No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 64

Hmm? Why does it feel a little itchy...? No, wait!

"Ah!"

The sudden sneezing attack startled all the beast girls, causing their fur to stand on end as they looked at him with suspicion and uncertainty.

But Payne's attention wasn't on the beast girl at all; he was just staring blankly at his military uniform.

Oh no, I forgot these two dogs shed!

……

So, before the logistics department collected the medal-awarding uniforms in the afternoon, Payne spent his time picking out dog hairs from the clothes.

Throughout this process, Lacey paced anxiously around him, asking, "Um... Master... do you need my help?"

Payne glared at her. "You're helping me? Do you even know whose hair is on this?"

So Lacey quickly shrank back, "I'm...I'm sorry..."

Feeling he might have gone too far, Payne patted her head again. "It's okay, it's okay, it's not your fault. Go have fun, get to know Alpha."

The word "play" immediately triggered Stephen's keywords. She, who had been lazily chewing on hay, suddenly jumped up: "Come run with me! Once we run together, our relationship will improve quickly!"

"Wait a minute!" Payne quickly grabbed her, afraid that if he hesitated even for a second, the white-haired girl would run out of his sight.

“Even though you have no connection with Alpha, Lacey is wearing her medal-awarding uniform! We can’t let her clothes get muddy!”

“Oh…okay…” Stephen returned to his original spot dejectedly. “Then let’s run again tonight.”

If it weren't for the obvious difference between the human and beast uniforms, Payne would have stuffed his own clothes into the beast girl's clothing basket and pretended they were worn by some molting beast.

By the way, do the animal girls recycle and dispose of their military uniforms themselves? Do they undergo a cleaning process involving removing their fur? ...

As Payne continued picking at the dog's fur while thinking about these random things, the sun quickly set in the west, and the sound of a car engine seemed to drift from afar.

The laundry collector has arrived.

Chapter 99 XCVIII. B Company Medal Conferment Ceremony

What tormented Payne most was that while Alpha's black fur was relatively easy to distinguish, Lacey's brown fur blended almost seamlessly into her brown uniform, making it virtually invisible.

He had no idea how much of Lacey's dog hair he had removed, or how much hair was still stuck to it.

Perhaps the only good news is that at least when you pick up the clothes and shake them, nothing comes off.

As B Company lined up to head to the trucks to collect the clothes, Payne saw the overweight soldier from yesterday checking everyone's clothes one by one, so he deliberately lined up at the very end of the queue.

Checking so many people's clothes must be exhausting. Towards the end, he might get tired and stop checking carefully, thus getting away with it...

The mental fortitude of a veteran who had spent a year and a half on the battlefield was beyond question. When it was Payne's turn, he handed over his clothes with a calm expression, even putting on an expression that said, "Hurry up, wouldn't it be better to finish early and go home for dinner?"

After checking the clothes of 150 people, the overweight soldier was indeed exhausted.

He simply looked the clothes over inside and out, and even though he plucked a tuft of fur from them, he didn't think much of it. He just patted it off and threw it into the basket, handing the washed clothes back to Payne.

Not only that, he also made no mention of the beast girl scent in yesterday's bath tub.

It's unclear whether Payne's half-hearted efforts had an effect, or whether he was simply doing the cleaning diligently because he had been bribed.

Anyway, as long as the result is good, that's all that matters.

After getting through this ordeal, Payne completely relaxed and prepared for a new round of revelry:

Since the fact that the four beast girls used their grenade-throwing technique to help B Company overcome their difficulties could not be publicized, B Company decided to hold an award ceremony for the beast girls themselves.

The entire company showed great enthusiasm for it, and the one who was most interested was naturally a soldier named Boicha László.

This middle-aged soldier, who made a living as a carpenter, had a little bit of carving skills, so the company commander unsurprisingly assigned him the task of making medals for the beast girls.

These past few days, I've seen Payne quite often. Whenever he has a little free time, he cuts up scrap wood and carves it into the shape of medals with a knife.

In addition, he would use sugar cubes obtained from Tomato Head to carve medals.

Pine was very pleased to have such a group of good people as teammates.

Therefore, he dared not tell Boycha that dogs, cows, sheep, horses, and squirrels are not as good at digesting sugar as humans, and that eating too much sugar could pose health risks...

At the start of the squad's medal-awarding ceremony, the soldiers piled up all the discarded planks and lit a huge bonfire.

The enthusiastic atmosphere pleased the humans, but when Payne saw the fear on the faces of the beast girls, he remembered that they hadn't done the fire-jumping training for a while and it was time to start.

Forget it, let them have their day, we'll talk about it tomorrow.

This award ceremony was much more solemn and enthusiastic than the one in the morning. The four beasts stood in a row ten meters away from the campfire, and the flickering firelight made their faces glow red.

Amidst the applause of the surrounding soldiers, the company commander led Boycha to them, solemnly read out the achievements of each beast, and personally pinned the wooden and sugar medals on their chests, saluting them all equally.

The prelude ended quickly, and amidst the cheers of the soldiers, Tomato Head and Payne each carried a huge platter: Payne carried a mountain of meat, while Tomato Head carried a large bowl of salad made of fresh vegetables and fruits.

When Lacey saw that such a sumptuous dinner had been prepared for her, she almost didn't recognize Pine, her trainer, and immediately pounced on him and devoured the food like a dog, thus soiling the clothes she had painstakingly washed again.

"When you're happy, just enjoy it. I'll deal with her tomorrow," Payne thought, as his clenched fist gradually loosened.

The herbivorous cattle, sheep, and squirrels were relatively quiet, but they were still busy eating with their heads down, and the sound of plant fibers being ground by their teeth was constant, making a crisp crunching sound that was very appetizing.

Although Stephen and Alpha weren't awarded medals this time, Payne wasn't so stingy as to not share any of the delicious food with them. The two newcomers also received fresh meat slices and fruits and vegetables.

Seemingly caught up in the enthusiastic atmosphere (though Pine felt it didn't really matter whether he was or not), Pine didn't even notice when Stephen disappeared.

After looking around, he realized that the guy had turned into a shooting star, moving rapidly against the backdrop of the night sky.

She wasn't lying about at least one thing: she genuinely loves running.

When Payne turned around again, sure enough, Lacey had disappeared without him noticing, leaving only a few pieces of meat on the plate.

"Run! Animals should exercise more. It'll help them digest their food."

Muttering to himself, Payne pulled out paper and pen from his pocket, intending to finish the work report he hadn't completed during the day.

After a while, he belatedly said, "Alpha, eat the rest of the meat. Lacey has already eaten enough today, don't let her overeat."

Alpha, who was almost one with the night, quickly appeared, sat down silently next to Payne, and began to eat the rest of the meat.

I feel like she'd be quite adept at launching a sneak attack.

Why are you so kind to orcs?

Just as Payne was racking his brains trying to figure out how to trick more beast girls into coming to him, he heard Alpha ask the question he knew all too well.

Some beast girls were too afraid to ask, some took everything humans did for them for granted and didn't even think to ask, and others, having witnessed Payne's character, believed they had found the answer and therefore didn't see any need to ask...

Of course, there are also beast girls like Alpha who want to get the answers to their questions directly from the person involved.

Although he had been asked the question many times, Payne's answer was different each time.

This is partly due to the fact that he tailors his approach to different situations, but it's also because the more he experiences, the more new insights he gains into the answer to this question.

Having just finished writing the report, Pine decided to chat for a bit and take a break:

"If you're asking about me as a person, there's no particular reason; I just like furry things."

"Humans don't have that much fur, and animals can't understand human language, while you beastmen are a combination of the two, which fits my aesthetic perfectly."

"However, your question is about 'you guys,' so I suppose you also have doubts about B Company's attitude."

"Actually, if you ask me, we are the ones who should be wondering."

"The orcs have helped humans so much on the battlefield, and F Company doesn't even treat you like human beings. Why don't they treat you like ordinary animals, or even just as useful tools to be cared for?"

Chapter 100 XCIX. The Reserved Alpha

Although Payne asked the question, based on his experiences on Earth, he felt he understood this mentality quite well.

Throughout World War I and World War II, and even up to the Vietnam War, although Black soldiers made outstanding contributions to the United States, discrimination remained pervasive.

Very few Black people could become officers, and even if they did, they were not allowed to enter white officers' clubs, and white soldiers would not obey the orders of Black officers.

Even if someone distinguishes themselves on the battlefield, the army will not award them a medal, newspapers will not report on it, and people will know very little about it.

Even when wearing military uniforms and identifying themselves as serving their country, Black people are still sometimes refused boarding by bus drivers.

Ultimately, the weight of prejudice in people's minds is far beyond what pragmatism can easily shake.

In addition, the unequal status between beast girls and humans is also a major problem.

Many people look down on beast girls simply because they can look down on them, nothing more.

The Dexterians could discriminate against the Inpo people with impunity because the Inpo had long been a colony of the Dexterians.

However, the Dexterians do not discriminate against the Obristans, because the Dexter Empire has historically coveted Obristan on several occasions, but ultimately did not take action for various reasons.

Even during this world war, Obristan still had the power to declare neutrality.

Moreover, the relationship between humans and beast girls is less like that of a boss and an employee, and more like that of a slave and a slave owner.

Do bosses/slave owners really not know that if they give workers/slaves better treatment, they will work harder?

If you were to actually question your boss/slave owner about this kind of issue, you would only get one answer: "If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of others who will!"

However, although Payne himself was aware of these issues, let alone beast girls, probably only a small group of people in the world, including Miss Mary, could understand these things.

Therefore, he didn't intend to elaborate on this matter to Alpha, but instead continued to focus on writing his own report.

The campfire crackled and popped, Stephen and Lacey were still running wildly in the distance, and the cows, sheep and squirrels that had devoured a large bowl of fruit salad were now lying contentedly in the tent. Only Alpha remained quietly sitting next to Payne.

……

Joyful times always come to an end. After the campfire died down, it was already late at night, and the soldiers, feeling weary, crawled into their tents.

Coincidentally, no beasts were at the branching device during this time, and Payne, who was already a bit tired from playing, decided to take a good rest.

However, as he stretched comfortably in bed, he instinctively reached out to the side, but didn't find a furry body, which was somewhat disappointing.

Ruby's splitter won't arrive until next year...

However, it was comforting to know that Lacey still habitually licked his face before going to sleep.

Pain was satisfied with stroking the fluffy dog's head one last time today. He rolled over, closed his eyes, and drowsiness quickly washed over him.

Even though I didn't do anything today, I still feel so tired. I really made myself suffer.

However, after an unknown amount of time, just as he was drifting off to sleep, he felt a soft, careful breathing sound in his ear, and a wet tongue pressed against his face again.

"Um, what's wrong? Do you need to go to the bathroom? Lai... um?"