The Beastkin Child
4. The Beastkin Child
"Whoa! It's coming this way!"
"Run, quickly!"
Amidst the panic and desperation of the surrounding crowd, Tori was slammed by something leaping at him with full force, causing him to stumble slightly. Regaining his balance, he looked down to find a trembling body clinging to his jacket, as if trying to hide within its folds.
Large triangular ears atop sand-colored hair were pressed flat against their head, and a tail of the same color, drooping through a gap in his coat, was currently withered. They looked exactly like a terrified animal cub.
As Tori let out a soft sigh, a panicked voice shouted at him.
"Tori-sensei! Get away from that thing, quickly! It's a dangerous Fallen; there's no telling what it might do!"
"He's right, Sensei! Marnau was injured by that thing the other day—right, Marnau?"
"Yeah, that's right! It's dangerous!"
At the voice of the man who joined in last, the body clinging to him gave a sudden, violent shiver.
Tori lifted his gaze and looked around at the men, all of whom wore hardened expressions.
"Hmm... dangerous, and there's no telling what it might do... huh."
In contrast to Tori's relatively leisurely tone, agitated voices flew around him.
"The Fallen are a threat!"
"They are calamities that bring ruin!"
"We have to hand it over before the country is destroyed!"
"Where are those officials!"
"That's right, this is perfect! Sensei, hold onto it for us; we'll go get the capture tools!"
At the rising clamor, the small back jumped again. Tori gently patted it, as if to reassure the child that everything would be alright. Then, after another small exhale, he spoke.
"I hate to interrupt while everyone is so excited, but this child is not a Fallen."
His voice wasn't particularly loud, but it was calm, and it resonated clearly against the noise of the other voices.
The commotion of the crowd receded like a tide.
"...Huh? ...Sensei, what did you just say?"
"Yes, I said this child is not a Fallen."
"But look at it! Such a strange appearance could only be a Fallen..."
"That's where you're all slightly mistaken. The Fallen don't necessarily have strange appearances. In fact, they look like nothing more than humans. However, they possess the art of changing their form—"
"Then this thing is one of them!"
"No, this child is simply a beastkin child."
"""—Huh?"""
The voices of the crowd aligned perfectly. The one who spoke up as a representative was Zilba, the stevedore who had come with him from the port to act as a guide.
"Now hold on, Sensei. Even in this country, where we don't have much contact with other nations, we know what beastkin look like. Their build is generally no different from ours, but their faces are completely animal. They aren't half-and-half like this. This is that, right? Those 'animal ears' or 'tails' that the Fallen are fond of, or something like that."
At Zilba's words, Tori raised an eyebrow slightly, looking exasperated.
"So that kind of nuance has spread... But Zilba-san, this child really is a beastkin. A child born between a beastkin and a human."
A wave of agitation rippled through the crowd.
"—What? ...B-but, I heard that beastkin and humans can't have children..."
"It's not impossible. In fact, I've met several people with an appearance like this child's in other countries."
The ears of the beastkin child—who was still clinging tightly to Tori—had somehow perked up, standing straight and alert.
Seeing how the child was trying not to miss a word of the conversation, Tori's lips softened into a smile.
"The ones I met were all very capable and thoughtful, and they maintained good relationships with others. Therefore, this child is neither a threat nor a calamity. Much less a Fallen. No matter who looks at it, this is just a small child."
"But I was injured by this thing!"
The one who shouted was the man called Marnau from before. Indeed, a bandage was visible on his right hand. However.
"Even a child will fight back if cornered. beastkin have sharp claws, so it's likely that's what happened."
"No, but—!"
"Then let me ask: what were the circumstances when you were injured? Are you claiming you were entirely without fault?"
"—T-that's..."
He had likely expected to gain easy sympathy. Tori gave a cold glance to the man, who was now at a loss for words, and then looked around at the crowd.
"So, do you all understand now? That this child is not a Fallen."
"Ah... well, if Sensei says so...?"
"No, but still..."
"Hey, what do we do...?"
It seemed they just needed one more push. Just as he was about to continue, a supportive voice called out from another direction.
"That man is correct. That is not a Fallen."
The man who pushed through the crowd was a black-haired, black-eyed man in a black uniform with a stern face—the very picture of a military man.
His low voice, which matched his appearance, had the same effect on the small body clinging to Tori as it did on the townspeople surrounding them.
Everyone flinched and fell silent in unison. Without looking at anyone else, the man approached, his gaze fixed solely on Tori.
He stopped right in front of him.
Tori felt that the man's physique had grown a size larger than when they had last met. However, he was likely past the age of rapid growth, so it probably meant he had trained further and added more bulk. It felt as if Tori could be defeated with a single twist.
"Hello, it's been a long time, Lieutenant Baptiste."
"I am a Captain now."
"A promotion? Congratulations."
".........You really haven't changed, have you."
The black eyes narrowed sharply, and Tori responded with a loose smile. Tori, with his pale colors, and Baptiste, clad in black. The two contrasting men stared at each other in silence for a moment.
The man in the uniform was the first to look away.
As his black eyes dropped to Tori's chest, the triangular ears—though likely invisible to him—pressed flat, and the child clung even tighter. Baptiste's brow furrowed, and Tori opened his eyes in a curious "Oh?"
But the gaze was quickly averted again. After a single breath, Baptiste turned on his heel, and from ahead, other men in the same uniform and men who appeared to be the country's officials arrived in a hurry.
"Captain!"
"...Haa, haa... Captain, what happened...?"
"It was a false report."
"Eh?"
"There is no Fallen. It was a beastkin child."
"Uhm, that's..."
"We are withdrawing."
"—Yes, sir!"
The subordinates obeyed Baptiste's will without objection, but the officials looked perplexed and pale. They called out to Baptiste in a panic.
"U-uhm, Captain!"
"The threat is gone. Is there anything else?"
"A-ah, no, it's not that, but..."
"Ah... I see. Even if it was a false report, no blame will be placed anywhere. Of course, we will not hold your country responsible, so you may rest easy."
"—T-thank you very much! Captain!"
That read had been correct; the official's complexion suddenly improved. Baptiste gave a slight nod of his head and looked at Tori once more.
Tori thought he might have been about to say something. However, he seemed to change his mind halfway through and eventually turned away and left without saying a word.
"...Who was that soldier?"
As the gathered people dispersed at the official's voice, Zilba, who had come to Tori's side, asked.
"He seemed to be an acquaintance of yours, Tori-sensei."
"Yes, an old acquaintance, so to speak... The Captain is a soldier of Lognia."
"Eh, of that Empire?"
"Yes, the Empire. I believe he was in something called the Special Countermeasures Unit. The so-called 'Anti-Fallen' type."
"Uheeh, so that's why he's so arrogant."
Tori decided not to mention that he had been arrogant since long before that.
And the Lognia Empire he had just mentioned was a great power that occupied nearly half of the western side of the vast Garea continent, located to the north of this continent across the sea. This country was likely not even one-twentieth the size of the Empire.
Since he was a soldier of a great power capable of influencing the world, it wasn't wrong to say he was arrogant.
"So, what now?"
Zilba asked. His gaze was fixed on Tori's arms.
"What should we do?"
Tori also looked down with a wry smile.
Perhaps because their tension had reached its peak, the beastkin child had lost consciousness. However, the child's hands did not let go of the jacket. Thus, they were currently in Tori's arms.
The face he finally managed to see was very innocent; seeing them like this, no one would think of this child as a threat.
As if dreaming of something, the child nuzzled their head against him, and the corners of their mouth curled up slightly.
"...Cute."
"...Yeah."
Unconsciously, Tori's own cheeks softened—no, he was probably grinning.
Also, he decided to pretend he didn't hear Zilba's voice saying, "I feel like I've realized the importance of 'animal ears'...
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