Chapter 11:

CHAPTER 8: THE BLACK FEATHERS

The Beastman Saint is H*rny, so I was Kidnapped to Another World Vol. 8


**Kuro**

When everything settled down, I immediately ordered for the corpses to be buried, and the blood stains washed. I’m hoping that the monster hordes hadn’t detected the violence that happened, thus would spare our forces from fighting them.

Ah, there are also the granaries that need to be fixed, and some of those have fires that has to be put out. God, this is a disaster.

“Rumia, have you seen Chief Malu among the injured?”

“Yes Chief,” the dog-girl pulled my hand, “I took her to safety, along with Chief Gislaine.”

Ah, thanks for the quick response!” I gave her a pat on the head; she really loved that.

I headed over to the hut where we sheltered the two chiefs, as well as the leaders of the rioters. Sir Loin was guarding them, together with a handful of the Chicken tribe’s warriors. The rest were sent to clean up the battlefield, as well as to bring the injured to our makeshift infirmary.

I’ll heal them later.

Ah! Human Chief!” Chief Gislaine’s face immediately brightened up the moment she saw me, “You came at last!”

“I told you,” it was Chief Malu, “he won’t abandon us.”

I went beside Chief Malu and checked on her injuries. Basically, it’s just a broken arm, caused by a rioter hitting her with a club during the fight earlier. Without a moment’s delay, I cast a healing spell on the Owl elder’s injury, and it was back to normal a second later.

“You’re really something, Human Chief,” I heard Chief Gislaine’s praise, “Not only can you solve our problems, you can also heal instantly, like the Human Saint!”

Ah, I don’t know how I got this power,” I admitted to her, “But let’s talk about that some other time. In any case, I’d like to know why did the fight happen.”

The elder of the Eagle tribe narrated to us why they lost patience and fought the rioters. Indeed, if I’m an Avinus, I could consider that act of breaking an egg of ours as murder. And damn, why do these guys (the rioters) have to riot in the first place? It’s not like they’ve been neglected; if anything, the Avinus had been helpful to them!

“Why do I have to tell you?” one of the leaders of the rioters, a member of the Tiger tribe, snapped at me.

“Well,” a smiling Sir Loin grabbed the tiger-man by his face in a manner resembling a vice-grip, “the guy’s asking for your answer, right? Or are you so useless that you don’t know what shit you got into?”

“Hey, Loin, stop that or you’ll kill him!” I intervened to prevent the parka guy from crushing the tiger-man’s skull. I mean, seriously, where’s did he get that unusual strength of his. He’s human, right? Probably it’s because of magic?

Anyway, Sir Loin eventually relented, and the tiger-man, afraid that it would happen to him again, let his tongue loose.

“Well, our Chief told us that the Avinus is keeping the food for themselves! That’s why we must force them to share to us, or we’ll die of hunger!”

“Chief? Your Chief?” it was Chief Gislaine, “You killed one of our own, looted the Owl tribe’s storehouses, and you expect us to share our food with your wretched tribe? We shouldn’t have accepted you in our land in the first place!”

“The Eagle chief is right, Tiger,” I told him, “I can vouch for Chief Gislaine. Last time, she went to me to ask for help in resolving the problem about the food supply so that your tribe, as well as the others, can live peacefully in this land. Yet, you destroyed their good will by rioting.”

“And what does a human like you know of our situation? We won’t have to run into this place if your people honored their promises to protect us!”

“Are you stupid? Leave the Human Chief out of those treacherous humans from the mainland!” Chief Malu didn’t hide her frustration when she heard that, “That human standing before you is the very reason we Avinus are able to live safely and prosper, until your ill-mannered ilk came to sow discord!”

The tiger-man fell silent when he heard that. Yeah, I guess this was how ‘Beastman honor’ worked: a tribal chief’s words carried a lot of weight that even a rebellious Beastman could be silenced. Pretty helpful in this kind of situation, eh?

Well, I guess I’d grab the opportunity to turn this guy to our side, “Honorable Tiger, as one of the elders of this land, I assure you that we and the Avinus wanted to live in peace with your people. However, I’m really concerned about that Chief of yours. Where did he get the idea that we’re hiding food from you? Did he not consider the fact that we accepted you into our lands is a big sacrifice for us already?”

“Human Chief, I myself don’t know as well,” the tiger-man admitted, “And I’m really sorry for what happened to the Eagles and the Owls. It’s just that, we’re afraid of going hungry…”

“Yes, we understand that. And you have my word—in the presence of the two chiefs here—that I won’t allow your people and the others to starve. However, we need to talk to that Chief of yours so we can correct some misunderstandings…” I looked back at Chief Gislaine, “As well as do justice to that egg you guys killed.”

The tiger-man meekly nodded. Perhaps he realized the extent of the damage that he and his rioters had done, and was now willing to cooperate with us about the matter.

“What’s your name, noble Tiger?”

“It’s Veeta,” he replied, “Veeta of the Marshes. My village is under the wisdom of Chief Giyama of the Tigers.”

Rumia and I exchanged dubious looks upon hearing the name of his chief. Yes, we both remembered that asshole back in Konka’s camp who tried to have the Orphans executed.

Looks like we got some bad blood to settle, I guess…

“!!!”

However, we had to set aside the interrogation with the ringleaders of the riot. Just now, we heard a succession of cannon explosions from the distance, and the Chicken and Eagle warriors outside were getting uneasy.

Sir Loin, Rumia and I immediately went to see what’s going on, together with Chief Gislaine. From the hill where we set up our headquarters earlier, we could see the artillery company had arrived, and was firing on the direction towards the monster territories.

“Looks like the friendly neighbors dropped by for a visit?” the parka guy commented.

“Well, gather the army,” I readied my matchlock, “We’re going to welcome them.”

----------

I guess we’re too late from avoiding to attract the monster hordes. For one, though there were only a few that died, we got a lot of injuries. Concussions, lacerations, broken bones…after that riot, it’s really impossible to clean the battle site perfectly. Not to mention, the clothes of the participants of the fight were stained by their and other’s blood.

So yes, I sort of expected that things would turn out this way…that’s why I insisted on bringing the artillery along.

“…”

I peered into the lenses of my telescope. From where we stood, I saw the vast hordes of harpies and groundworms approaching the hill where I placed our artillery. Our cannons there were engaged in blasting off the monster hordes, while the 1st Wing under Luka prepared the defenses of Navaren. If there’s anything we should do as the 2nd Wing, it’s reinforcing that hill to keep the artillery from directly fighting the monsters.

After all, Ursura, Minahaba and a few artillery crewmen can’t possibly hold their ground without infantry support.

“What do you see, Human Chief?” the elder of the Eagles asked.

“Well, a huge horde of monsters are heading to Navaren, from the direction of that hill over there, where our cannons are located.”

“So they smelled our blood after all,” her face went pale, “Do you think we can beat them back?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll do our best…or we’ll be monster food by the ‘long sleep’.”

“The Eagles would be glad to assist your forces, Human Chief,” Chief Gislaine offered, “If there’s anything we could help you with.”

Ah, yes, please do. I need your warriors to fly us to that hill over there as soon as possible,” I told her, “And if we could send for the other tribes, I think any help is appreciated. But don’t forget to leave some of your men to guard this place.”

“How about the refugees?”

“I don’t think they’d be much of a help for now. After all, they were killing your people a moment ago. However, if they want to return to their village, they can go. The fewer people we defend, the better for us.”

“Alright,” the elder of the Eagles then called one of her orderlies, “I’ll also oblige the other Avinus tribes to muster their armies as well.”

Once we made our arrangements, I headed back to our warriors and relayed to Sir Loin and Rumia about my plan.

“Form up your lines!” the parka guy immediately gave his orders, “We’re going to reinforce the Artillery Wing at that hill over there!”

The Chickens, in sharp contrast to the Eagles who were also preparing nearby, showed their remarkable discipline and precision once more. Chief Gislaine’s warriors were completely silent as our army readied the matchlock guns in an orderly manner and stood at attention.

Whoa, Human Chief!” Chief Gislaine couldn’t keep her excitement, “Are those the Chicken tribe’s warriors?”

“Yep, thanks to Sir Loin’s training, they’ve become like that.”

Ooh! I wanted him to train my warriors as well! It looks cool!”

The Chicken warriors never made a sound, but I could tell from their faces that they wanted to warn Chief Gislaine about the ‘hell’ that they endured under Sir Loin. But well…I guess it’s up for the Eagle chief to find that out. For the meantime, we had to focus on our energies to the upcoming threat.

Once the Chickens formed up, each of the Eagles took a warrior and flew our entire wing towards the hill. I guess I could say that it was Cherwind’s first ever ‘airlift’ military operation.

----------

Upon arriving at the hilltop, the artillery crews were already hard-pressed in keeping up their fire towards the incoming groundworms. The harpies were also harassing them, and driving the pesky fliers away fell on Ursura and Minahaba. However, the two of them wasn’t enough to scare off the hungry monsters, and those creatures already claimed some of our men.

“We can’t find a landing site!” Chief Gislaine told me, “The hilltop is too small to land your forces, Human Chief! And there are harpies circling around as well!”

“Release us from this height!” I heard Sir Loin order the Eagle carrying him, “Hurry!”

“What? Are you crazy?” Chief Gislaine called out to him, “You’re not even an Avinus! You can’t fly!”

“Well, those chickies down there will be monster shit if you don’t!” he countered her, “Besides, crazy is normal for me!”

“Ha?”

“Go!” Sir Loin then fired his railgun at one of the harpies, turning it to a red monster mist. Consequently, the loud booming sound of his weapon caused the Eagles to be stunned, and they forced to drop us from a considerable height.

Fuck you, Loin! I can’t fly myself!” I shouted at him.

Haha! Feel the wind, Kuro mah boy!

Well, I can always heal my injuries if I want to. But still…this will be painful!

“Oopsie!” Chief Gislaine swooped in to carry me back into the air, “Don’t worry; if there’s anyone I’d save first, it’s always you, Human Chief.”

Hmm…that’s reassuring. In any case, with the exception from me, Sir Loin, Rumia and the rest of the Chicken warriors of the 2nd Wing made their entrance from the sky. Each one of them grabbed a flying harpy, and either broke its neck, or beheaded it mid-air. The other Chickens stuck their bayonets at the poor creatures’ bodies, all in plain sight of the Eagles—who were dumbfounded at the murderous skill they displayed. It was a sick, yet awesome scene…well, because those that were being killed were our enemies, that’s why.

Once the entire 2nd Wing landed, our forces quickly shifted to their matchlocks, firing in successive volleys towards monsters approaching the artillery. Ursura and Minahaba finally gained the rest they deserved, and they retreated behind the artillery crews. Meanwhile, I was impressed at our army’s rate of fire. I mean—even if I had no device to measure time, I could tell that each of the Chicken infantry’s line were firing and reloading four shots under a minute…

Advance one pace and fire. It’s almost the same tactics as those redcoats from the early modern British Army!

“Human Chief…are those really the Chicken tribe’s warriors?” Chief Gislaine asked in wonder, “It’s as if they are incredibly different now…”

I had no answer for her, for I was awestruck myself. The Chicken tribe’s 2nd Wing, composed of 72 warriors after a good number of them left, were single-handedly driving back the harpies, while the artillery wing was pulverizing the groundworms surfacing from the ground.

What more if we have multitudes of warriors with similar training? We can conquer Cherwind!

The Chickens aggressively advanced, steady in their pace and raining down bullets on their flying enemies (the harpies). A limb or two who get torn off from the monster’s body, then once the creature fell the warriors would bayonet it ’till dead. After making sure of its demise, they would march over its mangled corpse to kill more of its fellows. The process was methodical, and in this way, the Chickens killed many harpies in the matter of minutes.

The artillery fire also had no effects on the warriors, even as the crews worked as if in a frenzy. Fire, load the powder, load the shots, then fire. The groundworms never took it far into our lines, as they got completely shredded after two or three times they surfaced.

“!!!”

From the air, the Eagles cheered on the Chicken warriors, awestruck at their skill in the battlefield and thankful that they never had to go down and battle the monsters themselves.

“…”

However, soon, the volley fire withered; I guess their ammunition was already spent. I asked Chief Gislaine to bring me down.

“What are you going to do, Human Chief?”

“I can’t be left behind for the fun, right?” I winked at her, and then hurried towards the frontlines.

Sir Loin and Rumia were waiting for me there, and once the last line fired their final volley, every one of us pulled our swords.

“Well, I thought I told you to stay at the back, Kuro mah boy,” the parka guy grinned, “You’re stubborn than you look, you know?”

Ah, don’t leave me for the finale, Loin. It’s all your fault for getting me this excited.”

“Excited? Ooh…I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but I don’t swing that way, Kuro mah boy!””

“I know…” I showed him my glowing hand, “What I mean is this…this is my finale.”

Oh! This is going to be fun!” Rumia exclaimed, as the dark clouds gathered above us and flashes of lightning began striking the ground. Moments later, the downpour started. The monsters became restless by the repeated lightning strikes, and even Sir Loin was visibly unnerved by my display of power.

“Chaaaarrrggeee!” was my thunderous order. And like a frenzied bull rushing to its victim, we attacked the monster hordes with impunity.

----------

***The ‘Outer Walls’ of the Enclave…***

The sight of the ‘Outer Walls’ of the human lands brought relief to the exhausted and battered remnants of the human army under the Duchess of Malvette. As they streamed past its imposing stone foundations and deep moats, the soldiers were now aware they could breathe easy. The danger of the monster hordes had passed.

“…”

However, at the rearguard was the Duchess of Malvette herself, accompanied by her commanders. They were to ensure that the last human soldier in their company would be safely passing the gates of the Outer Walls. Joining them were a contingent of the famous Paladin Corps, under its captain, the Duchess of Henristone, and a group of Gryphon Knights patrolling from the skies, led by the chancellor of the kingdom of Calabria, Sir Dane Bellingstein.

“As the ruler of these lands, I humbly offer my thanks to your timely aid to my forces,” the Duchess of Malvette bowed before Lady Henristone and the Chancellor Sir Bellingstein.

“It’s a pleasure to help,” the Chancellor answered, “You’re lucky we saw your army from the skies.”

“Yes,” the Paladin captain added, “A minute later, and your army could’ve been annihilated. What are you doing in that area with such a few men, anyway?”

Ah, there is a war going on,” Lady Malvette narrated, “Between the Saint of this land, and her rival. We were forced to join the Beastman Saint’s forces, under the threat of another ‘Tellesaria’.”

“Telessaria?” the Chancellor raised his eyebrows, “That legend from my childhood?”

“Chancellor, that is no legend,” Lady Malvette corrected him, “Telessaria did happen, and its perpetrators still roam free in these accursed lands.”

“My apologies, Your Excellency! It’s just that, it’s my first time to see Cherwind and know about the legends that came from this place.”

“Apology accepted, Chancellor,” Lady Malvette smiled at him, before turning to the Duchess of Henristone, “In any case, I’m forever in your debt. You see, my army was bigger when it set out than it is today. But it was now a shell of its former self, thanks to that Beastman Saint.”

Hmm…the Beastman Saint,” Lady Henristone pondered, “My liege, Her Holiness the Saint Madelaine Ann Rubinforth, has sent me after her, to look for our hero, Sir Kuro the Commoner General.”

Huh? Wh-What happened to him?”

“He was kidnapped by that wretched animal Saint, after he was betrayed by a group of conspirators including the King of Nerfes.”

The Duchess of Malvette fell silent as the entire picture surrounding Kuro’s appearance in her domains was finally revealed. However, she knew she had to feign her innocence; for she also had a part in his subsequent disappearance.

“Lady Malvette, I implore you to lend us your aid in searching for him in these accursed lands,” the Paladin captain pleaded, “The Paladin Corps and the Gryphon Knights vowed never to return to Chersea until Sir Kuro has been found.”

Ah yes, with all my lands’ resources and people, we will help you,” Lady Malvette swore by her sword, “But wait, Lady Henristone, if I may ask…how did you cross the borders of Chersea and Cherwind?”

Err…beats me, milady,” the Duchess of Henristone shrugged, “I just woke up one day to find that my liege, Her Holiness, had opened a portal in her room at the Holy Palatial Gardens. And we used that to cross into this land…”

“So you mean we can resume trade between Chersea and Cherwind?”

“Are you a fool, Lady Malvette?” Lady Henristone exclaimed, “How can you resume the caravan trade? Would you like to violate Her Holiness’ privacy by letting the caravans pass through her personal chambers and into Chersea? Of course not! We’ll force the Beastman Saint to open the borders once we found Sir Kuro!”

“Indeed…my apologies for such a stupid question, milady.

“Well, in any case, as long as we haven’t had Sir Kuro in our hands, we’ll be staying in your lands. Let it be known to you that while we’re willing to defend your people from these Beastmen barbarians, we won’t be joining you in any attack against your enemies.”

“It’s a fair condition,” the Duchess of Malvette reached out for a handshake, “Well then, I bid you welcome to the Enclave!”

----------

**Kuro**

In the aftermath of the riots and the battle against the monster hordes, I proposed sweeping reforms to Chief Gislaine about the Avinus’ relations with the refugees, and in all other Beastmen tribes as well. See, the Avinus had long been isolated, and they only traded begrudgingly with the humans. As such, they didn’t know how to properly interact with the rest of the Beastmen tribes.

Of course, isolation and ill-will towards any tribes is detrimental to our goals to unite these people into a force that could match the power of the humans.

It led to the formation of the inter-tribal ‘Beastmen Council’. Basically, it’s similar to its predecessor, the ‘Avinus Council’. The difference was that the chiefs from the various tribes living in this land were represented…including those of the refugees. This was to promote a proper venue to discuss issues and problems with each other, to avoid a repeat of the riots and prevent other types of violence.

Chief Gislaine of the Eagles ended up as the leader of that council. At first, they considered installing me to that post, but I declined. I think it’s proper that a Beastman to lead a council of…well, Beastmen. And, much to our surprise, the Eagle chief’s first decree was to allot land to the refugees for farming, at the cost of some territories from the Eagle and Owl tribes.

I guess that would put to rest the refugees’ concerns about discrimination toward them.

“…”

Anyway, with the peace returning to the lands of the Avinus, we can finally resume in expelling the remaining monster hordes…

The massacre of the monster hordes at what became known as the Battle of Navaren got famous throughout the lands of the Avinus. For one, it convinced the other Avinus tribes on the value of Sir Loin’s ‘hellish’ training regimen. Second, this was the first time that the Chickens established themselves as a tribe rivaling the courage of the Eagles.

In fact, the Chicken warriors that took part in that battle gained the nickname ‘Black Feathers’, after a legend among them that having ‘Black Feathers’ is a symbol of bravery.

And third…

“Please lead us, our savior, our lord, the Human Chief!” A group of envoys from the tiger refugees came to see me in the aftermath of the battle. We were busy in fixing the town of Navaren when they arrived.

Fuck no!” my reflexes took over, and I snapped at them, “I’m not a god!”

“But you have the power of the Human Saint, as well as the Beastman Saint! Moreover, you also possess the wisdom of the gods!”

“No! I’m just a human! Please go back to your village and farm the fuck out of your allotted lands! Leave me in peace!”

“As you wish, Human Chief!” the envoys bowed. However, they were not yet done. “We also came to deliver you our village chief…well, former, that is.”

“What do you mean?”

One of them then pulled a chain and presented to me the destitute Chief of the Tigers, Giyama. He shrieked in fear when he saw me, and tried to hide himself by making his body curl into a ball (well, almost).

“Our temporary elder, Veeta, had commanded us to bring this troublemaker to you as an offering of peace. We trust that in your wisdom to mete out the proper justice for what he did to fool us into looting the Avinus’ granaries and for the murder of one of the Eagle’s eggs.”

Oh, hello there, Giyama!” it was Minahaba, “See how the wheels of fate have turned? I’m the Chief of the Chickens now, by the way.”

The former chief of the Tigers was crying now as he pleaded for mercy.

“But, I’m curious,” I asked the envoys, “How did this guy got here? I thought he’s with Konka’s forces?”

Ah, about that…” they narrated, “…when the accursed Beastman Saint attacked us, he led a small faction among Lady Konka’s people to escape back to the human lands. However, when we arrived there, the humans captured and enslaved some of us. So after Giyama learned about the situation here from the fox envoys of the Beastman Saint, he told us to move unto these lands and claim it for our own, fooling our tribes into believing his selfish goals. And you know what happened next.”

“Indeed, that’s tragic,” I could only shake my head, “Well, in any case, I’ll hand him over to Chief Gislaine for his punishment. That’s alright with you?”

“Yes, our lord. If you so decide to forfeit his life, then it’s all in our pleasure.”

“Heh!” Minahaba had a nasty grin on her face, “You heard them, Giyama? They’re fine with executing you!”

“Please spare me!” the former tiger chief begged repeatedly, “I just wanted to live in peace! Human Chief, please have mercy!”

“Well, we all wanted peace,” I countered, “But you, you only wanted your peace at the cost of everyone else! Chief Gislaine of the Eagles would decide your fate. After all, it’s your senseless prodding that led to one of their eggs being murdered.”

Gesturing at one of the Eagle warriors, I handed the former Chief Giyama to them. The Avinus would know how to deal with him better than me. But in any case, I hope this puts to rest the concerns of the refugees.

----------

Ah, before I forget about the steam engine…

“Kuro, are you sure that this thing would work now?” Ursura asked as she looked around the machine. After the riot incident, she had always been by my side, along with the mantis-girl, Rishnu. They came with me to see about the progress of the steam engine we’re building.

“Well, the foreman said that they already replaced the parts that needs to be replaced, so I guess it would work,” I’m unsure myself, but we won’t know if we won’t try.

“I’ve already checked the pipes and the water level inside the boiler,” Salis told us, “But in any case, please do step back once we start the engine.”

Heeding her warning, we took several paces backwards as a Chicken tribesman lighted a fire. Rishnu took hold of my arm, and Ursura pulled my sweater to her direction, as if to shield me from anything that might happen. Meanwhile, the owl-girl’s eyes focused on the machine as we anxiously wait for the water to boil.

I hope it’d work smoothly this time. After all, Salis did her best in redesigning her engine.

“…”

By the way, Chief Malu also helped her daughter with the steam engine this time…mostly providing moral support. So I guess, her mood was pretty elated now compared to before.

Soon enough, white steam began to exit from the exhausts, showing that the water had reached its boiling point. Ursura, Rishnu and I, along with the rest of the Chicken workers, took a step back even further. But the owl-girl, perhaps she was nervous, never moved from her spot. The temperature around the engine rose, and the wheel started to turn…

“…”

A few minutes of silence ruled as we waited for anything to happen. The only sound that could be heard was the whistling of the exhaust pipes blowing out steam. Salis raised the pressure from the boiler to its maximum level, and the wheel spun even faster.

“Salis! Come over here just to be safe!” I called out to her; concerned that if anything averse happened, she might be caught in it. But the owl-girl ignored me.

So without waiting for her response, I went to her and grabbed the owl-girl’s arm to pull her to safety.

However…

“Human Chief…”,

“Hm?”

At that point, Salis suddenly turned and wrapped her arms around me. Without warning, she drew her lips closer and…

“What—” were Ursura and Rishnu’s shocked reactions to what happened. The Chicken tribesmen were equally stunned at first, but then began clapping and cheering for us. Everyone present at the construction yard saw how the owl-girl threw herself to me and planted a kiss on my lips.

“The steam engine worked!” Salis triumphantly declared, “I’m a true genius! I love you Human Chief!”

And with that, we gained the steam engine technology!