Chapter 100 – A quarrel with the humans | Part 1/4

The beastfolk convoy around King Menzor and his military commanders had reached their destination, a fort near Talaga with a 3,000-man strong troop of their own to defend against the human army. Sophia had her own plans, though. After receiving a letter from the humans, demanding unconditional surrender and leaving behind their children as a cheap workforce for the superior insects, she got angry. Putting the beastfolk troops on standby, the blonde tiger-girl decided to deal with them all on her own.

"Uuh..." Maya seemed slightly fidgety while standing on the observation platform at the fort's outer walls with the king, his commanders, and Princess Anna. She nervously walked back and forth with her tail darting all over the place while watching Sophia approaching the army.

"Are... Are you scared, Maya...?" Even though it was a little awkward between them right now, Anna was still concerned about her.

"I am..."

"I'm sure it'll be fine... Sophia's strong, after all."

"Eh? Ah, no, she'll definitely be fine in that regard. I'm more concerned about her mental side... I don't like it when she's like that."

"Huh? What do you mean?" The princess looked confused.

"Sophia was angry before... very angry, to the point where she caused a lot of destruction, among other things."

"O-Okay?"

"Yet, I don't think she ever admitted or even noticed being angry during those times before. It was all on a level of a mild annoyance to her. But now she's even noticed herself... It's-, it's very worrisome."

"Is she actually that much of a dangerous being...? I mean, the coldness she was radiating is a bit scary, but…"

"Sophia becomes someone else entirely when she's angry. The girl you know is gone at the moment."

"R-Really...?"

"Yeah... Your Majesty?" Maya suddenly looked at the king. "How fast can I, err, you order your outside troops to retreat in or behind the fort if I give the signal?"

"It won't take any time at all. Why are you asking?"

"Sophia tasked me to protect you... or this group here, but my magic is not strong enough to cover much more than this observation platform at the moment. Your men would need to get away from the battlefield by retreating inside the fort, or at least get to the other side of it because we're so many…"

"They can protect themselves quite well against the humans. You don't have to watch out for them, Maya."

"No," The cat-girl shook her head. "Sophia tasked me to protect this place from her."

"W-What?!"

"W-Well, her plan's a bit... Ah, it's starting. You'll probably see it soon."

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While the group was watching Sophia with concerned eyes, the blonde tiger-girl was still walking towards the human army with a slightly scary expression and had just reached the outer edge of their troops.

"Stop right there, beast!" Once she was close enough, Sophia found herself standing in front of the pointy end of a couple of swords, which were held by a group of human soldiers in crude-looking uniforms who had encircled the girl.

"Have you come to deliver the confirmation of your surrender?"

"Ha, pathetic! For this lousy king to send one of his own... Just how desperate can you be." Even the humans were aware of what being a tiger-girl implicates.

"..." She was at a loss for words.

"What is it? Are you that scared by us?" The humans completely misunderstood her trembling.

"Could you, I don't know... shut up?" Sophia couldn't bear with it any longer.

"What?! Know your place-!"

"I. said. shut. up!" Grabbing the sword swung at the girl with her bare hand, she effortlessly flung it away while glaring at the previous wielder.

"Hiieh?!"

"Where's that superiority you're talking about? I'm not seeing any of it right now."

"Die!" The other humans, feeling offended, attacked the tiger-girl at the same time with their swords.

"Yeah, pathetic..." Borrowing their words, she activated her magic, and the blades never came in contact with the tiger. Instead, strong winds gathered around her and blew away all the humans around the girl. "I have to apologize to the insects later... It was wrong of me to compare humans to them. "

"Uuooaahh!" Seeing their members being attacked, the remaining troop in the vicinity around Sophia all charged at her.

"Haa..." Letting out an annoyed sigh, she closed her eyes, but she had far from given up. "Suuuuch a bother... I miss Ellie…" While the girl complained, the entire ground in the area started to rumble. A second later, two gigantic earthen walls, several hundreds of meters long, shot up left and right from Sophia, dividing the entire battlefield. "Ahh... that's much better~." The walls shielded the tiger from the soldiers, and she could walk all the way into the core of their army without having to deal with anyone on the path she created.

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On the observation platform of the fort, it had gotten quite silent. Equipped with binoculars to see more details, they had no words for what just witnessed.

"Ahh... she really is serious. There goes that hope..." Maya's eyes looked a little lifeless.

"W-Wow, she's intense..." Anna, too, was overwhelmed.

"I-I'm so glad she's on our side..." The king let out a relieved sigh after a while and looked at the cat-girl. "Say, what actually is her plan?"

"I don't know how far she'll go... has to go. I don't want to say anything unnecessary, so you'll just have to watch."

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In the meanwhile, Sophia had reached the core of the human army. There, she found a rather grandiose-looking red and white tent that was guarded by what seemed to be elite guards. In human terms, that is. Their uniform looked slightly fancier, and the swords they were holding were pointlessly decorated, as well. Even though they noticed the commotion and the huge walls appearing out of nowhere, no one seemed to have fled from the place.

"Idiots... Any sane person would've run..." Even though she was the reason, Sophia couldn't believe it. "Also, the circus colors of the tent are oddly fitting for the situation…"

"Halt, you vicious beast!" Once more, the tiger-girl was staring at the pointy end of some swords. The humans guarding the tent wasted no time and seized the girl. Tried to, at least.

"Stop with the swords already. They're dangerous." With a gentle snap of her fingers, she flicked away the closest sword pointing at her face, and it landed about 50 meters away from the guard who was holding it before.

"M-Monster!"

"Don't you have any more creative insults? I'm used to that already. Also, while I do see where everyone's coming from, and I might even agree... I still don't like it!" While her ice-cold voice echoed through the camp, the other swords pointing at her were flicked away, as well.

"W-What are you even planning, beast?! You can't be expecting to leave this place alive, do you?"

"And why would that be? I just walked past your entire army, right to the core, and disarmed some joke... err, elite guards. I have not even used a shred of my power. Just who are you trying to scare here, o you superior being?"

"There's a limit to your mockery, you insolent-"

"Yeah, yeah, I told this to your colleagues at the frontlines already, but just shut up, okay?" Saying so, Sophia lightly lifted one of her arms, and roots shot out of the ground, binding the soldiers charging at her and forced them to kneel down. "That looks way better now, o you superior humans~. That position should be your default one. It perfectly matches your power level. You know, the nonexistent one."

"Gah... Y-You..."

"Didn't I just tell you to stop talking?" She glared at them, and they immediately stopped talking. "Ah, but I do have a question. Inside that pointlessly decorated and tacky-looking tent over there... I guess there's some sort of commander inside? Maybe a couple of them? Three, for example? How important are they in terms of human ranks? Are they close to your king or whatever sorry excuse is ruling over you?"

"..." They didn't answer.

"Oh, now you know how to shut up... My, aren't you guys learning fast?" Her glare intensified. "Well, whatever... I'll just go inside and ask them until they talk. But then again, I sometimes have problems holding back with my questions... so I might overask one or two. Ah, as long as a single one survives, it'll be fine~."

"S-Stop!"

"Oh?"

"I-If you hurt any of the supreme commanders, the entire human nation will come after you!"

"S-Supreme... man, you guys are such a joke. But they are that important, huh? Lucky me~." Ignoring the guards' protests, she simply entered the tent while erecting an earthen wall around it, hindering any interruptions from getting in.