Chapter 51 - Volume 4 (1/2)

Volume 4, Chapter 2: I became a Fourth-grader, Part 2

Half a year has passed since the Daemon King declared war on all of the human nations.

In the three human nations that bordered the 『Forest of Monsters』 which was close to the Daemon’s territory, forts had been constructed in various places and mercenaries had been contracted in preparation of the invasion of the Daemon King’s army. In the last six months, there had only been minor skirmishes with the Daemon army’s scouts and beastmen bandits, along with small groups of monsters.

So, where had the Daemon King’s army gone?

What had they been doing up until now, and what were they doing now……

“GyaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

A beastman, wearing a slightly stained armour, stabbed poorly-clothed other beastman with a spear.

Even though they were both Beastmen, while the one who had been killed looked like a human, the one who was wearing the armour looked like a wolf with a reptile’s eyes. After being splattered with blood, it licked its own face with a snakelike tongue and a distorted smile.

The Daemons… a mixed-blood group of abandoned humans and demi-humans and monsters.

The agonising screams of death were the only thing that could be heard.

They who were armed with rusty swords and spears, wearing thin and dirty armour, had struck a small village, killing and looting its fleeing inhabitants with extreme cruelty.

The 『Forest of Monsters』 that separated the Daemon territory from the human nations was a dangerous place where monsters rampaged, but there were also a few villages within it.

There were people who separated themselves, being unable to accept the way of the Daemons. There were humans who had chosen to share their lives with the beastmen and Daemons. There were slaves and stragglers who’d run away from human society.

These people had gradually congregated, seeking escape from both humans and Daemons, and had built a village in this dangerous forest, and although they feared the Daemons, they were able to eke out a bare-bones life.

That is, until today……

“M-mother”

A five year old cat-eared young girl was crying, her face distorted as she shook the still body of a bloodstained human woman.

“Tch, she died so easily, it’s going to be a pain in the rear to transport.”

As the lizard beastman spit out his complaint, he ripped off a piece of meat and shoved it into his mouth, sloppily chewing.

“I think I’ll eat the innards first… Oi, brat! I’ll take you back as my fresh food, so just be docile until I eat you.”

“Heee…”

The Daemons who had thick monster blood would even stoop to eating humans or other beastmen.

The soldiers of the Daemon army attacked all the settlements, pillaging all the food from the villages, killing everyone but the young women and children, as they were tasked with bringing back playthings for food and ‘comfort’.

However, this was a mission in name only. Even if they were left to their own devices, the Daemons would have done the same by instinct.

There is not a single one with the heart of a 『Person』.

For the Daemons, anyone weaker than they were were existences to take from, and they wouldn’t come to a mutual understanding even if they talked, only ever seeing the weak as livestock.

“……Hmm?”

A lizard beastman realised that the area was strangely quiet.

Wiping the bloodstains from his mouth, he could only hear the muffled crying of the little girl.  Even if he strained his ears, he could hear nothing else at all.

There were ten-odd of them who had raided this place. There were only about 50 people in the village, so it should have been easy to annihilate, so it was unnatural that he couldn’t hear any of the women or children making tormented noises or screaming.

“What’s going on…? Brat, you’re coming with me!”

“…N-Nooooo”

“Shutup!”

The little cat-eared girl was struck and went silent, and the lizardman left the roughshod cabin with his spear.

“Wha…”

As the lizard beastman walked out to look, he saw all of the villagers that they had killed…… and all of his comrades with their swords and spears at the ready…  had become stone statues.

“What the… this…”

The lizardman couldn’t recognise that those stone statues were his companions.

Why were there stone statues that looked like his companions? Where did the people that he had personally put into place go?

Maybe they’d found prey and had intentionally left him out of it, and he felt indignant that he had been made a fool of and that they’d run off without telling him.