“Lord Deek, Ambassador Pait, thank you for your patience.” Duran entered our room a short while later, a gentle smile on his face.

“Lord Duran… ah… should I call you King now?”

He stiffened for a second and then raised his hand defensively. “No, no, it hasn’t gone that far. I may have been in a situation where I could speak for the tribes and lead the army temporarily, but that doesn’t mean they’ve made me the king.”

“Oh?”

“It’s not easy being the king of all the beastkin. I have many skills, but even I wouldn’t say I had those qualifications.” Lord Duran explained. “A king would be someone with the power and command to control all of the tribes and keep them in line. We wolfkin have a pack mentality. We depend too much on each other for our strength. Regrettably, the beastkin who might have the individual strength come from a tribe that is too small and fractured to be likely to become king.”

“You guys don’t have some selection method, do you?”

I was already imagining some kind of dungeon test like the King’s Selection mixed with the Champion’s Gauntlet. That would make a lot of sense if every country had its own form of test.

“Normally, the one who would become king was the one who defeated the previous king.” He responded dryly. “However, you’re not an animalkin, technically, and you belong to another country. This is the first time in Dioshin’s history that a king was killed by someone outside of Dioshin. It might not have been such a problem, but King Roth was ruthless in the destruction of his competition. There was no other strong opposition that could take his place, which is why things are in limbo.”

“Is it that bad?”

“The catkin tribe is still searching for a new leader. King Roth had spent generations snuffing out any males with potential, including his children. Although there are many powerful women from the catkin tribe, they had a long history of male rulers.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“It is only right that a man rules while his women hunt.” First, cut in with a snort.

The other lionesses were nodding in agreement. It was no surprise that the lionesses would feel this way, but not every cat species depended on a patriarchy, so I wondered if one of them might not have risen.

“If only the tigerkin were still alive. They were the rulers before King Roth rose and displaced them. That’s why he had such a history with the tigerkin.”

“I thought it had to do with some kind of prophecy or something.”

“That only happened later. After consolidating his power, King Roth had grown paranoid. He went to the Abyss and spoke to the soothsayer. It was her that warned him that the tigerkin threat he thought he had dealt with was were going to be his undoing. That’s when he tried to eradicate them outright.”

As Lord Duran spoke, I glanced in Lydia’s way, but she didn’t show any expression. She had been raised a sex slave, so whatever past she could have had seemed meaningless to her. I had asked her if she wanted to know more about her origins. Who was the family who saved her? Are any of them still alive? Lydia hadn’t been interested in her past.

“I am happy with Master here and now. I’m only interested in my future by master’s side, not a past where I didn’t have him.”

That’s what she had told me.

Either way, as a dungeon master, I had an increasing interest in lore. I had a running theory that a person’s understanding of their own lore influenced their strength. If Lydia wanted to reach her true potential, then she would one day have to face her past. In the meantime, I’d ask Lord Duran to look into it.

“Alright, since everyone is here, shall we head to the airship?” Lord Duran asked.