Chapter : 11
The Beast King Gerd
Knock, knock, knock.
“See? I told you he’d come.”
“Young lady, you certainly picked a strange person to befriend.”
Mom hammered a plank over the broken window. The wind was blowing frighteningly hard. I opened the door and let Gerd inside, getting thoroughly drenched by the rain blowing in sideways. I was about to hand him a towel to dry himself, but Gerd wasn’t wet at all. He was perfectly dry. He must have had some kind of related skill.
“You’re really dressed up.”
“My son insisted that I wear this.”
“Young man, you already have a son?”
Mom finished hammering, wiped her hands on her apron, and welcomed Gerd. Thinking that my friend would, without a doubt, be biologically human had been foolish of me. She laughed warmly, complimented Gerd repeatedly on how handsome and good-looking he was, and then stared intently at his hands.
“This. My son told me to bring it as a gift.”
“Oh my, you didn’t have to bring all this!”
You’ve been staring at that gift basket ever since Gerd walked into the house, Mom.
Ignoring my little jab, Mom seated Gerd at the table and brought him some tea. Once she had finished setting out the refreshments, she hurriedly opened the gift basket and took out a roll of fabric.
“Oh my, what beautiful cloth! This would be perfect for making a school uniform, young lady!”
“I only wear clothes made by Ronel’s dress shop.”
“Are the clothes you’re wearing not clothes, then? Are they sacks?”
“Honestly, I think they’re pretty close to sacks.”
Mom tried to whack me with the fabric, so I quickly turned my head and dodged. They were clothes Mom had painstakingly made for me, but compared to what I used to wear at the Duke’s estate, these were… Well, they weren’t really clothes. They were burlap sacks shaped like clothes.
“Fortunately. Your personality isn’t different from Evan’s.”
“What did you just say, beastman?”
“I misspoke. I said nothing.”
Gerd pretended he hadn’t said anything at all, casually looking away. Mom laughed and said he was an amusing fellow, then suggested that he stay the night since the weather was so bad.
“No. My son is waiting for me.”
“Oh my, your son must still be very young?”
“That is correct. He has only just reached adulthood.”
“You really… Even if you’re a beastman, that’s something else. You look miraculously young.”
When Mom asked Gerd what his secret was for maintaining his skin, Gerd smiled and said that Evan had asked him the exact same thing.
“Can you handle spicy food? Our young lady won’t even touch food unless it’s spicy, sour, or salty.”
“I will try.”
At least he didn’t lie and say he was good with it. That was one of Gerd’s good qualities. He was very clear about his likes and dislikes, so I never had to worry about reading between the lines.
Mom finished sipping her tea and stood up, saying she was going to prepare dinner. Just then, Titi apparently finished washing itself and came toddling over to Mom after shaking the water off its body with a vigorous flutter.
Gerd stared at Titi for a moment, apparently fascinated by the sparrow-sized creature with a human-sized head. Then, as though he had suddenly remembered something, he spoke politely to Mom.
“My introduction was late. Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Gerd, the Beast King.”
“Oh my goodness, where is my head? I’m Eleanor Raef.”
“Eleanor Raef, mother of Evan Raef. I will remember that.”
“SKREEEE!”
For a moment, I thought I had misheard him.
But judging by Titi, who had apparently fainted while keeping its eyes open, Gerd really had just introduced himself as the Beast King.
“The Beast King?”
“That is correct. The Beast King.”
“One of the Four Demon Kings?”
“Evan is quite knowledgeable. Among the four Demon Kings—the Machine King, the Underworld King, the Dragon King, and the Beast King—I am the Beast King.”
Oh.
So that was it…
Gerd was the Beast King…
I felt like I was about to develop anemia despite never having had it before.
“Um… Sir.”
“Why am I ‘sir’?”
Woooow. The moment she heard the word king, honorific speech came out naturally.
Was this some noble etiquette skill or something? No, wasn’t this just a “weak to the strong” skill? The instant she realized someone was important, respectful language started flowing from her like a river.
“Isn’t the Beast King… um… a white-fox beastman?”
“That child is my son, Hubert. You met him once before, if I recall.”
“Ah… You mean that cute and handsome fox gentleman.”
“Evan. Your current manner of speaking is unpleasant.”
I see.
So the white fox that the protagonist couple defeated wasn’t the Beast King himself. He was the Beast King’s son.
That explained why something had always seemed strange.
When the Machine King was defeated, the floating island that had been kept aloft by the Machine King’s power came crashing down. But when the white-fox beastman who called himself the Beast King died, nothing happened.
“Um, sir. According to what we learned from the Adventurer’s Guild, the Beast King is supposed to be a white-fox beastman…”
“There is a reason for that. If you do not change that unpleasant way of speaking, I will not tell you.”
“Fine. Tell me.”
“That happened about two hundred years ago.”
Gerd slowly closed his nictitating membrane and sank into his memories.
He normally never blinked, so I’d been worried that he had dry eyes. Apparently, like other lizards, he had a nictitating membrane.
Honestly, it was creepy.
“You already know of the Dragon King’s existence.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know what species the Dragon King is?”
“A dragon species. A dragon. A giant lizard.”
“Precisely.”
Why did he say precisely like that?
No matter how accustomed I had become to the Beast King’s—fake Beast King’s—way of speaking, I couldn’t immediately understand what he was getting at this time.
It took me a full thirty seconds of thought before I finally reached the answer.
“Wait. Don’t tell me…”
“That is precisely what happened.”
“No, even so…”
“He said the characters overlapped. He came all the way to the Beast King’s tower and caused a commotion.”
What kind of idiot was that?
Wait.
Hold on.
Seriously?
Did that Demon King really order someone else to become the Beast King just because their lizard characters overlapped?
“My manner of speech was rather distinctive as a character, so he said I could keep using it.”
“Why the hell is he so obsessed with character traits?”
“So I spent nearly a hundred years gathering my flesh and blood to create Hubert.”
“No, I mean, why is he so obsessed with character traits?”
Faced with my barrage of questions, Gerd once again slowly closed his nictitating membrane and sank into his memories.
But even Gerd couldn’t give me a definite answer this time.
“Perhaps one of the books he usually read brushed against an unfortunate part of his mind…”
“Books?”
“That is correct. He became strange after being exposed to human books. He even painted his body red.”
“……”
“He was originally a golden dragon. He painted his entire body red and called himself Karse—”
“Stop.”
That was way too problematic from a copyright standpoint. Let’s not mention it.
I calmly cut Gerd off.
The white fox who had called himself the Beast King was actually the son of the real Beast King, Gerd. Their characters overlapped. A white fox who had just become an adult, with perpetually narrowed eyes, had been imitating his father’s speech while playing a character.
I heard nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Yes.
Gerd was simply the cat dad I had met when I went mining for magic stones.
That was enough.
My friend Gerd.
A strange way of speaking, secretly ancient despite looking young and handsome—my friend Gerd!
“Gerd! Let’s eat!”
“Very well.”
After completing my perfect self-brainwashing, I had a meal together with His Majesty the Beast King Gerd.
The Beast King had confidently declared that he would try to eat the food, but apparently it was exceptionally spicy because he kept reaching for water.
“It was closer to poison than food. Nevertheless, I ate my fill.”
“Oh my, beastman, now I understand perfectly how you managed to become friends with our young lady.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“What benefit do you gain from insulting me?”
“Young lady, can I hit this bastard?”
“No, Mom.”
You’ll die.
He’s the Beast King.
True to Eleanor Raef’s nature as the kind of woman who would beat the hell out of even a duke when she got angry, Mom immediately grabbed a broom.
Thinking she was about to cause a major incident, I hurriedly sent Gerd home and tried to arrange another meeting for later.
But Gerd suddenly seemed to remember something else. He furrowed his brow, gave a little nod, and spoke to Mom.
He was apparently the original Beast King after all: someone who knew how to read the room but still said whatever the hell he wanted.
“Come to think of it, my son told me to go all the way.”
“This fellow really listens to his son.”
“I would like to formally ask Evan Raef to enter into a relationship with me.”
“……”
“……”
What exactly did relationship mean here?
Did he mean a relationship as friends?
Or did he mean the kind of relationship that came one step beyond friendship?
I first stopped Mom, who was swinging the broom around like a weapon, and asked Gerd.
“When you say ‘relationship,’ do you mean friendship? Or do you mean a romantic relationship?”
“I see. My son did not explain that precisely.”
“But I already consider Gerd my friend. Your proposal is unnecessary.”
“Fortunately. Ultimately, I wish to mate with Evan.”
“……”
“……”
Gerd calmly sliced into his dessert after the meal and elegantly took a sip of tea.
Hmm…
Well, mating was certainly an important activity for animals.
So I suppose there was a reason he had dressed himself up so carefully.
It was essentially the same system as male animals desperately decorating themselves and courting a mate.
Just as I reached that conclusion, a voice from the heavens rang in my ears.
The story has changed slightly. 10,000 experience points have been awarded.
The Beast King had just proposed mating with me, and the story had changed slightly?
Wasn’t that an absurdly stingy assessment?
“Hey! Hey!”
“I am not ‘hey.’ I am Gerd, the Beast King.”
“Get out of my houseeeee!”
Mom was absolutely furious.
She finally swung the broom at Gerd, and even while getting beaten with it, Gerd stubbornly declared that he would come visit me again next time.
Mom screamed at His Majesty the Beast King to never come back and continued huffing angrily.
“You’re a widower with a kid! You need to know who you can and can’t go after!”
Completely enraged, Mom chased Gerd out, then gulped down cold water and sternly warned me never to meet that bastard thief again.
Mom had defeated the Beast King with a broom.
Did that not affect the story?
……
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