Ch.166Chapter 166. The Root of All Evil

It was something I had somewhat anticipated.

I decided to temporarily protect the Beastmen partly because I was concerned about Francesca, but also to reduce unnecessary friction and minimize damage.

Among them, the one I was most wary of would be the assault captain who had repeatedly advanced to the front lines and survived in the war against the Beastmen forces.

“You didn’t come here to fight, did you?”

“That depends on what condition my comrades behind me are in…”

As his words trailed off, the wind grew sharper.

The intimidation I felt from him made me shrink back, and I couldn’t blame it entirely on the cold.

Even though I’ve reached the level of a human-river, my opponent would be considered a bear-river in comparison.

“How is that woman doing?”

But contrary to my tension, his next words carried no particular hostility.

“…Woman?”

“I’m asking about the woman you tried to save.”

The woman I tried to save… Right. Now that I think about it, I had met this guy once before.

At the time, I thought he was attacking Merilyn, so I hugged her and immediately passed out. Given the circumstances, it wouldn’t have been strange if I had been torn apart by his hands right there.

The fact that I survived must have been because of Merilyn.

“Yes, she’s doing well.”

“…I see.”

Fortunately, I didn’t sense any hostility toward Merilyn either.

Sensing this, I gradually lowered my guard, and he too calmed the north wind emanating from him and quietly began to approach.

“I’d like to check on my comrades’ condition. Could you step aside?”

“…You’re surprisingly reasonable.”

“There’s no blood mixed with my comrades’ scent, so if you haven’t harmed them, we have no reason to be hostile.”

A convincing observation from a Beastman sensitive to smells.

Yes, I was about to safely conclude our conversation and step aside, but…

“…Just a moment.”

As soon as I moved aside, Francesca filled the empty space.

“What do you intend to do with those behind here?”

At her action, Phobia stopped in his tracks and began to glare at her with half-closed eyes.

“From your smell, you’re not human… A doll?”

“Please answer my question first.”

Despite the difference in their sizes being several times over, Francesca, unlike me, showed no sign of fear and stood firmly blocking him.

As if she was prepared to create friction directly depending on his answer.

“You know that once a beast transformation occurs, it cannot be reversed, right?”

Phobia’s body flinched at the girl’s words.

Francesca glared at him and pressed on.

“If what I know is true, there haven’t been many cases of Beastmen going berserk and causing problems in the last half-century. But it can’t be easy for Beastmen in an unstable human state to live without falling into a berserk state.”

“…You…”

“How are you handling those on the edge of beast transformation? No, before that, being on the edge of beast transformation without any external injuries essentially means it was self-induced…”

“How much do you know about us?”

-Whoosh!

The north wind began to blow fiercely again.

As I reflexively prepared to draw my weapon, Francesca simply spoke quietly.

“Probably more than you know.”

Her attitude showed not a hint of wavering.

Phobia, who had been silently looking down at her, eventually closed his eyes and calmed his power.

Then, quietly resuming his halted steps, he said:

“Rest assured. If they’ve crossed the line, there’s nothing we can do, but if not, we’ll share their fate until the end.”

A serious voice with almost no emotional fluctuation.

After revealing himself without hiding anything, Phobia quietly said before entering the outpost:

“Come follow me after I’ve examined their condition. It seems we both have much to discuss.”

“……”

***

After checking on his stabilized comrades, Phobia had a private conversation with Francesca as planned.

Their conversation ended around dawn.

But Francesca immediately returned to the outpost after the conversation, and it was Phobia who came to face me instead.

“Have you been guarding all night?”

“Ah, well, I promised the residents of the gate I would.”

I needed to guard this place personally to reassure the people of the gate.

I was used to staying up all night anyway, and any lack of sleep could be dealt with later in the carriage when the expedition started, so it wasn’t a problem at all.

“…On behalf of my group, I express our gratitude.”

Phobia Homer conveyed a sincere apology and thanks to me.

Despite his size, his polite demeanor gave off a friendliness that made it impossible to think of him as just a beast in human form.

“No, I should be the one thanking you. For giving me the opportunity to talk face to face despite being from opposing forces.”

Perhaps it’s because I’ve been burned by people so many times? Or is it that I find it easier to talk to non-human races than to humans?

After safely getting through today, I even had a vague thought that I’d like to establish relations with them if given the chance.

“If the world weren’t so topsy-turvy, we might have become friends.”

“Do you really think so?”

Phobia immediately responded to my regretful comment.

Seeing that he wasn’t mocking me, it seemed he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea either.

“You might have been enemies with the humans here originally, but people like me were just dragged here from another world. If we can communicate, I tend to have fewer of those preconceptions.”

“From your comment about being dragged here, you seem to have grievances against the current humanity… Yet why do you play the role of a hero in front of them?”

“Because I have things to protect.”

The people I need to protect are indebted to humanity.

If they leave humanity’s protection, they would be exposed to the harshness of the world.

“…So we’re in the same boat, is that it?”

Phobia quietly let it pass, as if respecting my position.

Then, after staring at my body for a moment, he asked as if pointing out something that bothered him:

“By the way, I sense the energy of spirits from you… Can you handle spirits?”

“You know about spirits?”

“Yes, the power I wield is also borrowed from them.”

-Whoosh.

A cold wind began to blow in response to his power.

Maintaining its intensity appropriately, Phobia continued his explanation to me:

“It’s also a means that people like me use to avoid crossing the ‘boundary.’ The subtle control abilities of spirits help calm emotions as well.”

“By ‘boundary,’ you mean beast transformation, right?”

“…Yes.”

Beastmen can potentially go berserk and lose their minds due to their nature.

After giving a brief answer about this, Phobia turned his back to me and prepared to move towards the outpost.

“If you want to deepen your understanding of spirits, visit the great forest located west of here.”

“Great forest?”

“In areas that have been preserved in their natural state for a long time, clusters of spirits with personalities sometimes form naturally. It’s a treacherous place, but even briefly encountering their presence will make it easier for you to grasp how to handle spirits.”

“Heh, what’s that? Are you giving me advice now?”

“It’s my way of repaying you for protecting my comrades. And…”

Phobia Homer turned to look at me.

The complexity on his face indicated that this meeting wasn’t entirely pleasant for him.

“I hope we don’t meet again if possible. Even if there’s no ill will between us, since we belong to different factions, we might reluctantly have to cross swords.”

“……”

“…Well, since dawn has broken, we’ll be departing.”

With that, he returned to the outpost and began waking his stabilized comrades.

The brief encounter with the Beastmen ended like that.

“May Priga’s favor be with you.”

Leaving behind a greeting that mentioned the name of the god worshipped by humanity.

An unusual farewell for a Beastman.

*****

Early morning. After the Beastmen withdrew, the expedition set out as planned.

The destination was already determined. The plan was to visit the nearest gate first, and then focus on subjugating monsters and non-human races in the surrounding area.

And the one who had helped formulate this plan was Francesca, who was now riding in the carriage with me.

“…Plan.”

But the gloominess she showed throughout explaining the plan was a stark contrast to her usually dignified demeanor.

It was evident to anyone that she was psychologically damaged.

“What did you talk about with Phobia?”

“……”

Francesca briefly assessed the situation at my question.

After putting down the documents she had been using to explain the plan on the table, she began to fidget with her lips.

It was quite some time before her answer came.

“…About the group he originally belonged to.”

The weight in her voice, more than her appearance, made me voice a suspicion I had:

“If you’re talking about the original group… were the Beastmen indeed once on humanity’s side?”

“Not all of them. There’s also a generation born after forming relationships after becoming Beastmen.”

Right, Beastmen reproduce too.

Knowing they were human, the term “reproduction” might be inappropriate, but the important thing is that they too experience a “generational shift.”

“The new generation born this way doesn’t know why their ancestors separated from humanity… They’ve only inherited the results.”

The Anti-Human Alliance is primarily composed of descendants of those who separated from humanity for some reason.

Having inherited only the resentment of their ancestors, they’ve developed extreme tendencies, considering themselves products of advanced humanity.

I can understand that much.

Even if their origins were human, as generations pass, they would inevitably evolve into beings separate from humanity.

“Then the beginning…”

But the original Beastmen, not their descendants…

For instance, those with enough history to lead a group, like Phobia, can’t be viewed as entirely separate from humanity.

“The reason the Beastmen group was born, was it because the current humanity betrayed them?”

It might be extreme, but I couldn’t help but think that way.

After her conversation with Phobia, she seemed to view herself as a sinner.

The sight of humans she sought to protect opposing other humans would be something a protector couldn’t overlook.

“Did the Empire really…”

The Empire she had been protecting all along, for some reason, created the Beastmen and drove them out.

And now, they’re being crushed by the calamity they themselves created.

“Before I answer that, there’s something I’d like you to answer first.”

Francesca quietly asked in response to my suspicion.

Given her serious demeanor, I paused and prepared to listen to her.

“…If the birth of the current Beastmen group is linked to ‘witches’.”

Something I, as an outsider, couldn’t overlook.

Words that might pose a threat to someone I hold dear.

“And if the cause of the calamities in this world originated from the existence of witches…”

“Would you still view the people you’ve cherished with the same perspective as before?”

-Clatter, clatter.

Only the sound of horse hooves and the carriage wheels echoed in the silence.

In that heaviness, I quietly took time to reflect on what she had said.

Why the sudden mention of witches while discussing Beastmen…

The reason it didn’t seem entirely out of place was because I felt the clues from the encounters we’d had so far were coming together.

‘Humanity, victorious in the war against witches, found hope from the remnants they left behind when calamities befell the world later. Do you know what humans desperate for that hope did?’

Integrating a witch’s power into a human.

The Crown Prince said that was the source of his power. Before resorting to methods like summoning people from other worlds, this world attempted to integrate a witch’s power into humans.

And Beastmen are humans who have been forcibly transformed by external factors, entering an unstable state where they might fall into madness at any moment.

If their existence became prominent right after the calamity, it would coincide exactly with the time when humanity sought hope from a witch’s power to resist the calamity.

“…Suhaeng.”

If Beastmen are byproducts of such attempts, they might be targeting the only witch the Empire possesses.

Furthermore, a protector of humanity might not be pleased with a witch who has caused humans to fight against humans.

“Can you still look after Suhaeng?”

So if I want to protect her, I might face a future where I oppose not only the Beastmen I’ve met but also the girl in front of me…

Or if the possibility of the opposite happening isn’t zero, then what I need to do now is clear.

“Suhaeng, you say?”

“Yes, I promised to fulfill your wish if you fulfill mine.”

No matter what happens later, setting aside questions about unfaced issues.

Maintaining a cowardly silence to get through the present, and preparing for whatever happens next.

And building the strength to be prepared for whatever choice I have to make.

“…Teach me how to fight as a weaker opponent.”

To my request, which I believed would be granted immediately, Francesca silently suppressed her emotions and nodded.

As if conveying that maintaining our current relationship for our respective purposes is the best course, even if we can’t be certain about what comes next.

****

Around the time when it was foreseen that his beloved companion would be receiving teachings from his second mentor…

“Are you comfortable here?”

While staying in a separate building of the imperial palace, Irie had time to welcome a visitor to her room.

No, not a visitor, but the owner.

The person who had just entered the room was, in fact, the de facto power in this empire.

“…Yes, thanks to you.”

But despite being given the maximum comfort possible in the imperial palace, Irie reflexively clutched her belly as soon as she faced him.

It was unavoidable. In his eyes, her child would be seen as a thorn.

“The fact that you’ve followed me this far means you’re prepared for what’s to come, but won’t that child in your womb be a burden?”

Even a prophet who has foreseen the future is human, and as such, can’t be free from human values.

Given that she’s central to his plan, he might think the child in her womb could interfere with his plans.

“I agreed not to worry about this child… That was one of the conditions for our cooperation, wasn’t it?”

“…Yes, it was. Until the appointed day comes.”

But considering his human aspect, his dissatisfaction towards her is also something to be considered.

To avoid unnecessarily antagonizing him, she needed to play along to some extent.

Realizing this again, the Crown Prince turned his back to her and began walking somewhere, taking the lead.

“Follow me. As promised, I’ll introduce you to her.”

Witch Vivian.

Indicating that the day had finally come to meet the key figure in the prophesied future.