Birth of a Demon City

by Hyougetsu

  “What were you trying to do?”

  No one replied. I raised my voice.

  “No one would use a silver knife for cooking or cutting rope. So let me ask you again. What were you trying to do with these? Talk.”

  They stayed quiet, so I bared my fangs at them. Though they kept their expressions blank, I could smell the fear coming off their sweat. Finally, one of them opened his mouth.

  “Th-These knives are our letter openers.”

  “Oh really?”

  They were trying to pass them off as paper knives. Well, considering they were silver, that was probably the only excuse that sounded realistic. Still, it’s not like anyone would fall for that crappy excuse.

  “So you came here to see what all the commotion was, while bringing your letter openers with you?” I grinned wickedly. The three of them fell silent again. I looked up and said in a voice loud enough that the nearby citizens could also hear, “Find out who these men are. Once you do, hand them over to the viceroy. I’ll let her decide how to deal with them.”

  I wanted to show the people I was giving final authority over to their human leader. Monza shackled the three men and took them away. As I watched her go, Scuzi came up to me and asked, “You sure that was a good idea, Veight? The viceroy’s a human. What if she goes easy on ‘em?”

  My decision didn’t seem to sit well with the young man. To be honest, I wasn’t the happiest with it either. I frowned and explained, “We don’t have any other choice. If we start executing citizens, they’re not going to take kindly to our rule. Besides, while they’re obviously suspicious, it’s not like they actually committed a crime.”

  “I...guess you’re right, but...”

  Scuzi still wasn’t satisfied. Can’t blame him, really. He was a demon, so it was only natural that he’d find it strange I, the victor, was showing so much consideration for the defeated. After all from his point of view, if the citizens rebelled, we could just kill them all. But if we did that, it’d cause problems much further down the line.

  “Humans are easy to please. If you treat them with scorn, they’ll be quick to hate you. But on the other hand, if you treat them well, they’ll follow you. To be honest, I wish we could execute those instigators too, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  “If you say so...”

  He still wasn’t fully convinced, but in the end, he was still a werewolf. While he didn’t hesitate to voice his dissent, he’d still follow his pack leader’s orders.

  “Just leave these things to me. I promise I’ll get us the biggest achievements in this war.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  I gave Scuzi a friendly slap on the back, and he finally smiled.

  Just then, the front gate opened and Jerrick returned with the other fighters. I’d asked him to survey the battlefield earlier.

  “I found some weird stuff, boss. Take a look at this. They were using silver-tipped arrows.”

  He held out one of the arrows the enemy had been using. I leaned in for a closer look. As he’d said, the arrowhead was silver. Jerrick tapped the arrowhead with his finger and said in a disgusted voice, “This silver’s been cast. They must have been in a real hurry. It looks like they melted down their silver coins to make these. You can tell it wasn’t forged properly.”

  I lapsed into thought for a few seconds.

  “These were obviously made to fight against werewolves.”

  “Yeah, no doubt about it. Silver’s softer than iron. Normally, you’d never use it for a weapon.”

  “Which means Thuvan’s somehow discovered that werewolves are the ones who captured the city.”

  “I don’t get it. All I know is that thanks to them using silver arrows, none of us got hurt too badly.”

  Jerrick shrugged. He really was a blacksmith, through and through. The fact that information had been leaked wasn’t something he needed to worry about. Unfortunately, I did. I folded my arms and muttered, “How does Thuvan know werewolves are here?”

  Since taking Ryunheit, we hadn’t let anyone in or out of the city. Well, except for the canine merchants. But they only traded in places under the Demon Lord’s control, so there was no reason for any of them to have gone to Thuvan.

  “This is definitely strange.”

  As I looked over the city, I felt a seed of dread settle in the pit of my stomach. Somehow, information was leaking out.

  The main gates opened again, and this time Vodd’s squad walked in.

  “I finished burying the dead. Never thought I’d see the day I’m holding funeral services for humans.”

  “Thank you, Vodd.”

  Vodd might have just been a retired old man now, but in his youth, he’d been a mercenary. He’d pretended to be human and toured dozens of battlefields.

  “By the way, Veight. There’s something you need to see.” The grizzled, white-haired old man held out a bow. “This is one of the bows the enemy was using, right?”

  “Mmm. Rather small, don’t you think?”

  Vodd cracked a smile and continued.

  “Horse archers tend to use shortbows, but this is small even for a shortbow. You wouldn’t normally use something like this on an open battlefield.”

  “...You mean it’s meant for urban warfare?”

  “It is indeed.”

  According to Vodd’s explanation, these smaller bows were designed to be used in confined spaces like city streets. They were lacking in power but were much more maneuverable.

  “But they’re bad for sieges, right?”

  “Indeed they are, my boy. Going by their equipment, it seems these louts were expecting to waltz right through the gate.”

  That proves it. The only reason they’d attacked with just 400 was because they’d come up with a plan to get inside the city. I thought back to the men Monza had captured. I’d sent her squad to the gates precisely because I’d been worried about something like this happening. It seemed that had been the right decision. The Thuvan army’s plan had most likely been to launch a surprise attack. They’d organized and equipped their unit under the assumption that we hadn’t stationed an army on the walls.

  The 50 horse archers armed with silver arrows would have been used to keep us werewolves pinned down within the city, while the 350 infantry soldiers gained control of the streets. That was why they’d sent their cavalry out ahead. The archers were meant to have used their superior mobility to burst through the gates before we had time to respond. According to the plan, their conspirators would have opened the gates for them. Once they were in, they’d bait my werewolves out and then use their mobility to keep a fair distance while pelting them with arrows. The wide streets of a trading city like Ryunheit were perfect for cavalry maneuvers. After they’d whittled down our numbers, their infantry would flood into the city. The canines would be both outnumbered and outmatched, so at that point retaking Ryunheit would be easy. That seemed to have been the gist of the army’s plan.

  But most of their assumptions had turned out to be false, so their plan had crumbled before it even began. Whoever the enemy general was, he couldn’t be very competent if he had ordered an attack like this without first thoroughly doing his research. Either that, or circumstances had forced his hand. Had I known, I would have captured some of the soldiers and interrogated them. But once the thrill of the hunt had taken over, I’d stopped thinking...

  The first battle to hold Ryunheit ended without incident, and it turned out the post-war cleanup was much more of a hassle than the battle itself had been. Most of the citizens didn’t even know what had happened; though they did vaguely realize that a battle must have taken place outside the walls. And the only people who would be fighting against us would be humans. Which meant most of them knew we’d killed more people. Even if we’d thought of it like a proper ‘battle,’ I didn’t doubt most of the people saw our actions as simple murder. They saw war between humans and demons differently than war between humans and other humans. The question was, how was I going to handle the
m?

  First, I made sure my subordinates had properly buried all of the dead. When I arrived at the spot, I saw a nice, neat row of graves. It would have been nice if we could have prepared gravestones for all of them too, but this would have to do. The graves were a bit plain, but that was just how werewolves were. Maybe I can get the city’s stonemasons to make one for us. I offered a small prayer to the men who had been my enemies, and then headed back to the viceroy’s manor. Whoops, I almost forgot to change back into human form. Better do that before I go into the city.

  When I returned to the manor, I was greeted by loud yelling.

  “Veight!”

  Fahn stalked up to me while dragging the Garney brothers behind her. The last time I’d seen her this mad was a decade ago. What on earth happened?

  “Veight, sit your ass down right there!”

  Uh oh, she’s mad at me. I didn’t know what I’d done to anger her, but disobeying Fahn was never a good idea. I did as I was told and sat down in my chair.

  “Wh-What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t give me that crap!”

  Fahn slammed her palms down on the desk in front of me. The Garney brothers who she’d been holding on to stumbled backwards.

  “Veight, in that last battle you charged right into the middle of the enemy, didn’t you!?”

  “Y-Yeah.”

  I nodded meekly. Fahn shot me a withering glare.

  “How can you, the commander, just charge ahead of everyone like that!? If something happened to you, who’d be left to control the skeletons!?”

  She does have a point. I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to be commanding an army. Ever since being reborn as a werewolf, I’d come to enjoy fighting a lot more. Even if I had my old memories, this was still the body and brain of a werewolf. The amount of adrenaline, or whatever the equivalent was, pumping through my system during a fight was a lot more than it would be for a human. Actually, that’s probably something worth researching.

  “Are you listening to me!?”

  “Uh, I’m listening, I’m listening!”

  I involuntarily straightened my back. Fahn pulled the Garney brothers close and leaned forward.

  “You’re not just Veight, the kid who lives next door anymore! You’re our boss. Got that?”

  “Yeah...you’re right.”

  Yeah, I’m definitely the one in the wrong here. When she saw my apologetic expression, Fahn softened her tone.

  “Really, you need to be more careful. You’re the only one we can count on here. None of us have any idea how to handle humans...”

  It was true that if I died, there wasn’t anyone else who could take over managing my current occupation plan. Chances were, whoever took over would just slaughter everyone here. I bowed my head in sincere apology.

  “Sorry, Fahn. I acted rashly. I’ll be more careful and focus on leading from now on.”

  “Good. Just leave the fighting to us.”

  Fahn finally smiled. It was like the sun had just come out from behind the clouds. But still, I never knew being in charge was so troublesome... With Fahn’s anger appeased, I got back to work. There were a few things I needed to address right away.

  “Uhh... Oh yeah. Did you put the captured men in prison?”

  The younger of the Garney brothers nodded, “Yeah, all six of them. We put them in different cells, like you asked.”

  “Thanks. Who’s watching over them?”

  “Monza’s squad.”

  If Monza was handling it, there was nothing to worry about. If I ever had to make a secret police force, she’d be the one I’d choose to head it. She was that kind of person.

  I stood back up and gave everyone their orders.

  “Alright, I’m going to go question them. Until I’m done, make sure no one’s allowed near their cells.”

  “I take it that’s my job?” Fahn stretched leisurely and gave me a thumbs up. “I am technically the second-highest ranking person here. Don’t worry, I’ll keep everyone else out.”

  “Thanks. I’m counting on you.”

  Now then, it’s time to see what these guys have to say.

  ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

  —Fahn’s Diary—

  I remember Veight when he was little. He was a strange one. Even though he was a guy, he wasn’t rowdy like the others. He didn’t get super excited about wild hunting, either. Actually, I think he was the only boy in the village that didn’t like going on wild hunts. They’re so much fun, though.

  When a boar’s coming at you all like ‘bwaaaah’ and you stop it with a ‘dwooosh’, it feels so awesome. If you transform too early, your prey’ll get away, so the real thrill of the hunt is staying in your human form until the last possible second. I know there are some guys out there who like transforming right away and chasing down their prey, but personally I think that ‘dwooosh’ moment when you stop something that’s charging at you is where all the excitement’s at. Man, wild hunts are so much fun.

  But well...it’s probably because Veight’s the way he is that we can take it easy in the army. How’d it all start again...?

  When I first heard Veight had become a mage’s disciple, I wasn’t that surprised. It felt right, somehow. Even though he was younger than me, he was really smart. He knew all sorts of things none of us did. And he was like, really precocious too. He treated me like a proper girl and everything.

  Oh yeah, I remember there was that one time he protected me. I think it was back when he was around 10 or so? Anyway, we were attacked by this huge bear on our way back from picking wild herbs. He jumped on it before I had a chance to do anything. If he’d left it to me I’d have ripped it apart in no time, but he told me, “It’s my job to protect you!”

  I was pretty amazed. That was the first time I’d ever seen that quiet kid fight so ferociously. He was just 10 years old, yet he actually managed to kill the bear. Though, he was all beat up by the time the fight ended. Now that I think about it, Veight’s always been pretty reckless...

  But you know, everyone else in the village just treated me like one of the guys, so that was the first time anyone had tried to protect me. To be honest, it felt really nice. Back then, Veight was just like a baby knight.

  Oh yeah, come to think of it, when we were little he’d always follow after me asking if I’d marry him. I wonder, is that proposal still valid? Because I’ll gladly marry you anytime, Veight.

  ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

  “Ah, Commander.” Monza turned to face me as I descended the last few steps to the prison. “Here to question them?”

  “Yep. Mind recording the meeting for me?”

  “Sure.”

  Monza left lookout duty to the other three members of her squad and followed me to the cells. I picked out the oldest of the six men being held captive and took him to an empty room. He appeared to be in his mid-40s and was dressed in neat, prim clothing. While the quality of his clothes’ fabric wasn’t as high as what nobles could afford, it was still expensive.

  “What’s your name?”

  There was no reply. If he didn’t want to answer, that was fine. Judging from his appearance, he was definitely part of Ryunheit’s upper class, which meant I could just ask around and I’d easily be able to get his name.

  “Monza, you think we’d find out who he is if we stripped him naked and put him on display in the city square?”

  Monza realized what I was trying to do and she quickly began scribbling notes with her pen. While she was writing, she lazily replied, “How about we just kill him and ask the next guy? No need to waste our time.”

  “Might as well.”

  Though the man kept his expression flat, I could smell the fear in his sweat. A little bit more, and he’ll break.

  “If we’re gonna kill him anyway though, may as well find out who his family is first.”

  At my implicit threat, the man paled visibly. His fear transformed into full-blown terror. This scene reminds me of those cop movies I used to watch in my old life. Didn’
t think I’d end up acting one out myself... After letting him stew in his terror for a few seconds, I said quietly, “You were trying to assassinate my werewolves, weren’t you? If you don’t answer truthfully, I’ll kill you right here.”

  This wasn’t an empty threat. If he still insisted on remaining silent I’d dispose of him and move on to the next guy. The man silently opened and closed his mouth, agonizing over whether to talk or not. Finally he came to a decision and said, “N-No.”

  “Then what were you after? Talk or you die.”

  The man faltered, but then eventually said, “W-We were just trying to find out what was going on...”

  “You know, I hate liars. Commander, let’s just kill him.”

  At Monza’s words, the man flinched. I had to admit, Monza was pretty good at scaring people. Since she was playing bad cop, that left the role of good cop to me—which was exactly what I preferred.

  “Now, now, Monza. He hasn’t done anything...yet. As long as he’s willing to cooperate, I don’t see why we can’t let him live.”

  “It doesn’t look like he’s all that willing to me... Maybe he’ll talk if we start killing off his family.”

  “Calm down, there’s no reason to go that far.”

  Even I couldn’t tell if Monza was being serious or not now. Judging from how aghast the man looked, he probably had a wife and kids. Not only that, he cared more about them than he did for his own life. I softened my expression and said, “So you ran out to see what was going on with a silver letter opener in your hands. Is that right?”

  “Y-Yes.”

  The man nodded hesitantly while gauging my reaction. That was the same story he’d given when we’d caught him. I grinned.

  “So then, there’s no reason not to tell us your name, is there? If that’s all you were doing, the demon army has no reason to harm you.”