Chapter 134: The Mission
There was not a trace of emotion in their eyes.
No fear. No anticipation.
Hollow — as though something had reached inside them and scooped them clean.
They were still breathing. Their hearts were still beating.
But Lucian knew. They were already dead.
The core things that made a person — self-awareness, the will to survive, any response to the outside world — all of it had been ground away to nothing.
These humans were different from the Dragon Kingdom nationals held in beastman pens near the border towns — the ones who hadn't been there long.
These were "fine stock," bred by the beastmen over uncounted generations.
Docile. Well-fed. Incapable of resistance.
Generation after generation, from birth to death, spent within this narrow space enclosed by fence posts.
They didn't know what the outside world looked like. They didn't know what freedom was. They didn't even know they were human.
They only knew feeding and reproduction. The slop the beastmen threw in was their daily sustenance.
Lucian's fingers tightened slightly. He had already reached his conclusion.
Beyond saving.
If there had been any self-awareness remaining — even the most faint trace of cognition — he could have brought them to uninhabited territory in the beastman lands, left some provisions, let them hold out until the mission was finished, and collected them on the way back.
But these ones before him...
Then, all at once, Lucian noticed one small girl.
She was curled up in the far corner, a small distance apart from the others. She hadn't completely lain down — she was sitting with her back against the fence. Her head had tilted very slightly in his direction.
A small trace of curiosity still remained in her. A remnant of something human.
Lucian looked at her for a few seconds.
Then he turned around.
"Germann."
"Here." The old soldier stepped forward immediately.
"Go get Touch Me."
Germann was somewhat puzzled but didn't ask.
"Yes." He turned and strode toward the outer area.
The adjutant took a length of cloth from his horse's back and held it out with both hands — the edges somewhat worn, but reasonably clean.
Lucian took the cloth and walked into the open pen.
He walked to the girl and crouched before her.
He unfolded the cloth and draped it around her.
The girl finally showed a clear reaction — she lowered her head and looked at the cloth on her shoulders.
Lucian lifted her and stepped back out of the pen.
The moment she was outside, the girl began to struggle. The world beyond the fence was too unfamiliar — it frightened her.
She only knew that the companions who had left this fence had never come back.
Leaving means disappearing completely.
Young as she was, that was the rule she had learned about this small world.
Footsteps came from behind — rapid and strong. Touch Me had nearly run here.
The young man's bright golden hair was damp with sweat, several strands plastered to his forehead. His armor still carried dust from moving supplies, but he paid it no attention.
He stopped before Lucian, standing straight, chest rising and falling slightly.
"Lord Lucian! You called for me!"
Lucian transferred the girl to Touch Me's arms.
"Touch Me. You have a mission — keep her safe."
Touch Me received the trembling little body.
"I swear to bring her back to the Aindra domain safely!"
The girl settled into his arms. Whether she had given up or simply had no strength left to struggle, she only shivered faintly.
Touch Me looked at the pathetic, trembling figure he was holding. The small reservation he'd had about taking the beastmen's food by force dissolved without a trace.
"Go." Lucian said. "Take her to Sebas on the outer perimeter. This environment isn't right for her."
"Yes, Lord Lucian."
Touch Me turned and walked in long strides toward the village's edge.
Lucian watched the retreating figure.
He turned to his adjutant and said: "Begin."
---
On the open ground in the village, a makeshift court had been assembled.
A platform of planks, the Aindra family banners planted on both sides — the black sword crest shifting faintly in the wind.
In front of the platform stood a rough wooden table. On it lay a thick volume of the Aindra domain's administrative law code, its cover worn soft with use.
A cleric stood on the platform.
He wore white ceremonial robes, the water god's emblem at his chest, and a young face.
His [Innate Ability] allowed him to judge, in a judicial setting, whether a subject's justice value was positive or negative.
The surviving beastmen were brought to the open ground.
Over a hundred beastman women and young ones crowded together — mostly female and the very young.
Their fur was various shades, their bodies shivering in the slight breeze. Several young children were still crying, held tight in their mothers' arms, cries muffled into blurred sounds.
The trial began.
The cleric's voice rang across the open ground, reading out each charge, then activating the [Innate Ability].
A gentle light radiated from him, settling over each beastman brought forward.
Justice value positive — the light was a soft white.
Justice value negative — a dark, heavy grey.
One by one, beastmen were brought forward, then led away.
White light kept appearing. Grey appeared occasionally — and rarely.
Out of over a hundred beastmen, only a dozen or so registered a negative justice value.
Lucian stood to the side of the platform, watching without expression.
He had known from the start: every beastman in this tribe ate humans.
But eating humans was simply natural to them — the way hunting was natural to people.
So their justice value would not turn negative for eating humans.
Germann stood behind him, that scarred face written over with dissatisfaction.
He muttered sideways to the adjutant, keeping his voice low: "Is this ability broken? These man-eating animals — how can they possibly register as good?"
The adjutant didn't dare respond.
The cleric finished judging the last beastman and turned to give Lucian a slight bow.
"My lord, the trial is complete."
Lucian gave a nod. He raised his hand. He made a gesture.
The soldiers moved.
The dozen or so beastmen with negative justice values were taken in a different direction — to a concealed area at the village's edge where soldiers were already waiting.
The nearly hundred beastman women and young ones with positive justice values were led to the village center.
That direction led to where the humans had been held.
The thick wooden posts were still standing. The pen's gate had been repaired and fitted with a new lock.
The beastmen walked toward that gate with their heads down, docile.
No one resisted. Only a few very young children, not yet fully understanding what was happening, looked around with wide eyes — pulled by their mothers' hands, stumbling along.
The area that had once held humans was now empty.
These beastmen were put inside.
****
so the MC is still human human....... it feels like this Fic is going to end in a compromise of sorts with Nazarick, even if the MC does regain his powers.... CUZ wdym ur letting human eating beasts live? but I sorta get it, idk ...
If you're enjoying the story, toss a Power Stone or drop a review — it helps more than you'd think.
Advance chapters → patreon.com/Eatinpieces