Chapter 136 : Security Division
Chapter 136: Security Division
When humanity first discovered the Juin, they couldn't help but feel bewildered.
Part of it was because much of their civilization resembled the medieval East.
But an even greater reason was that there were simply too many different species among them.
It wasn't like humanity, where there were simply East Asians, Caucasians, Africans, and tribes with different names and histories.
It was as though countless different animals had suddenly all acquired human faces.
More than three hundred distinct species had already been cataloged.
“...It's grotesque. No, perhaps incomprehensible would be the more accurate description.”
Whenever a new intelligent species was discovered on a new planet, the scientists dispatched first all reacted with bewilderment.
Naturally.
For convenience, humanity classified them according to the animals they resembled.
But the ancestors from which each species had evolved into intelligent beings were all entirely different.
Predators.
Prey.
Species that had once lived within that brutal cycle of survival of the fittest had all evolved into intelligent beings and now coexisted peacefully under a shared social order?
It was bizarre.
It was an idealistic and beautiful story.
Yet to scientists and scholars alike, it belonged to the realm of irrationality and the unscientific, overflowing with unanswered questions.
Fortunately, it didn't take long before the scholars dispatched to the planet found the answer.
「Church of Dawn」
Under the belief that when all species were once foolish, savage, and insignificant, the Dawn had swept away the darkness of the world and raised a new sun, the tribes united completely.
The physically powerful species maintained order as the military class.
Those born with exceptionally strong Bright Force served as priests of the Church of Dawn, worshipping their god and contributing to peace among all races.
The countless weaker tribes lived peacefully, grateful for their protection and mercy.
After spending tranquil lives, they became one with the burning dawn and embarked upon an eternal journey into the Night of Dawn.
...No.
That was merely the perspective of the ruling class.
“The overwhelming majority of species, no matter what dreams they had, were forced to meet the tribute quotas assigned to their respective tribes. Most of them starved while living their entire lives as slaves for the sake of that promised dawn in the afterlife.”
The wolf beastfolk wore a black military uniform.
His wolf ears protruded through the openings in his military cap, laid back flat as though expressing annoyance.
His fluffy gray tail, extending through the split in his coat, slowly swayed from side to side.
“And what's so wonderful about that? Idiots.”
The wolf beastfolk muttered those cutting words behind his cheerful smile.
Chuckling softly, he rolled his golden eyes.
Every last one of them is a Combat Priest of the Mu Rank. Around fifty of them.
Compared to previous generations, it wasn't many.
But considering how greatly the Church of Dawn had declined after years of persecution and rejection by the Juin, it represented a considerable investment.
Even lower-ranked priests had once been commonplace.
Now, every single one of them had become a valuable resource.
Of course, he wasn't judging the situation solely by the presence of the Mu-Rank priests.
The elderly priest searching desperately for an escape route the moment he spotted the Security Division was proof enough that this terrorist attack had been carried out in earnest.
Zhu Rank.
A high-ranking priest of the Church of Dawn.
One of the true inheritors of their ancient sorcery, gradually fading into obscurity before the rise of the Human Composite State's Gears.
If even Mu-Rank priests had become scarce, then Zhu-Rank priests were beyond precious.
Putting all the information together, he became convinced that the anonymous intelligence report received by the Security Division a few days earlier had been genuine.
Turning to the cat beastfolk standing one step behind him, he spoke.
“Zhu Rank. Can you handle it, Seol-ah?”
“Worry about yourself, Wei.”
The cat beastfolk called Myo Seol-ah answered bluntly while glancing sideways at him.
Finding her expression adorable, Lang Wei chuckled and casually shrugged.
She probably didn't realize it herself.
No matter how coldly she acted because of the complicated relationships between their tribes and the eyes of those around them, everyone who mattered had already figured out what kind of relationship they shared.
Well, what could he do?
Even that side of her was unbearably lovable.
Suppressing the urge to wag his fluffy tail faster, Lang Wei watched Myo Seol-ah lead her squad toward the Zhu-Rank priest before addressing his own men.
“We'll stay here on the platform and deal with these ghosts from the past. Capture them if you can. If necessary, kill every last one.”
“Yes, sir. But Captain, doesn't Captain Eul still not realize everyone's figured it out?”
“I know, right?”
The atmosphere within Squad A reflected its captain's cheerful personality.
There wasn't the slightest trace of tension.
Then, his golden eyes flashed brilliantly.
He shouted to his squad and immediately sprinted forward.
“The one who catches the fewest gets stuck doing paperwork today!”
“I knew you'd pull something like this!”
“Seriously! And they call him our captain!”
Charging at the front, Lang Wei slammed his shoulder into the massive body of a bull beastfolk whose eyes had already begun rolling back.
The faint scent of blood brushed past his nose.
Wearing a smile tinged with bitterness and pity, he whispered.
“Your eyes are gone. That's an illness, my friend.”
“ROOOOAR!”
Sharp claws extended from the gray-furred fingertips.
In one swift motion, Lang Wei drove an uppercut directly into the bull beastfolk's jaw.
BOOM!
With a sound like a balloon bursting, the enormous body—well over two meters tall—was launched into the air.
As though sending someone far larger than himself flying were perfectly ordinary, Lang Wei calmly lifted one leg.
Then, as the bull beastfolk fell back down, he drove his heel squarely into its solar plexus.
BOOOOOOM!!
The marble floor of the platform cracked apart.
The bull beastfolk became one with its comfortable new bed.
“...Did I hit a little too hard?”
At that moment, while scratching the gray fur protruding from his otherwise human cheek with one fingernail, he suddenly noticed someone staring at him.
“Hm?”
“......”
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Pale skin.
A neatly worn black military uniform.
The major's insignia on his shoulder.
...A major?
For a moment, Lang Wei blinked, wondering if he had imagined it.
Soon he realized he hadn't.
With a blank expression, he carefully looked over Jin Crow and his companions.
Black-haired man.
Rank: Major.
Red-haired woman.
Also a major.
Behind them stood one captain and three second lieutenants.
Moreover, the red-haired woman and the three behind her wore the white uniforms of the Military Police.
That wasn't all.
Their shoulder insignia and uniform patches were completely different from those of the Governor-General's Office.
Those uniforms...
Academy instructors?
At that instant, a conversation he'd had with his adjutant not long ago flashed through his mind.
—Captain, did you hear the news?
—What news?
—Apparently the Central Special-duty Officer Academy is sending an instructor here.
—What? Why?
—No idea. I heard they're just here for reconnaissance. They're bringing their own Military Police escort and specifically requested that we not provide any ceremonial reception.
—Really? Then it has nothing to do with us.
—That's true. It's not like we'll actually run into them.
Why is it that the worst predictions always come true?
Resting one foot atop the remarkably durable bull beastfolk still twitching beneath him, Lang Wei looked toward the defeated bear beastfolk lying before Jin Crow and scratched his head.
“So... let me get this straight...”
An instructor from the Central Special-duty Officer Academy.
A major in the Federal Army.
He arrived at the platform.
A local terrorist organization launched an attack.
The Security Division, despite receiving advance intelligence, arrived just a little too late.
And as a result, the instructor had been forced into combat himself.
After thinking it through that far, Lang Wei flashed a broad grin.
His tail wagged energetically behind him as he casually muttered.
“Well... we're fucked.”
It was an astonishingly sincere and straightforward assessment.
Of course, he couldn't keep grinning forever.
Stepping squarely onto the bull beastfolk's chest with his military boot, he snapped into a proper salute.
“Loyalty. Captain Lang Wei of the Security Division under the Governor-General's Office.”
“Jin Crow.”
“I'm Obia. By the way, may I touch your tail?”
“Haha. That would count as sexual harassment, Major Obia.”
Even setting aside the absurd conversation Obia had started, Jin Crow wanted to ask whether Lang Wei really needed to stand on top of the unconscious bull beastfolk just to salute.
But that wasn't important.
Returning the wolf beastfolk's salute, Jin Crow watched the Security Division squads swiftly bringing the situation under control before speaking.
“Before you brief me on the situation, there was an old man who appeared to be somewhere between Triple Gear and Quad Gear level. Subduing him should be the top priority.”
Jin Crow's judgment was perfectly sound.
Yet Lang Wei merely continued smiling as his tail wagged behind him.
“Don't worry, Instructor. The captain of Squad Eul who went after him is...”
There wasn't the slightest trace of worry, doubt, or anxiety in his golden eyes.
Only a single emotion.
“She has the nastiest temper in the entire Security Division.”
It was unwavering trust.
BOOOOOOM!!
A tremendous explosion rang out.
Jin Crow and Obia simultaneously turned toward the sound.
What they saw was...
“Ghaaaak!”
The old man, who had been cackling so smugly moments earlier, getting thoroughly beaten instead of being respected.
“KYAAA!”
A woman in a black military uniform with cat ears leaped through the air, her short hair fluttering behind her.
As her razor-sharp claws slashed through empty space—
Deep gouges appeared across the marble where the old man had desperately thrown himself.
Of course, the elderly mouse beastfolk still tried to form hand seals, refusing to surrender.
But at that very instant, Myo Seol-ah's terrifying eyes gleamed.
She muttered coldly.
“I'll rip out your throat.”
“S-Squeak!”
The instinctive terror engraved deep within his body overwhelmed his reason.
The nearly completed hand seal stopped abruptly.
The members of Squad Eul seized the opportunity instantly.
“Capture him!”
Even a Zhu-Rank priest was no different from an ordinary person if he couldn't complete his hand seals and cast his sorcery.
They weren't Superhumans.
As a result, the mouse beastfolk who had left such a strong impression on both Jin Crow and Obia Timist was restrained with surprising ease.
Cat and mouse... So even among beastfolk, there are natural predators?
Though that clearly wasn't the entire explanation.
Just as he was thinking that—
Still wearing his easygoing smile while his wolf ears twitched, Lang Wei suddenly waved toward a boy walking leisurely in the distance.
“Everything wrapped up, Sa-un?”
Following Lang Wei's gaze, Jin Crow turned his head.
Then another figure entered his sight.
A snake beastfolk?
At the end of his gaze stood a boy with dark teal hair, calmly looking down at his phone.
The lower half of his face was hidden beneath a black turtleneck sweater.