Chapter 2: The Strange Prince

  The sunset is setting, the city gate of Langya City is bustling with people coming and going, still endless. With the approaching War God Festival, large teams transporting supplies enter the city every day. From time to time, you can also see the beastman leaders from all over the world, leading a large group of followers to walk through proudly.

  Therefore, the soldiers guarding the city gate were also extremely busy. A large number of dog-headed soldiers under the leadership of a few cow-headed warriors carefully checked the passing personnel and did not dare to relax in the slightest.

  A dog-headed soldier had just seen off a convoy carrying grain, and taking advantage of the rare leisure time, he hurriedly straightened his waist to take a short rest. The workload has suddenly increased in recent days, even the ox-headed people who are known for their endurance can't keep up, let alone these low-ranking soldiers who only eat the worst food.

  Just then, the dog-headed man saw a person riding slowly towards him in the face of the setting sun.

  "Halt!" Despite his exhaustion, a sense of duty still compelled him to step forward and intercept the other person.

  He was actually stopped by someone, and the knight on horseback was clearly stunned for a moment, while the dog-headed man also saw his opponent clearly.

  "Human... a human being?" He was shocked and instinctively raised his long spear at the person.

  20 years ago, the two largest countries on the continent of Makina, the Rulin Empire and the Dinar Kingdom, engaged in a protracted war. The beastmen took advantage of the Dinar Kingdom's distraction to attempt to seize the strategic fortress of Broken Sword Pass on their shared border, but ultimately suffered a disastrous defeat. Subsequently, the wolf tribe joined forces with the lion tribe to rebel, causing the entire beastman empire to suffer greatly, to the point where they had no choice but to sign a peace treaty with humanity.

  For the beasts who have always taken human territory as their backyard, this is a great shame and humiliation. As a result, although both sides ushered in a rare period of peace after thousands of years, their relationship also dropped to an all-time low.

  So, for 20 years, except for some bold merchants, there have been very few humans who have set foot in the territory of the beastmen. And because the festival of the war god is about to begin, the city of Gajou has long since expelled all the humans from within its walls, so it's no wonder that this dog-headed soldier would react so strongly to suddenly seeing a human appear at the gates of Gajou.

  "Who... are you? What do you want..." The dog-headed man hastily asked without waiting for the other party to react.

  But before he could finish speaking, a white shadow suddenly sprang up behind the man, swift as lightning. Before the dog-headed man could react, in an instant he felt the sky spinning and the earth turning, and he had already fallen to the ground, at the same time his neck felt cool, and he was already pressed under a curved knife with a cold light flashing on it.

  After the shock, he finally saw clearly that at some point a white cat-like creature had ridden on his body, being stared at by its yellow and blue eyes, as if it had been cast with the cow-headed human priest's spell, unable to move in the slightest.

  At this time, other dog-headed people noticed the situation here and immediately made a fuss, grabbing their crude spears and rushing over to surround the human and cat person.

  "How dare you... cause trouble, let him go at once!" A leading dog-headed man shouted in unskilled beastman common language.

  "Let... let him go." Bastard deliberately mimicked the dog-headed man and said a sentence, then turned his head to Raymond: "Young master, how to deal with this rude guy?" Not putting the surrounding dog-headed men and dozens of long spears in his eyes at all.

  It was only natural that Ramon would be treated as a human by the Dog Heads. However, Bast's "protection" was a bit too enthusiastic, and looking at the long spears aimed at him from all sides, he said irritably: "Hey, hey, have you got it wrong? Are you trying to protect me or kill me?"

  It wasn't until then that she realized she had also dragged the young master into this, Bastet stuck out her tongue and pulled out another curved knife: "No big deal, I'll just slaughter them all."

  The Dog-Headed People are the most inferior and contemptible race among all beastmen, due to their physical weakness, low intelligence, and small stature. Despite having the largest population, they are looked down upon by all other beastman races. In beastman society, they can only serve as laborers, servants, and hold the most menial jobs. On the battlefield, they are nothing more than expendable cannon fodder.

  So Bast said, and the beastmen who were watching didn't think it was strange, nor did the dog-headed people themselves feel that there was anything wrong with it, and they chattered to each other in their own language.

  "Is what she said true?"

  "The cat people are formidable, maybe they can take us all down."

  "Oh dear, if I had known I was going to die, I would have eaten a bit more lunch."

  "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, the captain will avenge us."

  ……

  At this moment, the beastmen who were watching from the sidelines suddenly parted ways, and two giant Minotaurs holding battle-axes walked towards them with big strides.

  As soon as they saw the two of them, the dog-headed people immediately swarmed around, with the leader stuttering: "Captain, help us... avenge... no, we're good... it seems we haven't died yet, quickly catch that... human and cat person."

  No sooner had he spoken than he was knocked flying by a swift and deadly swipe from one of the Minotaurs, while the others were scattered by another with an axe.

  The bull-headed man hastily walked up to Raymond, knelt down on one knee: "Please forgive my dereliction of duty, Your Highness. These fools were just transferred from the servant squad, so they didn't recognize you. I'll immediately slaughter them all for you."

  "It's all over, even our squad leader wants to get rid of us."

  "But what exactly did we do wrong?"

  When the Minotaur finished speaking, the Cynocephali looked at each other in dismay, hung their heads and drooped their ears, but did not show any signs of resistance. It was clear that they were of a low status among the beastmen and had long been accustomed to this situation, completely resigned to it.

  Raimundo was still smiling and watching the commotion, but at this moment he felt a kind of inexplicable discomfort in his heart. He waved his hand: "Forget it, they didn't offend me much, let them go."

  Raymond's unexpected "magnanimity" towards the Dog-Headed Man left the two Ox-Headed Men greatly surprised. They exchanged a look of astonishment, one of them tentatively asking: "Your Highness, are you sure?"

  "Hey, didn't I speak in a common language?"

  The two Minotaurs hastily said: "I understand."

  "Did you hear that, Your Highness is sparing your lives, so get out of here quickly!" A Minotaur soldier roughly swung his axe and chased away the Cynocephali who were also "trembling with fear" for not being put to death.

  "Alright, Bastiat, let him go too." Raymond said to Bastiat.

  Raymond spoke, and Bastet reluctantly retracted her curved knife. The dog-headed man immediately rolled over and crawled back to his companions, disappearing in an instant.

  "Tsk, they're just a bunch of trash...” The Minotaur soldier glanced at Raymond out of the corner of his eye and let out a disdainful snort.

  Watching all this, Raymond could only silently sigh in his heart. He called out to Barbara and turned his horse around, heading towards the city.

  As this side came to an end, the onlookers also dispersed, and order was gradually restored at the city gate. At this time, a lion-like humanoid gazed at Ramon's back and couldn't help but ask the beastman beside him: "Buddy, why are the guards so respectful to a human?"

  That beastman looked at the lion man who was dusty and said, "You're just from out of town, right? Let me tell you, that person is not a human being, but a Mongol."

  "What?" The lion man was shocked: "Better than Mung people? How is this possible."

  The beastman glanced around cautiously and lowered his voice, saying: "That's right, and he's not just an ordinary Bimonian, but the biological son of our Queen Amada, in other words, the current Prince."

  That lion-like man seemed to have heard the most unbelievable thing, his mouth agape as he stared at Raymond: "B...but his appearance, how can it be like that of the Bimon tribe? No, it's completely different from us beastmen."

  The beastman next to him said, "That's because you've never seen Queen Amada. Her appearance is very similar to that of humans... Lord Raymon inherited his mother's looks."

  "But that's all there is to it, and not just in appearance. Your Highness doesn't have any of the characteristics of a Bimon tribe member. It's said that he can't even use the Bimon tribe's special technique 'Beast Spirit Return', let alone ride the war beast that serves as the mount for the Bimon beasts." At this point, another Beastman spoke up: "That's why he rides horses just like a human would."

  The lion man was even more surprised: "What? Then he and humans are basically no different."

  He hesitated for a moment before saying in a low voice, "Does Lord Raymond really have Mongolian ancestry?"

  The beastman shook his head: "This is not in question, but the husband of Queen Amada, a brave warrior of the Bimon tribe, died 20 years ago in the civil war. So Lord Raymond was raised by Her Majesty the Queen, otherwise, if he had his father's teachings, His Excellency might have learned some bravery from the Bimon tribe."

  He said in a low voice: "However, if you don't want to die inexplicably in some stinky ditch in Langya City, it's best not to ask around everywhere."

  Another beastman let out a low sigh: "Think about it, 20 years ago, the previous king of the Mongolians, Gula and Urool Your Majesty were so brave... now look at Lord Raymond again, sigh..."

  "Hmph, this is the consequence of a woman becoming king. The Mongols have already been cursed by the war god Frieza, which is why they gave birth to a prince who is no different from humans." At this time, a werewolf who suddenly appeared out of nowhere chimed in with a gloomy face.

  His words were too shocking, and the lion man and several other beastmen couldn't help but take a few steps back in fright. Ignoring their gaze, the wolfman continued: "Fortunately, the Bimon tribe has not been completely abandoned by God, the son of King Urool, Haken, is the one who can truly command the warriors of the Bimon tribe."

  As he spoke, he slowly swept his gaze over the stunned beastmen: "Remember, the cursed Amada, a woman as king will only bring disaster to the beastmen. Her son, Raymond, who is no different from humans, is proof of this. Women cannot inherit Phares' will in the mortal world."

  After finishing speaking, he completely ignored the reactions of the beastmen and left with large strides, leaving behind him a trail of either terrified or thoughtful gazes that silently communicated...