She Who Became Immortal

Coming before the Beast King's knees, it's been about two weeks now, I suppose.

During that time, I've been wandering around the surroundings as I pleased, talking to the residents, and indeed, I've started to see something like the local culture emerging.

In essence, it's a large but primitive settlement with few entertainments.

It seems like Lex worked hard for about ten years, but culture doesn't develop just because someone worked hard for a decade. Or perhaps it could be said the other way around.

In the previous world, the widespread use of advanced virtual reality games probably changed people's lives much more than the development of architecture and transportation.

Whether something like that would come to the territory of the beast people or not, I have no way of knowing, and honestly, it's someone else's problem - but I digress.

---

Let me talk a little about the Beast King's capital.

In the center of the capital is the Beast King's palace, surrounded by a castle town, and further out are grasslands and cotton fields.

It seems they also cultivate wheat and vegetables, but most of the fields are cotton. Since it's not the season, the fields are not filled with white cotton balls but are just green, which wasn't obvious at first glance, but I gradually understood while talking to the beast people of the capital.

Originally, they were plants that grew in the habitat of the elephant beast people, but the previous Beast King ordered them to be turned into farms. Lex Asuka has systematized this and operates it as a large-scale farm.

They employ a group called the Kaya Tribe as laborers, below a staff that manages fields of a certain size - mostly racoon and cat beast people, it seems.

The Kaya Tribe are beast people of a similar "stuffed toy" type to kobolds. They have a high degree of animalistic traits but also high intelligence.

Perfect workers to be exploi.. ahem.

I mean, perfect workers that are dexterous, diligent, and enjoy eating weeds. It seems they pluck and munch on the weeds growing in the fields. And they strictly adhere to quitting time.

They start their activities at sunrise and return to their nests to sleep soundly when the sun sets. They have no concept of overtime, and if someone tries to make them work overtime, they reportedly stage strikes without fearing death.

Why nocturnal rodents would become like that when they become beast people is beyond me, but it seems they staunchly refuse overtime work even if it means death, which might be more of a characteristic than a personality trait.

When you think about it, humans can't work eighteen hours a day every day either. Perhaps the Kaya Tribe just isn't cut out for working after sunset.

They process the harvested cotton into fabric, make clothes, and so on. They spread these products through merchants like Leaf Liza and exchange them for specialty goods that might not be available in remote settlements.

"By the way, how about food?"

At the dining hall of the lodging Lex Asuka uses - or should I say, the government building - I ask the busty female lioness while pushing around tasteless wheat porridge.

"There are several villages similar to the one you took over. Many beast people who aren't skilled in combat make a living through farming or utilizing their skills."

Lex answers expressionlessly while eating her porridge.

This female lioness hasn't changed her expression much since I first met her. The only time there was a change was when she served pizza in Sutin Village, perhaps.

"When I was still in the capital, our diet was even more meager. This wheat porridge contains dried root vegetables and smoked meat. No leafy vegetables. In the past, if you wanted decent food, you had to hunt for it."

Serena, who was eating wheat porridge at a nearby table, says with a subtle tone. It's a mixture of nostalgia and mockery, an ambiguous way of speaking.

"I had some struggles constructing the 'net'."

Lex answers with a modest expression, but I snicker at that.

"Yet the food tastes terrible, doesn't it? I think the diet in Sutin Village was richer. Considerably so."

"You have a point. Our Beast King isn't interested in food, after all. He's the type who's satisfied as long as there's roasted meat to gnaw on and alcohol, regardless of taste."

"So you didn't allocate resources for it."

"It's embarrassing to admit, but I myself wasn't interested in food either."

Lex slightly furrows her brows. It seems like she genuinely regrets it, which I find a bit amusing.

Well, if you don't know, you don't know.

Lex, who didn't know the pleasure of eating delicious food, wouldn't think about improving the diet. But by eating pizza, she learned the joy of it. It's a cultural delight. Indeed, not to mention putting pineapple cuts into pizzas adds sweet yet romantic flavor.

"Well, you can deepen your interest from now on. Randall also likes delicious food, right? There are probably plenty of delicious things you still don't know about."

It's unfortunate that culinary research is on hold for a while.

There are more pressing matters at hand.

With a clink, Lex places her wooden spoon in her wooden bowl and looks at me. It's that look a feline gives when it spots its prey. The pupils dilate.

"Euphemia Grimwood. Why did you send the kobold attendant back?"

Well, why did Lex invite me to the Beast King's capital in the first place?

No, wait, hold on a second. Lex didn't invite me; perhaps some would say I voluntarily accompanied Lex. Well, that's true. But let's delve into this thought a bit further.

If there was a problem, Lex wouldn't have let me accompany her.

It's a plain, ordinary conclusion. Then, let's consider another thought.

What is Lex's aim? Of course, it's to overthrow Randall and make his son, Brandon Kruger, the Beast King.

The crucial point here is that Brandon has an older brother.

Garland Kruger.

Currently, he's positioned somewhat like Randall's right-hand man, so under normal circumstances, if something were to happen to Randall, Garland would likely become the next Beast King.

So, how can we ensure Brandon ascends to the throne?

A coup? Or perhaps an assassination made to look like an accident? Poisoning might work too. But none of those options would work. Why? Because the Beast King is strong.

If we were to directly confront him, we wouldn't stand a chance against Randall.

If we could win, we'd just overthrow Randall and usurp the throne from the beginning. The fact that we're struggling shows that it's not possible. So, we're secretly conspiring with Lex, gathering allies, and manipulating strategies.

What if direct confrontation fails?

Again, the answer is quite obvious.

We just don't confront him directly.

"Lex Asuka. I have a pretty good idea of what you're planning ahead,"

I said, reclining in my chair in the dining hall.

The pupils of the lioness's eyes, which had been wide open, contracted tightly, and because I leaned back too much, I ended up falling off the chair with a loud noise.

"Acck!"

I hit the back of my head quite hard. I might have died.

"Ow! That hurts a lot!"

"You fool. What are you doing?"

With an exasperated tone, Serena grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, deftly used her fluffy tail to upright the chair, and sat me back down.

"Thanks."

"Shut up."

Well, of course.

Anyway, I gave Serena a deadly cute smile, but the reaction wasn't great. Well, whatever.

"What's the aim of this lioness? When did you realize it? Is that why you came all the way to the capital?"

"I had a vague idea from the beginning. But the main reason I came here was because I wanted to see Randall. Without seeing the Beast King, I wouldn't know whether to cooperate with Lex Asuka or not."

"What's my aim?"

Lex, who posed that question, was far more expressionless than when we were discussing meals. Probably, in this case, it's a poker face.

Of course, there's no poker in this world... well, probably.

Just to be sure, I glanced around the dining hall, confirming that there was no one else except for Lex's camp and us. Even then, I lowered my voice and said,

"The movements of the Anti-Lion Alliance are in your hands."

I said with a smirk. This time, Lex clearly showed signs of being shaken. Her shoulders moved distinctly, her eyebrows rose, and her pupils shrank even further.

---

It's a bit unforgivable that her chest swayed in conjunction with her shoulder movement.