Chapter 74

"Your sister, Elder Eos, is waiting for you."

Selena's sister.

It was the first person I'd seen since becoming Rain Gray, someone I remembered from the Black Snake

It wasn't like my members had greeted the heroes at the mausoleum earlier.

"...waiting for us?"

Hearing her sister's name didn't faze Selena, and she spoke in her usual calm, even voice.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't come all this way to see her."

The way she says it, her voice draws a clear line in the sand, as if she were dealing with a stranger.

"I'm just here to fulfill my role as a member of the Serpents, as per my master's wishes."

"...."

I was silent for a moment.

The bloodline that remembered Selena before she became a member of the Black Snake. I hesitated, unsure of what choice to make in the presence of such family.

At the same time, I realized that her presence was a clue to understanding the past of the members loyal to me.

Even if Rain Gray had left me with an unexpected freedom, even if I no longer chased after false answers that might or might not be the truth of the world or the answer to life, it would make no difference.

Still, I wanted to know.

"Is there any other reason you are waiting for us?"

"For...?"

I repeated, and Selena's eyes widened at the unexpected question.

"Of course."

The Sister of Dawn nodded, her back to the darkness of the night, to the dawn that never knows when it will come.

"Many things have changed since the day...Selena returned me safely to my mother's arms."

Said the high elf named Lana, who had been rescued from the Empire's underground auction house earlier.

"Changes that would force even the Sisters of Dawn and Moon to unite and join forces after so many years of hatred, antagonism, and pointless confrontation."

With irrevocable regret and bitterness.

"Of course, by then it was too late."

At the same time, even that change was not enough to stop the "change" brought by humans.

"What changes?"

"...."

Lana didn't answer right away, just bit her lip wordlessly. It took a lot of courage just to say the words.

"We, we became livestock."

I didn't understand the words the first time I heard them. Not that I didn't understand, but I doubted my ears, thinking I had misheard. I wasn't.

"Livestock, do you mean slaves?"

I think it was the same for Selena.

Maybe it was some sort of metaphor.

"But slavery is officially prohibited under the laws of the Breton Empire..."

"That's right, slavery is illegal."

Aside from the criminal activity that goes on behind closed doors, slavery is illegal on the continent.

It's a ridiculous, but somehow possible world in which the concept of natural human rights exists, at least in the form of modern civilization.

"But we're not human."

For a race of people called the Elves, the word human is no longer acceptable.

Non-human animals do not need to have the same rights as humans.

Therefore, whatever treatment non-human animals receive as livestock has no place in the morals and ethics of human beings.

"Even if it's empire, to turn an entire people against their own kind like that-"

Selena interrupted, unconvinced and I was wondering the same thing.

From the perspective of the Breton Empire, the Mother Forest, ruled by the elves, is their colony.

No matter how harsh and brutal their methods of extortion or plunder, they still need to use the labor of the natives there to take something.

"Except, of course, for the 'honorary subjects' who have accepted the mercy of the Breton Empire."

"...."

The mercy of the Empire, honorary subjects, the answer was surprisingly simple.

"You mean they will not tolerate any rights for those who do not serve the Empire."

"Oh, that."

Selena's voice trailed off in disgust, and Aria let out a cold laugh.

"Now that's a 'human' way to do things!"

Even Aria was literally in awe.

"Fufu, livestock, by the way. What kind of treatment do they get to be called that? Do they make you crawl on all fours through the cobwebs? Seriously, I can't even imagine."

"...."

"─Ah, it is indeed amazing, even for me."

Suddenly, the expression that even the devil would be appalled flashed through my mind but I couldn't say anything.

"So, for one force who resists the Empire, we will be held responsible, village by village, tribe by tribe."

Aria continued.

"They'll probably try to break your will to resist by blatantly displaying their wretched elven slaves, branded as livestock, in front of their own people...nay, honored subjects."

"Fearful of becoming livestock, they'll fulfill their 'civic duty,' and as if uniting in front of the invaders wasn't bad enough, it'll only increase the strife between the honorable subjects and the livestock."

"─to the point where the quarrels between the moon and the dawn will seem like child's play."

Selena said with a trembling voice.

After speaking, she asked back, revealing the emotion she couldn't hide.

"Then where is Sister Eos...."

"The Elder is safe."

Lana replied.

"For now."

Still, Selena's expression hardened at the clues attached to those words.

*

"Your Excellency, I have correspondence from my home country."

"Correspondence?"

Sir Winston, Governor of the Great Forest, dispatched from the Empire of Bretona, asked, as he lit a large cigar and broke the letter's wax seal.

It was from Oswald Rabbit, Prime Minister of the Empire.

"-Dear Sir Winston.

My control of information about the domestication policy in the Great Forest Colonies is reaching its limits.

Remember, if this reaches the Queen's ears, it may not be political life you have to worry about, but real life.

To tell you the truth, I, too, am concerned about your grossly inhumane policies in the Colonies.

"Damned Queen's bunny bastard...."

Sir Winston barely suppressed the rage that boiled up in him at the sight of the letter, gripping it as tightly as he could.

Then he turned to look at the messenger who had found him and delivered the letter.

"I take it you're a shill for the rabbit himself."

"...."

"Did you carry the letter yourself in the first place, or did you bury the real messenger under a tree in the boreal forest somewhere and come in his stead?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Your Excellency, I'm just a messenger."

"Hmm."

A messenger from the homeland.

The man, who at least claimed to be such, did not reply, merely maintaining his poker face as usual.

"I'm sure you've been ordered to testify and prove the existence of this letter, and to take the blame for it all on yourself."

It was no different than if the truth had been seen for what it was, and had been pointed out.

According to the correspondence here, Prime Minister Oswald Rabbit was very concerned about the inhumane practices in the colony and was "forced" to play along.

The policy of domestication in the boreal forest colonies.

Considering whose head this idea came from, it's not even laughable.

"You were so tame when the snakes went on a rampage in Londinium, but here you're just a bunch of crazy rabbits."

Sir Winston could only frown, knowing that the political gamesmanship was as obvious and transparent as peering under a clear lake.

He frowned, then looked down at his feet, cigar still in his mouth.

"Enemies on all sides."

The chair in which Sir Winston, the Governor of the Great Forest Colony, sat was not furniture

A white, slender waist supported Sir Winston's heavy hips.

Sir Winston cursed as he rested the butt of his cigar against the white back of the chair.

"Who do you think does such barbaric things for pleasure?"

There was no scream because screaming is never acceptable behavior for a piece of furniture.

The difference between humans and tools is that tools are born to fulfill a purpose.

And when a tool no longer fulfills its purpose and loses its function, it has no reason to exist.

So a tool that was designed to be a chair for humans to sit on, only proved its worth by doing so.