Chapter 208: Subjugation Battle of the Church of Love, Summoning a Storm (10)

It took exactly one more day to reach the Marimba Tribe. Elsi wagged her tail, her expression full of joy at seeing her tribe after a long time. James was held tightly by Mila, sucking on her breasts, looking just like a baby, which made the sight even more pitifully affectionate.

"Cleric. May I introduce the cleric as my husband?"

"By all means."

Elsi asked an unusual question as we neared the village. I had been referring to her as my wife this entire time, but she was needlessly reading my mood. Once I gave her my permission, she chuckled happily and wagged her tail even more vigorously.

"...Mila. I can introduce you as my wife too, right?"

"Ohonghonghong, of course."

James also carefully sought Mila's permission. Why the hell was he asking for permission? Unable to resolve my question, we entered the Marimba Tribe's territory. A tribe scout spotted us and slowly approached.

"Who goes there! Our Ma... Huh?"

The scout was a young man with cat ears like Roy and Elsi. I frowned, absolutely detesting the sight. I barely suppressed the urge to reach for my mace, and when I looked over, he was frozen, staring at Elsi with a dumbfounded expression. Elsi was the first to speak.

"This is my husband, the cleric. His name is Lu, Lu... Lu... Lucius! It is Lucius!"

"Elsi. You should introduce yourself first."

"Right! I am Elsi! Daughter of Amori, Elsi! It has been a long time, Sarmak!"

When I poked her shoulder and pointed out the issue, Elsi finally came to her senses and properly introduced herself. Startled by her introduction, the sentry sprinted back toward the tribe.

"Elsi is here! It is Elsi! Elsi has come back!"

"Elsi? Did you say Elsi? Elsi?"

"Elsi came back? Who is Elsi?"

"He means the Daughter of Amori!"

Voices chanting Elsi's name echoed from all around. A massive fluctuation ripped through the crowd, like word spreading that a celebrity had been spotted in a busy city district, and people began swarming toward us.

^[1]

The sight of a horde of beastfolk rushing over was more than enough to put me on edge. I habitually reached for my mace, but Elsi stopped me.

"It is fine. They are coming to welcome me."

"Elsiiiii!!"

I could see the face of the Marimba Chieftain in the distance. He was a massive, muscular man with twitching cat ears. He too was swinging his cat paws in an absurdly cute manner. Elsi naturally approached the chieftain and held out her cat paws. The chieftain pressed his own cat paws against Elsi's paw pads like a high-five and spoke.

"Welcome back, Elsi! We were worried about how you were faring out there, but it is a relief that you have returned at all. I heard the news about Amori from the others. We also think it is truly unfortunate!"

"Chieftain. I have not returned for good. This person here is my husband. His name is Lucius. He is a very good person."

"Is he not an elf? Elsi. Is an elf truly cherishing you?"

The chieftain asked, glaring at me with suspicious eyes. I nodded and flashed a smirk.

"A pleasure to meet you, Chieftain. I am the Southern High Priest of the Archdeity Church, Peta Lucius."

"Archdeity Church! I know of it! I heard it was a human religion, so it is fascinating that an elf is serving as a high priest!"

"That is because I am a half-elf. And while elves do believe in their ancestral gods, there are also many who are followers of the Archdeity Church. My father, Peta Sirius, was a priest of the Archdeity Church as well."

"Let us go inside and talk first! The Dogville Tribe person over there can come too!"

"Right, introductions are late. Those people are..."

"Elsi. Do it inside. Let's go inside."

I restrained Elsi, who was getting excited and trying to introduce Mila and James. The chieftain could not hide his joy at our arrival.

****

"So, Elsi and the rest of you are carrying out a subjugation operation against the Church of Love, and you want our cooperation?"

I had previously heard that most of the chieftains in this region were favorable toward the Church of Love. On top of that, Elsi had told me that the Marimba Tribe had received a lot of help from the Church of Love in various ways, so they might react sensitively if I brought the topic up.

True to her words, the Marimba Chieftain was pondering with a serious expression. Right next to me, James was tightly embraced in Mila's arms, openly fondling her breasts. A few tribe members were shooting glances their way, clearly bothered by James's act, but I forced myself to ignore him, knowing I would lose my sanity if I looked.

"Heum..."

At the Marimba Chieftain's groaning sound, we raised our heads. I spoke.

"The personnel of the Church of Love are currently helping the beastfolk, but their purpose is unclear, and there is no telling how they might cause harm in the future. I would appreciate your cooperation in tracing the Church of Love and rooting them out from this plains region."

"I refuse."

The chieftain shook his head. Elsi looked at him with a flustered expression. The chieftain continued.

"Humans torment our children. They constantly try to kill us, snatch us up as slaves when they are bored, and the children taken as slaves return as crippled idiots. They kill us for the reason of ruining their fields, and other tribes roaming the plains are frequently and brutally attacked. But the Church of Love does not do that. The people of the Church of Love save the children who were enslaved and offer us protection from the humans' attacks. You say the Church of Love might turn bad in the future? Humans are already terrible enough to us. Between something that is already terrible and something that might turn bad later... if forced to choose between the two, it is natural to choose the one that only might turn bad later."

I grabbed my head in frustration. Elsi broke out in a cold sweat and glanced at me. I could hear her whisper, "Sorry," but I had no intention of blaming her. The chieftain continued.

"Elsi's husband is our guest. We will offer you generous treatment while you are here, but do not bring up this topic again. I am unwilling to hear it."

"What do you mean, humans attacked?"

James, still fondling Mila's breasts, raised his head and spoke. He tried to shoot a sharp glare, but he did not look intimidating in the slightest. Since beastfolk also possessed a human level of sensitivity, they merely stared back at James with baffled and awkward expressions. The chieftain spoke to James with a serious face.

"I heard you are a knight. Why do humans attack us?"

"As far as I know, there have been no attacks recently. Lord Aberdeen has never issued a subjugation order beyond the territory border, and my father, the knight commander, has never ordered anyone to march directly into the plains region to subjugate the beastfolk. You were attacked by humans in the middle of these plains? Then it was not us. It must have been elves or someone else."

"It was not elves. The scent of humans and the scent of elves are slightly different."

The chieftain replied, sniffing the air. James shot back defensively.

"Then why do you people attack civilians passing through the plains region? You should just handle your prey and leave."

"We have never attacked first. Our daily life mainly consists of fighting the soldiers who swarm us whenever a field gets ruined during a hunt. We cannot eat humans, and killing them only brings more of them. We do not go out of our way to kill humans. Though I cannot speak for other tribes."

Something was wrong here. Their stories did not line up. One side was a tribe living closer to the human village than almost anyone else in this neighborhood, and the other was a direct subordinate of the knight order. Yet both vehemently claimed that, according to their own information, they had never launched an attack? I asked a question.

"Chieftain. Are you absolutely sure you have never attacked?"

"I am sure. There is no need to interrogate me."

"What are you talking about? Not long ago, beastfolk attacked and there was a standoff. My father and I personally went to the scene. We found several corpses torn to shreds by beastfolk claws and secured testimony that the beastfolk had charged in with ferocious force. We even killed one of the beastfolk during that incident."

"Even if you say that, there is no way for us to know. We have only been circling the perimeter of the elf forest recently; we have not gone anywhere near the human lands."

This was strange. Something was seriously wrong here. False information was clearly leaking from somewhere. Why? Why was someone feeding them lies? Who was spreading this information? Who stood to profit if the humans and beastfolk were at each other's throats? James forcefully kneaded Mila's breasts, preparing to argue again. I held him back and spoke.

"James. Hold on a second. Chieftain. Does this not seem strange to you? Both of your stories are completely contradicting each other."

"Contradicting? Naturally. Everyone wants to shift the blame. The side that attacks first bears the responsibility. That is why the humans are pinning the blame on us."

"That is not it. Think about it carefully. What do we gain by shifting the blame onto you? Our goal is to eliminate the Church of Love, and we came here to ask for your cooperation to achieve that. What could we possibly gain by falsely accusing you and creating hostility?"

The chieftain frowned.

"I do not understand such complicated matters. Keep it simple."

"I have also heard reports in the knight commander's barracks about numerous incidents involving beastfolk. Yet you claim that you have never attacked us. What does that mean, then? Does it not imply that, beyond your sight and control, some other tribe or group is launching attacks on humans?"

"What other tribe? There are no other tribes around here. The closest one is Dogville, and the rest are further away. Those bastards only come near human villages during the winter, not now."

"Chieftain. Think carefully. It does not have to be a tribe; there is a certain group out there. A group that harbors plenty of beastfolk and stands to reap immense profit the more humans and beastfolk despise each other."

The chieftain was not an idiot. He pondered for a moment before spitting out the exact answer I wanted to hear.

"The Church of Love is behind the attacks?"

It was the most likely possibility. However, the chieftain calmly asked me another question.

"Where is the evidence?"

"...I am afraid I have none to show you."

Of course, I had no evidence. I had no idea 'how' or 'why' the Church of Love would manipulate the beastfolk, nor did I have any concrete basis to prove they were doing it at all. It was all just biased speculation. Furthermore, it remained unclear exactly what profit they were gaining by securing the beastfolk's support.

"This conversation is over. We cannot assist you in your subjugation operation against the Church of Love."

"Mila, I failed..."

"Aww, there there, it is okay. I will play with your cock later."

A cold conclusion was handed down. Mila began comforting a depressed James. I clicked my tongue in annoyance while Elsi nervously tried to gauge my mood.

"Chieftain! Chieftain!"

Suddenly, a scout burst into the barracks, shouting frantically. The chieftain asked him a question.

"What is going on?"

"Elves are being attacked just outside! What should we do?"

"An attack?"

Is this my opportunity?