Ch.7373. Capture

Around the time when the Empire’s elite forces were stationed at the border to attack the beastmen, they were preparing an execution ground in the imperial capital.

This was due to an imperial decree to execute beastmen captured from across the Empire.

It was essentially a declaration to execute prisoners who didn’t even exist, but no one laughed. That was because even stranger scenes were frequently playing out in the imperial capital anyway.

***

After joining up with the Hero’s pursuit team, I entered the border region without delay. Naturally, it was to lure the beastmen.

It wasn’t difficult. Though they look similar to humans, their sense of smell and hearing rival those of true beasts.

Since they have intelligence, they would surely suspect that a human pushing deep into the border couldn’t be ordinary, but that wasn’t a problem either. It was thanks to the cloak of the elf Silvina, who had been happily roaming the ancient forests at the border lately.

And if that wasn’t enough, I had also sprayed an attractant that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system of beasts.

No human who didn’t have a death wish would do something like this, but the people accompanying me were those who didn’t need to worry about such things.

As long as it wasn’t the Demonic Land… no, to be honest, I thought we could probably hold our own even in the Demonic Land.

“When will the new Pope be decided? The deliberation seems to be taking quite a while.”

“It’s rather the imperial people who are more curious about that. It’s not that the deliberation is taking long; they’ve completely halted it. They’re just thinking that they should eventually elect someone. By the same token, why has the position of cardinal for the imperial capital diocese been left vacant?”

“It was vacant?”

“There’s no need to rush.”

No one seemed tense. If anything, only Katie, the youngest, and the holy knight Holan were somewhat vigilant about their surroundings.

Not everyone was present. Lord Ordellon, once counted among the top fighters of the Black Iron Knights, was absent due to unavoidable circumstances. I heard he was helping to exterminate monsters in neighboring territories to supplement his impoverished finances.

However, there was no sense of absence.

That was thanks to Commander Waynelight joining us.

He hadn’t joined at my request, but had volunteered himself after learning about the possibility of encountering the Beast King. I couldn’t deny that our fighting power had significantly improved.

‘In exchange, the average age has gone up again.’

Anyway, it would have been impossible to assemble a stronger force than this at the current point in time.

I hadn’t simply brought them in to indiscriminately slaughter beastmen. In fact, I had another purpose.

“They’ll be swarming in soon. However, we need to focus on capturing them alive.”

“Capturing them alive?”

Of course, I wasn’t doing this to protect the beastmen’s rights. Nor was I trying to pacify and tame beastmen whose hostility toward humans had already grown to its limit through frequent skirmishes. They weren’t a group that could be persuaded by offering them some grilled meat.

“Killing them will only provoke the Beast King’s anger, but capturing them alive creates possibilities for utilization. Of course, I’m not saying we should capture all of them. Just…”

“The adults, and among them, the exceptionally strong individuals should be captured alive.”

“Yes. The ordinary ones can be dealt with as usual.”

An instruction to make sure to capture the stronger ones alive.

Capturing an opponent who is fighting to the death is an extremely difficult task. This would be true even if the opponent were two levels weaker. And if the opponent were a beastman whose eyes had been turned by the attractant, the difficulty would increase even more.

However, they didn’t raise any objections to my instructions. They simply silently dabbed on the attractant from the bottle as if it were perfume.

***

Woof! Woof!

Dozens of canine beastmen were running fiercely.

The vast ancient forest where even sunlight barely penetrated.

Humans called it the border, but to the beastmen, it was their home. Of course, they hadn’t settled here because they wanted to, but to avoid humans.

‘Someday we’ll have to leave this place.’

This was the thought that occurred to Dash, the commander of the canine beastmen troops.

Though called a commander, he was actually the chief of a small tribe. A good chief who readily shared food with tribesmen who had grown too old to hunt.

But he did possess the military might befitting his position as commander.

In the past, when they invaded the border command, he had killed three human knights in the midst of the chaotic battle, and had also infiltrated the fortress to slaughter more than a dozen soldiers.

The reason why such a person was leading sixty adult beastmen, running and panting, was simple.

It was to somehow catch and kill an elf who had been freely roaming through the territory of the tribe led by Dash.

‘Crazy elf woman.’

It was already a nuisance just to have her meddling around, but she was even stealing their prey. She was a bizarre elf who hunted indiscriminately—foxes, martens, ostriches, badgers, whatever she could find. As if it wasn’t hard enough already with the decreasing number of adult beastmen making hunting difficult.

At first, he thought she was hunting to torment the beastmen, but…

– There were signs of blood being drained after the hunt.

That meant she was a competitor.

It was strange enough that there was a crazy elf who dared to gather food in the beastmen’s territory, and it was also irritating that her scouting abilities were exceptionally good. She was an existence that couldn’t be left unchecked.

“Woof! Woof!”

The crazy elf was getting closer and closer.

And for some reason, as she got closer, his pulse quickened slightly, and his nose felt a stinging sensation. His blood was getting hotter, and he felt the urge to kill anything in sight and tear off its flesh.

Yes. She had to be killed.

This was the territory of the canine beastmen.

It was not a land to be toyed with by a long-eared one who relied on petty skills. He intended to deal with her quickly and return to his tribe. With this resolve, Dash displayed his ferocity a bit early and raised his claws.

“Kill!”

Hit,

Bite,

Claw, tear, make an example…

“Earth’s Binding!”

“Huh?”

An incantation heard by the ears of the canine beastmen as they charged fiercely.

By the time they realized something was wrong, the undergrowth and protruding tree roots that the canine beastmen had been vigorously running over suddenly surged up and entangled their legs.

As several beastmen fell and yelped.

Dash, who had been running at the front, managed to avoid it by using his athletic ability, but he wasn’t given time to look after his tribesmen.

“We need to kill selectively!”

This was because humans had begun to charge at a speed faster than the beastmen and unleash their attacks.

The scene that followed was too one-sided to be called a battle.

A human who methodically broke the arms and legs of beastmen while swinging a hammer.

A human who elegantly dodged the desperate attacks of the beastmen as if testing their skills, and then swiftly beheaded them with precise sword strikes.

And a human who killed several with just aura, then flinched as if he had made a mistake.

‘Filthy bastards!’

Dash’s eyes rolled back in his head as he watched his tribesmen die, but he had a duty to overcome this situation.

Yes, the solution was to kill the weakest one first to reduce their numbers.

He then charged at a female knight and began to overwhelm her one-sidedly.

He didn’t care even when an aura-infused blade grazed his shoulder blade, and he didn’t lose concentration even after being hit by a fireball that came from somewhere.

“Ugh!”

The female knight’s breastplate crumpled miserably after being hit by Dash’s front paw. Dash tried to slash at the female knight’s throat, determined to finish her off, but

that goal was not achieved.

Thwack!

It was because of the heavy warhammer that struck Dash’s spine.

The next moment, Dash’s face was planted into the ground.

A fatal wound that made it surprising he wasn’t dead in one hit… it felt as if his back had completely disappeared.

“This one’s incredibly tough. We definitely need to keep him alive.”

Even as he was gurgling, unable to even groan properly, one question arose in Dash’s heart.

‘Keep me alive?’

It wasn’t a matter of life or death. He was just curious about the mentality of someone who swings a blunt weapon infused with aura while hoping the target doesn’t die.

As Dash was intermittently twitching and waiting for death, a faint sound reached his ears.

“With that level of skill, the Beast King must at least be aware of his existence. Do you think you can save him, Master Nosa?”

“I think so. They are also creatures of the Goddess, after all. And it doesn’t seem like they’ve been granted demonic energy.”

Soon, a warm and dazzling light enveloped Dash’s entire body.

“Woof…”

“You must live.”

This was what an old knight told Dash as he placed his hand on Dash’s head. Meanwhile, another knight was binding Dash’s limbs.

‘What are you doing? Stop it.’

Regardless of Dash’s will, the treatment and conversation continued.

“But Lord Wellesley? There’s something I find difficult to understand. How does taking them prisoner serve as a means of sowing discord? Are you planning to threaten to kill the beastmen unless they rebel against the Demon Lord’s army? …That doesn’t make much sense.”

“I plan to demand ransom.”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll capture as many strong individuals as possible and demand a large ransom from the Demon Lord’s army.”

“…Haha. Would the Demon Lord’s army open their treasury for the beastmen?”

“The Beast King will negotiate with the Demon Lord on our behalf. The Demon Lord’s army will have to weigh gold against the Beast King’s loyalty.”

“What if the Demon Lord refuses?”

“Then their relationship will be shattered. The Beast King won’t tolerate missing the opportunity to save outstanding warriors because of mere gold nuggets. Either way is fine with me.”

It was clear that they were plotting something nefarious.

‘I must inform him.’

What Dash thought of was, of course, the Beast King. The Beast King who had been at the border until recently but had left for the Demon Lord’s castle, saying that something terrible seemed to have happened in the human lands.

There was a means of contact. A magical tool distributed by the Beast King to each tribe, which could be used even without knowing magic. However, hardly any beastmen carried such things. They hadn’t expected humans to push this far into their territory to hunt them.

“Here come more.”

There were about a hundred feline beastmen charging in fearlessly despite seeing the collapsed corpses. Dash stared blankly at the humans readjusting their weapons, and eventually lost consciousness.

That day, the sorrowful cries of beastmen continued endlessly at the border. There were quite a few individuals who fought valiantly, but the pursuit team seemed to welcome such occasions. While they were active, the two knight orders worked in teams to contribute to the escort of prisoners.