Although he was called a High Beast, he didn’t have a long lifespan. Humans, Beasts, Dwarfs were said to live a long life if they lived for 100 years.
In contrast to these 3 races that have short lives, such races like Elves, Pixies, Dragnils and Lords were said to be a long-lived species.
Even though High Beasts and High Dwarfs were a superior race, still, it should be 150 years at most.
Although a beast’s length of life depends on the animal which became the model, Girard’s model was a relatively orthodox wolf among the choices. It wasn’t a model for long living especially.
Certainly, he heard the thing about Girard becoming a king. However, because that was a fairly old story, Shin never thought that Girard was still alive.
“Yes. But…I think he has a few days left and it will not be that much longer anymore.”
Schnee personally didn’t know why Girard was still alive until today.
But she was certain about one thing.
“He too, was waiting for Shin.”
As Schnee was, Girard also was waiting for Shin.
“He himself doesn’t know how he could live this long. There is likely some meaning, since he is alive.”
He didn’t seem to feel too much fear from the approaching death either since his body should already be dead.
“Actually, even if there’s no Girard, the alliance can continue functioning. The current beast king is the eighth generation, that not only has military power, but he also has the ability as a ruler.”
Falnido Beast Alliance was formed by bundling up every beastman tribe. It was built by Girard during the confusion that struck the world.
And then, as for the first beast king, it was Shin’s support character, a no. 3 of High Beast origin.
Girard Estaria.
The appearance that Shin remembered, when he was in a normal human form, was a man of about 40, characterized with an unkempt beard and brown hair that was trimmed short. Handsome men and beautiful women would be wretched, because this appearance of a wild middle-aged man was good. When Girard was fully armed, the charisma that was felt around him could be called a veteran warrior, Shin took pride at that time for not making a wrong choice.
When in combat, Girard went into werewolf mode, a figure that swooped down upon his prey, exactly like a hunter.
He specialized in close ranged combat and paired up with the no. 4 support character, Shibaid, a High Dragnil, to serve as an advance guard party. Although his offensive power from magic skills was low, it was compensated with agile movement, and perfected with hand-based martial arts skills. He could fight on par with Schnee, and would win under certain conditions.
The figure that used to strike his fist against enemies with a roar, was reproduced instantly in Shin’s mind, as he remembered it properly.
“After hearing that, we can’t afford not to go. Where is Girard’s place?”
“When we exited from the Wraith Plains the other day, just go further north ahead instead. The alliance extends over the plains and forest area, it is next to a capital city that is said to be ruled by a human king. There are 4 big villages like the capital city, and the Girard is in the village of the dog clan where the current beast king is.”
‘I see. Although I heard it roughly, there is no danger before arriving there, right?”
“Yes, I think it will be safe for at least another several more years. Because the person in question has not weakened that much too.”
“Then, should I go normally?”
Shin was going to use his trump card for long-range transfer if he was really driven into a corner, but it somehow seemed to be all right.
“Then, because there are several things I want to check, let’s leave after I am finished. I have to be ready too, will both of you be alright for tomorrow?”
“I’m all right anytime~”
“I wonder if I’m good since I’ve always been the sort of ‘stay at home caretaker’.”
Shin asked Yuzuha and Tiera, who had taken the role of listener. Basically, Tiera was entrusted for house-watching because of Schnee always being away from home, and she thought she would do the same this time too.
“Tiera, you will also go this time.”
“Eh! Me too?”
Tiera was surprised to hear from Schnee that she was also going.
“Because Shin has returned, there’s no need to stick to this place anymore.”
“Yeah, it’s the strong point of owning a personal store.”
“Um, is it okay to leave this store alone?”
Schnee smiled wrily at Tiera’s question.
“No problem. Because he will carry it away.”
“Carry it…away?”
What did she say, Tiera had an expression of not understanding. Surely, there were few people who could understand immediately when Schnee said, “Carry the store.”
“I can take it. This store.”
“…Eto, what do you mean by that?”
It was understandable that Tiera couldn’t comprehend what Shin was trying to say. No matter how one looked at it, he couldn’t easily carry the store, was what she was probably thinking.
“Is it unusual now? To carry a store or a house?”
“It’s not nonexistent, but without an expert in that field, it would not be known. As far as I know, it needs quite a large sum of money to be attached even to a small hut.”
Although it was common technology during the game era, as usual, Shin didn’t know what happened under the present situation. When he heard about it from Schnee, he understood that it was treated like a special technique.
From seeing Tiera’s reaction, the production skills seemed to have suffered a steep decline.
“Indeed. Then, it’s only natural that Tiera doesn’t know about it, huh? Then, are arts more mainstream than skills now? Is the production system too?”
“Yes. The production system is also divided by arts and skills. After the Dusk of the Majesty, people tried to restore the skills, and from trial and error, arts were born. It’s the same as the combat system, where the effects are lower than a skill.”
“I knew it.”
If it was said in a game style, they were trying to reproduce the skill without the system assistance. Normally nothing would happen, but here was a different world. Perhaps, an effect, such as a portion of the skill was produced, and it was called arts. As for a blacksmith, because there were techniques that could never be reproduced by simple physical work, it must not be an ‘off the mark’ guess.
“Since the new generation, like me, thought arts were the standard, it’s deviated from Shin and Master by all means. Were people with the same class as Master common before the Dusk of the Majesty? I can’t imagine what kind of world that was.”
“Well it had its own way, but there were not many people who had the same class as Schnee, right?”