for help on their own. They might find themselves assailed by nightmares for a few days, though. They'd better, or I'm in trouble. Kaito looked down at his downed foes with a serious look on his face. After all, he needed the people to continue believing that Kaito Sena was the enemy of mankind. Given his position, he couldn't content himself with a simple life on the run. His goal was to stave off Elisabeth's execution. To that end, he needed the Church to keep believing he was a serious threat to humanity. Each time he took down a would-be pursuer, he made sure to take every chance he got to etch unforgettable fear into them. Fortunately, none of their pursuers had been particularly strong, possibly because the Capital was preoccupied with its own defenses or for some other pressing reason. But Kaito was well aware of the fact that he wouldn't be able to keep up the farce forever. Pretty soon, I'm gonna hit my limit. Before that happened, he needed to figure out a way to have Elisabeth's execution called off. And more than anything, he needed to change her mind. I still can't think of any way to do that. The Torture Princess's sins were far too severe. No matter what justifications she may have had, she could never take back the things she'd done. There was no way she could possibly atone enough to make up for it. Short of changing the past, there was no way to erase the sins she'd committed. The people she'd killed were never coming back. Kaito knew that, and so did Elisabeth herself. Kaito closed his eyes, puzzling over what in the world he could possibly do. Then a deep voice rang out. "You truly are a hopeless, pitiable fool." "Kaiser." The voice was inaudible to any but Kaito, his contractor, and it replied to him with humanlike laughter. With his magnificent canine body still hidden, the Kaiser went on. "Indeed, O contractor of mine. It is I, a flawless hound wholly wasted on an unworthy master such as yourself. How many times must you repeat this foolery before you're satisfied? The matter should be simple. All you need do is make good on your proclamation at the Capital and amass power by gathering the pain of others in a manner befitting my master. Then you could simply destroy the foundations of this world and reshape it as you desire." "How many times do I have to tell you? I have no plans to tyrannize anyone. I'm not gonna become like my father." "Ha, a brute that looks down on brutes. That in itself is laughable. What difference is there between one brand of evil and another?" The Kaiser scoffed, and Kaito narrowed his eyes a little. It was true; considering his current position in a vacuum, he was far more deserving of the descriptor evil than his father ever had been. He was the enemy of mankind, after all. Amused in spite of himself by that fact, Kaito was ready to respond. "Ha-ha, you have a point there... But you gotta understand, Kaiser, it'd be a waste of time for me to try to amass power by hurting people. There's not a doubt in my mind that Elisabeth would come barreling in and murder me the moment I tried." "But at this rate, you'll find your head removed from your shoulders regardless. How shameful, how utterly shameful. Dying, no matter how it happens, is a disgrace. It follows, then, that you should give in to your deepest desires and try fighting like you really mean it." The Kaiser's words were to the point. Kaito nodded. It was exactly like the Kaiser had told him once before. The power of demons was supreme, and could first be attained when one extended their hand past the limits of avarice and desire. And one who forgot their greatest wish was naught but a fool masquerading as a saint. Even so, I'm not going to betray Neue. Kaito thought back to the boy who'd sacrificed himself for Kaito and been eaten by the Earl's spider. The boy's existence was like a knot tied around Kaito's heart, stopping him from crossing that final line. He refused to do anything that would cause others to have to sacrifice themselves the same way he had been saved. And he couldn't bear the thought of becoming a thug who just grinned as they tormented the weak, like his father had done. But at the moment, he had something far more important to do than respond to the Kaiser. "So what brings you guys here?" Kaito called out, his voice ringing with confidence. However, he received no reply. Nevertheless, he leveled a cool gaze toward the shadows behind the gravestones and the shattered coffins. Perhaps shaken by the intensity of his confidence, the air shifted a little. Immediately after they'd teleported, he had noticed a few presences who'd come along, following the traces of his mana. Hina had noticed at the same time he had, or perhaps even earlier. But when he cast a sidelong glance at her, he saw that she wasn't holding her halberd at the ready. She was simply waiting to spot movement and taking care to avoid putting the other party on guard. Yeah, that's the right call. After all, Kaito couldn't sense a shred of hostility from their new pursuers. What were they doing? What was their goal? As he concealed his bewilderment, Kaito continued staring at the spot where the newcomers were lurking. Having run out of patience, a few figures finally made their appearances. Just like the set of pursuers prior to them, they were clad in full-body armor. However, the material differed from that of the paladins and Royal Knights, making use not just of metal but of leather and scales as well. Their outfits had a vermilion motif and gave off a unique aesthetic and cultural impression. But what surprised Kaito the most was their faces. "...Beastfolk?" Their new pursuers were not, in fact, human. They all had animal heads, their bodies were covered in dense-looking fur, and their feet were adorned with pointy claws. Kaito recalled what Elisabeth had once told him. "Demi-human-beastfolk crossbreeds. Not an uncommon sight, particularly with the influx of various races in low-class towns. They make up about thirty percent of slum dwellers, and in the north, it exceeds forty percent. Visibly pure-blooded demi-humans and beastfolk are generally in the nobility, though, so they're rarely seen in human settlements." Kaito looked over the beastfolk before him a second time. Their bodies didn't have all the same parts humans did. While they didn't look especially noble, they were probably still purebloods. But based on Elisabeth's explanation, that meant they shouldn't be showing up on human land. Why were the beastfolk there, then? The questions just kept piling up. But Kaito didn't exactly have time to ask the beastfolk directly. Their hands already on the hilts of their swords, the beastfolk began moving. They approached Kaito and Hina, their movement offering no openings. Raising his hand, Kaito struck a pose that would let him snap his fingers at a moment's notice. Hina pulled out her long halberd from their bottomless magical bag in a single fluid motion. The beastfolk peered up at Kaito, as though appraising him. He returned the examining looks with a composed, questioning gaze. The next moment, the beastfolk nodded among themselves, then moved as one. Bending the knee like loyal retainers, they all knelt in front of Kaito. ".........What?" "Sir Kaito Sena, we presume." The voice that spoke up was deep. Dumbfounded as he was, Kaito reflexively thanked his golem body's native translation functions. The odds were high that the beastfolk were speaking a different language from the one humans regularly used. If not for his built-in translation ability, Kaito probably wouldn't have been able to understand the beastfolk at all. The beastman, who had coppery hair, a brilliant tassel atop his sword, and a wolf head, picked up where he left off. "We wish to humbly request you travel back to our territory with us." The beastman raised his face. His golden eyes glimmered with determination as he looked at Kaito. The next words that came out of the wolf-headed beastman's mouth weren't what Kaito had been expecting in the slightest. "We intend to receive the enemy of mankind as an honored guest." "Explain to me what's going on here." Kaito immediately made a firm request. The moment he'd heard what the beastman had said, memories from his past life had rushed through his mind. Back in his old world, there hadn't been any sort of clear menace to humanity like the demons. Because of that, international politics there were a good deal more complicated. And just the other day, this world, too, had been largely freed from the menace of the demons, with the exception of Kaito. Kaito knew next to nothing about the historic relationship between humans and beastfolk. However, he had a pretty good sense of the friction that existed between the two groups. Beastfolk were banned from some areas within the human lands, and the border around the area where the pure-blooded beastfolk lived was generally closed off. That information was enough for him to more or less surmise the resentment that plagued interactions between the two races. As a matter of fact, the very hill they were standing on had been the site of a bloody conflict fought by humans and beastfolk long before the Duke had started using it. At the same time, according to Izabella, the borderland between the pureblood region and the human realm had been the image of tranquility ever since the third peace treaty. Now that the situation has stabilized, they're inviting the enemy of another race into their home base. Kaito wasn't stupid enough for the implications of that decision to go over his head. He absolutely had to avoid destroying the delicate balance between the two parties. But the beastfolk weren't out of surprises just yet. "The reason we wish to invite you is thus. A sudden tragedy has occurred in our lands, and we would humbly ask of you to aid us in settling the matter. Some entity has been attacking our villages, and several terrible massacres have already occurred." "Massacres?" Upon hearing that unsettling word, Kaito instinctively furrowed his brow. The wolf-headed beastman's lustrous fur rustled as he nodded. It was possible that he'd seen the tragic scenes himself, as he spoke his next words in a pained voice. "They didn't spare women, children, the elderly...not even infants. We lost several patrolling warriors as well. I'd never laid eyes on a hellscape like that before. If this goes on, yet more villages will be slaughtered. We need strength." "Hold on a second. If you need help to stop the killings, then I'd be glad to lend a hand. But just now, you said that you intended to receive the 'enemy of mankind' as an honored guest, right?" "Indeed, I did." The wolf-headed beastman nodded seriously. But Kaito had difficulty finding a connection between that oddly specific choice of phrasing and the massacres in the villages. His tone grew tougher as he gave voice to his misgivings. "Why do you need the 'enemy of mankind'? It feels weird to say it myself, but willingly asking for help from the Kaiser and his contractor is plain nuts. If the situation is so dire that you can't deal with it yourselves, couldn't you just ask the humans for help?" "We are requesting your assistance precisely because we do not have that option. We cannot afford to let the humans know what we're doing. Mankind has been assailed by demons as of late, and in order to be good neighbors, we've been freely, albeit surreptitiously, providing them aid in the form of resources and money. However, we cannot see this recent