole region had been deemed corrupted and subsequently sealed off without exception.

In other words, as long as they were here, there was no need to worry about unrelated people getting involved.

“Now then, I’d better do something to reward your foolhardy valor!”

Kaito gave a loud shout. He grabbed the black cloak he was wearing and forcefully hurled it away.

His black outfit, resembling a military uniform with its bloodred embroidery, came into view.

Then the wanted sinner made a grand declaration.

“As the Kaiser’s contractor, and as the enemy of all mankind, I shall be your opponent.”

Over the past few days, Kaito had quickly come to a number of realizations.

First, hitting people with the back of his sword was surprisingly difficult.

And second, trying to strike fear into people’s hearts while taking care not to leave any lasting effects was quite the task.

“Killing one of them by accident would be an absolute mess. Definitely wouldn’t be able to undo something like that.”

“Good work out there! The way you fought was most befitting the ultimate personification of evil, yet at the same time, completely gentlemanly! A splendid job once more! I’m going faint, and my heart is pounding, and I’m head over heels in love with you!”

“Your praise makes it all worth it.”

“Eek, Master Kaito, you’re so cool!” shrieked Hina as she hopped up and down.

Kaito acknowledged her reaction with a raised hand. Their pursuers had fallen into heaps on the ground in front of them, all of them fully unconscious. However, none of them had sustained any serious injuries. Once they woke up, they’d be able to descend the hill and call for help on their own. They might find themselves assailed by nightmares for a few days, though.

They’d better, or I’m in trouble.

Kaito looked down at his downed foes with a serious look on his face.

After all, he needed the people to continue believing that Kaito Sena was the enemy of mankind.

Given his position, he couldn’t content himself with a simple life on the run. His goal was to stave off Elisabeth’s execution. To that end, he needed the Church to keep believing he was a serious threat to humanity.

Each time he took down a would-be pursuer, he made sure to take every chance he got to etch unforgettable fear into them. Fortunately, none of their pursuers had been particularly strong, possibly because the Capital was preoccupied with its own defenses or for some other pressing reason. But Kaito was well aware of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to keep up the farce forever.

Pretty soon, I’m gonna hit my limit.

Before that happened, he needed to figure out a way to have Elisabeth’s execution called off.

And more than anything, he needed to change her mind.

I still can’t think of any way to do that.

The Torture Princess’s sins were far too severe. No matter what justifications she may have had, she could never take back the things she’d done. There was no way she could possibly atone enough to make up for it. Short of changing the past, there was no way to erase the sins she’d committed.

The people she’d killed were never coming back. Kaito knew that, and so did Elisabeth herself.

Kaito closed his eyes, puzzling over what in the world he could possibly do. Then a deep voice rang out.

“You truly are a hopeless, pitiable fool.”

“Kaiser.”

The voice was inaudible to any but Kaito, his contractor, and it replied to him with humanlike laughter.

With his magnificent canine body still hidden, the Kaiser went on.

“Indeed, O contractor of mine. It is I, a flawless hound wholly wasted on an unworthy master such as yourself. How many times must you repeat this foolery before you’re satisfied? The matter should be simple. All you need do is make good on your proclamation at the Capital and amass power by gathering the pain of others in a manner befitting my master. Then you could simply destroy the foundations of this world and reshape it as you desire.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I have no plans to tyrannize anyone. I’m not gonna become like my father.”

“Ha, a brute that looks down on brutes. That in itself is laughable. What difference is there between one brand of evil and another?”

The Kaiser scoffed, and Kaito narrowed his eyes a little. It was true; considering his current position in a vacuum, he was far more deserving of the descriptor evil than his father ever had been.

He was the enemy of mankind, after all.

Amused in spite of himself by that fact, Kaito was ready to respond.

“Ha-ha, you have a point there… But you gotta understand, Kaiser, it’d be a waste of time for me to try to amass power by hurting people. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Elisabeth would come barreling in and murder me the moment I tried.”

“But at this rate, you’ll find your head removed from your shoulders regardless. How shameful, how utterly shameful. Dying, no matter how it happens, is a disgrace. It follows, then, that you should give in to your deepest desires and try fighting like you really mean it.”

The Kaiser’s words were to the point. Kaito nodded. It was exactly like the Kaiser had told him once before.

The power of demons was supreme, and could first be attained when one extended their hand past the limits of avarice and desire. And one who forgot their greatest wish was naught but a fool masquerading as a saint.

Even so, I’m not going to betray Neue.

Kaito thought back to the boy who’d sacrificed himself for Kaito and been eaten by the Earl’s spider. The boy’s existence was like a knot tied around Kaito’s heart, stopping him from crossing that final line.

He refused to do anything that would cause others to have to sacrifice themselves the same way he had been saved. And he couldn’t bear the thought of becoming a thug who just grinned as they tormented the weak, like his father had done.

But at the moment, he had something far more important to do than respond to the Kaiser.

“So what brings you guys here?”

Kaito called out, his voice ringing with confidence. However, he received no reply. Nevertheless, he leveled a cool gaze toward the shadows behind the gravestones and the shattered coffins. Perhaps shaken by the intensity of his confidence, the air shifted a little.

Immediately after they’d teleported, he had noticed a few presences who’d come along, following the traces of his mana.

Hina had noticed at the same time he had, or perhaps even earlier. But when he cast a sidelong glance at her, he saw that she wasn’t holding her halberd at the ready.

She was simply waiting to spot movement and taking care to avoid putting the other party on guard.

Yeah, that’s the right call.

After all, Kaito couldn’t sense a shred of hostility from their new pursuers.

What were they doing? What was their goal?

As he concealed his bewilderment, Kaito continued staring at the spot where the newcomers were lurking.

Having run out of patience, a few figures finally made their appearances. Just like the set of pursuers prior to them, they were clad in full-body armor. However, the material differed from that of the paladins and Royal Knights, making use not just of metal but of leather and scales as well. Their outfits had a vermilion motif and gave off a unique aesthetic and cultural impression.

But what surprised Kaito the most was their faces.

“…Beastfolk?”

Their new pursuers were not, in fact, human.

They all had animal heads, their bodies were covered in dense-looking fur, and their feet were adorned with pointy claws.

Kaito recalled what Elisabeth had once told him.

“Demi-human-beastfolk crossbreeds. Not an uncommon sight, particularly with the influx of various races in low-class towns. They make up about thirty percent of slum dwellers, and in the north, it exceeds forty percent. Visibly pure-blooded demi-humans and beastfolk are generally in the nobility, though, so they’re rarely seen in human settlements.”

Kaito looked over the beastfolk before him a second time. Their bodies didn’t have all the same parts humans did. While they didn’t look especially noble, they were probably still purebloods. But based on Elisabeth’s explanation, that meant they shouldn’t be showing up on human land.

Why were the beastfolk there, then?

The questions just kept piling up. But Kaito didn’t exactly have time to ask the beastfolk directly.

Their hands already on the hilts of their swords, the beastfolk began moving.

They approached Kaito and Hina, their movement offering no openings.

Raising his hand, Kaito struck a pose that would let him snap his fingers at a moment’s notice. Hina pulled out her long halberd from their bottomless magical bag in a single fluid motion.

The beastfolk peered up at Kaito, as though appraising him.

He returned the examining looks with a composed, questioning gaze.

The next moment, the beastfolk nodded among themselves, then moved as one.

Bending the knee like loyal retainers, they all knelt in front of Kaito.

“………What?”

“Sir Kaito Sena, we presume.”

The voice that spoke up was deep. Dumbfounded as he was, Kaito reflexively thanked his golem body’s native translation functions. The odds were high that the beastfolk were speaking a different language from the one humans regularly used. If not for his built-in translation ability, Kaito probably wouldn’t have been able to understand the beastfolk at all.

The beastman, who had coppery hair, a brilliant tassel atop his sword, and a wolf head, picked up where he left off.

“We wish to humbly request you travel back to our territory with us.”

The beastman raised his face. His golden eyes glimmered with determination as he looked at Kaito.

The next words that came out of the wolf-headed beastman’s mouth weren’t what Kaito had been expecting in the slightest.

“We intend to receive the enemy of mankind as an honored guest.”

“Explain to me what’s going on here.”

Kaito immediately made a firm request.

The moment he’d heard what the beastman had said, memories from his past life had rushed through his mind.

Back in his old world, there hadn’t been any sort of clear menace to humanity like the demons. Because of that, international politics there were a good deal more complicated.

And just the other day, this world, too, had been largely freed from the menace of the demons, with the exception of Kaito.

Kaito knew next to nothing about the historic relationship between humans and beastfolk. However, he had a pretty good sense of the friction that existed between the two groups. Beastfolk were banned from some areas within the human lands, and the border around the area where the pure-blooded beastfolk lived was generally closed off. That information was enough for him to more or less surmise the resentment that plagued interactions between the two races. As a matter of fact, the very hill they were standing on had been the site of a bloody conflict fought by humans and beastfolk long before the Duke had started using it.

At the same time, according to Izabella, the borderland between the pureblood region and the human realm had been the image of tranquility ever since the third peace treaty.

Now that the situation has stabilized, they’re inviting the enemy of another race into their home base.

Kaito wasn’t stupid enough for the implications of that decision to go over his head. He absolutely had to avoid destroying the delicate balance between the two parties. But the beastfolk weren’t out of surprises just yet.

“The reason we wish to invite you is thus. A sudden tragedy has occurred in our lands, and we would humbly ask of you to aid us in settling the matter. Some entity has been attacking our villages, and several terrible massacres have already occurred.”

“Massacres?”

Upon hearing that unsettling word, Kaito instinctively furrowed his brow. The wolf-headed beastman’s lustrous fur rustled as he nodded. It was possible that he’d seen the tragic scenes himself, as he spoke his next words in a pained voice.

“They didn’t spare women, children, the elderly…not even infants. We lost several patrolling warriors as well. I’d never laid eyes on a hellscape like that before. If this goes on, yet more villages will be slaughtered. We need strength.”

“Hold on a second. If you need help to stop the killings, then I’d be glad to lend a hand. But just now, you said that you intended to receive the ‘enemy of mankind’ as an honored guest, right?”

“Indeed, I did.”

The wolf-headed beastman nodded seriously. But Kaito had difficulty finding a connection between that oddly specific choice of phrasing and the massacres in the villages. His tone grew tougher as he gave voice to his misgivings.

“Why do you need the ‘enemy of mankind’? It feels weird to say it myself, but willingly asking for help from the Kaiser and his contractor is plain nuts. If the situation is so dire that you can’t deal with it yourselves, couldn’t you just ask the humans for help?”

“We are requesting your assistance precisely because we do not have that option. We cannot afford to let the humans know what we’re doing. Mankind has been assailed by demons as of late, and in order to be good neighbors, we’ve been freely, albeit surreptitiously, providing them aid in the form of resources and money. However, we cannot see this recent tragedy as anything but a complete betrayal of that goodwill.”

“So in other words…”

“We suspect that the perpetrator is human—and not merely an individual, but a group.”

The wolf-headed beastman nodded, and behind him, his subordinates did the same.

Kaito gulped. The fight against the demons had only just ended. Now there were claims that a tragedy had been carried out by human hands. Could that really be what was happening? Kaito found himself baffled.

The beastman before him spoke with a voice full of bloodlust.

“Allow me to speak frankly. Depending on the circumstances, we may wish to employ you, the enemy of mankind, as a guest commander. The Church’s lauded canon, the Shepherd, La Mules, is no more. But they still possess many other living weapons they call saints. The only ones capable of facing them in a head-to-head battle are the demons.”

“Do you have any proof humans are behind the killings?”

Kaito posed his question in a low voice. But he already had a sense of what their answer was.

The wolf-headed swordsman stared back at Kaito. Fury and conviction burned in his golden eyes.

That was answer enough.

Quietly exhaling, Kaito revised his question.

“All right, then. What’s your reasoning?”

“No kin of ours would have left the corpses in such an appalling state.”

Kaito frowned, unsatisfied by the beastman’s answer. It didn’t seem like anything more than an emotionally charged judgment. But the beastman pressed on, assuring him that it wasn’t so.

“Our sense of morality differs from humanity’s. We use the fur, the skin, and the bones of the deceased, and should circumstances permit, we also partake of their flesh. Such an act may be difficult for humans to appreciate, but that is the way we have held funeral rites all the way back to the age of the Forest King. But these corpses were defiled to an extreme degree.”

He clenched his fists tightly as he spoke. Kaito could practically make out the sound of bones creaking.

“The victims had their innards pulled out while they were still alive. Then their entrails were left to rot alongside the bodies. Our people would never do such a thing, not even to a foe. But it wasn’t the work of a demi-human, either. We share half our territory with them, but their ethics line up closely with ours.”

So process of elimination, huh?

The culprit wasn’t a beastman or a demi-human. That left only one possibility.

Kaito cast his gaze downward. From his human perspective, using the body parts of the dead and consuming them sounded plenty sacrilegious. But even in other worlds, different countries had different death rituals. Having completely different races no doubt only made that effect more pronounced.

On top of that, beastman fur and skin were considerably more robust and versatile than their human equivalents. They probably had a long history of prospering by using their own bodies as resources.

And while Kaito’s spiritual sensibilities as a former inhabitant of modern-day Japan made it hard for him to fully comprehend, the expressions on the beastfolk’s faces clearly showed just how much of a taboo they considered the mistreatment of those corpses to be.

The wolf-headed beastman repeated himself in a voice steeped in hatred.

“We have a hard time imagining anyone but a human could have done this.”

“It could also be someone trying to get you to think that.”

“Of course. That’s precisely why we need your assistance. We must decide on a carefully considered judgment. If this was the act of one of our countrymen, then we must dole out a suitable punishment. And if a human did this, then we must repay their cruelty with blood.”

The beastman spoke quickly and sternly.

Kaito reflexively covered his face with one of his hands. He, Kaito Sena, was the enemy of mankind. It looked like the beastfolk wanted to use his power to secure their territory as well as have him act as a third party who could make calm decisions regarding the tragedy.

The burden being placed on him was surprisingly heavy. He heaved an equally heavy sigh as he removed his hand from his face.

“Why me, though? I said it before, didn’t I? As soon as you get a demon and a contractor involved, don’t you think the situation’s just gonna take a turn for the worse?”

“Sir Kaito, it’s not as though we reached out to you based on no information at all. We’ve heard about the incident with the Earl.”

“The Earl?”

Kaito tilted his head to the side at the unexpected mention of a name from his past.

The Earl was a demon who’d bought up children and used them to perform Grand Guignols. Kaito had gotten wrapped up in one of his hellish games, but Neue had protected him, allowing him to narrowly escape with his life.

He wouldn’t have thought that incident would come up, nor had he thought it would have anything to do with the beastfolk trusting him.

As question marks floated across Kaito’s face, the beastman elaborated.

“Before we came up with our plan to contact you, we obtained some documents that were leaked during the Capital’s destruction regarding the battles against the fourteen demons. Within them was a record that was appended after the Kaiser’s escape detailing the battle against the Earl. The Torture Princess had given a new testimony about the servant she’d been concealing from the Church.”

“About me?”

Surprised by that information, Kaito opened his eyes wide. As he did, he recalled what Clueless had said.

“Elisabeth. You’re the one who failed to report having summoned the soul of someone from another world, aren’t you?”

Elisabeth had concealed some—possibly all—information regarding Kaito from the Church. But after the fight against Clueless, they’d discovered Kaito’s existence, and Elisabeth had probably been forced to give a fresh, detailed report on him.

Elisabeth had never told him what that report contained.

The wolf-headed beastman began talking about its particulars.

“It appeared to emphasize the fact that her servant was a Sinless Soul, one who, at the time, didn’t deserve to be executed. The report also had information about how you tried to rescue children during the battle against the Earl. It seems you even cut off your own hand to that end.”

“…Sure, but in the end, the Earl ate them all. I couldn’t save a single one of them.”

“Even so, you fought desperately, making no distinctions between the demi-humans and beastfolk among the human children. That’s why we decided it would be worthwhile to take a gamble on you. And our conviction has only deepened upon following you and watching you fight. Forgive me the discourtesy of asking, but you were holding back while facing those human warriors just a moment ago, weren’t you?”

“I mean, yeah.”

Kaito nodded frankly. He hadn’t adjusted to his power yet. Apparently, it was obvious to anyone who knew what to look for that he’d been going easy on his opponents earlier. The wolf-headed beastman gave a deep nod in reply.

“The difference between your strength and theirs was plain to see. It would have been all too easy for you to kill them. You could have even done all manner of cruel, unspeakable things to them. But you chose not to. And you don’t give off the thick stench of gold and blood that evildoers do. We’ve come to the conclusion that you’re exactly the person the report made you out to be.”

“I see. Well, if you guys are fine with it, then I don’t have any problems. I’ll take you up on your offer. I can’t make any promises about the whole temp commander part, but lead on.”

Kaito gave his answer. Offering no interjections, Hina just wordlessly pressed herself against him.

The wolf-headed beastman’s golden eyes glittered. He quickly lowered his head and professed his thanks.

“Are you quite sure? You have our gratitude and will enjoy our finest hospitality.”

“I’m gonna say up front that I dunno how useful I’m gonna be. There is something I want to confirm for myself, though… Would you mind leading us to the village where the killings happened? I’m no expert, but there should be stuff I can figure out anyway. Oh, right…”

Kaito opened his mouth to speak. His next few words slipped across his lips a little too naturally.

A light smile crossed his face as he asked his question.

“…Are the bodies from the massacre still where you found them? I wanna have a look at the corpses.”

His tone was cheerful—too cheerful for the words he’d just said.

A moment later, Kaito was aghast at how callous he’d been, and as expected, the beastfolk scrunched up their faces as well. A pervasive look of repugnance flashed across their eyes. It was then that Kaito realized a certain fact.

Man, I really am a demon’s contractor.

He was, without a doubt, the vessel the Kaiser had acknowledged.

The teleportation circle the beastfolk were using was different from those used by humans. The principles behind both methods were identical, but the beastfolk’s circle used shavings from dried organs and a powder made from desiccated blood and crushed bone.

“It is a magical tool made from the remains of a late mage of ours.”

The explanation was given by the wolf-headed beastman, whose name was apparently Lute.

Apparently, even people who knew nothing about magic could use it to go where they pleased. The downside was that you needed to draw the circle a second time when you wanted to go back to where you came from. And while the tool was convenient, it would no doubt be branded as contraband anywhere in human society. Even possessing such a thing would likely carry a stiff punishment.

“The legend of the Saint who carried God within her body is well celebrated in our lands as well. But instead of God, we place more stock in the land and in nature, for they are what foster life. We have escaped Diablo’s affections, and we are far removed from the blessings of God as well. While we have the ability to sniff out and analyze magic’s dregs, those among us who can properly wield magic are few and far between. Because of that, our mage requested that their remains be used as communal property.”

“I see, so it’s kinda unique.”

“It gladdens me that you understand.”

Lute had given his explanation with caution, as though he’d been afraid of incurring Kaito’s revulsion. Kaito nodded. If they’d gotten permission from the mage in question, then he had no intention of disparaging their culture.

As the two of them talked, Lute’s subordinates were hard at work drawing the teleportation circle atop the hill. Before long, the pattern was complete, its form far more geometrical than the kind human mages used.

“Please, this way. First, I can lead to you to the village where one of the massacres took place. We were searching for traces the killer left up until this morning, so…the bodies should still be undisturbed.”

“All right, please do.”

Lute gestured for Kaito to line up next to him, and so he did. Hina followed beside him. Kaito spontaneously reached behind her back and embraced her, and she leaned in tight to his side.

Then Lute drew a scarlet stone from his breast pocket and struck it like flint, pouring a shower of sparks over the places where the shaved organs were piled up high.

“Hoh (A rain of gold), hoh (a tempest of flame), hou (the awakening), hoh (has come), hou (now burst into flame).”

As he did, flames shot up around the teleportation circle’s circumference, and a cloud of red and white sand began billowing forth from its center.

The fierce sandstorm blotted out Kaito’s and Hina’s sight. The two hues blended together in front of their eyes in complex patterns, like a sand painting. The sand then hardened into a wall, cracked, and collapsed.

The red-and-white mass toppled onto the ground in square chunks, then vanished.

When his vision returned, Kaito found himself standing in the land of the beastfolk.

So this is what it’s like, huh?

Kaito recalled the information he’d heard from Hina back when Lute’s subordinates had been setting up the teleportation circle.

The pureblood borough was where the beastfolk nobles lived. That was common knowledge, even among humans. But it was impossible to have a society with only an upper class. Soldiers were needed to protect the borders, farmers to till the land and tend to the livestock, merchants to manage the flow of goods, and all sorts of other people. Beastman society had advanced far past the days of subsistence hunting. But as far as humans were concerned, they generally assumed everyone but the ruling class was treated as nothing more than possessions.

As a result, the perception of the pureblood borough as a “land of aristocrats” had persisted even to the present day.

The logic was that limiting the number of owners made for more convenient negotiations. But the simple village sitting before them proved that vague yet extravagant impression of outsiders was flawed.

The village was surrounded by a wooden fence with toxic vines wound around it, likely as a basic defensive measure. All over the village, Kaito could make out animal-shaped weather vanes and cloth charms hanging low to the ground that made it clear how much the inhabitants revered the wind and the earth. The buildings’ foundations were stone, but pretty much everything else was made of wood, with scales and leather plastered onto the roofs and doors. The beastfolk lands were farther north than where most humans lived, but it was unclear at a glance how much protection from the elements the buildings actually offered. Finally, the last noteworthy feature of the hamlet was the boorish chains strung up between a dozen or so of the houses.

Assailed by unease, Kaito strained his eyes.

The chains were wound together like a spiderweb, and there were a number of pieces of game hanging from them.

There were large figures, medium-sized figures, and figures so small that you could hold them in your arms.

And all of them were swarming with flies. The hanging figures’ silhouettes shifted slightly each time the insects squirmed.

It was at that moment that Kaito noticed the thick, familiar scent of blood and rotting flesh.

Before he confirmed the nature of the figures, he closed his eyes once. The Kaiser’s eerily human laughter resounded in his eardrums. Hina made to step in front of him, but Kaito stopped her with one arm as he prepared himself for the worst.

Then he opened his eyes again and looked straight ahead at the tragedy.

As he’d suspected, the ones strung up were the village’s inhabitants.

The fox-headed beastfolk were decorating the village like spoils from a hunt.

A carnival. The aftermath of a fox hunt.

Imprudent similes flashed through Kaito’s mind. But eventually, he arrived at the most appropriate descriptor of all.

A massacre.

There was no other word that could describe the horrible scene before him.

Blood and bile ran along the length of the chains and dripped slowly to the ground. All the victims had their stomachs carved out, their empty abdominal cavities visible from the outside. White maggots were wriggling around in their flesh.

Clenching his fists, Kaito drew closer to the corpses. He looked up at their expressions. Their faces were all stiff and filled with a terrible sense of anguish. The intensity of that emotion was no different between humans and beastfolk.

“Yeah…I’m sure it must have been painful.”

Kaito spoke quietly. Rage and hatred toward the unknown perpetrator flared up inside him. But his experiences in life had left him well accustomed to those negative emotions, and he quickly regained his composure.

Looking back between the buildings, he posed a question to Lute.

“…What about the insides?”

“The insides?”

“What happened to their innards?”

Kaito gave his inquiry in a dispassionate tone. After being taken aback for a moment, Lute hesitated to answer.

Kaito waited for a response. There should have been a fairly substantial amount of other viscera. However, those organs were nowhere to be seen. He could make out little bits spilled here and there, but most of it was clearly missing.

A few seconds later, Lute gave his pained reply.

“It repulses me just to say it, but they were all shoved into a barn. There is no shortage of people who ridicule beastfolk for engaging in animal husbandry. We came to the conclusion that the way the killer dealt with the organs, too, was intended to provoke us.”

“Have they also been left the way you found them?”

“Given the state they’re in, we deemed it difficult to handle them individually. We plan to burn the entire barn to the ground later.”

“Let me have a look.”

Kaito made his request directly. Stooping over, Lute gave him a worried warning.

“…It’s really quite a dreadful sight, you know.”

“That’s fine. I’ve seen people who had their guts and brains fused together while they were still alive.”

With a sympathetic nod, Lute took the lead and began walking off. However, his underlings stood frozen in place. It looked as though they didn’t want to have to see the grisly scene in the barn a second time.

Kaito and Hina left the subordinates behind and followed after Lute. He stopped in front of a shed adjoining a small farm. After hesitating for a moment, he pulled off the bar sealing its door shut.

He doesn’t want to have to open the door himself.

Once he realized that, Kaito spontaneously took the initiative. Trading places with Lute, he placed his hand on the door.

Then he slowly pushed it open.

Flies buzzed around noisily. The stench of blood and rotting flesh ran thick.

Kaito nodded as he strained his eyes against the oddly subdued, dim red light.

Yeah, seeing this would definitely be traumatic if you weren’t used to this kinda stuff.

With Hina beside him, his stare was fixed on the grisly spectacle.

A mountain of beastman innards sat amid the muck, blood, and tallow clinging to the floor. Ravaged intestines and pulverized stomachs blended together, their contents spilling out. The stench they gave off was even worse than that of the corpses. The various lumps of flesh were so repulsive that it was almost unimaginable to think they’d once been inside people. Upon closer inspection, though, there were things other than innards mixed into the pile.

Kaito spotted pig heads and cow heads, garnishing the pile like comical decorations atop a macabre cake.

Kaito grabbed one of the pig heads by the ear and pulled. It made a grotesque sound as it came out. Mucus leaked from an orifice. After carefully examining the opening at the base of the severed head, Kaito looked back toward the mountain of innards.

A few seconds later, a quiet mumble escaped his lips.

“…There’s no meaning to this.”

Suddenly, Kaito released his grip. The pig head fell. After bouncing once off the floor, it sank back into the sea of guts like a deflated rubber ball.

Behind him, Lute spoke up dubiously.

“What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is that this isn’t any kind of provocation, message, or sacrilege.”

Kaito’s declaration was firm.

He pointed at the animal heads artlessly mixed in with the innards.

“If they wanted to give it some kind of meaning, there had to have been a better way they could have used the animal corpses. It’s too random, too crude to have been by choice. It relies too heavily on the viewer’s imagination.”

“But then…why use the barn?”

“Oh, that part is real simple.”

Kaito’s voice was lilting as he gave his answer. A spectacle on the scale of the one before him didn’t even faze him anymore.

Because of that, he simply described the situation as he saw it.

“There were stains on the ground from the extracted innards. In other words, the perpetrator started out simply leaving the guts on the ground after they yanked them out. But over time, they started to build up and get in the way. That’s the reason why the killer gathered them all up and shoved them in one place. Then the animals were noisy, so they shut them up. I know it’s a messed-up way to put it, but it was probably all just part of their assembly line.”

As he listened to Kaito talk, Lute’s fur stood on end. Kaito wondered a little if that was a normal reaction, or if Lute’s rage was simply that tempestuous.

Lute’s golden eyes were filled with loathing as he glared alternately between Kaito and the grim scene.

“You…you mean to tell me that that’s the reason they created this monstrosity?”

“Yeah, probably. And you don’t have to glare at me like that, you know. It’s not like I’m the one who did it.”

“…Ah, forgive me. How rude of me.”

Lute hurriedly looked away from Kaito. But the repulsion and disgust he’d directed toward Kaito for coming up with such a fiendish conjecture still remained in his eyes. Kaito, not pointing that out, just nodded and closed the barn door. He then made his way back to the chains between the buildings.

When he did, he resumed his examination of the strung-up corpses.

The victims’ shoulders had stiffened in an odd way. That was due to the fact that the chains had been run into their left shoulders, then behind their necks, and finally back out through their right shoulders. They’d each lost huge amounts of blood. And all that had probably happened while they were still alive.

“So whoever it was, they hung the victims up while they were still alive, then tore open their chests and ripped out their insides, huh?”

“And there isn’t any major damage to the chains, is there? They must have run it through with a single blow each time without any need to try again.”

“There’s no way a regular human could use a chain that way… This must have been done by someone else.”

Kaito and Hina were whispering to each other. Behind them, Lute straightened out his posture. At some point, his subordinates had assembled as well.

The beastfolk were silent, their expressions tense as they awaited Kaito’s conclusion.

I know how they feel.

As he felt their intense gazes wash over him, he realized why they’d thought this atrocity had been committed by human hands. They didn’t want to believe that one of their own could perform an act of such heinous violence, even if it meant ignoring reality. And it was only natural to want to know the purpose behind such an incomprehensibly brutal act.

The witnesses needed there to be some kind of motive in order to come to terms with this tragedy.

That was precisely the reason why the beastfolk had decided their enemy must be mankind.

And there are even parts to that logic that are sound.

Humans wasn’t to blame for this. But it also wasn’t the work of a beastman.

The crime couldn’t have been committed by just anyone. And there hadn’t been any objective beyond causing pain.

It had been perverse.

It was just an insane, evil crime.

“I know who did this.”

Then Kaito made his assertion. Hina quietly nodded. The beastfolk were struck speechless.

“…Who in the world was it, then?”

The chains rattled in the wind. The bodies swung back and forth. The flies took off, and the thick, rotting fragrance wafted by.

Assailed by every unpleasant sensation imaginable, Kaito spoke.

“It was a demon. I’m sure of it.”

But there was a fierce contradiction between that answer and reality.

All fourteen of the demons’ contractors were supposed to be dead.

After all, it had been none other than Kaito himself, alongside the Torture Princess, who had killed every last one.