episode_0074

“Your elder sister, Elder Eos, is waiting.”

Selena’s elder sister.

This was the first time since I became Rain Grey that I encountered someone who remembered a member of the Serpents.

It was different from how my members used to face heroes in the mausoleum.

“…Waiting for us?”

Even after hearing her sister’s name, Selena didn’t seem flustered. She continued in her usual calm and steady voice.

“Regrettably, I didn’t come all this way to see her.”

Her voice, as she said this, drew a clear line that anyone could discern.

It was as if she were addressing a complete stranger.

“I merely came to fulfill my role as a member of the Serpents, following the leader’s will.”

“……”

I fell silent for a moment.

The reason was my hesitation about what choice to make in the presence of a blood relative who remembered Selena from before she was reborn as a member of the Black Serpent.

At the same time, I knew that her existence was a clue to understanding the past of a member loyal to me.

Even if Rain Grey had left me with endless freedom, and even if I no longer pursued absurd answers that didn’t exist, like the truth of this world or the meaning of life, nothing would change.

Nevertheless, I wanted to know.

“Is there another reason for them to be waiting for us?”

“Leader…?”

That’s why I asked again. Selena blinked at my unexpected words.

“Of course.”

The Sister of Dawn nodded and replied. In the deep darkness of night, with her back to the pre-dawn darkness, whose arrival time was uncertain.

“…Since the day Lady Selena safely returned me to my mother’s embrace, many things have changed.”

Said the High Elf named Rana, whom I had rescued earlier from the Empire’s underground auction house.

“It was a change significant enough that even the Sisters of Dawn and Moon, who had long hated and antagonized each other, engaging in meaningless conflict, had to reconcile and unite their strength.”

Her words were filled with irreversible regret and bitterness.

“Of course, by then, it was already too late.”

At the same time, even such changes were insufficient to stop the ‘change’ brought about by humans.

“What kind of change was it?”

“……”

Rana did not answer immediately. She simply bit her lip in silence. It was an act that required no small amount of courage just to speak aloud.

“We became livestock.”

When I first heard it, I didn’t understand the words. Rather than not understanding, I doubted my ears, thinking I had misheard. But I hadn’t.

“Livestock? Are you referring to slaves?”

It seemed Selena felt the same way.

Perhaps it could have been a metaphor.

“But according to Bretona Imperial law, slavery is officially prohibited…”

“That’s right, legally, slavery is illegal.”

Apart from illicit criminal activities that flourish secretly, slavery is illegal on the continent.

It was laughable, yet still possible because it was a world that, at least outwardly, maintained the form of modern civilization, where the concept of natural rights existed.

“But we are not human.”

For their race, called demi-humans from a human perspective, the word ‘human’ is no longer permitted.

Animals, not humans, have no need for the same rights as humans.

Therefore, no matter how non-human animals are treated as livestock, there is no place for human morality and ethics to intervene.

“No matter the Empire, turning their entire race into enemies like that…”

For a moment, Selena couldn’t comprehend her words and asked again. I shared the same question.

From the Bretona Empire’s perspective, the Mother’s Forest, ruled by elves, was their colony.

No matter how harsh or brutal the exploitation or plunder, to take something, they still needed to utilize the labor of the native inhabitants.

“Of course, ‘Honorary Imperial Citizens’ who have accepted the Bretona Empire’s mercy are different.”

“……”

The Empire’s mercy, Honorary Imperial Citizens.

The answer became surprisingly simple.

“So, they won’t tolerate any rights for those who don’t follow the Empire?”

“Ah, how truly…”

Selena trailed off, her voice filled with disgust, and Aria let out a cold laugh.

“How truly, truly ‘humane’ that method is!”

It was, quite literally, enough to make even Aria gasp in admiration.

“Heh, but livestock, you say. What kind of treatment earns such a name? Will they pierce their noses and make them crawl on all fours? Truly, it’s hard to even imagine.”

“……”

“—Ah, it’s truly astonishing. Even I am impressed.”

Suddenly, the expression that even demons would be horrified crossed my mind. I couldn’t say anything.

“Then, because of one reactionary who resists the Empire, surely villages and tribes will bear collective responsibility.”

Aria continued.

“They will probably explicitly show the tragic end of an elf branded as livestock to their own kind… no, to the Honorary Imperial Citizens, to break their will to resist.”

I didn’t even need to hear more; it was as clear as looking at the palm of my hand what was happening.

“Those who fear becoming livestock will dutifully perform their ‘national duties,’ and when they should be uniting against the invaders, only the conflict between the honorable Imperial Citizens and the livestock will deepen.”

“—To the point where the conflict between the Moon and the Dawn seems like child’s play.”

Selena said, her voice trembling.

After speaking, she finally revealed her suppressed emotions and asked again.

“Then, Elder Eos…”

“The Elder is safe.”

Rana replied.

“For now.”

Nevertheless, Selena’s expression hardened at the caveat attached to that statement.

*

“Your Excellency, a letter from the homeland has arrived.”

“A letter?”

Lord Winston, the Governor-General of the Great Forest dispatched by the Bretona Empire, repeated. He then lit a large cigar and opened the wax seal of the letter.

It was a secret letter from Oswald Rabbit, the Empire’s Prime Minister.

—To Lord Winston.

Information control regarding the livestock policy in the Great Forest colony is reaching its limit.

Remember that if this content reaches Her Majesty the Queen’s ears, what you might have to worry about is not merely your political career, but your actual life.

To be frank, I, too, express concern about the excessively inhumane policies you are implementing in the colony.

“That damned queen’s rabbit…”

Lord Winston barely suppressed the surging anger that arose upon reading it, clenching the letter in his hand with all his might.

Then, he looked at the messenger in front of him, who had personally delivered the letter.

“It seems you’re also a pawn directly sent by that rabbit bastard.”

“……”

“Did you personally deliver the letter from the start? Or did you bury the real messenger somewhere under a Great Forest tree and come in his place?”

“I don’t understand what you mean, Governor-General. I am merely a messenger.”

“Hmph.”

The messenger from the homeland.

At least, the man claiming to be so didn’t answer. He merely maintained his usual poker face.

“You must have received orders to step forward as a witness in case of emergency, to prove the existence of this letter, and to make me bear all the responsibility alone.”

Even if the truth was seen through and he was hit where it hurt, it made no difference.

According to the letter, Prime Minister Oswald Rabbit was greatly concerned about the inhumane acts occurring in the colony and merely appeared to be ‘reluctantly’ cooperating and complying.

The livestock policy of the Great Forest colony.

Considering whose mind this idea actually originated from, it was a story that didn’t even evoke a hollow laugh.

“When those snake bastards were rampaging in Londinium, they were so quiet, but here, this Oswald Rabbit is just completely insane.”

Lord Winston merely frowned, even though he knew it was an obvious and transparent political game, like looking into a clear lake.

After frowning, he held the cigar he had been biting in his hand and looked down at his feet.

“Enemies on all sides.”

The chair on which Lord Winston, Governor-General of the Great Forest Colony, sat.

On it was not even livestock, but furniture.

A slender, pale waist knelt, supporting Lord Winston’s heavy backside.

Lord Winston leaned the end of his cigar against the pristine white back of the ‘chair’ he was sitting on and spat out an expletive.

“Who would think anyone would do such barbaric things willingly, I wonder.”

No screams came out. Because for a piece of furniture, not even an animal, an action like screaming could never be tolerated.

The difference between humans and tools is that tools are born to fulfill a purpose from the start.

And a tool that can no longer fulfill its purpose and has lost its function has no reason to exist.

Therefore, a tool designed as a chair for a human to sit on only proved its worth by doing so.