chapter 36: Dog-like Day (02)
I can't possibly take in eighteen beastmen.
Even if I send them to my hometown, sending eighteen dogs would cause problems, let alone eighteen beastmen?
Moreover, beastmen like the dog type enjoy running around in large spaces, and there were few noble families who owned gardens or private lands large enough for that.
Even prominent noble families can't handle this, and even if they wanted to, I wouldn't feel like handing over beastmen of the dog type to them.
They are too useful as private soldiers.
If it is determined that their strength poses a potential threat, there's only one thing to do if they cannot be released carelessly.
Just send them to a place where their force won't be a problem.
If sent to a force where each individual surpasses the combat power of the beastmen of the dog type, whether those eighteen follow orders or not won't be a problem.
"Are they all enlisting?"
"From what I see, they like humans, and among them, they seem to like knights who manipulate mana the most."
I thought about the differences between the citizens of the north and myself as I had before, and there was only one.
Mana.
Knights can enhance their physical abilities by operating mana circuits, making them the ultimate weapons on the battlefield, capable of high-speed combat even in metal armor.
Therefore, knights who have undergone formal training all have mana circuits, and are also qualified to use a mana saber.
"Even if they like knights, why should we take them in?"
"Wouldn't it be helpful? Being of the dog type, beastmen have a keen sense of smell, making them excellent at tracking, they have superior stamina compared to ordinary soldiers, and they are so loyal that they would risk their lives for their master."
"Hmm..."
"It's also tricky just to release them, and they say they won't return to the north..."
"There's also the option of firing you and sending you to the north."
"Hey, you can't be serious."
"Isn't it more normal to fire a training knight than to take care of eighteen beastmen?"
Damn, I didn't see this coming.
"Moreover, enhancing our strength this way would lead to checks from other knight orders."
"Aren't we the only ones who can handle it anyway?"
In the current situation, other knight orders can't do it. Only the Magic Knight Order can.
Other knight orders are using the facilities fully, so it would be difficult for them to take in eighteen beastmen, but it was different for the Magic Knight Order.
"Originally, the training center is meant for 250 people, but currently, 150 are living there. I think there is room for 100 more."
"In reality, the budget has been reduced so much that it's tight."
"But if other guys are coveting your place and ask if there's room, and there's plenty of space elsewhere to accommodate them, wouldn't that solve the problem?"
Upon hearing this, the senior knight cleaned his glasses and sat back down.
"You know how to think."
And to tell the truth, I didn't want to send these beastmen anywhere else.
I realized how useful they could be in the Magic Knight Order by indirectly verifying their abilities.
To give away such useful and loyal eighteen beastmen of the dog type to another organization? No way.
"Don't even ask for permission. Of course, they must have granted it..."
Outside, my classmates were already walking the beastmen of the dog type on leashes or playing with them by throwing small balls.
"If... the royal family grants permission, a new military branch would be created."
It was the birth of the military canine troops, a specialty force within the Magic Knight Order.
Not as soldiers handling military dogs, but as dogs serving in the military.
* * *
"Slave traders are coming."
"Shut up."
Levin and Jake had gone to see the military dogs and were not in the barrack; only Dane and I, who had just been released by the senior knight, were left.
"How come all the letters I received during my absence were just advertisements?"
'Because you collect advertisements...'
And some advertisements ended up at Dane's desk because Levin and I were too lazy to throw away the trash.
"And why is the sheet such a mess? Did someone mess with my bed? There's a strange smell coming from the sheet."
"You're just imagining things. Who would do that in someone else's bed?"
Even if Levin and Jake were perverts, they wouldn't go as far as to use someone else's bed.
They have their own beds; they would do it there or go to the bathroom.
"Something feels off... I'm going to do laundry."
Watching Dane clutching his nose and carrying the sheets to the laundry, I was finally able to unpack my stuff.
"First, let's take out Mollang... and the clothes inside need to be washed too."
Maybe because the bag was in the sun on the way here?
The clothes inside the bag felt warm.
And I felt a warm fur that seemed alive...
"Hmm...?"
As I felt a familiar touch, I froze with my hand still inside the bag.
"No way."
And 'no way' often catches one off guard.
"Why are you coming out from here?"
Inside my bag, Shuru, making a victory pose and snoring, was sleeping.
Looking at Shuru, who was sleeping on the clothes I had changed out like a bed, I took out a flask and Mollang from inside the bag.
"Mollang was supposed to stay still, right?"
Mollang had been keeping Shuru at bay, even going as far as to cover my lower body if Shuru approached, but strangely, she was quietly inside now.
'Did she not know that Shuru had sneaked in?'
Boing...
Even though I took her out of the flask, instead of preparing to attack Shuru, Mollang seemed to be watching me and shyly approached to nuzzle my hand, apparently knowing that Shuru had hidden inside the bag.
It seemed the bag's exit was slightly looser than I had locked it, and the lid of the flask had turned...
"Did you... let her in?"
They say affection grows through fighting, and it seemed Mollang had taken a liking to Shuru.
So, she must have secretly opened the tightly locked bag to help smuggle Shuru in!
I thought Mollang had gone somewhere since I didn't see her and she was quiet, but I never imagined she could be in the bag.
"Wow... really..."
I had no idea what to think.
What to do with this tiny munchkin cat beastman was also a question.
'Should I send her back to the north again? No... but with the beastman independence group gone, where should I send her? Maybe sending her back to Naomi would be...?'
"Gororong..."
Maybe because her nose is low, but seeing her snore while sleeping made her seem cute, and I also thought about how I would raise her...
"Let's wash her up a bit."
I hadn't noticed the same smell in the beastman village, but coming here, the animal smell was no joke.
The smell of animals was pouring out of my clothes and from Shuru, so I had to take advantage of the moment while my classmates were busy with the beastmen to go wash up.
'Wait, should I wash Mollang too?'
I hadn't washed her before because I thought slime shouldn't touch water, but after Mollang absorbed water the other day, I judged it was okay for her to touch water, so I hid Shuru and Mollang inside my clothes and sneaked into the shower.
"Phew..."
Fortunately, it was midday, so no classmates were using the shower, and Dane had gone to do laundry, so I guessed it would be a while before anyone came to wash.
Ssshhh...
I scooped up the pre-warmed water in the shower room into a wooden barrel and mixed it with cold water to make it suitable for bathing, then pondered whether to put Shuru or Mollang in first.
"Want to go in first?"
Nod, nod.
Seeing Mollang refuse, I carefully placed the still-sleeping Shuru into the barrel without waking her.
Splash.
"...."
At the sensation of water touching her feet, Shuru opened her eyes and looked at me drowsily, and her pupils soon filled with horror.
"Meow!"
her tail shot up, and she clung to my arm, but fortunately, I was faster and grabbed her under her armpits and forced her to sit in the wooden barrel before she could escape.
"Meow~!"
"It's okay, it's okay."
Fortunately, the water wasn't too hot, and her voice wasn't one of pain, and I started pouring water over Shuru's body with one hand while holding her tightly with the other.
Splash. Splash.
'Look at all the fur shedding.'
I heard that cats shed a lot of fur, and it seems the same goes for cat beastmen.
Of course, some of it might be due to not having been properly washed before and the fur clumping together.
"Meow..."
Now she was plaintively crying and clinging on, but I steeled my heart and began to wash every part of Shuru's body.
"Let's see... where's the soap..."
I had intended to dissolve the soap in the water and had set it down on the floor, but I couldn't see the soap.
"Mollang, bring me the soap, please."
Mollang, hidden under the wooden barrel, grabbed the soap with both hands and held it out to me, but maybe because it was wet, it was too slippery to hold properly.
"Meow~!"
Moreover, just as I reached out to grab the soap, Shuru began to struggle to escape.
"Ah, Mollang, help me..."
I wasn't really asking Mollang for help; it was just a desperate cry.
But Mollang seemed to understand my words and immediately swallowed the soap she was holding and also ingested the water, starting to produce soapy water from her body.
'Does that work?'
While I was surprised, Mollang began to create soap suds outside her body and approached me.
"Oh, thank you."
Holding Mollang in my hand with a proud expression, I intended to clean Shuru, but Mollang didn't go to Shuru; instead, she burrowed into my arm and started to clean my body.
"Hold on, Mollang. I was going to wash after washing you... Ouch!"
The first place Mollang targeted was naturally near my genitals, where her food came from, and she began to clean me with her bubbly body sliding over mine...
'Ah, this is a new sensation...'
Every time Mollang's little bumps brushed against me, I involuntarily started to respond, and I was getting erect.
Right now, the priority was to wash Shuru, wash Mollang, and then wash myself and go back, but if I got an erection in this situation...
Nibble.
"Gah!"
Just then, unfortunately, Shuru also started attacking my erect organ, causing me to unintentionally receive a two-pronged assault from Mollang and Shuru.
"Mollang, stop! I'm supposed to be washing Shuru, not... Ow!"
As Mollang was frolicking and washing my body with suds, Shuru also took the opportunity to slip out of my hands and started to dash away quickly, forcing me to chase after her in the shower room with foam smeared on my groin.
"Don't run away...!"
"Shssk!"
I caught Shuru's leg trying to escape through the window and finally relaxed, but then an unexpected attack from Mollang followed.
"Uh... what?"
I thought Mollang was just sliding down with the suds, but suddenly she had transformed her lower body into something like a tentacled creature from last time and clung tightly to my groin.
"Not now, I don't know when Dane will come... Uh!"
Mollang didn't care and immediately started mating.
"No, not... not like this..."
Normally, Mollang would let herself be caught by my hand only when she wanted, and when she wanted to escape, she would slip out swiftly, but at least when she solidified her body to mate, I could physically grab her.
But now, I couldn't pull Mollang off as she was sucking on my groin.
'It's slippery!'
Mollang was emitting soap suds from her body while her inside remained the usual Mollang without the soap suds, and only her surface was covered in soapy water.
That is, Mollang was stuck tightly to my groin, and the outer part that I tried to grab kept slipping away, creating a maddening situation.