Chapter 13

—-I was reminded of something that happened in the past.

It was back when Dashiba kept getting bullied by other families’ dogs in the neighborhood park.

Whenever they barked at him, he would surrender.

Whenever they threatened him, he would surrender.

Whenever they glared at him, he would surrender.

He used every kind of surrender pose and showed his belly so much that the neighbors laughed at him, mocked him, and gave him the nickname “Belly Faced Dog”.

Back then I was bothered by it so much, so I asked my father, who was walking in the park with me, for advice.

However, my father, who was a gentle person by nature, merely smiled and praised Dashiba

“Dashiba is amazing enough, he could easily give other dogs a boost of confidence that they needed.”

That’s true, every dog that came and bullied Dashiba, no matter how weak they originally were, would raise their chest proudly.

In return, the owners of those dogs would give Dashiba an apology and treats as a thank you for their dog’s happiness.

“But wouldn’t a dog want to be praised by its owner for being great? For their bravery in fights and for winning? Just look at that Shepherd that is stepping on Dashiba’s belly, isn’t he looking for praise from his owner?”

I was getting really upset toward my father at that time, but in response, he merely replied to me.

“Not having any pride is sometimes a good thing..”

* * *

The Dog-Kin has the ideal of being a useful dog for their masters, I can see why they would treat Dashiba as an annoyance…

I opened the hemispherical window and watched Dashiba with the binoculars.

He was pawing at the feet of the archbishop, begging for more snacks.

In return, the man pulled out more salami while saying “This is the last one.”

Oh no, no, please don’t make him any fatter than this!

I am on edge.

This is practically a torture

All this time, on the way here, I’ve been concerned about Dashiba’s life but now I need to be concerned about him possibly catching a lifestyle disease!

“……how can I say this? Uh, I think there’s something strange with The Archbishop and his surroundings.”

The standoff between the legions of fanatics and the five hundred-ish troops of the Kennel Kingdom has been going on for about an hour.

The Fanatics began their terrorism in the old Humanist Royal Castle, religious facilities, and even in the Kennel Kingdom around the same time.

Attending me in place of the busy Darius-sama is one of the vice-commander of the First Division, Yoshimune von Kishu-sama.

With a cool face, he made full use of the transceiver in the tank to keep in touch with his surroundings.

After a series of communications, he took care of my binoculars.

He had short black hair and slitted eyes. From what I’ve heard, in the First Division, he’s among the most popular in the eyes of the young women of the kingdom.

Even though he loved his job and the royalty, he never immersed himself with them deeply and was very considerate of those around him. In addition, he was a well-mannered man with a handsome face, which is said to be a plus point for him.

Said Poodle-sama.

“The enemies are mostly amateurs who came here with nothing but their clothes on. We can just starve them easily. Though attacking them with The Puppies would be a better move, the captured vanguards might get hurt, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”

“Can we not kill anyone, if possible?”

“While our mission is to simply rescue the hostages, we are dealing with terrorists here, it’s simply not possible for either side to be unharmed.”

“That’s right, isn’t it, the fact that we are the invaders from their point of view isn’t helping either…”

Yoshimune-sama squinted his slitted eyes and admonished me.

“Liselotte-sama, The Humanist Kingdom this time had become too arrogant, this situation is destined to happen one day, even if our country didn’t move, the Empire would. We also have to settle the matter with the radicals at some point whether we like it or not. There is no point in regretting anything, things have already happened, the thing you should worry about right now is what action should we take toward the Archbishop.”

“…yes..”

As the Future Queen, I will probably be faced with this kind of situation often.

Leonhardt-sama said, ‘This matter was decided by the country’s higher-ups on their own, therefore, it is not your responsibility, Liselotte-sama. You can hand down the death penalty to us at any time. I believe some of us would be happy to oblige’. I don’t think that would solve anything though.

In the end, if I don’t become an adult with good judgment, it won’t be good for the country.

I think that’s what this is all about.

Oh, I can’t wait to become an adult. I want to live in peace with my stepbrother, Dashiba, and with the people of this new home of mine.

While I was lost in my thoughts, additional information came through the transceiver. In response to that, Yoshimune-sama tilted his head while saying, ‘Huh… that’s weird…’

“Is something the matter?”

“When the war first started, both the enemy soldiers and civilians started chanting ‘Death to the impure’, ‘Everything but the pureblood should disappear from this world’, ‘Men and women in a relationship with the impure should explode’ and so on, but since early this morning, they’ve been disturbingly quiet.”

“It’s been quiet all day?”

“Yes, also the captured vanguards didn’t seem to be treated harshly, furthermore, there is the mongrel, he jumped on the archbishop but he didn’t seem to be bothered by him, he’s taking a good care of the mongrel even.”

Besides that, the fanatics…

The fanatics near the archbishop were giving Dashiba, who started to sleep in his back because he had a stomach ache whenever he tried to sleep with a full stomach, a longing look.

What is this?

I suddenly thought of a possibility.

It was merely an intuition, an unfounded belief.

Even though I am only ten years old, there were many times in my life when something clicked in my head and I just knew that things would go well.

In this case, I felt something familiar in the way those people stared at Dashiba’s uselessness, a stare that Dog-Kin who hated mongrels will never give at Dashiba.

They had the same eyes as mine, the eyes of dog owners who love mongrels.

I instantly made a request.

“I would like to converse with the Archbishop, using a letter is fine.”

“That… it might be difficult under these circumstances. We don’t even know if they wish to talk or not.”

“We won’t know unless we try. Please, can you send them a messenger? Of course, I don’t wish for them to be misled by my poor writing, Darius-sama will confirm the content after I’m done writing it.”

“…I understand.”

And so, with Darius-sama’s permission, I entrusted the letter to the Greyhounds. I prayed for a peaceful reply from them.

The content of the letter was as follows:

The king of the Humanist is gone. The only thing left is now the conflict between Gorton-sama, the leader of the Purists, and myself, the Queen of the Kennel Kingdom

I am aware that faith isn’t something you can violate by your own will.

But if you are willing to talk to me personally as a person, please reply to me what is on your mind. I also ask that you guarantee the safety of the Dog-Kin there and my dog Dashiba. They are as important to me as your followers to you.

Not long after, my prayers were answered!

The Archbishop gave me a reply.

His reply was mostly philosophical, but he also talked about Dashiba in it.

“O Queen of the Dog-Kin! I ask of you, what is this Dog-Kin called Dashiba to you?”

I wrote back to him.

“A family. He is my beloved dog. By the way, he’s not a Dog-Kin, he is an actual dog.”

Another reply from him came.

“Why can’t this Dog-Kin talk, change his form, and why is this Dog-Kin so weak?

I replied.

“Because he’s just a dog.”

Huh… Come to think of it, there are Dog-Kins on this continent but there are no ordinary dogs, right?

Could it be that he didn’t know what an ordinary dog is? I wrote a reply and waited for the Archbishop’s reply.

“He once jumped to grab a sausage on someone’s table, bit it and ran away. It’s an unbelievable act for a proud Dog-Kin. For what reason did he do such a foolish thing?”

This time, I wrote a letter of apology as a reply.

Darius-sama frowned at my reply, but this is just the basic manner of a dog owner.

“As the dog’s owner, I apologize, I will compensate you for the sausage and scold him later, so please forgive me. But the reason for his behavior is that he’s just a picky eater. He is honest to his instincts, that’s why I cherish him as my dog.”

After that, there were a lot of back and forth letter exchanges with the Archbishop.

His questions were all about Dashiba.

Is it okay to not talk about the country, the religion, and the fanatics?

The Greyhounds were beginning to get tired from the exchanges.

After a while, finally, the Archbishop threw a different pitch in his letter.

“You really love Dashiba, Da-Shiba, don’t you? I’m wondering, assuming every Dog-Kins in the Kennel Kingdom acts like him, will you be able to tolerate them?”

“Every Dog-Kins in this country is my dog. Whether they are naughty, selfish, or spoiled, it doesn’t matter, I will not turn away from them as their owner, and as their owner, I will continue to be responsible to discipline them, so please believe in me.”

It’s at this point where the letter that the Greyhounds had worked so hard to send back and forth was cut off.

—-Tick-tock, the time ticked away.

The Pitbulls were starting to get impatient and frustrated over the fact that they couldn’t break through the enemies’ lines.

In the end, we had to build a simple tent behind The Liselotte and I decided to eat my lunch there.

Yoshimune-sama neatly opened a canned food from the ‘Gungun, grow taller[1]’, a well-known healthy food brand. He opened the can with an antique can opener, placed the contents in a deep paper plate with a stylish pattern, and elegantly served it with a spoon. Looking at this, now I understand why he was so popular.

Barbarian-sama was sitting in the chair directly in front of me while eating ‘Kennel Doggy Man[2]’ with a spoon, his face showing his displeasure.

It’s because the troops that were packed in the Kennel Kingdom and the Humanist Royal Castle have gathered here in large numbers.

“At this rate, we won’t get any action in.”

“This is originally a job for the Knight Order, don’t get hot-headed and start causing any unnecessary casualties.”

“Hmph…”

Darius-sama retorted while prying his favorite large can of ‘Kennel Aiken Genki Super[3]’ with a can opener. The can made a creaking sound as he did it.

The one he particularly liked was shigureni[4] flavored bau[5] meat.

And of course, due to Dog-Kin’s constitutional issues, there are absolutely no onions or leeks in these canned foods.

Eventually, when the sun was about to set.

A messenger from the Archbishop arrived.

The messenger, wearing a black priest uniform, delivered a letter to Darius-sama through the Greyhounds.

“Two letters arrived! One from Archbishop Gorton and another one from Dashiba-sama!”

“What?”

Darius-sama’s expression froze when he received Dashiba’s letter.

After a few seconds of silence, he turned the letter over and over.

Then he opened the other letter from Gorton and furrowed his brow.

“Is something the matter?”

“…that mongrel…”

“What’s wrong with Dashiba?! Did something happen to him?!”

I rush over and tug on the hem of Darius-sama’s uniform.

He rubbed his brows with his thumb and his index finger before taking a deep breath.

—-And then he told me something outrageous.

“The mongrel gave us the victory. The Archbishop declared his surrender to us.”

When I opened Dashiba’s letter, there was a dog paw print.

It looked dirty, with drool all over the place.

“This is…?”

“It’s merely a footprint, please read the other letter.”

I opened the letter from Archbishop Golton and read it.

“Dashiba-dono is a wonderful Dog-Kin. He didn’t change into a human, unable to speak and he only ever asked for food. I was impressed by the sight of this being. This Dog-Kin is someone who is pursuing the path of a pure beast. We honor those who are pure We would honor a person and affirm the joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure that exist inside the person. We did whatever we could to be called ‘reasonable.’ And this dog is the ideal of a pure beast. He is what we call ‘A dog that follows it’s instinct’. The Alters, the shape-shifting races that take on the form of both beast and man, will never understand our doctrine, but if it’s this personage, he will surely understand.”

I looked up and saw Master Darius with a confused gaze.

He urged me to read it to the end, and I managed to do so.

“When I heard of your love for this dog, I reevaluated my opinion for you as the next queen. I want to build a friendship with you through this Dog-Kin, rather than simply rejecting all shape-shifting races by treating them as troublemakers.”

Pure beast.

That’s right, he’s just an ordinary dog.

The Archbishop really didn’t seem to know any dog that wasn’t a Dog-Kin.

Something that the Kennel Kingdom who got even a tank previously didn’t have, a normal dog.

He’s the embodiment of ‘pure’ by the standard of the Purists’ ideal.

A genuine dog.

A normal dog.

“We propose to call him ‘Holy Beast-sama’ and make him our symbolic mascot when we come under your rule.”

That’s what he demanded.

I couldn’t help but write in reply.

“You are welcome to turn him into a symbol of peace. But please don’t turn him into the Holy Beast.”

“Then, let’s go with ‘The Holy Dog’.”

“That’s also a little bit… Please at least call him by his name.”

“’Dashiba-sama’ then.”

“Please just use that from the start..”

And so, a totally normal dog, my beloved Dame-Shiba—-.

Single-handedly turned a religion created by stubborn people who overly respected ‘purity’ into something totally unexpected

As the sun began to set, the vanguard was released, and the fanatics who had gathered on the Holy Land surrendered one by one to Barbarian-sama and the Order of the Mad Dogs.

Just as we had previously expected, they did not have much food.

They were all planning to fight an all-out war to die as martyrs. It was terrible.

I heard that Darius-sama took care of this matter by sharing the rations from the Fourth Division that came later that day.

And then.

After avoiding the worst possible situation, I was able to have a peaceful meeting with the Archbishop.

The place was a meadow near the hill of the Holy Land.

The Puppy Squad was lined up in a row around a desk and chairs prepared for the meeting.

I was sitting on a chair flanked by Darius-sama and Barbarian-sama.

Then the surrendered Archbishop Gorton came in with several of his followers, he also brought Dashiba with him.

Dashiba was being held by Gorton with a relaxed expression on his face, it was as if he was saying ‘that was fun ~’.

“Dashiba!”

“Liselotte-sama! You can’t stand up yet!”

When I looked at The Archbishop up close, he had a mysterious atmosphere.

From a distance, he looked big and he gave out a strong aura, but in reality, he was slender and shorter than I originally thought.

His long hair hid one side of his beautiful face and his large black eyes were deep and clear.

I assumed he was a man, but his slightly high-pitched voice made him sound like a woman.

Gorton left Dashiba in the care of one of his followers.

Then he took a seat and lightly greeted me.

“Nice to meet you, Master of the Mad Dogs.”

“Nice to meet you, Leader of the Fanatics.”

We smiled at each other.

Though my facial muscles still didn’t work properly and my face remained expressionless. But he didn’t seem to mind that.

“Based on your writings in the letter, I thought you were older, but… you are younger than I thought.”

“I’m often told that my appearance doesn’t match my words and actions, please don’t mind it.”

“Still, as expected of the Kennel Kingdom’s royalty, the Budgerigar family, you are as beautiful as the rumors said.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but if possible, I hope you will appreciate not only my appearance but also the content of our upcoming discussion.”

There was a wide and deep rift between those who believe in the Puritan religion and the rest of us.

It had been created by years of misunderstanding, fear, suspicion, and violence.

Because of this bloodstained history, I didn’t think their hearts would change this easily.

In fact, I still couldn’t understand their ideology at all.

And I’m sure they couldn’t understand us either.

However, if there is a way to avoid conflict with each other.

We have to work hard to create them.

“We can’t get rid of our aversion to The Alters. Therefore, we will try to live only with humans and refuse to interact more deeply with the Dog-Kins. The same goes for their leaders.”

“I understand. Then let’s start our discussion. Firstly, we’ll discuss the scope of your autonomy.”

He wished for his people to have the freedom of religion.

Personally, I didn’t mind as long as they wouldn’t resort to violence or get into trouble with people of other religions.

However, as a leader of a nation, I need to know to what extent he will come to reach an agreement with us.

That would be homework for the High Priest Apso, Leonhardt-sama, and the civil servants to solve.

Gorton nodded in agreement and had his followers write down the details of the discussion.

After we wrapped up the discussions regarding state and religion, we moved on to the next subject, Dashiba.

Now, about Dashiba.

He came running to me with a waffle in his mouth.

His belly was bulging. It seemed like he had eaten a lot of food at the other parties’ place.

Then, when he felt the killing intent of the Dog-Kin, he rolled over, exposing his belly as if saying ‘I give up! I give up!’.

Seeing this, Barbarian-sama, who didn’t get the chance to fight, snapped at him.

“Dashiba!”

Dashiba peed in fright while maintaining his pose.

Seeing this, The Archbishop smiled and laughed.

“Haha. It can’t be helped. Dashiba-sama is a Beast-sama after all.”

Good for you, Dashiba, you are a Beast-sama.

—–That was a compliment, wasn’t it?

But now that I think about it.

Calling him ‘Mongrel-sama’ wouldn’t be bad either.

Anyway, it was said that the Archbishop initially thought that the Dog-Kin he kidnapped was a dumb-looking one, he imagined it was a cocky and haughty Dog-Kin since he was the pet dog of the Queen.

But even then, Dashiba still showed his ‘my pace’ attitude befitting of a mongrel.

He continued to eat every food they served him without any care. He was a pain in the ass to walk. He slept on his stomach with his legs open. He would creep toward people to ask for snacks. He kept slobbering on the Archbishop’s clothes. He went up to young female followers and asked for a brushing. Whenever he saw a mouse, he would run away.

And then, no matter how hard you scolded him, he would immediately surrender.

The next thing they know, they’ve forgotten what they were scolding him for—-

Witnessing this, Gorton was shocked.

‘What a beastly conduct!’ he thought.

And he was so impressed by the dog, so much that he decided to find out more about the Kennel Kingdom, especially about me, the dog’s owner.

Later on, when he was planning terrorism on the other beliefs, he changed his mind and started thinking about how to coexist with them instead.

Dame-Shiba…

And so, the Archbishop of the Humanist religion accepted the rule of the Kingdom of Kennel.

He revered Dashiba as ‘The Symbol of Peace, Dashiba-sama’ and made daily efforts to get along well with those of other religions.

Archbishop Gorton often asked to meet me, or rather, Dashiba, and offered him snacks on a daily basis.

The snacks he offered were much more expensive than the ones the kingdom prepared for Dashiba.

Apparently, religion is very lucrative.

High Priest Apso found out that he could somehow communicate with Gorton through Dashiba and eventually they were able to work out their differences.

On the other hand, the situation with Order of the Mad Dog and Barbarian-sama was getting quite complicated.

Now, the mongrel had not only the future Queen backing him up, but he also had an even more powerful person as a protector.

The Eighth Division had been complaining about the recent surge in the number of ‘Mongrel Syndrome’ patients.

My stepbrother would laugh whenever he saw their helpless faces.

—-Looking back, why did the Dog-Kin try to hasten the invasion of the Humanist Kingdom in the first place?

I didn’t get the chance to ask the question and eventually days passed.

And before I knew it, the day of my coronation was approaching.

[1] Parody of a recipe book filled with healthy food aimed for children’s growth.

[2] Doggy Man is a real dog food brand.

[3] Also another real dog food brand.

[4] Shigureni is a Japanese dish, it’s basically simmered beef with soy sauce as the broth with ginger used as flavoring. Here’s a pic

[5] This is a direct translation, I have no idea what is this.