Two pairs of eyes stared at each other. Xu Jun's felt a mix of emotions swirling about in his heart.
Thinking back to when he first met Kanaman, he remembered having a great time ridiculing him. Back then, he hadn't known that he would transmigrate into this world. The people he had met and the things he had done, all of them would now come back to bite him.
If he had known back then…
He would have just killed this Kanaman. ->_-> After all, killing someone was better than letting them create trouble for him later on…
Unfortunately, wishes could not change the past. The situation has already come to this, and the only thing he could do now was feign ignorance.
Kanaman widened his eyes. He saw that! Although not many people had noticed, he saw it clear as day. That bastard, human warrior who had once beaten him had glanced at him before guiltily turning his head away—why did he have a guilty conscience? Did that human also remember the time when he had done extremely vile deeds against him?—No, long ago, father had said that humans were born without a sense of shame. If they dared to commit evil deeds, they would never feel regretful or embarrassed because of what they had done. After all, this is what humans were like! So why would this fellow let out such an expression?
Why was it that a human who had encountered the sand leopard tribe two years ago would feel guilty upon facing sand leopards?
Kanaman had always found it hard to use his brain. His father had often said that his eldest son was cut from as the same template as himself: they could fight well, but couldn't use their heads well. Kanaman's younger brother, Ti Na, however, was extremely clever despite only being seven years old. His grandfather, who was now two years deceased, had said that Ti Na possessed the potential to become a beastman shaman. Ti Na had always been different from him, and Kanaman was extremely fond of his little brother for it. Grandfather had once said that shamans could lead the beastmen to prosperity.
Ti Na…
Kanaman, who had never found it easy to use his brain, felt as if he had torn an opening through the fogginess around his mind. He suddenly understood. He came to the realization that he had never truly understood humans! This human was the true culprit! The true culprit who had abducted Ti Na! Kill him, kill him, these thoughts roared through his mind. No, Kanaman thought, he couldn't kill him just yet. He must first find out the whereabouts of Ti Na; only then could he kill this human!
Many thoughts raced through the mind of this silly big brother, Kanaman. This fellow who had abducted his little brother, how much authority did he have? How powerful was he? Would he be easy to kill? Thinking about his poor younger brother, who probably wasn't allowed to eat even dried bread crumbs, Kanaman felt a surge of grief. His pampered younger brother had always eaten well-roasted meat back at the tribe! Of the tribe's cubs, Ti Na was the most spoiled one! Now he has landed in human hands, how could he possibly adjust to his new, horrid living conditions? What a pitiful little brother!
…Kanaman did not know that, although he was right in a sense, the difference between his thoughts and reality was akin to that of heaven and earth. In the past few days, Ti Na had indeed been mistreated, having been beaten and underfed by the traffickers who had kidnapped him. Those times were truly miserable for him. However, now that Ti Na was following Xu Jun, when Xu Jun ate meat, he ate meat. When Xu Jun drank wine, he drank wine. When Xu Jun gambled, he gambled…cough, while the latter two activities were rather questionable, there was no doubt that Ti Na was extremely happy.
This was evident, as when he heard other within the city mention a beastman invasion, he didn't think much of it despite being a beastman himself. It was almost as if he regarded himself as a human now, throwing to the back of his mind the thoughts of waiting for his father, mother, and brother to appear.
"Let go of me! I want to go find Xu Jun!" The small sand leopard, Ti Na, kicked at Nar. "You're so annoying! You're always telling me what to do!"
Nar thought to himself, you think I want to take care of you? His mood plummeted—didn't the Bright God's Doctrine state that children were as pure as angels? Did beastmen children not count as children?!
Fortunately, I am the guardian knight of the esteemed Holy Son, Nar thought. I have dedicated my life to the Bright God Church and the Holy Son. Nar had once believed this way of thinking to be strange, feeling that something wasn't right about it. Now, however, he felt that this way of thinking fell completely in line with his own principles! Think about it, if he hadn't devoted his entire being to the esteemed Holy Son, then Nar might have followed his parent's wishes and married some noble lady. Then he would have children, and children were the most terrible creatures to ever roam the earth. There was no way he could ever manage them, so it was best that he remained childless and unmarried.
Thinking of it like this, he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his mind. Nar, who has accepted that he was not good with kids, pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and plugged Ti Na's shouting and screaming mouth.
Ti Na: Fuck! I won't shout anymore, so take this cloth out of my mouth! This cloth came from your back pocket! It's dirty!
Nar's ears felt refreshed. He thought about binding the child to his chest and going straight up the wall.
Right now, his only desire was to reach Xu Jun and exchange charges with him. Let Xu Jun take care of this bratty child while Nar protected His Highness the Holy Son.
At this time outside of the city, the sand leopard tribe had finally arrived at the foot of the city walls, headed by Kanaman. Although he didn't understand why the beastman bandits hadn't attacked the city gates as per usual, but had instead run up the wall instead, Kanaman clearly understood that this group of beastman bandits did not have an esteemed shaman. This meant that there was no one intelligent in this large beastman horde, and that these beastmen would easily fall for the clever humans' schemes.
His now deceased grandfather had once said that a tribe without a shaman was one without a future.
The horde of beastman bandits was extremely powerful. Their chief was a renowned warrior within the surrounding wilderness. However, because there were no wise beastmen among them, their living conditions were pallid compared to that of the sand leopards'. They often went hungry. Sometimes they even had to resort to eating their war-beasts. Furthermore, they weren't able to give proper burial and respect to their brothers-in-arms who were killed in battle.
A shaman had once appeared in the sand leopard tribe eight generations ago. Although that great personage had died one hundred years prior, the changes they had brought to the sand leopard tribe persisted to this day.
Ti Na, Ti Na also had the powers of a shaman.
However, there were actually humans who had wanted to kidnap Ti Na!
Kanaman pushed off the ground with his legs. As a member of the sand leopard tribe, he was able to jump to great heights. With one or two kicks off the wall, he easily landed atop the city wall, which the beastmen bandits had spent half a day trying to jump onto yet still failed to get up. His sand leopard comrades couldn't help but cry out in alarm, "Kanaman! Don't go up there!"
The small prince had already landed in human hands, yet to be saved! If the first prince were to be captured now also, what would become of the tribe!
However, Kanaman's was feeling extremely clear-headed. He arrived before the City Lord in a few bounds—just now, the Personal Guard's Captain had wanted to knock unconscious the Wilderness City's Lord, but had been discovered. The two were currently in a deadlock. The City Lord showed little reaction to Kanaman bounding over. The Captain suspiciously observed the beastman who had just arrived and levelled his saber towards him. "…Has the sand leopard tribe decided to join the beastmen bandits?"
In a fit of anger, Kanaman nearly forgot what he was going to say. "No!"
He followed up by pointing towards Xu Jun, who seemed to be trying to blend in with the crowd. "Who is this fellow?!"
Wilderness City's Lord: "John…no, cough, that is a warrior who had helped us fend off the beastman invasion. We don't know who he is."
Kanaman: "Tsk, sure enough, humans are biased towards their own…"
Xu Jun turned his head to secretly listen in on the conversation and similarly felt quite bitter about the esteemed City Lord. If the beastmen said they would invade, then they would definitely invade. The situation was extremely urgent right now; this wasn't the time for an idle chat. To be able to go onto the wall and boost the troops' morale was already plenty enough from the City Lord. After all, Xu Jun couldn't request the City Lord to fight beside him in the frontlines right? But that's all the more reason why there shouldn't be any time for such a close distance conversation.
The result was that the beastman called the City Lord biased. This beastman must be drunk.
However, coming up here and immediately asking who Xu Jun was, this was a clear indication that the other had not forgotten what had happened in the past. Fuck, wasn't it said that the beastmen weren't very intelligent and that they weren't good at remembering things either? Why did they hold onto grudges so well!
Xu Jun shook his head, and hauled two beastman he had knocked unconscious off to somewhere behind him. "Brother beastman, why are you asking about me?"
He had already made up his mind. If the other decided to bring up that year's events, he would pretend to know nothing. After all, he had mocked the beastmen's intelligence back then. If this became public knowledge, then his all connections to beastmen would shatter. Furthermore, the beastmen in the southern wasteland were only a small portion of the race; the northern regions contained even more beastman tribes. When Xu Jun had been completing quests back in the day, he had once chatted and laughed with the chief of a large tribe. In order to get by as a hero, one needed to be good with people, especially since he had crossed over into this world; he couldn't just let his image get ruined so easily.
A beastman's intelligence was indeed pitiful…but carelessly badmouthing their intellect felt like he was discriminating against them. How would it really be alright for the human hero to be racist?
Xu Jun thought that the worst possible development was this beastman brother calling him a racist.
Suddenly, flames flared within brother Kanaman's eyes. "Who are you calling brother beastman? Let me ask you, where did you take my younger brother?!"
Xu Jun: "…Wait a second, is this younger brother you mentioned Ti Na?"—If this was the case, then you should be thanking me, Xu Jun thought. I was the one who saved your younger brother!
Kanaman strode over in two steps, his two hands grabbing onto Xu Jun's shoulders and shaking him furiously. "AHHHH, you know him! Sure enough, it was you! My brother is only seven years old! You despicable trafficker!"
…In this moment, the Wilderness City's Lord and the Captain of the Personal Guard, who had initially thought everything might've just been a misunderstanding, stopped in their tracks.
Although adult sand leopards weren't very attractive, their children were gorgeous! Their faces, which were as delicate as a kitten's, were extremely lovable! Of course, because of the many perverted adults, this kind of "love" was a disaster for the sand leopard tribe.
Seven years old, this was the… perfect age.
The human heart is truly complicated and unfathomable. This kind-hearted warrior had helped Wilderness City, but who knew what kind of person he really was?
A trafficker who abducted and sold beastman children, this was much worse than being accused of being racist! Xu Jun shook off Kanaman's hands. "Get out of here! Do I look like that kind of person!"
—Yours truly is a hero who had saved the entire world!
Kanaman roared furiously, "You beast disguised as a human!"
Xu Jun: "Fucking hell…a beast disguised as a human, shouldn't that be used to describe you beastmen!"
From elsewhere, Daeniste looked on as his good friend was accused of trafficking. After some thought, he knew that this beastman had misunderstood. The little beastman called Ti Na had been following Xu Jun around, living extremely comfortably! Perhaps, he was even better off than when he was with his blood-related father and brother. However, even if Daeniste spoke up now and told him the entire story, it was impossible to persuade this beastman. After all, beastmen were stubborn.
The most important thing right now was to find Nar.
Only when this brother searching, sand leopard beastman sees his younger brother alive and well, would he would feel more at ease.
More sand leopards gathered beneath the city walls. To them, now was the best time to put pressure on the humans. Everything they did was for the sake of quickly rescuing the little prince and making sure that their first prince could retreat safely.
Therefore, they joined up with the remaining war-beasts to fight the humans.
The human soldiers, who had just now been one-sidedly pressuring the wooden war-beasts, felt extremely confused. They questioned, why is the sand leopard tribe also coming to fight us?
Wasn't the sand leopard tribe a peace-loving tribe?
Xu Jun invited Kanaman to head into city together and find Nar, telling him that his younger brother was currently being taken care of by a noble personage known as Nar, and that they were waiting within the city for safety because of the beastman invasion. Kanaman, however, did not believe a single word. "I have already taken you as a hostage, so don't try to be clever. Quickly have someone bring my brother over."
Xu Jun: _(:зゝ∠)_ Who's trying to be clever with you? What would be the point in trying to be clever with obstinate people like you beastmen? Also, are you sure I'm the one being held hostage?
With just your abilities…brother, are you really holding me hostage? The fact that I haven't turned around and killed you is already a sign of goodwill right?
However, now it wasn't just Kanaman screaming, shouting, and questioning his morals. Even the city guards, who he had fought alongside against the beastmen, as well as the Wilderness City's Lord, were all giving him strange glances.
Xu Jun really had enough of this world.
Demon King Rozenke also had enough of watching Xu Jun getting cornered and frightened, in an unseemly manner, by a beastman. Perhaps it was because he had decided to take Xu Jun's body, or because he had begun to see Xu Jun as his future subordinate, that he irritably advised, "Hero, as long as you proclaim to the world that you killed the Demon King, no one will find any fault with you."
Although having a reputation for being a racist and someone who bullied beastman for their low intelligence isn't something desirable, Xu Jun was undeniably powerful! Was there anything that couldn't be suppressed with sheer force?
Xu Jun felt that Prince Ryan was a bit simple and boorish. Even if he claimed to have killed the Demon King, others might not believe him. After all, he hadn't brought along anyone to witness his killing of the Demon King. Secondly… "Now that the Demon Kin is dead, I don't get to determine who gets the credit of killing the Demon King; after all, the Demon King…was killed by the many representatives sent by the various races." He was just an insignificant figure. Even if he was the one who had defeated the Demon King, he was just a common hero. The various powers were the only ones who could truly manipulate public opinion; only their words mattered.
Moreover, if he were to let the world know of his heroic deeds, what benefits would he get?
The Demon King's three lords were still alive, so wouldn't proclaiming his deeds set him up as a target for revenge?
"Even if everyone believed that I had performed the miraculous feat of defeating the Demon King, this would just make them even more excited! Everyone would be gossiping about how the world's savior is actually a hero who traffics beastman children!"
Xu Jun saw things clearly. So what if he was the savior of the world? Such a title would only invite trouble. Of course, this was also because he didn't enjoy entering power struggles, nor did he have much desire for sudden fame. If he had been an ambitious person, he would have made use of his reputation as the savior of the continent and the one who killed the Demon King to make capital; using that capital, he could build up a faction of his own.
Demon King Rozenke: "…Then why did you defeat the Demon King?"
What exactly had this Hero obtained? The Demon King's treasury? Although Demon King Rozenke was a super narcissistic fellow, even he had to admit that his roots weren't deep. Many of the objects in the so-called Demon King's treasury had been placed inside before Demon King Rozenke reincarnated, meaning that they were tens of thousands of years old…most of the items inside had already fallen into disrepair after many years of storage. Cough, of course he had found quite a few treasures in this life, but the number wasn't particularly large.
Compared to the national treasuries of the human empires or the number of treasures in the dragons' possession, his treasury was miniscule.
If this hero really wanted to, he could have obtained so much more.
In truth, Demon King Rozenke detested greedy and insatiable people. Although he needed to manipulate such people in order to conquer the continent, his hatred for them did not change. Avarice and desire made humans ugly beyond comparison. He had once thought that people stained by such emotions were even filthier than the mires of hell…the him back then could've never imagined that he would one day be infuriated by hero with no needs or wants.
—Wait a second, to call Xu Jun someone who has no needs or wants seemed slightly strange. _(:зゝ∠)_ No matter where he went, this fellow obviously cleaned out anything of value.
—Would unambitious be a more fitting term?
His Majesty the Demon King suddenly hated iron for not being steel1. He currently had no body. If he still had a body, then he would definitely need to hang this hero up by the legs and beat him!
However, the current him couldn't do anything. "Do what you want. However, think about it yourself, some things are impossible to hide." Demon King Rozenke snorted coldly.
He was like an arrogant little princess2.
Nar, as he brought a bound and gagged Ti Na up the city wall, saw such a scene happening before him.
Instead of seeing humans fighting bravely against the beastmen, he saw a beastman grabbing the collar of and roaring at the human hero, Xu Jun. The surrounding human onlookers all had…complicated expressions. A few of the older soldiers even showed loathing. Nar vaguely heard someone say, "He doesn't even let off…a seven year old child…"
What kind of situation was this? Why did it seem as if the situation had turned on its head?
His Highness the Holy Son stood off to the side awkwardly with a look of utter helplessness. Nar became even more puzzled. After all, although His Highness the Holy Son Daeniste was still young, he had a plethora of tricks up his sleeves. In all his time of following His Highness the Holy Son, he had never seen him like this.
Daeniste knew that he needed to find Nar, but he had no idea where to start. Who the hell knew where Nar currently was?
According to his words, there was no reason for Xu Jun to treat the beastmen so leniently. After all, the beastman tribes here weren't large tribes by any scale, and so there was no need for cordiality. As humanity's Holy Son, his adoptive father, the Pope, had always encouraged him to learn how to put on airs, as "appropriate respect should only be given to the appropriate people."
Xu Jun…he treated everyone the same.
Daeniste looked towards him.
—No, it shouldn't be like this. The condition for respect shouldn't be based on someone's social status or power, but rather the quality of their character. He looked at the uncorrupted Xu Jun, standing atop the city wall and explaining to that idiotic beastman, "Yours truly did not traffic your family's child!" Suddenly, Daeniste felt like laughing.
Perhaps it was because he had already felt incompatible with the teachings of his adoptive father or that he never had the talent for becoming some condescending Holy Son. No matter the reason, whenever he looked at Xu Jun, he found that he was gradually recovering bits of his original self. It was inexplicable how gratifying it was for Daeniste to know that he had not yet turned into someone as malicious as those vile elders of the Elder's Circle.
The Holy Son really wanted to take some time to wallow in his childhood memories, but time was of the essence.
Out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure. This person was the one who had always been taking care of him for the past few years. This person was different from Xu Jun, and could not fool around with the young Holy Son. This person was principled; he always diligently and solemnly completed tasks. Occasionally, he was irritating, but he had always protected Daeniste well.
If I become like one of those unfortunate elders in a nursing home, maybe this fellow would also leave, thought Daeniste.
Of course, he might be the same as those people. Perhaps he treated different people with different attitudes—after all, he was only protecting Daeniste under orders from the Pope.
Holy Son Daeniste inexplicably had this though; however, he didn't have time to mull it over. The familiar figure he had seen became clearer, and he now clearly saw it to be Nar. In Nar's embrace was a small, tied up, young boy. Nar's eyes looked over, his expression calm without a ripple of emotion.
That calm and expressionless Nar was actually trying, with all his effort, to convey with his eyes: Xu Jun, quickly take this child away from me!
However, it was useless as Xu Jun's back was facing towards him. While that beastman was facing towards him, he wasn't paying any attention towards Nar's general vicinity.
On the city wall, the battle was ending. Both sides had numerous casualties; the concentrated smell of blood was vomit inducing.
As for the people present, they were quite familiar with blood and death.
However, Ti Na wasn't used to it! Even though he was a beastman and would eventually walk the path of battle, he was only seven years old right now!
The seven-year-old, beastman child looked at the ground covered in torn limbs and the blood that had yet to dry. A poor, human soldier's brain matter was scattered across the floor, his head smashed in. Near him was a dead tiger beastman with a large hole in the area between his chest and abdomen, his intestines spilling out; his wide open eyes stared directly at Ti Na.
Ti Na didn't even have time to start crying before he felt something soaking the area between his legs. He had peed himself.
Nar: "…Xu Jun!"
Kanaman, whose attention had finally been grabbed, yelled out, "Who's shouting? Who's Xu Jun? …Wait a second, Ti Na, what are you doing here!"
Ti Na's mouth was still gagged, so he couldn't say anything. He could only go, "Wuwuwu!"
Nar frowned, lifting the child in a hold that was somewhere between a hug and a throw. As a golden knight, he was not afraid of a child peeing his pants…although it was unpleasant to be pissed on, his main objective was to find out why the child had peed. Was it because he was injured in some way? Or was it because he drank too much water?
Forgive Nar for his confusion, as he had been picked up by the Bright God Church when he was only five years old. After that, his life became vastly different from that of a normal child's. In regards as to why a child would wordlessly pee his pants…he was absolutely clueless! He had no idea what to do!
"Xu Jun, should I first take his pants off?" Nar asked as he went to untie Ti Na's belt.
Ti Na felt that there was no longer any point in living. He appeared to playing dead.
Xu Jun looked at Nar with astonishment. "Before taking off his pants, shouldn't you take out the cloth in his mouth first?!"
Xu Jun thought to himself, what do you think you're doing, gagging and binding the arms and legs of someone else's child? Nar, are you really a righteous Holy Knight of the Bright God?
Nar frowned. "He was throwing a tantrum."
Xu Jun: "If a child throws a tantrum, you can hit him! But you should never gag him!"
Nar: "…"
Then he saw that the seven-year-old child, who still pees his pants, was actually nodding his head furiously. Dripping with saliva, the cloth in the child's mouth was finally removed. Ti Na disgustedly turned his head off to the side, "Torture! That was definitely torture!"
His older brother was clearly at the scene, yet Ti Na acted as if he wasn't even there—this silly child actually did not even notice his own brother, Kanaman! In a short period of two days, he had already begun to see Xu Jun as his guardian! "Xu Jun! You actually handed me over to this kind of person!"
"You're so mean! You actually handed me over to someone else! Wawawa!"
Kanaman leisurely poked his head into the conversation. "Hey, Ti Na, who is this Xu Jun you're talking about?"
Ti Na's eyes widened foolishly. "Eh, big brother, why are you here?"
Even if a fellow's intelligence were as low as Kanaman's, he would still be able to tell that this younger brother of his had been living well these past few days. The little guy was screaming and yelling with plenty of breath, his face was ruddy and elastic, and his cheeks seemed chubbier than ever. It would appear that he had plenty of meat to eat in the past two days.
It was clear that while Kanaman and his parents were worrying to the point of being unable eat, this little guy was hanging around with someone named Xu Jun and having a great time playing around in the city.
Just hearing his "big brother, why are you here" made it obvious that Kanaman's appearance was more of a frightening than pleasant to Ti Na. He seemed to be saying, why are you here already, I haven't played enough yet.
Haha.
Ti Na widened his round eyes, looking as if he were a frightened kitten. At this time, he had fully regained his freedom—Nar had finally realized that binding up a beastman child may have been even crueler than just giving him a beating, and had quickly let him go—and so Ti Na launched himself towards Kanaman. "Ahhhh, big brother! I missed you so much! These past few days, I was thinking about you so much that I couldn't sleep or eat well! Look how skinny I am now!"
His elder brother's face was full of indifference. "You just peed yourself, keep away from me."
From just this action of his, it almost seemed as if this wasn't the same stupid beastman, but rather a completely different leopard.
This kind of high EQ achieved after eating vinegar3 could perfectly make up for his low intelligence.
Xu Jun coughed and told Ti Na to stop making a scene. "Let's go into the city first, we can discuss inside."
Thus, this group of people, as well as the sand leopard beastmen who had been beating up the human soldiers just now, and the Golden Knight Nar with His Highness Daeniste, walked straight into the city without an escort.
The soldiers, Personal Guards, and the City Lord, who were left behind to round up the remaining surviving beastmen bandits and interrogate them: "…"
Hey, you're going to just leave like this! Hey, kind-hearted warrior, what happened to fighting against the enemy? Hey, sir priest, what happened to treating our wounded after the battle?
"Oh," Daeniste seemed to have remembered something, and so tossed behind him a Holy Light Healing spell—it sounded like an impressive spell, but because it was one that healed multiple people, it wasn't nearly as effective as the healing spells meant for a single target. Anyways, the soldiers present who were still alive didn't have many injuries. After all, the beastmen had been vicious and had used just one punch to kill their opponents. "After this, just obediently take your medicine and bandage your wounds. You'll be better in no time."
Wait a second, esteemed priest—the soldiers reached out towards Daeniste with their hands, what happened to healing all our wounds? QAQ
His Highness, Holy Son Daeniste, pretended to have heard nothing. These foot soldiers obviously did not understand that it wasn't a good idea to heal too many wounds with magic. Once a person's body became accustomed to this kind of "priviledge," their bodily functions would slowly shut down. At that time, it would be akin to a chronic suicide.
Kanaman walked within the bustling (relative to their sand leopard tribe) Wilderness City. He still remembered the last time he had come here had been five years prior, due to the awkward relationship between the humans and beastmen who lived here. In truth, their tribes didn't like to initiate contact with the humans, and were even more unwilling to frequent human cities and play around in them. Kanaman had heard that in many parts of the continent, beastmen, elves, and humans lived together: a single city could contain five or six different races. However, he didn't know what those cities were like—even within the sand leopard tribe alone, there were fights and bullying. If there were so many different races living in the same place, how would the public order fare?
He had never seen the white or dark elves, nor had he seen the dwarves. To him, dragons were simply just legends. However, he was extremely knowledgeable about human nature. Humans disdained beastmen, yet did not possess their strength, and were thus unable to obtain the treasures within the Dark Swamp. Therefore, they could only cooperate with the beastmen. But humans were greedy and despicable. They often abused the beastmen for their own needs before tossing them aside; all the beastmen within a ten-mile radius of the Dark Swamp have fallen for the humans' tricks before. The schemes they used to manipulate the beastmen were numerous: some maliciously pushed down prices while others played good cop bad cop4 to get what they want. The rest of the humans just tried to use force against the beastmen…these kinds of people were usually beaten back to where they came from.
If Kanaman were to bring his tribe to live with such people, then they would have no way to continue living. Either the humans would continue to take advantage of the sand leopard tribe until the tribe was extinguished or the sand leopard beastmen would pull out their blades in a fit of anger and begin to cut down the humans.
These ideas had been ingrained in his mind up until a few years ago, when he encountered an even more abhorrent type of human.
Every person he had met before this person had been somewhat polite, even though their morals were lacking, as they wanted to make money off of the beastmen. At least, none of them had boldly proclaimed to a beastman that he was "stupid"…the human he met two years ago though, had actually called him a "stupid beastman" after knocking him down.
Remembering all of this, Kanaman's heart raged with fire. The him back then would have never thought that his younger brother would stay with this same human in the future, nor that his younger brother would become so familiar and comfortable with this human that he no longer wanted his blood-related big brother (this wasn't true).
He felt greatly injured by his little brother's betrayal.
Kanaman stared coldly at Ti Na.
Ti Na retracted his head and subconsciously looking towards Xu Jun, moving closer towards his back. At this time, he had already taken a long bath and had changed his clothes. Xu Jun had been the one who had paid for the new children's clothes, as it was useless to expect the beastmen to pay for it. After all, beastmen almost never brought money when they traveled outside.
Ti Na hadn't worn new clothes for a while now, especially ones that were of a much better style than the beast hide garb produced by the beastman tailors. Like any normal child, his heart was full of joy.
Kanaman: …As expected, humans are the cancer of the world! With just a single pair of clothing, they managed to rope in my younger brother, the sand leopard tribe's future shaman!
Thus, he turned around and stared menacingly at Xu Jun.
Xu Jun: …You're the one without any money to buy your little brother a new set of clothes, so why are you blaming me?
It was at this point in time that the His Highness the Holy Son should have entered the scene and said a few courteous words before leading everyone to the City Lord's mansion. After all, what they had to say next could greatly affect both the Wilderness City and the surrounding beastmen, so the City Lord ought to have been present in order to listen in. Xu Jun waited for the Holy Son to begin speaking, but instead found Daeniste watching the beastmen brothers falling out (…) with great happiness. The Holy Son had already forgotten what his duties were. _(:зゝ∠)_
With this kind of Holy Son, how is the Bright God Church going to fare?
Xu Jun couldn't help but have such thoughts as he gently clapped his hands together. "Ok, let's first take a look at what happened. Everything started with Ti Na's abduction. Kanaman, what do you think about this?"
In Xu Jun's opinion, the timing of the beastman bandits besieging the city, and the sand leopard tribe arriving soon after, were all too coincidental. The only wild card had been him, Xu Jun, and the Holy Son, Daeniste. If they hadn't been there, the humans wouldn't have been able to resist the onslaught for long. This was because most of the city guards had left to guard a noble who had gone to Snow Blade Kingdom for a promotion.
Each of these events appeared sudden and unpredictable, but when examined as a whole, something didn't seem to be right.
Even an idiot would be able to tell that the leaving noble had made some shady, backdoor deal with the beastmen. Everything that had transpired was due to him.
Kanaman had indeed come to find his brother, but how could he not see it? His younger brother's abduction may have been part of a conspiracy. A conspiracy that would have bred a hatred for humans in the sand leopard tribe and instigated conflict between them and the Dark Swamp's closest city, Wilderness City. After such an event, the other beastman tribes in the Dark Swamp would have also treated humans as enemies. After all, to the beastmen, their young were extremely precious since they couldn't breed as quickly as wild animals. In fact, the beastmen were not the only ones, monsters had low reproduction rates too.
Therefore, that group of traders who had abducted Ti Na definitely had some ulterior motives.
The Ester family…
What also must be taken into consideration is that the sand leopard tribe alone wouldn't have been able to take on Wilderness City; however, if the beastman bandits were added on, things would go differently. This would have been a heavy blow to Wilderness City, one that could've sent the city reeling and unable to get back up.
Xu Jun hoped that the sand leopard tribe could provide more clues. It would be best if they would stand up and directly accuse the Ester family of being the aristocratic family involved in shady deals with beastmen. Ah, detective Xu Jun was just so dazzling.
"The Ester family is done for. Tell me, how much of a reward do you think the esteemed City Lord, enemy of the Ester family, will give me?" Giddily, he flaunted to the voice that lived in his body.
Kanaman thought back and replied, "My thoughts…a team of traders arrived at our tribe. They brought out some good wine and made us all drunk. Then they secretly adbucted Ti Na."
"As I thought, drinking wine is bad!"—That was his final opinion.
The author has something to say:
Kanaman: Ti Na, did this human treat you really well for you to like him this much?
Tina, after thinking for a bit: Well…he didn't treat me very well. He's spanked me before (Kanaman clenched his fist), he also threatened to sell me (Kanaman bared his teeth at Xu Jun), and he had rubbed my ears (Kanaman wanted to turn into his beast form and pounce on Xu Jun)—however, he's a really nice person! I really like him!
Kanaman: …dear little brother, I actually wanted to ask you this a while ago, but you're an M aren't you…
Translator's niche:
[1]Hating something that doesn't meet your expectations.⏎
[2]Honestly can't tell if this is Rozenke talking about Xu Jun or the author describing Rozenke. I guess it can be whatever you want it to be.⏎
[3]To become jealous.⏎
[4]Raw was censored(□□脸白脸), so this was kind of a guess. It could be something completely different, but I thought this fit in with the context.⏎