Trust, too, is a depletable resource. The regressor watched Aji and me with a sliver of faith. From morning to night, observing what we did and how we spent our time. With the patience of a mother watching her child.
"How can you not do a single thing properly!"
As a result, my trust capital went bankrupt. Unable to contain her anger, the regressor grabbed me by the collar and hauled me up.
"You're spending money left and right! Empty food bowls are scattered around the yard! The only ones coming into the mansion are delivery people!"
"A housekeeper will be coming soon. I arranged for them to clean the entire mansion."
"That's nothing to brag about!"
The regressor shoved my collar away and clutched her head. After heaving her chest a few times, she muttered with a serious expression.
"Hah...! It's fine. The time I wasted isn't lost. Finishing the trading company business in a month was on the faster side. I just need to do it properly from now on!"
"That's right. Shea, you can do it."
"I'm telling you to do it! You said you're the King of Humans! You said we have to defeat the wolves! I don't feel any of that determination from you at all!"
"But the situation here is too difficult."
I wanted to try hard. But what could an ordinary person do when dropped in an unfamiliar city? No matter how much money you have, a drifter without connections or information has clear limits. It was unavoidable that I couldn't produce results.
...Let's go with that angle. If I just said I was lazy, it wouldn't save my dignity. I grumbled as I made my excuses.
"The races are so different that disturbances are frequent and conflicts are severe. I heard beast-kin are discriminated against, but the moment I tried to join a clan, they whispered 'human, human.' They're wary because I smell unfamiliar. What am I supposed to do?"
It was true that Ende's situation was turbulent, so the regressor didn't suspect anything further.
"I know. But the easiest way to resolve the conflict between beast-kin and humans is to use the King of Beasts. I thought you could do it."
"I told you, I lost my power."
"You have Aji. The King of Dogs."
The regressor pointed at Aji, who was happily gnawing on a bone. Oh right. Even if he's plumped up now, he's still a king in his own way.
"Many of the city's influential figures are dog beast-kin, and especially Ende's mayor Triver is a dog beast-kin with imperial bloodlines. He would have cooperated with you since he knows the wolf threat better than anyone."
"If he knows it so well, why did you leave it to me?"
"I'm regretting it now. I should have told you everything I knew, even if I had to grab a random person off the street and ask them!"
'Ugh. Did I think too easily just because you're a regressor? No. If you can't even handle this much, there's no reason to entrust you with the task. I should just do it myself.'
Really? If you do it for me, that works out fine for me.
Well, when I was bored I also read the minds of passersby. So I knew the general situation in Ende. I just didn't think of using Aji to make connections like the regressor did.
"Sigh. I need to move right away."
"Take your time and eat while you rest. Here, gnaw on this meat."
"No need. I'll handle my meals on my own, so come up with some kind of plan before I get back!"
Tch. I offered it out of goodwill. The regressor left like someone chased by something. Going to meet the mayor through the trading company's connections.
"Busy~"
"Woof~"
Aji and I slowly gnawed on the meat as we watched the regressor's departing back.
What kind of strategy could there even be? Dig a pit, set a trap, weaken their forces, then fight the Wolf King. I'll leave that to the regressor.
What I need to do is find people to help and commune with Aji. The ribs I was gnawing still had meat on them, but a full beast becomes merciful. I readily tossed the meat-covered bone. Aji, who had been eagerly anticipating it, leapt up and caught it before it hit the ground.
"Woof-woof~"
"What an easy life~"
Living in a big house with a yard, raising a dog. It's pastoral and nice. If only there were a woman beside me, it would be an ordinary life with nothing more to wish for.
...Well, the regressor is here. But since she still believes she's disguised as a man, I don't feel much attraction. She doesn't even come inside the house anyway.
Ah, Tir was truly pretty. Now that we're apart, I miss her. Well, will there be no new encounters here?
"Is anyone home~"
Oh. Is that the housekeeper I called? I asked them to bring some snacks when they come, and they're here quick. I leisurely walked to the gate.
I have to walk just to receive anything. That's the inconvenience of a house with a yard. But I can't leave the gate open either.
Grumbling my full-bellied complaints, I opened the gate, and a hooded pig beast-kin was waiting in front of the door. With something hidden in their arms.
Did they send a pig beast-kin as a housekeeper? Pig beast-kin are hardworking laborers who do rough jobs well, but I called for sheep beast-kin. What's going on?
"What brings you here?"
Even though I was right in front of them, the pig beast-kin ignored me and surveyed the inside of the yard.
Aji, happily gnawing on meat. Quite a stack of delivery food bowls. And the pile of bones Aji had chewed, torn, tasted, and enjoyed, then collected like treasures.
Did I live too dissolutely? It's a bit embarrassing to show the state of the house to an outsider.
...No, wait.
If they're not a housekeeper, an outsider inspecting the house is what's strange, right?
"...Was it delicious?"
"What? You mean the beef soup from Kitchen Gluta? It was tasty."
"That's not beef. It's pork butchered from the outskirts. Gluta deceived you."
What? They lied about the ingredients? And then extorted the princely sum of 40 alkera from me?
I enjoyed eating it, but now my mood is ruined. I won't be satisfied unless I get ten free meal tickets.
"Thank you, whistleblower. I need to go confront them right now. They have to reimburse me."
"Is that all?"
"Is there something else you need?"
Right after I asked back, a cold light flashed from within the pig beast-kin's arms. Before I could react, a sharp hostility pierced my body.
"Ugh!"
Stabbed by a knife, I screamed and collapsed. Stains gradually spread across my clothes. The pig beast-kin looked down at me with malicious ecstasy.
"Making a dog your watchdog, filling your belly with pigs... Oink. It felt good when you took from us, didn't it? How does it feel now?"
"Urk... Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?"
"Find out if you don't know. I'm letting it slide since you ate it unknowingly. Oink!"
The pig beast-kin pressed the hood deeper down and then bolted. Even a pig beast-kin had fast legs. Swallowing my groans, I desperately moved to close the gate. Only after the lock clicked shut did I feel relieved, leaning against the door and breathing heavily.
"Woof?"
Looking up, Aji had approached without me noticing and was looking at me with concern. This mutt, a watchdog? A dog that can't even bite humans is no watchdog. It's a pet.
Suddenly resenting Aji, I bit my lip and groaned.
"A person got stabbed and you're just staring! Hurry and call the police!"
"Woof? You weren't stabbed."
"...Surprise!"
This guy, how is a dog so smart? Did it notice there's no smell of blood?
I slipped out the meat I had hidden inside my clothes. The bone-attached meat had a deep knife mark on it.
I pretended to be stabbed by pressing the meat against myself, then squeezed it to make the juice flow. The pig beast-kin, mistaking the juice spreading under my clothes for blood, thought they had accomplished their objective and fled.
Good thing I ordered an extra serving. I tossed the knife-cut meat to Aji and muttered.
"Where did they find such an idiot to send as a killer? Or wait, is this even a killer?"
This is just terrorism. A terrorist who followed delivery people to find houses that eat meat, memorized them, then goes around stabbing indiscriminately. They didn't attack me because I'm the King of Humans or because I'm Huez—they stabbed me purely for the reason of "eating pork."
"This city is intense. I thought I'd live comfortably while splurging money for a month... I didn't expect to get attacked."
The frontier city of Ende. I thought it would be heaven if you had money, but living in this world isn't that easy.
Sitting and thinking, Aji looked at me and tilted its head.
"Why did you let yourself get stabbed?"
"How do you stop a stabbing? You just get stabbed."
"Woof? Dodge it!"
"If I dodge, they'll stab harder next time, won't they? It's better to get stabbed once. If they stab lightly, it doesn't hurt."
Even if I overcome this, what if another one comes? It's better to fake being hurt.
Anyway, getting stabbed hurts. I touched my numb side and spoke.
"But Aji, isn't it a bit interesting?"
"Woof."
Aji shook its head. Guess it wasn't interested in human conflicts. But that's from a dog's perspective.
"A pig beast-kin stabs a person for eating pork? Do they consider pigs their ancestors? Not humans?"
Interesting. I'd like to read their mind a bit more.
"Baaa~ Baaa~ We're the Team Wool housekeepers~ Are you the Huez who made the reservation~?"
While I was thinking, I sensed a group shuffling in front of the gate. Real housekeepers dispatched from the clan formed primarily by sheep beast-kin.
I rose lightly and opened the gate. The sheep beast-kin, for whom this was already the fourth time cleaning the mansion, bowed politely and immediately set to work. Seeing the bleating sheep beast-kin moving about, Aji fidgeted as if tickled, but I couldn't let it bother the housekeepers, so I dragged it away.
"Aji, let's go for a walk."
"Woof!"
Regressor. Things are going as you wished. I'm now going to take on a great challenge against the world.