No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 19

Then she turned to Ruby, who was standing to the side unmoved, and asked, "Um... is your relationship... not very good?"

The squirrel girl crossed her arms and looked to the side, saying succinctly, "Yes, we don't get along."

“Is that so…” Grace said, then looked at Payne and smiled, “It seems that even you have orcs you can’t control.”

Seeing his authority challenged, which was fatal to animal management, Payne immediately said, "Don't let her small size fool you with her arrogant talk. Just wait until she gets to the branching device, and see how I deal with her! Hey, hey, hey, you dare bite me?!"

Seeing the little squirrel angrily grabbing Payne's head and starting to bite it, Grace pondered for a few seconds, then muttered to herself with a hint of pleasure:

"I see."

……

It was probably indeed the effect of the splitter. When Payne was pulling the cannon, he noticed that Pony was obviously using too much force. Not only was his foot slipping frequently, but his face was also turning red.

Therefore, he had to pat Xiao Ma on the shoulder and remind him, "Be careful, don't use so much force, be careful not to strain your muscles."

But Xiao Ma just muttered, "I'm not that stupid, you don't need to worry about me."

"I didn't say you're stupid, I meant you need to calm down..."

"I am in a very peaceful state of mind."

Payne didn't say anything more. He just waited until the cannon was pulled up to the top of the hill, and then, while the little horse was panting and leaning on its knees, he suddenly flattered it.

Xiao Ma immediately stiffened and shuddered as if he had been electrocuted, then suddenly raised his leg and kicked backward.

It was only thanks to Payne's extensive experience in caring for horses (referring to beast girls) that he was able to dodge her back kick at the last second; otherwise, he would have had to say goodbye to his pelvis.

The little horse also showed a look of horror the moment it kicked back—if it accidentally hurt Payne, how Payne would view it was another matter, but a beast girl who hurt a tamer was very likely to be dealt with on the spot...

She only breathed a slight sigh of relief when she realized she had kicked empty air and felt an uncomfortable pulling sensation in her leg. Then, a look of fear and shame flashed across her face as she clutched her buttocks and cried out in a low voice:

"What are you doing?! Don't you know this is dangerous?! This is my instinct! I can't control myself!!"

"It's okay, I'm experienced." Payne laughed nonchalantly. "How are you feeling, a little more relaxed?"

Little Horse seemed to realize something only then, and quickly looked around to make sure that everyone else and the beasts were so exhausted that they could barely breathe and hadn't noticed them at all, before he felt relieved.

But then she looked at Payne with displeasure, her tail wagging uneasily behind her, "...What are you trying to do?"

"Hmm? It's nothing. I just noticed you were too tense, so I wanted to help you relax a bit," Payne said seriously. "We still have several cannons to fire later, you can't keep going like this."

Little Horse started looking around again, and Payne clearly saw that when her gaze fell on Grace, she showed a distinct expression of resentment.

Then she turned back, glancing to the side, her face flushed, and said haltingly, "I...I didn't do it because...because..."

“I know, I know,” Payne interrupted her with a laugh. “She is very strong, but you are no less so. I need both of you.”

"……Eh?"

Seeing that Little Horse's eyes widened slightly, Payne added with a smile, "Well, but speaking of figures... I don't really like someone like Grace, she's too plump and looks a bit bloated."

So Xiao Ma looked at him with a strange expression, his face gradually becoming even redder.

Payne simply stood there calmly, deliberately making a rude and obnoxious face.

Finally, Xiao Ma angrily kicked him lightly, turned around and left, saying, "You won't get away with taking advantage of me tonight."

"How does this become taking advantage? Isn't this a matter of mutual consent?"

"I don't care, you're not allowed to touch me tonight."

Honestly, why should I care about something like this...

Branching devices are such a nuisance...

Chapter 28 XXVIII. Battlefield Twin Tails

After taking care of the little horse's feelings, it was already dark. The stomachs of the people and animals, who had worked hard all day, were already protesting loudly, reminding them that it was time for dinner.

The grooms and cooks here were all very easy to talk to. Payne easily got his hands on feed and raw meat, and then filled himself a full bowl with stewed beans and pork. The man and his five beasts sat on the slightly drier ground under a big tree, eating and exchanging information with Grace about their respective situations.

This exchange activity wasn't ordered by Payne to let the beast girls get to know each other. Back when he was in college (the college in this world), he discovered that as long as the beast girls had normal language abilities, they would quickly start exchanging information about their species, recipes, job duties, and so on after their first meeting.

Payne believes this is a unique cultural phenomenon within the beast girl community. Therefore, out of a sense of equality, Payne will also share his own experiences (limited to his experiences in this world) with each beast girl.

This is probably one of the key reasons why he was able to quickly gain the trust of the beast girls.

He had asked many beast girls why they did this, but he didn't get any helpful answers.

Payne guessed that it was probably because the beast girls were generally in bad shape, so they were more inclined to learn about each other's living conditions out of a sense of shared suffering.

Grace's situation before joining the army was slightly more complicated than that of the other beast girls, but only slightly:

She started out farming in the countryside. Later, she became somewhat famous because of her great strength and was bought by a real estate developer to move bricks in the city. Then she was bought by a coal mine owner to pull mining carts. Finally, she was noticed by the army and sent to the front line.

Payne turned to look at the group of beast girls around him. The dogs, sheep, and squirrels were so tired that they hadn't even finished their meals before closing their eyes. Even the horses were listless, wishing they could lie down and eat grass.

Only Grace the cow seemed to have some energy left, sitting against the tree trunk, sipping the tea that Payne had brewed.

In response, Payne had to praise you, saying, "Of all the orcs I've ever seen, your strength and stamina are truly exceptional."

“Thank you.” Grace smiled and nodded. “However, I’m certainly not the strongest. I’ve seen many beasts in the coal mine that are much stronger than me.”

"There are people beyond people and beasts beyond beasts, that's normal. What surprises me is your gentle and refined personality."

"Huh? Why do you say that?"

"Because I specialize in studying beast girls, I have more ways to get along with them and make them obey than others. That's why the higher-ups especially like to assign me some difficult beast girls."

"Many beast girls that nobody wanted ended up coming to me."

"Ruby is a typical example, but not all the beast girls I was given were like her who didn't like to follow orders. For example, Lacey, she's a bit stubborn; and Xiao En, she's timid and adapts to war very slowly."

"But I don't really understand the point of sending orcs like sheep and squirrels, who have absolutely nothing to do with war, to the battlefield..."

"So, I thought we were going to have another eccentric orc this time... Well, your personality does fit the general impression of a bull, so it seems I can relax a little."

After hearing Payne's words, Grace smiled and nodded. "So that's how it is... But, judging from what you've said, only a portion of the orcs in your squad have bad personalities. Perhaps, I was sent here just to pull the cannons for you?"

Payne nodded in agreement. "That's true. Someone has to do the hard and tiring work."

……

After sunset, visibility is poor and lighting lamps would attract enemy artillery fire, so even the most urgent missions have to stop at this time, and the soldiers have time to arrange their own nightlife.

For other shelters, nightlife consisted of nothing more than catching lice, playing cards, playing chess, drinking, and chatting. It seemed quite rich, but in fact, it lacked an important activity.

However, the missing part can be easily filled in by Payne.

"Ruby, take them out for some fresh air, deal with the fleas, and divide up the rest of the dog food while you're at it."

After Payne gave the order, Lacey, who was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open, dragged her heavy body out of bed, grabbed a can of dog food, and pushed Ruby outside, mumbling, "Ugh...it's all...all dirt, I need to...I need to wash it off..."

Ruby looked at her and then at the can, and said, "Yes, you both need to wash."

After Shawn left, Grace glanced at the little pony sitting motionless on the bed, a meaningful smile on her face, and whispered in Payne's ear, "Heat?"

"Ha, you guessed it." Payne wasn't too embarrassed.

"Oh, I see~"

For some reason, Payne sensed a dangerous undertone in her eyes and tone—she seemed to have transformed from a docile heifer into a bull wary of its prey.

But in the end, Grace didn't say much. Instead, she said, "I'll go try what dog food tastes like too~" and went outside.

Although he found her attitude a little strange, Payne didn't think much of it. Instead, he took out a bristle brush, walked to the pony bed, looked at her quietly for two seconds, and then laughed.

She was so tired during the day that she fell asleep sitting on the bed.

But this is nothing unusual for horses; they can sleep standing up all the time.

Several of Payne's horse girls used to sleep standing up when they first went to the battlefield, so they could react quickly when danger came.

Little Horse seems to be adapting quite quickly; Payne has only seen her sleep standing up a few times.

Seeing that she was sleeping so soundly, Payne didn't really want to wake her. But seemingly noticing someone standing in front of her, the pony opened her sleepy eyes and asked in a groggy voice, "Um...would you like me...brushed first?..."

"Sure, turn around."

"oh oh……"

The little horse obediently displayed its black cascade of hair to Payne. After brushing it twice, Payne couldn't help but pat the horse's head. "I told you to pay attention to animal hygiene. I only brushed it twice, and now a million lice have popped out of your head."

"Then...then you can help me wash, I...I don't have any energy left after all this day..."

Payne didn't reply; an interesting idea suddenly popped into his head.

He spent half a minute tying the little horse's hair into a simple ponytail, then said, "...,..."

"oh oh……"

Still half-asleep, the little pony obediently followed the command. Payne grabbed her tail and brushed it, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Pfft... twin tails..."

Xiao Ma turned her head to look at him in confusion. It took her several seconds to understand what he was saying with her slow-moving brain. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "So cold."

Chapter 29 XXIX. The Lice Occupation Army

After pulling the little pony into his arms, Payne originally intended to continue the work he hadn't finished the day before, but looking at the little pony lying motionless on his arm, he did nothing. He simply lay on his side on the bed, looking at her peaceful sleeping face, and tidied her hair.

A few minutes later, Xiao Ma woke up naturally, rubbed his eyes, and asked, "Why... hasn't it started yet?"

"You're so sleepy you've fallen asleep, what are you still doing..."

Although not working on the branching device would have some impact on the beast girl's health, seeing how tired she was, Payne didn't really want to wake her up.

But Xiao Ma seemed determined to persist. With her eyes closed, she said somewhat incoherently, "No...it's okay, come...come on..."

“Okay, here I come.” Since the person had already taken the initiative, Payne naturally couldn’t refuse.

Feeling him lying on top of her, Little Horse gradually woke up and said with half-open eyes, "You said we horse girls have good stamina, but I think you humans have much better stamina than us."

"Of course." Payne's face lit up with a proud expression, as if saying, "Thanks to our ancestors' brilliance!" "I'll show you what a truly terrifying upright ape looks like soon enough!"

Xiao Ma's face flushed slightly.

……

After a while, once things had temporarily come to a stop, Pony asked again, "By the way, when did you humans get your diverging devices?"

"Humans don't have a concept of a splitter. If we had to say, it would be that they split all year round, with an unpredictable cycle and frequency."

"Hmm...you humans are really strange..."