No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 86

The instant he finished speaking, he saw those injured ears suddenly tense up.

"Uh... well... I was bought by Mr. Angela to work for him," she said, trying to sound calm. "Is... is there a problem?"

"'Buy it for work'?" Payne narrowed his eyes, took out a small notebook and pen from his pocket and started writing something. "Didn't you just say he was running a small business?"

Although beast girls have entered the daily production and life of the Dexter Empire on a large scale, they are not cheap enough for everyone to afford, much less so for the country to distribute to everyone for free.

Furthermore, given the complete lack of education among beast girls and their inability to eliminate some of their animalistic nature, it is very difficult to teach them to do anything complex.

Aside from doing jobs like boatmen or porters that even illiterate people could do, the situation of beast girls is basically only slightly better than that of pure livestock.

If the animal girls could overcome their fear of fire, they would indeed be able to make a living selling homemade food.

However, buying a beast girl usually requires a small business owner to spend several years or even more than a decade of their savings, and afterwards they also have to provide them with food and lodging.

The beast girl's strength advantage is completely useless in this kind of work, and the cost-effectiveness is far less than having another child.

Moreover, there is still a war going on, and the economy is already in a bad state.

Buying an orc is only worthwhile for jobs that require heavy physical labor.

However, because beast girls are very expensive, they are either collectively owned or owned by business owners, so ordinary people rarely have the opportunity to own their own beast girl.

Given Angela's financial situation and physical condition (he may need to take medication for a long time), it is unlikely that he would have spare money to buy a beast girl as a servant (beast).

Florian, realizing he'd misspoke, became incoherent: "Ah... that... um... I... I... Mr. Angela kindly took me in... on a rainy day... my injury was caused by that..."

Can you read?

"……Eh?"

Florian was taken aback by the sudden change of topic. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he quickly shook his head: "I...I don't recognize a single word..."

Payne ripped off a piece of paper and handed it over, saying:

"Take this. Although I can't help you, if you ever find yourself in a desperate situation, put on your uniform, take this note, and report to the training base or any military affairs department."

Florian visibly panicked. "I...I'm not..."

“I don’t know what you’ve been through, I don’t want to know, and I have no interest in telling everyone about it.”

Payne first reassured the other party before continuing, "My name, my duties, and the unit I belong to are written here."

"Orc research is currently a key area of ​​national support, so the people in the Military Affairs Department should take this note seriously and send you here."

"Well, the front lines aren't exactly a great place either..."

Florian then took the note with some hesitation and examined it for a long time.

And as she looked up to ask something, Payne, as if anticipating her words, continued to explain:

"The information written on the back can be considered your identification:"

"You, Florian, are an orc who belongs to me. If anyone finds this orc, please return it to me. This orc may very well become an important fighting force in place of humans in the future."

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you, I'm from the Orc combat strength verification unit."

Florian stared at the note for even longer before finally fully understanding what Payne was saying:

This animal trainer completely saw right through me!

Fortunately, he was a good person. Not only did he not intend to report me, he was even willing to help me!

Then look at the four orcs he led; they had rosy complexions, healthy bodies, and even their fur was shiny and smooth.

Simply eating well and getting enough rest is not enough to achieve this effect.

Does he even groom orcs?

In that instant, Florian even had the thought of going with the human in front of him right now.

But a cough coming from nearby pulled her back to reality. She turned to look at the dark shop and said hesitantly, "I...I can't leave Mr. Angela behind. He...he saved me..."

Payne waved his hand. "It's alright, it's alright. I already said, come to me when you're really desperate."

"You must have experienced war, so you should know that the front lines are no good place. In fact, it would be better if you didn't come here."

"Oh, by the way, my name is Payne, do you know me?"

Florian thought carefully for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know..."

Payne raised an eyebrow. "You don't know? ...Well, it's normal that you don't know."

"Actually, I've always felt that I'm somewhat well-known in your orc community. If you have the chance, you can ask other orcs about me."

"We've finished explaining everything. We're leaving now. Take care of yourself."

Seeing the beast tamer who called himself Payne turn and leave, Florian reached out his hand anxiously, but after thinking for a long time, he didn't know what to say and could only watch helplessly as he and the four beasts disappeared around the street corner.

After a while, she looked down at the note in her hand again. She couldn't understand a word written on it, but she felt as if she could feel the person's feelings through the words, and her eyes welled up with tears again.

Besides Mr. Angela, could I really expect to meet another human being as kind as him?

Oh no, no, I can't let my tears fall onto the paper, or the writing will get smudged.

Florian quickly wiped his eyes with his arm, carefully folded the note and put it in his pocket, letting out a long sigh of relief.

Having another way out made her feel much more at ease.

Now, she also needs to take care of Mr. Angela, who is bedridden and has just learned of his son's death in battle.

If it weren't for Mr. Angela bandaging her wounds and taking her in, she would probably be buried in some mass grave by now.

Such a good person, why didn't they get a good reward...? Sigh...

If Mr. Angela cannot overcome her illness, then she will have no choice but to go to Payne.

I hope that Pine, this good man, can live a little longer.

Chapter 135 CXXXIV. Dull

Because of completing this side quest, and then taking a little longer to return the notebook to the officer with the broken leg, by the time everything was finished, the sun was already setting and the horse races had long since ended.

Stephen should be happy now.

When the four beastmen and the one person returned to the camp, Ruby asked, "So what's the deal with that canine beastman Florian?"

Payne shrugged: "That's easy. She got separated during the battle, or all her teammates were killed, so she escaped to Minston alone after being injured."

"Mr. Angela either happened to be passing by or was taken by the army to transport supplies or clean up the battlefield, found her, and then took a kind heart and brought her home."

"After all, you all know the consequences of orcs being injured..."

A silence fell between the woman and the four beasts. After more than a minute, Ruby asked again, "And her name..."

"Well...sigh, he's probably lonely because his son joined the army, so he calls her by his son's name." Payne shook his head as he spoke. "It's so hard for good people to be rewarded..."

Then Payne patted Xiao En on the head, "Thank you so much for helping me with this mission today."

“…Eh? No…wasn’t it to test my courage?” Xiao En looked up in surprise, the tear stains on her face still clearly visible.

Payne nodded. "Well... I'd say it's a bit of both."

"This is the first time I've ever done something like this. To be honest, without you guys, I wouldn't dare face a father who has lost his son, and I wouldn't know how to even begin to tell him about this..."

"But...sigh, after all, his son has passed away, he'll eventually find out about this, and someone has to do it..."

"Besides... my decision to have you come with me has nothing to do with courage. PTSD isn't something courage can overcome..."

"Although I don't know much about PTSD, I think that a person has to face these things in order to get over the pain of the past."

Payne rambled on and on about things the beasts probably couldn't understand, then smiled to lighten the mood: "Alright, it's all in the past, let's not be so heavy-hearted."

“Xiao En, as a reward, I'll allow you to eat all the remaining flowers Stephen has.”

Stephen immediately protested: "Hey, why? I went with you too..."

Payne glanced at her sideways. "The flowers were bought with my money, do you have a problem with that?"

“…Okay, no.” Stephen said, shrugging. “But…I saw Angela crying so hard just now, so I put the leftover flowers on the bedside table…”

Pine paused for a moment—come to think of it, Stephen did indeed come out of that little shop empty-handed.

Although beast girls cannot have offspring, this is a common phenomenon among animals, and she can certainly understand the pain of losing a son.

Although she likes to boast, this white-haired horse is still a good child.

Thinking this, Payne smiled and ruffled Stephen's hair. "Okay, good boy, I'll brush your fur when we get back."

"Really? Okay, okay, thanks boss~ Hehe~"

While Stephen was laughing hysterically, and Shawn and Lacey couldn't help but laugh along, Ruby remained calm and continued:

“Since you gave Florian that note as proof of identity, then we should also have a share with Beast.”

Payne slapped his forehead. "That's true. If you get separated from me while you're injured, and then run into people even worse than F Company, this thing is at least a way to save your lives."

"I'll write one for each of you beasts when we get back. It's not a big deal."

"This way, we can have a unified story, and we'll have evidence if anyone asks."

Whether this incident piqued Ruby's interest or not, she continued, "What were in the file folder and the two boxes you gave Angela?"

"Well..."

Payne pondered for a moment and said:

"I guess the file folder contains Florian—oh, that human Florian who's already dead—his death notice, photos of him with his comrades, copies of the Emperor's handwritten letters to the families of fallen soldiers, and things like that."

"One of the two boxes contains medals, and the other should contain ashes. If the body cannot be found or there are no means to bring it back for cremation, then it should contain personal items used during the lifetime."

"Look, such a big, living person, after dying, all that's left is this little bit of stuff."

Ruby was silent for a moment, then pouted, "We'll have even less left... and no one will cherish our belongings..."

Payne interrupted her: "I'm here, aren't I?"

"But you didn't take good care of the paper and pens Grace used..."

Payne was silent for a moment, then said, "It's too big to fit, it's just too big to fit..."

The atmosphere between the one person and the four beasts returned to its somber state.

……

Time passed silently through August and into September, which marks the beginning of autumn.