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Chapter 242 – Executing The Plan
“Would you rather have it mangled and bug-eaten here and there than neatly trimmed?”
“I don’t like that either, but I’d rather not have my head shaved.”
“Let’s adopt Leonard’s suggestion.”
After deciding on a policy, I stowed away the upper body clothes of Qubi, who was lying on his back and showing his belly, in my inventory and stripped his upper body naked.
“Eh.”
Kirilovich, who saw the scene, shouted in surprise. As long as it is visible, I can put it in my inventory, even if it is worn by someone else. It doesn’t have a long-range, but it’s going to be useful in anti-personnel combat, I think. I don’t know if I’ll ever get into a situation where I’ll need to use it, though.
“First, let’s show him that we’re serious.”
“Hmm.”
Isla nodded at Sylphy’s declaration and sounded the clippers. Perhaps because of Sylphy’s words that if he resisted, he would be killed immediately, Qubi was shorn of the hair on his torso without resistance.
“So beastman has nipples, too?”
“Obviously they do…”
Incidentally, Qubi, who has a more beast-like appearance, had two nipples. Well, it is only natural since the beastman woman, who also has a beast-like appearance, did not have multiple nipples like some animals. I was deeply moved by the fact that even a beastman like Qubi has a human base.
“Well, this is it for now… come on, talk.”
“Yes…”
The tension of Qubi, whose torso was shorn of all its fur, is the lowest I’ve ever seen. His ears are flattened down, and his tail is slumped down, and… no, I think it’s slightly between his legs. Most importantly, his eyes are dead.
Incidentally, Kirilovich has been silent for quite some time now, eyes down. It seems that his idea is to at least not look at it. I can’t be silent when my own people are treated like this right in front of my eyes! I’m glad he doesn’t have such a reckless sense of justice. If he had said such a thing and started a riot, I don’t know what Sylphy and the others would have done, not to mention Sir Leonard and me.
No, it’s not a good idea to mess with a foreign envoy, so I’m not going to do it.
“First of all, I was a spy for the Varyag empire, to begin with. About ten years ago, I was sent by the Varyag Empire to the Kingdom of Merinard, which had become a vassal state of the Holy Kingdom. The purpose was to gather information and create a disruption in the rear.”
“And that is why you cooperated with us in our rebellion?”
“That’s right. But three years ago, right after the rebellion in Merinard, I received another order from the home country. It was a top-priority order. That was regarding Kosuke.”
I tilted my head at Qubi’s words. Three years ago was long before I came to this world. There is no way to predict my arrival at that point in time… or is there in this world?
“Is it some kind of oracle or prophecy?”
“It is not only the saints of the Holy Kingdom and the elves of the Black Forest that can receive the words of gods and spirits. There are also saints and shrine maidens in the Varyag Empire.”
I see. Qubi’s words made sense to me.
“The specifics of the oracle were not given to me, but the instructions to me were simple and clear. Just throw the visitor who appears to the elves in the Black Forest into the prison in Merinesburg. The only condition was that the visitor’s power must be reduced as much as possible. I thought that would be unexpectedly difficult and arduous…”
“So you made Kosuke empty out his inventory.”
“Yeah. I didn’t expect it to be that easy, so I was a little disappointed.”
“Kosuke, that’s what he said.”
“Leave it alone.”
I just wanted to see what would happen if I threw out all the non-perishable supplies I had stored up. I didn’t expect to be beaten up, strangled, and kidnapped right after. Back then, I thought Qubi was one of my friends… Oh, my anger voltage is rising again. Now I want to not only shear his fur but also beat him up.
“If you were a spy of the empire, it would make sense for you to have a magic tool for the transition when you escaped… However, your movements were clearly in cooperation with the Holy Kingdoms. You are a spy of the empire and a beastman, and you are fleeing in the direction of the Holy Kingdom… No, I see.”
“So naturally, there are also spies and informants in the Holy Kingdoms. However, I also inquired about it with Archbishop Deckard and High Priestess Katerina, but they didn’t seem to know anything about you, did they?”
“Those two are the bigwigs of the nostalgic faction, aren’t they? I relied on the bigwigs of the mainstream.”
“So you’re saying the mainstream isn’t monolithic?”
“That’s right.”
“I see. But as a result, the Holy Kingdom created an enemy to the east, the Empire, and to the west, us. You don’t know what the Holy Kingdom’s insiders are after, do you?”
“That is true. And I don’t understand about the mainstream.”
The mainstream is, in other words, the side that oppresses the subhuman race. It doesn’t make sense that they would be happy to see the kingdom of Merinard regain its former glory.
“I guess that means there are a lot of different kinds of mainstreamers. I don’t know the details――”
Isla silently clipped the hair clippers.
“Which do you want next, your head or your tail?”
“No, I don’t know what I don’t know――”
“Let’s go with the tail. Beastman take especially good care of their tails, after all.”
Melty smiled and made the clippers jingle at high speed. Surely it’s hard to think that he doesn’t know about it here, isn’t it?
“Wait, wait, even if I did know, there are things I don’t need to know! I can assure you! There is nothing to be gained by knowing!”
“Isn’t that a roundabout way of saying you know about it?”
“I don’t know what I don’t know! If I knew, I would have told you honestly! Forcing me to tell you would only be speculation, and listening to my speculation would only be noise!”
“Let me hear your guesses. We’ll decide if it’s right or wrong.”
“Mmm, talk.”
“It really is just a guess! I don’t know if it’s wrong or right!”
Qubi began to talk while holding his own tail.
“You see, the man who is in on the inside is Cardinal Krone, the monster who sat in the Cardinal’s chair when he was only thirty-four years old. He’s a devoted scripturalist.”
“A scripturalist?”
“It means he values the contents of the Adol scriptures.”
“You mean, he somehow realized that the scriptures that the mainstream now values were heavily modified in the past?”
“So you think he’s doing this and that on the inside with the empire? That’s a bit unreasonable, don’t you think?”
“The power of faith sometimes defies logic…”
When I heard the conversation between Qubi and Isla, Sir Leonard and I looked at each other and tilted our heads. If that is the case, I have no idea what this Cardinal Krone guy is trying to do. Assuming that’s the case, why doesn’t he just switch sides and join the nostalgic faction? What’s the point of moving secretly within the mainstream? I don’t know.
“That’s why I said it’s nothing more than speculation and rather confusing…”
Qubi mutters as he hugs his tail protectively. Do you really hate having your tail shorn that much?
“Well, I’d like to ask you many other questions, but I can’t think of any right now…. I’ll spare you from getting your tail fur trimmed.”
“…..!”
A glimmer of hope lights up in Qubi’s eyes.
“That’s only for us.”
“…Hmm?”
The reception room door opens with a terrifying “Giii…” sound. No, why is it making such a sound? It was almost silent when I came in earlier, wasn’t it?
“But I wonder if the girls will forgive you?”
“””Piyoo…”””
Beyond the door that opened, there were the Harpies with big smiles on their faces. All of them had the same scary smile on their faces.
“Hyiee…”
“You should know firsthand the gravity of what you’ve done.”
“Gyaaaahhhh!?”
An avalanche of Harpies rushes into Qubi.
About an hour later, a man with all his fur cut off was displayed at the castle gates in Merinesburg. Around his neck was a wooden tag that read, “I have betrayed my friends.” In addition, due to the desperate persuasion of Kirilovich and myself, the rope was tied around his torso, not his neck.