41 World tree castle

“Miss Shironeko and Miss Mineko, what important matters do you have in the royal castle today?”

“I don’t have any important reasons desu. I’ve come to greet the great king for a moment desu.”

“We haven’t shown our faces recently either, so……”

“I see, and your friend over there? He seems to be human judging from his appearance, but……”

“He is someone like a friend and master desu”

“Huh?”

The castle town gates one always have to pass through in order to enter the royal capital Regdam.

The scenery of the castle town that is built with trees on the whole, different from the human race or demons and stretching to the beyond, lets me feel nostalgia together with a strong smell of nature.

“……That soldier, is it fine for him to be surprised with round eyes?”

I ask a question with an amazed voice to the cat sisters who passed through the gate with almost free admission due to their fame.

There were all sorts of things I could retort to, but for now I’ll listen to their story.

“The fact that we got a master must’ve been quite devastating, right?”

“Us sisters have always been alone with the two of us desu. If we were to suddenly bring a master then they would be bound to be surprised.”

“Nono, just hold on a bit, you two.”

Why have I become their master?

It’s actually limited to specific races among the beastmen, but I’ve heard rumors about guys who even have masters that way.

Rather than that, I’ve been earnestly requested by the daughter of the beast king Roa to be her master and thereupon I’ve heard the story of that sort of behavior.

They say that becoming a pet to the one you’ve been beaten by (in this case, any races are fine)…… having them own you so to speak, would make you feel happy or so it seems.

But no matter how much I have associated with the total M Eruka, I never had the urge to own her as one would’ve expected. Also, I still didn’t seem to have experienced that sort of twisted craving from then on, so I’ve politely declined.

I’ve endured the begging for a while though……

“Setsu has beaten me desu. Becoming my master is natural desu.”

“I haven’t approved of it, you know……”

“Excuse me, mister Setsu……But putting it another way, won’t we become your identification!?”

“Hm? ……Now that you mention it.”

They’re right. No matter how famous these two may seem to be around the beastmen, my figure must be standing out quite a bit in this town where there are practically no visiting humans due to being in the middle of war.

It doesn’t seem like there aren’t any of those guys who would put some blame on you and pick a fight either according to Mineko.

But, by doing this and spreading the story of me being the master of the two, it will become proof that I am stronger than these two.

“If it’s like that, then……well, I’ll accept it.”

“Thank you very much. Please endure that position for a while, okay? ……It looks like big sis wants you to be her master from now on though……”

“Letting go of a master this strong is wasteful desu. I can boast with my friends desu.”

While saying so, Shironeko linked her arms with me.

I sense a fragrant odor of a female that will stimulate males from the body of this girl who’s glued to me, but I ignore it for now .

More like, what, do these guys have the habit of boasting about their masters?

Normally, the master is supposed to the one boasting about their pet……

“……Well, let’s talk about that afterwards, okay? More importantly……It’s huge as always”

With Shironeko properly attached to me, I look up at the front of the huge tree that‘s standing towering over the surroundings, boasting a gigantic size that a multi-storey city building won’t come close to.

<World tree>――――――

Being the largest and longest living tree in this world, it is the world’s largest building that is shouldering the castle of the royal capital Regdam. In the tree, passages and rooms are spread like an ant colony and the knights protecting the castle, personal doctors, the beast king’s relatives and also the bunch of people he’s pleased with are all living inside the tree together.

They should have shaved quite a bit of the inside in order to make that much space.

But the world tree hasn’t even become unstable, not even for a moment.

Cutting this down would probably be next to impossible even for me and Touma.

By the way, it’s different from the world trees in various fantasy games; it looks like a tree from top to bottom.

The foliage doesn’t have the effects of reviving dead people and you can’t fully recover your allies’ physical strength with its sap either.

It doesn’t possess any particular magic either, it’s pretty much a normal tree. As if there’s no romance.

“World trees in fantasies are supposed to have quite an important role though……”

“I don’t really know this thing you call fantasy desu. But there aren’t any important roles for the world tree.”

“There’s the residence of the beast king and his entourage though.”

“Yes it does desu. The world tree is important after all desu.”

……No, that’s not what I mean.

◇　◇　◇

“――――――Would you look at that, some nostalgic scent have come over.”

The room on the highest floor of the world tree castle.

It is the throne room and a throne was put in it.

“Daddy, what’s up?”

“Hey! You’re a girl, so it’s not daddy alright?”

“Doesn’t matter riight?”

A man with a strong build sat on the throne.

His golden hair spread roughly and those eyes of his are so sharp he would seem to be able to take one’s life with just a glare.

However, contrary to such boorish appearance, he gave a warning to the girl who was gnawing on bony chops while sprawling in front of his eyes in order to gently rebuke his children.

The girl has similar golden hair like the man, extending until below her shoulders. It was left unkempt, but she had no discomfort.

Her body was minutely tanned, her busts were moderate and the other proportions were closely constricted; not even a single bit of excessive fat could be seen.

Her face took after the man in some way and there doesn’t seem to be any harm even if they were called parent and child as one would expect.

No――――――the two are actually parent and child.

“Roa, really……you’re also the daughter of the beast king, what are you trying to do by acting like that……please act a little more like my daughter, okay?”

“You too daddy. You have the position of the beast king, so that’s why you should talk in a little more majestic tone, okay?”

“Ugh……”

Beast king Regulus……He, the acting king of the beastmen and owner of absolute power, was at a loss for words from his daughter Roa’s splendid counter.

“More importantly, you heard me saying what’s up, didn’t you?”

“More importantly……well, whatever. Roa, you can’t smell it? This scent.”

“Hm?”

Roa twitched her nose after being told, but there wasn’t anything particular she could smell.

“Hm~ I wonder if I just can’t tell.”

“Okay, it sounds like you still lack special training I see. Go check on the lower floor for now. The guy you’ve missed is here, you know.”

“A guy I’ve missed?……Okay, I’ll be going there for a bit.”

Even though she looked at Regulus doubtfully, Roa put the half eaten meat on the plate on the floor and started walking out the room.

Just before leaving the room, Roa swiftly looked back towards Regulus.

“Don’t steal my meat, okay!?”

“I don’t need it! Just hurry up and go!”

“Then it’s fine!”

Upon saying so, Roa finally left the room this time.

In the now silent throne room, Regulus sank very deeply on the throne.

“……Never thought you would be alive, Setsu……”

――――――Thinking about the fact I can fight you again made me excited, you know……

The beast king laughed.

In order to express his excitement. The excitement of having another meeting of a formidable opponent, his rival under his nose.

The beast king laughed loudly.

In order to digest the joy of being able to see him once again. The close friend he thought he could never meet anymore――――――

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