Queen of the Mad Dog Knights - Chapter 19
Chapter 19 – …. (Translation: Master, I Was Doing My Best Too, But You Didn’t Notice Me) (by Great Dane)
I had a dream of becoming a beautiful bride.
Under the blue sky, surrounded by the blue sea.
My adult self, walking through the white sandy beach while my beautiful white bridal gown swaying following the movement of the wind.
Surrounding my path were flower petals and the smiling faces of my friends.
The fathers who raised me, Cain, and my real father, Abel.
The two fathers led me towards their future son-in-law.
And then the said man appeared, dressed in his groom’s outfit.
I couldn’t see his face because of the sunlight, but no doubt, he must be a wonderful man who would accept a clumsy and stubborn girl like me.
He ran up to me with his arms stretched.
“Wan!”
…it was the fat Shiba that crashed into my face.
I immediately grabbed him with both my hands, this chunky, heavy mass of fat.
‘Where did all your muscle go, hm?’ I muttered. Then suddenly there were a lot of voices saying ‘Here, if you want muscle, I got them!’
I looked down and saw a lot of dogs of different sizes ranging from small to huge coming at me.
They were all wearing red collars on their necks.
Before I knew it, the wedding gown I was wearing turned into a stark silver and purple dress and my arms and legs turned into those of a ten-year-old.
A huge black dog rubbed against my right leg and whispered ‘I love you, Master!’
After that, a huge golden dog snuggled up to my left leg and said ‘I always want to be there for you, Master!’
A small white dog chased Dashiba away then leaped into my arms. The dog tried to spoil me by saying ‘Master, you are cute!’
Dashiba, who didn’t mind being chased away by a cute dog (he didn’t know the dog was a male dog), happily rolled over on the sand.
Because of the small dog’s sudden movement, I stumbled and fell over on my butt when I felt a nose tugging at my back.
I turned around to see a big dog with almond eyes. The dog had something tied to its tail. He said ‘I made something interesting, Master! Look, look!’
A big dog with drooping cheeks came up to my right arm and rubbed its head on it while saying ‘Master, I demand praise!’. On my left arm, a speckled, huge dog silently nuzzled my sleeve, it seemed like the dog was also trying to spoil me.
On my right toe, a long-bodied small dog was gnawing on the tip of my shoe while saying ‘I’m sorry, excuse me..’
His face looked apologetic, but he didn’t stop doing what he was doing.
A slim, medium-sized dog was desperately pulling my left sock while saying ‘It’s best to just take them off~!’ Wait, the sock was stretched out!
And lastly, in front of me, there was a huge dog with brown, black, and white-colored fur.
‘Lovely master, I’ll take good care of you.’ he said while licking my cheek.
Then suddenly I felt something pulling my hair.
A medium-sized dog with big muscles was biting my hair.
‘I’ll make sure to take care of you.’ he said with a pompous tone.
I was completely unable to move as the dogs squirmed around me.
“Everyone! I’m glad you are trying to spoil me, but if it’s like this, I can’t move at all, you know?!”
I heard more barking.
I turned my head towards the ocean with much effort, then I saw them. Dogs. All over the beach were dogs.
I could even see some of them swimming in the shoreline– no, there were some in the ocean as well.
A lot of eyes were staring at me, the gaze seemed to be saying ‘hold me~’, ‘love me!’ and ‘take care of me!’
They also cried out to me, their owner ‘Please hold my leashes!’ and ‘Stay with me forever!’
Because I couldn’t even lift a finger, I could only answer their expectations with my voice.
“Everyone! Every one of you is my dog! I’ll do my best to be your queen! That’s why let’s stay together from now on!”
[[[Wan!]]]
“Wait, don’t jump on me all at once, please~!”
The horde of dogs came running at me excitedly.
One by one, they ran up to me and jumped at me.
I’ll fall, I’ll fall!
Stop! At this rate, I’ll be killed!
“Love… love is a weapon designed for murder…”
[Master, you need to gain more weight! This is not enough for me!]
“…what?”
I looked down toward where the voice came from.
I saw a large majestic-looking dog laying under my butt.
* * *
[…lotte-sama! Liselotte-sama!]
“Ha!”
[Oh good, you are finally awake.]
There was a narrow ceiling in front of me.
Also a large round door.
…I…
[You were hit by a rock falling from the exploded island.]
It seemed that I was asleep in the Liselotte.
In front of me was Josee-sama, the Commander of the Eight Division, the medics.
She nursed me while I laid down using her fluffy body as a pillow.
…wait, didn’t Josee-sama…
“What happened to everyone on the island?!”
[We got a call from Maltese-sama, everyone successfully escaped and was unharmed
The heretics were captured and seized by us. They panicked when they saw the archbishop, so we were keeping them inside a makeshift cell in the basement.]
“And Dashiba?! What happened to Dashiba? Is he hiding down here?”
I got up and looked down under the bed.
But I couldn’t find the dog.
But for some reason, there was Mars-sama, curled up in his white dog form with his back facing me.
There was a sign on his fur that said ‘I’m sorry.’
[Liselotte-sama, the mongrel isn’t here.]
“What do you mean?”
[The mongrel turned into the wind.]
Said Josee-sama with a complicated look.
…no way…
“Did the stone hit Dashiba?! Then, did he…”
[No, he isn’t dead, when the whole thing happened, the mongrel was shielded by the archbishop.]
Turning back in time.
In order to protect me from the debris of the island, Mars-sama made me wear the “Safety First, Food is Important” helmet that he took from the Fourth Division.
Just as he was about to carry me inside the Liselotte, a rock hit my helmet.
If I were a dog-kin, the impact from it wouldn’t be that bad.
But I wasn’t and I got a concussion from it.
Mars-sama didn’t expect me to be so fragile so he was reflecting on the situation.
It seemed like he was trying to drown himself in the sea after successfully carrying me to the Liselotte.
But Darius-sama stopped him and scolded him ‘You are the guard dog aren’t you?! Do your work and don’t run away!’ they then waited for Josee-sama to arrive.
“Mars-sama, you’ve protected me, I’m alive and healthy now, please don’t blame yourself…”
[…]
The white furball kept his silence.
[Liselotte-sama, sometimes there are times where a man wishes to be alone. Don’t worry about him, let him be until he can sort out his mind.]
“…yes…”
Mars-sama curled his body into a ball.
I had no choice but to leave him alone.
I went back to bed before asking Josee-sama a question.
“Let’s continue our talk, what did you mean when you said that Dashiba turned into a wind?”
[The two Wakens got angry when they saw Dashiba who turned back into a fat dog. Currently, they are doing more running training. He is being chased by three Wakens including Tosa-sama, he is running as fast as the wind because of that.]
I see, so that was what she meant.
I could hear the dog’s voice in the distance. I hoped that he would turn as healthy as possible.
Then, I asked about the person who took all the glory from the incident.
“Where’s the Archbishop?”
[He already left, he said he had some business in the Holy Land. Also, when the island exploded, the mongrel ran behind the Archbishop and the man was hit in the head by a huge rock. His head was covered in blood because of it, but he seemed to be happy, ‘I was able to protect Dashiba-sama’ he said. The way he put the dog in his head and swam through the sea while being covered by the terrorists’ blood, as expected that guy is a monster… By the way, he left a letter.]
There was a white envelope sent by the archbishop.
In the letter, there was a talk about the declaration that the Truly Pure Humanism group wasn’t part of the Purist Sect, but a group of criminals. The letter also mentioned safety measures for Dashiba.
This is probably his way to encourage me.
‘Heathens might not understand this, but for devouts like us, ‘venting’ is not something rational for us to do. In fact, it’s a crime. The terrorists this time, were not a branch of our religion. They are simply a group of criminals who used the religion’s name to advocate their agendas. Those who used their religion’s name that way should be destroyed. Those who refuse to learn the doctrines of their religion will resort to violence to justify their views. There is no tomorrow for those people. For that reason, I confess, since I do not wish those who still had the intention to continue doing more crimes to advertise themselves as one of us, I erased their existence. O, future queen. As the one who stands on top of others, there are some things that you couldn’t afford to lose. For me, I would kill for the sake of my people if I have to. Future queen, you need to be more decisive. Dog-kins in particular has a dangerous nature that they can change their way of life with just a single thought of their loved ones. I wish you good luck.’
There was a P.S at the bottom of the letter.
‘Thanks to Dashiba-sama, I realized that dealing with the heretics is an utter waste of time. The time I used to deal with them would be better spent worshipping Dashiba-sama. I don’t mind if my people branched out when they had a great encounter like I did. However, if they deny the purity of Dashiba-sama… they have no right to call themselves the Purists. Those kinds of heretical thoughts must be corrected. If it fails, then they should be purged.’
That was their principle.
It was different from the racists that only acted out of their superiority complex to put the other races down. This was the real (twisted) form of their religion.
This was incomparable to the mongrel allergy the Dog-Kin had when they took a look at Dashiba.
There was another note from him, ‘From now on, I wish to speak more with the Commander of the Central Knights.’
Darius-sama?
I looked up at Josee-sama and asked her.
She had an indescribable look on her face.
“What’s going on?”
[…well…]
* * *
When the island exploded, the archbishop was covered in blood because he was protecting Dashiba. Though he was smiling with a sense of accomplishment at his successful attempt at protecting the thing that he loved.
Dashiba looked at him with a blank stare.
And then, to his surprise, Darius-sama approached him.
Darius-sama looked down at Dashiba, who was sitting down with one of his back legs spread out.
After a pause, Darius-sama spoke to Dashiba.
“Dashiba, I hate you. Dog-Kin should never be a mongrel. I hate you because in the past I almost became a mongrel like you… and the thought that a mongrel is qualified as a pet dog, I simply can’t accept it.”
Still, Lize-sama said that she loved the mongrel.
Because of that, for a while, he tried to be a mongrel.
“But I couldn’t… my pride couldn’t handle the thought of me becoming a mongrel…”
In the end, Darius-sama continued.
“I can’t be a mongrel, nor can I be her pet dog, but still, I’m a dedicated dog at heart, I sincerely wish to lead the Dog-Kins… and as a leader, I want to serve Lize-sama and be petted by her every day.”
Darius-sama put his hand in the chest of his military outfit.
“You may be a fool, but you are loved by Lize-sama. I am the leader of the dogs, therefore, every dog, all of them will be protected by me… and you are one of them, so… let’s go home, Dashiba, to our home, Lize-sama.”
He took out a bone that he had been hiding.
Seeing the bone, Dashiba immediately barked with a ‘Wan!’, then he left the bloody Archbishop behind and ran toward Darius-sama.
…Dame-Shiba!
When the bloody archbishop saw this, he exclaimed ‘You are wonderful, O Holy Beast, faithfully following your instinct…’
“Wolfhound.”
For the first time, the Archbishop looked at Darius-sama who was holding the fat Shiba, and called out to him.
The light blue eyes of Darius-sama met the black eyes of the archbishop’s.
“Truthfully, I had only ever intended to speak with the future queen. But since you finally approved Dashiba-sama’s worth, I decided to allow you to be the person I could have a conversation with.”
For the first time, the archbishop recognized Darius-sama as a negotiating partner for the Dog-Kins.
This was something that had never happened before in the relationship between the Purist Sect and the Dog-Kins.
It was a historic moment.
When Darius-sama tried to thank him for eradicating the terrorists, he refused.
“I was just doing what a man of the cloth should do. I taught them the truth, the Dashibaism correctly and I made those who went astray confess their sins, that was it. Please tell that to the future queen, also please tell her that I will attend her coronation later.”
He headed for the carriage.
“I am a pacifist.”
He left with those words.
He returned to the holy land with his followers while bathed in his own blood and the blood of the terrorists. It was an amazing contrast between his words and his look.
* * *
Outside, the blue sky was beginning to turn red in the setting sun.
In a grassy field, far away from the beach, a lot of vehicles were stationed, including tanks.
In the center of that, Dog-Kin soldiers in their human form gathered.
Their uniforms were worn out from the racket in the jungle and the explosion on the island, but to them, it was a badge of honor.
As I left the Liselotte, I inhaled the cool breeze and thanked everyone for their hard work on this mission.
They were worried about me and my health, but I told them not to worry about it.
“Don’t worry, I’m well and safe and the mission is completed.
Everyone worked really hard even though there were a lot of unexpected events happened, but everything ended well.”
“““Yes, my queen”””
“From now on, everyone, please be good boys and girls, okay?”
“““!”””
I’ve also grown.
I’ve learned that they were dogs, their resistance to the word ‘reward’ was pretty much non-existent.
Wafun!
I watched the dogs with a smile as they squinted in happiness after I petted them one by one.
Gray-sama’s cheeks flushed with happiness and Josee-sama was in a good mood.
The two digger dogs were so entranced that they lost their footing and fell into a hole they just dug.
Meanwhile, the head of the Fourth Division—
I scolded Rascal von Malamute-sama, the commander of the Fourth Division who had conspired with Darius-sama to blow up the island behind my back. I pulled him hard with the white ring that had the word ‘Rascal’ written on it.
When I asked the digger dogs about it, they told me they just wanted to see the result of their new invention and experiment around with it, they knew nothing about the bombing plan.
‘I just wanted to see the performance of my babies as soon as possible. The commander treated me to dinner too, so I agreed.’
I double-checked his report with the transceiver.
The big black and white dog sensed my anger through his collar and immediately said ‘I’m sorry, Master!’ It seemed like he knocked over a trash can and stuck his upper body into it, turning himself into a sliding malamute.
He rolled around as a sign of remorse it seemed.
Contrary to the dog that stuffed himself into a trash can, Mars-sama was so remorseful that he turned into a hairball.
Well, failure is a failure, but he needed to know that blaming himself too much wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“I’ll be counting on you from now on, okay?”
[Kyun..]
The white dog turned his large black eyes to me and licked my cheek.
* * *
Darius-sama, in his dog form, held Dashiba’s head in his mouth and handed the dog to me. The dog was motionless, out cold because of his exhaustion from the Wakens’ emergency training.
[Lize-sama, here’s your pet dog]
“Thank you very much. Also, I heard that Darius-sama gave your approval to Dashiba, is that true?”
[I never approved of him and never will, but I’m the leader of the dogs, I have no choice but to allow him to live.]
“That much is fine, thank you very much. Ugh… this… dog… is… heavy…!”
I tried to hold the fat, flabby and heavy Dashiba with both hands, but I failed.
In the end, one of the Vice Commander picked up the fat Shiba that was about to fall to the ground with his arms.
The one who did it was Yoshimune von Kishu-sama.
He gleamed his white teeth as he made a wonderful suggestion.
“My queen, for the sake of Dashiba-sama’s health (more like for our mental health), we would like to continue to train him (until we are satisfied with the result). May we have your permission?”
Behind him were two Wakens.
Hachi von Akita-sama and Ryoma von Tosa-sama.
Both of them also offered to take care of Dashiba’s health while smiling.
I can trust him with the sincere Wakens.
I nodded happily.
Darius-sama nodded and gave a thumbs-up toward the three Wakens.
I wonder what he meant by that gesture?
Anyway, 90% of the terrorists have surrendered and most of them have confessed to their sins.
I wasn’t expecting the number to be that high, but I guess the archbishop scared them off.
Also, all of them caught the Mongrel Syndrome.
The remaining 10% (the ones who failed to repent) were caught in that explosion, but I didn’t feel sorry for them.
One day they would be put on death sentence anyway, pitying them would be a waste.
We did our best to get them to repent after all.
However, it seemed like there were some of them that survived and successfully escaped. In response to this, Darius-sama formed a search party led by the Third Division.
The escapee seemed to have contacts with the surrounding pirates, which was troublesome.
I heard that Apollo von Great Dane from the Third Division was specialized in handling matters that involved the sea, but I still didn’t know the details of his work.
On the way to the palace, I made sure to keep praising the commanders for their good work… huh?
Mazo-sama?
I won’t step on him, okay?
I won’t easily do that for him, okay?
* * *
By declaring the words and the deeds of the archbishop to the Purist Sect all around the continent, we could safely say ‘The Kennel Kingdom did not unjustly suppress the terrorists, instead it was the Purist Sect that suppressed them with a justified reason. They merely borrowed the name of the sect even though they were defiant.’
And then to my horror, the archbishop spread around his words about me to the members of his sect ‘The queen of Kennel Kingdom is a personage who loves pure beasts.’
Aside from that, the Purists Sect quickly moved and elevated the mongrel’s status into their idols.
As a result, this country became one of the only countries in the continent where there were no conflicts with the Purists.
Of course, the Kennel Kingdom also made rules for the citizens to prevent any unnecessary conflicts.
Darius-sama, who was able to tolerate Dashiba a little, worked with High Pries Apso and Leonhardt-sama to create a ‘Guide’ to dealing with the Purists.
- Don’t think of them as purists, think of them as believers of the mongrel.
- Dog-Kins shouldn’t mention ‘Dashiba-sama’ in front of the purists. This is because they worship the mongrel and the Dog-Kins hate the mongrel. If you think you couldn’t understand them, then don’t start a conversation in the first place.
- If you accidentally mentioned him, just brush it off with ‘Oh, it’s that mongrel’ then change the topic.
- If one of them asked you ‘You are a Dog-Kin, but why didn’t you aim to be a pure dog?’ just say, ‘Everyone has their own beliefs, just like Dashiba-sama’, you can dodge the conversation with that. Normally, people who tried to force their beliefs on others weren’t able to fulfill their own beliefs.
- If one of them tried to discriminate against the Dog-Kin, tell them ‘Why don’t you follow Dashiba-sama’s path? Not caring about anyone but yourself.’ Normally those people did that because they wanted to compare themselves with other people.
- If they committed a crime and told you that it was acceptable from the view of the Purist Sect, tell them ‘I will report this to the Queen, Dashiba-sama, and the Archbishop.’ No crime is acceptable even from their view.
- They only believe in the mongrel and the Archbishop.
The ‘How to Deal with The Mongrel Handbook’ was distributed to each household and was well received. Within a week of its distribution, the number of disputes with the purists was reduced dramatically.
And so…
The huge religion that the Kennel Kingdom had been struggling to deal with for so many years was finally under the control of the future queen.