First Contact

A sudden pang of soreness jolts through my lower back and ass. The dirt roads in this forsaken land are all full of awful bumps and pits, and have been antagonizing me for days! Sitting on this hard wooden seat on this rickety wagon has been torturous, but no matter how bumpy the road or how sore the body, I won’t falter. Whatever challenge stands before me, I will surpass it. After all, I have both my natural abilities as well as the support of the entire kingdom behind me. The thought of turning around would never cross my mind, not even once.

Initially, when Lillia and I first left the capital, we traveled on horseback. I don’t want to brag, but I am quite multi-talented, and my proficiency with riding isn’t bad. Still though, traveling such a long distance for such a long time has its physical toll. I am quite stalwart and stoic so I could handle it, but I suspected that my partner was nearing her breaking point after a few days of travel. Even though she tried to tell me the noble lie that she was “fine” and that she “learned to ride horses before learning to walk,'' I made the critical choice of switching to another form of transport. After all, when we reach our destination, we both need to be in good condition. Unfortunately, with how far we had already traveled from the capital, we could only manage to hitch a ride with a trader heading the same way.

Lillia is currently sitting up front, next to the trader driving the wagon. She’s earned some respect from me by demonstrating her social skills during this leg of the journey. She’s been talking with the trader about mundane topics that I have no patience for, and even seems to be quite knowledgeable on the topics. At the moment, they're talking quite a bit about our destination, Thresford, formerly a quaint town near the frontier, now an infested breeding ground of wild beastmen.

The beasts had descended upon the peaceful town around a year and a half ago. Thankfully there have been no reports of massacre. However, I refuse to believe that these starving beasts have simply forgotten their feral instincts and adopted civility so quickly. No, there must be something else going on, something sinister hiding beneath the surface. Why would these animals take up residence in a human village? There are many areas of wilderness that they could roam instead. So why risk coming into conflict with humans?

I hypothesize that this pack of beasts has a leader, one with some semblance of intelligence. This leader must’ve instructed his minions to control the villagers, to suppress and rule over them. That way the beastmen could take the humans’ harvests for their own, wringing their meager supplies like a gang of bandits. The leader must know how spread thin the kingdom’s knights are around the border, and that as long as they don’t kill the villagers, they’ll probably be left alone. Oh the poor people! Surely they must be near starving at this point, searching for scraps and barely surviving on what the beasts leave them with. I can almost hear their cries for help and their prayers now!

Well all that will soon come to an end. Using the power of the spell, I’ll take the position of this leader and order the beastmen to return to the wilderness where they belong. And then I’ll- Ouch! Another damn pit in the road! I’ll have to remember to bring a cushion of some sort, this inconvenience is proving extremely aggravating. Hmph! At least we’ll arrive some time soon, this can’t go on forever.

…

“...Victor… Victor!”

Hmm? My name is being called. My eyelids are heavy and resist the suggestion of opening. Exhaustion and soreness permeate my body as I lay sideways in the back of the wagon. I manage to let out a groan in response to whoever was calling for me. It sounded like my assistant.

“Wake up now Victor, Thresford is in sight.”

Oh, yes of course, the town. Slowly sitting up, I find that my bottom is just as sore as before, compounded with a new creakiness in my joints. It seems that my plan to recover a bit before arriving hasn’t resulted in much benefit. Damn infernal wagon. I pull my pack over and look for my canteen, finding it after some rummaging. A few swigs of water help to wake up, but I’m far from being refreshed. Looking down the road, buildings are indeed visible in the distance.

As we continue to approach, some figures become distinguishable. Two people are standing on either side of the entrance to the town with spears held at their sides. Curious, I didn’t expect there to be guards, given the situation of the town. The two of them are clad in helmets and armor made of leather and pelt, a string of colorful beads hanging from each guard’s hip. What looked like simple spears from a distance actually had some decorations attached to the spearhead’s bindings. The wagon stops before them and they take the initiative to speak first.

“Welcome back Addam, who are they?”

The guard with a gruff voice tilts his spear towards me and my assistant as he inquires about our identities. I reopen my pack in search of my identification papers before remembering that my assistant is holding on to them. The driver starts speaking, probably for the best since he seems to be known here.

“Hello lads, nice to see you again. This is Lillia and this is Victor. They are here to represent the kingdom and negotiate aid.”

Negotiate aid? What? Oh, wait, that must be what my assistant told the driver. Not a bad idea Lillia! With a premise like that, we could probably get into the same room as their leader immediately. Aid from the kingdom would be the perfect bait for greedy animals.

“Aid from the kingdom? I see… Do they seem trustworthy to you?”

“Well I wouldn’t have brought them all the way here if I didn’t think so.”

The guard turned to my assistant, who was already holding the papers readily.

“Here, these will confirm our identities and our authority to represent the kingdom on this matter. Please take a look.”

The guard took the papers and looked them over, soon turning to his partner.

“Hey, uh, is this how the kingdom’s seal looks?”

The other guard took a look at the papers.

“I think so. They smell like humans anyways. It’s probably fine. You guide them to the shrine, I’ll stay here.”

Good, good, it seems like there won’t be any problems here, despite one of the guards not recognizing the great symbol of the kingdom that shelters him. One word does pique my interest though. Shrine. Was the leader demanding worship or something?

Accompanied by the guard, we pass through the entrance and enter the village, stopping at the main street. The wagon driver turns to my assistant and starts bidding us farewell.

“Well it was nice to have company for once Lillia, oh and of course you too Victor. Best of luck with your negotiations. My business is on the East side of the town and the shrine is on the West side. If you ever need to find me, my home is near the center, across from the tailor. Come by and chat if you have the time.”

I grab my pack and hop off the cart, glad to be on my own two feet again. My assistant gives ample thanks to the driver and sends him off with a joke about something they were talking about earlier. The driver departs with a laugh, disappearing down a side street on the left, leaving my assistant and I with the guard. He promptly guides us down another street to the right. Quite quickly, we see that the normal stores and houses end, giving way to a collection of tents and temporary shelters as we go further.

And among those new settlements, there they are. The filth. I’ll admit their appearance does betray my expectations a bit. I had expected them to be a bit more… beast than man, yet all the beastmen here look nearly human, save for some still noticeable differences. Their bestial features differ from one to another. Some have furry pointed ears on the tops of their heads, some have tails behind them, others have snouts and sharp teeth, and some even have claws or paws. But besides these variations, their proportions remain mostly human-like.

As I examine them, some of them look back at me. My displeasure must be showing on my face, because any beastman that meets my gaze quickly looks away. According to reports, there’s one beastman for every human here, and judging by the amount that we are passing, that information seems accurate. Following the guard through the belly of the beast, a tall structure up ahead catches my eye.

It’s some sort of large red gateway, but lacks a gate. In fact, it’s not connected to any fence or wall, it’s just standing alone. Compared to the tents and temporary buildings that we just passed, this looks more sturdy and more… permanent. But why put so much effort into this thing? What utility does it serve?

Past the red gateway, there are a few small buildings that form a sort of compound with a courtyard in the center. Even though I’ve never visited Thresford before, I can tell from the look of the buildings that they don’t belong here. The beastmen must have built them, this must be their “shrine”. The guard walks under the gate and my assistant follows. I almost make the same mistake, but in a flash of brilliance, I go around the side. It could be enchanted with some sort of magic, best not be careless around such a suspicious structure.

In the courtyard area, someone watches us enter. Judging by the long pink hair and clothes, it’s a female beastman. She’s dressed in a white top with long, drooping sleeves and a long red skirt that folds onto itself. Behind her, a large pink tail sprouts out from a hole at the top of the skirt, loftily moving as she continues to sweep. Perhaps she is some sort of servant or maid?

The guard walks us up to her and gives his greetings.

“Hello priestess. These two are here to discuss aid from the kingdom. Their documents seem to be in order, and mister Addam says that he trusts them.”

“Oh, what a pleasant surprise. Thank you Gopal, I’ll handle things from here.”

With a tip of his helmet, the guard turns and leaves. I take the opportunity to introduce the both of us to this priestess.

“Greetings. I am Victor Desmond and this is my assistant Lillias. We have traveled a long way from the capital to speak with your leader. Could you please let them know that we are here?”

“Our leader? Well, I can’t say that we really have a leader. I am the priestess of this shrine, and while I might not be the leader that you’re looking for, many people come to me for guidance. Perhaps the mayor might be who you’re looking for?”

“No, not the mayor, we’re looking for the leader of the beastmen. Who is the strongest of you all?”

The priestess lets out a small giggle before replying.

“The strongest you say? That would be Toda, who can lift a cow all by himself. But he is probably not who you seek. He is perhaps the most gentle of all of us, and if anything, he is led by his wife.”

The priestess giggles again, while I sort out my thoughts. This doesn’t make sense at all. The beastmen hunt in a pack led by a single, powerful leader that holds ultimate authority over the rest. And what was this about a wife? I heard that the leader of the pack had the right to breed with all the females. That was going to be one of the perks of taking over the leader! No, surely this clever little fox was toying with us. I open my mouth to confront the priestess, but my assistant chimes in with another question first.

“I see. Well, we were sent here to discuss aid. Even if you don’t have a leader, you must surely have someone who holds some sort of authority. Someone that the community looks to when hard decisions must be made. Your group made the choice to leave your homes and come here after all, who made that choice?”

“It was indeed a difficult choice to make, one that the entire tribe discussed thoroughly. But if you are looking for a single person to represent all of us, I suppose that I might be the best choice. Ah, how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the priestess of the new Thresford shrine, Akemi.”

She does a small bow as she tells us her name. While her head is lowered, I can see that she actually has two animal ears on the top of her head, just that they blend into her hair quite well. My assistant next to me imitates the priestess and does a small bow back to her. Both of them raise their heads, and Akemi starts to speak again.

“Well it’s getting late and I’m sure that you are both quite tired from your travels. How about we meet again tomorrow? I’ll arrange for Naoki to give you a tour of the settlement. It will be helpful for discussions if you understand our situation with your own eyes.”

Now that she’s mentioned it, the sky is starting to darken and I’m feeling a bit of hunger too. My assistant thanks the priestess and we leave the shrine, following the way back to the main street of the town. Finding an inn is simple enough, and soon we’re set up with a room and a meal. But as much as I’d like to let my body rest, I can’t just yet. Now that we’ve identified the leader of the beastmen, we need to swiftly progress the mission. If everything goes according to plan, the priestess won’t be a problem come tomorrow morning.