Ch.85The Good and the Evil

“Why is the sheriff here?”

“Isn’t that a Yamyo behind him? How did they get in?”

“You know, that adventurer who supposedly betrayed their own kind and sided with the settlers.”

“Wasn’t the thief who stole from the general store also a Yamyo?”

As I walked through the residential area in the southwest of Riverside following the sheriff and his deputies, I could hear people whispering around us.

“I didn’t betray anyone…”

“Well, rumors tend to get distorted as they spread.”

The Yamyo girl who had left her village to pursue her dream of becoming an adventurer had somehow been repackaged as a well-intentioned traitor(?) to her own kind.

There was no way to correct every rumor, so Seti and I quietly followed behind the sheriff.

Sensing that something unusual was happening, some people stealthily followed us to see what was going on, while others ran off somewhere with urgent expressions.

Perhaps they were going to warn old lady Laila that the sheriff was coming for her.

“That person who just left, is it okay to let them go?”

“We’re dealing with a 70-year-old woman who lives alone. How far could she run, and how long could she hide?”

“I suppose you’re right…”

After walking for another two or three minutes, agreeing with the sheriff’s logic, we arrived at a nursing home tucked away in a corner of the residential area.

It was a facility where elderly people with nowhere else to go made a living through small sewing jobs and handicrafts, and where someone would run to the clinic to call a doctor if anyone fell ill.

When we arrived at this building, created for survival rather than welfare, the sheriff stated his purpose. The nursing home manager reluctantly stepped aside to let him pass, though clearly uncomfortable.

“You need to run away now! The sheriff is right outside!”

“Why should I run? What have I done wrong?”

“Good heavens, you stubborn old woman! Argue later, just listen to me now!”

“No need to waste your breath trying to persuade her. She won’t listen anyway.”

As Sheriff Peterson entered the building and spoke those words, a man in his early sixties who had been urging the old woman Laila to flee jumped back against the wall in surprise.

He looked frightened, realizing that his attempt to help a criminal escape might be used against him.

“Welcome, Sheriff. Did you catch that Yamyo thief girl?”

“There was no Yamyo thief. There was only someone trying to frame a Yamyo for a crime.”

“Ah~ So you’re taking the Yamyo’s side?”

“When the second theft occurred, the Yamyo adventurer Elem Lu Seti was in the jail at the sheriff’s office, right before my eyes. I’ve already obtained a statement from Mrs. Margaret, so please come with me quietly.”

“…Useless crippled bitch.”

After cursing the absent fruit shop owner, the old woman finally seemed to notice Seti and me standing behind the sheriff. Her eyes bloodshot, she began raising her voice.

“What kind of license does a filthy beast have?! What is this city coming to, how dare she sneak in here hiding behind an adventurer!”

“Elem Lu Seti is a legal adventurer who received her license on March 13th in recognition of her service in eliminating a wanted criminal. She didn’t cling to other adventurers to get in, nor has she committed any illegal acts.”

“Where in the world is there a Yamyo who hasn’t broken the law?! It’s illegal when they kill settlers, it’s illegal when they have and raise children! And their offspring are naturally illegal too!”

“My goodness, there’s no reasoning with you.”

As the sheriff rolled up his sleeves and approached the old woman, Seti grabbed his sleeve and shook her head.

She probably thought it wasn’t right to forcibly drag away an elderly woman covered in wrinkles, despite the verbal abuse directed at her.

But even this gesture seemed to irritate Laila, who began screeching even louder.

“Hey, Sheriff! Who are you working for?! Why are you ignoring innocent settlers and acting like a puppet for some Yamyo beast?!”

“I’m a sheriff for the peace of this city. Not for settlers, not for humans.”

“Ah~ I get it! It’s her, isn’t it? She seduced you by wiggling her bewitching behind and gave you her body?! Good heavens! The end times are here! Imagining an old sheriff being enchanted by a beast, swinging his limp—”

“Say one more word and I’ll charge you with contempt of sheriff.”

“Why?! Does the truth hurt so you want to shut me up?! You should have done your job properly! Even though your son was killed by Yamyos, how could you fall for such a beast and—”

“LAILA BOLTER!!!”

A thunderous roar erupted from the sheriff’s throat, far louder than any sound a 70-year-old woman could produce.

Everyone in the nursing home held their breath, afraid the sheriff might shoot the old woman dead on the spot. Even the old woman herself, who had been glaring and hurling insults, was frozen in place by his intensity.

“…As you said, my son was killed by Yamyos. But unlike your husband or son who died heroically defending Riverside, he was killed by a Yamyo spear while trying to hunt down retreating Suwang tribe members for bounty.”

“……”

“If you ask who was responsible for the war between the Suwang tribe and the settlers, I would certainly argue it was the Suwang tribe.”

“That’s right! It was all those beasts…”

“But! That was over 20 years ago. The Yamyo broke ties with the Suwang tribe when they attacked Riverside civilians and declared non-interference. Even when slave poachers occasionally invade their territory, they capture them alive and hand them over to us rather than killing them. They may have animal ears and tails, but they try to maintain human principles.”

I had heard about this from Jessica before.

The Yamyo broke their alliance with the Suwang tribe when the latter, who claimed to be defending their territory, left it to raid Riverside, a settler city.

“But what about us? In my time as sheriff of Riverside, I’ve arrested over twenty human traffickers, most of whom were selling not only Yamyos but also the friendly Silver Wolf and White Rabbit tribes as slaves. And their customers were people like you who consider beastkin not as humans but as animals.”

“What nonsense is this?! Settlers doing wrong and beasts doing right, how could such a thing happen?!”

“Isn’t it happening right before my eyes? An innocent adventurer being framed simply for being a Yamyo, with merchants being bribed and petty thieves hired to stage crimes.”

With cold eyes, the sheriff took out handcuffs and delivered his ultimatum to old lady Laila.

“Laila Bolter. I’m arresting you for instigating theft, obstructing an investigation, and attempting to frame a licensed individual with false criminal charges. You’re free to hate the Yamyo, but I should warn you that the more you express it, the worse it will be for you in court.”

“The sheriff… is arresting me…? Because of a Yamyo, arresting me, a settler…?”

“I am the chief sheriff of this city. My job is to arrest criminals to protect the innocent. Whether they have pointed ears or tails, or whether they’re hunched over with age, makes no difference.”

“A settler… because of a Yamyo… a human… to a beast…”

Barely registering the sheriff’s arrest notice, Laila seemed to be experiencing cognitive dissonance, with only two concepts remaining in her mind: ‘good settlers’ and ‘evil Yamyos.’

As the sheriff reluctantly approached her with handcuffs, he had to stop in his tracks at the absurd scene that unfolded next.

“Hee… hehehehehe… Honey, the sheriff came to arrest me… I guess I wasn’t a settler but a beast cub. Heeheeheeheeheehee…”

*drip*

As the old woman stared into space, laughing like she’d lost her mind, her pants became wet and a foul-smelling yellow liquid spread across the floor.

Unable to accept the situation where a settler was being arrested for crimes against an innocent Yamyo, she had lost control of her bladder and her sanity.

“The evil beastkin is being arrested~ Hee… heehee… meow~ roar~”

“Oh my, tsk tsk… she’s completely lost her mind.”

“I knew she’d snap someday… what are we going to do about that mess?”

While everyone was grimacing at the sight and smell, unable to approach the old woman, Seti walked past me without a moment’s hesitation. She took off her cloak, bunched it up to wipe the urine from the floor, then supported the old woman and helped her to her feet.

Glass-like tears were streaming continuously from Seti’s eyes.

“Thank you, settler miss. For showing mercy to this lowly beast… woof woof.”

“…Watch the threshold at your feet…”

“Being arrested? By the sheriff? Heehee… the sheriff is doing a good job here… roar~ It’s the Suwang tribe~”

Good is settler, evil is beastkin.

Unable to abandon this absolute premise, old lady Laila resolved the contradiction between her delusion and reality by identifying herself as a beastkin.

Seti, without a single complaint, led the old woman out of the nursing home as she imitated cats, dogs, lions, and even chickens and ducks whose existence as beastkin was questionable.

Belatedly realizing it was his role, Sheriff Jeffrey tried to take the old woman from Seti, but she insisted on supporting her all the way to the sheriff’s office.

In one corner of the small room, Seti’s cloak, soiled with the old woman’s urine, lay crumpled and abandoned.

The sight of that cloak felt like looking at Seti’s wounded heart, and I found myself sighing deeply without realizing it.

“Sigh… this is truly unbearable.”

If only she had lunged at Seti and tried to strangle her.

If only she had pulled out a gun from her bosom and tried to shoot us.

Even if she had pointed it at her own head and attempted suicide, it wouldn’t have left such a bad aftertaste.

What was going through Seti’s mind as she walked, tears streaming down her face, supporting old lady Laila?

Deciding I should at least walk alongside Seti until we reached the sheriff’s office, I left the nursing home, leaving the soiled cloak behind.