No Beast Girls on the Western Front

Page 6

Paul's eyes darted around, and he asked in confusion, "Why?"

Payne glanced absently in Troy's direction a few times, then said softly, "She's not very emotional right now. I just hope... I just hope her world can be a little wider."

He paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you know what she did before she came here?"

Paul squinted, thinking for a moment. "Plowing? Transporting goods?"

Payne shook his head: "No, she wasn't drafted. The army had already decided on her while she was still in the incubation chamber."

"She grew up in the military camp, and apart from being tortured by training officers and learning battlefield survival skills, she knew nothing about the world."

"If she hadn't met me, war would have been her everything."

"But just meeting me isn't enough. I think... she should, and has the right to, learn about the world through more channels."

“Ah, so that’s what you mean.” Paul nodded slowly. “I didn’t expect she to be somewhat like us.”

Chapter 8 VIII. The Meme Also Depresses

"Somewhat like you? How so?" Payne asked curiously.

Paul said, somewhat lost in thought, "Sigh, looking back on my school days now feels like a lifetime ago..."

"I think I've told you before? Our homeroom teacher, Kantorek, is a short man with a gentleman's beard."

"Once in class, he spent the entire period giving us a highly inflammatory speech that stirred everyone in the class. In the end, he even led the whole class to the regional command headquarters to enlist in the army..."

"Kantolek, I must admit, is a very responsible and respectable teacher."

"His writing was excellent; none of us ever slept in his class."

"Once, he caught me drawing in another teacher's class and confiscated my artwork, but after school he called me to his office, returned the drawing to me, and even said that I drew it well..."

"Although we sometimes complain about him in private, we trust him in our hearts. Almost every one of us has consulted him about our university choices."

"We envision our lives after graduating from high school. Whether we go to university, learn a trade, or go straight to work, we will all have wonderful developments and a bright future."

"Until we were persuaded by him to join the army, Joseph Behm became the first victim."

At this point, Paul paused and asked, "Do you remember Joseph?"

“Of course I remember,” Payne nodded. He still retained a slight impression of the man.

Joseph Behm, a kind, chubby boy in Paul's class, was the only one who seemed worried about joining the army.

But as the teacher kept encouraging him, his classmates joined in persuading him, so even if he really didn't want to go, he didn't dare to show it.

Because in that fanatical social atmosphere, even his parents would point their fingers at him and call him a "coward."

Then, on the fifth day after Pine Paul and his men set foot on the front lines, the group of young men were given the mission to attack enemy trenches. Bem was hit in the eye by enemy machine gun fire and fell down silently.

Payne also lost two beast girls in that battle.

The two men paused their reminiscences for a moment, and Paul continued, "We were just turning eighteen when we joined the army, just beginning to embrace and love the world, and then we were taken to the battlefield."

"Before the war, everyone said I would have a job when I grew up. But for the past year, my job has been killing—this is my first job in life."

"After experiencing all of this, if you suddenly ask me what I want to do after 'peace'... ha, what do you think I can think of? I haven't even had a chance to explore this world before the war has worn away all my enthusiasm."

"All my understanding of life is now reduced to death."

"I don't know what I can do, I don't want to do anything, and I have no interest in thinking."

"We'll all leave this world someday anyway, so why think so much? And frankly, I don't believe I'll live to see the end of the war."

Although there was a great deal of venting in this long speech, Paul was quite calm while recounting it all. After finishing his speech, he simply shrugged, lowered his head, and continued drawing.

Payne had no intention of refuting his negative remarks—because he knew that what he said was true.

These young soldiers were no better off than Bitroy; they hadn't even had time to realize the other possibilities of the world before the war completely filled them up.

Their situation was even worse than that of the recruited beast girls:

The beast girls are strictly controlled; they are created to work for humans.

Therefore, after the war ended, someone would arrange for them to engage in production activities, provide them with food and lodging, which was practically equivalent to having a formal employment status.

Of course, this is on the premise that one survives the war.

Moreover, although their treatment is certainly far inferior to that of humans, even the worst job is worse than fighting a war.

Thinking of this, Pine just smiled and said to Paul, "At least you still have painting."

Paul smiled casually. "This is how I deal with my unease. And, I must admit, Kantorek deserves some credit for my persistence in painting."

"Ah, educators often carry their emotions in their pockets, readily available and readily sold."

Payne thought his words were absolutely brilliant, and he couldn't help but applaud as he said, "Broadly speaking, being an educator is first and foremost a profession. They certainly have to obey the tasks assigned to them, whether it's educating students well or leading them to join the army."

"In the end, it is the person who is noble, not the profession."

This time it was Paul's turn to think what Pine said was brilliant. He couldn't help but clap his hands and say, "No wonder he went to college, he speaks differently."

Payne was a little embarrassed by Paul's almost flattering words, and let him change the subject: "Since you've spent a year studying orcs at the university and on the battlefield respectively, how's your progress in teaching Lacey and the others to write?"

Payne was somewhat helpless about this: "The mainstream view in academia is very stubborn, believing that naturally occurring humans are more advanced than artificially created orcs, therefore orcs' brains must be inferior to humans' and they cannot learn to write—although I certainly don't think so."

"What orc has ever received a formal education? Even if you found an illiterate adult human right now and asked him to learn to write on the battlefield, it would be a huge struggle."

"In short, of all the beast girls I've taught, only Ruby has learned more than a hundred words, as well as numbers and basic arithmetic."

"Lassie is very hardworking, but she falls asleep as soon as I try to teach her to write..."

"As for Troy, I've always suspected that the cannonball from six months ago damaged her brain, making it impossible for her to learn anything..."

"There are other beast girls, but I didn't even have a chance to get to know them before they all clenched their butts tightly. How could I possibly teach them to write..."

"Clamp your buttocks tight" is a battlefield slang term that means "you're dead."

Veterans, especially those who fought on the battlefield, are all very superstitious. They would absolutely avoid saying the word "death" if they could, for fear that it would bring bad luck.

To be honest, the origin of the slang "clench your butt" is related to Payne, and it's quite a depressing joke...

That happened less than two months after they went to the front lines. One of the beast girls in Payne's squad was hit in the head by shrapnel and immediately lost control of her bladder and bowels, soaking her pants.

At that time, Payne had not yet gotten used to death. As he watched the beast girl's pants gradually become soaked with filth, for some reason, his mind was filled with a certain crucial piece of knowledge: "Incontinence means severe brain damage."

So he rushed forward and grabbed the beast girl's buttocks, hoping that the filth would stop flowing out, as if that meant the brain damage wasn't serious.

This behavior is similar to how, after John F. Kennedy was shot in a convertible and his skull was blown off by a sniper, Jacqueline's first reaction was to get out of the car and pick up her husband's bones.

In short, it is a demented behavior in which a person's brain fails to process information under a huge shock.

When this scene was witnessed by many soldiers who loathed beast girls, they immediately made a malicious joke, saying that this was... Payne missing beast girls...

As time went by, this purely malicious joke gradually spread throughout the military.

When Payne first heard this, he became agitated, but the more agitated he became, the more excited the group became, and he couldn't just shoot them in retaliation.

Moreover, later on, many new recruits were taught this expression by the veterans, but the new recruits did not know the origin of this meme; they simply used it because they did not want to say "death."

As a result, the meme gradually lost all its insulting connotations and truly became a substitute for simply saying "a soldier was killed".

Now that things have come to this, Payne can calmly use the meme that originated from him.

If there's any regret, it's that he regrets not being able to create this melancholic trope himself—a new, good, and melancholic trope like that would definitely have earned him a lot of points from the system.

Chapter 9IX. There wasn't even time to remember.

Although they talked about many things in a roundabout way, Paul finally patted his chest and assured everyone, "We're like brothers! Of course, I'd do this little favor without hesitation!"

He took the initiative to ask Troy to be his model, and Ma Niang thought it seemed interesting and readily agreed.

These past few days, they haven't had much to do at the camp. Paul, who's gotten into the art addiction, goes to draw Ma Niang every day at dawn, making his comrades think that another genius in the company has developed feelings for beast girls.

The first person is Payne—his relationship with the beast girl has long been an open secret.

Fortunately, people's attitude towards this matter was only at the level of "Dude, you're... weird."

In the past few days, Paul also asked Payne, "Do you think doing this will broaden the horizons of the beast girls?"

After thinking for a moment, Payne replied, "It's a kind of channel, a way to let them know that there are other things and other ways of life in this world."

"But... what's the point of doing this? If they really survive until after the war, someone will definitely arrange jobs for them."

To Paul's question, Payne simply gave him a smile that Paul couldn't understand: "No, something will definitely change after this world war. The orcs' situation will be part of that change."

Without going into too much detail, just consider the women's rights movement around the world; World War I and World War II definitely played a significant role in its development.

The men went to the battlefield, and the women went into the factories to produce supplies, which made them realize for the first time that they could also generate such great value.

The same principle applies to the beast girls in this world.

In fact, there were already some people within the Dexter Empire before the war who spoke out for the rights of beast girls, although they were completely insignificant.

Paul certainly understood that something would have to change after this great battle, otherwise the war would have been fought in vain.

But given the historical stage of this world and his high school level of knowledge, he certainly couldn't see as far ahead as Payne and couldn't imagine what the future would look like.

He simply nodded, indicating that he trusted her because of her higher education, then jokingly asked with a comical expression, "But they seem so attached to you; it feels like they're content just having you around?"

What if I were to die?

—In the end, Pine didn't say those words aloud. He simply patted Paul on the back as if to change the subject, urging him to continue drawing.

Time passed slowly in this leisurely and restful life.

……

A few days later, a rumor that the situation at the front was critical quietly crept into the camp.

However, aside from the hot-blooded fools who were worried that the war situation was unfavorable to the Dexter Empire, most people were just worried that they might soon have to return to the front lines.

Sure enough, on the very night they heard the rumor, the soldiers received orders that they would be replenished the next day and would set off that very night.

People complained bitterly about the soldiers who relayed the orders, saying it would have been better to tell them the next day so they could at least get another good night's sleep.

Payne was in a state of mixed feelings about the possibility of a new beast girl joining the party tomorrow.

The joy comes from the new beast girls to pet, but the sorrow comes from the fact that these beast girls are destined for the battlefield.

But whatever is coming, will come.

So when he heard the roar of trucks outside the barracks early the next morning, he jumped up and went to the warehouse where the miscellaneous items were stored to wake up the three beast girls sleeping on the haystack, so that they could go together to welcome the arrival of the new beast girl.