No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 10

Pine immediately interrupted her: "No need to apologize. You two just need to realize..."

He paused deliberately, glancing back and forth between the two beasts, before continuing, "The earth is your most reliable protector. When an attack comes, you must rush to Mother Earth as if rushing into her arms. Do you understand?"

However, before the two beasts could reply, a system notification sounded in his mind first:

"

Hey~

The host's depressing jokes were detected.

Depression level: 50%

Funny level: 100%

Freshness: 100%

Note: Meets the reward distribution criteria

Points increased by 250

"

Payne was stunned for several seconds before he realized why the Depressing Joke System was running:

As an artificial being that emerged from an incubation chamber, the beast girl has no mother whatsoever...

Damn, I didn't expect this could also give me points back.

Because they had no concept of motherhood from the beginning, the pony and the lamb only vaguely understood Payne's metaphor of "Mother Earth" and did not feel offended at all.

This is also why the "degree of depression" score was only half.

But no matter what, the result is good, and no one suffered emotional damage.

After receiving affirmative answers from the two beasts, Payne continued to lead the beast girls forward into the pupa.

……

“Listen, you must be very quiet when working on the front lines. Here, stick this stake in here. I'll put a piece of cloth on top, and you can hammer it into the ground…”

After briefly teaching the two new beasts how to build barbed wire, Payne could then exercise his veteran privileges and sit down to rest.

Of course, he wasn't completely at rest; his eyes were always fixed on the opposite side to prevent the enemy from being unethical and engaging in some kind of sneak attack in the middle of the night.

A moment later, Payne felt a fluffy head burrow into his arms from behind. Without thinking, he ruffled it and asked, "Lassie? Are you done over there?"

Then he felt his hand being bitten hard by two large front teeth. "It's me!"

"Ouch! What are you doing?!"

Payne grinned, shook his hand, and turned around, somewhat surprised, saying, "It's Ruby? It's quite rare for you to do something like this..."

"I'm itchy, I want to borrow your hand to rub myself."

Squirrel Girl said indifferently, then sat down a little away from Payne. "Thanks to you, I'm not in the mood for it now."

Payne immediately put on a hurt expression, "Don't be like that, let me pet you, at least let me pet your tail..."

Ruby quickly retracted her tail, but stretched out her hand instead.

Payne paused for a moment, then took what she handed him. "What's this?... Nuts?"

"I found a squirrel hole in a tree, so I borrowed some food from it to get through the winter," Ruby said without batting an eye.

Payne rolled her eyes at her. "What do you mean 'borrow'? You're just 'stealing'!"

Ruby rolled her eyes at him. "You know how enormous the squirrel's food storage is. It can't possibly eat it all by itself, and half of its storage locations are eventually lost even to itself. What's wrong with me taking a little?"

"And you humans have the nerve to criticize me? At least I stole it by my own ability. You humans, on the other hand, don't go and get what you want yourselves, but instead assign us the task."

Payne: "..."

This girl is great in every way, except that she's even more eloquent than a cultured person.

It's a shame the Depressing Joke System wasn't tied to her.

Looking at the nuts in his hand, Payne thought for a moment and then continued, "Ruby, you are the smartest beast girl I have ever taught."

"If you're willing to put in a little more effort, recognizing three to five thousand characters shouldn't be a problem. Then you'll be able to read books on your own..."

Ruby suddenly interjected, "Why should I know so many words? You can just read them to me."

"Are you trying to work me to death...?"

Payne chuckled dryly, cracking nuts as he continued, "Almost everyone says that beast girls are stupid and can't possibly reach the level of human intelligence; they can only do the lowest-level jobs."

“I never think that way. Haven’t you already learned a couple hundred characters?”

"I know you're very dissatisfied with this world... Sigh, how many people in this world are truly satisfied?"

"I don't have any grand ideals, like changing this terrible world or anything... I just want to improve my own situation so that you can all live a little easier."

"Learning to read and study is the best way out, and it's the only thing I can do for you."

Ruby peeled the shells off the nuts one by one with her front teeth as if she were cracking sunflower seeds, all the while speaking without any hindrance: "No need."

"Why wouldn't it be needed?"

"You will find a way out for us."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Who's been bothering me all day long?"

Payne chuckled softly, mainly afraid that laughing too loudly would arouse the jealousy of the opposing sniper. "Alright, alright. What if, I mean, what if, I abandon you?"

Ruby, while eating sunflower seeds, says: "Do you really think our survival skills as animal girls are just for show? With animal skills and human intelligence, we can survive anywhere. Why do we have to stay in the manor and pick fruit for you?"

The crackling sound of the squirrel girl cracking nuts was so appetizing that even Payne, who wasn't hungry at first, couldn't resist putting a nut in his mouth. "Yeah, your survival is definitely not a problem."

"But... I still want to teach you to read, so that you can integrate into human society in a better way. I'm not referring to you specifically, I'm referring to the entire beast girl community."

"You want to run away? That's fine. That's your choice, and you should have the freedom to choose."

"But what about the other beast girls? For example, Lacey, she definitely won't leave me, and I definitely won't leave human society. And human society will definitely continue to research biotechnology and create more beast girls."

"Those beast girls who remain in human society, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, should also receive at least basic kindness and should have the freedom to choose their own future."

Ruby, without looking up, spat out a nut shell fragment. "Ah, right, right, I want freedom, the freedom to choose."

Payne choked for a moment: "...No, what I meant was that you beast girls should also have the same freedom of choice as us humans..."

Ruby interrupted, "Come talk to me about this when you have the freedom to choose for yourself."

Payne choked for a moment: "...No, I was just trying to reason with you..."

Ruby interrupted Mei Kai Er Ke: "Then go ahead and talk, don't worry about me, I'm listening."

Payne: "..."

This girl is smart, but she has given up thinking.

Chapter 15 XV. A Brief Battlefield Sleep

Although he was choking, Payne didn't think it was a big deal—because he still had water to drink.

↑ He choked on a nut.

In other words, although it's a bit embarrassing for a college student like him to be rendered speechless by an illiterate beast girl, he has to admit that Ruby was absolutely right.

...For a country that has only just completed two industrial revolutions and is still at the height of its imperialism, discussing personal matters... is somewhat premature.

Although this world... doesn't consider beast girls to belong to "..." either...

Such a conversation was just a trivial, ordinary episode on the battlefield, and soon another small incident interrupted Payne's gloom:

"Aww—"

A scream of pain came from the darkness, which then turned into a gasp as if the person suddenly remembered that they could not expose themselves.

Payne felt the voice was both familiar and unfamiliar until Troy's concerned greeting, "What's wrong? Are you alright?" came through, and he realized it was Pony's voice.

"Hiss—no, it's nothing..."

"How could you be alright? Let me see... Your hands are covered in blood and you still say you're fine! Wait, let me bandage you up."

"Um... thank you for your help..."

Payne knew what had happened as soon as he heard it: the new recruits lacked experience, the officers above them were inhumane and didn't provide them with gloves, and they were working in complete darkness at night, so it was no wonder that their hands were pricked by barbed wire.

Thinking of this, Payne couldn't help but sigh, "Ah, France is still better off. Their industrial technology is advanced. They not only have fully automated barbed wire erection machines, but they can even keep the barbed wire electrified 24 hours a day..."

"But no matter how advanced German biotechnology is, it can't create orcs that aren't afraid of being pricked."

Ruby asked casually, "If you admire France's industry and technology so much, why don't you go there?"

Pine's answer was as expected: "That won't do, there won't be any furry creatures to pet on the other side."

Ruby was completely desensitized to such comments. She stood up in time to avoid the groping hand reaching for her tail, dusted off the crumbs on her clothes, and left.

"I'll go check on Little Horse and bring him some nuts while I'm at it. If you have nothing to do, take a nap; it's still early."

Watching the swaying tail gradually disappear into the distance, Payne smiled and shook his head.

This squirrel may have a sharp tongue, but it's still a kind child who cares about everyone.

Moreover, her ability to find food is simply magical.

Payne dared to say that even if she were thrown into the desert, she could find a Manchu Han Imperial Feast within an hour.

Troy is a good kid too. She not only livens up the atmosphere of the whole team, but she has also grown into a qualified soldier. We can entrust her with the task of training new recruits with peace of mind.

Lacey is the best of the best; she'll definitely be fine taking care of the lambs.

Suddenly I felt a sense of relief, as if I had nothing to do.

The entire front line was very quiet, with only the clanging of wooden stakes and the rustling of barbed wire being unfurled.

You can vaguely see several soldiers from Company B staring at the other side not far away.

So it seems like I've really become free?

As the saying goes, "Even soldiers need to sleep at night"—this is a common saying in this world.

With that thought in mind, Payne lay down reassured, wanting to see if he could fall asleep.