The Capital

[Randall's POV]

"Thanks, sir!" yelled Jean, as she thanked the individual who brought us back to the capital in the first place.

"… Helping to clean up the town after that raid was exhausting."

"Randall, you do realize you didn't have to stay behind, right?... Come to think of it, why did you stay behind?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure… I just wanted to."

Stretching my arms as I walked around the place, I couldn't help but yawn at first.

'Yeah, this looks like a generic fanta… Eh?'

Upon taking a closer look, I noticed something that may seem obvious at first sight… This place and the town on the outskirts were on two different levels.

As if comparing the latter with the former was nothing short of putting a trash dump next to a bank's armored vault. 

Incomparable.

Dozens of humanoid beings casually walked around the beautifully decorated streets, while doing various activities. 

A silver haired male crouched slightly, as he kept his gaze on the window of a certain store, whose outsides had been mostly made out of wood and stone. His slender hands scratched his strange, pointy ears, as he focused on a certain item. 

Meanwhile, a small, chubby female with a massive beard clumsily ran towards him. She jumped while trying to tap the male's arm, but her height didn't help much.

On the other end of the street, a tall and bulky female rested her back on a relatively small tree. The crimson horns that poked out of her long, red hair came in contact with the lower branches of the tree several times.

If one paid attention, they would realize that her skin wasn't smooth. No, in fact, it had a lot of pink scales that looked awfully similar to human skin.

'What an amusing place… Wait, what the fuck?'

The pointy-eared guy from earlier wore blue jeans. Earth-like jeans.

'Since when do jeans-'

Jean grabbed my hand, fully interrupting my thoughts, and walked towards a majestic, yet distant silver castle… with me in tow.

'Those three did not look human… I should ask Jean about them. Maybe she knows what races the three of them belong to?'

"Ahem, Jean, where are we going?"

She turned around, and a reply came out of her small, yet smooth pink lips. "Back to the castle. We have to deal with the report… And hope that we don't get punished for taking too long to return."

"Eh, it should be fine. It's not like we spent these last two weeks doing nothing."

The girl with the white jacket nodded, with a rather grim expression on her face. 

'Helping the townsfolk to fix up the town was honestly a chore, but… It also felt good. Maybe I should do it a bit more often…'

Unknowingly, a smile formed on my lips. It made for a genuinely odd contrast.

The seemingly bright girl's expression remained darkened, in spite of the radiant sunlight, while mine was mildly bright, even though shadows covered most of it. 

I brushed my hair, the black hood hiding it from the strangers' wary gazes, and kept going.

By the time ten minutes passed, we stumbled upon a rather dark alley. Almost inaudible, animalistic yells emanated from it, yet no one seemed to be able to hear them. Thus, I asked Jean if her ears picked up something.

"No, why do you ask?"

"I think someone is being physically assaulted," was the reply I delivered, as my eyes fixated themselves on the dark alley.

She went straight in, and I followed after her.

"P-please… Sto-"

An attack interrupted the being's pleas. 

'High-pitched voice.'

"It's so sad that the tutorial is over…"

"What's a tutorial?" Inquired Jean.

Shit, did I blurt that out loud?

"Uhh, a variation of taxes."

"Oh."

Good. Situation defused.

Anyway, after a few twists and turns, we spotted a dead end.

The remains of a poorly built hut rested on the floor, burying a few bags and other items. A group of four people donned in various types of armor kicked down upon the body of something that resembled a humanoid being. 

'That's the one who asked for help, I guess.'

"... Fallen Cups," mumbled Jean, as her brows furrowed.

"What is that?"

"One of the Great Houses from Weildener."

'Great House? Weildener? Fallen Cups? That's two more names and a concept to remember…'

One of the people, a blond wearing a shiny, brown and obsidian armor, screamed in rage while kicking down the downed individual.

Along with the other three, their relentless assault continued. I pointed towards the black and white figure on the floor, and shot a question.

"… Why is that one being attacked?" 

"Most likely because it's a beastkin. People from Weildener really hate monsters, so a scene like this is… common."

"Are we in Weildener?"

"No."

A yell interrupted us, again. We peeked out of the corner slightly, and our eyes were exposed to a rather unsightly scene.

The blond grabbed the humanoid by the white hair, allowing me to discern a few of its features.

Black, panda-like paws, and white ears resembling that of a panda's. 

"A worthless monster has the audacity to step into this beautiful heaven? Not even a thousand years of repenting would make up for it!" screamed the blond, while slapping the beast's cheeks.

"Not like they know how to repent."

"Yeah, right-"

Good time to get involved, I guess. 'It'd be wrong not to… and wiser.' 

But fuck it.

"Psst, Jean, you might want to grab some popcorn… Get ready to enjoy the show," I mumbled, as I patted her shoulder, and walked towards the four-man group.

'Given what I just saw, I can understand a lot of things.'

First, as expected, racism is indeed an issue in this world. As for the reason, it depends, but the general rule might involve the appearance and similarity to monsters… Assuming the race's name is anything to go by, that is.

Second, the humans' territory is split into at least two kingdoms. This begs the question, how did they end up split up? Does it involve the humanoid beasts, perchance? 

"Gerdion, a stranger… is nearby," declared a brown haired guy wearing a green and silver robe, along with an unnecessarily big, pointy hat. 

Gerdion, the armored blond, focused his oceanic blue eyes on me, while trying to maintain an upright posture. 

"Oh, look at what we have here! An airhead who found himself in the wrong place, at the wrong time," stated the guy mockingly, as his companions laughed. 

From this position, I could have a clear look at the one being beaten.

A pale-skinned woman with paws as arms and feet, and blood-stained black and white fur fully covering the areas between the shoulder blades and the paws, along with everything between the knees and the feet.

Clothing wise, she just had a dirty, olive hoodie and dark sweatpants. Both of them were torn apart, thus exposing some parts of her dirty body.

'... Massive eye bags. Those are definitely not fur.'

"I think you mean… the right time. Otherwise, I would have missed the opportunity to witness four exemplary young men doing the world a favor."

The blond's cheeks blushed, probably not expecting something like that. "H-huh?... W-well, of course! The worst flaw of this grand city is allowing the half-assed monsters to run wild and breed with humans!"

With a smile, I gave his group a reply.

"Hm, indeed. I bet you all must have been working hard these last few days, am I right?"

"Indeed, friend. These anomalies won't punish themselves, after all," confidently declared a dark skinned male, while waving his brown hair.

"You got it, Adam," uttered another one of the members, before turning around and kicking the panda girl again.

I slapped my forehead, and returned to the main topic. "Right, of course. Dear gentlemen, I came here to warn you all that I saw some guards talking about some criminals beating up people."

"I sure do hope they get a beating," casually mentioned Gerdion, the blond.

"... Gerdion, I'm pretty sure we are the criminals."

Confidently, I interjected right there. "Sadly, the blue haired man is right. These people might be too blind to see just how dangerous these things are."

The group nodded along, so I continued.

"Thus, it is better for you all to run away from here. I will gladly sacrifice myself in order to keep punishing this heretic… As for you, please do me a favor."

The group's faces were solemn, as they prepared to run away. Gerdion faced me directly, as he told me to speak up.

"Please, live in freedom to keep delivering death to these beasts. And do not get caught, no matter what."

"Your sacrifice shall not be in vain, comrade," he declared confidently.

"Now, run away, young heroes! Do not let my sacrifice be in vain!"

"Shinzou wo sasageyo!" I yelled out, loudly, as I raised my hand.

I think one of them turned around, and yelled, "Shinzou sasageyo!!"

The four of them ran off, as I attacked the panda girl twice. With my bare hands.

'It's incomplete, but we're getting there.'

She yelled out in pain. "P-please stop…" whimpered the agonizing panda, with her blood-soaked fur.

I glanced back, and didn't see any of the group. 

Putting my face next to her ears, I whispered something. "Scream the same way you just did whenever I raise my index finger."

'One, two, three, four.'

I raised the index, and she let out a pained scream. Staying somewhat close to her while waving my curled up fists in the air, pretending to slam them against the weak and feeble body of this stranger. 

Which I didn't even end up using other than the first two times.

Regardless, we kept that up for a minute, and by that point I stopped, thinking that the group was gone for good.

"... My apologies, Ren. That was the safest choice. Now, give me a minute."

"M-my name is not Re…"

Having heard the panda's words, I went back to look for Jean, and found her hiding behind a trash dump.

"Hey, how was th-"

Instead of a verbal greeting, I got a slap aimed directly to my left cheek.

It barely hurt, and her hand stayed on my face.

'How cute.'

"... Sorry, it was the best pacific route I could think of."

"Is that how you help someone?" She questioned loudly, while alternating her gaze between me and the blood-soaked beast.

"Considering the information you gave me, I figured they belonged to a powerful organization, thus making them "chain villains". I did not want to start a side-plot this early, so I mere-"

Jean shut my mouth with one of her hands, and calmly asked me to shut up.

"... Look, let's just bring the panda to the Royal Palace or whatever, and get her back to top shape," I mumbled.