She Who Became Immortal

There would be quite a challenge for explorers or adventurers who happened to visit the beastmen's territory and attempted to acquire armor through trade. Let's consider it in terms of modern-day global earth. Imagine a guy in fantasy cosplay showing up in a distant town and saying, "I want to get twenty tons of grains in exchange for this diamond." Most likely, he'd be met with bewilderment or went robbed.

There are two ways to think about it.

Either they knew the value of aelv's "secret stone," or Kairine wanted armor from them. Of course, you could argue for a combination of both, but personally, I think the latter is more likely.

In other words—those humans Kairine made contact with probably wanted Randall dead in the first place.

The individual Kairine supposedly contacted called themselves the "Envoy of Soltice Sol Spade." Obviously a lie. The lord of Spade didn't know anything about that. And at that time, the beastmen had no way to verify it.

Now, if we think this through to here, the answer seems apparent.

To the north of Spade's domain lies Baron Tiant's territory. Positionally, heading west from Tiant would roughly lead to the construction site of the fortress, a bit south from grimoire's domain.

"Those people from Tiant are attacking. We're building a fortress here to counter that,"

Lioness Princess Lapis Kruger nodded thoughtfully.

"Why are you reacting like you've got it all figured out, an outsider like you," she thought, smiling wryly, though her words were spot on.

"In other words, it's war,"

The nine-tailed fox Kairine said with irony, smiling back amusedly.

"Yes, exactly. If you have something to protect and won't let it be taken, there's no choice but to fight. If you don't like that, just tuck your tail and run away. Of course, you should run if you can't win."

"Like you did once, huh? Remember that, vixen?"

"Hmm? Oh, it seems there are unfamiliar faces here. Who might you be? ...Ah, no, no, just joking. You bear a striking resemblance to your father. You've grown up, Lapis Kruger."

"As in your words from before, it seems you managed to kill Father. Satisfied, vixen?"

Arms crossed, Lapis asked, showing no signs of danger, which was a bit surprising to Kairine. She hesitated for a moment, withdrew her wry smile, then finally plastered on the same smile.

"Yes, more than I expected. After all, I met Lady Euphemia."

"Hmm, I see."

I thought, but didn't say it.

Instead, Junos spoke up.

"More importantly, Euphemia, tell us your thoughts. People from Tiant are invading. Their goal is probably conquest. We're building a fortress to counter this. But, wouldn't it be simpler just to intercept them?"

"The enemy needs to send personnel to clear the forest for human resources transport."

"We could ambush them during the forest clearing. We have many beastmen here who are much more adept in the woods than humans. It's not like we can't handle it."

"Why aren't we doing that-"

Cutting off the outsider's words, I given them an answer.

"Tiant is one of the Louisse Kingdom's lands. Preemptively attacking them would be akin to hostile action against the entirety of Louisse. Because each territory in Louisse is bestowed by the King. The land is governed by the lord, but it's the King's land and the country's land."

Without delving into details, that's how it is.

It might be hard to understand with Randall's less-than-rule, but this is about culture, history, and systems.

"Is that why we can't attack first?"

Lapis tilted her head in curiosity, but Grimoire's group and the beastmen were in similar agreement. Regalo and Kairine, seemed to understand, nodding normally.

"If we attack first, it means 'attacking what belongs to the King' from Louisse's perspective. Conversely, consider if they attempt to invade us. The Tiant territory, which is the King's possession, initiates invasion into the beastmen's domain, causing resistance and resulting in damage—"

"In that case, Tiant's people would be seen as 'damaging what belongs to the King.' The blame would fall on Tiant, not us."

"I think that's highly likely."

"Humans are such a hassle."

Zonda, the boar beastman, sighed deeply, speaking in a blunt manner.

I chuckled casually in response.