Which One Is Right? (3)

We searched for the fleeing Resistance, but they had already escaped the estate grounds.

Semirena was treating the injured soldiers.

Fortunately, it seemed none of them were in critical condition.

Reporting to the duke was left to Erika.

“I’m leaving that to you.”

She whispered that into my ear as she walked away.

I understood what she meant.

But still…

“Leaving it to me, huh…”

In my line of sight was Arka, curled up in a squat, hugging herself tightly.

She kept her head down, looking completely dejected.

I approached her and asked what I needed to ask first.

“Arka, why did you get in the way?”

“……”

“If you don’t tell me, I won’t understand.”

“……Even if I say it, you won’t understand anyway.”

She was sulking.

Still looking down, she refused to look at me.

She probably knew she had done something wrong by interfering.

But she must have had a reason strong enough to do so.

I wanted to know it.

I crouched down in front of her.

“Does it have something to do with them being beastfolk?”

“……”

Silence.

I was probably right.

She had some kind of connection to beastfolk.

“Talk to me. We’re traveling together, aren’t we?”

“……”

“I’m not from this world. So I don’t care about different races or anything like that.”

“…Really?”

She reacted slightly.

I pressed on, backing it up.

“Really.”

“…Even if I say I helped them because they’re beastfolk?”

“Yeah. I just want to know the reason. You helped them because they were beastfolk, right?”

“That’s not it! It’s me!”

“Huh?”

Arka lifted her face.

Almost at the same time, her appearance changed.

Brownish ears sprouted from her head, and a tail emerged from her waist.

They looked like canine features.

“Those are beastfolk traits… Arka, are you beastfolk?”

“—!”

“H-hey!”

I grabbed Arka’s hand as she tried to run.

If she ran away now, I felt like this would haunt us forever.

She was still incredibly strong.

“L-let go of me!”

“I won’t… not until you tell me everything!”

“Enough already! Even you, Soji-kun, made a weird face when you realized I was beastfolk! You thought I was ugly, didn’t you?!”

“I was just surprised! I told you, didn’t I? I’m not from this world!”

I really was just surprised.

Anyone would be.

If ears and a tail suddenly appeared on a girl right in front of you.

I never thought she was ugly.

No, if anything—

“I even thought you were cute!”

“Eh—”

“Whoa!!”

All of a sudden, her strength gave out, and we fell together.

It ended up looking like I was pinning her down.

“C-cute…?”

“Yeah. Cute.”

“You’ve got some nerve.”

Shut up, don’t tease me!

If I backed off now, she’d run.

Embarrassment could wait.

“That’s canine, right? Dogs are cute. I like animals. A cute dog plus a beautiful girl is unbeatable.”

“……”

Ugh…

Even I could tell how creepy that sounded.

In all those dating games, only handsome protagonists get away with lines like that.

A normal guy like me would usually just get written off as gross.

Well, maybe gross was fine right now.

If it helped her calm down, even a little…

“I-it’s the first time anyone’s said that to me.”

Oh?

Arka’s face was bright red.

She didn’t look displeased.

Figures…

“She’s worryingly easy.”

Seriously.

But she seemed to have calmed down.

I pulled back from hovering over her and offered my hand.

“The only thing I’m curious about now is what kind of dog those ears are.”

“…Haha, I don’t even know that myself.”

At last, Arka laughed calmly.

She took my hand and stood up.

Then, the ears and tail that had been there a moment ago disappeared.

“Oh, they’re gone.”

“They come out when my emotions run high.”

“So you’ve calmed down. Are other beastfolk the same?”

“No. I’m not a pure beastfolk. I just have a little beastfolk blood. My grandfather was beastfolk, I think.”

So she was a quarter beastfolk.

In this world, it was rare for different races to have children together.

Their customs and living environments were different, so they usually didn’t mix.

And even when they did, it wasn’t guaranteed that traits from both races would appear.

According to Arka, she was the first in her family to show beastfolk traits.

“If I stay calm, I’m basically human, so it’s not inconvenient. But when I was little, every time I cried or laughed, ears and a tail would pop out. My friends would get scared and start keeping their distance…”

“Arka…”

Discrimination against demi-humans existed even if you only carried the blood.

She had suffered from it since childhood.

“So that’s why you helped them. Instinctively.”

She nodded slightly.

“I’m sure they have their reasons! Everyone does! They probably just want to live peacefully!”

Clinging to my arm, Arka’s eyes filled with tears.

She had just seen her own kind abused as slaves—no, as servants.

In a household where a duke kept beastfolk as servants, a beastfolk Resistance appeared.

Was it a coincidence?

If it wasn’t…

“We need to learn their purpose.”

“Erika.”

“Princess!”

Erika returned after finishing her report.

Semirena was with her, having completed the treatment.

“Were you listening?”

“From partway through.”

“……”

Arka hid behind me.

The two of them now knew her secret.

“There’s no need to worry. I don’t hold prejudice against demi-humans. No matter who you are, Arka, my attitude toward you won’t change.”

“Princess…”

“I feel the same. For those who live together in this world, there is no hierarchy of lives.”

“Semirena too…”

“There you go. That’s good, right?”

“…Yeah.”

We were the Hero’s party.

People who judged others by appearances alone wouldn’t be chosen.

Arka’s worries had been unfounded.